682 T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S Edward E verett Hale once said, “Unitarianism fails fo r th e w ant of a prophet to speak th e language of th e people.” Mr. Hale m ight well have said, “ a prophet to speak th e message of God.” It is doubtful if this so-called intellectual message can be tran slated in term s of “ feeling and action.” Modernism has no evangelism. The w riter in th e Con- gregationalist concludes th a t th e progressive th ink ers m ust have some kind of an evangelistic message if they are to hold the young people, for he adm its th a t “ th e liberal type of religious life has a tendency to be careless and shallow .” Mr. Burdick seems a t a loss, however, when it comes to saying w hat th is new evangel istic message is to be. When th e late Dr. George F. Pentecost was pastor in Brooklyn, a distinguished New York m inister asked him to conduct evangelistic meetings in his church. In surprise, Dr. Pentecost replied, “Why, you do not believe in th e Deity of Christ and th e atonement, which I preach.” Said th e m inister, “ I know th a t very well, bu t I also know th a t if anybody is to be converted it must be by means of th e old view.’’ On ano th er occasion a distinguished scholar of th e higher critics confessed to Dr. Pentecost th a t his conversion and present peace w ith God were based on the vicarious and substitu tion ary sacrifice of Christ, and th a t in his daily asking for the forgiveness of sins he had to appeal to th e divine sacrifice as evangelicals understand it. At th e same tim e he declared th a t he could no t him self preach th a t Gospel on account of its unphilosophical and unscientific char acter. T h at is to say, for his own peace and salvation he had to depend on th e old faith which he learned a t his m other’s knee, yet he dared not preach it to others. Jonath an Edwards, in his diary of David B rainerd, says th a t th is apostle to the Indians though t for some tim e th a t th e best way to make men sober was by preaching to them the attrib u tes of God, bu t his plan failed and he could not produce one sober man. “Then,” he says, “ I bethought me th a t I would go and preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified; and many a hard face relaxed, many an eye shed tears th a t had never wept before, and I found th a t th e best way to make men sober was to make them sp iritu al.” From th a t tim e he gloried in and held forth nothing b u t th e Cross.—-K . L. B. ... 1 1 I ' W l M 'M. SHOULD BE GETTING YOUR TOOLS READY so that God may trust you with some worth-while work for Him. Do you know your Bible? Take your choice of one of our Correspondence Courses and begin study any time. Write for a circular describing our seven courses. $2 to $5.
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