St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-12-19
For Christian Scientists De-
liVered at Grand Forks
Yesterday.
Miss Sutton Talks Of the Most
Important Of Her
Themes.
How Shall People Know When
They Are Real Chris
tianS?
Various Ways Of Looking at
the True Christian
Spirit.

My subject is most important one to
us all. Indeed, it is the important queS-
ton of life. 1t is one thing to believe in
Christianity and belong to a church and
support the gospel, and always speak
we'll of religion, to be accounted an
honest man and Christian; and quite
another thing to be a Christian. We
should all ask the question, "What is 1t
TO be il Christian" and then examine
ourselves, whether we be Christians or
not. If not, we should stop right here and
become Christians before we attend to
anything else.
have often said, and | cannot say it
too often, that the only religion OF Jesus
is the religion Jesus lived. We must
then ask ourselves. Am living the re-
ligion Jesus lived?' Christian means
Christlike, ard it means nothing else.
hence nothing less than ChrlStllneSS IS
Christian.
What was Jesus religion? 1t was to
meet every temptation OF evil with the
ail-poWerful thought and word and act
of good, and so destroy it; proving that
good is the destroyer OF evil and Will
finally destroy all which claims to exist
either as mind or matter. TWAS to thus
present himself slnless and the con-
querer Of sin, the perfect man., the Son
of God 1t was to lift others into the
same understanding Of
Spiritual Reality
and power he had. and thus enable them
to perfect themselves in like manner.
Jesus knew that was the work of his
life and every mans, for he said: Il
must be about my Fathers business"
and afterWard declared: 81 have over
come the world" and instructed his
disciples 10 overcome it and "be per-
feet" Math. ", 48.
Never, by thought or word or act. did
Jesus exalt Himself above any
other man on earth; but il was His pur-
pose to lift all men to His own level.
He never held Himself aloof from any
person or any class; He mingled with
all, not to partake of their worldliness,
but to ''seek the lost sheep of Israel"
1t was this which made the proud Phar-
isee despise Him. He eateth with
pubicans and sinners" was their re-
buke of His lowlineSS and love. Are
we living the religion of Jesus in this
respect, or have we drawn lines between
man and man? All, see the lines
drawn there. You say they are right;
but who put them there? Did God?
No! Then you have done it. You call
it social distinction, aud 10 you there is
a-certain grace and dignity in 1T. But
it is an accumulation to God! DO you
say you are too cultured and too good
to sweep away these lines between
Yourself and Gods other children?
You are not good enough. That's the
trouble. Jesus was good enough,
and you profess to be living
His religion Then why are you
not Christlike in this respect?
You are sometimes thrown into contact
with and introduced 10 people who be-
long to class of society less fashiona-
bic than your own, and when you meet
them again you pretend not 10 know
them. Is that right? If you are a
Christian you can answer that question
by asking, Would Jesus have done it"'
You also refuse to become acquainted
with people. or recognize those You are
already acquainted with, because Of
their immortality Now, is that right?
No, it is not. Jesus sought the society
of the worst sinners. But | will tell
you why He sought out all men and
you Shun all except a select few. He
was living the Christ religion and you
are not. The purpose Of this religion is
to purify self and help every other man
into
The Purifying FOunt;
it is to humble self and exalt others.
and we are false to its purpose il we
put the least thing between US and any
other man, woman or child. We can
not make the plea that the association
of the ignorant, the uncouth and the i'm
moral will contaminate us. The I'M
maculate purity of the true Christ-likc
spirit cannot be contaminated; more
over, if Jesus we're on earth today, the
people who are exclusive because of
their goodness or their culture would
be found farther from Him III spirit
than the lowly and immoral. DO you
doubt it? Then remember Jesus said
to the chief priests and elders, 1.-THE
publicanS and the harlOtS go into the
kingdom Of God before you.' If you
truly desire to be Christian, then this
day sweep away every line and put
aside everything that you, or So
cety, has interDoSed between yourself
and your brother man. What will peo-
pie thnk?7 you ask. Ii you are a
Christian you have nothing to do with
what people think, but what does God
think. 81 came to do the will of Him
that sent Me- said Jesus. and you are
not living the religion of Jesus if you
of God Therefore, if you are Chris
tian, it is part of your work to seek
the acquaintance of everybody within
your reach for the sake of their saliva
ton.
Christians are supposed to love Christ.
But what is the test Jesus applied to
that love? He asked Simon Peter, ''Si-
mon, son of Jonas, lowest thou Me?'
And when Simon declared he loved
Him, Jesus commanded him earnestly,
s'Feed my sheep" This he repeated
three times. And if the Christian loves
the Christ, he will be found feeding the
sheep and lambs, for he will love them.
1t was Jesus command that we love
each other as He loved us; and it is i'm
possible to5love HIM like that and not
love all mankind, for His love embraced
all. Isaiah said they were false shep-
herds who did not feed the flock. and
Jesus said it was not the shepherd, but
an hireling, who saw the wolf coming
and iled and allowed the
Sheep to BE Scattered.
So, if we love not Christ truly we are
| false shepherds and hirelings who
''careth not for the sheep" But" you
| say, 1--WE can not all be shepherds, we
| have our appointed shepherds, the min
listers and class leaders and mission
aries" These are man-made appoint
ments. Jesus appointed and anointed
all. if they will accept it, whed he said.
whatsoever believeth upon Me the
| works that L do shall he do Also" Now
were not his works to ''preach the
| gospel and heal the sick?" You cannot
shift this off upon pastors and mission
aries and "divine healers." You are
| all missionaries and healers when you
are in the line with pure Christianity.
Your pastors and missionaries have all
the work they can do of their own. and
they cannot do yours If they
| hadn't, for your work is to heal
Yourself and the world from
the attitude of Jesus spiritual life. You
| say: 81 haven't as much time as my
pastor, for all his time is devoted to the