The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1910-08-12
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
REV. JOHN HOWARD MElISH.
Theme: Jesus the Teacher.

There are two famous o III 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 n great
American thinker the professions,
vocations or activities which have
counted most, by reason of the men
who have filled them, r 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 diyin-
ity, the prophet and the priest. 1t is
the omission in this list of representa-
tive heroes which is significant; every
great calling has it's 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
has 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
of imparting his teaching. Bjornson,
whose death the world laments, was
in the words of an admirer, first of
all a teacher and fighter and prophet
not a shaper of beautiful forms.
To him the form was always subordi-
nate to the spirit, art to life" The
first concern of the teacher is truth,
and the passion of his soul is to i'm
part it to his fellows. AS the ambas-
sador of truth the teacher has played
a part in history which, l believe, Is
far more influential than any of the
vocations in the list otxCarlyle and;
Emerson. Who is the most powerful
influence in China to-day and has
been for twenty-five centuries? A
humble teacher by the name of Con-
fucius, who taught a few disciples the
five relationships of life. Over the
lives of midas millions who holds,
after countless generations, widest
sway, but Guiana Buddha, a teacher
who 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 intellects 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
didaokalos (didaska1os), and the re-
uicn6 u0rCinn h oc ri0hf1u oh onnn This
word to teacher. Jesus was recog-
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-
fore 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
u day largely ignores it and feels
that the effort to define His person.
ality has been misdirected. About
the person of Christ we believe with
Tennyson:
Thou seemest human and divine,
The highest, hottest 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.. McCIelland's
book-which l commend to all of
you as one of the most genuinely
Christian books of the day, a study
of which will lead you nearer to
Christ and give you a deeper and
Mind of Christ" which interests
women to-day.
Wherein lay the authority of Jesus
as a teacher?
terest in the teaching of Jesus de-
ponds upon faith in the doctrine
about His person, hat were it 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 prejudice or fear or
passion hold them back, which consti-
tuted His authority. In the gospels
of this day is to be found that person.
ality, and m%ultitudes still recognize
it. Rather it is this which gives what
life may still be found in any dogma
of the church.
Others find the seat of Christ's au-
thority in the truth of what He
taught.
There are those who say with The
odore Parker, the centennial of
whose birth we honor, the truths of
Christ are true whether He taught
them or Pontius PLATE. But the
multitude who heard the Teacher was
so impressed not so much by the
truth of His teaching as by His con-
trast to the scribes. They were Off
cial teachers whose authority depend
ed on their orders; there appears to
have been a very careful discipline OF
ordinations among the Jews which
curiously resemble that of the Chris
ton Church" But He had received
no ordination at the hands of three
recognized authorities. with the use
of the regular formula; His author
ity was not official, but moral and
spiritual. AS He told Rabbi Nico-
demus, 1--WE speak that we do know,
and bear witness of that we have
SEEN" 1t was not so much, there
fore, the truth of His words-the
scribes also uttered many beautiful
truths-as the way in which He gave
His truths that indefinable way which
springs from first-hand, original ex-
p%erience and gertrude, that i'm
pressed the multitude. 1t was the
teacher Himself, primarily, and the
teaching s~econdarily, which consti-
tuted the authority of Jesus.
One of the most inspiring things
to-day in III modern thought is the
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