Old Wine and New: Occasional DiscoursesCross, Joseph
Religion
Old Wine and New: Occasional Discourses
Cross, Joseph
Sermons, American
First, the time is to be noticed. "In the last day, that great day of
the feast"--when there was present a vast concourse of the people.
Three million have been counted in attendance at the Feast of
Tabernacles. What an audience, what an inspiration, for an orator! How
would Cicero have triumphed before such an assembly! Jesus needed no
such impulse. His mind was ever full of light, his heart overflowing
with love. He wanted but the opportunity to pour forth his divine
speech upon the people, and surely he never had a better than now. How
did his doctrine distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender
herb, and the showers upon the grass! Great lesson for his servants,
who ought to make their Master their model, and let no good occasion
slip for pouring the light of life into benighted souls!
"In the last day, that great day of the feast"--when they were occupied
with the most interesting observances of the national solemnity.
Another might have said: "They will not hear me; they are too much
absorbed to listen." Jesus was a better philosopher. Conscious of his
own power, he knew perfectly the hearts of men. Never could his hearers
recall the Joy of the Law, without recollecting the voice, the figure,
the beaming countenance, of the strange young rabbi from Galilee, who
stood forth in the midst of the great congregation, and dropped such
heavenly words into their hearts. "Who was he? What meant he? Could any
mere mortal have spoken so? Is the Messiah at length come? Let us seek
him again, and hear more from those marvellous lips!" Another grand
lesson for his servants, who ought to study to environ their teachings
with associations which cannot fail, with every happy hour, by every
happy memory, to recall the truths they have uttered and revive the
impressions produced by their preaching.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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