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Five
Kinds Of Religion
Christianity
is a singing religion. The coming of Jesus was ushered in
with the joyful chants of the heavenly throng. Singing has
ever been a prominent part of the worship of God. When the
soul has a vision of the God revealed in the New Testament
it is uplifted, illuminated, inspired, exalted. This
exaltation naturally bursts forth into heavenly
songs—songs of joy and true happiness.
The vast wealth of song written by Christians and used in
their religious devotions is in a strange and almost
startling contrast to the lack of song in the other
religions of the world. Music has little part in the
worship of other systems of religion. The American Indian
may sing his war song, song of the chase, or other similar
songs in his religious festivals. The votaries of other
religions may also sing songs, but these are generally not
songs of worship but songs to placate their gods, rather
than attempts to express their own joyfulness in the
service of their gods. It is true that Buddhism in some
countries is borrowing the Christian custom of song in
worship and adapting Christian hymns to their worship. It
should be noted, however, that this is a mere adaptation
in the face of Christian competition rather than something
that originated in Buddhism. So Christianity may be said
to be the only singing religion including, of course, the
worship of Israel, from which it has in a great measure
been derived.
Religion has a powerful influence upon happiness. It adds
much to or takes much from natural happiness, according to
the kind of religion in which we believe. Christians do
not all believe in the same sort of religion. True, they
all believe in one God, and in one Bible, and in a general
way in many of the same things. When we come to the
practical side of religion, however, there are about five
kinds of the Christian religion. Four of these produce
little happiness, in fact may hinder happiness. They may
stifle the song that would naturally arise from the free
heart. The reader will do well to pause and consider as we
notice these five kinds of religion—which, if any, he
has, or if he has a mixture of them.
First, there is the don't religion. It is the religion of
self-denial. It is hedged in with numerous restrictions.
It is a religion in which the worshiper is kept in a
straight jacket. It is largely a negative religion. Those
having this religion may be very strict, very sincere,
very earnest, but they never can be truly happy. Happiness
never comes from the purely negative aspect of life. When
we deny ourselves anything in religion the purpose should
not be merely that we be without it, but that we may put
in its place something greater, something that will
contribute more to our happiness and well-being. Religion
is intended to make people free, with the highest type of
freedom. "If the Son therefore shall make you free,
ye shall be free indeed," is the slogan of the New
Testament. A don't religion is conducive to bondage. There
is a sort of satisfaction in this don't religion. It may
gratify the sense of duty, but we must get a different
sort of religion in order to know the secret of the
singing heart.
The second kind of religion is the do religion. It
consists of merely following forms and ceremonies, or
obeying rules and regulations, or doing works of merit.
Its followers may find considerable satisfaction in
reading prayers, bowing down and arising, in making the
sign of the cross, in keeping holy days, making
pilgrimages in closely following outlined ceremonials and
going through forms. Some of the forms of religion have a
certain value in giving soul uplift, but they are a poor
substitute for the realities of true religion. With this
formalism there may be stately singing by trained choirs,
there may be grand organs pealing forth, there may be
intellectual discoursing, with the heart of genuine
religion absent. The esthetic sense is gratified while the
soul is left unfed or perhaps impoverished. This do
religion trusts in works. It draws much satisfaction from
what it has done. There was much of this sort of religion
among the old Pharisees. But who ever saw a Pharisee who
was truly happy, whose heart sang with joy? No, a religion
of mere works, of forms and ceremonies, can bring little
true happiness.
Another form of religion is the Sinai religion. It hedges
in lives with "thou shalt" and "thou shalt
not." It is the mere keeping of commandments. It is a
worshiper of authority. It is doing because one must. It
is refraining from doing for fear of punishment. The God
of Sinai still thunders forth in this religion. He is a
great and awful God, crowned with majesty and glory, but
far removed from the worshiper. He is worshiped in fear
and trembling at the foot of the mountains whose summit is
hidden in angry clouds. Out of these clouds flash the
lightnings of divine vengeance. It is a stiff and rigorous
religion. There is little of grace or mercy in it. It is
walking by rule. There is little in it to start the songs
that come from a peaceful and happy heart.
Then there is what may be called the slippery religion. It
is one that people must hold fast with all their might
lest it should slip away from them. People who have this
type of religion are constantly in fear of losing it. If
they do this, or that, or the other thing, they wonder,
"Now, have I lost my religion?" They are always
examining themselves. They are always questioning and
wondering. They cannot for long settle down to certainty.
