{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_32756/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_32756","id":"gutenberg_32756","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32756","summary":null,"tags":["Apologetics","Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christianity","Religion"],"text":"Produced by Al Haines\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSOME ESSENTIALS\n\n_of_\n\nRELIGION\n\n\nVOL. I\n\nLAYMAN'S LIBRARY OF\n\nPRACTICAL RELIGION\n\n\n\nEditorial Council:\n\n  THE RT. REV. J. C. ROPER, LL.D., D.D.\n  Bishop of Ottawa, (Chairman)\n\n  THE RT. REV. E. J. BIDWELL, D.D., D.C.L.\n  Bishop of Ontario\n\n  THE RT. REV. J. A. RICHARDSON, D.D., D.C.L.\n  Bishop of Fredericton\n\n  THE RT. REV. A. J. DOULL, D.D.\n  Bishop of Kootenay\n\n\n\nTORONTO\n\nTHE MUSSON BOOK COMPANY LIMITED\n\n\n\n\nCopyright, Canada, 1922\n\nBy THE EDITORIAL COUNCIL\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\nThese chapters have not been written for hurried reading; they are\nstudies of Central and Vital Truths, for those who wish to think them\nout again under the guidance of the Church.\n\nJOHN CHARLES, OTTAWA.\n\n\n\n\nNote:--In placing these books before Church people through the churches\nno financial gain is contemplated for anyone concerned.  Those who are\ninitiating the Library, and all the writers, are content if the Church\nthey serve is benefited thereby.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n   I.  God, our Father.  By the Rt. Rev. J. C. Roper, LL.D., D.D.,\n       Bishop of Ottawa\n\n  II.  Fundamental Thoughts about Jesus Christ.  By the Rt. Rev.\n       E. J. Bidwell, D.D., D.C.L., Bishop of Ontario\n\n III.  The Bible.  By the Ven. Archdeacon Paterson-Smyth, D.D.,\n       D.Litt., Montreal\n\n  IV.  What Is Faith.  By Rev. H. M. Little, L.S.T., Montreal\n\n   V.  Prayer.  By the Very Rev. D. T. Owen, Dean of Niagara\n\n  VI.  Holy Communion.  By the Rt. Rev. A. J. Doull, D.D.,\n       Bishop of Kootenay\n\n VII.  Immortality.  By Rev. Canon Cody, D.D., LL.D., Toronto\n\n\n\n\nGOD OUR FATHER\n\nBy The Rt. Rev. J. C. Roper, LL.D., D.D.  Bishop of Ottawa.\n\n\nVITAL IMPORTANCE OF THE TOPIC\n\nThe first word of the Layman's Library may properly be a message from\nLaymen.  These are the terms of it.\n\n\"The hope of a brotherhood of a humanity reposes on the deeper\nspiritual truth of the Fatherhood of God.  In the recognition of the\nfact of that Fatherhood and of the divine purpose of the world, which\nare central to the message of Christianity, we shall discover the\nultimate foundation for the reconstruction of an ordered and harmonious\nlife for all men.\"\n\nThese words have a theological ring about them.  They are however the\nwords not of theologians, but of representative and responsible\nstatesmen in conference on urgent questions of public welfare.  The\nmessage was issued by the premiers of Great Britain and of all British\nDominions to all citizens of the British Empire.  It forms a remarkable\nconfession of faith in the spiritual basis of human life.  The peace of\nthe world depends on goodwill among men, and goodwill among men rests\non spiritual forces, and of these forces the source of all and the\ngreatest of all is the fact of God our Father and of His gracious\npurpose for the world.\n\n\nWHERE CAN WE LEARN OF GOD?\n\nAll who wish to know God truly must put themselves to school under\nChrist the Master.  A wonderful school it is.  Little children are at\nhome in it and the greatest minds among men find in it always something\nnew to learn.  The wonder of the school and the power of it lie not\nonly in the personality of the Teacher but in the fact also that He\nHimself is what He teaches.  What Jesus Christ was God is.  The\nrevelation of God we possess in Christ is a revelation that is personal\nand complete.  \"This is life eternal to know Thee the only true God and\nJesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent.\"\n\nThis does not mean that the knowledge of God--or even of God as\nFather--is the exclusive possession of Christians.  A long line of\nHebrew prophets, called and inspired by the spirit of God, revealed\nGod's Name and will and attributes in different ways and in different\nportions to generation after generation of His chosen people.  It was\nthe special privilege of Israel to receive the oracles of God.  Christ\nJesus, Whose coming the prophets foretold, took over the revelation of\nGod that each had given, corrected it where it had been misapprehended,\nendorsed it, set it in order, and completed it.  In the fulness of the\nknowledge of God that had been given them Israel stood unique among the\nnations.  Nevertheless other races had some knowledge of Him also.  God\nhas not anywhere or at any time left Himself without witnesses.  In our\nclassical studies we heard of Jupiter or Zeus \"Father of men and of\ngods\".  Greeks of old in their philosophic search for unity, Hindoos in\ntheir longing for absorption into the divine, Chinese in the moral\nprecepts of Confucius, Mohammedans in the constant call to prayer which\nthey obey, all bring before us religions that are sincere in their\nadhesion to one or other of the great truths about God which they have\ndiscovered.\n\nI stood one night on the deck of a ship on the ocean.  The moon was at\nthe full and was shining in a cloudless sky.  The light penetrated\neverywhere.  No part of the wide expanse of water was beyond its reach,\nand yet straight before me was a broad pathway of light reaching as far\nas I could see.  So bright was this pathway, that compared with it on\nthis side and on that all else seemed to be in darkness.\n\nSome rays of the knowledge of God are recognized in all the great world\nreligions.  Along the line of the prophets of Israel the light of God's\nself-revelation shone with special brightness, sometimes waxing it is\ntrue and sometimes waning, until the day dawned and Christ the Sun of\nrighteousness arose.\n\nThis is what St. Paul means when he tells the Christians at Corinth\nthat God Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in\ntheir hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in\nthe face of Jesus Christ.\n\n\nWHAT DO WE KNOW OF GOD?\n\nBut what is the knowledge of God that has been revealed?  We find it in\nthe Old Testament gradually unfolded, in the New Testament perfected.\nWhat truths does it contain?  We must approach this question with\nhumility and reverence.  He of Whom we are thinking is the Living God.\nWe are in His presence while we think and speak of Him.  The whole\nsplendour of God's Being is beyond us.  He is the Creator and Lord of\nall.  Nevertheless, if we are guided by the Revelation He has given us\nin Holy Scripture, we can wholly trust our thoughts of Him as far as\nthey carry us, just because they are not our own but have been given us\nby Him.\n\n\nGOD IS PERSONAL\n\n\"The Lord God is the true God, the Living God and an Everlasting King.\"\nHe is also our Father.  God then is Personal.  He is One on Whom we can\nlean, to Whom we can pray, whose works we can study in the Universe He\nhas made and in the history of men and of nations which He controls.\nThis is the first truth of God our Father that comes home to us when we\nlearn the Lord's Prayer.  It is also the last and most profound that we\nshall rejoice in when we meet Him face to face, and know Him as we are\nknown.\n\nIt is a truth of vital and practical importance, affecting our whole\noutlook on life.  Because God is Personal with mind and heart and will\nwe believe that this great world has a plan on which it is being\nfashioned and a purpose towards which it is tending.  Within this plan\nand purpose we too have a place, and no mean place.  We too are persons\nwith minds and hearts and wills.  We are not then mere straws on the\nstream of destiny, or victims of blind fate.  We are children of our\nFather Who is working in and through all mightily in wisdom and in love.\n\nThis is not a theory only; it is true to the experience of religious\nmen.  In it is found the secret of confidence, strength and joy.  It is\nthe infinite and varied record of this experience which the Psalms\ncontain that gives to them their special value for our use today.\n\n\n\"Thy hands have made me and fashioned me, O give me understanding that\nI may live.  Be Thou my stronghold whereunto I may always resort, for\nThou art my house of defence and my castle.  The Lord is my shepherd\ntherefore can I lack nothing.  The Lord is my light and my salvation.\nThe Lord is the strength of my life.  Who so dwelleth under the defence\nof the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.\"\n\n\nIn a faith like this we can face our duty manfully.  In life's\nresponsibilities and perplexities we can trust our Father.\n\n\nIT IS A TRUTH OF PERMANENT VALUE.\n\nPersonality in God and in man are closely related one to another.  That\nmen are persons and must be so regarded is a matter of intense\npractical concern to us all and to the social life of this and every\nage.  We cannot ignore personality in man.  To do so is to awaken\nresentment, unrest and strife.  The statesmen already quoted are\nclearly right.  Peace and progress in the world depend on the\nrecognition of this truth growing more and more adequate until we\nrealize fully the brotherhood of men which is implied in God's\nFatherhood.  We cannot ignore Personality in God, or pass it by as a\ntruth that belongs to childhood only.  It is a vigorous intelligent\nfaith which commands the allegiance of men.  Ultimately the dignity of\nour own manhood will be found to depend upon it.  To lose sight of it\nis to lose our way in religious life and thinking.  To hold it fast is\nnot an attempt to make God in our image, but to acknowledge that we are\nmade in His.\n\n\nGOD IS HOLY\n\nIn the Old Testament God is the Holy One in Israel.  In the New\nTestament also we remember Christ's own words in prayer, \"Holy Father\nkeep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given me, that they\nmay be one as we are one\".  God's Holiness is closely connected with\nHis glory; we must associate with it all passages in Holy Scripture\nwhich attribute to Him majesty and radiance, beauty and light.  The\nreligious value of this truth is very great.\n\nIn the vision of the Holiness of God men have found their chief impulse\nto worship Him, and have felt the claim on their own lives exercised by\nthe moral splendour of God's own character.  \"The righteous Lord loveth\nrighteousness.\"  Further, in proportion as they have realised God's\nholiness and moral claim, men have felt the need in His presence of\nacknowledging their own infirmity and sin.  This was the experience of\nIsaiah and of St. John.  It has been the experience of an innumerable\ncompany since.  We all have our share in it in the services of the\nChurch.  It finds expression in one of the greatest of our hymns,\n\n  \"Holy, Holy, Holy, though the darkness hide Thee,\n  Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see,\n  Only Thou art Holy, there is none beside Thee,\n  Perfect in power, in Love and Purity.\"\n\n\nThis is undoubtedly the first great impression that the Holiness of God\nshould make upon us.  There is, however, another truth within it which\nmust not be forgotten.  There are in both the Bible languages Hebrew\nand Greek two words which in English are represented by the one word\n\"holy\".  One of them stands for moral righteousness, the other has the\nmeaning of set apart or consecrated.  This latter word when used of God\nmeans that God is set apart from the world He has made.  Not in the\nsense that He is separated from it, for He is very near; but in the\nsense that He is not himself a part of it or identified with it or\nconfused with it.\n\nThis truth was needed in Old Testament times to save God's chosen\npeople from falling back into dark immoral forms of nature worship\nwhich possessed the kindred people from whom they had been called out.\nIt is needed no less to-day to save us from falling back into\nnon-Christian ways of thinking.  God is distinct from His world; He is\nnever separated from it.  Is this difficult?  An illustration may help\nif it is not pressed too far.  An eagle is perched on the topmost bough\nof a tall dead tree.  A motor boat hurries by at some distance across\nthe water.  The great bird takes flight.  It is in the air.  It\nbreathes the air and is upheld by it.  The air is in the bird, in every\nquill, I believe, of every feather.  Yet the bird is not the air, and\nthe air is not the bird.  They are distinct; separated they cannot be.\nWithout the air the bird could not exist.  \"In God we live and move and\nhave our being.\"  We cannot for a moment imagine Him away.  Without Him\nwe could not exist.  Yet man is not God.  We are close akin, He is very\nnear.  But God is not man, nor man a part of God.  We hear sometimes\nthat God is all and all is God.  Christian truth cannot be expressed in\nthis way.  Our faith in the Holiness of God declares that He is within\nthe world but distinct from it, above it, around it, controlling it,\nmaking it the servant of His will, that He is the source of all, the\nupholder of all, the Master of all.\n\n\nGOD IS ALMIGHTY\n\nGod our Father, Maker of Heaven and Earth, is Almighty.  \"The Lord God\nOmnipotent reigneth.\"  Here also are two words and two thoughts, not\none alone.  God is Almighty in the sense that His power is supreme and\nirresistible.  This is wholly true but it is not the thought that\nstands in the forefront either in Holy Scripture or in the creed.  It\nis there in the background, where sheer force must be and ought to be.\n\nThe prominent thought, however, when we profess our faith in God the\nFather Almighty is the thought of His wise, holy sovereignty.  He is\nthe Ruler of all, the Master of all, of Himself and of all persons and\nthings.  Not by might but by persuasion He is content to exercise His\nDominion over men.  So God governs the world and in His government we\nfind the model for the true government of men.  Force has its use only\nwhere freedom has failed.  It is not God's power but His patience that\nexcites our wonder and at times our perplexity.  We are puzzled because\nHe does not intervene more directly with His outstretched arm, but\nwaits on man's agency and allows such latitude to man's self-will and\nblindness and cruelty.  It is the price of our freedom.  This we know\nand more we do not know as yet.  But we can trust our Father for what\nJesus Christ was God is.\n\nWe know therefore in the story of the Cross and of the Resurrection\nthat while sorrow and suffering and disaster are not removed from human\nlife, God does not stand apart from them and unconcerned.  All who pass\nalong the way of sorrows and into the valley of death may find in\nChrist, that is in God Himself, the sympathy of One Who has passed that\nway before, and the strength of One who has conquered death and all its\npowers.\n\n\nGOD IS EVERYWHERE PRESENT AND KNOWS ALL THINGS.\n\nThe attributes of God pass inevitably and naturally one into another.\nIt cannot be otherwise because they are all ways in which the Living\nEternal Being reveals Himself.  In thinking of His Holiness and of His\npower we are led to think of His presence and in thinking of His\npresence we are led to think of His knowledge.\n\n\"The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the\ngood.\"  It will not be possible to speak here in any fulness of the\nknowledge of God.  Two facts, however, should always be kept in mind.\nNothing can be hid from Him Whose eyes are in every place.  Nothing is\nobscure to Him Who is everywhere.  Yet it is not God's knowledge of\nthem that causes men to be what they are or to act as they do.  There\nis a big problem here.  In theory it is too big for solution, but in\npractice the problem is not so great.  God's knowledge does not compel\nus more than does His will.  Within the limits that we are well aware\nof, that come to us from inheritance and from environment, we are free\nand because we are free we are responsible.\n\nA second consideration is this.  The Holy One Who is ever present, Who\nmakes His moral claim upon us and expects the best of us, is no other\nthan our Father.  He knows us through and through.  Yet as a Father he\nhas compassion on His children.  He knoweth whereof we are made; He\nremembereth that we are but dust.  The presence of God may best be\nstudied in close connection with His Personality.  It is as a person\nthat He is present.  The 139th Psalm will help us best to realize how\nuniversal His Presence is.  We can then follow out the teaching given\nthere and elsewhere in Holy Scripture, in the witness of the Church,\nand in the experience of men.  He Who is everywhere present, just\nbecause He is our Father, can be present with us by His own appointment\nin special ways and places and for special purposes.  He is present in\nnature in its vastness and in its minuteness, and in both we can read\nHis thoughts after Him.  He is present in the affairs of men and of\nnations in all ages.  He speaks to men in the voice of conscience and\nwe hear Him in its strange authority to command and to forbid.  In\nChrist He is present revealing Himself in human experiences and in\nhuman deeds and words and service.  Where two or three are gathered\ntogether in Christ's name He is in their midst.  In the Sacraments He\nis present to give His sacred gifts.\n\n\nGOD IS OUR FATHER.\n\nWe have considered now some of the great truths of God which have been\nrevealed to us, but the Fatherhood of God in itself, what is it that we\nknow of this?\n\nIn the teaching of Christ our Master,--the Fatherhood of God is the\ncentral truth of all.  It gathers into itself all other attributes and\ngives to all a special quality.  It is our special Christian heritage.\nThe heart that believes God to be \"Our Father\" has room for the\nconviction that \"God is Love\".  We shall perhaps gain fullest insight\ninto the greatness of this truth if we concentrate our thoughts on\ncertain facts which stand out with special clearness in Holy Scripture.\n\nFirst of all it is His presentation of the Fatherhood of God which\ngives to our Saviour's teaching its wonderful tenderness and power.\nNot power alone, nor tenderness alone, but both.  He tells us that our\nHeavenly Father knows our every need; that He Who feeds the birds of\nthe air and clothes the lilies of the field will not be unmindful of\nthe children of men; that our Father's heart is full of that eager,\nforgiving, redeeming love which wins our heart in the parable of the\nProdigal Son.  