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THE K I N G ' S BUS I NE S S
These victories are not now being won where such Biblical views- pre vail. The Deity of Christ The proper Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ has always been the central and basal evangelical truth to me. It underlies all I have ever taught. To me He is today more than ever Godf incarnate: the second Person in the ever blessed Trinity. I have al ways preached Him, as now I preach Him, with deepening emphasis, as Lord and God. I hold Him to be “ every where concealed” in the Bible. I teach that on every subject His Word is final. The “ Kenosis ’ theory I utterly reject, and deem it fraught with end less mischief and logically leading to unitarianism. “What think .ye of Christ?” is the test question to me of all doctrine. The stupendous miracle of the In carnation has more and more had a leading place in my doctrinal life and teaching. The Virgin Birth I accept as Revelation, and as a necessity of reason, too. To me it is unimaginable that the God-man should have had an ordinary birth. The example and teaching of our Divine Lord have had large place in my preaching. I have sought always to press Christian ethics upon my people. Holy living, bright, cheerful, loving character has been a great part of “ my gospel.” And it has been a “ gospel” to me and through me because the central core of my teaching has been the Atoning Death of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have not preached “ good works” as good advice, but as the gospel of a dying Saviour. A pulpit which only gives good advice cannot be permanent: a pulpit which thrills with good news cannot die. I have never receded from the doctrine of the Cross which I “ re ceived” in my evangelized youth. “ The
such. To me it is all, rightly translated and rightly interpreted, the Word o£ God. As such I still preaeh it with unreserved emphasis. Nothing has gained upon me more with time than the importance of holding and teach ing a high doctrine of the Inspiration of Scripture. Dr. Johnson said, “ Our religion is in a hook,” and he expressed tersely the evangelical situation. The book has, I am thankful to declare, increasingly “ found” me. It “ finds” me today more inevitably and insepar ably than it ever did. I confess to less and less interest in its human authorship, and more and more reali zation of its Divine authorship. And my persuasion ever deepens that if we are halting in our testi mony to the. absolute Inspiration of the Bible we shall fail in our mission as preachers and churches. Is not much of the failuro today attributable to this cause? For many years I have sought to read the literature on both sides of what is known as the “ higher criti cism.” I have been led absolutely to distrust that system. In its extreme form I regard it as the greatest evil which ever infested the Church, I believe it to be intellectually fallacious and spiritually deplorable. I well know that it has captured a pre ponderance of modern scholars, but not through any necessity of scholarship. The scholarship is but an accident of the position. I strongly contend that the deeper and truer learning is on the side of the opponents of the “ higher criticism.” The older scholars were, I am thoroughly convinced, right in their views of the Inspiration of the Bible. Time will show if this be so. I believe it will ultimately triumphantly attest it. I am certain of this, that the Bible, as the “ higher critics” leave it, can never be vindicated as the Word of God. With such a faulty sword the Church can never win its old victories.
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