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(3) The Bible is the only infallible
rule of faith and practice; we must
go to it for our authority in all relig
ious matters. The final authority in
religion is not the Church, although
that is the teaching of Roman Ca
tholicism; nor is it human reason,
although the Rationalists would have
us think so; but the final authority for
Christians in all matters of belief, and
of conduct, is to be found in the Holy
Scriptures. The exaltation of the
Church to the place of authority in
religious matters developed the un
fortunate and wretched condition of
things which prevailed through many
centuries before the Reformation.
Men did not go to the Scriptures to
discover what the will of God was,
nor what they should believe, nor how
they should conduct themselves to
ward their fellow-men; but they look
ed to the Church to tell them; and
the best Christian was the man who
yielded blind obedience to the au
thority of the Church as it was repre
sented to him in the parochial priest.
The exaltation of human reason aB
the final authority in religion has de
veloped a materialistic philosophy,
which has flowered out into the unbe
lief and selfish materialism of the
present day, and which makes religion
a matter of liumanitarianism and pa
triotism. The unspeakable condition
now prevailing in Europe is due in no
small measure to the subjection of the
authority of the Bible to that of hu
man reason. Men cannot depend upon
what they find within themselves,
either individually or in an organized
capacity, for the true statement of the
things which we should believe about
God and eternal life, or for the right
rule of conduct in our dealings with
each other. These are things which
God has made known to us in the
Holy Scriptures. If you wish to know
what to believe, and what to do, study
the Bible.
(4) The Bible is the source of com
fort in the afflictions and sorrows of
life. It is here only that we can learn
of the true character and purpose of
God ? that He Is a God of love, and
our Father, and that His will con
cerning us is always good. It is the
Bible which tells us that God "doth
not afflict willingly, nor grieve the
children of men"; It ia In the Bible
that we learn the words of Christ,
"Come unto me, all ye that labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest"; It Is here also that we learn
to "know that all things work to
gether for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according
to His purpose."
It is impossible to estimate the
value of the Bible to the human race.
We cannot conceive what a vacuum it
would make in the history of the hu
man race were the knowledge of this
book and Its influence upon men en
tirely withdrawn from human experi
ence. The Church is what it is, and
owes whatever influence it has had
for good in the world to the possession
and study of God's Word. What it
means to the individual Christian we
can only discover by talking to the
saints of God. I remember to have
heard Dr. Theodore Woolsey, ex-presi
dent of Yale College, say in a public
address that he loved the Greek New
Testament so well that he sometimes
wished that he might be able to take
it to heaven with him. What does
the Bible mean to you in your dally
life and experience?
"Holy Bible, Book Divine,
Precious Treasure, thou art mine."
Go, breathe It in the ear
Of all who doubt and fear,
And say to them,
"Be of good cheer!"
? Longfellow.
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
REVERENCE OP JESUS FOR HIS
FATHER'S HOUSE.
Jan. 28, 1917. John 2:13-22.
Golden Text: "My house shall be
called a house of prayer." ? Matt.
21:13.
One of the things to be noticed
about our Saviour's life upon earth
was the care with which he attended
all of the public services of God's
house. We frequently read of his
going to the synagogue on the Sab
bath, and he seems to have attended
all the feasts in Jerusalem during that
time. The visit by Jesus, with the
incidents connected with it, which
constitutes our lesson, was not men
tioned by any of the other gospel
writers, who gave almost nothing in
regard to the first year of our Sav
iour's public ministry. When Jesus
visited the temple on this occasion,
he found in it those who were en
gaged in merchandising. We must
remember that the term "temple" was
used In two distinct senses. One was
applied only to the temple building,
the other included all of the temple
grounds, and this is the sense in which
the term is used here. It is not prob
able that even the greedy, selfish Jews
would have allowed this business to
be transacted anywhere else about the
temple than in the court of the Gen
tiles, which was the outside court.
But that was considered holy ground.
The rabbis taught that "None could
go through the court of it (the tem
ple) with his staff and shoes and
purse, and dust upon his feet, and that
none could make of it a common thor
oughfare, or let any of his spittle fall
upon It." The animals which were
offered for sale there were to be used
in sacrifice. Many of the Jews com
ing long distances from home could
not bring their sacrifices with them,
and so they were accustomed to pur
chasing them in Jerusalem. And in
the making of money offerings it
was necessary, to use only Jewish
money. So foreign money had to be
exchanged for Jewish. This account
ed for the money changers being
there. No doubt these traders at first
carried on their business outside of
and near to the temple, but, thinking
that they could succeed better within
the temple courts, they induced the
priests in some way to permit them
to come within the sacred precincts,
no doubt paying them very liberally
for this privilege. This gave them the
opportunity of demanding exhorbitant
prices for what they had for sale.
When our Saviour saw the use to
which the temple was being put, he
naturally became very indignant.
This is one of the few times in all of
his earthly history where he showed
great Indignation or dealt with even
apparent harshness with anyone. This
is not usually classed among his mira
cles, and yet the fact that any one
man could face the multitude of trad
ers, backed as they were by the priests
and surrounded by the greater multi
tudes of people who had come to the
temple to worship, would dare to
drive out from the temple those who
were desecrating it, is one of the most
remarkable evidences of his miracu
lous power which we have given us In
all the gospel history.
Notwithstanding his indignation,
we should notice that he was so mer
ciful to those who were violating
God's law that he did not inflict upon
any of them any Iobs. He drove out
the sheep and oxen with those who
sold them, but these animals could
easily be collected and driven to other
places by their owners. The tables
of the money changers were turned
over, but even if there was money
upon them It could easily have been
gathered up again. He told those who
sold doves to carry them out, for If
he had turned them loose they could
not have been recovered.