On the other hand, He would have us ever mindful that\nour Father, when we approach in faith and penitence, is One Whose Name\nis to be hallowed, Who is the Lord of heaven and earth to Whom all\nthings are possible, Who governs all things and knows all things, even\nthe inmost thoughts of men.\n\nAgain, the Fatherhood of God is unchanging and universal.  It must be\nso for He is the Eternal Father, and \"He maketh His sun to rise on the\nevil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.\"\nNevertheless, man's power to respond to God's Fatherhood is not\neverywhere the same.  We shall understand this best if we study the\nBible teaching on sonship and brotherhood in the light of the\nrevelation which God has given of His Fatherhood.  There are in the\nBible different kinds of sonship, or sonships on different levels.  The\nfact that we are created and created in the image of our Maker\nconstitutes sonship.  He is our Father Who gives us life.  \"Have we not\nall one Father, hath not God created us?\"  There is, therefore, a\nsonship which is natural and universal, but it is not in itself\ncomplete.  Its value consists in the fact that it is the ground of a\nhigher relationship.  It is the capacity for sonship, which, however\nhidden or dormant, we believe to be in every man.\n\nNevertheless so long as men are ignorant of God and indifferent to Him,\nthey are not in any full sense His sons.  We find, therefore, in the\nBible another kind of sonship.  God is our Father because He gives us\nmore abundant life, a life of redemption from ignorance and sin.  This\nis illustrated in the Old Testament by the choice of Israel and the\ngreat covenant promises involved in it, \"I will be their God and they\nshall be My people,\" \"I will be his Father and he shall be My son.\"  In\nthe New Testament we find the same principle in the choice by Christ of\nHis Apostles and disciples for special privilege of knowledge and\ngrace.  This choice is perpetuated by Christ in His Church.  Our\nChristian sonship is a special sonship.  It is ours by Baptism wherein\nwe are made members of Christ, children of God, and heirs of the\nkingdom of Heaven.  Two practical considerations follow.  First, if\nthere are different levels of sonship there are different degrees of\nbrotherhood.  The message of the premiers is right.  The hope of a\nbrotherhood of humanity _does_ repose on the deeper spiritual truth of\nthe Fatherhood of God.  This brotherhood, however, is not a\nrelationship which comes to us simply by nature; it is a relationship\nwhich in social, individual, national and international life must be\nmorally won.\n\nAgain, those who have Christian knowledge and grace have not received\nthis privilege for themselves alone.  They are God's sons who have\nspecial gifts in trust on behalf of all mankind who have them not.  The\ncall to Missionary work is based on this responsibility, and will\nremain so until \"the earth is filled with the knowledge of God as the\nwaters cover the sea.\"\n\nFinally, there is the unique sonship of Christ Himself.  His sonship is\nperfect and complete.  It is also the channel through which our\nsonship, whether of creation or redemption, comes to us.  \"All things\nare delivered unto Me of My Father, and no man knoweth the son but the\nFather, neither knoweth any man the Father, save the son and he to\nwhomsoever the Son will reveal Him.\"  It is this Eternal sonship which\nconstitutes the special significance to our confession of faith in God\nthe Father in the Apostles' Creed.  Christ is One Who comes to us from\nthe Eternal life of God.  That life which though inseparable from man\nand from the world is yet forever holy and distinct.  The Christian\ndoctrine of the Holy Trinity helps us here.  It arose out of simple\nloyalty to New Testament teaching.  From the first it has been a living\npractical faith.  Christians learnt to recite their belief in God the\nFather, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost; they were baptised in the\nthreefold Name and sang the Doxology before they thought out the\ndoctrine of the Trinity in Unity and before they were called upon to\ndefend it.  We find in this great truth the most profound realization\nof Personality in God.  We see in it a vision of eternal fellowship in\nlife and in love, towards which we strive on earth.  In the light of it\nwe begin to understand that man, not only as an individual, but also as\na social being, is made in the image of God.\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\nFUNDAMENTAL THOUGHTS ABOUT CHRIST\n\nBy The Rt. Rev. E. J. Bidwell, D.D., D.C.L., Bishop of Ontario.\n\n\nTWELVE FUNDAMENTAL THOUGHTS ABOUT CHRIST BRIEFLY SUMMARIZED.\n\n    (I) Christ's Religion is a \"Revealed\" Religion.\n\n   (II) Jesus Christ the Son of God eternally existing in the Godhead\n        became Man for our salvation.  This is called the Incarnation.\n\n  (III) He was born of a Virgin.\n\n   (IV) The Gospels ascribe to Christ not Divinity only, but Deity.\n\n    (V) He is also true Man, and Sinless.\n\n   (VI) When He spoke God spoke.\n\n  (VII) He is the Saviour of the world.\n\n (VIII) He rose from the dead.\n\n   (IX) He founded a Church.\n\n    (X) He is the Mediator between man and God.\n\n   (XI) He is with His Church and her members to the end of the world.\n\n  (XII) He is the Light of the world and the Lord of Life.\n\n\nCHRISTIANITY A REVEALED RELIGION\n\nChristianity, of which Jesus Christ is the Founder and Divine Head, is\nessentially a \"revealed\" religion.  It is not, that is to say, the\nresult and culmination of the progress of evolution in man's beliefs\nabout God.  Nor was it the outcome of an impact made upon Judaism by\nHellenistic thought.  It is, and has always from the first claimed to\nbe, a direct revelation by God of Himself to man through Jesus Christ.\n\nTo say this does not mean however that the world was not in any way\nprepared for the coming of Christ.  On the contrary, the traces of that\npreparation are clear throughout the Old Testament, from beginning to\nend.  If the Old Testament is read in the light of a progressive\nrevelation of God's Nature and Being, and His relations with mankind,\nits difficulties disappear, and it is seen to point clearly to the full\nrevelation of God in Jesus Christ.  But the method is that of God\npointing out the way to man, not of man's discovery of it for himself.\nWhen almost the whole of the then known world had been brought under\nthe sway of the great Roman Empire, the time was ripe for a World\nReligion.  So \"when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His\nSon\" to bring the message of salvation to the whole of mankind.\n\n\nTHE PRE-EXISTENCE AND INCARNATION OF CHRIST.\n\nThe Christian Creeds make it clear that the coming of Christ was the\nfulfilment of God's plan when they state, as does the Nicene Creed,\nthat our belief is in \"One Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of\nGod, Begotten of His Father before all worlds, ... Who for us men and\nfor our salvation came down from heaven, And was incarnate by the Holy\nGhost of the Virgin Mary, And was made man\".  The Church plainly\nteaches the belief in the pre-existence of the divine person from the\nbeginning, as alone meeting all the facts, and has steadily rejected\nevery other belief, in spite of all difficulties.  That Jesus was man\nwas perfectly clear: His Godhead was much more open to attack.  So the\nbelief that in Jesus Christ God became man is put in the very forefront\nof our confession of faith.\n\n\nTHE VIRGIN BIRTH.\n\nThe belief that Jesus Christ was born of a pure Virgin is entirely in\nkeeping with the belief in His pre-existence as God.  There is no space\nto set forth here the weighty reasons for the importance of this\nbelief.  It is sufficient to say that it is inseparably interwoven with\nthe whole Christian conception of His Incarnation, namely, that in\nJesus Christ we have perfect God and perfect Man.  The Virgin-Birth\nkeeps the balance even between His Deity and His humanity.  This\narticle of the Creed, which is based on the direct statement of two of\nthe four Gospels, is therefore most helpful in enabling us to\nunderstand that in Jesus Christ we behold Divine and human nature\njoined in perfect unison, He being \"God of the substance (essential\nnature) of the Father, begotten before the worlds, and Man of the\nsubstance (essential nature) of His Mother, born in the world\".\n\n\nGOSPEL PROOFS OF THE GODHEAD OF CHRIST.\n\nThe Credal statement that \"Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is\nboth God and Man; yet He is not two but One Christ\" is not an arbitrary\ndogma, but is based upon the facts as set forth in the Gospels.  There\nare our Lord's own direct statements as reported in St. John's Gospel;\n(\"I and My Father are One\".  St John X. 30.  \"He that hath seen Me hath\nseen the Father\" St. John XIV. 9.)  There is also His reply to the\nquestion of the High Priest at His trial, reported by St. Matthew\n(XXVI. 63, 64.), St. Mark (XIV. 61, 62.), St. Luke (XXII. 70.), in\nwhich our Lord distinctly claimed Divine Sonship, and that in the sense\nstated in the Creeds, as is shown by the fact that He was at once\nadjudged to be guilty of death for blasphemy, which would not have been\nthe case had not His claim amounted in the mind of His judges to that\nof equality with God.  Passing for the moment Peter's confession of\nfaith at Caesarea Philippi (St. Matt. XVI. 16) there are certain\ninevitable inferences establishing the belief that in Christ God became\nMan which are drawn from His life and teaching while on earth.  Some of\nthe most salient of these are;--\n\n1.  He invariably speaks to men about God not as one whose thoughts are\nthe outcome of even the deepest and most perfect spiritual insight a\nman could possess, but as one who had absolute knowledge.  We feel\ninstinctively that it is God who is speaking to us about God.\n\n2.  Next, he makes a claim upon men that no man, however perfect, ought\nto, or would dare, to make; a claim which men would strongly resent\nanother man making on them.  For He claims men body, soul, and spirit,\nand not only for time, but for eternity, and tells them that the\nacceptance or rejection of that claim will make all the difference to\ntheir eternal destiny (e.g. St. Matt. X. 32).  And He could only make\nthis claim as One who speaks as God.\n\n3.  His teaching is delivered with an absolute authority that no man\ncould possibly arrogate to himself.  What he says is final; \"I say unto\nyou\".  Nor does he offer salvation through acceptance of a system or\nphilosophy of life, but through Himself; \"Come unto me\"; \"Follow me\";\n\"I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father,\nbut by me\"; and many similar statements abundantly illustrate this fact.\n\n\nCHRIST'S MANHOOD.  HIS SINLESSNESS.\n\nWe need no proof of the Manhood of Christ, as we can read about it for\nourselves in the Gospels.  We can see from the records therein\ncontained that Christ was man like as we are.  But there was one most\nimportant difference between us and Him.  He is the only man who was\never free from the taint of sin.  He alone could fearlessly ask the\nquestion:--\"Which of you convicteth me of sin\"?\n\nBut the fact that He was sinless does not imply that He was never\ntempted.  Had He been entirely free from temptation, His manhood would\nhave been so utterly different from ours that it would mean little or\nnothing to us.  But He was not so free.  This we have on His own\nauthority, as the account of His temptation in the wilderness can only\nhave come from Himself.  And there can be no doubt that He was tempted\nnot only on that occasion but constantly throughout His earthly life.\nAs the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews says, \"He was in all points\ntempted like as we are, yet without sin.\"\n\nBut the sinlessness of Christ does not if rightly understood repel us,\nor prove any barrier between us and Him.  It is not an abstract belief\nabout Him, but is exhibited in His life as a man, thereby showing of\nwhat manhood is capable if the human will be brought into perfect\nharmony with the divine will.  We know ourselves that the closer we\nbring our will into agreement with the Divine will, the less liable we\nare to fall before temptation, and we also know that the nearer we draw\nto Christ, the easier it becomes to will for ourselves what God wills\nfor us.  The sinlessness of the Son, Whose will was always in perfect\nagreement with that of His Father, has always been the inspiration of\nthe saint, and at the same time the great attraction of His personality\nto the sinner.\n\n\nTHE MISSION AND THE TEACHING OF CHRIST.\n\nJesus did not begin His public Mission till He was about thirty years\nof age.  It opened with His baptism by John the Baptist, when by the\ndescent of the Spirit of God upon Him and the voice from heaven He was\nmarked out as the \"Beloved Son\", or as the Fourth Gospel represents\nJohn the Baptist saying, \"The Son of God\".  Then followed a retirement\nof forty days into the wilderness, at the close of which He faced and\novercame the severe temptations, which were all intended to debase and\ndestroy the ideal embodied in His Mission as the Saviour not of His\nnation only but of the whole world, and the Founder of a spiritual\nKingdom in the hearts of men.  He soon gathered together disciples, of\nwhom He selected twelve, whom He named Apostles, to be His constant and\nintimate companions.  They did not fully realise either the mystery of\nHis Person, or the object of His Mission, till after He rose from the\ndead.  The conviction that a flash of spiritual insight brought to\nPeter at Caesarea Philippi (St. Matt. XVI. 16) was not sufficiently\nstrong to prevent Him from publicly denying His Master at His trial.\n\nIt is difficult to summarise our Lord's teaching, for it cannot be\nreduced to any system.  His Ministry was one of Reconciliation of man\nto God.  As He said, He came to \"seek and to save that which was lost\".\nHis Gospel is the \"Gospel of the Kingdom of God\", or \"The Kingdom of\nheaven\".  This Kingdom was not relegated to the dim and distant future\nbut was to be inaugurated here and now.  In all those who should become\nmembers, a change of heart, a turning towards God instead of away from\nHim, and a complete readjustment of values were required.[1]  He was\nHimself as it were the Door to this Kingdom, which could only be\nentered through Him.  He asked men to make Him the centre of Life,\ninstead of self.  'If any man will come after me, let him _deny\nhimself_.'\n\nIt should always be remembered, in studying the teaching of Christ,\nthat it is based upon the fact that men have a spiritual as well as an\nintellectual and physical life; in other words, that they have a soul\nas well as a mind and body, and of these the life of the soul is the\nmost important.  He does not set forth an elaborate system of conduct,\nbut rather enunciates certain great general principles on which the\nChristian life is to be based.  These principles are to be applied to\nevery human relationship.  The teaching of Christ does not deal with\nparticular circumstances, which vary from age to age, and differ in\ndifferent countries in different races of men, but with human nature\nwhich is the same everywhere in its fundamental characteristics.\nConsequently His teaching is never out of date, but each generation can\nobtain the light it needs therefrom.  It is not any flaw in the\nteaching of Christ, but the very imperfect application of it by men to\nthe circumstances of life, which has from time to time caused the\ncharge of failure to be brought against Christianity.\n\n\nCHRIST OUR SAVIOUR--THE ATONEMENT.\n\nThe purpose of the Incarnation was not only to reveal to men through\nthe Person and teaching of Jesus Christ the true Nature and Being of\nGod.  It was also to effect the reconciliation of men to God.  To\naccomplish this purpose the great obstructing barrier of sin had to be\nbroken down.  The means chosen, in the infinite wisdom of God, was the\nDeath of Jesus Christ upon the Cross.  By this supreme act of\nself-sacrifice He opened to men the way of reconciliation to God, and\nbecame their Saviour from the dreadful power of sin, which by\nthemselves they could not and cannot overcome.  It should also be\nremembered that in speaking of this sublime subject we are dealing with\na mystery, which it is beyond human power fully to explain, and that\nfor that reason no really adequate theory of the Atonement can be set\nforth.  But of the fact there is no doubt.  The experience of countless\nmen and women has proven conclusively the saving power of the Cross.\nWhen they have accepted that sacrifice made for the sins of men, and\nhave taken Christ into their lives, the predominant feeling is that\ntheir sins have been forgiven.  And the fact that it is through\nChrist's sacrifice, and not by anything they themselves have done or\ncould do, that they have won pardon, so far from lowering their moral\nsense as might be expected, in that they are simply benefiting by the\naction of another, invariably on the contrary makes a profound\nimpression on both life and character, enabling them through the\nresulting loyalty and devotion to Christ to reach a standard of life\nand conduct much beyond that which had previously satisfied them.\n\n\nTHE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST\n\nThat Christ rose from the dead on the third day has been from the very\nbeginning the unquestioned belief of the Christian Church.  It is the\nmain theme of the first Christian sermon ever produced, that by Peter\non the day of Pentecost.  The Gospel records are perfectly plain as to\nthe nature of Christ's Resurrection.  He rose from the grave in His\ncomplete Personality, spiritual and bodily, though His risen body was\nfree from certain limitations of pre-resurrection life.  It was the\nsame body as His disciples had known before His death.  Of this He bade\nthem assure themselves by actual contact.  That He rose from the dead\nin His human as well as in His divine nature is the guarantee that we\nmen can share in His resurrection.  \"Even so in Christ shall all be\nmade alive\".\n\nAs to the exact nature of our own Resurrection body, naturally it is\nnot possible to speak with exact certainty.  Yet it is certain that the\nChristian doctrine of the Resurrection of the dead means much more than\nthe survival of the spirit.  It teaches plainly and clearly a bodily\nresurrection.  In the inspired statement of St. Paul, found in the\nfamiliar Lesson of our Burial Service, (1 Cor. xv. 20-end), we have\nfour great facts set forth regarding the body which is laid in the\ngrave, and what it will become at the Resurrection:\n\nFirst: It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption.