The Hawaiian gazette., 1884-12-03
What is RELIGION?
PASTOR cnuzAN's SUNDAY EvEs'c SERMON. nov sorr


PASTOR cRUzAN's SUNDAY EvES'e SERMON. nov BOTH
Text, Romans 10: S, I'VE do owe no man any
thing, save to love one another; for he that
loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law"
What is Christianity, or religion? The
Bible, church, creeds, ordinances ETC.? No.
nothing of all those. 1t is a living condition
OF the human soul: 1t is not what a man
believes, how he worships, but what he is
and how he lives. 1t is important that man
should have right beliefs: but his right beliefs do
not make him Christian; his wrong beliefs do not
prevent him from being one. Religion is a state
of being, not of believing. ''The Kingdom of
God We are told in the Bible sis not in forms,
ceremonies or institutions" but it is "in you;" it
Is in every man WHO loves God and his neighbor
as himself. This Is the central thought of this
text. Let me fI certain truths in your minds:
j. We need to distinguish sharply between what
Is essential in religion and what is only external
Christianity means to many the history of Christ
and his apostles, and his church. and its victories
and the forms, ceremonies, and ordinances of the
Church. But these only the e1ternals of
Christianity-the wrappings. Christianity is q
living force in men, Transforming, changing their
narrow, selfish, hating, ungodly lives into broad,
charitable, loving Christ-like lives. That is
Christianity We must be careful not to confound
the thing itself with its eIternals. A cradle is
an excellent, and useful thing but it is the baby
in II which is the important thing. And so of the
trappings of churches, and creeds, and institu-
tions-these may be important, useful, helpful,
but they are not tie all important thing; that is
Christianity itself which these enwrap and which
sometimes is hidden and lost sight of in the ad-
miration and generation of the wrappings. If
all these externals of religion, churches, creeds,
institutions, etc, were to perish, religion would
still live. You do not destroy the man when YOU
burn down his house. Leave him life, and energy
and he will build another, and perhaps better
one. Destroy all these externals of religion, and
leave love regnant in the livesof men and they
would form new, and perhaps better creeds,
churches and institutions. Religion would still
live, and would make for itself new exteranls.
?. 1t is over externals that men divide and quar-
rel, never over religion itself. What has caused
the bitter discussions, sharp quarrels disgraceful
divisions, and devastating religious wars, which
have during the past nineteen centuries SO harred
the church of God Questions of Interpretation,
man-made PHILOSOPHERS, ordinances, and forms of
church government And what but these things
divide Christianity to-day into sectsl Men wrange
and divide over collateral5, incidentals and the
mere wrappings of religion, and never over reli-
gion itself Face to face with love contention and
division cease. When heart to heart, men see eye
to eye.
3. And this suggests, that there is no such thing
as lnhdelty IN regard to true religion. 1t is the
mere eXternals of Christianity about which men
doubt and disbelieve. 1t is no wonder that men
have doubted. All down the ages the church has
been SO busy tthing its mint" of ordinances and
"anise" of doctrines, and its "cummln'' of
church governments, that it has passed over re-
ligion itself, viz, love- Instead, how men in the
church have hated each other, and killed each
other because they could not agree about mere
shlbboleths OF doctrine Men have been SO fierce
for a certain method of baptism, that they would
drown an opponent in order to convince him Is
II any wonder that poor sinner looking on,
should turn away III contempt from such pueTility?
And in our own day is it any wonder that there.
are infidels when millinery and candles and the
proper position of minister at the altar, are vital
issues And if a so-called Christian church is
full of pickering, strifes, and unseemly quarrels,
and by its example breaches a doctrine of hate
a We IN If ma
infdels than followers of Christ As / read
church history, and read the record of much of the
church-life of to-day, do not marvel that there
are so many intidels: / wonder that there are not
more. But there never was and never Will be in.
fidelity as to what the New Testament defines
as religion Let a man see what Paul calls 'the
fruits of the spirit IN mans life, and in
church, and his heart will respond to these His
head may reject the Christians creed, but he will
be drawn to the religion enwrapped within it. He
will say, Religion or no religion, that man has
something want, and everybody needs. Look at
his life!''
4. This text congresses all religion, the COM
maudments, the law, into one word, Love. And
this is in line with the teaching of the New Testa
ment. Christ in answer TO the lawyers question,
(which is the great commandment? said in
effect, Love God and your neighbor" Paul in
the 18th chapter of LIST Cor sums up all the ele-
ments of religion in the word, lore. 1t is the
very heart of Religion. Destroy, or fatally in
iure mans heart, and though all his members
and faculties may be perfect, he is dead
church, though perfect in its creed, and govern
ment, and institutions, and service, is dear
thing without love. All these things become but
the trappings around sepulcher. And so,Df
man: if love does not animate him, there has been
no transformation in his life. No matter how
moral and orthodox he may be, he is still selfesh,
un- Christ-like, ungodly. If love does not rule
him, he knows nothing of religion.
God grant that we may catch the spirit of the
Gospel; that we may be in harmony with this
Dispensation of love in which we live. May our
he gO led hat nu he
will 60 out to those who most need us: may love
avail us TO every loving care. May love lead US to
self-denial: may love make US kind, and tender,
and helpful, in a word Christ-like. Then, though
men may reject our doctrines, they will accept
and yield to our Christianity, enswathed in these
and in our loving hearts.
Let me press two or three thoughts in conclu-
sion: l. What happy world this would be if all
obeyed this text, if love ruled in business, in
society, everywhere. Ii we SO loved our neighbour
that We would no more cheat him than we would
ourselves: that we would no more iniure him than
we would inlure ourselves no more Cypress and
crush him than we would ourselves. This earth
would be a Heaven. Armies would be disbanded;
our navies would be changed into merchantmen
Jais, prisons, poor houses, courts and officers of
the Law, aye, even the laws themselves, would be
done away laid aside like an outworn garment
What spring of misery and mischief would be
shut up and dried up, if that proneness to hard,
harsh and frequently unjust thoughts, were, by
the lndwelling spirit OF love erased from of the
minds of menl How many schemes would lore
in the hearts of all men crushl 1t would silence
the voice of SANDER; it would stay the plans of
the seducer and adulterer; it would close every
saloon, and den of infamy, and gambling house.
In word, it would bring in the miileHiteH. 2.
And this suggests that if the milleninen ever
comes it must be brought in by love. Love only
can conquer men. Every other weapon has been
tried-bate, force, criticism, penalty-and have
failed. But ''love never fails" Love born in a
stable, driven into poverty, cruelty received and
by his own nation, betrayed by his bosom friend,
executed while praying Cor the man who thrust
the spear into his side-loye seemingly SO weak,
defeated, and powerless-has yet proved the
mightiest power in the worlds history. And all
the history of these 10 centuries points to Love,
saying, In his conquer! g. You have here very
simple test, as to whether you are child of God
or not. l do not ask, God in this text does not
your" The test question is not: 'Do you believe
in the Trinity in this, or that doctrine" but SIS
the spirit of Christ within you? Do you love men?
Do you love God? Does love or self rule your"