The Alaska citizen., 1915-08-23
THE ONE AND ONLY GOSPEL.
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 But though We. CT an angel from Heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which We have preached unto you. let him be ac- cursed Gal Is.
 There is d pleasing sort of ire sistahle charm about the man who comes to deliver his message with certainty He who guesses at the truth. who hopes he is in the right, who trusts his conceptions may be in accord with the right, compels only passing notice. But always when the man can say T know and leaves his auditors with the conyic- ton that there is no doubt in his mind whatever, carries the crowd with him and accomplishes his pur- pose That tells how John Brown, in 1856, almost alone set in motion circumstances that caused an insur- rection and hastened the day of freedom; it tells how William the Si- lent, with his conviction of liberty, won the war Of the Dutch Republic; it tells how Oliver Cromwell, with his idea that the divine right of kings was fatal to the rights of the common people, achieved success for the English people.
 A man may De in the wrong, but once thoroughly convinced that he is right, let him launch his idea with the conviction that he cannot be wrong and his battle is half won. Peter the Hermit preached to his people that it was their duty to recover the Holy City from the hands of the enemies of Christ with such convincing arguments that he could not care for those who enlis'- ed in search for the Holy Grail.
 Just such man was Paul, the greatest of the apostles. the eX pounder and exponent of the Chris tian faith of his day and the author of these words His handicaps were many. His enemies said his presence was weak and his speech contempti- ble. He lacked the graces and trick of the forensic orator and the physi- cal attractions that go so far to gain a hearing, and yet with what bold ness he entered the city of Ephesus and spoke forth the words of Christ with the result that he left an organ ized church right in the hotbed of heathenism and idol worship. At Corinth, at Phillippi, at Athens everywhere he offers the simple gospel over against the finest schol ars. reinforced by the prejudices and practices and wins the day. Al ways and everywhere when he preach ed he showed that certainty of his message that left his opponents in silence and confounded his enemies He frequently refers to it as my gospel" it was that in which he sloricd, the one thing of which he he preached that he rejOiced in suf fering and hardship. in prison and condemnation, and it is for the gospel that he is willing to live or die, and be glad for either
 Pauls idea is that the Gospel is centered in Christ. It is not code of ethics but Gospel of salvation from sin and character ruin. It was not simply ,1 philosophy offered to those who were not satisfied with other religions, but it was the good news that men could live and live well. It was not built on the the ories of the practfceC past but it was the revelation of God through his Sou Jesus Christ, and without Him there is no way of salvation Moses and the prophets lived and wrought but all that they had brought the foot of the cress. Christ is the one supreme and only revelation of God-the express image of his per son. It is Christ that hung upon the cross Tor our SlnS, II IS NATl5t who died and rose again that men might die unto sin and live unto righteousness; Christ who satisfied Divine justice and wrought salvation for the world Christ who conquered death and the grave and became the first fruits of them that slept. It is through faith in Christ, and that alone, that We can rejoice in the glory of God. It is through Christ that We have access to the Father, through Christ that we may live our lives without remorse and look into the future without dismay. He is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.
 Here is a man standing in the First Century, close to the events that form the basis of his creed, a man of scholarship and learning, one whose every influence had been an tagonistic to anything save the orth- odox Jewish faith, a man who began his life prosecuting the Christian and with zeal carried on his bloody work And now we find him preaching