Christ a Teacher
Hrist is with His people as — a Teacher. There exists no office of Christ that is not openly impugned and denied in the present day: and not one more so than His jprojphetic office. The instruction that canseth to err, everywhere and alarmingly abounds. The teaching of men is exalted above the teaching of Christ, and, as a consequence, Infidelity and Popery are rife, and the people are wondering after the false prophet and the beast. This is a day in which the Lord’s true people must exhibit their loyalty to Christ in his prophetical office: as the sole, divine, authorized Teacher of the Church. To Him, as our Teacher, must we only look, and His teaching must we only follow. There is no safety but at Christ’s feet; accepting no doctrine and observing no practice but what comports with the teaching, example, and simplicity of his word. If true and faithful disciples, to Christ we must closely and exclusively adhere. We have but one master, Christ; to Him we stand or fall. Beware, in religious sentiments, of the fascination and influence of ecclesiastical authority, cultivated intellect, and polished bearing: all this is of man, and partakes of the infirmity and sinfulness of man. Untaught by the Holy Spirit, and unsanctified by God’s grace, we have seen the most brilliant and eminent gifts prove but as decoy lights, glimmering along the bleak, fatal shores of Infidelity and Eomanism, alluring, and then wrecking, upon their rocks, quicksands, and shoals the too confiding, unsuspecting mind, “handling the word of God deceitfully Oh, be Christ’s true disciple: loyal to His person and faithful to His truth! It is the word of Christ that quickens you, sanctifies you, comforts you. Nor can you part with one doctrine of Christ without inflicting the most serious injury upon your soul, and shading His glory. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all The more experimentally you know, and the more simply you walk in Christ’s truth, the holier and the happier will you be. Oh, how increasingly glorious to your eye and precious to your heart will Christ become! You will more and more clearly see that all truth centers in Christ, and that Christ is the substance of all truth; that to know Christ is to know the truth; and to know the truth is to be freed from the blinding influence, erroneous teaching, and ghostly authority of man. Blessed Jesns! thou Divine Prophet of Thy Church! “happy are Thy men, happy are these Thy servants, which stand continually before Thee, and that hear Thy wisdom.”
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Christ must be made of God, to us wisdom in the midst of ignorance. He must be our Teacher, for He can teach without any man at all. The following are cases of this divine illumination:
AN ANXIOUS ROMAN CATHOLIC.
It was a young man. His eyes were red with weeping. He had attended these meetings for a few days. He came at first without the knowledge of his friends. He became anxious about his soul, almost from 6^ the first time of his coming to the prayer meetings. His friends found out his state of mind — that the poor young man was anxious to know what he should do to be saved — and they hurried him out, at night, into the streets.
“Last night.” said he, “I had to walk the streets all night, to keep myself warm;” and he looked down at his worn-out shoes.
The Saviour, we told him, “had not where to lay His head.” His eyes filled with tears. We conversed with him, counseled him, prayed with him, and he went out to seek employment, saying, “I shall be in the prayer meeting to-morrow.”
ANOTHER.
He came wishing to know where he could go to sign the temperance pledge. He had a family. He had formed drinking habits, though not a drunkard; but his conviction was, that, to be consistent in seeking an interest in Christ, he ought to begin by abandoning strong drink. He is earnestly seeking. He is at our meetings every day, and begins to give pleasing evidence that he has experienced the “great change.”
ANOTHER.
This is the case of a lady. She put into the meeting the following request for prayer:
“A lady (Roman Catholic) who came to this meeting at first out of mere curiosity, but who heard at this meeting such things as she has never heard before, would be “oery thankful if the Fulton Street Prayer Meeting will pray for her all this week, that she may be taught how to believe on Christ. She does not think she is a Christian, but desires to be one. She will attend every day.”
She was inquired of if her priest would allow her to attend these prayer meetings.
“Mj priest,” she replied, “cannot hinder me. The step is my own. It is taken with great deliberation. I act under the dictates of my own conscience. I must do what I am convinced my own welfare requires. I believe these are Christians. I believe this is prayer.”
“What has wrought such a great change in your feelings and opinions?”
“The wide difference between the members of my own Church and those who come here to pray, is enough to induce me to inquire what it means. These are praying people. My people are cursing, swearing, prayerless people. I believe these are Christians. I fear that very few of my Church are Christians; I think some are.”
“Are you concerned about yourself?”
“So much so that I am very miserable.
I did not close my eyes in sleep last night, by reason of my anxiety.”
“Can you give up all hope from your own merits, or any meritorious acts which you may perform — all expectation of pardon on account of penances or absolution, and rest solely on the merits of Christ’s atoning sacrifice for all your hope of justification with God?”
“I can, and do so. I know I must. But I do not have peace.”
“Is there any thing you are unwilling to give up?”
“No, nothing. I am willing to give up Church, my former religion, every thing else, if I can only have forgiveness of sin, and peace and joy in believing in Christ, such as you Protestants have.”
“You must not make a merit of even giving these up. You must simply tnist your soul in the hands of Christ, as a Saviour, with confidence and love.”
Can any doubt that this poor Catholic lady has been led of the Spirit, thus far? She does not doubt it. She says none but Divine power could have led her to the ground on which she now stands.