\n\nSecondly: It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory.\n\nThirdly: It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.\n\nFourthly: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.\n\nFrom this it is clear that our resurrection body will be such, as under\nthe different conditions prevailing in the future life, will have every\nelement of personality which we possess now, but in a glorified and\nspiritual form.  \"I\" shall be \"I\" in the resurrection body, and\nrecognisable as such to those who know and love me now.  Beyond this we\nneed not go.  For it is God Who will raise us from the dead, and to Him\nnothing is impossible.\n\n\nCHRIST AND His CHURCH.\n\nThough the actual word \"Church\" is only found twice in the Gospels, on\nboth occasions in St. Matthew (XVI. 18 and XVIII. 17)--that Christ\nmeant His followers to form a visible Body with proper equipment for\nthe task of evangelising the world after He had left it in the flesh is\nshown clearly by the following facts.  In the first place He selected\ntwelve men, whom He kept together, trained together by close and\nconstant association with Himself, and to whom He gave the distinct\ncommission not merely to preach the Gospel but to admit men into the\nfellowship by the Sacrament of Baptism.  He also instituted the\nSacrament of the Holy Communion which, though it had other purposes,\nwas certainly intended to be, and was in fact, from the first, a bond\nof visible corporate union of all Christians.  Also the early records\nof Christianity, as found in the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles,\npoint conclusively to the conviction that in the foundation of the\n\"Churches\" in different places, and in the beginnings of very definite\norganization that are there seen, general instructions given by our\nLord were being followed by the Apostles.  It has been argued that, as\nthe first Christians were convinced that our Lord's return would be\nquite soon, they would not have concerned themselves with the\nfoundation of a Society intended to last for an indefinite future.  It\nis quite true that they did believe that the second Advent of Christ\nwould not be long deferred.  This belief arose partly from a mistaken\ninterpretation of certain sayings of our Lord, in which they confused\nHis prediction of the fall of Jerusalem with the end of the present\nage, and partly from a very natural idea that His manifestation in\nGlory could not be separated by any length of time from His\nResurrection and Ascension into heaven.  The fact remains, however,\nthat the foundations of the Christian Church were planned with the care\nand forethought that an age-long existence called for, with the result\nthat, when the expectation of an almost immediate return was seen to be\nunfounded, the disappointment did not in the slightest degree weaken\nthe faith or check the growth of the Church.  The certainty that Christ\nwould return remained, as it still remains, one of the component parts\nof the Christian's belief about Christ.  When the time comes, He will\nmost certainly return \"to be our Judge\", but as He Himself said \"Of\nthat day and hour knoweth no one ... neither the Son, but the Father\nonly\".  It is not for us to speculate therefore about the exact date of\nChrist's return, but to endeavour to live in such a state of\npreparation that we should be ready to meet Him at whatever time His\nsecond Advent may occur.  \"Blessed are those servants whom their Lord,\nwhen He cometh, shall find watching.\"\n\nChrist is the Head of His Church, which is therefore a Divine\nInstitution, though it works in the world by human instruments.  Into\nthis Body we are admitted at Baptism, and by virtue of Christ's\nHeadship become by our admission \"Members of Christ, Children of God,\nand Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven\".\n\n\nCHRIST AS MEDIATOR\n\nAs Christ is God and also shares our humanity, and in virtue of His\ngreat Act of Reconciliation shown on the Cross, we rightly approach God\nthe Father through Him.  That is why we end our prayers with the\nwords--\"through Jesus Christ our Lord\", and plead the Sacrifice of the\nCross before the throne of God in the Blessed Sacrament.  St. Paul\n(Romans VIII. 34.) speaks of Christ as making intercession for us at\nthe right hand of God.\n\n\nHIS CHURCH AND HER MEMBERS\n\nChrist told His disciples that He would be with them always, even to\nthe end of the Age.  This promise He, as Head of His Church, fulfills,\nboth to that Body at large, and to the individual members thereof by\nthe presence and power of the Holy Spirit through which He works both\nin the heart of the individual and in the whole Body, to which He has\ngiven the charge of the Means of Grace.  We also rightly believe that\nHe is specially present in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, which\nHe Himself instituted and ordained for His followers.\n\n\nCHRIST THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD AND THE LORD OF LIFE\n\nIn closing this brief and therefore necessarily very imperfect summary\nof a vast subject, our final thought may well be that in union with\nChrist lies our supreme hope both in this world and in the world to\ncome.  For He is the \"True Light, which lighteth every man that cometh\ninto the world\"; the only Guide Who will never lead us astray.  And the\ncloser we draw to Him in prayer and sacrament, worship and service, the\nmore abundantly shall we recognize the truth of His own inspiring word;\n\"He that believeth on the Son hath ever-lasting Life\", for Christ is\nthe Lord of all life, now and for ever.\n\n\n\n[1] Note.--In Infant Baptism this requisition is made of the Sureties,\nor God-Parents; \"which promise, they (i.e. the Infants) when they come\nto age themselves are bound to perform.\"  (Catechism).\n\n\n\n\nIII.\n\nTHE BIBLE\n\nBy The Ven. Archdeacon Paterson-Smyth, D.D., Litt.D., D.C.L.\n\n\nThis is a vast subject.  What is one to do with it in an essay limited\nto twenty pages?  Keeping in mind the purpose of the editors I have\ndecided to confine myself to one main thought: Reassurance as to the\nunshakeable position of the Bible amid present-day doubts and disquiet.\n\nWith all his reverence for the Bible there sometimes come to a\nthoughtful layman perplexities and tacit questionings.  This is partly\nbecause we are thinking a little more than our grandfathers did, but\nstill more because God has given in our day fuller knowledge of the\ntruths of history and science, and also of the making of the Bible\nitself through the keen investigations of what is called Higher\nCriticism.\n\nThere is no space to discuss such questions here.  But if it be not\npresumptions after many years of study of these questions I should like\nto assure the reader that not only is there no peril to the Bible in\nany of this new knowledge, but that when he has got over any disquiet\ncaused by some shifting of his point of view it should make the Bible\nfor him a more living, appealing presentation of God.  At present I can\nonly help him to examine his foundations.\n\n\nI.--FOUNDATIONS\n\n1.--If the fear should ever come upon you, my reader, of the\npossibility of the Scriptures being discredited by present-day\ncontroversies after having been accepted as God-given for three\nthousand years, first pause for a moment, and let the full weight of\nthese thoughts press upon you of all that is implied in the fact (1)\nthat any set of old documents, always open to scrutiny and question,\nshould for thousands of years have been accepted as of Divine origin;\n(2) that they should have been yielded to by men as an authority to\nguide their conduct by commands often disagreeable to themselves; (3)\nthat this acceptance and obedience has been chiefly amongst the most\nthoughtful and highly-cultured nations of the world; (4) that it has\ngone on age after age, steadily increasing, and never in any age has\nmade more progress than in this cultured, enlightened, all-questioning\ncentury in which we live.\n\n2.--What has given these Scriptures such authority?  Remember they were\nonly separate documents, often with hundreds of years intervening\nbetween them, written by different writers of different characters to\ndifferent people, and under different circumstances.  Remember that in\nmany cases we do not know their origin, or how they assumed their\npresent form.  And yet somehow we never can reach back in their history\nto a time when they were not treasured and reverenced among men as in\nsome way at least above human productions.  There they stand, a long\nchain of records with one end reaching away into the far back past, and\nthe other gathering around the feet of Christ.\n\nAnd remember especially this, that they were selected out by no\nmiracle, that they rest on no formal decision or sentence of Church or\nCouncil, or pope or saint, nay, not even of the Blessed Lord Himself;\nfor long before He came, for centuries and centuries there they stood,\ntestifying of Him, cherished and reverenced as a message that had come\nfrom above \"at sundry times and in divers manners\".  All study of their\nhistory shows that their acceptance rested on no decision of any\nexternal authority.  They were accepted as of Divine origin for many\ngenerations before they were gathered into any fixed collection.  \"The\nChurch\", said Luther, \"cannot give more force or authority to a book\nthan it has in itself.  A Council cannot make that to be Scripture\nwhich in its own nature is not Scripture\".\n\nIt is true that the great Synagogue, or their official descendants,\ncollected the Old Testament Canon of Scripture.  Yes, but when?\nSomewhere about the time of our Lord, when the books had been for ages\nrecognised as of God.  It is true that the Christian Church collected\nthe New Testament writings into a Bible, and arrived at a decision\nconcerning certain books the authority of which had been in debate.\nYes, but when?  After they had been for 300 years accepted as the\nGod-given guide of the Church.  _Evidently it was not their being\ncollected into a Bible that made them of authority, but rather the fact\nof their possessing authority made them be collected into a Bible_.\n\n3.--Again, I repeat the question, what gave them that authority?  And\nthere seems no possible answer but this, that they possessed it of\nthemselves.  They commanded the position they held by their own power.\nMen's moral sense and reason combined to establish them.  They appealed\nby their own instrinsic worth to the God-given moral faculty, and the\nresponse to that appeal through all the ages since is in reality the\nmain foundation of the Bible's position.\n\nLook at the Old Testament.  If we at the present day are asked why we\nreceive it as inspired, we usually reply that we receive it on the\nauthority of our Lord and His apostles.  They accepted it as the Word\nof God, and handed it on to us with their official approval of it.\nWell, but why was it accepted before their day without any such formal\nsanction?  How did men come to believe and obey as Divinely inspired\nthe words of Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and the rest?  Except in\nthe case of Moses, there were no miracles or portents; no external\nvoice from heaven to command men's allegiance.  They were not\nestablished on their Divine supremacy by any single authority.  Why\nthen were their utterances accepted?\n\nIt seems evident there can be but one answer.  They asserted that\nsupremacy by their own intrinsic power.  Men were compelled to\nacknowledge that their declaration that \"the word of the Lord had come\nto them\" was true.  There was that in the messages of the prophets and\nin the evidence by which they were accompanied, which compelled this\nbelief.\n\nThe books of the New Testament became recognised among Christians just\nas the books of the Old Testament had been recognised among the Jews,\nby virtue of their own inherent evidence.  Certain witnesses came\nforward and recorded in writing the teaching of our Lord, or announced\ncertain messages for which they had His authority, or the guidance of\nHis Spirit in communicating them to their fellows.  Men had to decide\nfor themselves whether they believed those claims.  The Apostles were\nsupported, indeed, in many cases by miracles, but not always; and\nthough those miracles afforded momentous evidence, they were not\nrecognisable in themselves, when standing alone, as decisive of the\nwhole question.  No apparent miracle, it was felt, could of itself\nauthenticate a message from God which did not bear internal evidence\nalso of having proceeded from Him.  The appeal in the early Church was\ndirected, as in the time of our Lord Himself, to the hearts and\nconsciences of men.  He Himself could but appeal to those hearts and\nconsciences, and men accepted and rejected Him, not by reference to any\nexternal authority, but in proportion to their capacity for recognising\nHis Divine character.\n\n\"_Thus from the first to the last, the authority of the Scriptures has\nbeen equivalent to the authority with which they themselves convinced\nmen that they had come from God_.\"\n\nI have been anxious to show you that the position of the Bible rests\nnot on any miracle, or any external authority of the Church or Council,\nbut on its appeal to the minds and consciences of men.  You may doubt a\nmiracle, you may doubt your individual instincts, you may doubt the\ncompetency of any one body of men; you cannot doubt so easily the\nconviction of a hundred generations.  They found in it a power to make\nthem good and they were convinced that it had come from God.[1]\n\nNow consider that this Bible has held its authoritative position in the\nface of the most violent attacks all through the centuries; that\ninfidels have dreamed that they had overthrown it and exploded it times\nwithout number, with the result only that its power has steadily\nincreased, so that to-day it would be almost as easy to root the sun\nout of the heavens as to root this Bible out of human life.\n\nTake this single fact as an illustration.  A hundred years ago Voltaire\nrefuted it quite satisfactorily, as it seemed to himself.  \"In a\ncentury,\" he said, \"the Bible and Christianity will be things of the\npast.\"  Well, how has his prophecy been fulfilled?  Before his day the\nwhole world from the beginning of it had not produced six millions of\nBibles.  In a single century since, and that too, the enlightened,\ncritical nineteenth century, _two hundred millions_ of Bibles and\nportions of Scripture have issued from the press, in five hundred and\nforty-three languages.  And I have read somewhere that the house in\nwhich Voltaire lived is now one of the depots of the Bible Society.\n\n\nII.--THE WITNESS IN OURSELVES.\n\n1.--I have pointed out that the authority of the Scriptures has been\nequivalent to the authority with which they themselves convinced men\nthat they came from God.  Now let us try to bring this conviction home\nto ourselves--_to test on ourselves_ the power of these Scripture\nutterances which persuaded men of old that they came from above.  For\nit is as they compel in us the same convictions that we can readily\nunderstand the making of the Bible.\n\nGet outside all thoughts of an authoritative Bible.  Forget the fuller\nlight of Christ in which you stand, which reveals comparative\nimperfection in those ancient writers.  Put yourself in their place.\nPicture the nations of the earth in their ignorance and depravity, with\ntheir blind gropings after God, reaching no higher than fetishes and\nidols, and the tales of classical mythology.  Then listen wonderingly\nto those prophetic voices in Israel amid the surroundings of that dark\nold world before Romulus and Remus were suckled by the wolf:\n\n\n\"Jehovah, Jehovah.  A God full of compassion and gracious, slow to\nanger and plenteous in mercy and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,\nforgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and that will by no\nmeans clear the guilty.\n\n\"Rend your hearts and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your\nGod, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great\nkindness, and repenteth Him of the evil.\n\n\"Thus saith the high and holy One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name\nis Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place with him that is of a\ncontrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to\nrevive the heart of the contrite one.\n\n\"What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy\nand to walk humbly with thy God?\"\n\n\nAnd mingled with these noble thoughts, like a golden thread woven\nthrough the web of prophecy, see that strangely persistent groping\nafter some great Being, some great purpose of God in the future--from\nthe Genesis prediction of \"The Seed of the Woman\" to the vision of the\nComing One by the great prophet of the exile \"Surely He hath borne our\ngriefs and carried our sorrows ... the Lord hath laid on Him the\niniquity of us all.\"\n\nTry to realise the impressiveness of it.  All down the Jewish history\nin the midst of a dark world came these mysterious voices telling of a\nholy God,--teaching, threatening, pleading, encouraging, pointing to a\ngradually brightening ideal and to the hope of some Great One who yet\nwas to come.  And to deepen its impressiveness notice that these\nprophets asserted passionately their conviction: \"These are not our\nwords.  These are not our thoughts, God has put them into us.\"  \"The\nword of the Lord came unto me.  Hear ye therefore the word of the\nLord.\"  How could the people doubt it?  They were not good people.\nThey were stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, \"who did\nalways resist the Holy Ghost\".  They hated the high teaching.  They\nkilled the prophets and stoned those who were sent unto them.  But\nconscience insisted that these prophets were right and, by and by, in\ndeep remorse they built them sepulchres and treasured up what fragments\nthey could find of their sacred words.  How could they help it?  Put\nyourself in their place.  Do you not feel that you must have done the\nsame if you had been there?\n\n2.--The same is evidently true of the Psalms, the hymns of the Jewish\nChurch.  They, too, owe their position to the appeal which they made to\nthe highest in men.  They were the utterances of noble souls who with\nall their imperfections knew and loved God, and all kindred souls then\nand since have felt their power in inspiring the spiritual life.  The\nauthor's name did not matter.  In most cases it was not known.