Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1910-06-29
WHAT is A
CHRISTIAN?
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THERE is a stage of religious In.

religion In an individual. This paper
Is an attempt, II not at definition. at
least at description OF what constitutes
personal religion in Christian men.
l we'll remember the expectant In.
terest with which went In my stu.
dent days TO st. Giles cathedral. Ed
inburgh. TO hear DIR. Marcus Dods
preach on What Is Christian?"
cannot now remember much OF the
sermon, but l do very wildly recall,
the reason for my eager interest,
writes George A. Johnston Ross In The
Interior. In the preaching tat least
the evangelistic preaching) OF those
days. very sharp distinction was
drawn between those who were in the
Kingdom and those who were without:
and some OF us young people (for
whom IL was hardly possible In the
immaturity OF our knowledge OF life
to feel that we he'd fully yielded TO
the vaguely conceived claims OF God)
some of us went daily haunted by
misgivings as to whether we really
had or had not been received into the
fold OF Christ" What precisely con
stituted Christian-what, l mean, In
belief or surrender or personal habit
or attitude-was OF vital interest to
us.
In the matter of these misgivings
and auxieties the present generation
Is frankly n puzzle to me. | cannot
make out how far such anxieties exist
they are so yelled in theological diff
ficulties' or by light hearted demean
or. l do not think there is less need
than there used TO be to arrive at a
true idea Of the essential contents of
Christianhood. Let us try to get at
the heart of the matter without tech.
meal language, and by way of descrip-
ton.
The Compelling Ideal and the Chris.
tian Response.
To begin with. that ideal which
from outside the visible order Tin
which we struggle for bread, for
knowledge, for wealth, for recogni.
tom makes itself felt within us as
a moral pressure and summons-this.
Jesus declared to be the presence OF
personal being. to be identified with
the eternal fount and origin OF our life
and with what we call Providence
This Person works within us as mind
conveying his meaning to our minds
In rational but uniquely intimate
ways. That God" Is personal as
Father. and that he is intimate as
Spirit-these together make the first
OF Christs emphases in his interpreta-
ton of the moral and spiritual sum.
mons we hear within us.
Next. Jesus taught the all-embracine
power of this spiritual person whom
we hear within. ] do not know wheth.
er Jesus was "monist" or not. He
certainly treated evil as grim real
ity. But ! am sure he so believed I'm
the supremacy of God and in the uni
versatility of his interest as to hold
firmly the potential unity of all per.
sonsin him. After that, Jesus taught
that this spiritual presence Is holy
holy beyond our thought and finally.
with most emphasis OF all, he taught
that unaltering love dwells at the
heart OF this urgency that Is upon
us, and that 1t is love-in-sacrifice.
Now let us return to our question
What is a Christian" 1t is obvious
that II Christian is one who en-.
deavors to respond to the ideal as
Jesus conceived it, we have in these
"emphases" OF Jesus the leading
notes" Of the Christian life. These
are the brief summaries of the Chris
tian distinctive aspirations.