The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-12-15
"A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE BY TIE
REV. HUGH sLAcK, M. A.

Subject: "Jesus His Own Sign and Mir
acle"-Mere Wonder Working is No
Evidence of the Things Christ Came
to Teach the World.
NEW YORK GRIFFITH Avenue Pres
byterian Church, which is a very large
building, WAS filled in every part Sunday
morning to hear the Rev. Hugh Black.
MA, associate of Dr. White in the Free
St. Georges Church. Edinburgh, Scotland.
Mr.. Black had for his subject Jesus His
Own Si~n and Miracle" The text was
from Matthew xii:3S: Then certain OF
the scribes and of the Pharisees answered,
saying: Master, We would see a sign from
Thee. But He answered and said unto
them, An evil and adulterous generation
sseketh after sign; and there shall no
phet Jonas" MIR. Black said:
We gather from it's source, as coming
from the Pharisees, that this question had
a malicious purpose to undermine the au-
thority of the new Teacher with the peo-
pie by asking from Him what He could
not or would not perform. but from the
historical connection in which the evan
gelists place it the purpose was not oniy;
malicious. bat almost insulting. Our Lord
had been in the pursuit of His benetlcent
healing ministry, had cured many suffering
men and women, and the Pharlsees' eSpia-
nation was that He had power from an
evil source; He did it, they asserted. BY
virtue of His connection with Beelzebub,
the prince of devils. And now; after this
explanation of the signs and wonders
Jesus did among men. th:y came with the
insulting question, Master, we would see
sign from Thee" What sort of sign
did they want, and what sort of evidence
could convince them if they could attrib-
ute His healing ministry to diaboic art:
Yhe veiled Insult OF the demand is the
superciiious passing over Of ali He had
been and of all He. had done, as If it did
not count and as if He must now begin to
do something of sufficient magnitude to
convince them that His pretens.ons were
trustworthy.
Now there is demand for evidence
which is legitimate, evidence which IS
necessary for the highest faith, but IN this
case, apart from the hypocrisy OF the. ques..
ton. there underlay a wrong conception of
revelation and wrong conception Of the
nature and the place of miracles. They
wanted Christ to perform some prodigy, as
If piece of woodworking could be real
evidence of spiritual things; hence: our
Lords rebuke. 1t is a religious rebuke.
God should be recognized for what He is,
and the recognition of Him should not be
dependent upon external signs, which in
themselves. after all, have no spiritual sig
nifcance Christ's feeling as regards this
Is seen through a graphic touch recorded
BY st. Mark, who writes that when the
Pharisees came seeking sign from him
Jesus sighed deeply in His spirit. 1t
showed to Him a lamentable dullness OF
soul. to think that the recognition OF the
spiritual should be made to hang on prodl-
gies and on mirac.e-mongering OF any kind.
"There shall NO sign be given unto this
generation" This attitude of our Lord,
notice, is net contradictory to the value
He elsewhere placed on miracles as evl-
denee. he pointed, you remember, to His
deeds of mercy to authenticate His claims
when, as in the case of John the Baptist,
there vas a sincere desire to know the
marks of the Messiah, bat His miracles
were moral acts to educate and to reveal,
not to surprise and to astonlsh. He knew
from sad experience that it was possible
for men to believe in the reality OF miracles
and at the same time lose all its true ev!,
Dental force, even to ascribe it to evil
powers as the Pharisses did.
"There shall be ro sign given to cnrios-
isy nongcrs." There can be no sign given
can be proved by the material. Mere won
der working is no evidence of the things
whica Jesus came to teach the world. Men
are not to be led to God. then or now
men are not to be led to God, in the sense
that Jesus meant-by displays and conjur-
ing tricks. The demand of the Pharlsees
showed radically false idea of the whole
nature and place of the miracle and the
Same mistake is possible to us; and posi-
ble to US in many ways and forms. we
make the same mistake. for example, when
we think that faith in God would be easier
to us il only some portent we're vouch'
safed to rs; if only we could see some phy-
sicaI evidence, especially designed to con-
yince us, We fall into the Pharisees' error
and merit their rebuke when we sigh for
the certitude which we imagine would
come from celestial appearance or from
voice from heaven, or if we could put our
finger into the print of the nails.
To understand Chr;st's attitude on thus
cp,estion we need to have our minds dis
abused of the idea that mere miracle IN
the sense of prodigy Is ever evidence OF
spiritual things. Some miracles are Signs
indeed, but only when there is spiritual
evidence in them; that is, when they are
more than mere wonder-working, which
the Pharisees here desired. For example,
our Lords healing ministry was great
and constant sign of the love of God, car
rying a revelation with as truly as al any lov-
ing word of the Master ever did. This lets
Iight in upon the true way in which to
view the whole question. Our Lords mir
acies cannot be separated from the great
revelations of His whole life and teach
ing. His words and His works are core
lated, the miracles are not to be looked on
as isolated exhibitions Of power, but as
themselves contributing to the revelation.
They were not signs, but vehicles OF teach
ing: They are not signs externally at
taehed to the teaching to give It weight.
and therefore to make it creditabie; not
unexplained occurrences testifying in a
mysterious fashion to the possession of di-
vine power; they did not evidence the
teaching, they themselves are the. teach;
ing. They are parallels in action instead
of ia&words, moral and spiritual in their
effect, not evidentis! at all, except by the
way. They are an integral part Of the rev.
eiation Of the leye of God in Christ Jesus
our Lord. They have an essential place in
Tic whole round of the. Christian revela-
ton as fruits-fruits of the pity of God: