WHAT CHRISTIANITY IS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1855, 15 September 1913, Page 2

WHAT CHRISTIANITY IS.

♦ ADDRESS BY BISHOP SPROTT. A large audience assembled in tho Gymnasium Hall at Victoria College on Saturday night to hear an address by tho Anglican Bishop of Wellington (Dr. Sprott) on "What Christianity Is." Tho gathering was under the auspices of the Studonts 1 Christian Union. The question was handled in a very able and interesting way, and the address was followed with tlio closest attentbin. Tho Bishop started by defining religion as belief in tho existence of a' being or beings outside ourselves, with whom we can have relationships. Tho idea probably had its origin in tho recognition by primitive man of the fact that ho did not make himself. - But only a small part of the life of humanity— about 5000 out of possibly millions of years—has been recorded in history, and religions come into tho sphere of history ready made. Some people have argued that because all religions had a ■common origin therefore all are of equal value; but that is not so. It would bo as reasonable to contend that because all life had a common origin a man i 3 no better than a sheep; whereas, it is genorally admitted that man is a more adequate realisation of the principle of life. After pointing out that .Christianity was a historical and ethical religion, the Bishop etktccl that in the Old Testament God is regarded as an ethical being, aiid righteousness is His chief characteristic; but in tho New Testament love becomes His principal attribute. Tho whole moral code is in lovo, which might bo defined as the impulse to impart self and all good to other beings. If lovo is tho source of morality, then' God as a normal being must desire to impart Himself to man. Tho Bishop next dealt with Christianity as a, universal (or missionary) religfon, and expressed the opinion that it must bo more acceptable to an ergetic and buoyant race than Buddhism, and that it surpasses Mohammedanism in its appeal t opsonic of high culture. It is more capable than its rivals of adapta- . tion to varying conditions, of meeting human needs, and of satisfying the permanent religious instincts of mankind. It 'is monotheistic—believing in one God —but by its doctrino of the Trinity, it enriches and makes moro manifold the idea of God. In Christ men felt themselves in contact with the divine, and they also came to realise tlio presenco of the 'indwelling Spirit, thuß reaching the threefold idea of God as tho Father reivealing Himself in Christ, and in tlio indwelling Spirit. Christianity is also a religion of salvation. Buddhism taught that salvation is mainly from physical evil, but in Christianity the salvation aimed at is from physical, moral, and spiritual evil, and finds its fullest expression in person, life, and work of Christ.