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THE K I N G ’ S
B U S I N E S S
February 1925
roads; the necessity for a complete reconstruction of th eir organization a t the beginning of th e ir movement. But th eir chiefest difficulty lay in th is— th a t they were requ ired to move forward solely for God’s reason, the w arfare of holi ness against sin. And also they must go forward in entire dependence upon the presence and power of God in their conflict. Therein and th ereunder alone lay th e ir hope of victory. The Unholy T riple Alliance Unprecedented difficulties c o.n f r o n t the Christian Church today in the oppositions of the unholy trip le alliance of organized materialism , intel.lectualism, and occultism, in a setting of religious liberalism , w ith th e ir forces organized under the tu telage of th e philosophy of. evolution, th e most pagan philosophy th e world has ever known. The Church is confronted w ith th e fact th a t th is trip le alliance of this world’s philosophies has taken over th e citadels of our schools, has seduced our preachers to become th e ir propa gandists; has despoiled us of our public press as mani fested in papers, periodicals and books, and has succeeded by the sheer force of a. Christless public opinion in demoral izing the morale of the Christian forces. The tw entieth Century Church is confronted w ith an organized paganism more perfect in its expression and its organization even than th a t which the F irst Century Church faced in imperial Rome. Every force and factor of a Christless world and a Godless age are against us. We must fight or die! There is no place in th is land where the Christian individual or the Christian Church can be passive and live. Every stu dent is challenged as to his faith. Every business man, if he maintains Christian standards, must give a reason for the hope th a t is in him. Every preacher, loyal to th e Gos pel of Christ, suffers a living martyrdom . The first century commission of Christ to those who should be endued with the power of the Holy Spirit to become His w itness, righ tly tran slated , reads: “Ye shall become my m artyrs, in Je ru salem, in Judea, in Samaria, and unto th e u tterm o st parts of the world.” The same th ing is finding a new urgency and a new expression in the lives of those who m aintain the faith of C h rist'in the world today. When Christ said:
“ I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not pre vail against it,” He th ru st a . sword into the hand of the Church. He forever forbade a passive a ttitu d e for her. F o r the gates of hell are to be assailed by th e Church of Christ and by the power of the Word of the Living God. The gates of hell, the forces of evil, under assault, from the lives and lips of faith fu l men are to be beaten down, broken off and destroyed. The Challenge to th e Church Dare we commit ourselves to th e possession, th e purpose, and the program of God? How closely the challenge of Joshua and Israel parallels th e challenge of those who in th is day serve th eir God and preserve th e in teg rity of .their faith. Like Joshua and Israel, th e Church is now chal lenged to take'possession of th e stage for Jehovah’s display of H imself in th e earth . There is a w arfare, th ere is a b at tle, upon which may hinge the fu tu re of the whole Christian Church. The g reatest difficulty w ith which we are faced, perhaps, lies in the demand of God th a t we realize His reason for our conflict, in the perpetuation by th e Church of the testimony of Jesusf;feand in His demand th a t we carry forw ard the fight solely in dependence upon th e Spirit of the living God and by the employment of His weapons of warfare. We face such an hour as came to Wesley when Christian England had become Deistic, in fact, while still clinging to th e nomenclature of Christianity. We face such an hour as came to W illiam Carey when the ingrow ing process' of th e Christian Church had spoiled it of its fidelity, robbed it of its 'devotion and plundered it of its power. We face such a day as the Welsh Church faced when for two years God tried in various pulpits and chapels to b reak through in th e g rea t revival which finally found expression when Evan Roberts and his band of sixteen friends yielded them selves w ithout reservation to the possession, the purpose and the program of God. He is saying to us as He said to the early Church, if we have ears to- hear H im : “Behold, I have set before thee a door opened” (Rev. 3 :8 ). Dare we en ter it?
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N anyo h— ÇK ina^at W o rsh ip Dr. Jo h n Murdoch Maclnnis Teacher of Philosophy o f th e C hristian Religion, Bible In stitu te of Los Angeles
In addition to th e reg u lar rep o rt from ou r Hunan B ible In stitu te in China (see. page 68) we count oiirselves indeed for tu n a te to have th e following splendid message from Dr. Maclnnis, who sp en t several months la st summ er in China addressing various M issionary Conferences, p articu larly th e Autumn Bible Conference a t Nanyoh.
5H is one of China’s five sacred mountains, and tne can watch the long line of pilgrim s trudg- th eir way tow ards its sacred shrine and not ize th a t China is essentially religious.
of the Governor of the Province. He had come hundreds of miles, and th is was th e th ird annual pilgrim age which he had made to th is famous shrine as a resu lt of a vow made by his mother some years ago. He is a college student studying a t one of the outstanding universities in China; bu t still one of th e tens of thousands who bring th eir bu r dens to empty shrines and burn incense to silent gods. The Minor Key It is estim ated th a t eighty per cent of the millions of China are more or less held by these false ideas of worship. W atching th eir faces as they bow a t these shrines it is hard to th ink th a t they are not in earnest and th a t they do not confidently expect some answer to th e cry of th eir heart. But there is nothing to indicate th a t they get any answer.
Many of China’s, shrines may be neglected and forsaken, but this is not tru e of Nanyoh. Its temples and winding mountain paths are crowded w ith weary, earnest, seeking pilgrims from far and near. These are mostly men and boys,— comparatively few women. They are from all walks of life; the rich and the poor m ingle a t these altars, having little in common save the d e s ire .to do something to gain favor w ith th e gods. One day we joined th is procession of worshipping pil grims and, while resting in one of the rest houses, were introduced to an intelligent young man who was the nephew
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