The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-07-15
FIRST EDITION
The Marysville Riot.
Mr.. Motley and the English Mission
a Presentiment Fulfilled.
Etc, ETC., ETC.. Etc.s Etc.
Mr.. Motley and the English M
WHAT Is CHRISTIANITY?


william Lloyd Garrison on the Dickens Ques-
In this weeks Independent Mr. w. L. Garri-
son writes on the question, "What is 1t to be a
Christian? He. confesses ito good deal of
bewilderment, first, as to where the line is to be
drawn, and secondly, as to the competency OF
this or that person or tribunal to pass sentence
er cdtltedrd. "Was he Christian 2" But what
is it to be q Christian? Shall the test be Pro
testant or Catholic? Shall it be creed or a
covenant? If so, whose, authoritatively? Shall
it be the Bible? But that is received with equa
reverence by multitude of rival sects, and
from them proceed a thousand conflicting in
terpretations.
Every new sect is a fresh heresy, to be de
nounced and prosecuted until it is strong enough
to be taken into general partnership. Then
when its reproach is wiped away, it joins with
alacrity in prosecuting the next dissenting body
that makes its appearance; and the offensive
repetition goes on from one generation to
another,
Certainly, Jesus was not q Christian in the
modern use of the term, for that implies what
is most respectable-close conformity to what is
established and popular-blind veneration Of the
past. He had no religious reputation whatever.
What was said of Him, what was done to Him
charged with being guilty of sedition, Sabbath
breaker, blasphemer, and having devil and
treated accordingly. He was Christian The
term has lost its original Specification, and
through utter perversion has become worthless
as test of true religious character Those who
claim to be His followers are bound to show
that they are animated by at least something of
His spirit in readiness to bear testimony to un-
popular truth, cost what it may. But the loudest
of such claimants are those who are careful to
be on the popular side: and as scrupulous in
tithing mint anse, and cummn and neglecting
the weighter matters of the law, as were the
ancient Scribes and Pharisees. For one, care
not how high any of this class praise the dead,
or how great may be their professed veneration
for Luther or Calvin, for Whitefeld or Wesley,
for Roger Williams or Swedenborg, for Moses or
David, for Jesus or Paul. 1t affords no evidence
of any vital appreciation of those 'of whom
the world was not worthy" The cowardly
and time-serving, the hypocritical and
pharisaical, arc ever prompt to appear as the
special champions of all departed, canonized
worth. The last persons in the world who
should presume to profess admiration of the
bold dissenter, the upright hereto, the righteous
agitator the heaven-inspired fanatic of the past,
are they who dread to be found in minority,
who are always consulting the yane of public
opinion. who shrink from graphing with pre-
vailing iniquity, who shudder at the thought of
perillirg their reputation, and whose aim is to
pass through life without the slightest connec-
ton with anything deemed extravagant or fana.
tical.
1t seems to me that we should feel far more
concerned in never having our Christian char
acter questioned than in being regarded as ou
of its pale the part of its facile and dogmatit
professors.