Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1913-09-18

Jesus asked the
question. what
think ye Of Christ. There must be
some reconciliation between this claim
Of reason and the text
In the nrst place We must have In
mind the person receiving the appeal
he Is unrighteous. He may be con
trastet with the wicked man referred
TO in the zane verse. blt the matter
Of his unrighteousness. or unregcn-
erateness Is the thing now TO be held
10 mind Then we must consider the
sphere OF thought The man is not
asked to forsake all his thinking. for
In SOM things his thoughts are cor
1 rect. indeed. more correct than those
Of the righteous man Those things
belong TO the unresenera;e state and
he thinks rightly on them Ministers
sometimes preach TO their congrega
tons on subjects that are not spirit
ual. and many that ars in the pewS
know far more about the subject than
the preacher. and often smile at his
Ignorance The unrizhteous man
thinks quite properly on finance. com
merce and politics. but vhen IL comes
10 spiritual things he Is out % his
realm Here the person Who may be
OF very limited intellectual attain
nents may be his instructor. The AZ
rican or Korean may know far more
OF spiritual things. because born again.
than the educated European Thus
We md that the appeal IL to the IN |
righteous person. and the sphere OF 1
thought Is the spiritual. Here is
where the unrighteous man is asked
not to think And Why
The words Of the lord. My thoughts
are not your thoughts imply that
there Is some unfavorable comparison
between the thoughts OF the lord and
those Of unregenerate man Gods
thoughts are certainly always right.
III this be true. mans thoughts are
certainly wrong When man stands
naked before God this fact viii be
demonstrated to the confusion Of nuI-
titudes.
We may also say the anrighteous
man should forsake his thoughts be
cause they have been shown to be
usually wrong That man has some
quite correct thoughts IN the spiritual
sphere may be conceded. or RESPONSE
eifity would Be tessened. but the lAx
Of hin thirking Is wrong. Hahitually /
his thoughts are wrong A conparf /
son Of mans thoughts and those OF 1
the lord as given IN the Bible clearly /
demonstrates this When Jesus vas
On earth he said TO the Pharisees that
they thought in their prayers they
should be heard for their much speak
ing that Is. a prayer % minutes
long vas twice a. good as ore ten i
minutes long The Bible declares that 4
men thought God 70 be as one OF /
themselves Simon Magus thought 1
that the Eifr OF the holy spirit could /
be had for monsy. and the apostle pro /
no1need a fearful curse on him He /
has successors IN these days Nazman
furnishes ~ an illustration Of hox
men think as 70 the conditions OF re-
demp,Ioc- He thought that the
prophet Elisha would come cut and
call ca his God and pass his hand
over the place OF the leprosy-bnt
nothing o. the kind He vas simply
Instructed By the prophet. who did rot
seem overwhelmed with the great
syrtan's ragnifeence. to dip seven
times IN the Jordan. and his fesk
should be as that OF little child
How squarely are mans thoughts on
redemption opposed TO Gods simple
requirement 20 repent and believe,
Again. as long as man is unresen-
crate he has \ principle IN him that
vitiates all right thinking on spiritual
sub!ects Here Il may be said sin
liesh AZ the door The stream cannot
be pure II the fountain Is foul. One
OF the tests OF a mans regererate
state is his changed thinking on spirit
ual subjects. He sees things differ
entity. a new world has been opened
TO him He often wonders why he
did not see things as he now sees
them His unrighteousness explains
this difieulty.
Another reason for forsakinz his
thoughts In that he is wasting time In
doing that which has already been
done. even eoneedins that he thinks
rightly. One may ask in wonder. an
I not to think this religious problem
out for myself No II has already
been thought cut. and the record is in
the Bible Some one may say this In
Inmates ready thinking. and
reAdy-nade things are TO be suspect
ed We DO not suspect a suit Of
clothes ready TO be put on II pur-
chased at q reputable store. nor a
piece OF furniture. nor prepared foods
This II an age Of ready-nade things.
and n ve have the guaranty that the
naker II reliable ne nay be content
God has thought all these things out.
No man could have done H. No man
ever evolved anything that even init
mated -. way Of redemption through
q substitute such a. Jesus Christ Is
proclaimed 70 be There is not a
thing about sin. redemption. or mans
origin. nature. possibilities. destiny
that 10 not clearly proclaimed In the
Bfbre Let man take Gods thfnkiux