The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-04-07
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON.
April =, 1900; Matthew vii, I-14-Pre-
cepts and Promises.


Macaulay says of Pitt that he could pour forth
long succession Of stately periods without pre-
meditation. in a voice OF silvery clearness. Per
haps he reached the zenith OF oratorical fame in
his speech the abolition Of the slave trade.
Fox. Gray. Windham, contemporaries and them
selves adopts az the art OF speaking. agreed that
IL was the most extraordinary display of elo-
quence ever heard. Where is that speech? a
memory only We have an American
analogue in Webster There he stood before
entranced Congress. his very soul blazing in
those deep caverns below his marble brow as he
poured forth his Reply to Hayne." His state
ment was argument. his inference demon
stration." Where Is that speech? Just men,
DRY. though only two generations have passed
since its delivery Miss Martineau, in
her Life in the East" a melange of happy de-
scripton and unhappy theology. dsmisses Jesus
as an Essene But the merest tyro ought TO
know that the trend of Jesus teaching Is fun
damently opposed to that OF the Essences They
were the most esoteric. unmissionary sect ex-
tant. How could He who said, "Go we into all
the world and preach the gospel TO every crea-
ture," be an Essene? On publication. the Sab
bath. the resurrection, Jesus was in dametric
opposition to that strictest and tnest of sects.
To affirm identity on finding point two Of
similarity is unphilosophical in the extreme.
- Apart from, infinitely above, the rabbi on
the one hand and the Essene on the other. Jesus
stands the original and unceasing teacher OF the
race He speaks with authority to the universal
human heart illuminating. inspiring, empower
ing it. He is not a channel through which truth
flows perturbed and perchance corrupted with
human prejudice and error in its passage. So he
could say not only II speak the TRUTH" but Il
am Truth He the original source, not the
transmitter. a fountain, not a CONDUIT.
Again. He is not the insttutor OF system of
doctrine not the formuator of a ritual He
comes to inspire life In the soul. to set up
kingdom within. which consists not i'm the
ternalities and comparative trivialtes of sacri-
fee and oblation, but in that Indispensable right
eousness whose concomitants are. peace and joy.
So He could say, also. THE words that speak
unto you, they are spirit. and they life .
1t has now been nearly two thousand years
since audience gathered on a hilltop to hear a
certain Gailean. Who in that company imag-
ined the imperishable character OF the words TO
which they listened? The Sermon the Mount
was not destined to the oblivion of any library
1t is like air and light 1t Is everywhere. 1t is
the most forceful word spoken in the hu-
man ear There has been an effort lately
to discount the originality of Jesus Talmudic
sayings have been put in parallel column with
the words of the Messiah. But how does 1t
come. If the Master taught the truth as
the rabbis, they were offended at Him? He
adopted, doubt, the modes OF speech current
| III his uays Out lie evidently useu them Tor a
different and nobler purpose
THE TEACHERS LANTERN.
The Sermon the Mount is not a string of
isolated ethical maxims, a superficial glance
might lead one to think. 1t is a systematic I'M
| foldment of the principles of the kingdom of
God 1t is not tabular statement of things to
be done and things TO be avoided. 1t is an ex-
emplary reference 10 the things done and re-
| Trained from, which exemplify the spirit of
Christianity. At the same time IL is not
theoretical. but intensely practical. 1t finds men
where they are. 1t discovers their ambitions,
| their foibes. their sins. For example:
The common habit of censorious judgment and
| the imputing Of wrong motives to the action OF
ones fellows The doctrine and life of Christ
calls halt to that Yet IL would have US
cultivate colorless indifference toward our fell
| less concerning them Exactly the contrary.
| But We TO Judge in charity, and not to al
lege base motives unless forced by the
| fact. We are TO refrain from unloving criticism,
not merely that may escape the penalty;
namely, unloving criticism of ourselves in the
| same measure mete. but that we may avoid
creating an antagonizng and inharmonious con-
dition of society. We to give first attention
| to the correction of faults What is the
use of gaping at the splinter in another's eye
when we have a whole log in our own?
Yet we are not to be so indulgent of others as 10
| be oblivious to their moral and intellectual
states. There people who are dogs and
swine In their moral and mental evolution