HIS TEACHING

The Teacher.-The test.-Into court.-The Teacher's claim. The documents. Oral testimony.-Personal experience.-Summing up.

The Teacher.-One of the greatest discourses of Christ, in which he clearly stated the authority of his teaching, was that given in the seventh chapter of John's Gospel. He was speaking in the Porch of the Temple to a company of people divided in opinion concerning him. There were some who believed that his teaching was true and that he was what he claimed to be. There were others, including the Scribes and Pharisees, who were so opposed to him that they were even then plotting his death. The Teacher himself put the case calmly and dispassionately before them, on this wise: "If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God."

The Teaching had to do distinctively with the way of Salvation. The method of the Teacher was exclusive; that is, he ruled out all other plans of salvation and insisted that his was the only way. It is not strange, therefore, that there was a difference of opinion among his hearers, or that there is such a difference at this day. The question involved is of vital importance. If the Teaching be

true, it is absolutely and exclusively true; if false, then the believers of the past have walked in a dream; they that have fallen asleep in Christ have perished, and we are like drowning men grasping at straws. Then the Church is a masterpiece of folly, Christendom a blot on the map of the world, the progress of these nineteen centuries a phosphorescent gleam in the blackness of darkness, life a labyrinth without a clew, and death a plunge into an unbroken night. But if the Teaching be true, what then? All other systems of so-called religion and philosophy are false, skepticism is blindness, indifference is a fatal mistake, and the rejection of Christ is the unpardonable sin.

The test proposed by the Teacher as to his Teaching is an eminently fair one. It is in fact a proposition to submit the question to a jury. The sole qualification of service on this jury is that a man shall be "willing to do God's will," that is, he must be in accord with the mind of God. As God is truth, this is equivalent to saying that he must be willing to see the truth and follow it. He must disabuse his mind of prejudice. One who is self-opinionated is never willing to do the divine will. One must be ready to go wherever the evidence leads him. It was one of the wise sayings of Aristotle that "the mind's eye is not capable of right judgment unless it be virtuous," that is, unless it be in line with truth, which is the mind of God.

Into court. It is our present purpose to bring the Teaching into court in pursuance of this proposition of the Teacher, and submit the evidence to a jury of fair-minded men. The one thing necessary is that which applies in the empaneling of any jury; to wit, the decks shall be cleared of prejudice. Otherwise, to proceed with the argument would be as hopeless as was Galileo's attempt to prove the existence of the moons of Jupiter to a body of inquisitors, who refused to look through his telescope for fear they should have no case against him.

We want a jury of "honest doubters." Let there be no mistake at this point, however, for many a man who thinks himself an "honest doubter" is in fact a stubborn unbeliever. It has been said that "doubt is the agony of a noble soul or the frivolity of a fool." An honest doubter is one who, realizing the importance of the issue, rests not day nor night until he arrives at the truth concerning it. He puts away all preconceptions and, with a clear conscience and a single purpose, addresses himself to the problem in hand. He seeks no neutral ground. As to the Teacher and his Teaching, he perceives that there is only one alternative; either to receive Christ at his word, in which case he will forthwith close in with his overtures and devote his life to him; or else to reject him outright as a self-deluded fanatic or a willful impostor, unworthy of faith or confidence. "How long go ye limping between the two sides? If Jehovah

be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him."

Is the reader thus prepared to canvass the evidence? Is his mind free from bias and open to conviction? If not, he is peremptorily challenged; because no amount of knowledge or scholarship can entitle him to pass upon the merits of the case. If, however, he is sure of his willingness to do the will of God in the serious quest of truth, he is competent to hear the evidence which is now to be submitted and to pass upon it.

The Teacher's claim.-It will be proper to enter the claim of the Teacher himself as to the Teaching.

He says that he came from the glory which he had with the Father before the world was, to suffer and die vicariously in the behalf of sinful men, to the end that salvation might be assured to all who believe in him.

This claim must stand upon its own merits. It is not enough to reply, as the Pharisees did, that the Teacher is a mere carpenter, unfamiliar with the terminology of the schools. What difference does that make, if the Teaching be true? It is related of John Williams, of Raratonga, that, hearing on one of his missionary tours that an attack was meditated upon his home, he sent a message in all haste. Not having any writing materials at hand, he wrote with charcoal on a chip the word "Danger!" and sent it by a swift runner to his

wife. Was not that warning as true and valid as if it had been embossed on parchment? So, here, the question as to the Teaching of Jesus must be determined on its own merits; and with this understanding it is offered as evidence in the case.

The documents.-We desire to enter, also, a mass of documentary evidence of three sorts, to wit:

Exhibit A.-The Bible.

And, though we believe the Bible to be inspired and therefore true from beginning to end, we do not for the moment insist on that view, but are willing to waive it. All that we ask is that the Bible shall be regarded with the same respect as other "literature." It consists of two volumes; one of which, the Old Testament, is full of the testimony of prophets who were looking forward to the coming of Christ; and the other, the New Testament, of the testimony of the apostles concerning Him. These apostles profess to have been eye-witnesses of the incidents which they relate and to have heard the Teachings from the lips of the Teacher himself. "That which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the word of life (and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare unto you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us): that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also."