Norwich bulletin., 1921-06-13
BREACHES ON WHAT IS
 MEANING OF SALVATION

On Sunday morning at the Trinity l Methodist church, the pastor, Robert L. | Roberts, preached on What Salvation l Means to Me. He said in part:
 In a recent article the Itanan pub l licist and radical Giovanni Papini de- clares that Christianity has yet to do it's work among us and he summons the church to the ministry of teaching the Christian faith. He says that Ae propagation of tho fundamental Chris tian truths among the people today has all the perils and all the attractiveness of an enterprise absolutely new" the enterprise of causing to enter into the spirit of men and into their daily con- analysis are the only ones that can save ourselves and the world'' This might seem like an extreme statement if it were not so true. A stu dy of both the British and the American soldier in France is published in which the conclusion is reached that four-ffths of the young manhood of these so-called Christian na- :ions who went into the war did not know what real Christianity was. This IS terrible indictment of the church. as a teacher of Christian truth. or of the pupil who received his training in the church. Surprising how many miss its real meaning. Any thought of Chris tianity must be colored by what Christ means to us, because Christianity is Christi Not a creed to be believed but a fife to be lived. The Christian has in
 him a new divine life and that life Is Christ. He thps becomes a new crea- ture which is human plus divine-"a par taker of the divine nature' The key to
 the real meaning of salvation is here. Many fail to grasp this and mistake the
 essential fact of Christian salvation Some think that soldier who fell fighting in France was saved by the
 mere fact of his sacrifcial death but surely that is the faith of Islam and
 not the teaching of Christ. Some say
 that those who stood aside and let the 1 women go free while they went down with the Titanic were by their act of sa- crifcial chivalry saved from sin and to
 All that waits for the Christian. They bought their way into heaven by their deed. Now while all must recognize the
 high merit of such deeds, this is surely not the way of salvation, in the religious
 sense. These deeds have their reward but it is not salvation.
 l The preacher pointed out some essen 1 tial factors in salvation.
 l a. It is not mere immunity from pen aity. That might not be salvation at all. You may free criminal from penalty l but not save him. He may remain B william still, whie he might have stay ed in jail and become a new man. Sal l Vation is not so much something done i tor you as it is something done in you ] It is making one new morally. It is | something you become not something you get Escape from penalty is an in | cidental of this process. No matter how your habits of life may be unless you
 have the new life Christ came to give
 you are not in the way of salvation. 1 b. Salvation means & resurrection of
 mans nature. According to the whole
 tenor of the. New Testament salvation is 2 change in a persons nature so deep, so
 radical, so vital as to be equal to a res
 urrection from the dead'' A new life
 must come first, but it must be nour- 1 ished and must make the whole man
 over. Salvation means strength to do 1 Gods will. It is no easy process It Is not indulging in devout and plea sant emotion. Emotion is good but it must run the life, not, merely blow the whis- Ge The drunkard becomes sober, the
 profane pure, the profiteer honest-a new man emerges.
 c. Salvation means good works, Ii
 Is not obtained through good works, but
 produces them They are the fruits of
 salvation, not the roots This life is the
 exercising ground for the new creature.
 By wrestling with it's difficulties we be.
 come strong. Good works are the stated
 duties of the new man. Saved to serve
 and save sums that duty
 d. Salvation means fellowship witt Christ How different this from sinpl,
 being freed from penalty for sin or siY Itself. This means union with Christ Having same quality of joy, peace . power over sin. as he Having his advic, on life's problems, his instruction in al
 the secrets of right living, his brotherl, sympathy and friendship an along life rugged way. All life becomes differen } in such company and under such mag netic influence the new creature grow : strong.
 e. Salvation means also heirship wit, l Christ. The eternal kingdom belongs f
 those who are kept by the power of Go 2 through faith unto salvatioh."s, Not onl , does the Christian live in Gods famil, ]. he also shares in the family estates an