The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1892-02-25
REAL CHRISTIANITY,
Continued from tlr.t PAGE

( every EbuT IN Ills me sOLsE Va AA4
trtieat Christians in this world know al
soluteIy nothing about the questions tina
agitate the world Of theology ind crit
eisrn. In fact, they have never read tn
/ Bible. Some Of the truest Christians
| know in the world are men and w0me!
who cannot read az ali. who have n
idea about the Trinity or Professionalism
or Election or Atonenent as philosoDhi'
concepts, and yet their hearts are oal
/ with God.
! TIE RICH YOUNG NAN.
Jesus Christ never promised salvation
/ 10 any man for believing anything abou
( himself. The rich young man came Il
| Christ and asked him the pointed qucs
/ ton, Master, what shall do TO inherit
eternal life He declared that he hal
kept the Judaic code of morals to the
! letter. All the commandments from hli
youth up he had scrupulously obeyed
Bot Christianity was more than a code
Of morals. Jesus gave him distinctly Il
understand that fact When he asked
Christ this pointed question about the
way Of eternal life, what did the Master
answer? Did he say, az you believe ii
the inspiration Of the Old Testament you
will be saved?' No Did he say, Ill
you believe that am divine you can in
herit eternal life|' No. His answer
startled the young man as it should
startle the creed tinker of every age.
Looking into the face Of this inquirer
for eternal life we hear these wonderful
words, $50 sell all thou hast and give
to the poor" The young man went
away exceeding sorrowful, for he had
great possessions. Jesus with that single
question pierced to the very center of
his heart life and laid bare it's covetous
secrets.
STRIPED MODELS.
A mere code of morals may be per-
fectly practiced and not signify purity
of heart. To say Christianity is a code
of morals is to fail to comprehend the
very alphabet of the truth which Jesus
came to teach. There are men in the
state Of New York who form model com
munities We have several of these
model communities where Il perfect
code of morals is practiced-regular
habits, regular sleep, wholesome food
taken in proper quantities, regular hours
to rise and retire. In fact, these people
conform perfectly to the outer code Of
upright, moral men. But we give them
no credit because they wear striped
clothes. Every penitentiary is com
munlty whose citizens practice an ideal
code of morals in life, so far as they can
within the limitation Of the walls. But
it signifies nothing, because it is prac-
ticed for reasons external rather than
internal
Second-Such heart faith always
manifests itself in life. Colonel IngeTsoll
says that if the founder Of Christianity
had only plainly said, in so many words,
at is not necessary to believe in order
to be saved; it is only necessary to do"
all would have been well. He fairly
takes our breath away with such state
ment. 1t reveals the fact, that with all
the coloneFs years of assault upon the
New Testament, he has never read it.
No man who had read the New Tesla
ment Scriptures could have made so fool
lsh an assertion.
CHRISTIANITY a LIFE.
This is precisely what Christ did say
in so many words.
mot every one that sayeth unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven, but he that doeth the will of
my Father which is in heaven" "Inas-
much as We did it not, depart ''hlas-
much as ye did it unto the least of these,
ye did it unto me. Enter thou into the
kingdom prepared before the foundation
of the world" In other words, Christ
taught that the heart faith
which is of tie essence of his religion
always embodied itself in life.
Christianity is a life. The Bible is a
book Of life. Therefore the Bible is A
book of eternal power. 1t viii ever stir
and move and save the lives of men. It
Is alive, because it throbs with the life
of the race, with the life of God as IN
folded in the race. The Bible is not
systematic theology. 1t does not pro-
Tess to set forth for the guidance of the
mind of man systematized and con-
sistent scheme of philosophy Strip the
Bible of the rubbish of traditionalisYn.
and there can be read into it no sys-
'ematic scheme Of sacred philosophy. It
S the simple record Of life. It contains
contradictions, paradoxes, mysteries.
These contradictions are the contra
lotions of life. The parf 1oxes are the
parado1es of life. Its mysteries are the
mysteries of life. As the secrets of life
'lude the scalpel of the surgeon and the
biologist, so the secrets of divine life
'lude the dlssecting knife of the 2zeeneat
or theologian.
GOD IN FLESH.
The supremacy of Christian trclti. is
lot based on any philosophy taught bv
esus Christ. It rests upon the person
lily Of Christ. His creed was lis life
lie did not come into the world to talk |
bout truth He ecas the truth. The /
My supreme truth is that embodied in !
lie. No man who knows anything about |
he subject Of comparative religion TODAY |
retends to deny that the divine is found |
4 all religions. Much that Jesus taught /
ad been taught before. God had not |
sft the world in total darkess before the
dvent OF Christ. He had spoken to all
aces and to all peoples. The UNIQUE
erSonality of Jesus consists in the fact
hat he summed up in life the truth that
Tas thus gathered from the four Quarters
the earth and from the remotest ares.
Le lncarnated the truth. He lived the
nth. Abstract truth is the cormonest
llng in the world; it is everywhere. It
rows ON the housetop. 1t is the com
lonest sound in the street. But abstract
'uth does set save world until it is
nbodled In flesh and blood.
Herein we find the secret of the incar-
alton, the necessity for the incarnation
le secret of the power Of the incarna-
on. God, who had spoken to the race
trough divers prophets in the past, now
the fullness of time spoke to man
trough man, through the incarnation
truth. When that Man came in hu-
ian history, who truly said. Il am the
ay, the truth and the life" he came to
HON every knee must bow at last and
Tery tongue confess. Such man is his
yn vindication. Christ is, in fact his
Tn vlnd3cation. He never taught a
1ty that he did not live. He never
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