THE RELIGIOUS OUTLOOK

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 1 May 1937, Page 4

THE RELIGIOUS OUTLOOK

(Contributed) The Character of Christ What manner of man was He? It would be a good thing if we could get rid altogether of the conventional idea of Christ as a meek and mild person, rather feeble, almost insipid. We think of Him as submissive, yielding. He was submissive to the will of God but not to men. There never was any one who went so calmly his own way, regardless of men, as He did. But His way was the way of God’s will. If we read St. Mark's Gospel carefully, putting out of our minds so far as possible all that we have ever thought about Jesus, the impression we get is that of a person of extraordinary power and calm, resistless energy, moving on from situation to situation in straight lines, without waiting or wavering. Evil spirits quail in His presence; hostile crowds give way before Him; Pharisees and scribes rage inwardly and say things under their breath, but dare not stand up to Him openly. It is plain that Jesus of Nazareth was a tremendous and overwhelming Person, but far the greatest man who ever trod this earth. But while there was in Him this power and energy, there was also an extraordinary attractiveness. Little children came to Him without fear. He picked a small boy up in His arms and talked about the little fellow to His disciples. Women delighted to be near Him, both sinful women and saintly women. Simple folk crowded round Him. Sinners and outcasts confided in Him. In the history of mankind there is nothing like the character of Jesus Christ, in its blending of strength and love, sincerity and sympathy, humility and dominance, spirituality and humanity.

The Christian Motive . The moral ideal is displayed in the life of Jesus. In that life there was a completeness and perfection which we see in no other. It was the one human life lived wholly from beginning to end for a spiritual purpose. Jesus had one thing in mind, to do the will of God. and in doing that to save the world; and He never forgot that purpose nor ceased to live for it. His life was entirely inspired and dominated by love, and in that it stands alone. Doing God's will and showing forth God’s love involved the Cross—that He saw clearly and He marched straight on to it without hesitation or wavering.

Christianity and the Church Inseparable Being a Christian means not only believing the historical facts concerning Christ and accepting the moral ideal, but living a corporate life, the object of which is the realisation of that ideal. Christianity is not a string of beliefs of a list of rules of conduct, but a life. It is not the life which this or that person lives as an individual, but the life which all live together in, one great society, the Church, under one leadership, that of Jesus Christ, and under the influence of one power, the power of the Holy Spirit. It is a life of fellowship—fellowship with one

another, fellowship with the faithful departed, fellowship with the Living Christ Himself. The life of the Christian is often spoken" of as a pilgrimage, and the figure is made familiar to us by Bunyarl'S Pilgrim’s Progress. But in one respect this great book misleads. It represents the pilgrimage as a solitary one. Bunyan’s pilgrim goes on his way alone. We have not to go alone. We all go together, with our Lord at our head. —A. E. Simpson.

Doubt “Doubt of any kind cannot be removed except by action.”—Carlyle. “He wills, how should he doubt them?” —Browning. “The sum of all is—yes, my doubt is great, my faith's greater still.’ Browning. “What think ye of Christ, friend? When all’s done and said,

Like you this Christianity or not It may be false, but y.'ill you wish it

true? Has it your vote to be so if it can?