Article November 5, 1910 Issue

FROM OUR EXCHANGES

with contributions from Kirsopp Lake, R. J. Campbell, Brent

[Christian Work and Evangelist.]

Jesus was very explicit in saying why he had come into the world. He said: "I am come that they might have life." The church that is giving life to the world is the true church. It makes no difference whatever whether the church has the same form of government the apostolic church had or not. That government might be good for today or it might not. But the church which is giving life. life of God to men, fulness of life to the weak and empty and poor, making the life of Jesus Christ real in the world, is the true church, regardless of its history or its claims. It is the church Christ founded. Jesus also said, "I am the good shepherd." He used this term frequently, and he mourned because the world had so few shepherds. His commission to his preachers was a commission to shepherd the lost flock of Israel and the Gentiles. A shepherd is one who cares in tender watchfulness for all his sheep. He said, too, that he came into the world to save men from their sins. He appointed his apostles to become "fishers of men," to rescue men from the depths of life. He appointed his church to save the world from its sins, and the church that saves men from their sins is the true church of Jesus Christ. Once more, Jesus was very explicity in saying that he had come to preach the words that were life and the truth that set men free. The baptism of the Holy Spirit, so that it speaks Christ's gospel in a tongue of consuming fire or divine persuasiveness, is sure sign it is just the church Christ appointed and abides with today.

[Prof. Kirsopp Lake, University of Leyden, in Guardian.]

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