March 1926
THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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man with those views can be a good citizen; -if he is not outside the pale of government? Ask if he would be willing to stand up and let some one shoot at him, and if not, why? Where is Mrs. Eddy; did she die; has she been raised from the dead and seen by any one? If not, why not? Five hundred witnesses saw Jesus Christ after His resurrection. Ask if he believes Jesus Christ heal ed the sick, and why He put clay on the blind man’s eyes (John 9 :15 ); why He told the disciples to take the grave clothes off Lazarus and let him go free (John 11:44). Ask what he thinks Christ meant when He said, “ I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me” (John 14 :6 ); and what it means when it says, “ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10 :31 ); and what Jesus meant when He said, “ These shall go away into everlasting punishment” (Matt. 25: 46). (Use also Gen. 6 :5 ; Rom. 3:10; 5:12; Gal. 3:22; Heb. 9:22). Ask if he can think of any righteous way by which God could forgive sin without laying it upon another as a Substitute; then give the picture of God's love as described in John 3:16, and the message of Christ in Matt. 11:28, “ Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (N ext month, “ Theoaophy and How to Meet Ita K rrora".) (Theae auggeatlona fo r Peraonal W ork are abridged from n Correapondenee Courae on “ Peraonal and P ractical Chrla- tlan W ork ” b y T . C. Horton. Further Information concern ing thla and the many other aplendld Conraca o f Study offered by the Bible Inatltute o f Lon Angelea w ill be g lad ly furnlahed by Keith t>. B rook «. Secretary o f the Cor reapondenee School, 536 S. Hope Street, I,oa Angelea, Calif.)
prayer. (If it is not true that you can do this, then you ought to begin to pray yourself so that you can testify to answered prayer.) Ask if he believes in a personal devil, and if not, how evil originated. Show him' where the devil appeared personally to Christ in Luke 4:1-13, and that Christ called him the “ prince of this world” (John 14 :30 ); that Paul called him the “ god of this world” .(2 Cor. 4 :4 ); that personal qualities are attributed to the devil (Matt. 13:19). If he says that he believes only in an “ evil principle” ask whether an evil principle could be punished (Rev. 20: 10 ) : “ And the devil that deceived them waa eaat Into the lake o f life and brlmatone, where the beaat and the faine prophet are, and ahull be tormented day and n igh t forever.” Ask whether he believes that Jesus was raised from the grave with a real, tangible body.. If not, what Jesus meant when he said to Mary: “ Touch Me not” (John 20:17), and after wards said to Thomas, “ Reach hither thy finger and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into My side; and be not faithless, but believing” (John 20 :27 ); and what it was that stood in the upper room in the 24th chapter of Luke, after His resurrection, when He ate the fish and honey, and declared that He was not a spirit! Ask if he believes in sin, and if ly ing is sin. If.a man stole his watch would he have him arrested for it? Does he? believe in law and the punish ment of the wicked? If he says no, ask if any Christian Scientists are lawyers, and if they ever prosecute the wicked? If an assault was made upon his wife or daughter, would he favor the arrest and punishment of the guilty one? If~he says “ No,” ask if a ' ejìfc ¿¡4. ate jig jig
life in the 53rd of Isaiah. Ask if these prophecies were not fulfilled in the coming of a personal Christ. Ask: “ What do you believe concern ing the Holy Spirit?” If Mrs. Eddy is quoted— “ This Comforter I under stand to be Divine Science”—-ask if the Scripture does not attribute per sonal attributes to the Holy Spirit, quoting from John 14:26 and John 16:7-11: “ K rv crih rlrH I tell you the truth t It In expedient fo r you that I g o awayi for If I g o not away, the Com forter w ill not eome unto youi but If 1 depart, I w ill •end him unto you. «And when he In eome, he w ill reprove the world o f «In, and o f rlghteouaneaa, and o f Judgment! “ Of nln, becauae they believe not on me [ “ Of rlghteouanenn, beenuae I g o to my Father, and ye nee me no morel “ Of judgment, beenuae the prince o f thla w orld la Judged." (Also Acts 8:29; 16:7; Rom. 8:11). Ask if he believes in prayer, and if he does, to whom he prays, and for what does he pray? How can he pray to an impersonal God? If he says he does not believe in prayer, tell him that Jekus prayed (Luke 22:44). Show him the 17th of John and ask what he thinks of that prayer and what it means when it. says “ the disciples continued stead fastly in prayer” (Acts 2:42). (Also use Acts 12:12; Acts 4:31; Acts 10:4). Ask if he believes that Elijah prayed and the heavens were.shut up, and that he prayed again and the heavens were opened (Jas. 5:17 ), and if it is not true, then how can the Bible be true and Mrs. Eddy “ take her stand unreservedly upon it,” as she says she does? Ask if be ever had a mother that prayed, and then tell him that you can give scores of instances of answered
B R I S B A N E B A C K S T H E B I B L E
ory of man runneth not to the contrary, should be able to escape the general renovation policy for which the Univer sity of Chicago and similar institutions have conceived a consuming passion. “ Perhaps old-fashioned persons who have a fondness for the solemn, sonorous beauty of the Twenty-third Psalm, whose very quaintness provides it with its most compelling appeal, will object to the elimination of its most picturesque phrasing, but the march of progress cannot be halted to conserve prejudices. In the Chicago University’s Old Testa ment, which has become, under its deft touch, newer even than the New Testament, that Psalm is amended so it no longer speaks of. the Valley of the Shadow of Death, but of ‘the darkest ravine;’ and the ‘comfort’ of ‘Thy rod’ and ‘Thy staff’ are omitted altogether. Apparently those expres sions are too crude for tender ears. “ However, the beautiful phrases of the magnificent mas terpiece the Twenty-third Psalm indubitably will not be affected by the Chicago literary cobblers any more than its splendid promises can be rendered null and void by the dilletantes of the lake front. ‘Thy rod and Thy staff,’ will continue to comfort the thousands upon thousands in each generation who find in the Book of Books healing for sick souls and balm for aching hearts. “ More determined assaults have been made upon the phraseology of the Bible than this of the University of Chicago and it has withstood them all. It will continue to be the basic fount of literature, to which the writing craft will continue to turn for its inspiration, despite the Chicago effort to make it something else.”
p m.jiff « 1 R T HTTR J. BRISBANE, the unique editorial writer, is not captivated by the efforts of the Chicago Uni- W M B versity to relegate the statements of the King HwEMg^j James’ version of the Bible to the ash heap. It is p w i a j i a g00(j omen to find so many of the newspaper men of this country sufficiently level-headed and old fash ioned to keep their faith fixed on the reliable old Book and smile at the so-called “ scholars” who profess to know more than Jehovah. Read what Mr. Brisbane has to say under the caption “ Snappy Education” : “ Criticism o f the University of Chicago’s attempt to improve the Old Testament should be tempered by the reflection that the enterprise is comparatively harmless. Nobody needs to accept the version being made by the uni versity ‘whose modern scholars have a more complete knowledge of the Hebrew tongue than those of a hundred years ago,’ according to its own modest admission. Those who prefer the version extant, which includes most of us, can go undisturbed' about our daily business, in full confi dence that the university is not making any more of an ass of itself than usual. “ The University of Chicago is a perfect example of mod ernity in scholarship. Nothing but the latest and snappiest in education will be tolerated in that advanced institution. ‘ ‘There is, of course, progressivism in education as well as in politics. Old facts are quite as out of date as old political creeds. Whatever is new in education is to be used and whatever is ancient is to be discarded. Thus it is scarcely to be expected that the Old Testament, whose origin goes so far back into the mists of antiquity that the mem
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