Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-10-04

Rev. L. G. r. Pierce. pastor of All
Souls Church. preached last Sunday on
the power of Christ in ones life.
The text was the nineteenth verse of the
fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Gala
tians-"Until Christ be formed in you"
He said in part:
Paul was not only an apostle, but he
was philosopher. He was not only
man who could stand on his back the
forty stripes, but he was "a man who
dreamed dreams and saw visions. He
was wise enough to see that there can
come into the world no kind of greatness
which was not somewhere before 1t came
into the world. and before Jesus Christ
could be born into this world there must
have been resident in the powers of the
world capacity which was unfolded in
and through this man. So, the good book
tells us, in the beginning was the idea, in
the beginning was the word in the begin
ming was the type, the thought, the ideal
1t was with God; it was God. And by and
by theaideal began to become flesh. We
miss that delicate meaning In our word
when we say the word became flesh, as If
1t We're a matter of history. The word
began TO become flesh: process, not
simply an act. The word began to be-
come flesh. to pitch its tent with us-a
moving tent-and We saw it's glory, saw
1t full Of grace and truth. full of grace
and reality. So Paul would say, there
was anonted with the oil of joy above his
fellows, who was born In the realm of
time, lived I'm time and in time died. but
back of Him was the idea of which He
was an expression and this, evidently
Paul calls Christ. When he speaks OF
the Christ in you he does not mean sim
ply that the life and teaching of Jesus of
Nazareth shall be reincarnated in us, so
that We shall be noble limitations, but still
limitations; but he means that the spirit
which came into Christ may also come
into US.
There is one curious illustration and
confirmation of this in the Epistle to the
Colossians, another episte written to
pagan folk. He says, Let the word of
Christ dwell richly in you. That seems
innocent enough as it stands in its Eng
lish garb. but it is the only place in the
whole Bible where that expression occurs:
but as one looks at it carefully he dis
covers thiS-that here is precisely the
same word which is used in our fourth
gospel, iogOs. He does not mean, let
the spoken word. the utterance of Christ.
dwell in you. That would make man an
imtator noble as it might be. But he
says. Let the ''logos' which became flesh
In Jesus of Nazareth, let it become flesh
in YOU.
zone asks. are there any marks by
which we can characterize this Christ
within one? Is there anything to dis
tinguish it from the merest vagary and
the most fantastic of Missionaries? Indeed
there are. Otherwise it would not be IA
spiritual reality at all. Off hand, so to
speak. may know certain character
isticS which this great spirit carries with
it. AS the Buddhists say. the buddha was
to be known by certain marks on his
hands and on his feet, which is
alleSory. probably. and meaning that the
great man is recognized by the things to
which lie puts his hand and by the di-
rection which his feet move. For. as DT.
Holmes was fond ot saying, the I'M
port thing about man is not where he
stands. but where he is going. The di
rection of movement is what characterizes
the good life. No man. having put his
hand to the plOw and then looking back,
is hit for the kingdom of God. Today
and tomorrow he must walk in Galilee,
but the past is with God alone.
Yes. these are some Of the marks of
the man in whom the Christ has begun to
tinguished by the way he attracts TO him
self kindred spirits L. if | be lifted up
says the Christ speaking through the
Nazarene. will draw all men In me- Have
we not forgotten tEat? Have We not some
how thought that religion was a thing of
compulS.on" That we could compel peo-
pie to live the good life? The Master
does not put il. lie does not say, Go
yonder and work He says. Come unto
me all Won that labor and are heavy
laden. Religion is not a threat, but AN
invitation. 1T is an opportunity which
presents itself to n man. and one of the
earliest marks that the Christ has
awakened in man is found in the fact
that good people are attracted to 1t. This
is curiously put forth in our New Tesla
ment. where Jesus seems to have great
difficulty in finding opportunity to be
alone. There are plenty of us who have
no difficulty of that kind; the difficulty Is
to make people love us: somehow to
exert some kind Of magnetism which shall
draw people to us irresistibly. In the
great crises of life, to be sure, like every
man. he had to tread tire winepresses
alone. Man is born alone. We die one
| by one. And however many friends may
surround us. every crisis OF life must be
met in austere solitude. But, notwith-
standing that the Christ life has this
peculiar power: that in so far as it is
exalted above the things OF the earth IT
attracts to it all kindred spirits, until you
have inevitably not Christian man, but
| a Christian church.
And another mark Of this same spirit
is not only in the power that it has OF
attraction, but in the power that 1t has of
being attracted. 1t attracts to itself all
feebler than itself. 1t, in turn, is at
tracted to whatever is larger than itself.
To such soul religion becomes not a
burden. but joy: not an occasional feast,
but continual festival. So the old tes-
lament saint says of himself, as If in I'M
conscious recommendation, The holy and