The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1907-03-22

Irving Square Presbyterian Church
on the theme. "A Christian. Why"
the pastor, the Rev. Ira Wemmell
Henderson. took as his text Acts 26
2S. "A Christian" He said:
This is the question that men who
are outside of Christ ask This is
the inquiry that many of the best
souls in the service OF the Master
find difficulty 10 answer in such fash
ion as 70 satisfy the intellects of
those who do not enjoy the same
spiritual blessings that they them
selves possess in Jesus. This is the
Interrogation that we must be pre-
pared 10 grant sane and convincing
reply if we are 10 he the workers in
the vineyard Of orr Lord, that He
desires us to be. We should be pre-
pared at all times to undergo
examination on this point AL
ways must we be ready to declare the
reasons for and the reasonableness
of the faith that is within us. And
yet how many OF us can, on the mo-
ment. give clear. concise. argumenta-
lively upholdable grounds for our
spiritual faith. The most OF us fall
back upon the assertion that we are
Christians because we find in IL the
satisfaction of our minds, our hearts,
our souls. For us this is suffi cient.
But the man who goes behind our
satisfaction is oftentimes the man
we meet and man who always must
be replied to with reasonable evil
dence and convicted out of the full
ness of sensible, intellectually COM
pelling truth. He asks what are the
grounds of our satisfaction: what Is
the brand of the satisfaction that we
find glory in; why, in short, are we
at the root Christians?
A Christian. Why? And 10 an
swer that we must look within and
without us: we must take counsel
with our souls and with the count
less souls of the universe of God; we
must consider contemporaneous life
and we must examine history; we
must understand the spiritual and
the moral elements in man; we must
take cognizance, with care, of the
human race, everywhere and in all
time. It is not necessary that we
shall be experts upon the minute de-
tails of the historic life Of humanity.
1t is essential that we shall be cor
rect in our judgments and that our
premises shall be valid,
A Christian. Why? Now some
men are Christians by heredity. They
are so by birth They have grown
up in the arms of the church unques-
tioningly and have taken the religion,
as they have taken the names, OF
their fathers and their mothers. Far
be II from me TO disparage that sort
of religious life, If so be il be full
and free and glorious TO the soul or
the man who is it's divinely endowed
possessor. Such man is usually
quite able to declare the grounds OF
his belief. But there are many her
editary Christians who can give no
enduring reasons for their religious
acceptances-I can hardly call them
convictions any more than some
men can reveal in intelligent fashion
the reasons for their hereditary po-
litical Affiliations. Some men are
Christians because it is polite so 10
be; others because IL is commercially
or politically or otherwise profitable: {:
and still a larger host ] fear are the
nominal disciples of the Nazarene
because it is socially commendable
and wise. Some men are Christians
because the Bible commands such a
religious course upon those who read
its precious words. Better that sort
of reason and that kind of Christian
ity than none at all. Many other
men are intellectual Christians. They
yield homage to the historic Christ
of the vital and invigorating Savior
who fills the souls of men to-day
with blessedness and JOY and beauty
power, peace, they have no concep-
ton. They know much concerning
Christ, but of Him they are as ig-
norant as the Hottentot is of the laws
of the Medes and Persians. And al
these men cannot lead men of intel
lectual and discerning force into the
very presence of the Most High as
He stands revealed to us to-day in
Jesus Christ until they are indwelt by
Jesus and are certified in their own
lives by radical evidence, rather thar
by superficial, of the deepest and the
holiest influences that make the
Christian life joyous and that com
mend it to the world at large.
A Christian. Why? To speak
broadly we may say that all men are
instinctively religious. Whatever
We may have been before the dawr
of history, the truth outstandingly Il
this. that normal men everywhere are
essentially religious. Men are no
equally advanced in religious infor
nation or in the several department.
of religious thought. But irresistab b
ly and indubitably we are impressed
with the fact that universally mel
are endowed with a common element
al religious capacity and susceptible
fly. Throughout all the world W.
find humanity exhibiting religiou
instinct which reveals itself in th'
consciousness of a spiritual relation
ship with a higher power and II
obedience TO certain moral regula
tions that are conceived TO be benefi
cial 10 society and TO the individual il
his human relationships. and salts
factory to the higher agency tha
controls the world Everywhere men
in the outreaching OF their spiritua
faculties, desire the intimate knowl
edge OF an understandable power
which we call God. They desire q
know the truth concerning that God
They desire that the universal rule
of the destinies of men shall unfol