The disciples were greatly impress
ed by his action, and they saw that it
was due to his reverence for the tem
ple, and they remembered the
prophecy from the 69th psalm which
is here quoted, and which told of his
zeal for his Father's house. The Jews
seemed to have made no effort to
prevont his carrying out his plan for
cleansing the temple, but demanded
of him his authority for doing so.
They recognized the fact that he was
right in saying that this business
should not be carried on in the sacred
precincts of the temple, but they did
not like his exercising the authority
which upset their plans, and would
deprive them of the revenue which
they were probably receiving. Jesus
did not directly reply to them, and
yet in reality claimed divine power
and right for what he had done. He
said to them: "Destroy this temple,
and in three days I will raise it up."
The Jews supposed that he referred
to the temple building and told him
that it had taken forty-six years to
erect that building. This was the
third temple that had stood on that
site, and the building of it was started
by Herod the Great about twenty
years before the birth of the Saviour,
and was not completed for many years
after his death, but it was probable
that at the time of which we are
studying building operations had tem
porarily ceased.
Jesus was not referring, as they
supposed, to the temple building, but
to his own body, the temple of his
soul, ju^t as our bodies are called tem
ples of the Holy Ghost. In this state
ment he bases his claim of being the
Messiah upon the resurrection of his
body three days after his death. That
statement does not seem to have made
much impression upon the disciples
when he uttered It, but after his res
urrection they remembered it, and so
it often was with his teachings dur
ing his public ministry. They did not
understand this meaning until after
his crucifixion. The same thing is
true today. Preaching and teaching
often seem to have no effect upon
those who hear, yet the truth finds
lodgment in the heart and will be re
membered at unexpected times, fre
quently in the far distant future, and
will be the means of awakening the
heart and conscience. There are a
great many people who say that it is
not worth while to require children to
commit to memory passages of the
Scriptures and the catechisms of the
Church which they cannot under
stand. If these truths are stored away
in the mind, the time will come when
they will understand them and when
they will prove very valuable.
Jesus' indignation contrasted with
ours. The irritation which we so of
ten feel, the exasperation which lace
rates and rends the heart, the bit
terness of which we are ashamed ?
all these were absent from Jesus' an
ger. His wrath was the hottest ever
known upon our earth, but the heart
in which it burned was sinless. Our
anger Is frequently a manifestation of
our selfishness. We become indignant
over trifles. The street car does not
stop, or somebody carelessly knocks
off our hat, or a servant disappoints
us; and we are all aflame. Our com
fort has been molested, our rights
have been entrenched upon, our dig
nity has been affronted, and we are
downright mad. Ravelings and shav
ings can set us blazing. But in the
presence of gigantic outrages perpe
trated on the helpless and the weak
some of us are as calm as a summer
morning. But men do not make us
angry unless they interfere with our
own personal affairs. If they wrong
others we will make excuses for them.
Our indignation, then, is quite dif
ferent from that of Jesus. His anger
never had its root in selfishness. When
men abused him, he was unruffled.
When they lied about him, his pulse
beat was not quicKened. When they
nailed his hands to the cross, no trace
of anger darkened in his face. His
calm Hps kept on praying, "Forgive
them, for they know not what they
do." It was when he saw his brother
men abused that his great soul rose
in wrath. The more help.'ess the per
son who was mistreated, the hotter
was the fire of his indignation. Against
rich people who imposed upon the
poor, and against clever people who
took advantage of the ignorant, and
against the strong people who mis
treated the weak, and against crafty
people who laid traps for the inno
cent, his soul blazed with a heat
which became an imperishable and
awe-inspiring memory in the apostolic
Church. ? Condensed from the "Char
acter of Jesus," by Charles E. Jef
ferson.
The great lesson to be learned from
this passage is reverence for the house
of God. There was a time when there
was a deep solemnity on the part of
the congregations as they gathered in
the house of God. They walked in
quietly and rarely spoke at all, and
then only with bated breath, and when
the service was over, they went away
quietly and solemnly to their homes.
The outward form of reverence, how
ever, is not all that is needed. Many
a man today carries his oxen and
sheep and money changing into the
house of God just as really as did
those merchants of old. When their
minds and hearts ought to be occupied
with the worship of God they are filled
with the thoughts of their business
and plans are being made which are
to be carried out during the dayB of
the week following. We once heard
of a man who said that he always en
joyed going to church Sunday morn
ing, because it gave him such a quiet
hour in which he could make the plans
for his business the next week.
"The whole transaction is a re
markable one, as exhibiting our Lord
using more physical exertion, and en
ergetic bodily action, than we see him
using at any other period of his min
istry. A word, a touch, or the reach
ing forth of a hand are the ordinary
limits of his actions. There we see
him doing no less than four things:
(1) Making the scourge; (2) driving
out the animals; (3) pouring out on
the ground the changers' money; (4)
overthrowing the tables. On no occa
sion do we find him showing such
strong outward marks of indignation,
as at the sight of the profanation of
the temple. Remembering that the
whole transaction is a striking type
of what Christ will do tu his visible
church at his second coming, we may
get some idea of the deep meaning of
that remarkable expression, "The
wrath of the Lamb." (Rev. 6:16.)
"The fact that the profane custom
which our Lord here reproved was
resumed by the Jews, and that two or
three years afterward our Lord found
the same thing going on again in the
temple, and again cast out the buyers
and sellers, ought not to be over
looked. It is a striking proof of the
desperate wickedness and fallen con
dition ot the priests and rulers of the
temple. They were deaf to all counsel
and reproof, and given over to a rep
robate mind. The difference -between
our Lord's language at the second
visit and that used at the first, ought
also to be noticed. At the first visit
he only says, 'Make not my Father's
house a house <Jf merchandise,' a place
of buying and selling. A* the second