T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S 343 of darkness and despair. The Light burst forth on the first day of the week, it is the Lord’s Day, for it was then that He aro^e “ AS ,HB SAID.” —k L B . A DEADLY HERESY We have often shuddered as we have read or listened to the shocking statements that liberal ministers have made concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. Most of them hesitate to express their views concerning the Holy Spirit. We confess to a feeling of horror as we recently’read some utter ances of a noted preacher concerning the Holy ]|pirit. "'He "is quoted as saying : “ It has come to pass th a t between the jargon of the Holiness convention on th e one hand, and the elaborate mystifications of the theologians on th e other; th e average man in our churches has well nigh ceased to th ink or care about th e sub ject of the Holy Spirit a t all. ‘Daddy,’ said a little girl of my acquaintance, ‘I can understand what you mean by the F ath e r and th e Son bu t I haven’t any use for the Holy Ghost.’ And there, in the refreshing frankness of a little child.’s speech, th e thoughts of many h earts are, revealed.” y Such shocking profanity from the lips of a man of culture and refine ment would be hard to account for but for the fact that we are'plainly told in the New Testament that in the last days Satan will have his ministers 6f righteousness who will come as angels of light. This learned man goes on. tO S a y : \ ' ; y > “ It would seem th a t we should best give intelligibility and rea lity to our thinking, and best serve th e in terests of our religious life if we made no -attem p t to distinguish between th e Holy Spirit and Christ. . Throughout the 14th and fol lowing chapters of Jo h n ’s Gospel no a ttem p t is made to;¿distinguish betwêeü th e coming of the Holy Spirit and Christ’s own coming to abide in and w ith His dis ciples.’; :,He then quotes w ith approval a saying of Dr. Marcus Dods: “ I doubtj; if we can make much of. a personal Holy Spirit interposed between Christ and us.” This is exactly wfipt the devil has always been seeking to do—niafee religion wholly.human, .substitute mere human experience and opinions about Christ for the supernatural birth and infilling of the Holy ©host. It is a deadly heresy. The preacher goes on to say: “L ittle groups w ithin th e Christian church have fastened on a few fam iliar New Testament phrases— ‘th e baptism of the Spirit,’ Ted by th e S pirit,’ ‘filled w ith th e Spirit,’ etc., and have made them into something like th e watchwords and badges of a p a tty ; b u t when we ask what religious experience, what sp iritual reality of any kind lies behind th e words th a t are so freely bandied about, we are often a t a loss to answer.” It is heartbreaking that Such a learned man should be at a loss on such a vital questionnas this. Nevertheless, the church possesses, ip biography pnd theology, a vast body of literature setting forth in a ihastef'ly way thA spiritual reality and the religious experience of the Holy Ghost, and thou sands upon thousands live today to testify of the unmistakable billing with the Spirit and His marvelous leadings in their lives: Rev. G. Armstrong Bennetts, in a recent article, well saÿs Concerning the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, that it is the central truth of the Christian religion in accordance with that Word of Paul, “ If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” The test question of Christian experi ence is this, “ Did you receive ¿the Holy Ghost when you befieved?” —K. L. B.
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