1 Sermon Illustrations on Sermon on the Mount

Anundo was admitted a pupil in the General Assembly's school, on its opening in August, 1830. In accordance with the system of tuition pursued in the school, he, together with his class-fellows, soon commenced the study of the New Testament. It was not long before his mind became arrested by the Sermon on the Mount. The ideas, the prospects, the images, the illustrations, all were so peculiar, seemed so apposite and so true, that glimpses of light flashed through his soul, and he was often heard to exclaim, 'How beautiful, how tender, how kind, how full of love and goodness! Oh, how unlike the spirit and maxims of Hindooism! Surely this is the truth!' Never was there a more striking exemplification of what Owen calls 'the self-evidencing power of the Bible.' As the young man advanced in his acquaintance with its contents, he constantly contrasted its statements with those which the Brahmins rehearsed from their Shasters; and he appeared as it were internally to see and feel that here was truth in the former, and error in the latter. He demanded no external evidence to authenticate the divine authority of the Christian Scriptures. To him the reading of them seemed like the presence of the light of day exposing surrounding objects in their true colors: or rather like the sudden admission of the solar rays into a dreary cavern, bringing to view the hideous and loathsome objects with which it had been stored. Not that he disparaged miracles and prophecies; but he declared that these were not necessary for his conviction; there was something in the whole spirit, and plan, and announcements of the Gospel, that came home to his soul in the light of truth, independent of external proofs. Anundo voluntarily applied to Mr. Duff for baptism. His address on the occasion was, in substance, 'What shall I do? I feel that I am a sinner, a great sinner, a sinner that deserves to be eternally punished. What shall become of me? If I die this night, I fear I shall be lost forever, and I know I deserve such a fate. What shall I do? I am troubled, much troubled, day and night I am troubled. But in the Bible I read of God's mercy. May I not trust in it? I sometimes feel that I may, and so try to think and do what is good, when all at once I feel that I am sinning more. Then I read the Bible; I cannot help reading it; and there I find something that catches me in a way which I cannot explain. I feel that Christ is the only true Saviour. Last night I could not sleep, and so arose and lighted my lamp, and read the Bible, and it caught me; and I am convinced that here is the only way of salvation. May I not then publicly profess my faith in Christ by baptism?'