should; but that He is long-suffering and gracious, and will find a way to bring us home from our wanderings at last, all the lambs, all the sheep, all the goats. Faith in God, in His Christ, in His Holy Spirit, in His holy truth, in our human mind; faith in the good time coming when shibboleth and sibboleth will no longer be the watchwords or war cries within the Christian fold, but the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit will clasp in all sects of all the churches and all the outsiders, and make us all one, and so usher in God's kingdom on the earth as it is in heaven. The Holy One stood at the open door And His face was fair to see, When one came up the shining way And moaned in his misery. 'Twas the soul of Judas Iscariot Stood black and sad and bare, And cried: "I have wandered long and far, The darkness is everywhere." And there were those who stood within, Within the blessed light, Who cried: "Scourge thou the traitor soul, Away into the night." The Holy One stood at the open door And waved to the man below; The third time that He waved His hand The air was thick with snow, And from every flake of the falling snow, Before it touched the ground, There came a dove, and all the doves Made a sweet and gentle sound. The Holy One stood at the open door And beckoned, smiling sweet; 'Twas the soul of Judas Iscariot Stole in and fell at His feet. And the Holy Supper was spread within, Where many candles shine, But the Holy One beckoned for Judas to come L The Sacerdotal Conception of BY The Reverend P. H. HICKMAN, B.Sc. ET us see, first of all, what we mean by Christianity. "Christianity is faith in a certain person, Jesus Christ, and by faith in Him is meant such unreserved self-committal as is only possible, because faith in Jesus is understood to be faith in God, and union with Jesus union with God. 'We know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." " "True Christianity is thus a personal relationship—the conscious, deliberate adhesion of men who know their weakness, their sin, their fallibility, to a redeemer whom they know to be supreme, sinless, infallible." So it "is the simple verdict of Christian history, that the characteristic fruitfulness of our religion-its fruitfulness in the temper and spirit of sonship-varies with the extent to which Jesus, the historical person, the ever-living person, is recognized as the object of our devotion, and the lord of our life. This is equally true of personal religion and official ministry, for it is converse with the perfect personality of Jesus, which gives the pastor his power to deal with the various personalities of his flock, and the preacher his power to move the wills and consciences of his hearers. It is devotion to Jesus which has been the source of the enduring forms of Christian heroism. It is the same reality of personal relationship which touches the Christian's private life with the brightness of sonship. To me,' says Paul the prisoner, summarizing his religion, 'to live is Christ and to die is gain,' for that too is 'to depart and to be with Christ,' which is very far better.' Eighty and six years,' says the aged Polycarp, again summarizing his religion in response to the demand that he should revile the Christ, ' eighty and six years have I been His servant, and He never did me an injury; how then can I blaspheme my king who is my Saviour?'" (Chas. Gore, M. A., The Incarnation of the Son of God, New York, 1891, pp. 1, 2, 6, 7.) The fact of the Incarnation, that the Son of God, "the Word, became flesh and dwelt among us," is thus the central fact of Christianity. And the principle and method of the Incarnation, that through the creature, through matter, through "flesh," the invisible God revealed Himself, becomes the governing principle and method of Christianity. The taking of a human body by the Son of God as a means of revelation of God and of the redemption of the world, establishes all the means appointed by Him as essential, not only upon the ground of His authority, but also upon the ground of His method. He "builds His Church," He ordains its unity, He trains and commissions a ministry, He establishes a mode of entrance to His Church," He provides a method for the nourishment of its members, and for the repair of their failures." By all these means, He unites His disciples to Himself and provides for their growth into a likeness to Him. So the first of the great African Fathers, and the first Christian writer in the language of the West, Tertullian of Carthage (writing between 190 and 220 A. D.) paraphrases the institutions of our Lord: "And since the soul is, in consequence of its salvation, chosen to the service of God, it is the flesh which actually renders it capable of such service. The flesh, indeed, is washed in order that the soul may be cleansed; the flesh is anointed, that the soul may be consecrated; the flesh is signed 'St. John 1:14. (All quotations are made from the Revised Version) 'St. Matthew 16:18. 'St. John 17:21. |