\n\nThe position of the Psalter, then, is not due to any author's name, to\nany Council's sanction, but to its compelling appeal to the highest\nside of men in that old Jewish Community.  That was how the Holy Spirit\nwrought in making the Bible.  Judged by the higher standard of Jesus\nChrist we can see imperfections and faults due to the poor imperfect\nmen who wrote the Psalter.  Strange if it were otherwise in that dark\nage in which it grew.  But when all allowance has been made for these,\nwho can doubt that that Psalter, which has been so powerful in\ninspiring human life through the ages since, caught on to men's souls\nin those early days and convinced them that it came from God.\n\nAgain let us test its compelling power on ourselves.  Keep back still\nin that dim old world with its self-seeking, and idolatries, and human\nsacrifices, and lustful abominations, with no real sense of sin, no\nlongings after holiness, and listen to the Jewish shepherd reciting in\nthe field, and the Jewish choir boy singing in the church:\n\n\n\"Praise the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, praise His Holy\nName, Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, Who healeth all thy diseases.\nWho redeemeth thy life from destruction, Who crowneth thee with loving\nkindness and tender mercies....  Like as a father pitieth his own\nchildren, so is the Lord merciful to them that fear Him, for He knoweth\nour frame, He remembereth that we are but dust.\n\n\"Lord, who shall sojourn in thy tabernacle, who shall dwell in thy holy\nhill?  He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh\nthe truth in his heart.\n\n\"The Lord is my shepherd.  I shall not want.  He maketh me to lie down\nin green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters.  He restoreth\nmy soul.  He leadeth me in the path of righteousness for His Name's\nsake.  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I\nwill fear no evil, for Thou art with me.\"\n\n\"Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy loving kindness, according\nto the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.\nWash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin....  The\nsacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O\nGod, Thou wilt not despise.\"\n\n\nAre not such songs in such an age one of the miracles of history?  How\ncould men help loving and reverencing and preserving such songs?  How\ncould they help feeling that a divine Spirit was behind them?\n\n3.--The rest of the Old Testament is the history of God's dealing with\nthe nation, a story gathered under the guidance of God's providence in\nmany generations, from many sources since the far back childhood of the\nrace.  The historians were evidently men with the prophetic instinct.\nBut I make no appeal on the score of their being prophets.  The appeal\nis made by the history itself.  Was ever national history so\nextraordinarily written?  It is the history of an evil and rebellious\npeople, yet everything is looked at in relation to the God of\nRighteousness.  Records of other ancient nations tell what this or that\ngreat king accomplished, how the people conquered or were conquered by\ntheir enemies.  In these Jewish records everything is of God--a\nrighteous, holy God.  It is God who conquered, God who delivered, God\nwho punished, God who fought.  There is no boasting of the national\nglory, no flattering of the national vanity; their greatest sins and\ndisgraces and punishments are recorded just as fully as their triumphs\nand their joys.  In the records of other nations the chief stress is\nlaid on power and prosperity and comfort and wealth.  In these strange\nrecords goodness seems to be the only thing of importance.  To do the\nright, to please the holy God is of infinitely more value than to be\npowerful or rich or successful in Life.  \"He did that which was right\nin the sight of the Lord.\"  \"He did that which was evil in the sight of\nthe Lord,\" are the epitaphs of their most famous kings.\n\nTherefore the national history of Israel also holds its position by its\nappeal to the religious instinct.  No author's name, no theory of its\ncomposition affects its position.  Whatever its imperfection, it has\nimpressed itself upon us as the simple story of God's dealing with men.\n\n\nIII.--THE WITNESS OF CHRIST.\n\nI now point you to the chief ground for every Christian man of his\nbelief in the Divine origin of the Bible.  It is this.  _That it all\ncentres in Jesus Christ Himself_.  It cannot be dissociated from Him.\nIt is closely, inseparately bound up with His life.\n\nThe Old Testament tells of the preparation for Christ.  The New\nTestament tells that when that preparation was complete \"in the fulness\nof time God sent forth His Son.\"  Jesus Christ, as it were, stands\nbetween the Old Testament and the New and lays His hand upon them both.\nThe Old Testament contains the Scriptures which He told men were of God\nand which bare witness of Him.  The New Testament is the story of His\nwords and works, and the teaching of apostles and early disciples sent\nforth by Him as teachers with the power of the Holy Ghost.  It is this\nfact that Christ is its centre which accounts for the striking unity of\nthis collection of separate documents.  The parts belong all to each\nother.  And surely for us Christians our conviction as to the authority\nof the Bible is increased a thousandfold by the attitude of Christ\nHimself towards the only Bible that He had, the Old Testament.\n\nIt was the Bible of His education.  It was the Bible of His ministry.\nHe took for granted its fundamental doctrines about creation, man,\nrighteousness, God's providence and purpose.  He accepted it as the\npreparation for Himself and taught His disciples to find Him in it.  He\nused it to justify His mission and to illuminate the mystery of the\ncross.  Above all He fed His own soul with its contents and in the\ngreat crisis of His life sustained Himself upon it as the solemn word\nof God.  And I cannot help feeling that the Bible which was good enough\nfor Christ on earth should be good enough for me.\n\n\nIV.--THE WITNESS OF ITS POWER.\n\n1.--Need I remind you of that practical conviction of every earnest\nBible student, the conviction which Coleridge expresses when he speaks\nof the way in which it \"finds me\".  Men feel by their own spiritual\nexperience that the Book witnesses to itself.  \"The Spirit itself\nbeareth witness with their spirit\" that the Book is the Book of God.\nIt \"finds them\" as no other book ever does.  Its words have moved them\ndeeply; it has helped them to be good; it has mastered their wills and\ngladdened their hearts till the overpowering conviction has forced\nitself upon them, \"Never book spake like this Book.\"\n\nNeed I point you to the world around, to the miraculous power which is\nexercised by that Bible, to the evil lives reformed by it, to the\nnoble, beautiful lives daily nourished by it?  Did you ever hear of any\nother book of history, and poetry, and memoirs, and letters that had\nthis power to turn men towards nobleness and righteousness of life?\nDid you ever hear a man say, \"I was an outcast, and a reprobate, and a\ndisgrace to all that loved me till I began to read Scott's poems and\nMacaulay's History of England?\"  Did you ever hear a man tell of the\npeace and hope and power to conquer evil which he had won by an earnest\nstudy of the Latin classics?\n\nYou can get a great many to say it of the study of the Bible, ten\nthousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.  You can see\nthe amount of happiness and good that has come to the world even from\nthe miserably imperfect following of it.  You can see that the world\nwould be a very paradise of God if it were thoroughly followed.  Misery\nand vice would vanish forever, purity and love and unselfish work for\nothers would hold their universal sway on earth.  The millenium would\nhave begun.\n\nNeed we be disquieted about a Book that comes to us thus accredited in\nso many powerful ways?  Can we not see with restful hearts that all for\nwhich we value it is safe from assault; that we never can doubt that it\nhas come to us from God.\n\nWith this confidence in our foundations we shall study peacefully and\nwith interest all new knowledge on the Bible.  Instead of fearing a\nconflict of Science and Scripture we shall learn to read our Bible more\nwisely.  For example, we shall read the Creation story not as a\nscientific treatise but as a simple religious primer for an ancient\nchild race three or four thousand years ago to teach them first lessons\nabout God.  And if Higher Criticism teaches us that some of the old\nbooks have been edited and re-edited before reaching their present\nform, that David did not write all the psalms, that Moses did not write\nthe whole of the Pentateuch as it stands to-day, we shall learn to\nregard it as a matter of mere literary interest.\n\nSuch questions may be discussed with a quiet mind.  For if the\nauthority of the Bible rests not on any external miracle, nor on any\nauthor's name, nor on any theory of its composition, nor on any\npronouncement of any one body of men, but on its own compelling power\nto convince men that it came from God, then its foundations are safe\nenough, and the question how the Books grew or by whom they were\nwritten or edited or brought together into a Bible is a matter of\nliterary interest in no way vital to the authority of Scripture.\n\nWe shall therefore need in our Bible reading more thoughtfulness, more\nstudy, more prayer.  But the outlay of these will be repaid a\nhundredfold.  The Bible will shine forth for us more real, more\nnatural, more divine.  Our beliefs will rest on a firm foundation.\nAnd, though there may be still things that puzzle and perplex us, we\nshall learn that our Christian life does not depend on the\nunderstanding of all mysteries and all knowledge, but on the humble\nobedience to the will of God, which for all practical purposes is\nclearly revealed.\n\n  Blessed Lord, who has caused all Holy Scriptures to be\n    written for our learning; grant that we may in such\n      wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly\n        digest them, that by patience, and comfort\n          of Thy Holy Word, we may embrace\n           and ever hold fast the blessed\n           hope of everlasting life, which\n                Thou hast given us in\n                  our Saviour Jesus\n                    Christ.  Amen.\n\n\n\n[1] I am quite conscious that I may be pointed to the acceptance of the\nKoran and the Sacred Books of India as a fact that weakens this\nargument.  I have no hesitation in admitting that, in part, the reason\nof their acceptance, too, lies in their appeal to the consciences of\nmen through their containing broken rays of \"The light that lighteth\nevery man coming into the world.\"  I should be sorry to think that\nChristianity required my belief that the God and Father of all men left\nthe whole non-Christian world without any light from Himself.  But\nsurely there is a vast difference between the position of these books\nand that of the Bible.  All that is good in the Koran existed already\nin Christianity and Judaism, and is mainly derived from them.  The\nSacred Books of India, with their pearls of spiritual truth gleaming\nhere and there amongst a mass of rubbish, can surely not be compared\nwith the Bible in reference to the above argument.\n\n\n\n\nIV.\n\nWHAT IS FAITH?\n\nBy The Rev. H. M. Little, L.S.T., Rector of the Church of the Advent,\nMontreal.\n\n\nA careful reader of the Gospels must be struck with the insistence\nwhich Jesus Christ places upon faith.  \"Verily I say unto you I have\nnot found so great faith, no, not in Israel.\"  \"Why are ye fearful, O\nye of little faith?\"  \"Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of\nthe palsy, son be of good cheer.\"  \"According to your faith be it done\nunto you.\"  \"He did not many mighty works there because of their\nunbelief.\"  \"O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou\nwilt.\"  \"Dost thou believe on the Son of God?\"  \"Ye believe in God,\nbelieve also in me.\"\n\nWhat then is this faith which Jesus Christ asks of people?  Is it\nnothing more than a \"looking upward\" by one in need to one able to\nsupply the need?  Jesus was never satisfied with this attitude.\n\n\nTHE TRUE NATURE OF FAITH.\n\nIn the case of the twelve Apostles we see what the nature of true faith\nis.  Jesus Christ chose them that they might be with Him in order that\nthey might learn His \"secret\"--the knowledge of His Personality.  He\nwished for such confidence in Him that they would commit themselves\nwholly to His keeping.  For the lack of this faith He rebuked them in\nthe storm on the lake.  Their faith failed them again at the\nCrucifixion; and it was the first task of the Master after the\nResurrection to build again this confidence which was shattered by the\ntragedy of His death.  He was successful.  The early chapters of the\nActs record the degree of calm confidence with which these same men\ncommitted their lives to His keeping (though absent from their sight)\nas to One possessing all authority in heaven and on earth.  Such is the\ntrue nature of Faith.\n\n\nTHE EVERLASTING WHISPER.\n\nPerhaps it will be better to clear away a misconception existing in\nsome minds arising from a confusion of thought between the exercise of\npersonal faith and the facts themselves of which the Christian\nrevelation consists.  The two are quite distinct.  \"The Faith\" means\nthe facts of revealed religion made known to us through the Church and\ninterwoven into the very texture of the Creeds and the Book of Common\nPrayer,--originally the content of the oral gospels.  We speak of the\nArticles of the Christian Faith, meaning the Apostles' Creed.  The\ndoctrine of the Holy Communion or of the Ministry of the Church, etc.,\nare parts also of \"The Faith\"; of this \"faith\" the Church is the\nguardian and the teacher.  This is essentially different from that\ninward personal movement of the soul towards God which we are now\nconsidering.  The former may be thought of collectively as an objective\nthing--something quite apart from the individual,--which he may\ndisregard or fail to understand; whereas personal faith is a movement\nof the soul of man which as we shall see vitalizes his being and calls\ninto operation all his capacities.  It is possible to be thoroughly\ninstructed in the verities of \"The Faith\", and at the same time to be\ndevoid of personal faith; while on the other hand persons are to be met\nwith who possess an intense personal faith in the Three Persons of the\nBlessed Trinity who have through no fault of their own but a very\nslight intellectual grasp of the contents of \"The Faith\" as it has been\ncommitted to the Church of God.  Yet \"The Faith\", \"the Christian Faith\"\nmust be cherished by faith (that movement in the soul of man towards\nGod) if the believer is to grow up unto the knowledge of God.\n\n\nFAITH NOT ANTAGONISTIC TO REASON.\n\nWe find ourselves in a world of material things and physical phenomena.\nWe watch and study nature; we witness its orderly movements.  We ask\nquestions.  Is matter the real thing and the true explanation of it\nall?  Does nature reveal an intelligence behind the universe and\nworking in it?  Are the movements in nature the product of law,--and\nhow did the laws begin to operate and when?  We listen to the answer of\nthe materialist, but it does not satisfy, because somehow or other it\ndoes not account for everything.  Surely, we say, if the operation of\nlaw accounts for everything, there must be a lawgiver.  Besides this we\nobserve in nature both design and beauty.  This suggests to us a mind\nbehind nature.  Man looks also within himself as part of creation and\nfinds he has a moral sense.  He makes distinctions between right and\nwrong; there are present to his mind ideas of justice and mercy and\nlove,--whence came these, he enquires, for these are not material\nforces at all, they are intellectual and spiritual?  He sees men die\nand infants born, and he asks whence do they come and whither are they\ngoing.  He refuses to believe that this life sees the end of man for he\nhas within himself the witness that he is spirit and not matter.  It is\nin this refusal of the innermost being of a man to consent to any\nmaterialistic explanation of the phenomena of nature or of human life\nthat faith declares itself.  The judgment which insists that the only\nadequate explanation of the universe (as science has made it known)\nmust be sought on the basis of the existence of a spiritual world\npermeating all that is seen in human life, and that behind it all as\nits source and origin, as its upholder and controlling power, is\nGod--this is faith.\n\nFurther.  Faith--living faith--is the elemental act within man going\nforth from him as a son in search for the knowledge of God as Father.\nIt is the greatest energising force within man, for it includes within\nitself the other capacities within man's personality, such as his\nemotions and his will; and in the case of the intellect,--it embraces\nall that the intellect can accomplish, and then goes beyond the limit\nwhich intellect can reach.  For faith takes all the conclusions arrived\nat by man's intellect, and then, supported by these conclusions, makes\nits venture as it were by the very power which is its own.\n\n\nFAITH GOES FURTHER THAN REASON.\n\nThink for the moment of the subordinate part played by reason in\nrelation to both heroism and love.  Heroism is universally admired.  It\nsprings spontaneously from within.  It makes few calculations.  It\nseldom weighs the pros, and cons.  It may act rationally or in defiance\nof reason.  It cannot stop to argue.  It may court certain destruction.\nThe challenge is accepted.  The heroic action is done.  And is it not\nthe same with the affections?  Whoever met the lover who became so\nthrough his intellect?  Who can know what love is except by loving?\nThe lover does not sit down and reason the matter out, and after\nweighing all considerations say, \"Yes, I will now love.\"  Tell him to\nact thus and he will laugh outright.  Love it is which draws him and\ncauses him to act.  He finds himself acting as he does just because he\nis in love, that is all.  'Tis true that reason exercises her part.\nReason may show him that his love is harmful, or on the contrary that\nit has the sanction of his best judgment.  But it can do no more.\nEvidence can be found everywhere to the fact of love recklessly\npursuing its career in spite of reason.  Reason has its limitations and\nlove goes beyond it; outstrips it like heroism.  It is exactly the same\nwith faith.  