Mexico Missouri message., 1910-06-09
WHAT is A
CHRISTIAN?
a HERE is a stage Of religious

tereBt which feels a peculiar
fascination about trying to de-
fine what precisely constitutes
religion in an individual. This paper
is an attempt, If not at definition, at
least at description of what constitutes
personal religion in Christian men.
we'll remember the expectant In
terest with which l went in my stu
dent days to st. Giles cathedral, Ed
inburgh, to hear DR.. Marcus Dods
preach on what Is a Christian" I
cannot now remember much of the
sermon, but do very vividly recall
the reason for my eager interest,
writes George A. Johnston Ross in The
Interior. In the preaching Cat least
the evangelistic preaching) of those
days, a very sharp distinction was
drawn between those who we're in the
kingdom and those who were without;
and some of us young people (for
whom it was hardly possible in the
immaturity of our knowledge of life
to feel that we had fully yielded to
the vaguely conceived claims of Cod
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 a Christian-what, mean, in
belief or surrender or personal habit
or attitude-was of vital interest to
us.
In the matter of these misgivings
and anxieties the present generation
is frankly a puzzle to me. l cannot
make out how far such anxieties exist
they are so yelled in Theological diff
ficulties" or by light-hearted demean.
or. do not think there is less need
than there used to be to arrive at
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.
tlan Response.
To begin with, that ideal which
from outside the visible order lin
which we struggle for bread, for
knowledge, for wealth, for recogni.
tion) makes itself felt within us as
a moral pressure and summons-this,
Jesus declared to be the presence of
a 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 Christ's emphases in his interpreta-
ton of the moral and spiritual sum-
mons we hear within us.
Next, Jesus taught the ail-embracing
power of this spiritual person whom
we hear within. do not know wheth-
er Jesus was a "monist" or not. He
certainly treated evil as a grim real.
ity. But am sure ne so believed in
| the supremacy of God and in the uni
versatility of his interest as to hold
firmly the potential unity of all per.
sons in 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 it is love-in-sacrifice.
Now let us return to our question,
what is a Christian It is obvious
that if 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.
The Problem of Living Out christ's
interpretations.
! Let me try in a sentence or two to
make this clear. First, to the man
who accepts Christ's rendering of the
facts of the moral life, there is ct
the center of his life, as its most sa.
cred experience, personal relation.
ship Of august obligations, and a per.
sonal spiritual action welcomed and
valued above all else. Now to such
a man, persons will mean more than
things, and spiritual values more than
material values. He will judge that a
mans life consists not in what he
possesses, but in the spirit which
possesses him. The character of those
he loves; Royalties in friendship; the
maintenance in public and domestic
life of clean motive and untarnished
honor-in word, all that exalts the
spiritual in personal life win interest
| and attract him most.
Again, the emphasis on the exalted
height of Gods holiness means for the
Christian infinitude of aspiration and
infinitude Of duty. This is the basal
paradox Of the Christian life; It is
haunted by the intnite-by that which
in the field OF striving combines the
stimulating and the hopeless. eve
are saved in hope"