The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-27
THE VOICE OF THE PULPIT
AN ANSWER TO A QUESTION THAT
HAS BEEN ASKED IN ALL AGES.
BY Rev. George L. Macintosh. Pastor
OF the Fourth Presbyterian Church,
indianapolis, Ind

If any nah will do his will he shall know
Of the dNetrns whether ii be of God or
whcther / spsak of myself.-John vii. II.
The desire OF the popular mind to ''provs
all tilingu' is not peculiar to our own day.
How do you know? How may I know"
has been the natural and reasonable query
of all ages. Let us first glance for mo-
ment only at the historical setting of our
text to get our point of view.
The people were astonished that Jesus
spoke so clearly and with such evident
weight of authority. The rabbits and doctors
of the law had announced that they were
the heaven ordained custodians of wisdom.
and with great shrewdness had planted a
hedge about their possessions. This hedge
they lad enmeshed with threads of cas-
uistry the finest ever spun by human in
vention, so that the common people had
never chance so much as to peep in unless
some scribe or doctor opened the gate. 1t
was part of their business to talk plain
ly to plain folk. On the other hand, they
clothed the commonest truth with meta
physical speculations and mystifying sophis-
tries.
1t painful surprise to these masters
Of intellectual slight of hand to find young
Galilean teacher, evidently the graduate OF
opening wide the gates they had so care
fully closed-letting in the sunlight upon
their widowed places of mystery and
sweeping clean from the temple of knowl-
edge their venerable tapestry of cobwebs.
Hear his words: WOE unto you. for We
have taken away the key of knowledge;
We enter not in yourselves and them that
were entering III We hindered" These men
had mastered he people. They were the
tensors of opinion, the interpreters of the
law and the jailers of conscience. They
lad a tombstone for every variety of doc
tripe.
But Jesus turns His back on the entire
system of thought peculiar to the eachers
of His time. The labyrinth of tradition had
NJ charm for Him. He worked above the
ground, in the presence of the people. In
his opinion spiritual knowledge was not a
quantity that could be cornered by any par
ticular set of men. 1t was not a something
which a few rabbinical monopolists could
keep under lock and key. God is great-not
too great to be touched by many men-but
by far too great to be mastered by few.
1t was human that these Jewish teachers
should hate Jesus and cruelty Him when
opportune time had come. AS the
Ephesian Demetrius, the maker of silver
images, feared the preaching of Paul be-
cause it endangered his trade, so the cum
ming scribes and doctors of Jerusalem, artif-
icerS of systems of thought, feared the
soulsearching words of the Christ. There
was danger that under the pressure of this
new teaching the old trade of sophistry-
weaving would lapse, and the looms OF the
rabbits become a drug in the market
We may fancy Christ speaking to His
teaching? The way is not by the argu-
ments which the learned men may use; you
shall know about my teaching when 1t has
entered into your life" Consciousness is
a deeper source of knowledge than logic.
Christ appeals from the logic of the schools
to the logic of events
When is man in a condition to know
the things which pertain to his highest
destiny? 1t is only when his intellectual
functions have been trained until they are
sensitive to the finest distinctions OF
philosophy? If so, Aristotle might be the
greatest spiritual leader. Or is 1t when the
esthetic function is awakened and the soul
responds to the harmonies of form, color
and sound? If this then Sappho might
lead the heavenly hosts Much as all cui-
ture is to be desired, Christ by no means
makes it ground of spiritual knowledge.
In His generosity He opens the door Of the
temple All men may come in If they
choose. IF any man do his will he shall
know"
Here is a very broad ground from which
we shall be pushed by no accident of fate
whatsoever. Here is something which IS
not to be changed by any outward circum-
stance. This is a standard a measure
which belongs to the soul itself, and which.
IL 4. -
control Of priest, sanhedrin or council.
All knowledge of God as the kind and
loving father is based upon the desire to
know Him. The desire is hidden in the in
nerrnost recesses of the soul. It is the
prophecy of an action waiting for its place
of fuIfllment 1t may house itself in the
soul of Socrates, and find room in the dull
brain of a slave We may not conceive a
more Iimitless statement than that contained
in these words of Jesus. The thought OF IL
carries us to the infnitudes, the eternities.
Surely no one but the Son of God could have
made the beginning of the way TO the high
est knowledge so plain and easy to be found.
Unfortunately, from that day Till now there
have been men who have conceived 1t to be
their duty to stand at the beginning of the
way and throw dust in the air.
Within the one vehementy doing the will
Of God as 1t may be revealed to him, is born
an insight which for him is the test of truth
in spiritual things and new vistals of knowl-
edge gradually open out before him.
But if the desire be a puny thing bed
ridden in the dormitory of the soul, never
pushing itself out into the domain OF ac-
ton, then one must dwell in the twilight
and debatable ground OF half knowledge
and doubt. A man who has studied the art
of swimming from a comfortable chair on
the wharf may write a charming lecture
on the subject, but it is only he who has
again and again pushed out into the deem
water who really knows about swimming.
More than any other teacher who has
spoken 10 the world Christ has placed a
premium on character, on right living The
only way to know the truth is to live the
truth. This is the condition of true spiritual
knowledge. Poor thinking makes poor 1iv-
ing. But ii is also true that poor living
makes poor thinking A man who goes
wrong in his life will have wrong concep-
tons of life by and by.
Many a. man who is haunted with doubts
would forget all about them IL he were 10
engage in some active service for the Christ
of humanity. DIR. Dryasdust, chasing the
phantoms Of a sublimated system OF the
oio0x amid tho oteoNoS oP ffe Ifk<-....