Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-02

For He taught them as one having au-
thority. and not as the Scribes.' Matthew
vii %; Mark i:22
Our earth Is full OF witnesses OF Him
who taught as no other man taught and
by whom glorious results have been achiev-
ed and they will not cease to multiply.
From millions OF hearts continually rises
the same grand and glorious confession
that was uttered in the earliest Christian
time. and has come ringing down through
the ages. and infidelity might as well try
to evaporate the ocean or extinguish the
sum- as to silence His teachings.
If we take up the writings OF man We
find many points upon which he speaks
with diff1dence He is not certain of the
| soundness Of his own statements. The
wisest and most careful Of teachers are
| often compelled to review. to modify. to
change what they have taught or written.
With what sense of relief do we turn to
the clear, calm utterances of both Matthew
| and Mark when they say, He taught them
] as one having authority"
While His teachings do not refuse the
exercise of the understanding, neither dis
/ card investigation. yet 1t calls with more
ardent motives to purity of principle, de-
| votedness Of mind, lively emotions and use
/ full exertions than insists on pursuits OF
mere speculative notions or knowledge
which does not at all interest the feelings
! or impress the heart. 1t does so In such
passages the following: Come unto
me all we that labor and are heavy laden
and I will give you rest" IF We know
these things. happy are ye If ye do them.
Christ in you the hope of glory He eff
fectually worketh in them that believe"
IF any man will do His WILL he shall
know of the doctrine whether 1t be of God,
or whether 1 speak of myself" Il
know whom I have believed, and am per-
suaded that He is able to keep that which
I have committed unto Him against that
day." "He that believeth hath the wit
ness In himself"
Thus does His teachings appeal to our
experience. 1t is not something foreign
and distant for US which we are incapable
Of demonstrating, as. for example. the won
ders OF the armament. which the astron-
omer only. with his strongly aided vision,
can inspect and which we are to receive,
II received at ALL his statement and
report. But 1t is truth which comes home
to our business and bosoms." 1t stands at
the door and knocks. saying: IF any man
hear my voice, and open unto me, will
come in and sup with him, and he with
me-" 1t asks us to try it for ourselves,
and not rely on mere speculation concern
| ing it. 1t expects us, of course, to be in
| fuenced by it's external evidence, but it has
! deeper recess of the temple which it
wishes us to enter.
1t is on this experimental evidence that
| the great multitude of Christians receive
| the teaching, because He taught with au-
! thority and not as the scribes. They may
be unlearned, and can make no appeal to
| history and to science for a witness from
| the records of the earth and its inhabitants
| that the Bible came rom God yet they can
| travel into the world which lies within
| themselves, and gather from what has been
| transacted there and experienced there, a
mighter testimony than was ever wrung
| from external evidences. 1t is no theory
| with them concerning the teachings of the
| Christ. 1t is no speculation that His teach
ing offers remedy for those moral disorders
| which sin has fastened the creature.
They have not merely heard His teachings.
but felt them as well. Hence it is that
however fiercely may be the assault by in
fidelity, and however unable they may be
to expose the hollowness and demonstrate
the fallacy of it's reasoning. still they are
not more shaken from their faith through
want of acquaintance with the evidences of
His teachings than If they were equipped
with all the armor of truth which has been
heaped together by the learned of earth.
They do not need such armor. They are
Independent of it. The more than human
knowledge which the Bible displays of the
most secret workings of the heart, and the
marvellous and unerring precision with
which the provisions the gospel adapt them
selves to the known wants and disabilities
of our nature-these and the like evidences
of the divine original of the Scriptures first
led them to search the word OF life in
humility, and listen through it for mes
sage of God. Then came conviction
from Gods spirit that they were sinners
then came the anxious inquiry: What
must 1 do to be saved?'-then came an
understanding of the gospel method of
salvation-then they saw that the atone
ment of Christ is sufficient to satisfy all the
demands of law and justice-then saw they
before them door set wide open, through
which they were invited to enter, and be
reconciled to God, assured that the num-
Der of their sins would be no barrier to the
exercise of mercy-then perceived they a
divine glory shining in the face of Jesus
Christ, which attracted them and occu-
pied their thoughts, that they forgot them
selves-then were they absorbed In the con-
temptation of the wisdom the love, the JUS
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