They are often overwhelmed with doubts and fears. They are
constantly observing their emotions to see whether or not
these emotions indicate whether they still have religion
or have lost it.
Perhaps they pray and earnestly try to draw near to God.
Then if joy and happiness come they are satisfied and sure
they have their religion. But presently a dark day comes.
Their emotions subside. Then they wonder again whether
they still have their religion. In reality their struggle
is not to keep their religion, but to keep their emotions
and to satisfy their own questionings and doubts. This
religion carries them alter nately to the mountain top,
then to the depths of the valley of humiliation. It is
truly an "up and down" religion. This slippery
sort of religion can never be the source of true and
lasting happiness.
The fifth and true type of religion, the religion that
corresponds with the teachings of the New Testament and
with the experiences of those who have learned the inner
and fuller realities of religion, is that religion which
is of the heart. It is not a religion of restriction,
neither of formalism. It is neither Sinai religion, nor a
slippery religion. It is a religion in which the heart is
in its natural element. It is a religion of peace and
contentment, a religion of joyful service. It is the
natural expression of the soul. It is a peaceful and
harmonious relation with God. It is the relation of a
child and its father. Its elements are simplicity,
sincerity, purity, faith, love, and all the fruits of the
Spirit. It is a Spirit-filled life. All these things just
mentioned are the deep sources that feed the bubbling
springs of joy that flow forth in the waters of rejoicing
and song.
In this sort of religion God is not a great and terrible
monarch, a stern judge, a task-master; nor his laws a set
of hard decrees. No, the Christian religion as seen in its
true light is "good tidings of great joy to all
people." It is written, "Happy is that people
whose God is the Lord." With such a religion we not
only can read of the joys of salvation in the Scriptures
but have the experience of them in our own souls. In this
sort of Christian life we do not fear God in the sense of
being afraid of him. We do not tremble before him.
Godly fear becomes the equivalent of reverential love and
out of divine and spiritual love flow greater joys than
flow out of natural love.
Real religion has two sides—first, the inside, the
relations of the soul with God. The Scripture says,
"Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at
peace." That means to get acquainted with God, get on
good terms with him. know his good qualities. Come into
close contact and association with him. To know him thus
is to be at peace with him. We must have the real inner
experience of divine life in the soul and union with
Christ. This is open to everyone who will seek it in God's
way.
The other side of religion is the outside. There can be a
true outside of religion only when there is a true inside
religion. James defines the outside of religion by saying,
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the
father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in
their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the
world" (James 1: 27)—a pure and holy inner life, a
pure and blameless outer life, devoted to service and
helpfulness. This is the religion that is a well-watered
land, full of springs and fruitfulness. It is a land of
song and cheer and of true blessedness.
This Christian life is the life of the "new
song." When the Psalmist looked back upon the
"horrible pit" and the "miry clay" out
of which the Lord had delivered him he cried, "He
hath put a new song in my mouth" (Ps. 40: 3). The
Revelator saw the great host of redeemed souls gathered
before the throne of God and he said, "I heard the
voice of harpers harping with their harps: and they sung
as it were a new song before E the throne" (Rev.
14:2-3). In chapter 15:3 we are told the nature of this
song, "And they sing the song i of Moses, the servant
of God, and the song of the Lamb." The song of Moses
was the song of Israel's deliverance from Egypt and their
enemies after the crossing of the Red Sea. The song of the
Lamb is the song of salvation. So the song we sing is a
song of deliverance and of salvation. No wonder it is a
joyful song'
The song has a special characteristic. "No man could
learn that song but the hundred and forty and four
thousand, which were redeemed from the earth" (Rev.
14: 3). This company of people, represented in symbol by
the "hundred and forty and four thousand," are
all the redeemed of God. The song that could not be
learned by others was the song that is learned only by
experience, the experience of redemption and salvation
through Jesus Christ. It cannot be sung by mere professors
of religion, nor by formalists, nor by legalists. It
breaks forth only from the hearts of those who are happy
and free in Christ.
Isaiah, foreseeing this glorious age of salvation, cried,
"The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to
Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they
shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing
shall flee away" (Isa. 35 :10). This is the
experience of those who have learned the secret of the
singing heart.
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