Article October 29, 1910 Issue

FROM OUR EXCHANGES

with contributions from James E. C. Sawyer

[Christian Work and Evangelist.]

A very pitiable incident in the history of the Christian church has just come to light in the bewilderment of a young Japanese student, who is seeking the truth. He was attracted to the Church of Jesus Christ and was feeling that it had the answer to his question of where he might find eternal life, when he was suddenly confronted with the spectacle of each of three churches, differing quite radically in their polity and confessions, claiming that it, and it only, was the true church. The Japanese finally solved the question by passing all three by and joining a church whose only claim to being the true church was that it was trying to be in the world what Christ was and do what he did, wherein the Japanese showed his great good sense. But the question, Which is the true church? is being continually kept before the world. It comes up at every conference on church union. It appears at every council of the denominations. Yet it is very easily answered in the words of its Founder. Jesus founded the church when he gathered the twelve apostles about him and made them ministers with him of the gospel. He gave no explicit rules to these first ministers and members of the church as to either the form the church was to assume or the tests of membership she should impose. But he was very explicit in his expression of the purpose and mission of the Christian church. It was simply to be his representative in the world. If we can find in the Gospels express words of Jesus, telling us just exactly why he was in the world, what he stood for, what he called his disciples for, we can find just exactly which is the true church. The true holy church will be found to be simply that church which is most like in character and purpose the true and holy Lord.

[British Congregationalist.]

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