Practical and Experimental Religion Author:Henry Bacon Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE MORAL AUTHORITY OF TRUTH. "lam a inan under authority."—Luke In the Evangelical record of the sermon delivered on the mount of Interpretation, we are t... more »old of the effect of the discourse on tho multitude ;—" The people were astonished at his doctrine ; for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the Scribes. " Who were these thus contrasted with Jesus? The Scribes were the copiers and expounders of the law, with all the traditions and speculations which veiled its ancient glory, and made the commandments of God of no effect, by neutralizing their intent. The opinions of men were continually associated with the word of the True, as though there was no light in the word itself, and human torches must take the mission of the sun. This perpetual recurrence to men—to the utterance of learning and the marvels of mysticism, kept the thoughts of spiritual dictators more in the minds of the people, than were the counsels of inspiration. It gave to theScribes a formality and coldness of manner, as much different from one who spoke from the depths of his own spirit, as the masses of frozen vapor which stop in the air forming mock suns, are different from the solar orb itself. From the many references to the scribes, we are impressed with the idea that they were necessitated to speak from books, because they had no eloquent and ever instructing experience from which to draw. They were contented with the surface of religious life, and satisfied their conscience with punctillious attentions to prayers, tithes and rites. They were pronounced to be a living lie; and were likened to a beautifully garnished tomb, whose outward show was in severest contrast with the inward deformity. They did not teach like those who felt they had authority—the authority of truth felt, o...« less