If you want to know what faith is, give yourself up to its\ninfluence, let yourself go out in response to it, let it carry you\nalong, until by experience you will come to know the power of faith and\nthe illumination of faith and the reality of faith.  Other faculties\nwill come to your aid to assist and to guide, but they can never be a\nsubstitute for faith.  The personal knowledge of God can only be\nreached through faith.  (Heb. II. 6.).\n\n\nFAITH GOES FURTHER THAN REASON IN HUMAN AFFAIRS.\n\nThere are people who feel that they can only tread where the ground is\nsolid; where they see quite clearly what is ahead; who take no risks;\nwho venture nothing.  Yet it is utterly impossible to live so in real\nlife.  Most of the business transacted in the world is based on a\nsystem of credits; and credit is but another name for faith in personal\nhonesty.  The financial investments that are made are ventures of faith\nas to profits and returns.  Business foresight which is a great asset\nto success in life relies upon the invariableness and calculated\nchanges likely to occur.  The invalid carries out the doctor's\ninstructions to the extent of his faith in his physician.  The reader\nof the daily newspaper has faith in the reliability of the news served\nup to him.  The history that men read, or the school textbooks used by\nchildren, postulate the veracity of the authors of these works.\nFriendships are an impossibility without the repose of faith.  In short\neverywhere and in every department of life there can be no knowledge\nnor growth nor progress without faith.  As I write the International\nConference is taking place at Genoa where the chief obstacle to the\ntask of putting Europe upon a peaceful economic basis is the\nsuspicions, the lack of faith in one another that prevails, not without\ncause, among the nations.\n\nSo when God, Who is Spirit, tells us He can only be apprehended by\nfaith it is childish to quarrel with this necessary condition, because\nHe is only asking of His children the same attitude towards Him which\nis everywhere adopted by humanity in its social relationships,\nconsciously or unconsciously, as an essential condition of human\nhappiness and progress.\n\n\nFAITH A BOND OF FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD\n\nFaith is required of men, not because God grudges information, but\nbecause He desires for man the unspeakable blessing of a willing,\nlonging, intimate friendship with Himself.  Among the heathen nations\n\"He left not Himself without witness, if haply they might seek after\nHim and find Him.\"  He selected Abram and called him forth from Ur to\nbe a father of a nation.  To that nation, tried and disciplined, He\ndisclosed Himself \"in fragmentary portions and in divers manners,\" by a\nlong line of inspired writers and prophets, until at last \"in the\nfulness of time God sent forth His Son.\"\n\nThe Incarnation discloses the distance the Father will travel to meet\nHis lost children, if by faith they will return to Him, and live the\nlife of restored fellowship.  Thus we understand why Jesus pleads and\nentreats and warns; it is because the loss of faith has such terrible\nconsequences--consequences which in their harm to oneself and to others\nare incalculable.  Through Jesus God has revealed the passion of His\nheart, His yearning love for the souls of men.\n\n\nGOD DEMANDS OUR ENTIRE PERSONALITY.\n\nThe faith which God requires will include within it the exercise of all\nman's capacities and powers; there will be in the end no part of his\npersonality and no department of his life which is not contributary to,\nor influenced by, his faith; for faith will be the means for the\nrounding out and the perfecting of the character.  It will include the\ndirecting of the will, it will find scope for the emotions, it will\nreceive the sanction of the intellect--it will be the movement of the\nentire man Godwards.\n\nHow very necessary it is for people to do some thinking regarding their\nreligion, and how very little is done.  Many people think that what is\ngood enough for their parents, is good enough for them in religion.\nBut this is the only department of life to which this idea is attached.\nThese people make no enquiries, they conform to certain formularies and\nrules of conduct, they have prejudices and great limitations.  The\nfruit of this is an extraordinary haziness existing in men's minds\nregarding religion.  Here a purely moral life is deemed the same thing\nas a life built upon faith in Christ.  Or compare the emphasis put upon\nethical duties directed towards one's neighbour (e.g. he is a good\nhusband and pays his debts); when little or no account is taken of the\nobligations due to God (such as Christian worship or the sinfulness of\nprofanity).  Or again, people put their trust in the reception of the\nsacraments without clear ideas as to the \"necessary dispositions\" for\nthe proper receiving of the sacraments, a tendency to treat them as\ncharms.\n\nThere are difficulties connected with our faith, such as the problems\nof pain and suffering, or inequality of opportunity, the prosperity of\nthe ungodly, which require much thought.  Besides all this the trust\nwhich men repose in God, not only in their everyday affairs, but also\nin those crises that happen from time to time, is strengthened\nimmensely when the intellect contributes its support, when man knows he\nis passing through a desolating experience, but knows also that many\nothers have passed through the like upheld in the darkness by faith.\nEvery Churchman should make an effort to bring his intellect by reading\nand study to the support of his faith.\n\nAnd the emotions, too, have their right place in the development of\nfaith.  Have we not been somewhat suspicious of the emotional element\nin religion, due perhaps to a disproportionate and exaggerated use of\nit by some religious bodies?  Has there not been a tendency to suppress\nthe emotions because there are emotional religious cults almost\ndivorced from morality and the intellect?  Perhaps, too, it has\nsomething to do with temperament?  British people used to be little\nmoved by feelings; lately they have changed somewhat.  We need the\nvision of Jesus Christ, Who is the revelation of God the Father, as One\nto be supremely loved above all others--as Mary Magdalene, as St. Peter\nand St. John, loved Him.  It would help us in worship if we used fewer\nsubjective hymns and more hymns of the type of S. Bernard's, \"Jesu the\nvery thought of Thee,\" or \"O Love, how deep! how broad, how high!\" if\nwe could have some simple litanies of devotion bringing to the mind of\nthe worshipper the purity, gentleness, tenderness, patience, sympathy\nand meekness of Jesus Christ; our faith in him would become more\ntender, warmer, more personal, and without this our faith cannot be\ncomplete.\n\n\nFAITH MUST ISSUE IN CHRIST'S SYSTEM OF MORALS.\n\nA further feature in this venture after the knowledge of God is the\nmoral one.  It is only to the pure in heart that the vision of God will\nbecome a reality.  To believe in Jesus is to accept His teaching in the\nsphere of morals quite as much as to appropriate His promises of\npresent pardon and future rewards.  In fact the promise of pardon is\ninterwoven with the condition of doing His will, and the heavenly life\nis held out as a reward to those who follow His example.  Jesus claims\nthe sovereignty over man's whole personality.  Those who call Him\n\"Lord, Lord,\" must do the things He says.  It is just at this point\nthat the world tests the Christian faith.  The world is practical; it\ndemands not profession, but works.  It knows that Jesus bequeathed a\nsystem of morals to His followers, especially in the Sermon on the\nMount; and, while it is ignorant of the grace Jesus bestows to enable\nhuman nature to rise above itself, yet in its rough and ready way it\nholds faith of no value which is not shown in \"fruits\".  When Society\ntalks about the \"failure\" of Christianity what it usually has in mind\nis the failure of Christian people to conform to the Christian standard\nof truthfulness and justice, of honesty and straight dealing, of\ncontinence and self-respect; being like other people, lovers of money\nand applause rather than examples of that love for their neighbour\ncommanded in the Gospels.  The human will needs supernatural strength\nto live Christ's system of morals.  God demands that the entire\npersonality, intellect, emotion, will, should be committed to Him in an\nall-embracing, loving faith.\n\n\nA FINAL PERSONAL WORD.\n\nA few words must be said as to the outcome of vital Christian faith.\nHow will it be recognized or known?  We answer by its interest in, and\nits works on, behalf of others' good.  Christian faith must justify\nitself in service.  The sphere and the nature of that service must be\nsought from Him Who has drawn the disciple to Himself.  Sometimes it\nmeans the taking up of the old task in an unselfish way; sometimes it\nwill lead to a new departure or an additional undertaking; sometimes it\nsends one far off among the Gentiles.  It is not so much the kind of\nwork that needs the emphasis, but rather the fact that if faith is\nbeing perfected it falls short of completion unless the disciple views\nall his activities, even the most humble ones, as occasions for service\nfor others' good.\n\nThere is need of caution, however.  We live in a busy age, and activity\nis nearly idolised.  It is not that we must always be busy, but rather\nthat what we do is not a mere fad or notion taken up enthusiastically\nand, when difficulties present themselves, then just as quickly\ndropped.  The outcome of faith is a task done for God on behalf of\nothers, when toil will cheerfully be borne, drudgery endured, trials\nmet with patience, and--through evil report and good report--the work\ncontinued.\n\n\n\n\nV.\n\nPRAYER\n\nBy The Very Rev. D. T. Owen, D.D., Dean of Niagara.\n\n\nI would ask you to think with me as simply and directly as possible\nabout one of the greatest things in the world.  It is something that we\ncan all do, for it requires no special learning; it is something which\nwe can all do at once, for it requires, from one point of view, no\nspecial training; and it is something, which if we will do, will bring\nguidance, peace and power, into our own lives and into the lives of\nothers.  What is this thing which is so great, and yet so close to\nhand, which is so worth while doing, and which we can all do, and do at\nonce?  It is prayer.  It is just saying our prayers.  \"Oh! how humdrum\nand commonplace!\" we say, or \"How difficult and discouraging I have\nfound it; I know I should pray, and I make resolutions sometimes to\nthat end, but somehow it gets either formal, or crowded out, or\nforgotten\".  Yes, while we all know about these difficulties and\nappreciate their strength, let us think this subject out again.\n\n\nWHAT IS PRAYER.\n\nIn the first place let us set before us quite clearly this great fact.\nGod, as He has been revealed to us by His Son, wishes us to pray to\nHim.  Prayer--the privilege, the duty and the value of prayer--is part\nof the revelation of God.  It goes with His nature, as that nature has\nbeen revealed to us.  He is the God Who wishes us to speak to Him, and\nto take Him into our confidence,--in a word He is the God Who wishes us\nto treat Him as Father.  What is prayer?  There is God ready to hear\nus, ready to heal and guide, to give rest and peace, to give light and\nstrength, to help carry our cares, to direct our feet into straight\npaths.  And here are we with our great needs, our cares and\nperplexities.  Prayer is the point of contact between ourselves and\nthat great God.  Indeed, we can say more than that, for when we pray we\nbecome our true selves.  We are spirits of Eternity.  For a time we\nlive upon this earth having many duties to perform, and many important\noffices to fulfil,--but when we pray, when we praise God, we are\nperforming our essential work as spirits.  We have dropped for the\nmoment the outer covering of our lives, and stand forth as being what\nwe really are,--spirits who came from God, who are doing a certain work\nfor God here, and are to return to God.  The moment of prayer is a\ngreat moment, for then it is that \"deep calleth to deep\", and spirit\ncalleth to the Father and Source of all spirits.  And so it comes to\npass that in the moment of prayer it is not merely that this man or\nwoman, called by this name or that here on earth,--a workman, a\nbusiness man, a housekeeper,--but an eternal spirit of God is calling\nupon the Author of all Spirits.  Such is prayer.  \"Prayer is that act\nby which man, conscious alike of his weakness and his immortality, puts\nhimself into real and effective communication with the Eternal, the\nSelf-Existent and the Uplifted God.\"[1]\n\n\nWHY SHOULD WE PRAY.\n\nIn trying to answer the question, \"What is prayer?\" we have, in part,\nanswered this question also, but it is so important that it must have a\nsection to itself.\n\nIn the first place, we should pray in order to make acknowledgment of\nthe glory and the power of God.  It is because of what God is Himself\nthat we have need to fall down before Him in adoration and praise.  We\nare inclined to think too much of our own needs in relation to prayer.\nIndeed when we mention the word prayer, we begin at once to think of\nour needs, of what we want, and of what other people want.  These are\nimportant, but these are not first; and until we understand that they\ntake the second place in prayer, and do not constitute its chief\nargument, we cannot realize the real reason for Christian Prayer.  The\nreal, the first reason for prayer from the Christian point of view is\nto glorify God,--to praise Him for what He is, and to fall down before\nthe greatness of His power.  We have a model prayer which teaches us\nabout this.  Among many other things it teaches us the chief reasons\nfor prayer.  It comes to us full of answers to our question, Why should\nwe pray?  \"When ye pray, say, Our Father, Which art in Heaven, Hallowed\nbe Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth as it is in\nheaven.\"  This surely means that God must be first in our prayers.[2]\nWe are half way through the Lord's Prayer, we are more than half way\nthrough, before we begin to talk about our needs.  Our Lord Jesus\nChrist has taught us that in prayer we are to think first of such\nthings as the Father, Heaven, His Name, His Kingdom and His Will,\nbefore we say anything of the bread and our other needs.  Yes, surely\nthe great reason for praying is to honour God, to unite ourselves with\nHis great purposes in heaven and earth.\n\nAgain, I would ask you to think of this from another point of view.\nOne of the great objects of life is to know God.  To know God!  This\nsometimes seems a very mystical, far away subject, does it not?  It\nbelongs, surely, to those who have been specially endowed, or to those\nwho have the mystical temperament!  I do not think this is true.  I\nthink we grow to know God as we grow to know our friends.  And how do\nwe grow to know our friends?  We speak to them, we take them into our\nconfidence, we tell them of the things that make up our lives, and by\nso doing we grow into friendship.  If we neglect this for long our\nfriendship begins to wane.  Now I think it is very much the same with\nour relations to our great Friend.  We grow in our knowledge of Him and\nHis ways, and in our understanding of His mind, just in proportion as\nit is our habit to go into His Presence and to take Him into our\nconfidence about our lives.  And this is what prayer is.  By prayer we\ngrow to know God.  The highest prayer is \"Thy Will be done\", and we can\nonly come to those heights of prayer by praying,--for it is by talking\nto God, looking at Him, taking Him into our confidence that we come to\nunderstand some of His ways and purposes, enter into the secret places\nof His dwelling, and thus learn to say, \"Thy will be done!\"  Only they\nwho have learnt in the School of Prayer to say, \"Father ... Hallowed be\nThy name\" can go on to truly say, \"Thy will be done\".  The object of\nprayer is not to bend His Will to ours but to so learn of him, and to\nso enter into His Friendship day by day that we can say, \"Thy will be\ndone\".\n\nBut, of course, in prayer we are meant to ask for things for ourselves\nand for others.  What has been said above by no means indicates the\ncomplete reason for praying.  No, the Christian prays for things for\nhimself and others.  It cannot be too strongly stated \"that prayer gets\nthings done\".  \"Ye have not,\" says St. James, \"because ye ask not\".  It\nis the Will of the Father to give us things in response to prayer.  Our\nLord in the model prayer taught us to pray definitely for certain\nthings in human life.  His Father, so He teaches us, is interested in\nthe whole of human life, all its needs, its cares, its joys, its\nperplexities, its strain,--all these can be made the subject of\nintercourse between the Father and the child.  The Father cares about\nthem so much that they must find their place in our prayers.  Indeed,\nthey are so important that they must have _their own place_.  And their\nown place is second.  So in all our praying let us remember it is God\nfirst, ourselves second.  But we go further than that.  It would seem\nas if we were not in a position to know our real needs sufficiently\nwell to pray about them with intelligence, unless first of all we have\nallowed the light that comes from thinking about God, adoring His Name,\nand falling down before the majesty of His purpose and His will, to\nshine upon our life's needs.  Yes, we are indeed to pray for our varied\nneeds and those of others, but we cannot know our real needs unless God\nis first in our prayer, and we have prayed, \"Our Father, Hallowed be\nThy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done\".[3]\n\n\nHOW SHOULD WE PRAY?\n\nIt would seem to be perfectly clear from the teaching of the Bible and\nthe Church, and from the experience of those who really pray, that men\nand women can live lives of power, peace, and usefulness, whatever\ntheir lot may be, if they would but pray.  There it is before us.  It\nis the challenge of prayer.  If you pray, you can do great things for\nGod and man.\n\nThere the challenge stands.  \"But\", someone says, \"I personally have\nfound it very difficult to pray, possibly my gifts lie in other\ndirections.\"  This is often said as if the speaker thought he were\nunique.  He is quite right about one thing,--it is difficult to\npray,--but he is wrong in thinking he is unique.  Prayer is one of the\nhardest things to do.  This is one of the reasons we shirk it.  