A QUESTION WHICH SHOULD NEVER BE ASKED.
By Editor
THERE were many in the days of Christ who, when they heard his teaching, were compelled to exclaim, Of a truth this is the Prophet. Others said, This is the Christ. And when the officers, who were once sent to take him, returned without him, saying, Never man spake like this man, the Pharisees put to them this question: Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? Such questions as this are not peculiar to that age alone: the rulers and Pharisees of our own days have the same implicit confidence in themselves as the lords spiritual of the masses around them; and their denunciations are forthwith issued against any man who would explore his way into some new field of truth, unless the scribes and Pharisees have led the way before him. This might do if our salvation was committed to them, and their creeds were always the standard of truth. But when we learn that every man must give an account for himself; must work out his own salvation with fear and trembling; and that God has put his Word into our hands, a Word so plain and simple that the least of his creatures need not err therein, we feel disposed to inquire for ourselves concerning the way to life, and the requirements of the gospel; and whoever in this matter first stops to inquire whether the rulers or Pharisees have believed, admits himself to be a blind devotee to the opinions of others. What have we to do with the rulers or the Pharisees? Are they to do our thinking and our believing for us? People seem too willing to have it so in our days, and before a newly developed truth can be received, the question is too frequently asked, if not openly yet in reality, and with a blind devotion to the opinions of the great, Have any of the rulers believed this? and so the leaders of to-day become like those of old: they will not suffer others to go in, nor go in themselves. Will any here inquire if the great and learned are not more likely to understand the Word and perceive the truth, than the unlettered and obscure? We answer, Was it so in the days of Christ? then it may not be so now; and furthermore, we hear Paul exhorting his brethren as follows: "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty." 1 Cor. i, 26, 27. What does God require of us is the only question which really concerns us. Whatever therefore we see to be the plain injunctions of his Word, let us instantly obey, without once stopping to inquire, whether any of the rulers or the Pharisees have believed thus on him.