abolish, but to transfigure; not to destroy, but to "Though truths in manhood darkly join, We yield all blessing to the name Of Him that made them current coin." "In Memoriam." These anticipations of the pagan writers, then, instead of detracting from Christ's originality, really attest it, being witnesses of the true Light, John i. 9. which, enlightening every man, was ever coming into the world. ly: Having thus observed, negatively, the way in 2. Affirmativewhich Jesus Christ did not teach, let us now pass to consider, affirmatively, the way in which He did teach. One word summarizes it: it is the word authority: "When Jesus had ended these sayings, the multitudes were astonished at His teaching: for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." And, first, Jesus Christ taught with the author- (a) “Authority of one who was conscious of authority. How Look at this Instruction on the Mount. intense the personality which pervades it! Six times does the untitled rabbi from Nazareth plant Himself in open opposition to the scribes, joining issue, be it observed, not with Moses, but with the official interpreters of Moses, boldly overturning the misinterpretations of centuries. Listen: "Ye have heard that it was said unto them of old time. ity" of Personality. John vi. 35. John vii. 12, 58. 6. Rev. xxii. 13. But I say unto you." Or look at His other instructions. How sublime their egotism! Yes, look at this very word 'Ey: "I am the bread of life;" "I am the light of the world;""Before Abraham was born I am; " "I am the resurrection and the life;" "I am the way and the truth and the life;" "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." How imperial the sovereignty which is stamped on every saying of His! From first to last it is a very king who speaks, conjugating all life in the active voice, the imperative mood, the present tense, the personal pronoun, the singular number. His very sayings whether in Nazareth or in Jerusalem, in a fishing-boat or on the Mount of Ascension, are decisive of destinies. The least dogmatic of all men was He; yet of all men He was the most dogmatic. Listen to the words with which Matt. vii. 24, 27. He closes this Mountain Instruction: "Whosoever John iii. 86. heareth these sayings of Mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, who built his house upon the rock; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon the rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of Mine and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it." Listen again: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." Lis 66 ten once more: Go ye into all the world, and Mark xvi. 15, 16. preach the gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned." If this is not authority, what is authority? Again: Jesus Christ taught with the authority (6) of one who deals in elementals. For, observe, let me again say, the precise pur "Author ity" of Elementals. pose for which the Son of God came into the world as teacher. He came to teach, not incidentals, but essentials; not ephemerals, but eternals; not facts, but truths. For this end was He born and for John xviii. 37. this end came He into the world, that He might bear witness unto the truth; that is to say, that He might attest the existence of unseen, elemental, eternal realities. Accordingly, how profound and radical His teachings! How utterly free from all pettiness of details-from all that is merely local and transient and incidental: e. g., He does not tell us how often to pray, or how much to give, or when to go to church, or what to do and what not to do on the Sabbath day. And yet many persons imagine that, if they could know such things as these, they would master the chief problems of the Christian life. It is a profound misconception of the teaching of Jesus Christ. No martinet disciplinarian is He, turning life into a minute and perennial drill, where all is "Faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null." No, He does not tell us what to do so much as what to be; for, if we are what we ought to be, He knows that we will do what we ought to do. He does not purify the stream of life by undertaking to purify each separate drop as it rushes along; He purifies life at its fountain. He grapples with living, immortal, transcendent issues, even the issue of a Godlike character: "Be ye perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect." Thus radical is the great Instructor's method. His teaching is more than elementary-it is elemental. His school is the world's true and everlasting seedplot, the ideal seminary. Precepts He transfigures into principles, statutes into character, rules into life. Himself the true Law-giver on the true Sinai, He transcribes the Ten Commandments from tablets of stone, writing them on tablets of heart. And so He rears an internal Sinai, whose quakings shall shake the very foundations of the soul, startling the dullest conscience, and preluding the thunder-peals of the Judgment Day. (c) "AuthorAgain: Jesus Christ taught with the authority ́ity" of Na- of one who appeals to nature. ture. Were I asked to describe, in the briefest expression possible, the method of Jesus Christ as teacher, I would answer: He was a Parable speaker. Look again at this Mountain Instruction. See how it teems with similes or parable touches: e. g., the salt of the earth, the light of the world, the Gehenna of fire, the offending eye and hand and foot, the two treasures, the lamp of the body, the birds of the air, the lilies of the field, the mote and the beam, the pearls before the swine, the knocker at the door, the two gates and two ways, the sheep's clothing, the two trees, the two buildThese are but specimens of the Lord's par ers. able method. In fact, erase from the record of Christ's sayings all He has said in form of parable and metaphor, leaving only what He taught in direct statements, and how comparatively meager the residue! And powerful are these parable touches as arguments. In fact, they are specimens of logic in its highest forms. And no wonder. If, as I believe, things on earth are shadows of things in heaven, then there are things in heaven: for the shadows prove it, just as a shadow proves the existence of the substance that casts it. This is why the Lord's appeals to nature are such peerless samples of argumentation; e. g., in this Mountain Instruction, the great Teacher wishes to convince His disciples that the heavenly Father will take care of all who put their trust in Him. How does He undertake to do this? By an oracular statement to that effect? No. By evolving an elaborate process of ratiocination? No. By an analogy from nature? Yes. "Behold the birds Matt vi. 25-80. of the air: they are not God's children; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them; or consider the lilies of the field: they are not God's children; yet your heavenly Father clotheth them; in those birds is My argument-in these lilies is My proof; for ye are God's children; most certainly then will your heavenly Father feed and clothe you." What ingenuous soul can resist the logic of such an appeal? And herein, friends, we have a hint for ourselves as teachers. Nature is our great storehouse of illustration and demonstration. Instead then of eying "science" askance, let us confidently court her alliance. Her office, as in the old days |