THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTIANITY

It is the very business of the Church to be in conflict with the world. And every conflict of ideas sooner or later is fought out on the field of human behavior. It is foolish to say that religious controversies are mere abstract discussions. Sooner or later what you believe concerning God decides what kind of man you will be down to the last detail of your life.

The Christian religion had not been long in the world until people, and especially its enemies, saw quite clearly, that it had come, not as a thing in the air, not as a thing which would be very glad to stay in a corner; but that it had come, as the Lord Himself promised, to send fire upon the earth; that it had come as a sword cleaving through human souls and human institutions, creating darkness even, by reason of its own tremendous light. I say it was not long until everybody saw clearly enough what Christianity proposed to do with everything.

People, for example, who have come to believe in God through Jesus Christ, are not going to buy silver models of Diana of the Ephesions. As the soul of man advances towards the light, certain trades must languish and die. “Behold I make all things new.” Revolution is the very essence of Christianity. For Christianity is the Holy Will of God making room for itself in the world. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that almost the first sign that Christ has come into the life of a man or into the life of a people is that a fight begins; what the Bible calls “the good fight of faith.” The Spirit of Christ in a man or in a people commits that man or that people to a career of dissatisfaction and amendment.

The Roman power at a very early stage in the life of the Church perceived quite clearly that Christianity was a force with which it would have to reckon. A little later, Rome perceived quite clearly that Christianity was such a force that, if she did not put an end to Christianity, Christianity would put an end to her. It was not the stupid and licentious Emperors of Rome who persecuted the Church. It was the farseeing Emperors. It was the good Emperors, the devout ones even, like Marcus Aurelius — it was they who cast the Christians to the wild beasts. And why? Because they saw, they felt with their whole being, that Christianity was a Spirit, a Power, which, like the visible face of God, would one day make the whole fabric of Roman life intolerable. And so, they fought Christianity to the death; but it was to their own death.

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