The copper era., 1909-07-29
What Is Christianity?

tween God and man as declared by Jesus Christ. When we learn what it was that Jesus declared, then will we know what Christianity is.
 But we are sure that Christianity, as Jesus taught it, is not a ceremony to be performed, it is not philosophy to be defined; it is not a creed to be said, nor mere. moralities to be ob- served. Neither is it a program to be followed as some denominations have described it, as for instance, to keep the Ten Commandments, or not to get drunk, or play cards, go to theaters, attend dances or belong to secret orders. Some sects include more in their program and some less. But Christianity is not a program. It is a religion.
 St. Paul was the first apostle of Christianity, but everything Paul said is not Christian. Paul taught the "Fall of Man" and "Total De pravity," but Jesus always had the greatest confidence in all men and never even once alluded to him as fallen or totally depraved. John Calvin was Christian preacher and without his remarkable ability of de- finition, the Reformation would have been a failure. John Calvin followed Christ, but he followed Him in the footsteps of Augustine. His doctrines of Election and Fatalism-that a few are not Christians as taught by Christ. Jesus declared, "And I, if I be lifted up from this earth, will draw all men unto me-" John Wes- ley was Christian preacher, and he came at very critical time-at a time when religion in England was cold and formal, and few or none were attending church. Wesley came and preached a living message. He took hold of the workingmen and told them about the wonderful love of God, and saved Christianity from falling into a dead Journalism. But all he said was not Christian. We believe in the new berth, but all of us cannot remember our birthday. We believe in the Holy Spirit, but we do not always see it in tongues of
 fire. Wesleyanism insists upon out ward evidence of all inward convic- tions. But the Quakers have taught us better, as we see them sitting quietly in their meeting house re ceiving the inward light. The Prophet taught us better when he said that God is not in the whirlwind. Jesus Himself taught us better when He said the spirit is like the wind, "YOu cannot tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth." Christ is the author of Christianity; let Him teach us what Christianity is.
 Flushed be the wise and strife of the schools,
 Pamphlet and volumn, sermon and speech, The lips of the wise, and the prattle of fools;
 Let the Son of Man teachl
 Bewildered, dejected, and prone to despair
 To Him, at first, do we turn and beseech; Our ears are all openl Give heed to our prayeIl
 Oh Son of Man Tcachi
 Jesus taught His deciples to pray, and most of us learned to pray when we learned to talk. And all of us pray now in time of trouble. But we have been told that prayer is super stition. Shall not the child climb to his fathers knees and lisp his desires in sobs and cries? You and I may not understand the language of that child, but the father does. If prayer is the means by which we obtain strength and nourishment from God, then I want to learn the language of prayer. "As a father pittieth his children, so the Lord is round about them that fear Him.
 The grain of corn may seem as valueless as the pebble as it lies in the cold earth, but crying, "I am child of the sum-" I see it come sing ing up from its prison walls and tower into the tall tassled stalk. The days ted it; the nights blessed it; the sun tenderly kissed it, until at length when nature wrapped its golden grain in a robe of silk, I understood what it meant to be a child of the sun. "I am a child of God" Jesus taught us to say, and in that hour democracy was born. Men would no longer be called slaves ot the mighty for they had learned that they were children of the Almighty. You can't keep people down whose relationship is high. Our ancestry began with God. Angels await our return to the Kingdom. "Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard the glories that are prepared for us."
 Christianity is not a beautiful dream, for its fOndeet hopes may be realized. "For as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God.' "You can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth you" The little plant says, "I am so tiny and weak, 1 can never grow to that great stalk. But then the bright sun appears and says, ''No little plant you cannot alone, but I will help you" And so sun and plant walk along together, and soon see, "First the blade, then the ear,