Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-05-01

His sermon follows IN part:
This was a daring thing for Heze-
kiah to do. He may have had the
support of a few of the prophets in
this action. but the great mass of the
people would have been against him.
authority. All of the law was dated
back TO him. No American dares to
set himself in direct opposition to the
memory of Lincoln or Washington. But
if we could assemble all of our patri-
OTIS in n great personality it would
be a. easy to defy him. as it would
be for a Jew to upset any custom or
institution which owed its origin TO
Moses. Yet this is exactly what Heze-
kiah did. If he had been a peasant.
he would have been stoned to death.
But. fortunately, he was a king and
suffered no i'll effects from his daring
deed of heresy. In fact we are told
by the scripture that he was the most
righteous king since the days of David.
And thus. there is put by the Bible the
stamp of divine approval upon one who
would fulfill every definition of a
hereto.
Mar Is Changing
The work of Hezekiah is an elo-
quent Illustration of the need of every
0Ht " tt<oSt Hith VIM atN hiV W
their own generation as heretics and by
future generations as prophets. Their
work is necessary because they are the
only assurance that there will be any
progress in religion. 1t may be said
that there is no necessity of making
any advance in religion, and perhaps
this is after all the real issue. Reli-
gion has been given once and for all.
we are told. Christ is the same yes
terday. and today. yea, and forever
This is perfectly true. But. although
Christ is the same. mar is not. The
men who were the disciples of Jesus
had every opportunity which could pos
sibly come TO anyone to understand
every aspect of the life of Jesus. And
vet they could not understand him. as
the record of his life which comes from
their own hands will show. Again and
again Christ had to rebuke them for
their lack of understanding. They
record this fact themselves with the
greatest frankness. They saw Him al
ways in q cloud, and there is no testi-
mony either from their lips or His that
this cloud ever cleared away Yet even
though they could not understand, their
inspired hands have left for posterity
the record of the life and character of
that Master of men.
ITO each of us is given the great
privilege of going to that record TO see
if We can bring the Christ out of the
clouds. Some prefer to go with every
thought carefully guided by some insti-
tuition or authority. Others who see
the inability of even the disciples to
understand Jesus, are not willing TO
trust as their sole and absolute guide
those who have not enjoyed the ad-
vantages which the disciples had. These
men feel that every resource of wisdom
and prayer must be brought to bear to
get a clearer understanding of the
Light of the world.
Conception Has Grown
They lay no claims to a complete
understanding Of the character of
Seeing the inability Of those
who have stood physically and spiritu-
ally nearer the Master. than has been
their privilege, they are humble. Yet
do feel that they know more
about Jesus than men did a hundred
years ago: When they view the pic
lures of the artists of that day which
the Christ, they turn from
them in disappointment with the in
ward conviction. No, that is not Jesus.
it is not as great, not as Cody as He
When they read the literature
of this age with its portrayal of Jesus
they say. No that is Him. All read
books other than the Bible to help US
understand Jesus. but I wonder how
many 60 TO sources which are a thou
sand or even a hundred years old. Our
speak louder than our words.
The world knows more today about the
character of Jesus than IL ever did.
He is the same but our conception Of
Him has grown. This is what l mean
by progress in religion.
~rhis progress is made possible
partially by the hereto. He is a rest
Iess soul who can not be content with
the current conceptions il he feels
hat they do not do justice to the
Of Christ and Christianity. Hes