T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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"MINE ADVERSARY HAS WRITTEN A BOOK” Of course Mr. Horton’s exposures of Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick in these columns have brought us many letters. Some of- our correspondents are having a hard timé to believe that The King’s Business had told the truth about the matter. One writer says: “ You are wasting your tim e denouncing men who do not agree w ith you in some details. I have been inspired by reading Dr. Fosdick’s books on prayer, to a higher stand ard a t living and a desire to know Christ better. This, to my mind, proves th a t he is not a false teacher.” Another says: “ Of course I do not have the full text of Dr. Fosdick’s sermon before me, but when I th in k of th e g reat blessing some of his books have been to me, I m ust say I for one scarcely relish such a b itter unchristian attack upon a m inister.” We can readily understand how Dr. Fosdick has endeared himself to some whose lives have been uplifted through some of his earlier devotional writings, but suppose that he has now gone back on the great verities of the faith! Will many continue to follow him because of their gratitude to him for his earlier writings? Job once said: “ Oh that mine adversary had written a book!” (Job 31:35). Just while many are doubting the truth of reports concerning this preacher, he comes out with a new book. A few quotations will bear out the position heretofore taken by Mr. Horton regarding Dr. Fosdick. A gentleman once noticed the letters “ U. S.” printed on the right hind leg of a negro’s mule and asked the owner if it was formerly the property of Uncle Sam. “ No, sah,” replied the negro, “ that U. S. ain’t fo’ no Uncle Sam. That means Un Safe.” With all due respect to Dr. Fosdick’s earlier writings, he has now branded himself “ Un Safe” His latest book is “ Christianity and Progress” . The publishers say it is a work that will start you thinking. It does—but in the wrong direction. The book contains a series of lectures delivered at Vanderbilt University as “ A Defense and Advocacy of the Christian Religion” . He starts with that serene attitude characteristic of our liberalists, when he speaks of “ well instructed minds being forced first to accept and then to glory in the pro gressive nature of Christianity” (page 144). He has little use for “ the out grown categories of a static world” and leads us on to “ achieve with wis dom and courage some fundamental reconstruction in our Christian think ing” (page 48). This progress, he plainly tells us, involves “ the abandon ment of an external and inerrant authority in religion” (page 153). He thinks the writers of the Bible were men “ whose days are as grass” and whose statements therefore “ need to be revised” (page 155). The phrases already quoted would be sufficient for most people. We will venture a few more quotations to make sure that we have not misunder stood the author. The God of the Old Testament he spells with a little “ g” . He calls Him “ a war god, leading his partisans to victory” (page 210). He thinks the church’s conception of God is all wrong. God, to him, is “ the CREATIVE REALITY” (page 225). Mrs. Eddy’s name for God, “ the Divine Mind” , is more appealing. A WHEEL WITH SIXTEEN SPOKES WHICH
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