CONFESSION OF FAITH.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 December 1922, Page 5

CONFESSION OF FAITH.

WHAT A MAN BELIEVES. SERMON BY BISHOP AVERILL. The confession of, and witness to, a true faith was the tenor of the sermon preached at St. Mary’s, New Plymouth, last night, by the Bishop of Auckland (Bishop Averill)- Taking Christ’s question to his disciples, as quoted in 17 St. Matthew, 13 and following verses, “Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? Whom do ye say that I am?” the Bishop said that this was the question which was still addressed to the individual. The best asset which the Church desired was a Christ-Like attitude on the part of its worshippers. The Church, with its services, was not an end in itself, but a means to an end, and that end was the exalting of Jesus Christ in every avenue of life. With Advent the Church commenced another ecclesiastical year, and the message of the season was, “What think you of Christ?” They were sometimes told that it did not matter what a man believed, but, apparently, it mattered very much to Christ, as he asked, “Whom did men think He was?” They knew perfectly well that witnesses must know, and to the Church in all ages had been committed the great trust of witnessing to the truth.

What was the method of Christ in making Himself known to his future witnesses? asked the Bishop. Christ did not start with a clear, dogmatic statement. He wanted men to think for themselves, and that was what the Church wanted men to do to-day. The reasons why Christ wanted men to think were obvious. The Jews would have rejected Him as a rival God to the God of their fathers, while the heathen would have accepted him as an addition to their collection of gods, had Christ simply proclaimed Himself as a god. The method of Christ was to gather the people around him, preach to them, and leave them to form their own conclusions. “There were four outstanding features in His incarnate life,” Bishop Averill continued, “which must have helped the disciples to answer Christ’s question. First of all, there was the tremendous nature of the claims which He made for Himself. ‘I and the Father are One,’ said Christ, ‘and he who has seen Me has seen the Father.’ Those words would have been blasphemous from the lips of a man. Then there was His claim of sinlessness, and H’s wonderful insight into the possibilities of human nature. The fourth outstanding feature was His wonderful reserve in the use of His supernatural power- If Christ had been merely a magic-worker, he would not have used His power on every occasion. If !he New Testament had been a forgery, would not the writers have stressed to the uttermost this power ? It, would have been human nature to do so, but if we give all these characteristics to> Christ, we must, come to the conclusion that no human frame could fill the portrait so brought up. From the day when the disciples were called on to bear witness, other witnesses have never failed or loitered.

In every age the Church had been called on' to boar witness, the Bishop proceeded, but it had not been called on to go through the process of reasoning of the Apostles. It had a creed, Which was a fence round the common heritage of their life, their faith, and the Bishop illustrated this 'by saying that in the early days in England there vvere common lands for the benefit of the people. These lands were unfenced, but, gradually, individuals began to encroach on them, and it was found necessary to fence in the areas in order to protect the rights of the people. It was the same with the creed, and, within its boundaries, there was room for reverent thought and divergent opinions. Quoting hfe text agai'in, Bishop Averill said this was the question which the church put to-day, and on the right answer depended the welfare of the only one power that could save them, and that was Jesus and God. Jeeus said: “On this rock will I build my church.” The rock was His deity. It was quite obvious that apart from the deity of Christ, there could be no church. If the church failed as witnesses of Christ, the world could only drift into hopeless chaos, because there was no other power which could save