The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-06
THE MISSION OF CHRIST.
Invasion and Characterization of
China Would BE in Harmony with Ii.

4
To the Editor OF the indianapolis Journal:
Not long ago the phrase peace on earth
| and good will among men, appeared in a
Journal editorial in such a connection as
to imply that if China shall be divided
among the Western powers it will indicate
a failure of so much of the enunciation
| message as is contained in the quotation.
AS the very reverse would be the truth,
allow me to call attention to n few pre-
vailing misconceptions of the mission of the
| Christ. AS that which regards Him as the
! author of a new religion underlies most,
if not all, the others, let me say He was
not in any sense. He was born Jew,
lived a Jew and died a Jew, having all His
life scrupulously observed every jot and
| title of the law as given By Moses, though
from the beginning of His ,lblic ministry
| hurting anathemas at the traditions and
| commandments of men which rendered
much of the law voio. 1t was to eliminate
these from the creed of His times and to
extend the benefits of that law to all peo-
pie that He lived and died That model
prayer which is repeated by all Christians
is not a Christian prayer in any distinctive
or exclusive sense. 1t is only such prayer
as any devout Jew may offer who recog
nizes the fatherhood of God and the true
nwardness of the law as given by Moses.
| The same is true of the Sermon on the
Mount. There is not a word distinctively
| Christian in that beyond the light it throws
| upon the spirit and inteps of the law as
| given by Moses. That His immediate dis
cipeS understood His mission in no other
| light is seen in the fact that they them
selves observed all the services Of the tenn
pie as long as the temple remained, as did
all Jews who accepted Him as the prom
ised Messiah. At first, so little did the
| thought of new church enter into their
conception of the purpose of His advent,
life and death, that some insisted on re-
| quiring all the ceremonies of the temple of
those who believed in Him from among
| the gentileS, but other cOunSels prevailed
as to these. and ultimately the Jewish cere-
monies were wholly abandoned by Chris
| tians and the two branches of the one
| church drifted apart as it is to-day.
| Meanwhile, that marvel of the centuries,
the Jewish people, continues. They mix
with all peoples, yet remain distinct, OBJ
serving the law of Moses as it is handi-
capped by tradition, yet maintaining the
high morality of that law to such a de-
gree that they are the bankers and mer-
chants of the world, while their poor are
so cared for that a Jew is seldom found
in public almshouse or in penal insti-
come it will, that the jews shall recognize
in the Man of Galilee their Messiah, and
the Christians shall have eliminated from
| their creeds the traditions and command
mentS or men, which obscure the Christ
| as nucn to-day as ala corresponding ira
| ditions obscure the spirit of the Mosaic
| law two thousand years ago. the sheep of
these folds will come together into one fold
| under one Shepherd; and he reads the
| trend of thought in each branch of the one
| church imperfectly who does not recognize
a Christward tendency from each direc-
ton. Every careful observer of the voice
| of the modern Christian pulpit knows that
| the tendency is to exalt the Christ of the
| earliest days, a Christ denuded of many of
the traditions of men with which it has
| been burdened: while there is an earnest
and honest searching of the Scriptures
among the Jews to see if the Jesus of
| Nazareth was not He that was to come.
Akin to this misconception of the mission
of the Christ is the dogma that His mission
| relates wholly to spiritual things, whose
! primary purpose is by some occult process
to prepare the soul for a happy hereafter,
| spent. The very opposite is the truth. His
expositions of the law of Moses enforce the
high morality of that law as the essential
| law of life. In short He t1ught men how
| to live. not how to die emphasizing i'm
| mortality as it never had been emphasized
| before, but teaching that its joys sor-
sows depended more upon how a man lives
| than how he dies. By much this
truth permeates the man and becomes the
rule of his life, he becomes better man,
| better citizen, a better Christian.
Growing out of these kindred misconcep-
| tions is that which crops out in the Jour
| naPs application of the quotation referred
TO. In the face of the historic fact that the
Christ armed His disciples with swords, and
| that they used them vigorously in His pres
once, 1t seems strange that anyone should
ever teach that He is averse TO the use of
physical force when it becomes necessary.
| His rel gion is for man as he is and hence
| just such an invasion of China as
| seems imminent is pre-eminently Christian.
To comprehend the situation it must be
| remembered that the gospel comes to indi-
vduals only never to nations or aggrega-
tions as SUCH these being affected only as
the individuals composing them are affected.
Then, remembering that the gospel which
| is nothing more CT less than the moral law
| of Moses restored to it's primitive import by
| Christ
claims time as an essential factor In pro-
| ducing its results, we are prepared to some
what appreciate what seems to us its slow
| development The Christ. referring to this
element of its operations, compared it 10
little leaven and it's workings small seed
and it's development, but the finished prod
uct is no less the handiwork of God be-
cause thus reached than if it had been
spoken into maturity by one word. Peace
is to come to earth, but it is a peace that
is to be conquered, the only type of peace
that is abiding except that which reigns at
| Crown Hill-the peace of death.
The invasion and conquest of China by
Christian powers is the inevitable outcome
thrift of the Jews is the marvel of the
world, though they are handicapped by
their traditions. The unvarying result of
and obeying His law is thrift and knowl-
edge and power. When the civilization of
J any people becomes Christian by the pre-
! ponderance of Christian morality and as
| pirations and hopes. it becomes thrifty and
! intelligent and powerful, and, therefore, ag-
sists the great difference between the fol-
! lowers of the Christ and the followers of
| Buddha and Confucius and Mohammed
| There is nothing ennobling or uplifting in
/ their teachings. They do not make the in
diyidual any better. hence nations com
posed of such individuals are not elevated
| beyond the brute force which numbers
| give. They have no public schools no asy-
| lums for the poor or the unfortunate, no
sentiment of brotherhood. At the best their
| civilization is semi barbarous and they are
hemmed in by geographical boundaries.
| while Christianity claims the world as it's
| field and the marts of the world as open or
openable to it's commerce. IT may be a
Year. it may be a century before China will
be under the control Of Christianity, but it
! Will be in time, and whatever methods may
be used in bringing it about, the result will
be the spreading of peace on earth and good
will among men. Z. l.. SEE.
Indianapolis, JAM 5.
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