the logic of events foreshadows a speedy collapse of religion.

Already, from certain quarters, comes the expressed hope that ere long an ethical religion shall take the place of the spiritual, that the supernatural shall be entirely eliminated from religion, that the church shall give place to the school and the lecture platform and that a new law of living shall bind together the race in one common brotherhood, socialism in some refined and intelligent form, succeeding Christianity. The tendency of the age is undoubtedly in this direction, and progress, in these days, is at such a rapid pace, that it would require no more than a generation to bring the world to as godless a condition as it was in the days of Noah. A refined and ethical godlessness, it is true, but. state none the less godless for all that.

Can the Church of Christ cope with these conditions? This is the question of paramount importance. We are not ready to admit that the gospel is inadequate. Every student of history, whether Christian or not, must know that when the great pillars of Evangelical Christianity are removed from our civilization, the magnificent superstructure will crumble, and woe to the Samson who shall accomplish its ruin. We need no new gospel to meet the conditions to which we have alluded. What we do need, is that

some common ground of catholicity be discovered, to the intent that the church universal may enter the new century, presenting to the world. an unbroken front. Much has already been accomplished, looking to this end, in the way of interdenominational comity, but let us not stop there. Surely there must be some middle ground in the realm of doctrine, upon which we may all stand, regardless of creed; if so, let us find it. Such a ground of agreement, we aver Christ to be. If catholicity is not possible here, then it is not possible anywhere.

Christ is the central figure of Christianity. Anti-advent Christianity converges at the cross; post-advent Christianity diverges from the cross. Christ is its source, its hope, its example and its exceeding great reward. He is at once, its foundation and its crowning glory. True Christianity is, therefore, the true Christ. Either this is true, or it is not Christianity. Herein lies the distinctiveness of Christianity in that it centres in the person of a crucified and risen Saviour.

The fidelity of these statements will appear in revelation and experience. Enter the portal of Scripture, the gate of prayer, or the door of the soul, and Christ stands forth as a central figure of all pure religion. It matters not by what gate we enter the Bible, if we follow the highway, it will lead to the Christ. The pillar of fire, the

cloud of smoke, the brazen serpent, the lamb without blemish, or the manna, will conduct to the Messiah, as faithfully as the star of Bethlehem. It matters not what ceremony or observance we regard, it is an unerring fingerboard that points to the Christ. The Bible is one great quartet. The Gospels and Epistles are the soprano and alto; the Law and the Prophets are the tenor and bass; Revelation is the accompanist and the song is, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing The subject of revelation is Christ. In the Old Testament He is promised and in the New Testament, He has come. Thus Christ is enfolded in the Old Testament and unfolded in the New Testament. In like measure, Christ is the centre of true Christian experience, else what interpretation shall be made of the parable of the vine and the branches. "I am the vine, ye are the branches." Christian experience is a life, "hid

with God in Christ.""

"1

Not only so, but history, profane and sacred, bears witness to the fact of Christ's centrality. Account for the reformation, the rise and fall of nations, or the regeneration of the individual on any other ground than that Christ is the centre of all upward activity. When Socrates with

1 Rev. 5: 12.

2 John 15: 5.

3 Col. 3: 13.

his ethical philosophy, and Plato, with his sublime thought of God as the absolute truth, and Marcus Aurelius, the purest pagan the world ever saw, with his sweet and idealistic dream of perfection, failed to halt the onrushing tide of persecution and wickedness; in His own good time, God sent the Christ to quiet the tempest with a "Peace be still."

Society's regeneration has always hinged upon regenerated individuals and individuals have never been regenerated save by receiving the Christ. Let us hear one single testimony of history. In speaking of the genesis of a free republic, Burke remarks, "To make a government is one of the easiest things; it is only for one to command and the others to obey. To give freedom is likewise easy. It is only to relax control and let men do as they will. But to make a free government is the most difficult achievement of human nature. This can only be effected by the great mass of men who have learned habitual selfcontrol through the regenerative forces of Christianity." Which is as much as to say that Christ is the only hope for the ascent of man. "Take Christ out of modern history, and it is meaningless; out of art, and it has lost its theme; out of human life, and it is a thing of shreds and patches."1

1 President W. H. P. Faunce, Homiletic Review, Sep. 1900, page 24.

Futhermore, recent literature bears unmistakable witness to the same fact. Almost univer

sally, modern writers have accepted the Christocentric theory. The idea furnishes the very foundation of a large number of the late books in the realm of philosophy, theology and fiction. On all sides we are hearing the cry, "Back to Christ." Perhaps as never in the history of thought, men are devoutly asking the question, "What would Jesus do?" All of these signs are portents of good, as well as clear indications of the trend of modern thought. If, as some one has said, "the tide of religion rises no higher than the cylinders of the printing press," we have reason to conclude, from the character of present day literature, that true Christianity is rising to the flood. From being a mere character in the tragedy of redemption, Christ has become the central figure of revelation; from being merely a unique preacher with a strangely fascinating message, "He has become the message itself"; from being a person to be imitated, in the spirit of Thomas à Kempis, He has become the centre of a life to be lived. Thus Christ is the all and in all; the one ideal of the highest idealism.

But we are compelled to differentiate the Christ. There is a Christ that is the Christ, and one that is not. Jesus told the Pharisees that they neither