The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-08-14
REV. DR. BALLS BREACHES
'"WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? WHOSE SON IS HEP" HIS TEXT.

Man is Made by What He. Thinks
 About -WhO Can Master His
 Thoughts .-Christ and the Parisees
 The Question is a Vital One-AII
 Must Answer It-Much Hangs on the Answer.
 The United church on the green was yesterday filled to its capacity with people who came to hear the preaching of Rev. Dr. Charles T. Baylis, of Brook lyn, N. Y. His text was: Now, while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is He?"-Matthew 22:42. Dr. Baylis said:
 Man is not only ruled by the thought, but is made by what he thinks about What think ye? With what ] lightning rapidity thoughts rusl through the mind. Even while We would be quiet listeners to-day, we will have the greatest variety of thoughts chasing each other in rapid succession | through the mind.
 Some men, and, it is reported, some women, too, have already got the mas tery over the unruly member, but who | is there who has got the mastery over their own thoughts? In all of the re- l ligious life of to-day there is much of intellectualism, where mind, not heart, gives assent to the proposition concern l ing the Christ. Men who are ever ready to declare Him the Son of God; ready to assert that He is mans Saw -four, but who stand aloof when they are asked to go far enough to call Him Master and to own Him Lord. Many there are who stand ready to reason ot righteousness and of a possible judg- ment to come, but when urged to maks preparation for that day are not ready | to make the sacrifice. 1 do not deplore this to the extent that would have any less of intellectualism, but that would have more heart in all this matter.
 When Jesus came to earth the first to reject Him were the Pharisees and Sadducees, and they maintained this attitude toward Him until the close of His ministry. No thoughtful reader of the New Testament can have failed tc have noticed the points of difference between the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the teaching of Jesus. When He forgave so many of their sins they asked, Who can do suct a thing but God?' When He sat al meat with the publicans and the sin ners they reproved Him because. He was not aesthetic enough. When He seemed indifferent to their ideas of tht
 Sabbath they affirmed that. He was il league with the Beelzebubs. They seem
 ed to be ever on the alert, not only t lcriticise, but to find fault with, His
 teachings; and as the months increased I their hostility increased yet more and Imore. They put questions to Him about ihoW to inherit the life eternal; in tht
 lesson of to-day they asked Him as tt paying tribute to Caesar and as tC
 which was the greatest commandment
 They taxed their skill and ingenuity il their attempts to entrap the Master fl their speech, and He, in turn, showed
 remarkable skill in evading their ques
 tions or in turning the answer into lquestion for them to answer.
 1 Tt is out of just such embarrassing
 experiences that we get out text to-day The Pharisees hated Jesus because Ht
 seemed to be opposed to all their cher
 ished ideas and customs; and Jesu
 seemed to act as if the opposition be
 tween them was an essential thing
 With what directness and severity h. larranged them as hypocrites and a'
 hited sepulchrss; the offspring of viperi
 and serpents, and called them blint
 guides leading the blind into the ditch He was not slow to recognize their off cial capacity, but He also urged mel
 to abstain from following their teach
 ing. There were among those of Israe who looked for the promised Messiah
 They were among the first to discredi
 Jesus as the fulfillment of that proph ecy. presume no more subtle question
 could have been propounded than tn
 one in my text. It rose entirely abov the academic and at once became
 matter of very vital importance ant
 put the questioning Pharisees upon tn defensive.
 ''The question asked by Jesus is very vital one still. If it were aske,
 to-day I am sure that there would b
 as much diversity in the answers givel
 as Ehere existed while He lived upol
 the earth. I presume that you are a , aware that there is strong tendenc in these days to return to things of for , mer days and teaching, too. In poetr it is back to Homer and the masters c those days of the intellectual splendo , of Greece. When you enter the realr of the speculative and mysterious yo i, are at once urged to study Kant, tn , master philosopher of all times. Jus | as soon as you enter the realm of relig ious experience, or even in speculation , you are at once urged to go back t Christ. It is much more common fo men of every walg of life to call Hir
 Lord to-day than it has ever been i the whole worlds history.
 When you propound this questio you must of course expect that all wi not be ready to admit all you now be
 lieve. That would be too much to for
 for. When you approach the world historian you have a man who is read Ito admit all the facts about Chris who while perfectly familiar with Hi
 birth, His life, His death, too, for ths matter, is not ready to go further tha l acknowledge Him as a great philoso