The Sabbath Hour

Northern Advocate, 18 March 1939, Page 2 (Supplement)

The Sabbath Hour

NO cnc can read St. Paul’s letters cr the Acts without being impressed by the intensity with which the early Church held its convictions. Later knowledge was to reinterpret and amplify much of what the first Christians believed, yet the essential points were unaltered, and, whatever might be said of the quantity and range of their faith, there could be no doubt concerning its quality.

It was definite and it was enthusiastic. It was based, without surmise cr hesitancy, upon ascertained truths. Those who held it were convinced that certain events had happened—were convinced, not because they were credulous, but because irrefutable evidence and personal experience had combined to overcome their scepticism.

They were sure that the claims of Jesus were justified, that He was the divine Christ, that He had risen from the dead, that the tomb was empty on Easter morning. They were sure also —and this confidence was renewed daily by their personal life and the scenes they witnessed—that the Holy Spirit had come to teach and transform man, and to strengthen him with supernatural power.

These, in their view, were truths beyond question, and such words as “perhaps” and “probably” had no place in the vocabulary of St. Paul. He believed what he knew, and he knew what he believed. Yet this is not to say that he relied on irtuition. On

The Quality of Belief

the contrary, he and his fellow-Chris-tians held their creed because they had arrived at it as the only adequate explanation of incontrovertible facts.

Two results followed. Because they believed wholeheartedly they were clear that their faith must control every part cf their lives. Every demand it made must be unflinchingly fulfilled. There could be no substitute for Christianity, and no attempt at a compromise between its ethical demands and those of other religions.

To be a Christian was far more than to add something new and beautiful to whatever moral and religious equipment had been previously possessed. It was, in the Pauline phrase, to become “a new creature.” The other result was a passionate eagerness to transmit this creed to others, so that they, too, might learn the secret of happiness by living “in Christ,” and by making His laws the supreme guide to conduct.

Beth in the first days and afterwards it was faith of this intense and concentrated quality which startled, captured and transformed the world. Religious influence depends not more upon what men believe than upon how they believe it.

The first disciples, the Friars, the Evangelicals, the Methodists, trie Tractarians; were alike in holding clear convictions with intense enthusiasm, and alike therefore in being able to exercise immense spiritual force.

On the other hand, neither eloquence nor erudition has ever succeeded in bringing about a great religious revival if the creed set forth was indefinite and had little strong personal conviction behind it.

To remember these facts seems specially important at a time when charges of ineffectiveness are often levelled against Christianity, when, too, there is a wide-spread sense of the need for “moral rearmament.”

The failures are not those of Christianity but, most often, of some at-

tempted substitute for it, and moral rearmament can have little value if reLance is placed on inferior weapons. Indeed, if it is to combat successfully the forces of materialism, the rearmament must be not merely moral but spiritual, and not merely spiritual, but personal. Morality by itself is inadequate.

No abstract code will transform the world, but only, to-day as in the past,' a vital creed, fervently held, which centres upon the historic and living Christ. A religion of hypotheses, or a religion - in which the supernatural element is minimised, or a mere humanism tinctured with philanthropy, may appeal to and satisfy individual minds. Yet what is certain is that not one of them resembles the religion of the New Testament or possesses the power which can* always sway multitudes.

Therefore, every thoughtful person ought to concern himself not only with the substance of his creed, because a creed becomes impotent in proportion as it is impoverished, but with the quality of his belief.

If he does little more than accept selected portions of the Christian faith with benignant approval he will neither gain real satisfaction for himself or be able effectively to influence others. .

The dynamic power of intense conviction and the full revelation of Jesus Christ are the needs of the world to-day; it is faith of this fervent quality that saves, and transforms, and conquers. '

On the recent return from her European holiday, Greta Garbo’s hair style —or lack of it —so angered American hairdressers that a conference was called to censure herji They fear that fans may try to emulate her.