The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1910-08-18
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
REV. JOHN HOWARD MEllSti.
Theme: Jesus the Teacher.

brooklyn, N. f.-The Rev. John
| Howard Melish. rector of the Church
OF the Holy Trinity, preached Sunday
morning on Jesus the Teacher" He
took his text from st. Matthew 7:29,
He taught them as one having au-
thority and not as the scribes." Mr..
Melish said:
There are two famous books In the
English language which deal with
men and vocations of influence and
leading in the life of the race
Carlyle's Heroes and Hero Worship"
and Emerson's Representative
Men,. In the judgment Of one great
American thinker the professions,
vocatfons or activities which have
counted most, by reason of the men
who have filled them. are the philoso-
pher, the mystic, the skeptic, the
poet, the man Of the world and the
writer. To these tasks or callings
Carlyle adds, what he calls the divin-
ity, the prophet and the priest. 1t is
the omission in this list Of representa-
tive heroes which is significant; every
great calling has its representative
except teaching. The teacher is not
classed, by those thinkers, among
poets, philosophers, warriors as
worthy OF hero worship.
1t Is difficult sometimes to distin-
guish between the teacher and the
poet or writer, for the great artist
mas always taught. And yet the poet
Is primarily the artist and secondarily
the teacher; whereas the teacher uses
the beauty Of form only as a means
or lmparting his teaching. Bjornson,
whose death the world laments, was
IN the words Of an admirer, first of
Ill a teacher and fighter and prophet
not shaper Of beautiful forms
10 him the form was always subordi-
aate to the spirit. art to life" The
arst concern OF the teacher is truth.
and the passion Of his soul is to i'm
part 1t to his fellows. AS the ambas-
sador of truth the teacher has played
part in history which, I believe. is
Tar more influential than any of the
vocations In the list OF Carlyle and
emerson. Who Ia the most powerful
lnnuence In China to-day and has
been for twenty-five centuries? A
Rumble teacher by the name of Con-
tucius. who taught few disciples the
i've relationships Of life. Over the
lives OF 1ndia's millions who holds.
after countless generations, widest
sway, but Guiana Buddha, a teacher
VINO gathered about him a few scho-
lars and taught them the way to Mir
vana? Warriors reshape kingdoms.
but are themselves merely names to
the next generation, philosophers
reach a few inteliects only, poets are
honored, and little read. But teach
ers, great teachers, have entered into
the lives of individuals and civiliza-
tions and endure.
In the gospels Jesus is ALWAYS
called the Teacher In the King
James version the title master is the
incorrect translation of the Greek
uldaokalos (didaskalos), and the re-
Vlsed version has rightly changed this
word to teacher. Jesus was recoe-
nized in His day as a Teacher and
was so addressed by His contempora-
ries.
Our generation is eager to know
the Jesus Of history, as no century be-
lore us has been. Back to Jesus
may be taken as the motto Of the
modern historical Bible study. We
are not interested primarily in the
problems Of theology which have con-
sumed the thought OF other centuries.
we do. not deny what the past has
thought and written about the person
o. Jesus Christ, Logos, Hypostasis.
atoning sacrifice. But the thought of
our day largely ignores 1t and feels
that the effort to define His person
ality has been misdirected. About
the person OF Christ we believe with
ITennyson:
Thou seemest human and divine.
he highest, holiest manhood Thou;
Our wills are ours, we know not how
Our wills are ours, to make them Thine
But what interests our generation
deeply and profoundly Is what Jesus
thought. His outlook on life and So
ciety, His attitude toward the uni
verse, His method of meeting the
storms and vicissitudes of life, His
purpose and hope for the world. His.
TO use the title Of DR.. McClelland's g
hook-whfch l commend to all of
J ,u as one Of the most genuinely
,Clristian books of the day, a study
OF which will lead you nearer to
Christ and give you a deeper and
more intelligent faith in Him-the
Mind Of Christ" which interests
earnest and thoughtful men and
women to-day.
Wherein lay the authority OF Jesus
as a teacher?
! Ihere are those who say that in
terest In the teaching of Jesus de-
pends upon faith in the doctrine
about His person, that were 1t not for
the church's insistence on the dogma
OF His divinity the world would not
be concerned about His mind. But
such men overlook one thing-it was
the common people who heard Him
and recognized the authority with
He taught. What knowledge had the
multitude of the church's doctrines?
1t was that indefnable moral. spir-
itual and intellectual power of per-
sonality, which men instinctively rec
ognize and to which they invariably
submit unless preiudice mr. feor ~