LESSON XLII THE LIFE OF CHRIST A MAN BLIND TO A BEAM OF WOOD PERCEIVES A SPLINTER Notes. Matthew VII, 1-5; VI, 12; Luke VI, 31; 37-38; 41-42. 1. Harsh judgments are condemned. We are not our neighbor's judges, and God will deal with us as we deal with our neighbor. 2. The mote was a small splinter of wood. The meaning is: Why should we see a small defect in our neighbor and pay no heed to a defect as large and as heavy as a beam of wood in ourselves? Be magnanimous in spiritual as well as in material giving, but not foolishly prodigal in either. DOCTRINE THE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF CHRIST'S CHURCH 289. We have proved that Christ Himself established a teaching-body which was to teach men infallibly and rule and sanctify them in accord with that teaching. We have proved also that Christ established a unifying principle in this organization by appointing Peter the Primate, with full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the universal Church. We have indicated that on historical evidence the Bishop of Rome is the successor of Peter in the Primacy, and therefore that the Church of which he is Primate is Christ's Church. 290. We might here consider more thoroughly the historical evidence that the Bishop of Rome is Peter's successor, and take the Church of which the Bishop of Rome is head and study its nature and characteristics. But it seems better from the scientific standpoint to study the Church for further marks which will lead us to identify it today. 291. We are not, therefore, supposing that any one of the many Churches claiming to be Christ's is really His. We have indeed discovered a great characteristic of Christ's Church which must be in existence today, namely, the Primacy. We have also indicated who that Primate is. But we wish to inquire further into the nature and characteristics of Christ's Church in order to discover other marks which will lead to a fuller identification of the Church today. We have so far, as it were, indicated one numeral of a houseaddress, a very significant numeral, it is true, and one by which we can undoubtedly and without any danger of a mistake find the building which Christ called "MY Church." This would be like finding a house which has only one numeral in its address. To find that one numeral would be sufficient. 292. But when Christ established His Church, He established an institution with many perfections. These perfections, of course, depend on the will of Christ. We are not allowed to imagine on our own account a Church, no matter how perfect and ideal it may be, and then call it the Church of Christ. It would be one of our own imagining, a creature of our own brains, and not Christ's Church. We must, then, investigate the perfections which are necessary and essential properties of Christ's Church and put in that Church by Christ and nobody else. We cannot omit even one perfection which Christ wished to be in His Church. We are inquiring into all the necessary, all the essential perfections, and it is our purpose here to find, by an analysis of the organization which Christ established, what these perfections are. When we have discovered them, we can add them to the one already indicated, prove this one completely, and then look around us on all the various Churches of today to see which one possesses all these perfections. Then with all the numerals which Christ Himself erected, and into which we must go if we are to follow Christ. TEST QUESTIONS 1. Sum up the argument thus far. 2. What great characteristic of Christ's Church have we already discovered? 3. Why do we look for other characteristics? 4. Why cannot we on our own account assign certain characteristics to Christ's Church? 5. How are we going to find these perfections or characteristics of Christ's Church? LESSON XLIII THE LIFE OF CHRIST THE GATE AND THE WAY OF LIFE Notes. Matthew VII, 13-23; Luke VI, 39-46; XIII, 24-30. 1. Few find the gate and the way of life because of their own negligence in following the light that leads to them. 2. Our Lord warns against false teachers or guides to the way and gate of life. They are blind and lead the blind, and both will go into the ditch. This warning is very applicable nowadays when all kinds of new fads and theories are being propounded, catching many of the unwary. Just why every foolish doctrine should have its followers is a puzzle, but it is permitted to suspect that ends are attained other than those proposed in honeyed language. By their fruits you shall know them. 3. Our Lord shows that mere utterance of His name, even miracles and prophecies, are in themselves insufficient to enter heaven. Believe, obey, and do. Lip-belief, selfishness, and satanic deeds will certainly get us nowhere on the way of life. Judas is a good example of one who worked miracles in Our Lord's Name and yet, within two-years' time, he treacherously whispered "Hail, Rabbi,' and he kissed Him."' DOCTRINE CHRIST'S CHURCH WITH ITS POWERS TO TEACH AND RULE IS PERPETUAL AND UNCHANGEABLE 293. By perpetual we mean that the Church will last to the end of the world. By unchangeable we mean that there will never be a substantial change, either for better or worse, in the Church of Christ, so far as the teaching and ruling body is concerned. In other words, the teaching-body, the ruling-body, the Primacy, will never be more perfect or less perfect than they were when established by Christ. That the teaching-body itself is perpetual and unchangeable may be seen from Matthew XXVIII, 20, where Christ says: "and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world." 294. The expression "the consummation of the world" means the end of the world; "all days" means constantly, i.e., without any interruption, always. Therefore Christ will be with the teaching-body which He established in His Apostles always and to the end of the world. Therefore, this same teaching-body will remain always and to the end of the world. But this would not be true unless the teaching-body were also perpetual and unchangeable, at least in its substantials. The teaching-body in its doctrines is unchangeable, for it cannot reject any doctrine of Christ; nor explain any doctrine in a sense contradictory to that already attributed to it; nor can any public revelation be added which is altogether new. For (a) If the teaching-body ever rejected any of Christ's doctrines, it could err, and we have proved that it cannot err. (b) If the teaching-body explained a doctrine in contradictory senses, it would have to reject one of these senses and admit its error. (c) If the teaching-body added any new revelation to Christ's doctrine, then this new revelation would be a truth of the Christian religion. But Christ promised: "But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will teach you all truth" (John XVI, 13), and this certainly means that every truth of the Christian revelation was entrusted to the Apostles. This, too, is the way they understood the promise, for, e.g., Paul urges Timothy to guard the deposit of faith and to avoid all novelties (I Tim. VI, 20, 21; Galatians I, 6 to 9). And from the very beginning of Christ's Church, it was an axiom among the foremost teachers that after the Apostles there would be no new public revelations. A private revelation made by God to a certain individual is not excluded here. We speak of public |