Do not\nbe surprised if you find it hard.  \"It is hard,\" someone has said,\n\"because it is high\".  Most things that are very well worth doing are\nthings we find hard, especially at first, to learn to do.\n\nNow let these facts stand very clear before us.  God asks us to pray to\nHim.  Of all the things we do, there is nothing that can be more worth\nwhile doing.  If we will do it, we most certainly will grow into better\nand nobler and more useful men and women.  But we shall find it hard to\ndo.  Now let us be quite clear about the problem of the hardness of\nprayer; there is only one thing to do about this subject of prayer, and\nthat is to pray.  The only way to solve the problem of praying is by\npraying.  Nothing will do instead.  In spite of the difficulties, in\nspite of distractions, of weariness, of failure, of moods, of\ncoldness,--we pray.  Nothing will do instead.  Nothing else will solve\nthe problem.  Reading books and listening to sermons on prayer will not\ndo instead.  The only way to learn to pray is to pray.  The people who\nget things done are the people who, not having the time or the\ninclination often, in spite of these things,--pray.\n\nIn a word, we have to treat prayer as work, as part of our definite\nwork as Christians.  We know how it is with our work.  We do it every\nday.  We do it whether we feel like doing it or not.  We keep on doing\nit day after day, month after month, year after year.  Prayer is work.\nWe must treat it with the respect we give to our work.  Again, what a\nmistake it is to wait on the mood.  What a mistake to say, \"I do not\nfeel like praying to-day--perhaps to-morrow!\"  Our moods come and go.\nThey are very fragile things, rooted sometimes in trifling causes.  One\nof the greatest mistakes in this connection is to think that the\neffectiveness of our prayers depends upon the particular state of our\nfeelings at the time.  It often happens to people who pray that they\nhave found the greatest blessings they have won for themselves or for\nothers have been in times when \"the heavens were brass\", and they had\nlittle or no sense of reality or warmth in prayer.  It is said that the\ndifference between the professional and the amateur is that the amateur\ndepends on the mood, but the professional goes on with his work day\nafter day, paying no attention to a mood here and there.  We must be,\nin this sense, professionals.  Prayer is part of our work as\nChristians.  Let moods come or go, the work must go on,--the great work\nof Praise, Petition, Intercession, Thanksgiving.\n\nAgain, if there is one thing more than another that Our Lord was clear\nabout in His teaching concerning prayer, it is that we must be\npersistent in our prayers.  We must pray for an answer.  This is not to\nsay that we are to pray until we receive the answer we wish, but until\nwe receive some light and leading in relation to the subject of our\nprayers.  It will not be necessary to do more than remind you of the\ntwo parables on this subject in St. Luke's Gospel.  There was once a\nman upon whom there came an unexpected traveller one night, and he had\n\"nothing to set before him\".  He went to a friend at midnight and said,\n\"Friend, lend me three loaves,\" and would not go away until he had\nreceived the loaves, but kept on asking and seeking and knocking.  \"I\nsay unto you\", said Our Lord, \"that though he will not rise because he\nis his friend, yet because of his importunity he will arise and give\nhim as many as he needeth.  And I say unto you, ask, and it shall be\ngiven you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto\nyou.\"  And again, there was in a certain city a judge, \"which feared\nnot God, and regarded not man\", and to him came a widow with the\npersistent plea, \"Avenge me of mine adversary.\"  And he would not for a\nwhile, but afterward he said within himself, \"Though I fear not God,\nnor regard man; yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her,\nlest by her continual coming she weary me\".  These two parables, taken\nwith Christ's own example in Gethsemane when He prayed three times\nconcerning \"the cup\", make it very clear that His followers, when they\ndecide this or that is a matter for definite prayer, must not leave\nthat petition or intercession out of their prayers until they have\nreceived some answer, some light or leading from the God Who always\nhears, and always answers earnest prayer.\n\nAnd last of all, in answer to our question, How should we pray? we\nshould pray in that name which is above every name--the name of \"the\none Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus.\"  We have this\ngreat name to plead.  Though in our weakness we feel unworthy to pray,\nthough in our ignorance we know not how to pray, and though with the\nbest of our prayers there is so much that is imperfect, we have in that\nOne Who ever lives to make intercession for us, One Who takes our poor\nand imperfect acts of devotion and makes them to be heard in the\nPresence of the Divine Majesty.  It is \"through Jesus Christ our Lord\"\nwe pray.  Here is our confidence.  In this realization we find fresh\nstrength and hope for the whole work of prayer.  His perfect knowledge\nof our lives and of our temptations, coupled with His place of Honour\nat the right hand of the Father, gives us great re-assurance that our\nprayers come before that Throne with power.  \"Having then a great high\npriest, Who hath passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us\nhold fast our profession.  For we have not an high priest which cannot\nbe touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been\nin all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.  Let us,\ntherefore, draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we\nmay receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need.\"\n\n\nFINDING TIME FOR PRAYER.\n\nWe are anxious that these articles should be very practical, and that\nour readers may be helped to practise their religion more definitely\nfrom reading them.  Most of us are very busy people, and often it will\nseem as if there was no time for prayer.  But we always make time to do\nthings we consider absolutely essential.  Prayer is one of the absolute\nessentials of the Christian life.  You will notice that it was during\ntimes of unusual pressure of duties that we are told that Our Lord\nfound time to pray.  It was when the people thronged Him to listen to\nHis words, and to receive healing and comfort for body and soul, that\nwe read, \"And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into the\nmountain to pray; and He continued all night in prayer to God\".  And\nagain it was while \"all the city was gathered at the door\" that \"in the\nmorning, a great while before day, He rose up and went out, and\ndeparted into a desert place, and there prayed\".  He always found time\nin the midst of His thronged ministry, when \"many were coming and\ngoing\", and He had \"no leisure so much as to eat\", to go apart to enter\ninto communion with His Father.  We, too, must find time to pray.\n\nThe important thing is not how long our prayers are or how short, but\nthat our spirits have come, if only for a moment, into contact with\nHim, Who is Himself Spirit.  This is the vital thing.  This is that\nwhich brings rest and refreshment to the soul and strengthens it in its\nlife on earth.  Let me repeat, the great essential is to get into touch\nwith God, and to get into touch every day.  Now it would seem as if the\nmorning, first thing in the morning, is the time especially to do this?\nBefore the distractions of the day have dulled the delicate perceptions\nof the spirit, before the noonday sun has absorbed the early dew of\nmorning, is the time to open the door of the heart to God, and to lift\nup the hands to Him.  It was in the morning, \"rising up a great while\nbefore day\", that the Son of Man prayed.  So it should be the first\nthing in the day with us.  It need not be anything complicated or\ninvolved.  Indeed, it can be quite simple.  Perhaps this simple\nsuggestion may be found helpful.  When we get up in the morning, we\nremember that it is God first.  We must let the thought of the glory,\nthe power and the goodness of God take possession of our hearts.  We\nbow before Him, from Whom we came and to Whom we go, and say, \"Glory be\nto the Father, and to the Son; and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the\nbeginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end.  Amen.\"  Then\na word of thanksgiving for sleep and rest, one or both of the Collects\nfor Morning Prayer, a little prayer for others, and special needs of\nthe day, and the Lord's Prayer to end with, and to sum up the whole\nact.  Such is the barest outline, but it is something that everyone\ncould do, and could do every day.  Why not?  And why not forthwith?\n\nIf we are to know God, we must pray.  If we are to become our true\nselves, we must pray.  If we are to walk bravely and honestly through\nthis life, we must pray.  If we are to be useful to others, we must\npray.  And what is prayer?  It is getting into touch with God, and\ngetting into touch every day.\n\n\n\n[1] In further token that it is so we find, apart from Christian\nRevelation and experience, an instinct to prayer practically universal\namong men.  This natural capacity to pray is one of the greatest\nattributes of human nature.  Man has ever felt the desire to confer\nwith the unseen.\n\n[2] Prayer, therefore, if it is to follow the teaching and example of\nChrist must rise above the thought of making a bargain with God.  (E.g.\n\"If this petition is granted then I will do this or that\").  Christian\npetitions are offered in absolute trust, \"Nevertheless not as I will\nbut as Thou wilt.\"\n\n[3] God knows what is best for us and wills the best for us.  We do not\npray \"Thy will be changed,\" but \"Thy will be done.\"  Our Lord Christ,\nWho had perfect knowledge of God, used prayer as one of the greatest\nforces to accomplish God's purpose.  If we withhold prayer we leave\nunused a force God Himself calls for in carrying out His purposes among\nmen.\n\n\n\n\nVI.\n\nTHE HOLY COMMUNION\n\nThe Rt. Rev. A. J. Doull, D.D., Bishop of Kootenay.\n\n\nThis volume of theology is written for laymen of the Anglican Church,\nand it is to them that I address myself primarily in this chapter.\nThere can be no question in our minds regarding the importance of this\nsubject which we are now about to consider; nor yet of the necessity of\narriving at a clear understanding concerning the truth.  We are about\nto tread holy ground, therefore a reverent spirit is needful above all\nthings else.  We are about to investigate, albeit in the briefest\nmanner, the nature and character of that Sacrament which our dying\nSaviour left as the bond of comradeship between His followers and\nHimself, and between His followers with one another, but which\nhistorically has been the occasion of more strife and discord betwixt\nChristian people than any other institution or fact of our holy faith;\ntherefore we must cast aside all prejudice and preconceived opinions,\nand placing ourselves at the feet of Jesus seek to learn from Him the\nreal truth which He alone can impart.\n\nI believe that Christ is especially anxious to teach us the truth\nto-day after all these centuries of strife, and I am convinced that so\nfar as the Anglican Church is concerned that there is a wonderful\nmeasure of agreement between all her members concerning the doctrine of\nthe Holy Communion when they heed the advice of our great theologian,\nthe judicious Hooker, and \"the more give themselves to meditate with\nsilence what we have by the Sacrament and less to dispute of the manner\nhow.\"\n\nLet us try and consider in simple faith and simple language what is\nrevealed to us in Holy Scripture concerning this Sacrament, what truths\nabout it are therefore enshrined in the Book of Common Prayer, and what\nit is accordingly that all Anglicans really believe though their mode\nof expressing their common faith, and though their phraseology, may\nsomewhat differ.\n\n\nINSTITUTED BY CHRIST.\n\nFirstly, we believe that this Sacrament is of Supreme importance\nbecause it was instituted by Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ\nand by Him commanded to be observed and celebrated by His Church until\nHis coming again.  The writers of the first three Gospels give us\nsubstantially identical accounts of what our Lord said and did in the\nsame night that he was betrayed.  St. Mark, whose narrative is probably\nthe oldest, tells us that on the first day of unleavened bread when\nthey sacrificed the Passover, in the evening Jesus and the twelve kept\nthis distinctive feast of the Old Testament dispensation according to\nthe accustomed manner.\n\n\"And as they were eating, he took bread, and when he had blessed, he\nbrake it, and gave to them and said, Take ye; this is my body.  And he\ntook a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave to them and they all\ndrank of it.  And he said unto them: This is my blood of the Covenant\nwhich is shed for many.\"  (St. Mark XIV. 22-24 R.V.)  St. Matthew's\naccount and that of St. Luke are practically identical.\n\nSt. John, whose gospel was written at a much later date than those of\nthe synoptists, does not record the institution of the Holy Communion,\nbut does preserve for us Our Blessed Lord's wonderful teaching\nregarding Himself as the Bread of Life, which has such an important\nbearing upon a clear understanding of the true and proper place of this\nSacrament in the Spiritual life of Christians.  (V. St. John VI.).\n\nSt. Paul, in the eleventh chapter of the first epistle to the\nCorinthians, writes: \"For I received of the Lord that which also I\ndelivered unto you how that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was\nbetrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it and\nsaid, This is my body which is for you; this do in remembrance of me.\nIn like manner also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New\nCovenant in my blood; this do as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of\nme.\"  The only other occasions upon which St. Paul uses similar\nlanguage to \"For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered\nunto you,\" is with reference to the Resurrection of Our Blessed Lord (1\nCor. XV. 3) and to the essence of the Gospel Message taught him by the\nrevelation of Jesus Christ, (Galatians 1. 12).  We may believe\ntherefore that St. Paul in emphasizing the sacred importance of the\nHoly Communion knew himself to be under the special guidance of Christ\nHimself.\n\n\nTHE CENTRAL RITE OF DISCIPLESHIP.\n\nSecondly, we believe that from the days of the Apostles down to the\npresent time the Holy Communion has ever been regarded as the\ndistinctive act of Christian Worship and the highest means of Christian\ngrace.  It is impossible to go into the proof of this statement here\nbut it can easily be verified by those ready and desirous to\ninvestigate.  From the very earliest times of the Apostles, when on the\nfirst day of the week the disciples met together for the breaking of\nthe bread, down to the present time Christians have ever regarded the\nHoly Communion as the Central rite of discipleship, the Sacrament or\nbond of comradeship between Jesus and His people, between Christ the\nLord and those who are members of the Church which is His Body.\n\n\nTHE REAL SPIRITUAL PRESENCE.\n\nThirdly, we believe in the fact of Christ's presence with us in the\nHoly Communion.  Regarding the fact there is unity of belief amongst\nall Anglicans, I might go further and say amongst all Christian people.\nIt is only when men proceed to define the mode that differences arise.\n\nSome would regard his presence as due to a Sacramental change in the\nelements, or to a new relationship established between the elements and\nthe Body and Blood of Christ.  Others prefer to connect it with His\npromise, \"Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am\nI in the midst of them,\" and to lay stress upon the fact that if ever\nthere be an occasion when two or three are gathered together in\nChrist's name it is when in obedience to His Command they assemble to\nbreak the bread and bless the cup.\n\nThis fact of the real spiritual presence of Christ in the Holy\nCommunion has ever been the belief of the Church Catholic and of the\nAnglican Church as a part thereof.  Bishop Andrewes in the seventeenth\ncentury, writing in reply to Roman Controversalists, at a time when the\nChurch in England had at length settled down after the upheaval and\nconflict of the Reformation period, asserted the belief of the Anglican\nChurch as to the fact but also her refusal to dogmatize as to the mode\nof the Saviour's presence.  \"The Presence we believe no less truly than\nyou to be real.  Concerning the mode of the Presence, we define nothing\nrashly, nor, I add, do we curiously enquire.\"\n\nTrue to the teaching and to the Spirit of the early Church the Church\nof England devoutly accepts her Lord's words, neither attempting to\nexplain them or to explain them away, but leaving them where He has\nleft them a holy mystery not requiring and therefore not receiving\ndefinition.  Not as attempting to define, but as a safeguard against\nerrors which have at various times been prominent in the Church,\nrepresentative writers of the Anglican Communion have been accustomed\nto speak of Our Lord's presence as being at once real and spiritual.\nTo understand the full significance of this language it is necessary\nthat we dismiss forever from our minds the idea that there is any\nopposition between that which is real and that which is spiritual.  On\nthe contrary, we must grasp the fact, which all are coming to recognize\nmore and more, that the spiritual is the real, and the real is the\nspiritual.  I do not think that it would be possible to have this truth\nconcerning the Sacramental Presence of Our Lord expressed more clearly,\nmore beautifully, or more truly than it has been by Dr. Hall, the\npresent Bishop of Vermont, who says that \"Christ's presence in the\nBaptized is as real as His presence in the Eucharist, His presence in\nthe Eucharist as spiritual as His presence in the Baptized\".  Moreover,\nthe presence of Christ in the Eucharist cannot be said to differ in\nkind or in degree from His presence in and with His people at other\ntimes and in other Sacramental ordinances, but it does differ in\npurpose.\n\nOur Lord is present with us in the Eucharist for certain very definite\nand specific purposes and we must now proceed to enquire what those\npurposes are.  