A SABBATH IN CAPERNAUM.

(Mark i:21-34.)

I. The Analysis.

1. The Authority of Christ's Teaching (verses 21, 22). —A scribe was a mere preserver of traditional interpretations, like a modern commentator. His teaching had, therefore, only the authority of tradition. The postulate was: This is true because all the great rabbis from Ezra down agree that so it is. But Jesus taught with original, underived, divine authority (cf. Matt. v., verses 21, 22).

2. The Power of Christ's Word (verses 23-28, 32-34).— The distinction between the work of Christ in casting out demons and that of His disciples was that He wrought by His inherent divine power—they, by the power of His name (Acts xvi:18).

3. The Power of Christ's Hand (verses 30, 31).—The healing of Simon's wife's mother was another manifestation of divine power which is of special interest by the method adopted. The extended hand of our Lord may have been a crutch to the weak faith of the sufferer. It was the method imitated by Peter (Acts iii:7) and is full of suggestion to Christian workers.

II. The Heart of the Lesson.

The divine and therefore absolute authority and power of Jesus Christ are the outstanding truths of this lesson. Never was a lesson more timely, for the undertone of modern religious thought is a subtle questioning of the authority of Christ's teaching and the power of Christ's word. The ethical beauty of His teaching is still loudly praised, but only one who is in close contact with current theology can appreciate the alarming extent to which the sovereign power of Christ is covertly questioned.

Three modern tendencies combine to effect this evil result. The first and most influential is incidental to the prevalency of the evolutionary hypothesis. Still a mere working theory with real scientists, the swarm of echomen, who deal with science at second hand, and who fill professorships in schools and colleges, teach evolution as a certainty of science. The result is that men have come to think of God as a mere remote First Cause who is powerless, or at least indisposed to interfere with the incredibly slow processes of evolution. Such a Christ cannot cast out demons by His Word, nor rebuke fevers by the touch of His hand.

The second of the causes operating to eliminate faith in Christ as authoritative is the low estimate everywhere now placed upon His Person. Much teaching on that vital subject is indistinguishable from Unitarianism, and even in quarters where the Trinity is still held to be true, it is said, as stated before, that the Son of God, in His incarnation, laid aside divine power and knowledge.

The third agency at work to destroy practical faith in Christ's authority and power is the widespread present teaching concerning the inspiration of the Scriptures. In such publications as the ''Outlook," and such books as Gladden's "Who Wrote the Bible," the "Temple Bible," and "Messages of the Bible," the higher criticism is popularized and brought level to the comprehension of the average reader. The result is that the authority and power of Christ as working forces in the life that now is are increasingly displaced from the sphere of faith.