The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-10-19
TILE SEATTLE PosTNTEIIIGENcER MONDAY OCTOBER 10 1891

Christ Opinions as 70 Him differ, ana change,
ana grow, but He is the same foreyermore. A
creed that 10 true is the voice of q life When
ine lie Is extinct the creed goes with It Belief
egyptians placed in full view at their
Ieasts skeleton TO remind men OF the
i 1.ner world. They all believed in
mummy cases, so that at the resurrection the
body might be fed. But like the Indian. who
,oors iorwsrd to M. happy hutting grounds the
True Christianity has its Gethsemape-its tolls
ana prayers for other men than Themselves IL
PECAN PECAN before Chrisrs coming, because He lived
before He came. 1t remains after He has passed
away, because He ever liveth to make interces-
sion for us.
l know clergyman of refined tastes and
mas Tor many years lived a life of plenty, and
peen surrounded with all the comforts and
many OF the Injuries. But not long since on
bitter winters night his house burned over his
head. and drove him and delicate wife and
niue children into the deep SHOWS and piercing
Winos OF Maine winter. Other misfortunes
ioioWeo fast. His voice failed him, and he was
settled IN mean village on a meager support
Ihere was illness in the family and the
iron entered the fathers soul. His little son
asked the fathers permission to take humble
position In factory. The father consented
with regret, and his regret increased when his
son Kept all the earnings to himself. He thought
II sign OF growing selhshness in the child
But the fathers birthday came, and ali brought
their inexpensive gifts. Suddenly the little son
came rolling in barrel OF -four, which repre-
sented every penny he had earned The spirit
OF the Lord was upon the boy, to comfort them
that mourn, 10 set at liberty bound feelings. to
bind up the broken-hearted. And / tell
visible in that room. Christianity wa. thers
From babe that child had known the Scrip-
lures, and the image of Jesus was formed on his
cate traeery in the soft soil that afterwards be.
comes stone. In that childs act was a better
proof OF Christianity than principle. or
For in him was the life on which all these sub.
sist. Eternal life means something else than q
never-ending life. If your life is Of che proper
quality you need never be anxious about its
If you are mystified about Christianity follow
your search to the Son of Man who set Ii forth
In His life. Il win always remain a mystery
with everything else that is alive. The mystery
OF the life OF Christ need not stagger US, unless
the growth OF the grass staggers u.s. We know
only in part. Our definitions are crude. Even
John the Baptist found it hard thing to under
stand what Jesus was doing. But he knew, as
we must learn, that Christianity is not a thing,
put person, aud, looking upon Jesus as He
which taketh away the sin of the world" He
knew little about Jesus, but he knew He could
S take AWAY SIN II you wait for complete
grow old while you are getting it No
body can tell you what il is Because it is a
lie, you viii not know its meaning till
you are wrapped up in 1t. The farther Peter
walked on the way God sent him, the wider his
eyes were opened. When at last he stood before
the Roman centurion who had sent him to
near ABOUT Christ, Peter rose to the meaning of
Jesus life among us, and he said: "Of truth
l perceive that God Is no respect0r of persons;
but in every nation he that feareth him and
Worketn righteousness Is acceptable TO Him.
Now this centurion wanted to know what
Christianity was, and he learned that his life
had been just such life as God could crown
with more knowledge. He had not known a
Christ to love, and SO he simply loved his
brothers It would be well for US TO live the
simplicity OF Christianity before we stop living
1--WE learn the meaning of the cross by carry.
ing It How proudly would Simon have walked
II he had known how precious was the token he
was bearing. That emblem was to be the watch
word OF the new religion; it was to bring the
Emperor Constantine, who ruled over the same
empire that was now crucifying Christ; 1t was
TO bring him to his knees before his marshaled
host when he saw its shape in the heavens; it
was to bring his mother TO Jerusalem, where
she erected q church in the shape of that EN-.
blem and treasured with more than religious
fondness the reputed relics of the
true cross that Simon was bearing. 1t was to
give the shape to all the mighty piles of
cathedrals that sixty generations were to erect to
the memory OF that faint man who walked be-
fore him. 1t was to be the sign upon the armor
OF million knights who should charge in fury
upon the Moslem custodian OF the Church of
the Holy Sepulcher In the hands of q simple
monk. Peter the Hermit, it was to be held up all
over Europe and made to call out all the chivalry
OF that middle age; to pour back the horde
OF Mohammedan invasion, and make pos.
sible our Western civilization It was
TO be beld before the dying eyes
OF every people and tongue and nation: 1t was
TO be carried into q thousand battle ields and
by that sign were its bearers to become the rulers
of the world. 1t was to shine from myriad of
spires with the promise of immortal hope when
each days sun should rise upon q world
still to be redeemed. That plain
and rough wood would be sufficient
tor Its purpose to present to the
world its uplifted Redeemer, but into a single
one of the images have been entrusted enough
precious stones to tempt the cupidity of Caesar
in his golden house on Theirs bank. 1t was to
be all this and much more, because it should be
the expression unto all generations OF the yearn-
ing of God for our redemption.
so Christianity develops with the man, be-
cause it is in him. The newness in Christ is the
development of our knowledge of hml OF that
there is no end. The unfolding of the glorious
vista which shall show the manifold beauties of
the Christ character throughout eternity, that
Will be change; but not a changed Christ 1t
Will De changed humanity o, glorious
wealth of that revelation, which eye nor ear
nor heart can now receive. In Christianity
novelty means an eternally extended revelation;
the extent OF the novelty in a human
religion is reached with the limit of human
power; and there is nothing new under the sum-
But the extent of novelty In a divine religion
has its limit only in the Infinite possibilities of
beauty, of knowledge, and of love in the depths
of the heart OF infinite Godl Says Tennyson:
81 saw pine in Norway, casting its shadow on
cataract Firm stood the pine. The cataract
shook the shadow" That pictures the change
less Christ reflected in changing humanity
Christ the symbol of love in heaven, we the
wavering image here!
FOR NEGRO EnuCATInN