The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1912-05-14

"The Common People Heard Jesus
Gladly"
1t was the custom amongst the Jews
that lessons from the Law and the
Prophets should be read every day in
their synagogues. The people were
| thus familiar with the letter of the
| Divine Law and promises. The ma
| jority of them, Of course, were Hitter
| ate, for educational facilities were not
| what they are now. As a result only
| few claimed to have an understand
| ing of the spiritual part of the Law
and the Prophets. These were chiefly
Of the literary and wealthy classes.
| To these the common people looked
for guidance respecting the Divine
will and plan
AS an Illustration. When the com
mon people heard Jesus gladly they
were unwilling to trust their own judg-
| ments but inquired, Have any Of the
I Scribes and Pharisees believed on
| Him. Have the Doctors of the Law,
the Doctors Of Divinity, endorsed Him:
| They have made a study of these
things and we would rely more upon
| their judgment than upon our own
| But none of the Scribes and Pharisees
| endorsed Him. and hence comparative
| ly few of the people believed Him and
became His disciples
The common people were hungry for
! the Message which Jesus brought II
is recorded that they said of Jesus
| teachings, Never man spake like this
Man" The nation would have gone
over promptly to Jesus had the Scribes
| and Pharisees, the Doctors of the Law,
| set the example and given the word
| Moreover, the teachings of Jesus har-
monized the message of the Law and
| the Prophets over which the Scribes
and the Pharisees and the Sadducees
had long wrangled and disputed. Had
the Doctors of the Law been as hun
| CRY for the Truth as were the people,
undoubtedly all of their differences of
| Interpretation of the Old Testament
Scriptures would have speedily been
| solved in the light of the then present
| Truth and knowledge of God, which
was shining upon the Bible through
the Holy Spirit, Jesus and the Apostles
/ OS4uB J6uONdH
The Key of knowledge Buried.
In our text Jesus charged the Jewish
Doctors of Divinity with the response
bility Of having taken away the Key of
knowledge. refusing to use it them
selves to enter into the great apprecia
ton of the blessings then due, and hid
| ing it from the common people who
trusted them so implicitly. We charge
that the same thing is true today. Not
only were the Jewish people typical of
spiritual Israel, and their Age typical
Of this Age, and their Harvest typical
Of the Harvest or closing time of this
Age, but additionally, now as then.
Gods people perish for lack of know-
edge" (Hosea iv, g. Now. as then, the
Doctors of Divinity will not use the
Key Of knowledge themselves, to en-
ter heartily into the wonderful privi-
leges and blessings now due, and add
tionally they have buried the Key of
knowledge, hiding it from the people
under a mass of forms and ceremonies
But Is Knowledge Necessary?
In our Lords day the Jewish Doctors
Of Divinity, or Rabbis, contented them
selves with telling the people what
they should do and what they should
not do, but they did not teach the PEG
| ple-they did not help them to any un-
| derstanding of the deep meaning of the
Law and the Prophets. In our text
Jesus said to the I'D. DIS" You bind
heavy burdens on the people. grievous
to be borne" but you do not attempt to
carry those burdens yourselves.
1t is SO to this day with the Jewish
| Rahbis, as well as with other Minis
ters; for instance. minister stands as
a representative and mouthpiece OF the
church creed. which in roundabout
terms declares that whoever does not
live sanity life will suffer an eter-
nifty of torment. Is not this a griev-
GUS burden to put upon any conscien-
tious soul? Has it not caused untell-
able anguish to many of Gods true
people7 And has it not repulsed and
| driven many from God and the Bible.
thousands Of the most intelligent minds
in the world?
As the Jewish Doctors of Divinity
carried no such burdens, neither do
the Doctors of Divinity of Christen-
dom. In private they acknowledge that
they carry no such burdens In public
they give the inference that they do
not so much by positive terms as by
implication, tone and infection of
hxrk 10 e.
stand for and as representatives of the
creeds which so teach. 1t does not ex-
cuse these influential teachers for them |
to claim that in their official capacity |
they lose their personal responsibility |
and shift it upon those who made the |
creeds and those who adopted them. |
The people are no longer trusting the |
creeds. They realize that the creeds |
contain many inconsistencies, and that |
greater light is today shining from one |
page Of the Bible upon another, than |
shone in the days when those creeds |
were formulated.
The common people trust the Bible
Jesus, the Apostles and the Prophets
They know that all of the creeds of |
Christendom claim to be built upon the
inspired Record. They understand the
Scribes and Pharisees Of today, the
Doctors Of Divinity of Christendom, to
give assurances that those creeds prop
erly present the teachings of the Bible.
The creedal chains would become ropes
Of sand if all the prominent Doctors of
Divinity of Christendom came forward
and publicly renowned them, as they
nearly all do in private conversation.
1t is this matter of misleading the
people, deceiving them, that consti-
tuted the basis Of Jesus charge against
the Doctors of Divinity of old, and we
believe that His judgment is very SINH
lar today respecting the Doctors Of Di-
vinity of Christendom-"Ye have taken
away I've have hidden] the Key of
knowledge. Ye have not entered in
yourselves, and them that were enter
ing We hindered"
Christian people today are so dis
gusted with the creeds which have sep
arated them and their forefathers
into six hundred different denomina-
tons that they are quite ready to dis
card them all, and to come together as
one Church Of the Living God to study
the Bible in its own light.
Systematic key-hidng.
The Scribes and Pharisees of our day
are proving themselves to be the anti
types Of those addressed by Jesus in
our text, and have a substitute for
knowledge. Taking away the Key of
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