St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1903-07-08

tan people and the church we represent,
do to be saved? / know no other ans
wer, my dear friends, than this one of the
text. ask for no better answer. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
be saved. Simple, direct, cogent, compre-
hensive, the word comes down through
the long years at once to convict and
to cheer our waiting souls. In three re.
spects Ilbelieve that there must be re-
vival of fundamental belief in Jesus Christ
il the church is to claim her rightful place
and enter tiff she is to advance at her
due rate along that way of Salvation in
which her feet too often seem to stand
still. They are, belief in His person, be-
lief in His mission, belief in His spirit.
l. Beliefin the person of Christi l can
almost hear some of you echo. Of course
we believe. Is not that our prerogative?
Isnot our orthodoxy our pride? Has not
the defence of our Lords divinity been in
some sense our peculiar trust and do we
not base our claim to be reckoned evan
gelical upon it? Yes, perhaps, perhaps;
but when | say that we must believe in the
person of Jesus Christ mean something
too deep and wide and far-reaching to
be defined in terms of mere orthodoxy,
because mere orthodoxy is likely to be
a rather cabined, limited and fearful
thing, keeping within we'll marked bor-
ders, disturbed if anyone tamper with
it's definitions, and contenting itself with
the occupation of good defensive posi-
tions. Belief in the person OF Jesus Christ
is always outgrowing orthodoxy's raj
ment and sorely trying orthodoxy's
patience. Why? Because in its true,
real form it is vision, possession, an
experienced vision seen anew through
every new believers eyes, possession
found anew by every new seeker after
religions hid treasure, an experience
newly entered upon, newly enjoyed,
freshly translated into new terms by
every new disciple.
To believe in the person of Jesus Christ
is to believe that God was in Christ rec
onciling the world unto himself. 1t is to
see and to feel in the Nazarene life
absolutely God-possessed and God-flled.
1t is to see and to feel how completely,
yet how strangely, too, the words and
works of Jesus express a knowledge OF
men, love for men, justice in dealing
with them and a courage in rebuking
and convicting them which are divine.
In his life and death we see divine knowl-
edge, power and love all intermingled.
Aud we incline to believe. But more
strange and convincing yet Christ rarely
let's us alone IN our mere inclination to
believe founded upon what we have
observed. He haunts US with a sense
| that all this which we have seen him do
for others was meant for us-for us,
insignificant, sinful, vain, opiuionated
the Sermon on the Mount and the Parable
of the Prodigal and the Sacrifice of the
Cross reaching for our hearts, gripping
them, demanding their surrender with
an inevitable yet gracious compulsion
which at last we own to be divine.
Now when we begin to realize by obser-
walton and experience that the life and
the word and the sacrifice of Jesus are
such a revelation of the highest that
we know or can conceive as to be
authoritative for us, then we begin
to believe in the person of Christ. Be-
side such faith as this all speculation
about hypostatic unions sink into rela-
tive insgni6cance. Criticism OF the sto-
ries of the Infancy, discussions of the
authorship of the Fourth Gospel, opin-
ions pro and con concerning the histo-
ricity of this chapter of Acts or the au-
thenticity of that epistle are matters OF
only incidental moment to it. 1t knows
with knowledge too deep for complete
definition that in Christ, God, the Father
of all Spirits, has translated himself into
divine Word; has expressed himself as
fully as the capacity of human terms
permits; has spoken in syllables of per-
iect justice, truth and love. And it
knows further that the lost man who
heartily and heedfully believes this shall
be saved. His feet wandering in the
paths that lead to death shall be set in
the ways of life.
do not so much care what definition
of Christ church may evolve when it
sits down to express Him in terms OF
philosophy. l do not so much care
whether man loom large or small theo-
logically when set beside the image of
the great Genevan. All these are inter
esting matters; but they are not essen
tial matters. Power is not in them.
Compulsion upon the hearts and wills of
men does not issue from them. These
are the prerogatives of the man and the
church that believe in Jesus Christ as the
embodiment and exponent of the truth
of personal religion; that God, so far as
we can know him, is best known as a
person; that there is correspondence OF
nature between man and God; that the
relation between the two is personal
matter and for the man fundamental
and primary matter; that God loves him;
that in Jesus earthly life divine truth
was interpreted into terms OF human
goodness, and divine love portrayed in
terms of utter sacrifce-for what? That
men might believe; that men might come
home; that men might be saved.
II. Then comes belief in His mission.
Here again we are face to face with elabo.
rate theories which have their value
doubtless and many of which deserve our
. respectful study. am not undervalu-
, ing theological research. No man with
an atom of scientific spirit in him
, has any right to do that. But l am
J reminding you that salvation does not
| come through assent to theory. TO
be saved a man must not rest content
: with saying II believe that" He must
/ confess in terms of life, II believe in
Now the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ
+ in this world was great adventure
: mark the word--a great adventure. he
= staked something for the love OF men
He entered upon an untried way. he