The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1907-03-15


inal behind iron bars wearing the con
vict's stripes. If you are conversant
with history, you know that gold went
up to a high premium during the civil
war. A short time after the civil war
a tax collector was elected for one or
the counties of Illinois. BY the law of
| that county all taxes must be collected
| in gold. This tax collector collected
all those taxes in gold, and then he paid
y the taxes into the treasury of the coun-
| ty in currency and pOcketed the dlHer-
ence. He was properly arrested as
public defaulter. The case was tried
before a competent judge and jury.
That tax collector was acquitted on
the legal technicality that the law OF
the country did not specifically state
that the tax collector was required to
pay that money into the treasury In
gold. Legally that recreant tax collect
or was an honest man, but morally he
was a thief and a swindler SO the
Pharisees by legal technicalities cir
cumvented the spirit of the Hebrew
laws. They climbed over the laws.
They crawled through the loopholes OF
the laws. They broke the laws of COG
just the same as some astute citizens
are breaking the laws of their country
today.
When the pharisaical order began to
grow, the rabbinical leaders did not
think the Bible statements of what
God wanted his people to do We're
strict enough and full enough and eX-
plicit enough in their teachings. So
these pharisaical leaders, or rabbis
year after year, century after century,
began to form a companion to the BIZ
BILE, which was not SO much common
taries of the Bible as extensions of the
Bible. They filled up their pages with
which God was sup
posed to have forgotten to tell Moses
and Joshua and jeremiah and David
and Ezekiel. Thus this Talmud is
nothing more or less than the tradi-
tons or the oral sayings of the old
pharisaical rabbs. 1t told the Jews
what kind of clothes they were to wear
on the Sabbath day, and how they
w ERE W cut lllClI uuSSI lllIlO, anu INV
they were to feed their cattle, and how
they were to unite their ropes. / am
literally speaking the truth about the
Talmud. 1t is filled with childish triv-
ialities and with the greatest amount
of unmitigated nonsense which was
ever compacted between the covers of
any book. So with our Bible today. |
The learned theOlogians have been at |
work. They have covered the leaves
with a mass of traditions. They have |
evolved out of its pages a conglomer.
ate mass of meanings which a ten
year-old child ought to have sense
enough to see are not there. And in |
stead of our opening the leaves of our !
sacred Bible and reading the simple |
parallels of Jesus Christ and interpret
ing them as they ought to be inter
Oreted we are hedging our sectarian
churches around with the sayings of
.heologians that Christ would at once
'epudate if he were upon earth. The
cardinal and essential doctrines taught
n the Bible are two-the one, man is
1 sinner; the other, Christ is a Saviour
Let us beware of traditional creeds
which should have been burned UP
ong ago in the fires of the dark ages
If sectarian strife.
Clinchine the Argument.
Now, like a carpenter driving his
lail into a board and clinching it upon
he other side, we would clinch the APP
,lications of this sermon. There are
wo truths here which we want you to
AIRY home. The one is positive; the
'ther is negative. The first is this: We
hould adopt the Bible as our only in
When you try to live that Bible, will
'Ou practice its spirit and not simply
ling to the letter of the law? , Will
on do this no matter what problems
f life you have to face? For instance,
When a man lies about you and mis-
epresents you and says all manner of
vii against you falsely, will you try to
vim that man to Jesus Christ by the
lw of love and not by the law of
ate? Will you follow the spirit of the
'ible and not the letter of the Mosaic
NV? VIII you show forgiveness to
hose who have done you a personal
ljury?
But there is a negative side to this
lbject as well as a positive. We must
OF disobey any of the commands God
as given. We must not suppose that
lie gifts we make to Christs cause or
raCpi1lar n ttnnd0nnn Of
1r Bible reading or our prayers will
over over and atone for lying, steal
lg and cheating. Sins of the social
'orld, sins OF business life and sins of
lie home must be repented of and re-
Ounced. The Pharisees were so par ,
cular about their beliefs that they
sed to have the law written on a very
nall form and compressed it into a
nall box, called phylactery, and tied
lis box as a plaster rlpOn their fore
eads and wore it as they went around :
lie street that everybody could see it. :
} there are many church members )
no make great parade of their or 7
odoxy and their Christian beliefs. +
ut they are not honest in business, !
I'd they are not true to God in their =
,me relations, and they neglect their {,
tiles to God and devote themselves =
pleasure. When you confront them =
18th the question, as that right?" 6
ey answer: "Other church members :
it. Why should not II" Are you
solutely willing to toe the mark of
tristan integrity, no matter what
her church members may do or say?
The Bible as Guide. wi
Tell me honestly are you serving Sc
ID Alright when you go to those pro F'
essive euchre parties? Are you serv- SCI