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APPLIED CHRISTIANITY
"Christianity, if it would be true to the
spirit of Jesus, is concerned not se much
with believing as: wltith doing," said Rev.
A. R. lIoVittie preaching in St.'Philip's
1'resbytnrian Cahurch, Watt-strect, Now.
castle, yesterday. '
"While 1 ama not prepared to accept
that statement is a completely true state*
nent, andt while I am not .prepared to
agree. that, in comparison with doing,
belief is niamportant and incidental, the
fIet is that it is only when belief it
reflected in action and mirrored in prac
tice that it has any real meaning and
oalue in the Christian sense. There can
h no such thing as being good without
doing good, anid it is by the nature and
he' measure of our doing that uwe mast he
prepared to be judged, Thi'is the test
by which the' world jdges us, for the
comasn esomplaint is tdit those who pro
fese Christ falo to do His will,
"If Christianilty, therefore; means' any'
thing at all, it means being like Christ,
and acting an Christ would have us act.
We must ever remember that it is by tas
as professing followers of tihe Nazarene,
asd by. our actions, that He is jhldged.
The reviolt is not against Chrilstialty,
but against that pseudo type which acts
in anything but a Christ-lko way. WVe
wIlI fail utterly to convinee people of tine
supremancy of'Jesus and His gospel if in
ur dealings with them we are not inspired
y the highest motives, and fail to rise
supreme above tle baser motives of greed,
Iset snd selfInterest, People ale not
disappolnted in Jesus, but too often in
thoseo who pretend to believe in His
teaching, but who fail to practiso' His
tenchings. It is not Jesus Who Ias
faled, but we, through whom His will
should be done on earth. Tihe social sys.
tem in which one starves, whilie asothier
wallows in abundance, is indefensible from
a Christiasn viewpoint. A world in which
international liatreds, greed and bitterness
reigin aipremo is unchristian, for there is
to nlace for such in tile code of Christina
ethlcs. Christianity means, if it means
anytling at all, acting like nChrist, and
if mene were to do unsto others as they
svould that they wolld do unto them,
vhnat,a,difference there would be in souinl
and world conditlaons
?OCIristlhn!ty tnless applied, is a doe.
trinairo philosophy. and nothing more.
Chriistanity s a life, and expands in its
iulnes'only as we live it out among dur
Sallow-men, 'I am come,' says Jesus, 'that
they might have life asd that they might
have it' mbro abundantly.' So the measure
of .Christian nfluenoce in the world is
according to the degree in which that in.
fluenco is expressed in and through the
lives 'of Christlan people, As the flower
ieflects thlo beauty of God, and by its
perfume sweetens the world around, so
should our lives reveal the moral pgraindaur
f Jesustle, and our influence sweeten the
ospphere tn which we live, A purely
Istom'il Chrlstianity, though of interest,
Is of no practical moral value to the
world of todayd but a living Christianity,
opcrating ini and through the lives of men,
in the only power which will draw men
together in a Forld.wtfde fellowslhip of
common pupose annd brotherly uinderstand
ing,'t .r.r, ln.Vlttle conlsdmdd,
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