Wisdom Vault — onlinknow.co.za

evil, are so far from being evil that they know how to give good gifts to their chil- dren, and that even the publicans and sinners return love for love. His testi- mony to the guileless innocence of little children seems to have been much over- looked and ignored by those who call themselves his followers; and in all his references to and treatment of the fallen, he looks behind and away from the sur- face defilement (which other men regard as the real man, and dwell upon and exaggerate its enormity), and sees and brings forth the divine beauty and good- ness hidden away under the accumula- tion of sin.

He speaks of sinners as “captives” and “blind,” and that it was his mission to preach deliverance and restore sight, clearly indicating that sin is foreign to 44 THROUGH THE GATE ОЕ GOOD man, and that sinlessness is his true state; and he even declares that men shall do greater works than he did.

Nowhere in the whole range of history or inspiration is there to be found such testimony to the lofty nobility and essen- tial purity and goodness (doubtless more or less latent) of human heart than in the words and deeds of Jesus.

In his divine goodness he knew the human heart, and he knew that it was good. Man has within him the divine power by which he can rise to the highest heights of spiritual achievement; by which he can shake off sin and shame and sorrow, and do the will of the Father, the Supreme Good; by which he can conquer all the powers of darkness within, and stand radiant and free; by which he can subdue the world, and scale the lofty pinnacles of Truth.

This can man, by choice, by resolve, and by his divine strength, accom- plish; but he can only accomplish it in and by obedience; he must choose meek- ness and lowliness of heart, he must abandon strife for peace, passion for purity, hatred for love, self-seeking for 45 THROUGH THE GATE OF GOOD self-sacrifice, and must overcome evil with good; for this is the holy Way of Truth; this is the safe and abiding salva- tion; this is the yoke and burden of the Christ. 46 ГУ THE WORD AND THE DOER Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the wind blew and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.—JEsus.

If ye continue in my word, then ye are my dis- ciples indeed; and ye shall know the 'Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.—J ESUS. SS = S 3 ы ү Sore) ИЛНЕ Gospel of Jesus is а NEAR Gospel of living and \ 00 doing. И it were not 0 this, it would not voice x | SS the Eternal Truth.

Its < Temple is Purified Con- duct, the entrance-door to which is Self-surrender. It invites men to shake off sin, and promises, as a result, joy and blessedness and perfect peace. 47 ТНКООСН ТНЕ САТЕ ОЕ СООР There is one characteristic in the teach- ings of all those Great Souls who have been worshipped by mankind as saviours, and that is that they bring to light, and appeal directly to, the simple facts and truths of the soul and of life; and in the teaching of Jesus this feature stands out pre-eminently.

Strictly speaking, he put forward no theory, advanced no creed, laid no claim to any particular “ views,” and propounded no speculative philos- ophy. Не was content to state that which is. Men are so taken up with their pleas- ures, theories, theologies, and philos- ophies that they cannot apprehend the simple facts of life, and it is supremely the office of the true teacher to bring men back to the simple and beautiful realities of their own souls.

The false teacher, he who cannot perceive the simple truths of Duty and of Conduct, and does not see himself and other men as they are, when asked to point out the Way of Truth, will declare that it lies entirely in the acceptance of his own particular theology, and will warn the 48 THROUGH THE GATE OF GOOD questioner against all other systems of theology.

Not so, however, the true Teacher, he who knows the human heart, and who sees life as it is; and particularly not so, Jesus, who, when questioned of the Way of Life, always told his questioner to go and do certain things. Never once did he refer a questioner to any views, theories, or deftly woven philosophies of his own, or indeed of other men. Не re- ferred them to duty and to purity of life and conduct, and the only things he warned them against were their own sins.