We shall be on safe ground if we say that Our Lord as\nthe great Head is present with the members of the Church which is His\nBody to do those things which He did or commanded to be done at the\nlast supper.\n\nWhy then did Our Lord at the Last Supper institute and ordain the\nSacrament of the Holy Communion and command it to be celebrated and\nobserved by His Church until His coming again?\n\n\nTHE CONTINUAL REMEMBRANCE.\n\nIt was ordained for the continual remembrance of the Sacrifice of the\ndeath of Christ, a commemoration of Our Saviour's meritorious Cross and\nPassion.  This commemoration is made before God, before ourselves,\nbefore the world.\n\n(_a_) It is a commemoration of the Saviour's death before God.  The\nwhole service of Holy Communion as celebrated in the Church of England,\nwith the exception of certain exhortations and invitations, consists of\nprayers addressed, as all prayer must be, to God.  The most important\nof these prayers is the one which we call the prayer of consecration.\n\nIn this prayer the Celebrant, as the commissioned leader and mouthpiece\nof the Congregation, commemorates before God that which Our Lord did in\nthe upper room as the Passover feast on the same night in which He was\nbetrayed.\n\nBefore God in this prayer commemoration is made of His gift of His only\nbegotten Son to suffer death for our redemption, before God\ncommemoration is made of that which Christ did for us upon the Cross,\nbefore God the institution of this Sacrament of perpetual memory is\nrecalled, before God the very acts and words of Our Saviour Christ in\ninstituting and ordaining this Holy Sacrament are solemnly rehearsed\nand enacted.  It is impossible for any Priest of the Church of England\nto celebrate the Holy Communion, or for any member of the Church of\nEngland to take part in the celebration of this Holy Sacrament, without\nmaking before God the most solemn commemoration of the death of Christ\nand His all sufficient Sacrifice which it is possible for the mind of\nman to conceive.  And in so doing we are at one with the Historic\nChurches in all ages.  If it be objected that God needs no such\nreminding of what Christ did, then the objection is equally valid\nagainst all mention of Christ's holy name in prayer as the ground and\nbasis whereby we trust such prayer will be accepted and answered by\nGod.  The commemoration before God in the Eucharist is but the doing in\nact by the whole body of the faithful of that which each individual\nChristian does when he says, at the close of his prayers, \"Grant this\nfor Jesus Christ's sake,\" or, \"through the merits of Christ Jesus Thy\nSon Our Lord.\"\n\nIt is the doing in act, and by use of those very elements and words and\nactions which Jesus has Himself commanded, of that which we do when in\nthe Litany we supplicate, \"By the mystery of Thy Holy Incarnation; by\nThy Holy Nativity and Circumcision, by Thy Baptism, Fasting, and\nTemptation, by Thine Agony and Bloody Sweat; by Thy Cross and Passion;\nby Thy Precious Death and Burial; by Thy Glorious Resurrection and\nAscension and by the Coming of the Holy Ghost, Good Lord deliver us.\"\nThis aspect of the Eucharist is perfectly expressed in Canon Bright's\nwell known hymn, a hymn which by many not of Dr. Bright's School is\nregarded as their favourite hymn, and which has commended to them the\ntruth of the commemoration before God, in a way that might not have\nbeen possible had the same form of words been cast in a prose setting.\n\n  And now, O Father, mindful of the Love\n  That bought us, once for all, on Calvary's Tree,\n  And having with us Him that pleads above\n  We here present, we here spread forth to Thee\n  That only offering perfect in Thine eyes\n  The one true pure, immortal Sacrifice.\n\n  Look, Father, look on His anointed face\n  And only look on us as found in Him\n  Look not on our misusings of Thy grace,\n  Our prayer so languid, and our faith so dim\n  For lo! between our sins and their reward\n  We set the Passion of Thy Son Our Lord.\n\n\nOur Blessed Lord is therefore present as the Head of the Church which\nis His Body, as the great High Priest to enable us in union with Him to\nplead His Sacrifice, which is the sole ground of our approach to and\nacceptance with God.  In that which has been called the Companion hymn\nto Dr. Bright's, part of which I have quoted just above, the Saintly\nBishop Bickersteth expressed the same great truth from his standpoint\nas an Evangelical Churchman.\n\n  O Holy Father, who in tender love\n  Didst give Thine only Son for us to die,\n  The while He pleads at Thy right hand above\n  We in One Spirit now with faith draw nigh,\n  And, as we eat this Bread and drink this Wine,\n  Plead His once offered Sacrifice Divine.\n\n\n(_b_) But not only is the commemoration of the Lord's death made before\nGod, it is also made before and amongst ourselves.  The breaking of the\nBread, the blessing of the Cup with the use of Our Saviour's words do\nremind us in the most solemn manner of the cost of our redemption and\nthe great love wherewith He loved us and gave Himself for us.\n\nThe more we ponder God's amazing love in Redemption, the more wonderful\ndoes it appear and the deeper and more ardent becomes our love whereby\nwe love Him who first loved us.\n\nPerhaps the chiefest essential in the Christian life is that we should\nhave a living faith in God's mercy through Christ, with a thankful\nremembrance of His death, and nothing helps us to secure this essential\nso much as the due and devout observance of the Lord's Supper ordained\nby Our Blessed Master Himself in the same night in which He was\nbetrayed and on the very eve of His tremendous death and Sacrifice.\n\n(_c_) There is a third aspect of the commemoration which must not be\noverlooked.  The Eucharist is a means of proclaiming or preaching the\nLord's death before the world until His coming again.  \"For as often as\nye eat this bread and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord's death till\nHe come\" (1 Corinthians, XI. 26).  There is not space at my disposal to\ndo more than merely call attention to the evidential value of the Holy\nEucharist to the truth of Christianity and to the Gospel history.  But\nits constant celebration week by week is a fact, a fact which even the\nworld must take note of, a fact which proclaims as no other institution\nof religion does that Jesus died and rose again.  And He, Who has\npromised to be present where two or three are gathered together in His\nName, He, Who has pledged His presence to His Church in the\nproclamation of the Gospel, is ever mindful of His promise when His\nfollowers meet together at His table, and amongst themselves and before\nthe world proclaim and herald the death of Him Who died to be the\nSaviour of all mankind.\n\n\nTHE SPIRITUAL FOOD OF HIS BODY AND BLOOD.\n\nThe Holy Communion was ordained, and Our Blessed Lord is present in\nthat Holy Sacrament, in order that He, the true Bread from Heaven, may\nfeed us with the Spiritual food of His Body and Blood.  In the language\nof the Prayer Book itself \"it is our duty to render most humble and\nhearty thanks to Almighty God our Heavenly Father, for that He hath\ngiven His Son Our Saviour Jesus Christ, not only to die for us, but\nalso to be our Spiritual food and sustenance in (this) Holy Sacrament.\"\nWhilst our Catechism asserts that \"The inward part or thing signified\nin the Lord's Supper is the body and Blood of Christ which are verily\nand indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper.\"\nThe seeker after the truth must read and compare very carefully the\nfollowing passages of Holy Scripture.  St. John VI., the whole Chapter;\nSt. Matthew, XXVI. 26-30; St. Mark XIV. 22-26; St. Luke XXII, 15-21; 1\nCorinthians X. 15-22; 1 Corinthians, XI. 23-end.\n\nIf this be done there will remain no doubt but that Our Blessed Lord\nproclaims Himself to be the Bread of Life, the food of man's spiritual\nnature and being, which needs food quite as much as his physical and\nmental nature and being; that He ordained the Holy Communion to be the\nmeans and channel whereby we receive His flesh and blood, that is His\nvery perfect life and nature, according to His promise as recorded in\nSt. John VI. verses 48-58; and that St. Paul so understood its purpose\nand meaning.\n\nRealizing that we are moving in the realm of the Spiritual and\nmeditating upon the words of the Incarnate God, the very truth who can\nneither deceive or be deceived, we will not ask with the unbelieving\nJews how can this man give us his flesh to eat, we will leave all\nquestions as to the manner how where Christ Himself has left them, and\nwith a most thankful heart will make the words of Hooker, the great\nElizabethan Divine, our own, \"What these elements are in themselves it\nskilleth not, it is enough that to me which take them they are the body\nand blood of Christ, His promise in witness hereof sufficeth, His word\nHe knoweth which way to accomplish; why should any cogitation possess\nthe mind of a faithful Communicant but this, O My God thou art true, O\nMy Soul, thou art happy.\"\n\n\nTHE REASONABLE, HOLY AND LIVING SACRIFICE OF DISCIPLESHIP.\n\nThere is another purpose why Our Blessed Lord is present with us in\nHoly Communion.  He is present as the Great Head of the Church, in\norder that we His members with Him and in Him may offer ourselves a\nliving Sacrifice holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable\nservice (Romans XII. 1).  We have sadly forgotten the real essential\nmeaning of worship.  What is worship?  Surely self oblation.  It is the\noffering of ourselves, our bodies, souls and spirits, our talents, our\ngifts, all we have and all we are to God for service.  But this is just\nwhat we poor sinners cannot do of ourselves, it if only _in Christ_\nthat we can give ourselves to serve God and humanity.  And so Our\nBlessed Lord comes to us as the Head of the Church which is His Body,\nthe living organism in which He lives and through which He carries on\nHis work.  He comes and pleads on our behalf the merits of His atoning\ndeath and Sacrifice once offered, He comes and applies to us the saving\nefficacy of His atonement, He feeds us with His Body and Blood, making\nus one with Himself so that He dwells in us and we dwell in Him, so\nthat we are one with Him and He one with us; and then, in Him, in union\nwith His eternal oblation of Himself, He offers and presents us, His\nBody, as living Sacrifices to the eternal Father, and sends us forth to\ndo service for Him and our brethren, not in our own strength and power\nbut in His to whom all power in Heaven and earth has been given.\n\nThe present era in the history of the Church and the world is one which\ncalls for great power if Christ is to be brought to a distracted\ndisorganized sin-laden, sin-weary world,--and if the world is to be\nbrought to Christ its one and only possible helper and Saviour, its\nSaviour from present and future evils in the age that now is as well as\nin the ages to come.  That power is in Christ and is made over to His\nfollowers when in simple faith they come to Him in a receptive attitude\nand with the determination to use it.  The fundamental importance of\nthe Holy Communion is, that it stands forth preeminently as the\nprincipal channel through which this power is bestowed.\n\n\nMay all those who bear His name and desire to do Him service realize\nwhat an inexhaustible treasury of Divine strength and power the Master\nhas provided for us in this Sacrament of His Love.  Just a few words in\nconclusion as to our use of it.\n\nIt is food, therefore, it must be received frequently and with\nregularity.  It is food, therefore it presupposes life and at least a\ndegree of health in those who take it.  A corpse cannot receive food,\nthe sick have no desire for it.  The Holy Communion is for those who\nare Baptized and have received the life of the Risen Lord.  It is for\nthose who have been forgiven and who long to show their gratitude by\nbecoming strong through the assimilation of Christ the Bread of Life to\ndo Him service and perform His will.\n\nIt is food, therefore not a Spiritual luxury for good people, but the\nordinary necessary food for us all, poor weak pardoned sinners, God's\nChildren reconciled in Christ, who are trying to become good and to\nlove Him who first loved us.\n\nThe realization of our own nothingness and the all sufficiency of\nChrist is the condition of heart and soul requisite for a good\nCommunion.  Repentance for the fact that it should be so with us, faith\nthat He will supply all our needs, because He alone can and because He\nso wills, is the attitude of those who would really know what this\nSacrament was meant to be and can be to those who come to Him \"as sick\nto the Physician of Life, as unclean to the Fountain of Mercy, as blind\nto the Light of Eternal Splendour, as needy to the Lord of Heaven and\nearth, as naked to the King of Glory, as lost sheep to the Good\nShepherd, as fallen creatures to their Creator, as desolate to the kind\nComforter, as miserable to the Pitier, as guilty to the Bestower of\npardon, as sinful to the Justifier, as hardened to the Infuser of\nGrace.\"\n\n\n\n\nVII.\n\nIMMORTALITY\n\nBy The Rev. Canon Cody, D.D., LL.D., Toronto.\n\n\nIF A MAN DIE SHALL HE LIVE AGAIN?\n\nThis question is as old as the race.  Men cannot let it alone.  It\nexercises a strange fascination.  One generation, immersed in pleasure\nor in business, may think that _this_ world is quite enough and may\npush the question aside: but the next generation will ask with\nincreased intensity: \"If a man die, shall he live again?\"  At one\nperiod of his life a man may care little for a question that carries\nhim beyond the horizon of the present; but by and by no question comes\nto him with more poignant urgency.\n\nThe question will not rest, because death will not let us alone.  As\nlong as death breaks into our family circles, the problem will recur.\nDeath came with his legions during the War and compelled a fresh answer\nto his challenge.  No one who can think or feel is able to look unmoved\non the face of death: he must ask \"Shall he live again?\"\n\nIt is passing strange that this should remain to any degree an open\nquestion.  Why have not men reached a decisive answer?  As a matter of\nfact, the history of nations and religions shows that man's tendency is\nto answer \"Yes, he will live again.\"  The natural inclination of man\neverywhere is to believe, not in his extinction, but in his survival.\n\nThe Christian doctrine of immortality implies vastly more than the mere\nsurvival of personality after death.  It involves a _quality_ rather\nthan a _quantity_ of life.  Let us first, however, gather the manifold\nrays of light from various quarters that illuminate a future life of\nany kind.  Some of them may be only candle lights; but their\ncombination will reveal a trend towards immortality.  It will appear\nthat it is less difficult to believe that a man will live again than to\nbelieve he will be extinguished by death.\n\n\nWHAT HISTORY SAYS.\n\nI.  A survey of human history discovers some candle lights on the\nproblem of survival.  These lights are certain well-established facts.\n\n1.--All peoples and tribes, in all ages and of all grades of\nintelligence have conceived a life beyond death.  Isolated exceptions\nare so rare that they may be accounted for by the loss, through\ndegeneration, of an instinctive idea.  This belief built the Pyramids\nof Egypt, reared the great Etruscan tombs, led men to embalm their\ndead, placed food and utensils within the tomb for use beyond,\nslaughtered the horses of the dead warrior and burned the widow on the\nhusband's pyre.  There is a deep-rooted and universal feeling that the\nspirit of man is distinct from, and superior to, the body, and survives\nthe body.  The universal fact of mortality has suggested the universal\nbelief in immortality.  This is all the more remarkable in face of the\nlack of immortality in nature.  Nature presents the aspect of an\nindefinite series of things succeeding one another.  It would seem that\nthe human mind is so constructed that it tends in the direction of\nbelief in the survival of personality.  This may be but a _candle_\nlight; yet it is a _light_.\n\n2.--This belief in immortality persists.  Various fancies and\nsuperstitions have been outgrown and cast aside in the progress of the\nages.  Many conceptions of the past have proved unworthy to survive.\nBut this belief has a stronger grip on the modern world than it ever\nhad in the past.  While advance in knowledge reveals an interdependence\nof soul and body, it accentuates their distinction.  To-day progress is\ninterpreted to mean the triumph of the spirit and is marked by an\nincreasing consciousness of the reality of the self which knows and\nwills and feels.  A belief which thus survives must surely have in it\nsomething of the vitality of truth.\n\n3.--This belief develops and waxes strong as life itself develops and\nclimbs higher.  The higher a man is in the scale of being, the wider\nhis thoughts, the deeper his affections, the nobler his life; the more\nlikely is he to believe that the soul lives on.  The more fleshly,\nselfish and materialistic is the life, the harder it is to be sure of\nimmortality.  Thousands may live in the slime, with the beasts, and may\nnot have a steadfast hope in a life beyond; but the great-minded and\ngreat-hearted men of the race are surest of life everlasting.  Tennyson\nonce said to Bishop Lightfoot: \"The cardinal point of Christianity is\nthe life after death.\"  Tennyson is supremely the poet of immortality.\nIt is his master thought; and herein he is typical of the greatest\nminds in human history.  This belief, universal and persistent, is most\nvigorous in the hearts of the supreme men of our civilization.\n\n4.--This belief, however vague may be the ideas in its context,\nexercises a real influence on life.  It energises men.  It nerves them\nto struggle and achieve.  It enlarges their view.  It inspires them for\nvaster enterprises.  It enables them to do hard things and to persevere\nto the end.\n\n\nWHAT PHILOSOPHY SAYS.\n\nII.  Philosophy lights more candles on the problem.  Philosophy goes\ndeeper than the statement of facts; it gives a theory of the facts; it\nseeks to find causes, relations and purposes.\n\n1.  The _thoughts_ of the normal man are long thoughts.  He has an\ninstinctive yearning for immortality.  If this instinct is absent, the\nman is not normal.  If this instinct is suppressed, the man's soul is\ninjured.  If he does not believe in immortality, he will believe in\nsomething far less credible.  It may be continued existence in the\ncomplex-life of humanity; it may be absorption of individual\npersonality in some Oversoul.  