Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-06-06
<tD ELOVED, when gave all
% * diligence to write unto
- you of the common saliva


- you of the common saliva
ton, it was needful for
me to write unto you, and exhort you
that you should earnestly contend
for the faith which was once for all
delivered unto the saints" So wrote
st. Jude to the Christians of the first
century.
The phrase "the common salvation"
is most significant 1t finds it's par
allel in the passage in which st. Paul
calls Titus mine own son after the
common faith" (Titus i:):
The word common" in these pas
sages implies the inheritance, or
possession of a blessing in which all
Christians share in common. 1t is
| the communism of faith; the fellow
is hid with Christ in God, and in
which all the faithful alike partict-
pate. ----' ....
The implications of the term are
| that Christianity is the religion for
the common people, of whom it was
said with reference to the teaching
| of Jesus, the common people heard
him gladly"
There is a disposition upon the part
Of some preachers and teachers to
exhibit Christianity as sort of phil
| oSophy, which is hard to be under
stood and which can not be faith
omed in its uttermost depths except
by the learned. Hence we have books
| on the philosophy of the Christian re-
lgion, and save the mark! books
Christian experience! Ali of which is
pretentious nonsense.
Christianity is not a philosophy;
| it is revelation. 1t was not diScov-
cred by the saints, but delivered to
them. 1t is deposit which they are
to defend and not discovery which
they are to parade. This is mani
testify the teaching of st. Paul in
his first letter to the Corinthians. In
full epistle he affirms that he DELHI
erately declined the arts of worldly
wisdom and human eloquence in CIV
ing to the Corinthians the gospel of
portant reason that he wished their
faith, should not stand in the wis
dom of men, but in the power of
Cod" Il Cor. ii 81. In the same
chapter he gives us further to under
stand that neither the human senses,
are equal to the task of discovering
the things of Christian life and
truth. Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the
hath prepared for them that love
Him. But God hath revealed them
unto us by His Spirit" Such being
the case, Christianity is not a sci
ence; for science concerns itself with
matter only. and it's discoveries ap-
upon the senses. Equally Christian
ity is not a philosophy; for if so, it
might have entered into the mind of
some of the great intellects who
since the beginning have pondered
long and futilely upon the questions
of life and immortality. Socrates
ought to have discovered it before
Paul did, if the truth of the Gospel
is matter of philosophy. The
Scribes and Pharisees ought to have
unprecedented it more easily. quickly
and clearly than did ST. Peter, if it
were mere matter of theological
philosophizing. But Jesus shows us
why Peter knew what the Jewish
theologians did not know when he
said to the apostle, Flesh and blood
my Father which is in heaven.
(Matthew xiv 10. Christianity be-
ing a revelation, and not a philoso-
ply, can be apprehended by the COM
mon man and at the same time COM
mand the mind of the most learned
man.
By consequence 1t can not be made,
without doing violence to it's nature,
They who attempt to give it any such
character are open justly to the
charge made by the Saviour against
the Jewish hierarchy, when he said
unto them, I'VE have taken away the
key of knowledge; We entered not in
tered in, we hindered." Luke xi:53).
Yet those misguided and vain men
imagined that in them were all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge
stored. So do also their modern sue
ceSsors who proceed on the same
false assumption and land in the
same deep darkness.
If Christianity is a revelation an6
not a philosophy, we may be sure il
may be understood by the plainest
truth as it is in Jesus. God makes
no favorites of philosophers, nor
gives them preferred claims upon the
stock of religious truth. On the con
trary he pursues the very opposite
Jesus rejoiced in Spirit, and said, ]
thank Thee, o Father, Lord of heav.
en- and earth, that Thou hid these
things from the wise and prudent
and hast revealed them unto babes
in Thy sight" Guke x:21).
Jesus did not trust His gospel t.
the philosophers of Athens, nor tt
} the rationalizing hierarchy of Jeru
salem; He committed it to Galileear
give it to all men.
1t was when worldly men from
the outside of the church came in anC
I, attempted to make of Christianity
a philosophic system that heresies
arose, and from the same source ant
under the same impulse heresies
have been springing up from time
to time ever since. There are al
ways men in the church who desire
to appear as men of the world among
men of the world. Some of then
pose as philosophers; others affec
$ the arts. of the literati; still others
= of lighter type play the part Of
= sportsmen even. But none of such
r worldly men ever truly represented
, Christ and Christianity. They Meth
L er breathe nor comprehend the pro
0 phetic spirit which is an essential
characteristic of the true preachers
of the Gospel. How could they
How can they be ambassadors OF
Christ while flirting with the world
ST. Paul felt the utter impossibility
: of such a position upon the part O.
teacher of Christianity, and said
do I seek to please men? for if
servant of Christ" Galatians il 100
A modiSh mind can neither conceive
nor proclaim with fidelity eterna
truth.
Christianity being revelation is
full and final. Hence ST. Jude de-
clared that it was "once for all de-
livered to the saints
There was a progressive revela-
ton before Christ, and leading up to
Christ; but when he appeared in the
flesh among men, in the fullness OF
time. He revealed the fullness OF
truth. Wherefore the writer of the
epistle to the Hebrews said, God,
who at sundry times and in divers
manners spake in times past unto
the fathers by the prophets, hath in
these last days spoken unto us by
His Son." (Hebrews i:1-2). The
"a iS