T H E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S 7. Christ being the Head of th e Body, the Church, it follows th a t the Body must be possessed w ith th e same imm ortal life as th e Head.
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8. Likeness thu s.-to -Christ in the immortal body is .the u ltim ate of re^ demption, in so far as it has been re vealed to us in the Word of God.
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Sleight and Craftiness of Skepticism
Preached in 1883 by Dr A. X. Pierson
|AUL warns the Ephesians, who had accomplished jugglers among them, to beware of men who carry th eir trickery into
Sometimes mere stress of voice helps to carry the hearer as by storm . A certain great o rator was asked, “What do you do when thought fails you?” “Walk to and fro, and ro ar w ith all my m igh t!” Skillful platform speakers sometimes bewilder people by stunning th e ir senses, or by mere animal ex citement. Positiveness ‘is sometimes the cloak not only of fallacy but of falsehood. Unm istakable uncandor and unfairness and even deliberate lies may be detected, under th e plausible assertions and de nials w ith which skeptical w ritings abound. In Gibbon's “Decline and F all” he casts doubt on the supern atu ral d ark ness th a t prevailed a t the crucifixion, because th e elder Pliny who “ devoted a whole chapter to eclipses” does not mention this strange event. I looked into Pliny, and found th a t th is whole “ chapter” consists of eighteen words, as follows: “Eclipses are sometimes very long, like th a t after Caesar’s death, when the sun was pale almost a year.” How few must have been the grounds of real objection to Christianity if a man of th e , abilities of Gibbon was driven to reso rt to falsehood in order to cast doubt upon th e accuracy of Bible history. The disciples of Pythagoras are re sponsible for a phrase, associated w ith those a rb itra ry and au tho ritativ e state ments, which are supposed to overawe the multitude by the mere sanction of
th e departm ent of m ind and morals— who do w ith th e reason, imagination and conscience w hat th e juggler does w ith the senses—makes fools of them. Sleight of hand may be innocent and amusing, because it only leads us to wonder how th e trick is done. But sleight of mind is th e devil’s own trickery— for it leads us to wrong con clusions. We embrace erro r instead of tru th , and evil instead of good. Skepticism m isleads by th e positive ness of its utterances. A positive man who makes bold assertions and em phatic denials, carries common men w ith him or before him, as th e flood of a river sweeps away ordinary ob stacles and floats light wood by the force of its volume and momentum ; or as a vessel draws smaller craft in its wake. We are all proud of our own independence; , and yet a very small portion of mankind do the thinking for all the rest. When a man, w ith an air of wisdom and sincerity, makes a posi tive assertion, though it may go against th e convictions of a life-time, we are almost insensibly drawn into concur rence, or,, a t the least, acquiesence. If, to all this, th ere be added the plausible appearance of probability, we are far more in danger of a hasty acceptance of what, afte r all, may be both unfounded and untrue.
GOSPEL (See Page 437)
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