The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-04-07
INTERNATIONAL S. S. LESSON.
April 8, 1900 matthew VIZ, ia.
Prscspta and Promises.

Macauley says OF Pitt that he could
pour forth long succession Of stately
periods without premeditatlon, in q
voice Of rilvery clearness. Perhaps he
reached the zenith Of oratorical fame ir
his speech on the abolition OF the slave
trade. Fox, Gray, windham, contem'
poraries Ind Themselves adopts at tn;
art OF speaking. agreed that 1t was thu
most extraordinary display OF eloGuenc.
ever heard. Where is that speech? A
memory only. We have al
American analogue In Webster. There
he stood before an entranced Congress
his very soul blazing in these deep cav
ems below his marble browas he poured
forth his Reply to Hayne." "Hls
statement was argument. his Inference
was demonstration" Where is that
speech? Just q memory. though only
two generations have passed since ita
delivery Miss Martineau, in her
Life In the East" a melanga Of happy
description and unhappy theology, dis
misses Jesus as an Essene. But the
merest tyro ought to know that the
trend Of Jesus teaching fundamentally
opposed to that OF the Esscnes. Thsyw were
the most eGoteric, unmisalonary sect ex-
tant. How could he who said. go We
into all the world, and preach the gos-
pei. to every creature" be an Bssene?
on publication, the Sabbath. the resur-
rection, Jesus was in diametrIc opposl-
ton to that strIctest and dniest Of
sects. To affirm identity on finding a
point or two Of similarity is uuphlloso-
phical in the extreme. Apart
from, Infinitely above, the rabbi on the
one hand and the EsseuD on the other,
Jesus stands the original and uneeasIng
teacher Of the race. He speaks with
authority to the universal human heart.
illustrating, inspiring, empowering it.
He IS not a channel through which
truth flows perturbsd, perchaRee and
corrupted with human prejudice and err
ror in It's passage. SO he could say not
only, II speak the TRUTH" but. II am
Truth" He is the original source, not
the transmittar A fountain, not con-
duff! Again, he Is not the In
stitutor Of system of doctrine, not the
formulator of ritual. He comes to In
spire life in the soul, to set up a king
dom within, which consists not In the
externalitles and comparative trivlall-
ties of sacrifice and oblatiOn. but in that
Indispensable Righteousness whose con-
comitants are peace and Joy. So he
could say also, THE words that l speak
unto you, they are spirit. and they are
life" - 1t has now been nearly
two thousand years since an audience
gathered ON a hilltop to hear certain
Galilean. Who In that company imag-
ined the imperishable character Of the
words to which they listened? The
Sermon on the Mount was not destined
to the oblivion of any library. 1t is like
air and light. II is everywhere. 1t is
the most forcefu word ever spoken in
the human ear. There has been
an effort lately to discount the original
ity Of Jesus. Talmudic sayings have
been put in parallel columns with the
words of the Messiah. But how does 1t
come, If the Master taught the same
truth, as the rabbis, they were offended
at him? lie adopted. no doubt, the
modes OF speech current in his day; but
he evidently used them for u different
and nobler purpose.