ASPECTS OF CHRIST

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 455, 10 September 1928, Page 14

ASPECTS OF CHRIST

ADDRESS BY DR. F. W. BURNHAM A large congregation gathered at the Church of Christ, Trafalgar Street, Onehunga, to hear the powerful and inspiring address delivered by Dr. F. W. Burnham, of the United States of America, who is passing through Auckland on his way to the Federal Conference of Churches of Christ of Australia, which has been convened at Adelaide. The doctor took as his theme, “What would Jesus have men think about Him?” The preacher said it was not what the theologians thought of Jesus, nor what the ordinary man thought, that was important, but what the Christ Himself, as recorded in His own words, would have men think of Him. He would have us think of Him as a man in the first place, living the same life as we do, and depending upon the same sources for power as we depend upon. The humanity of Jesus was often forgotten in these days, yet the Master referred to Himself time and again as “the Son of Man”—a man among men. “There is too great a tendency today,” the doctor continued, “to set Jesus up as a figurehead and worship Him, instead of taking His life as a pattern and fashioning ours like His. He would have us think of Him as The Way; the way a man should live, and He came, as a man, to show the world how to live. And just as He suffered our temptations and overcame them, so may we.” Then Jesus would have us think of Him as divine, and as the revelation of Cod the speaker continued. His disciples’ request was, “ Shew us the Father,” and His answer had been “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” He would also like to be known as the Redeemer of men; as the one who reconciled men back to God and as the Saviour of His people. In conclusion, the speaker said that Christ was the resurrection and the life. Philosophers of old peoples of pre-Christian ages had only a faint hope of a life beyond the grave, and Christ was the only figure right down the ages who could stand in the very presence of the dead, and say, “I am the resurrection and the life.” BAPTIST WORLD ALLIANCE During the week the Baptists of Auckland entertained the most noted Baptist Church historian of the day, Dr. W. T. Whitley, M.A., LL.M., LL.D., at the Tabernacle. Dr. Whitley described the operations of the Baptist World Alliance of which he is a prominent member. Twentylive years ago, he said, the Baptists of the world did not know one another well. Although the alliance was projected in 1790, it was not till 1905 that it became a reality. It had brought together the Baptist workers of the world in a wonderful way and the conservatism and comparative isolation was at an end. At the recent congress at Toronto, organised by the alliance, there were 55 nations represented by the Baptist delegates from those nations, while they had records of Baptist work in 98 countries. Dr. Whitley also dealt with the cry of Baptist Unions in several European countries for Baptist colleges and for sanely educated men. Dr. Whitley is the guest of the Baptist College at Remuera, where he is delivering a brief course of lectures.