Christ's Work in the Soul [pp. 175-176]

THE LADIES' REPOSITORr.
entertained, discussed, partially adopted, and
partially set aside. Those who deal thus with
him are understood to have broken with Chris tianity, at least as a practical religion. For a
Christian, the words of Christ are, one and all,
an absolute rule of truth. All that Christ has
authorized is simply accepted with the whole
energy of the Christian reason. Christ's thought
is reflected, it is reproduced in the thought of
the true Christian.
Christ's dictatorship in the sphere of specu lative truth is thankfully acknowledged by the
Christian's voluntary and unreserved submis sion to the slightest known intimations of his
Master's judgment. High above the din of
human voices the tremendous self-assertion of
Jesus Christ echoes on from age to age-" I am
the truth." And from age to age the Christian
responds by a life-long endeavor "to bring
every thought into captivity unto the obedience
of Christ."
But he is Lord also of the Christian's affec tions. Beauty it is which provokes love, and
Christ is the highest moral beauty. He does
not merely rank as a teacher of the purest
morality, he is absolute virtue itself. As such,
he claims to reign over the inmost affections of
man, and he secures the first place in the heart
of every true Christian. To have taken the
measure of his beauty and yet not to love him
is, in a Christian's judgment, to be self-condemned. "If any man love not the Lord Jesus
Christ, let him be anathema maranatha." As
ruling the affections of the Christian, he is also
king of the sovereign faculty in the Christianized soul-he is master of the Christian will.
He has tamed its native stubbornness, and now
teaches it, day by day, a more pliant accuracy
of movement in obedience to himself. Nay, he
is not merely its rule, but its very motive power.
Each act of devotion and self-sacrifice of which
it is capable is but an extension of the energy
of Christ's own moral life. "Without me," he
says to his servants, "ye can do nothing," and
with St. Paul, his servants reply, "I can do
all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me."
This may be expressed in other terms by
saying that, both intellectually and morally,
Christ is Christianity. Christianity is not related to our Lord as a philosophy might be to
a philosopher; that is, as a moral or intellectual system thrown off from his mind, resting thenceforward on its own merits, and implying no necessary attitude toward its author on
the part of those who receive it beyond a cer
tain sympathy with what was at one time a
portion of his thought. A philosophy may
thus be abstracted altogether from the person
of its originator with entire impunity. Platon.c
thought would not have been damaged if Plato
had been annihilated. The utmost stretch of
personal allegiance on the part of the disciple
of a philosophy to its founder consists, ordi narily speaking, in a sentiment of devotion "to
his memory." But detach Christianity from
Christ, and it vanishes before your eyes into
intellectual vapor. For it is of the essence of
Christianity that, day by day, hour by hour, the
Christian should live in conscious, felt, sustained relationship to the ever-living Author of
his creed and of his life.
Christianity is non-existent apart from Christ;
it centers in Christ; it radiates now, as at the
first, from Christ. It is not a mere doctrine,
bequeathed by him to a world with which he
has ceased to have dealings; it perishes outright when men attempt to abstract it from the
living person of its founder. He is felt by his
people to be their living Lord, really present
with them now, and even to the end of the
world. Christ is the quickening spirit of Christian humanity. He lives in Christians; he
thinks in Christians; he is indissolubly associated with every movement of the Christian's life.
"I live," says the apostle, "yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me."
This felt presence of Christ it is which gives
both its form and its force to the sincere Chris,
tian life. That life is a loyal homage of the
intellect, of the heart, and of the will to a
Divine King, with whom will, heart, and intellect are in close and constant communion, and
from whom there flows forth through the Spirit,
the Word, and the sacraments, that supply of
light, of love, and of resolve which enriches
and ennobles the Christian soul.
IN the intercourse of social life, it is by little
acts of watchful kindness recurring daily and
hourly-and opportunities of doing kindnesses
are forever starting up-it is by words, by tones,
by gestures, by looks, that affection is won and
preserved. He who neglects these trifles, yet
boasts that, whenever a great sacrifice is called
for, he shall be ready to make it, will rarely be
loved. The likelihood is, he will not make it;
and if he does, it will be much rather for his
own sake than for his neighbor's. Many persons, indeed, are said to be penny-wise and
pound-foolish! but they who are penny-foolish
will hardly be pound-wise, although selfish vanity may now and then for a moment get the
better of selfish indolence, for Wisdom will always have a microscope in her hand.
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