The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-09-01
THE WORK OF CHRIST

THE WORK OF CHRISE
Let us not be deluded by the notion
that "a scientific theology" issgoing to
terminate the reign of wronf and sin.
1t is easier to correct fare notion
than to purify an impure life. / take
it that the real work Of a christian
church is to continue the work Of
Christ; to repeat. again and gain, the
lessons of the teacher. But the teacher
did not teach science, phile sophy, poll
tics, as such. He spoke directly to
human hearts. He touched the great
spiritual needs of the people who
gathered round him. He preached, not
a systematic and scientific Gospel, but
sympathetic and loving GOSPEL. ''He
came to seek and to save that which
was lost"
TO take Jesus out of his proper
sphere as our spiritual guide and lead
er, as 1.-THE way, the truth and the
life,' of the soul in it's relationship to
God, and to compare or - contrast
him with the philosophical, political,
and scientific guide of our Il I'D, is to do
him and them great injustice. 1t is
the vain effort to unite matters and
purposes which are distinct, though
not necessarily antagonistic, which has
led to what is wrongly termed the
"conflict between religion and science" !"
and has caused the scientist at times to
depreciate Jesus, and the unthinking
Christian to depreciate the scientist.
To test the value of purely spiritual
teachings by the laws and deductions
of a non-spiritual philosophy, or to
judge the worth of a mons spiritual
philosophy by spiritual 1tuitiors ard
experiences, is absurd al confusing,
ending in most unwofs naanlnak
ron Of Christianity on one nand, and
Of philosophy on the other.
To make the church and the pulpit
promotive of the highest human good,
we must get back from the Jesus of
speculative theories to the Jesus of the
Gospels. We must learn that the
church is not to set herself as the mere
colleague of the academy, but to sseek
and save the lost"
This cannot be done until we are
conscious of the supreme authority Of
God in our souls. If it be true that
Gcd is our Father, and that he is
supreme in goodness and in love, then
his authority over the souls life must
be paramount, and our obedience
should be perfect. Just here we find
the worth of Christ as an example. 81
do always the will of him that sent
me-" HE was obedient unto death
even the death of the cIoss.n It is
Christ, in his sublime obedience to the
divine authority, that wins to God the
love of men. Do the majority of men
know that the link which unites them
to God is formed of divine authority
and spiritual obedience? And does
the pulpit bear witness to this truth
with sufficient peIsistency and earnest
ness? Yet this is the truth which lies
at the root of all religious aspiration-a
truth, but for which religion would be
impossible. Indeed, this is one of the
greatest truths which it is the vocation
of the Christian church to proclaim
that man is spiritual being the sub
ject of spiritual kingdom-t son of
spiritual father-the heir OF a spirit
ual inheritance. The mission of Christ
was to revivify the spirituous nature,
and to proclaim its kinship to God.
Subtle questions found no advocate in
him. He saw men sad and sinful, and
bade them to draw near to him for rest.
Let us keep our guesses and theories
about mysterious things for the study,
the platform, and the press. The pull
pit has another and higher vocation.
Our scholastic theories and philosophis-
ing essays have been great mistakes,
and have failed to ''save the lost.'' Let
us go back to the Gospel of Christ.
Somebody will repeat that Christian
ity and science are in conflict. MOI
Not the hristianity of Christ. They
do not blend, for they occupy distinct
planes, and aim at distinct objects, by
distinct methods. But they are no
more antagonistic than geology is an
tagonistic to philology, or astronomy
to physiology. Science can set broken
limb, the Gospel cannot. The Gospel
can purify foul life, science cannot.
Science is intellectual, Christianity is
spiritual; and just as what is spiritual
transcends what is merely intellectual,
Christianity transcends science, but
does not contradict it. The mission OF
the scientist is to teach science, but
the mission of a Christian church is
''to seek and save the lost"-a mission
so benign, so holy, that it filed the soul
and absorbed the life of the diyinest
Son Of Cod. O. Williams.