SAINTS AND WITNESSES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 137, 11 June 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

SAINTS AND WITNESSES.

(By S.)

St. Paul, in one of his epistle*!, told the members of a primitive congregation that they were called to be eaipts, and. on one occasion, our-Lord told the disciples that they were "witnesses of these things." Both these statements are intended for Christian people in every ago. They describe the character of a. Christian, and they show what is expected of him. Ho is a "saint." He is to "witness of these things." One often hears even church people say "I am not a saint; I do not profess to be a saint." In many cases it is because they have got into the way of attaching an altogether wrong meaning to the word. "Saint" is a New Testament word, and in the New Testament it is never used to describe a man or woman of exceptional piety. It is always used in connection with ordinary Christian people. Its root meaning is separation • —separation, that is, from pagan religious beliefs and customs, from wickedness, and from worldliness of life. A "saint" is not necessarily a person of outstanding holiness, but one who is not a pagan, who is not living in sin, and who i> not putting silver and gold before character; a saint is a person who believes in Christ as his Saviour and Lord, is connected with some branch of His Church, and is trying to put His precepts into practice. That is all the word originally meant, and it describes many of us. A Christian is also a witness, and that is expected of him. The disciples were witnesses in a peculiar sense; they were the intimate friends and followers of Christ, and, as His intimate friends and followers, they bora testimony to Him. But they also testified to a spiritual relationship with Him and to a spiritual experience of Him after His ascension. This _is a relationship and experience to -which every Christian man and woman can and should bear witness, and it is a relationship and experience that is continued by men and women in every land. What, then, are the things of which a Christian should witness but the fact of Christ, the fact that He is the way to Cod and peace and hope, the fact that though ho himself is a sinful and imperfect man, ho is yet enabled by his fellowship witli Him to live a Christian life. And how do we witness of these things? By showing ourselves on the side of Christ and the Christian Chuich, and by speaking a word in season—a word that may lead others to a loving relationship with Him. And what can be nobler—what can be nobler than to live a life that speaks of Christ and that speaks for Christ?