The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-10-28
AN OLD QUESTION.
A Brilliant Sunday Sermon by Rev. c.
K. McNalIy.
Instructive Talk on q Subject Of Vital I'm.
1 portsuce to Us All.

His text was from John x:24: "If Thou be
the, Christ, tell us plainly" Mr.. McNally
said:
The men who asked this question were
the answer was of vital import to them.
That word Christ was laden with
wealth of meaning for these Jewish ques-
toners. Our word Christ is the offspring
OF the Greek "Christos," which in its turn
inherits all the meaning that the Hebrew
embodied, in his WORD, Messiah" Around
this word for hundreds of years all Jewish
life, political and religious, had centered
The Psalmists had made it the dominant
note in many of their sweetest songs. It's
multi-colored shadings had formed the
warp and woof OF prophetic visions. The
mother as she lulled her little one to sleep
sang of n Messanic hope. The little lad
as he came to his fathers knee asking for
a tale had his imagination fred by the
story of what would be when Messiah
should come. More than the name of
Cromwell or Wesley to England. and
of Washington or Edwards to Amer
ica, was the name of Messiah to jew,
for it was at once the battle cry Of his po-
litical liberties and the keynote of his re-
ligion.
The Jews as they thought of the Messiah
may be divided into two classes. those
whose conception was predominantly rcli-
qious and spiritual. and those whose
thought was predominantly political. l
say predominantly because the two views
were. commonly blended. The more spirit.
ual hoped for the delverance OF the ma
tious from the bondage of sin, and the re-
ligious. supremacy of the Jewish nation
through the ministry of the Messiah, while
the less religious looked for the political
pre-eminence of the Jews under the lead.
ership of the Messianic King. However
divergent. the views in two things all were
agrced-the coming of the Messiah meant
Jewish pre-eminence, and he in his coming
would be the especially anonted of God,
having the powers, the words and the
spirit Of God, he was to be the instrument
Of God. the voice of Gods will to and for
the nation. Earlier in the history of the
nation the conception was more spiritual.
but by the time of the coming Of Jesus of
Nazareth their hope had lost its higher
and more spiritual character.
One morning toward the close Of His
earthly ministry. when the chilling blasts
of winter had driven Him from the open
courts of the temple to a sheltered spot.
Jesus. the now far famed teacher and
claimant of Messianic honors, might have
been seen pacing up and down the paved
Enclosure known as Solomon's Porch. 1t
was the feast of dedication and the faith
ers Of the nation were gathered in Jerusa-
lem. There was much agitation and con-
tlict among them. The fame and claim of
Jesus of Nazareth was known to all.
Many Of these very men had followed in
the crowds to see and hear Him. The
more spiritual had felt a strange stirring
OF the soul in response to the call of this
ed life. but surely thev reasoned this could
not be the Christ--He was so different
from what they had expected the Christ
to be. The less religious were even more
puzzled. The life of Jesus from the Great
ure, comfort side, was, nothing to be en-
We'd. They could find nothing to explain
the aim of this Teacher with His subver-
sive teaching. OF one thing thev were
sure. He was dangerous man. for while
by implication and even openly He claimed
to be the Christ, He in no way correspond
ed to their idea of what the Christ should
be. Surely He was not the Messiah of
God! Upon what could such man as this
base such caim
While Jesus paced thoughtfully up and
down within the porch He was quickly
surrounded by an eager. pressing crowd,
some intense. with yearning for assurance
and satisfaction of soul, others dark with
the clouds Of stricken conscience and the
righteousness of disappointed hatred. Not
withstanding their varied feelings. all alike
were anxious to ply Him with questions.
Eagerly they pressed upon Him the vital
question How long wilt Thou hold us in
suspense?" literally, "How long wilt Thou
lift up. our souls?" excite us, hold us be-
I
the Christ, then tell us plainly" Such is
the inevitable question which must be
asked bv every soul when brought face to
face with the claim of Jesus to be the
Christ Of God; Was He the anointed of
God?, Was lie, "the Kings Son" who
should be called Wonderful, counselor,
the mighty God, the everlasting Father;
the Christ. or was He an imposter or a
weaklno. illusioned by the fervor of His
own enthusiasms? These questions as old
as Christianity are vital to our day and
hour. VI He is not the Christ we may he
done with Him and go our way, If He is
God" we are hound to listen TO His voice
as the voice of God, to learn His precepts
and obey.
To our question cart Thou the Christ ?''
Jesus makes answer; note His words:
Il told you, but .ye believe not" The
Immediate appeal Of Jesus was to His YER
ready He had told them that God was His
Father. that the Father had sent Him
into the world in His name, to establish
His kingdom among men, but they would
not believe. OF what use was it to tel
them that which they had already heard
and bad refused to believe? Nor was it al
together strange that His verbal attesta
tion OF His Messiahship was not readily ac
eepted. for His assertion to be one with
God was a most startling one. Men give
credence slowly to the claims of others;
they must see reasons or they will not be
lieve. Should man come to our National
Government claiming to be the Amhassa
dor of England the first thing that would
be required of him would be that he should
furnish credentials. Failing to furnish
them he would he laughed at for fool
Jesus saw that He must found His claim
on something more convincing than His
verbal attestation. He recognized the ne
cessity for proof and furnishes that proc
in His words "the works that do in nj,
Fathers name, these bear witness Of Me.
This appeal of Jesus to His works as proc
that He was the Christ requires that W.
for a moment examine them.
Strenuous efforts have been made durin;
this. the new age, to read out of the work.
of Jesus all that is supernatural and di
vine. He is unintelligible, we are told. un
less accounted for on human grounds alone
Consider, then, that when viewed in tn,
light of human action, His works wer'
beautiful and powerful beyond compare
and in themselves point to higher divine
life. The advanced thinkers of our da,
reached the conclusion that the highes
type of life is that which they call altrus
tic, i. e., life spent for others. Th,
highest personal life is realized only a
that life, forgetting self. rises above sci
and exhauses itself for others. The ethca
world rejoices in this newly found truth
Go back 1900 years and there yen will fin
One whose days were spent IN doing other
good. Follow Jesus through His ministry
and you will soon discover that you ar
following the footsteps OF the worlds on
unselish man and its greatest phianthro
pist. Every act is designed to help an
other. You seek for the least trace o