MEANING OF SALVATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 224, 21 September 1935, Page 2 (Supplement)

MEANING OF SALVATION.

ROCK OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. (By S.) Some of the greatest and most pregnant words in any language are to be found in tho Bible. One of them is salvation. Beginning with the sense of breadth, largeness, absence of restraint, it has developed into, the meaning wo now attach to it—that of safety, a safety that is gained by trust in a crucified Christ, and that is accompanied by a sense of reconciliation with God, along with a corresponding sense of peace and happiness. An English clergyman has written a book 011 "The Idea of Salvation in the World's Religions," in which he traces the "idea" from savages upwards in civilisation, and shows the difference between the tea-ching of other religions on the subject and that of Christ. He also shows us something of the great schemes of economic and social organisations that have emerged in the course of the centuries from Christian thought, and remarks that each of them has been adapted from the foundation of Scripture to the needs of the times. And that leads him to say, what has been so often said in one way or another, that what we now need is a developed social scheme based on the principles taught by Christ and adapted to the conditions which have produced Communism. He modestly disclaims a first-hand acquaintance with other religions than his own and-4«lls us that }ie sends his book into the world with much fear and trembling. But he has been in his leisure hours a student for years of the books dealing with the~world's religions, and has given us the fruits both of his reading and of his reflections in a most interesting and informing book. Of that ho need have no fear or trembling. Dividing it into seven chapters, -he states and discusses the idea of salvation of the various religions, closing with a chapter on "The Incarnate God." Max Mull'er says somewhere that no one who has not examined, patiently and honestly, the other (than the Christian) religions of the world can know what Christianity Really is, or can join with such truth and sincerity in the words, of St. Paul, "I am < not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." Perhaps he is right. Certainly to know the beliefs, the prayers, and the worship of (Dther religions is to know tho enormous difference there is between them and the Christian faith. There are grains of truth in them all, but what imperfections and what childishness —more in some than in others. And to know this tends not only to make one thankful for the Christian faith and appreciative of it, it also tends to enlarge our sympathies and to quicken our interest in the cause of foreign missions. Mr. Parker writes reverently and thoughtfully on the Atonement, yet some may think that he fails to emphasise it as much as he should do. !All, however, who read the book will be profited and will be strengthened in the faith in what he calls "a salvation full and free given by God out of His all-sufficing and eternal love."—"The Idea of Salvation in the World's Religions," by J. W. Parker, M.A., Cantab.," 8.D., London (Macmillan).