The Penn's Grove record., 1904-12-16

AsAuohoo VI tn5 AnlnKS christ Came
TO Teach the World.
NEW York CITY.-Fifth Avenue Pres
byterian Church, which is a very large
building, was filed 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 Sign and Miracle" The text was
from Matthew xii:38: "Then certain Of
the scribes and of the Pharisees answered,
saylng: Master, we would see a sign from
Thee. But He answered and said unto
them, An evil and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign; and there shall no
sign be given to it, but the sign of the pro-
phet Jonas" Mr.. Black said:
We gather from its 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
gellsts place 1t the purpose was not only
malicious, but almost insulting. Our Lord
had been in the pursuit of His bene6eent
healing ministry, had cured many suffering
men and women, and the Pharisees' expla-
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, they came with the
insulting question, Master, we would see
q sign from Thee" What sort of a sign
did they want, and what sort Of evidence
could convince them if they could attrib-
ute His healing ministry to diabolic art?
The yelled insult OF the demand is the
supercilious passing over Of all 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 p~retensions were
trustworthy.
Now there is a 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 a wrong conception of the
nature n the place of miracles. They
wanted Christ to perform some prodigy, as
Il a 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
~ni6cance. Christ's feeling as regards this
ID seen through a graphic touch recorded
~ Nv NAAAAs HAO Audt WHICH, liz
Pharisees came seeking a 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 prodi-
gies and on miracle-mongering of any kind.
There shall no sign be given unto this
generation" This attitude of our Lord,
notice, is not contradictory to the value
He elsewhere placed on miracles as evil
dnnae He n71ntod Won rornomhnr f0 His
deeds OF mercy to authenticate His claims
when, as In the case of John the Baptist,
there was a sincere desire to know the
marks of the Messiah, but His miracles
were moral acts to educate and to reveal,
not to surprise and to astonish. He knew
from sad experience that it was possible
for men to believe in the reality Of miracles
~sA n&@theS&e4iae 4se alLit& true ezi-
Dental force, ever to ascribe it to evil
powers as the Pharisees did.
There shall be no sign given to curios-
ity mongers." There can be no sign given
to those who imagine that the spiritual
can be proved by the material. Mere won
der working is no evidence of the things
whlch 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 Pharisees
cIatWEQ d RADICALLY ldlSe 1QGd VI buG NuOiC
nature and place Of the miracle and the
same mistake is possible to us, and posi-
Bile 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 If only some portent were vouch-
safed to us; if only we could see some ply
steal evidence, especially designed to con-
virsee us. We fall into the Pharisees' error
and merit their rebuke when we sigh for
49,. 11r4-4-Iz - $50 .~ x-N,Rl1
come from a celestial appearance OF from a
voice from heaven, or if we could put our
finger into the print of the nails.
To understand Christ's attitude on this
question we need to have our minds dis
abused of the idea that a 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
the Pharisees here desired. For example,
our Lords healing ministry was a great
and constant sign of the love of God, car
ryiag a revelation with as truly as any low
ing word of the Master ever did. This let's
light in upon the true way IN which to
view the whole question. Our Lords mir
acles cannot be separated from the great
revelations Of His whole life and teach
ing His words and His works are core
AdLCu4 GkC I1lIdIlCS L NJ IL JIG AOOh1Q III
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
tacled to the teaching to give It weight,
and therefore to make it creditable; not
unexplained occurrences testifying IN a
mysterious fashion to the possession of d.
vine power; they did not evidence the
teaching, they themselves are the teach
Snn 1Fhnu narahfot ~ onfrOn instead
of in words, moral and spiritual in their
effect, not evidential at all, except by the
way. They are an integral part of the rev.
elation of the love of God IN Christ Jesus
our Lord. They have an essential place in
the whole round of the Christian revela-
ton as fruits-fruits of the pity of God,
as manifestations Of the divine love and
wisdom; they are part Of the manifesto
ton of Christ; they are not guarantees of
His message as the Pharisees here meant
them, but part of the message itself, as
much evidences of Gods love as His gra-
cious, tender words are or ever could be,
therefore Christ's miracles are never to be
conceived of as mere displays of power.
He lpersistently refused from first to last
to work wonders to make men believe. 1t
is not that the demand for evidence IS
wrong, it is a natural demand that proof
should lie given of all claims, hut we must
make sure what really IS evidence. A mir
acle is in itself no proof Of a moral truth,
and a miracle can never in itself engender
spiritual faith-not if one rose from the
dead would it necessarily imply the exist.
ence of God and the souls Immortality.
Of course, it is true that every miracle was
a sign-a sign designed to induce to spirit
ual results, to lead men tc God, but. like
the teaching itself, they could find no foot
ing in the soul of man except through
spiritual susceptibility IN the man himself.
We rightly ask for evidence, but what
evidence, and evidence of what? We saw
we would believe in Christ if only we could
be convinced, but convinced how. and be-
heve what about Christ? Men have some
times asked, with an injured air, why they
could not be convinced By an unmistakabie
sign from heaven, why Christ if He should
be what He claims could not break down
by supernatural means the barriers of I'M
belief and forci5ly open the door of the
heart and find entrance? What would.
such an entrance be worth morally? A
mere. sensuous or intellectual qualification
which might come from d sign from heav-
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