One need not stop to define Christianity, for there is only
one sincere meaning to the word; it implies a _kind of life whose
spirit and method reproduce as accurately as possible the spirit and
the method of the life of Jesus_. It would seem that if this
interpretation of the term be correct there could be no difficulty in
adjusting even unconscious misinterpretation of Christ to the true
facts of the case: but here we are met by that perversity of vision
which springs not from ignorance, but from thoughtlessness, and is in
its nature much more obdurate than the worst perversity of ignorance.
Ignorance can be enlightened; thoughtlessness, being usually associated
with vanity, recognizes no need of enlightenment.
The life of Jesus, freshly introduced to a mind wholly ignorant of its
existence may be trusted to convey its own impression; but the
thoughtless mind will be either too proud, or too shallow, or too
confident, to be sensitive to right impressions. Thus the trouble with
most people who call themselves Christians is not to educate them into
right conceptions of the life of Christ, but to destroy the growth of
wrong impressions. "Surely," they will say, "we know all about the
life of Christ. We have read the biographies of Jesus ever since the
days of infancy. We have heard the life of Jesus expounded through
long years by multitudes of teachers.
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