The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-01-07

uSeu WITH Irequency,-Wlth much OF
thoughtlessness, no doubt,-does it
contain real idea? Is there not pro-
founder meaning in it than that which
obtains among men? Is there not a
tendency to substitute lower forms
for the highest?-forms that, in their
own place are we'll enough, but that
must never be allowed to usurp the
central throne?
There is certain Knowledge of
Christ to be cleaned from the pages
upon which incidents of his life are re-
corded. With the facts thus given one
ought to become acquainted, but so
long as they are nothing more to us than
mere dead statements they are the very
lowest forms of instruction. The man
who is in possession of the bare facts
who simply knows that he was born
in Bethlehem of Judea, baptized in the
Jordan, tempted in the wilderness,
that he went about doing good, was
TRANSPORTED on the mountain and
cruci6ed on Calvary, might as we'll
have committed to memory table of
statistics or column of dates. He
knows nothing more about Jesus than
he who has scrutinized the binding
knows about the immortal product of
Tennyson's genius. Such facts were
in possession of those who thronged
about him every day of his life, yet how
often did he turn upon them with the
rebuke, "Ye know neither me nor my
Father"
There are others who endeavor to
make an advance by taking the Jesus
of the gospels and making an analysis
of his person and work So we have
endless discussions about his deity and
his humanity, his attributes and his Of
fees. The only thing in him that can
really touch us and help us and shape US,
his character, has been almost forgotten.
In trying to make him god, the one
thing that was godliks has escaped the
votaries. The inner life of Jesus-the
life from which goes out the influence
that ever did and ever will hold man
kind, -transcends the catechisms and
creeds and bodies Of divinity with their
linked logic and up piled propositions.
If men need these things and find
them helpful, it is not for ne to de-
prive them of any source of comfort.
But he who has never learned more
of Christ than is set forth in par
ticular system or confession is still in
darkness. The phrases he repeats are
but sounding brass and tinkling GYM
| balls.
No man understands or appreciates
painting who can only name the
colors in which it )ne or the objects
depicted; who says, That is tree and
its foliage is painted green; that is an
old castle; that is lake upon whose
banks it stands, and that object above
them is the moon breaking through
a haze of clouds. Nor does he rightly
appreciate a flower who can simply
pick it to pieces in a botanical analysis;
who says, This is petal, this pistil,
this the stamen; it belongs to such and
such class and to such and such an
order. He only has true cognizance of
the painting or flower into whose nature
comes some of the beauty of the one
and some of the sweetness of the other.
To know Christ is to receive from
his life and deeds an inspiration that
impels US to carry our lives up to a
higher plane, and to build in works
like his own our everlasting memo
rails. ''It is new hint of the grand
eur of the truths which Jesus taught"
says Livermore, "that they took prac-
tical form and reality in personality
so Respondent with spiritual beauties
and graces as that we are now consider
ing. For we are to remember that the
religion of Christ was the religion IN
Christ, that is, what he himself lived
by; that it was not simply a faith he
lOQullOu ObuCIo w AufC3 OuV q Aoloh
of his own, one that he had tested
and incorporated into his own life
and conduct. If he taught that God
is Father, he had already exper-
fenced the power of that truth in his
own prayerful and devoted love and
obedience; if he recommended men
to practice on the rule that they are
brethren, not enemies of one another,
it was that very rule which he had
made doubly golden by making it the
measure by which he tried his own mo-
tives, and bent all his powers to serve,
bless and love all mankind, even his
enemies" The influence we receive
from such a character is in kind that
which comes to us from every great
character of history, but coming from
one in whom Gods life beat so strongly,
it touches that side of our nature
which is turned toward God, and under
its genial rays the soul puts forth bios
SONS and bears fruits of righteousness
and joy. Whoever receives no such
inspiration may know the creed and
the confession, but he knows nothing
of Christ. If the influence of Christ's
life and character does not move him
and lift higher,-doeS not thrill him