The issue is sorrow of heart, bitterness\nof soul, pessimism of creed, \"Pessimism is the column of black smoke\nproceeding from the heart in which the hope of immortality has been\nburned to ashes.\"  If a man remains normal, he believes in immortality.\nWhat is the inference?  Tennyson has drawn it.\n\n  \"Thou wilt not leave us in the dust,\n  Thou madest man, he knows not why;\n  He thinks he was not made to die;\n  And Thou hast made him, Thou are just.\"\n\n\nA just Creator will not place instinctive longings in His Creature's\nsoul, only to betray them.\n\n2.--The _affections_ of the soul are as true witnesses as the mind.\n\"The heart has reasons which the reason cannot understand.\"  It is\nimpossible for love at its purest and strongest to believe that death\nends all.  Love shrinks in pain from such a possibility.  It protests\nagainst such a violation of the fellowship of heart with heart.  The\nlonging for reunion is no vain desire, awakened only to be mocked.\n\nNot so can things be ordained in a world of order.  The poets are the\nprophets of the heart; and all the great poets teach immortality.\n\nThe heart, which God made, will not perpetually deceive us.  \"If it\nwere _not_ so, I would have told you.\"  The instinct is true.  The\nverdict of the spiritual seers of the race is favorable.\n\n3.--Man is constituted for an ampler and more glorious life than can\npossibly fall to his lot in this world.  Human powers are vast in\ncomparison with human opportunities.  Man is too great to be crowded\nwithin the narrow limits of seventy years.  \"So much to do, so little\ndone\" were among the last words of Cecil Rhodes.  To develop the latent\npowers we possess, we have no adequate opportunity here.  Deep in our\nsouls is the quenchless desire for a fuller expression of our powers.\nCould God build the human soul with all its capacities for the few\nyears of this fleeting life on earth?  Not if there is rationality at\nthe heart of the universe.\n\n4.--This world is an insoluble moral enigma, if there is no other world\nto explain it.  Inequalities, injustices, abominations abound.\nCircumstances and character are frequently at variance.  Right has\noften been on the scaffold; wrong on the throne.  The whole creation is\ngroaning and travailling in pain.  This world is intolerable, if there\nis no other.  There must be a world in which wrong will be righted and\njustice done.  Man's conscience whispers that the Judge of all the\nearth will do right; but how can He do right with all His creatures,\nunless He has more time?  R. L. Stevenson well puts the argument: \"We\nhad needs invent Heaven, if it had not been revealed; there are some\nthings that fall so bitterly ill on this side time.\"  Unless this world\nhas been created from sheer extravagance in the infliction of\npurposeless pain, there must be another to justify the present process\nof discipline, to heal the wounds of struggle, to comfort sorrow, to\ndevelop holiness.  Somewhere, sometime, character and condition must\ncorrespond.\n\n\nWHAT SCIENCE SAYS.\n\nIII.  Does Science throw any light on our problem?  There may not be\nany absolute scientific proof of a life beyond; but Science has no\ndemonstrative evidence against it.  At least it leaves the question\nopen.  Some go so far as to say that the results of modern scientific\nresearch, when fairly viewed, are favourable to the reception of the\nbelief in immortality.  A great modern physicist says: \"The death of\nthe body does not convey any assurance of the soul's death.  Every\nphysical analogy is against such a superficial notion in nature.  We\nnever see things beginning or coming to an end.  Change is what we see,\nnot origin or termination.  Death is a change, indeed; a sort of\nemigration, a wrenching away from the old familiar scenes, a solemn,\nportentous fact.  But it is not annihilation.\"\n\nDangers have seemed to threaten the doctrine of personal immortality\nfrom the standpoint of the physiologist and the evolutionist; but these\ndangers have not proved fatal.  The physiologist has demonstrated the\nclose connection between the brain and the soul.  It was an easy,\nthough improper, conclusion to assert that \"the brain secretes thought\nas the liver secretes bile.\"  But the psychologist speedily pointed out\nthat the physiologist had gone beyond his province.  He had proved only\nthat thought is a function of the brain.  Functions may be productive\nor transmissive.  Light as a function of the electric circuit\nrepresents a _productive_ function; music as a function of the organ\nillustrates a _transmissive_ function.  The music is not _in_ the organ\nbut in the organist.  The organ transmits it.  So, the brain is but the\norgan of the soul.\n\nThe evolutionist has made men think in immensities and has given prime\nimportance to the idea of development.  But a creature like man who is\nalleged to be the product of ages of development is surely not going to\nbe extinguished at the tomb.  Darwin himself wrote: \"It is an\nintolerable thought that men and all other sentient beings are doomed\nto complete annihilation after such long-continued slow progress.\"\n\nWhat candles, then, does Science light up for us?\n\n1.--The conservation of energy and the indestructibility of matter\nimply that the natural forces of the world are not annihilated, however\nmuch they may be transformed.  May we not hope that the peculiar form\nof force known as personality, the highest force in the world, will not\nbe destroyed by the experience of death?\n\n2.--Unfit organisms perish; fit survive.  Many beliefs which once\nformed part of the spiritual life of man have perished in the lapse of\ntime, but no belief has shown greater vitality and power to resist the\ndisintegrating influences of changing environment than belief in the\nsoul's immortality.\n\nIf this belief has survived when quickened by the most awful imaginable\nstrain of the Great War may we not conclude that it is one of those\nbeliefs fit to live, one of those beliefs which the Creator desires to\nlive and grow?\n\n3.--Whenever we find a faculty, we discover in environment something to\nwhich this faculty corresponds.  Progress is possible only by the\nconstant adaptation of faculty to environment.  This is true of the\nanimal world.  Is it not also true of man?  In man are found faculties\npeculiar to himself.  There is a longing for immortality, an expanding\nconviction of it.  Does this internal condition correspond to reality?\nYes, else delusion falls on man alone.  For, as a distinguished\nscientist (Sir J. Burdon Sanderson) has said, \"there is no known\ninstance of the development of a capacity without the existence of a\ncorresponding satisfaction.\"\n\n4.--If there is one increasing purpose through the ages, if there is\ndevelopment from lower to higher, from simple to complex, it is\nimpossible to bound our vision with the grave.  If personality has been\nattained, it is incredible that the gain of painful ages will be thrown\naway.  \"_Now_ are we the Sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what\nwe shall be.\"  The \"forward-looking\" habit has not been acquired for\nnaught.\n\nSo far is Science from giving demonstrative evidence against\nimmortality that it actually presents some considerations in its\nfavour.  The reasonableness and the beneficence of creation protest\nagainst the extinction of men by death.\n\n\nWHAT CHRIST SAYS.\n\nThe candle-lights of history, philosophy and science cast a cumulative\nradiance upon the problem of life after death.  They show that it is\nharder not to believe than to believe in immortality.  But we need the\nlight of the Sun.  We need the demonstration of the power of an endless\nlife.  This we have in the Risen Christ.  Christ brought into perfect\nlight those truths about God and man, of which mankind had dim\nintuitions.  By His Resurrection Christ abolished death (i.e., deprived\nit of force and power) and brought life and immortality to light (i.e.,\ngives certainty, richness and power to the hope of immortal life).\n\n1.--Christ has given _certainty_ to the instinctive longing for\nimmortality.  For the shadow, He has given substance; for dimness,\nlight; for hope, assurance.  Although this hope has been virtually\nuniversal and inextinguishable, yet apart from Christ it has never\nbecome a certainty.  Though historian, philosopher, poet, lover and\nsaint have their own special arguments for the Hereafter, it is Christ\nHimself Who is the sure Light both of this world and of that which is\nto come.  He has turned this hope into a full and glorious assurance.\n\n\nHOW HAS HE DONE THIS?\n\n(_a_) _By His teaching_.--Two things about mankind Christ took for\ngranted--sinfulness and immortality.  He did not argue about this life\nbeyond; He took it for granted.  No part of His teaching is explicable\non the supposition that all ends at the tomb.  His basis for our\nimmortality is not our instinct but the character of God.  On the bosom\nof God's Fatherhood rests man's immortality.  If God is our Father and\nloves us as His children, then we are His and He is ours _forever_.\nDeath cannot break this tie of life and love which binds us to Him; it\ncannot rob Him of His child.  That God cannot be the God of the dead,\nbut of the living, is axiomatic.  His personal relations are real and\nare eternal.\n\n\nThe Christian faith is sufficient to give us certainty and comfort\nconcerning our departed.  We are assured that the blessed dead are in\nHis safe keeping and through Him we are one with them in a union which\nwill one day be consummated in everlasting reunion and communion.  Our\nChristian watchwords are enough--\"love in absence, trust in silence,\nfaith in reunion.\"\n\n\n(_b_) _By His Life_.--To the eye that can see, His life is the supreme\nargument for immortality.  He lived such a life of fellowship with God\nand so near to the frontier of eternity that the glory of it shone upon\nand from His face.  The longing for a life higher than the life of time\nis answered in His life.  Such a life could not be holden by death.  It\nis eternal.  It has the quality now and always of everlastingness.\n\n(_c_) _By His Resurrection_.--He confirmed the truth of what He taught,\nand lived, by what He did.  He rose again, transformed, not merely\nresuscitated.  He irradiated the spiritual land.  It is no longer \"an\nundiscovered country from whose bourne no traveller returns.\"  The\nempty tomb, the cumulative evidence of independent witnesses, the\ntransformation in the lives of believers, the institutions of the\nChristian Church, its continued existence, the personal experience of\nthe power of a rising life in individual Christians throughout the ages\nto the present time--are the attestations of the truth of the\nResurrection.  The Christian Church is built and still rests on the\nfact, luminous and sovereign, that Christ rose from the grave in\nfulness and newness of power.  To the life beyond, Christ's\nresurrection gives reality and humanity and assurance.  It confirmed\nmen's subjective aspirations, it changed them into \"things most surely\nbelieved.\"  It makes every Christian certain of a higher life beyond\nthe grave.\n\n2.  Christ has _enriched_ the whole conception of immortality.  In the\nancient, as in the savage world to-day, immortality or the continued\nduration of life, was a dreary prospect, a sense of desolation rather\nthan a source of joy, an impoverishment of life, not an enrichment of\nit; its scene was a shadowy realm of silence, where there is no voice\nof praise nor human warmth and cheer.  In some passages in the Old\nTestament we find a loftier and clearer utterance.  Through his faith\nin God, Job reached the idea that death may not be the final word.  The\nrighteous God would not abandon a righteous man.  In revealed religion\nthis faith in a life beyond the grave rested not on any conceptions of\nman's nature, but on the character of God, the Eternal Righteousness.\nIf he has called men into fellowship with Him, His faith is pledged to\nthem.  The Psalmists won their sense of eternal security through their\npresent fellowship with God.  Along this line of religious experience\nof a living, holy and gracious God, the true hope of immortality\nentered the world.  Just as union with God guaranteed to the Psalmist a\nlife that would never end, so union with the Risen Saviour guarantees\nto the Christian triumph over death.  Christ has filled this elementary\nthought of continued existence with moral content, because He has based\nit on a true conception of God.  The Christian hope is not merely\n\"immortality of the soul\" but eternal life; and eternal life is not\nmerely an infinite prolongation of existence in a future state of\nbeing; but is life at its highest and best, the life of fellowship, of\nvision, of growing likeness to God, of ample service.  It is life in\nChrist.  It is being with Christ, which is very far better than earthly\nlife at its worthiest.  It is not the mere translation, but the\ntransformation of earthly values.  This faith in immortality is moral\nand spiritual; it implies enriched and elevated being, as worthy and\nglorious as it is endless.\n\n3.--Christ has so increased the _power_ of immortality, of the\nChristian Hope, as almost to make it for the first time effective as a\nsource of courage, hope and consolation.  He has turned the hope of\nimmortality into the Power of His Resurrection.  All hopes exercise\nsome influence on those who hold them; yet apart from Christ the hope\nof immortality has been less effective than we might expect.  By His\nResurrection Christ has raised this yearning hope into a mighty present\npower brought to bear on humanity.  The Christian hope of immortality,\ncertain and rich in the possession of abundant life, gives breadth and\noutlook to all human efforts.  It inspires duty.  Brought to bear on\nour work, it makes effort worth while.  If all we have striven to do\nand yet failed to do is to be perfected in the eternal morning, we can\nface our tasks with fresh courage.  All social reconstructions that\ndeny or neglect the Christian thought of an endless life fail here.\nTheir scope is too limited; their outlook too narrow.  The Christian\nhope brings the power of endurance and victory to sorrowing hearts.\nDeath is not a leap in the dark, but the passing into a larger,\nbrighter room in the House of the One Father.  In short, when this hope\nof immortality is tested by life, it is verified by the loftiness of\nthe character it builds.\n\nThe rising life is the present demonstration of the risen life.  All\nlow, worldly, unspiritual living tends to doubt in it.  If we would\nescape from doubt about the future, let us through the Living Christ\nmake life larger now.  If we would overcome weakening uncertainty, let\nus daily practice immortality.  If we set our affections on things\nabove, our rising life will assure us that we shall live forever.  One\nof Gladstone's great exhortations was: \"Be inspired with the belief\nthat life is a great and noble calling; not a mean and grovelling\nthing, that we are to shuffle through as we can, but an elevated and\nlofty destiny.\"  This belief is created and can be maintained only by\nviewing life in relation to God and immortality.\n\nEvery man should therefore put the question to himself: \"If _I_ die,\nshall I live again?\"  \"What kind of life am I living now?  Is it life\neternal, or life merely temporal?  Is it a friendship with God which\ndeath can never extinguish?\"  Only One Life has ever won open victory\nover death.  Only one kind of life ever can win it--that kind of life\nwhich was in Christ, which _is_ in Christ, which He shares with all\nwhom faith makes one with Him.\n\n\"In the midst of life we are in death\" such is the cry of bereaved and\ndying humanity.  But in Christ we are able to say: \"in the midst of\ndeath, we are in life.\"  \"God has given us eternal life, and that life\nis in His Son.\"  Can death touch that life?  Never.\n\n\n\n\nT. H. BEST PRINTING CO. LIMITED, TORONTO\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE LAYMAN'S LIBRARY OF PRACTICAL RELIGION\n\n\n_Future Volumes_\n\nVolume II.  Lent 1923.  God.\n\n   I.  The God Shown us by Jesus Christ.  By the Rt. Rev. J.\n       C. Farthing, D.D., D.C.L., Bishop of Montreal.\n\n  II.  God and You.  By the Rt. Rev. J. A. Richardson, D.D.,\n       D. C. L., Bishop of Fredericton.\n\n III.  God and Evolution.  By the Very Rev. J. P. D. Llwyd,\n       D.D., D.C.L., Dean of Nova Scotia.\n\n  IV.  God in the Old Testament.  By Prof. F. H. Cosgrave, B.D.,\n       Trinity College, Toronto,\n\n   V.  The Holy Trinity.  By the Rev. Dr. W. W. Craig,\n       Vancouver.\n\n  VI.  The Holy Spirit.  By Rev. Prof. E. A. McIntyre, Wycliffe\n       College, Toronto.\n\n VII.  God in Regard to Pain and Affliction.  By Rev. E. F.\n       Salmon, Ottawa.\n\n\nVolume III.  Advent 1923.  Jesus Christ.\n\n   I.  The Messiah.  By Rev. H. R. Stevenson, M.A., Montreal.\n\n  II.  Jesus Christ as the World's Moral Miracle.  By the Rt.\n       Rev. David Williams, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of Huron.\n\n III.  Jesus Christ compared with other Masters, Buddha, etc.\n       By Rev. Dr. R. C. Johnstone, Winnipeg.\n\n  IV.  Jesus Christ the Son of God.  By Rev. Dr. Dyson Hague,\n       Toronto.\n\n   V.  Jesus Christ the Saviour of the World.  By Rev. F. H.\n       Brewin, M.A., Toronto.\n\n  VI.  Jesus Christ and You--His practical methods for you to\n       live by.  By the Ven. Archdeacon McElheran, M.A.,\n       Winnipeg.\n\n VII.  The Virgin Birth.  By the Rt. Rev. J. C. Roper, LL.D.,\n       D.D., Ottawa.\n\n\nVolume IV.  Lent 1924.  The Bible.\n\n   I.  How the Old Testament was written.  By the Ven.\n       Archdeacon Paterson-Smyth, D.D., D.Litt., Montreal.\n\n  II.  How the New Testament was written.  By the Ven.\n       Archdeacon Paterson-Smyth, D.D., D.Litt., Montreal.\n\n III.  How the Bible came down to us.  By the Ven. Archdeacon\n       Paterson-Smyth, D.D., D.Litt., Montreal.\n\n  IV.  The Miracles of the New Testament.  By the Rt. Rev. E. J.\n       Bidwell, D.D., D.C.L., Bishop of Ontario.\n\n   V.  The Messages of the Four Gospels.  By Rev. H. H.\n       Bedford-Jones, M.A.\n\n  VI.  The Messages of the Acts, Epistles, and Apocalypse.\n\n VII.  Two methods of reading the Bible, the daily and the\n       weekly.  By the Rt. Rev. J. F. Sweeney, D.D., D.C.L.,\n       Bishop of Toronto.\n\n\nOther volumes will follow on such subjects as Prayer, Holy Communion,\nThe Prayer Book, Baptism and Confirmation, Missions, etc.","title":"Some Essentials of Religion","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":26191}