The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1909-04-17
| GREAT QUESTION IS
GIVEN CLEAR ANSWER
Line Of Demarkation Between Be
j ing Religious and Being Chris
tian Sharply Defined, 4
BY Rev. Charles SteIzle.

TO the question what Is Christian
ity?' answer: -,
1t is. not an ecclesiastical rite. To
be baptized or to attend a communion
service is to some men the sum and
substance of Christianity. Others
have insisted that the church repre-
sents all there is of Christianity. I'm
fortunately, while the church has been
the instrument by which the truth has
been proclaimed, it has not always
been true to its avn message.
Others have said that religion is
Christianity. A man may be very re-
ligious, and yet not be very much of
a, Christian. There is great differ
ence between Christianity and Re
l1gion." Sometimes 1t is said that a
man has become insane because he
has too much religion. That may be
true, but never heard of a man be-
coming insane because he had too
much Christianity.
What then is Christionity? There
is a text IL Scripture which reads:
IF any man have not the spirit of
Christ, he is none of His" Christ
ianity is a character and a life; the
possession and the manifestation of
the spirit of Christ. Some men have
given us distorted pictures of that
life, and others loking on, have said:
"That is Christianity"
It is not the life of the monk. Some
great and good men and women have
secluded themselves from the sin of
the world and the power of it's tempta-
1r1 11,rf
Christ, in praying for His disciples,
said, II pray not that thou shouldst
take them out of the world, but that
thou shouldst keep them from the
evil" The world needs its best men
and women as forces for righteous
ness. -
Neither is the Christian life the
life of the stole. The Puritans were
noble characters, but for most Of them
this world was a bowling wilderness.
To them laughter and mirth were the
signs of an unregenerate soul. Christ
does: not command that a man should
shut his heart and his mind to the
good and the beautiful things of the
world, the flowers and ferns, the rocks
and rivers, the skies and the sunshine,
was a constant protest against the
narrow spirit o fthe Puritan.
The Christian life is not the life of
the Pharisee. The Pharisee was a
man who thought himself too good
to mingle with ordinary men, for fear
of contamination. Christ had nothing
hut words of condemnation for such
men. H.:
The Christian life is not the dual
life-a double life. Sometimes men
separate certain acts, and say of them,
F'this is my religious life'';; and of
another set of acts, this is my sec
ular life Christ never made such
a distinction. He taught that every
act Of q mans life is a part Of his
Christian life. 1t is: no more OF a.. re-
.lfgious duty for you to go to church
| On Sunday than it is for you to 90
to the shop, Or office, or store on
| Monday. One is just as sacred a
duty as the other. The life of the
preacher is no more a religious" life
than the life of day laborer should
be. They simply serve in different
| ways.
Christianity is not an ethereal thing
somewhere up in the sky. 1t has tc
do with the here and now. There is
no more practical thing in the world
What that life and that spirit is
Christ has told us in His teachings
and in His own life upon earth. Here
then is the test of every mans Christ
ia!nity-"M any man have not the
| SYir ~ ThriS Ct no ics ~