The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-21
CHRIsT's PERSONALITY.

this boasted Christianity a practical fail
ure"
CHRIsTS PERSONALITY
Personality is that indescribable some
thing which lies back of intellect, emotion
and will and makes, or the lack Of it I'M
makes, men and women. We all know the
difference between a weak personality and
strong one. Personality is what makes me
me and you you. By virtue of your per-
sonaity everybody else in the whole world
is to you more or less of a thing or an in
strument and the rest of the world repays
you in your own coin by regarding you
and yours in the same light 1t is mar
Velous of what little consequence we are in
this big world except to ourselves. The
most powerful influence in humanity is per-
sonality-the influence of soul upon soul, of
eye upon eye and of hand in hand All of
our Saviors companions everywhere speak
with profound reverence of his personality
Peter describes himself as an eyewitness of
his majesty. James has no language suffi-
Gent to express the excellence of his
glory 1t is worth noticing that worthy
picture of Christ has ever been painted
to represent Him after He was twelve years
or age. The art OF the world has exhaust
ed itself upon Madonnas and Christ childs
There IS an occasional painting that worth
lily represents Him when a boy twelve
years old in the Temple, but here paint
ing stops. Why? Because no canvas can
hold His divine majesty. The mysterious
Holy Spirit is nothing more or less than
CHIlSl p6TSOuduly udnSpldlJcQ dnLO the
human breast or into His church. guiding
and directing it and-them from age to age
and from generation to generation. the
Christ personality has always been present
in the world. The church has been guilty
of every conceivable error and blunder
There is no crime that cannot be laid to its
charge, and yet in its most corrupt and
darkest deeds the personality of Christ has
always been present with a chosen few,
who, in the picturesque language of the Old
Testament, have never bowed the knee to
Bael,' but have passed down from age to
age the lighted torch of divine truth. The
church has wisely levied contributions upon
all the arts fine and unfine, to perpetuate
and glorify this Christ personality. No
where do we find it better expressed than
in the grand cathedrals of the old world.
Here we get all that color, form, music and
proportion can do TO perpetuate and hallow
our Saviors personality. cathedral is
not as Madame De Stael once said, frozen
music that is low view. 1t is, rather,
marble, crying out, and architecture offer
ing up it's glad tribute to a great person
ality. Perhaps the most potent of all the
instruments the church calls to her ala 10
glorify this Christ personality is music
What constitutes the charm ana the peTpet-
ual inspiration of the hymn book? It is
because it is perfumed with the Christ
spirit. Hymns are TRANSPORTED experiences.
A hymn is one of the mighty hopes that
make us men glOrified by our Saviors per-
sOnality. Every great wave of religious
enthusiasm eliminates in fresh hymns. The
great Moody and Sankey revival gave the
world its gospel hymns and each OF these
is a kings highway leading to the invis-
Idle Kingdom.
What is that mysterious something we
call conversion? 1t is a lower and corrupt
personality Quickened and purified by
higher personality. 1t is the Christ soul
coming into contact with the human soul
Every day some person whose personality
is higher and stronger than ours comes into
our lives, either for good or for bad. This
we call personal influence Getting re-
ligion, as it is called is this simple process
applied to our relations with our SaVoir
Years ago it used To be thought that con-
version was a cataclysm, but of late we be-
gin to see that it is a growth and an edu-
cation. As with the wonders of geology, 1t
used to be supposed that they We're oc-
casioned by vast volcanic cataclysmS, but
the opposite theory prevails that even
the giant mountains and bottomless gorges
have been built by silent and persistent in
tiuences spread over incalculable lapSeS of
time-so with the divine life. 1t is a
growth 1t is personality applied to per-
sonality. / cannot impress upon you with
sufficient emphasis that our Savior was not
a teacher nor philosopher, but, first last
and all the time object of worship. He
came to give life He is the fountain of life
He is an incarnation He translates to the
world the will of God expressed in terms of
human experience. Teaching, with Him.
was q mere incident; miracles were a mere
incident. AS Webster was greater than any
of Webster'S speeches. Lincoln
greater than any act Lincoln ever did; so
our Saviqg was greater in His personality
than either his works or his words. He Is
the life and the light of the world; hence
the enormous stress that both He and His
church laid upon his personality"