The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1911-12-14
Jesus Was Poet of
Human Soul
By Rev. J. EDWARD KIRBYE
Pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church.
Des Msines, Iowa

been called the poet of the soul This
has been said of him because he
analyses, sees deeply, feels intensely,
loves romantically and interprets
wisely; but | am sure that Jesus
Christ is a greater poet of the human
soul. l 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 a
great deal of meaning in it. He knew
God more intensely than others He
may have lacked education. He may
have associated with the schools in
Jerusalem and imbibed 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
solution to its problems. He reveals
to man the heart of the divine.
He is not a philosopher in the ordi-
nary acceptance of this term. A phil
osopher is one who is skilled in So
phistly, in science, one who looks up
on reason as the infallible guide who
schools himself to think and practice
only al the dictates of cool reason.
That is the meaning of the word phil
0sOphy. Jesus did not forsake his
reason, but in the sense that We I'M
derstand philosophy. He 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
were highways of progress out and
beyond the reaches of the stole cpl
curean philosophy of his day and he
challenged these to an intellectual
combat. You cannot fail to see his
underlying principles in this sermon.
He had thought them out carefully,
had seen them in their relations and
believed fully on their wisdom and
practiCability.
Jesus is not a scientist A scientist
is one who amasses knowledge, Sc
verely tests it, co-ordinates and syste-
matiZes it, until he reduces it to an
accuracy. especially with reference
to the laws of nature. He is not par
ticularly interested in humanity, ex-
cepting as this humanity serves his
good. Jesus did not do that. He had
no laboratory, made no experimental
tests.
His only logic was truth in all its
relations, as it doomed large upon the
horizon Of his soul Jesus was the
post-thinker in Gods out-of-doors. The
human heart and men in human rela-
lions engaged his thought and atten-
ton The altruistic 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 theolOgian in the ordi-
nary acceptance of that term. nor in
the acceptance of the term as it was
known in Jerusalem in his day The
theolOgian emphasized the value of
law, the logic OF the law and the logic
OF theory. Jesus did not do that.
Jesus said very emphatically that man
was much greater than the law. and
much more important than theory;
that law was made for man and not
man for law, and out of this value he
placed upon the human soul he re-
constructed a thought of the father
hood of God, the brotherhood OF man
and the essential value of his own per
sOnality. which makes his doctrine
unique. But human interest was new
er sacrificed to the interest of a the
DRY or an ecclesiastical proposition
1t is not of Christ, then, the philos-
Opher. the teacher the scientist or the
theologian. but the Christ who was in
terested in the multitude because he
believed that he had remedies for
their ills. healing for their sicknesses
life instead of death hope instead of
sorrow. | like this thought of Mat
thew in introducing Jesus to us in this
wonderful sermon: And seeing the
multitude. he went up into a mountain"
The multitude interested him They
were upon his heart. They had left
their cares. their tasks, their ankle
ties, their chickering's and had come
to hear him