The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1911-11-16
Jesus Was Poet of
Human Soul
BY Rev. j. EDWARD KIRBYE
Pastor Of Plymouth Congregational Church.
Des Moines. Iowa

| Robert Browning has sometimes
been called the poet OF the soul This
has been said OF him because he
analyzes. sees deeply. feels Intensely,
loves romantically and interprets
wisely; but | am sure that Jesus
Christ is a greater poet OF the human
soul ! say poet, because there is a
distinct literary charm. an intellec.
tual height. an imaginative quality, a
wise Insight into the soul OF man. In
this message which he Is speaking.
He knew men. and that statement
from one Of the sacred writer's has q
great deal OF meaning in 1t. He knew
God more intensely than others. He
may have lacked education He may
have associated with the schools in
Jerusalem and imbbed their culture,
but no one ever emphasized more
deeply, felt more intensely. inter.
preted more wisely than did Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ Is analyst OF
the moods OF the soul and offers a
solution to It's problems. lie reveals
to man the heart OF the divine.
lie Is not philosopher In the ordi
nary acceptance of this term. A phil
osopEer IS one who Is skilled In so
phistIy. In science. one who looks up
on reason as the infallible guide, who
schools himself to think and practice
only at the dictates OF cool reason
That Is the meaning OF the word phil
osophy Jesus did not forsake his
reason, but in the sense that we un.
derstand philosophy. lie did not aim
at this achievement but he did be
lieye that he saw the moods OF the
soul OF man and believed that there
we're highways OF progress out and
beyond the reaches of the stole epi
curean philosophy OF his day and he
challenged these to an intellectual
combat. You cannot fail to see his
underlying principles in this sermon.
lie had thought them out carefully,
had seen them In their relations and
believed fully on their wisdom and
practlcability.
''9Ao - hpA a hNAtuAlhAs - FNItIilNN
Is one who amasses knowledge. Sc
verely tests II. co-ordinates and syste
matizes IT, until he reduces II to an
accuracy. especially with reference
to the laws OF nature. lie is not par
ticularly interested In humanity. ex.
cepting as this humanity serves his
good. Jesus did not do that lie had |
no laboratory. made no experimental
tests.
His only logic was truth In all its
relations. as II loomed large upon the
horizon Of his soul Jesus was the
post-thlnker in Gods out-ot-doors. The
human heart and men in human rela
lions engaged his thought and atten
tion. The altrulstic motive was al
ways uppermost. And yet while Jesus
was not distinctly a scientist. his
psychology Is In harmony with the
most modern interpretations of the
moods OF the human mind. and some
OF the principles OF modern pedagogy
are very forcibly expressed In the
sermon on the mount
Jesus is not a theOloglan in the ordl
nary acceptance Of that term. nor In
the acceptance Of the term as It was
known In Jerusalem In his day The
iheoIogian emphasized the value OF
law, the logic of the law and the logic
lf theory. Jesus did not do that.
lesus said very emphaticaily that man
was much greater than the law. and
much more important. than theory:
hat law was made for man and not
nan for law, and out OF this value he
placed upon the human soul he re ,,
constructed thought of the father
rood Of God, the brotherhood OF man
md the essential value Of his own per ,,
onallty, which makes his doctrine
IniQue But human interest was new
y sacrificed to the interest of a the /.
,ry or an ecclesiastical proposition. ,
Il is not of Christ, then. the phIlos. -,
pher, the teacher, the scientist or the
heologian, but the Christ who was I'm.
crested in the multitude because he
relieved that he had remedies for ;
heir Ills, healing for their sicknesses, =
lie instead Of death hope instead OF /,
orrow | like this thought of Mat.
hew in introducing Jesus to us In this
wonderful sermon; And seeing the
multitude he went up into a mountain"
he multitude interested him. They !.
'ere upon his heart They had left =
heir cares, their tasks, their anxe. =.
les, their chickering's and had come 4,
0 hear him. =