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THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
tion ; the nation has perished, rem n an ts of it are in many lands, h u t the :lite ra tu re abides. Out of Judaism came a m ightier movement, th e emancipation of a race; th e new movement made a literatu re , we call it th e New Testa ment. Many nations had made books before Christ came; w riting was com mon, th e new lite ra tu re did no t pass th rough the stages of myth and legend; th e jiew life and tru th soon took per m an en t form in epistle, histo ry and biography. The spoken word took per m anent form . If we had visited the congregations of Christians we should have found a chest in each group con tain ing common literatu re . Among the documents were two, one w ritten by Matthew, one by Luke. These docu m ents stated th e faith of th e early C hristians concerning Christ. Christ was th e one life a t th e h e a rt of all the new literatu re . The organisation would not have k ep t th e lite ra tu re unless they had believed th e contents. The visitor to Philadelphia enters In dependence H all to look a t a document, under a glass, called th e D eclaration of Independence, ihe creed of our political fo refath ers; th e ink is slowly fading, b u t th e document has been printed m illions of times, and its statem en ts are th e commonplaces of our political thinking. These early documents were believed in th e churches, and copied widely. Matthew was a Roman taxg ath erer before Christ called him . T rained to business he knew men, could m e asu re- character, weigh evidence, was used to keeping records, and w riting. He tells th e facts th a t were of faith concerning th e b irth of Jesus. H is records con cerning th e b irth are evidently from th e lips of Joseph. Joseph was a car penter, a m iddleaged man, possibly a widower. He loved and was betrothed to Mary, a virgin of th e house of David. B etro thal was as binding as m arriage,
b u t th e b etrothed rarely met, and never w ithout company. Our unfenced con dition between th e sexes was not known, is not known in th e east. Naz areth had a bad repu tation ; “ Can any good th ing come ou t of N azareth ?” asked a man once. A little cloud, “ no la rg e r th a n a m an’s h an d ” began to gather, as in th e p rophet’s day it cov ered th e heavens, and, Joseph was in trouble. Mary w a s.w ith child. P u t yourself in his place. Day afte r day he toiled a t th e bench, puzzled, troubled, burdened. The law called for h er death by stoning, he th o u g h t to p u t h er away privily, bu t a vision and a voice bade him tak e h er to his home. A brave man, Joseph; he cared more fo r th e voice from heaven th a n for the voices of ea rth ; more for God th an gossip. Once m arried, the hiss of slander ceased, th e gabble of gossip stilled. He cast th e m antle of manhood about h er sh rink ing form and became th e legal fath e r of her child. Luke was a physician, travelled w ith P au l for years, train ed to read char acter, to study cases— medical train ing does no t fit for faith , th e body seems so real, th e soul unreal. You can trace L uke’s train in g in his Gospel, his ac count of m iracles shows his bias. L uk e’s account of the b irth is from th e wo m an’s side. As a doctor he would have the m o ther’s confidence. The doctor is th e woman’s fath e r confessor. Luke tells us w hat she told him. We have two sides of one coin. Joseph’s check endorsed by Mary. The tru th has two genders, masculine and fem inine. Some men say the sto ry is incredi ble. Credibility depends upon ability and train ing . To a blind man light is incredible, to a deaf man music, to an im pure man purity. To th e Ind ian prince it was incredible th a t a man should walk on th e w ater in America, b u t he had never seen ice. A lawyer’s plea convinces eleven men, bu t the
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