The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-07-04
BREACHES FROM
 A FAMILIAR TEXT The Rev, Quincy Ewing Delivers
 Impressive Sermon. JESUS 10 THE PHARlSEES Saying of Christ About Those Setting In Moses Seat Applied to Pres ent Day conditlons-Rebels
 Against Injustice.
JESUS TO THE PHARlSEES

At the il o'clock service at the Church of the Advent yesterday the Rev. Quincy Ewing occupied the pulpit as usual. His text was from Matt. 28l,2 and 3.
 .Then spahe Jesus to the multitude and his disciples. saying, The seribes and Pharisees sit in Moses seat; all, there fore. whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do; but do ye not after their works; for they say and do not
 The rector spoke in part as follows:
 Did you ever stop to consider what Jesus meant, how much and how nttie' when He enjoned the multitude and Ills disciples to observe and do what they were bidden by the scrioes and fhar- Isees?
 Were vou ever struck with the strange rasa of this injunction uttered by the Nazarene prophet, who was being watch cd as A dangerous rebel to the old tra- ditlons by the appointed guardians of those | traditions: whose rebellous words ana deeds were being anxiously noted ana treasured up against Him by those who sat in Moses seat?
 Have you ever reflected that this ad- vice was given to His hearers. Just as the Nazarene was on the point of hurling at l the occupants of Moses seat some or the most terrible epithets of condemna- ton and scorn that are anywhere writ down in the worlds literature?-just as IIe was on the point of flnging in their teeth, that they were fools and blind; | that they "shut up the kingdom of heav- en against men;' that they made clean the outside of the platter" leaving It | within full of extortion and excess;' that they were "outwardly righteous" but full inwardly of hypocrisy and ini- auity:" that they were "bind guides. which strained at a gnat and swallowed a camel;" that they were like unto whit ed sepulchres, s,"-beautifu without, and corruption within; that they were "ser- pents," a regeneration of vipers," com l passing heaven and earth to make one proselyte, and making him. when found, even more the child of hell than them selves?
 Pause and Consider.
 Surely, we need to pause and consider what this Nazarene prophet-this obnox- ious and at last crucihed Rebel-meant, when He told His hearers to observe and do whatsoever they were bdden by those men into whose very faces He was about to fling His awful and sumblime defiance.
 Jesus was preaching Gospel of Divine l Law and Order, not any gospel Of an- arehism based upon contempt for con- stituted authorities because they were constituted or because the characters of then. who happened to bear authority were not all they should have hebn. At the same time, He recognized what has been over and over again recognized by lesser redeemers and saviours of human fly, that the constituted guardians of law and order for the sake of human rights and righteousness, may themselves turn anarchists to the law and order they profess to guard; may themselves prove | traitors to Divine truth and justice, in order to serve truth and justice so-called and miscalled by the tongue of tyranny; | and that then no longer guardians of anything holier than their own meanness and pettiness, and selhshness, they need to be defed on the seat of Moses in the name of Moses, and driven from the sanc- | tuarles of God In the name of Godl The i injunction of Jesus casts no slightest dis credit upon the conviction, that there was never any body of men in church or state l with divine authority to deal unjustly | with an individual human sou. or to make their vision of God, right. duty the test and measure ot his. It was the ops poslte conviction that He went to His death in rebellion against; and it Is the oppDSlle CpHVlcilDn mat mas planted ana rurtured through dreary centrues tho deadly upas-tree of despotism (anarchy's other nameD which today. casts its | shadows of bale and blight over most states and over most churches
 Tracing Back.
 All the good law and all the good or- der which any state or church enjoys today may be traced back somehow, over some route to the words and deeds of men, who rebelled against the kind of law and the kind of order that they found administered by its "constituted guardians" by men who dared to appeal from the Keepers of divine truth" to divine truth itself-from the trustees of Gods" to God Himself.
 The plea of all ursurpers and tyrants klnely and priestly, since time began, has teen--"We are the possessors of heaven born prerogatiYes; We are the keepers of religions sanctities; we the interiors of a sacred tradition; we are the ap- polntees to a divine trust-we are the occupants of somebody's seat: and we must run this world the way We under stand God wants 1t run"
 1 Aye, and had they been at all times | allowed to run it. without running it against some fearless and rebelllous-per- haps malmed and manglod-sou in the way 1t would be, now, in this present time a fit abiding place only for the slufPtu dHu IuInDllnb RnOStS or reason, righteousness, justice, truth and faith in | a moral God. IL is a halfway or tenth way, or hundredth-way respectable abld- ing place for the living sanctites of ] heaven and earth. of God and man. be- cause the official guardians of make-be- lieve dead sanetties have been made to recognize again, and again, and again. 1 that one and God is majority-be that l one rebel ever so lonely and distrusted l ever so forsaken and uncomforted as he | goes to die under Gods sun, God with him, on his cross or at his stake.
 Misguided Men.
 Misguided rebels dolAJess there have been, who were, and oua mt to have been. put down; but just as. certainly there have been misguided officials who were. and ought to have been, rebelled against. Doubtless, authority may be Divine, and rebellion undiYine. Doubtless this world could not have got along so well as 1t has, without occupants for Moses seat and other seats of authority; but just as certainly would 1t have got along la mentally worse than it has. without the men who have been responsible for a good deal of uneaslness and anxiety in Moses seat and the others.
 This is the tragic paradox of human history, and human history so far does not seem disposed to explain or apologize | for 1t.
 We can only conclude that there must | he rulers, and that there must be rebels | 4or hur1auitvse welfare. raaaf-x.fnn to ot4r-