PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY REVIVED 57 



know the exact chemical composition of bread and its 

 exact value in the economy of human life* But this 

 knowledge will never serve to nourish him or maintain 

 his life. 



Even so, knowledge about Christ, about His relation- 

 ship to the Father and to that Manifestation of God 

 which we sometimes speak of as the third Person in the 

 Trinity, will never suffice to cleanse the heart from dead 

 works to serve the Living God. No 1 We must partake of 

 the Bread of Life if our spiritual life is to be maintained ; 

 and, if we would know anything of the glorious power 

 of the Gospel, we must live in the Light and Warmth 

 and Gladness of the Sun of Righteousness. 



You will remember that in the first chapter of the 

 Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians he mentions the fact 

 that dissentions had arisen in the Church at Corinth. 

 One said, *' I am of Paul '' ; another, *' I of Apollos '' ; 

 a third, *' I of Cephas.'' Doubtless Paul and Barnabas 

 and Peter had each his own peculiar theological views — 

 each his own particular view of God's Way of Salvation. 

 And their views were not identical ; and as each had his 

 own disciples among the Corinthian Christians, dis- 

 sensions not unnaturally arose. And Paul tells them 

 that before ever he came there he foresaw what was 

 likely to happen, and determined that he would leave 

 his own theological views entirely in the background, 

 and would know nothing amongst them but Jesus 

 Christ and Him crucified. He knew that the Church 

 could perfectly well afford to dispense with his views, 

 and that the only thing indispensable to Christianity is 

 Christ. And if the Church could afford to dispense 

 with the views of the Apostle Paul, it can surely well 

 afford to dispense with your views and mine. 



There is only one thing indispensable to Christianity, 

 and that one thing is Christ. Everything else can go, 

 and Christianity will be the richer for its loss. 



