The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-04-06
THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS
OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION

? converts could say: 7 believe tina
! Jesus the Christ is Lord the COMES
sion was sufficient to admit o. theil
baptism. Of course it carried with II
what they already held, that is. beiie1
in God the Creator of heaven and earth
It carried with it also what they knew
or had accepted on the testimony OF
others, that Jesus had been crucified
dead and buried. 1t carried more, be-
cause if It left Him in the grave His
followers would have mourned Him as
a dead teacher. But the followers OF
Jesus persistently asserted in the face
of all threats and punishmentS that
the only reason they had for preach
ing the gospel and the only reason for
their proceeding to organize the Church
was that Jesus was not a dead teacher,
but a risen, living Christ, who was
the Lord Nothing could stop the dis
ciples from telling this. The men and
women who had been His intimate as
socfates and had seen Him often dur
ing the forty days after He had come
from the grave, the five hundred peo-
pie who had seen Him at one time,
these insisted that Jesus was the Hv-
ing Christ who because He was the
Prince of Life could not be held by
DEATH This simple confession Of be-
lief in Jesus as the Christ carried with
it all that is now expressed in that
form of words commonly called the
Apostles Creed.
ITO a man coming from Polytheism,
it was necessary that he make state
ment that he believed in God who was
the Almighty and who made all things.
1--WE can readily see also that to
show God as revealed by Christ, the
word: Father was used, and SO in
the earliest formulas of the second
centuries we have what we should ex-
pect a confession of faith identical with
the Apostles Greed.
1.-THE spirit of tolerance of opinion
continued for centuries. The great con-
fficts arose when a basic principle was
attacked, but the Greek and Latin
fathers speculated about every con-
ceivable matter, previous existence, rein
carnation, eternal punishment, whether
the first chapter of Genesis consisted
of facts or a parable or allegory. But
none of these things affected a man s
standing in the Church.
Later come the schoolmen who rails
ed and laid questions relating TO mat
tiers conceivable and inconceivable. But
their standing in the Church was not
affected.
'sIt was later that this way of toler-
ating differences gave way to the idea
that those who held opinions contrary
to the majority should be handed over
to the punishment of the civil authori-
ties and if they did not repent should
be put to death.
when Luther arose with his stand
for the right of private Judgment in
reading the scripture, there arose the
idea of the infallible Judgment Of the
individual instead Of an infalIfh1e Pom |
tiff. The logical result of this was that
innumerable sects began to arise and
the holding of opinions called doctrines, |
was considered of far more Importance |
than right conduct Men could over |
look adultery and theft, but they must |
imprison and burn a man who did not |
agree with them on matters of doc |
trine. It is a sad story all round.
lat this time Theology offered al |
most the only scope for the exercise |
Of the awakening mind of Europe. The |
large Christian bodies set forth long |
confessions of faith which tried TO re- |
late in detail Gods methods of work |
ing. We read some Of them now with |
g. kind of horror as we relegate them
to the Theological dust pile.
$50 it Is that in the memory Of many
OF US when these old confessions of
faith began to be put away men had
the idea that religion was going. Only
the human accretions went, the essen
tial elements as contained in the Apos-
ties Creed remained untouched. The
things over which men had Quarreled
and fought were put away but the dfvt-
sions they caused still continue be-
cause pride and custom are stronger
than a desire to fulfil Christ's prayer
that His followers may be one, instead
Of being ranged in semfhostile camps,
which are expensive to keep up. The
Did folly still comes to US when men
want US to abandon the religion of
Jesus Christ for some human mystic
speculation.
1.-The first element Of the Christian
'eligion Is belief in ona's existence. I
am that is the starting point of reli-
yion. Man is Il religious being with a
spiritual nature which seeks in some
way to know God. Man of all the
sarth's creatures looks upwards. de
hears the morning stars singing. He
ices the invisible, and knows good and
svI
1.-THE second element Of the Christian
'eligion is: God the Father Almighty,
Maker of Heaven and Earth 1t is
lot necessary to dwell on this point
which has occupied so large amount of
previous lectures. God is the one truth
# the universe It is only the alb
normal soul who can stand on the
rink Of the abyss and see nothing but
darkness. Theories about Him come :
md go, hut God cannot be blotted
rom mans armament any more than {
he sun can be bIotted out by argu-
nent or unbelief.
The third essential element is
Jesus Christ. No intelligent man to-
lay doubts that Jesus lived and died
n Palestine 1900 years ago. Very few I
ioubt the power of Hi~ religion in up '
fitting the race. I have d book which 1
axes the negative view, but it is so
lalpably untrue to human nature and
acts that no one here would accept its
DroDoSitfOrS Max NOrCau in his Lies