King's Business - 1918-06

THE KING’S BUSINESS 461 Church. Our denomination is becoming well known for the fervor of its evangelistic spirit. May its reputation in that particular respect increase greatly to the glory of our Lord.” Dr. Atkinson was invited to a place on the faculty of the Bible Institute several years ago, before Dr. Evans was, invited to that place, but he did not feel at that time able to come. Upon Dr. Evans deciding to give the major part of his time to conference work in different parts of the country, attention naturally turned to Dr. Atkinson and he was invited again. At the time of receiving the invitation he was considering three other calls that had come to him to positions of great promise of usefulness, but after much prayer he decided to accept the invitation to the Bible Institute. It is of interest to know that Dr. Atkinson has a wife and seven children, a son of 21, another 17, and another 4, and four daughters. Mrs. Atkinson is said to be a woman of great force, and beauty of character, and has been a great help to Dr. Atkinson in Iris various pastorates. 1 » TAR’S INFLUENCE ON RELIG ION. ” A religious editorial in a secular paper published in Los' Angeles, Thursday, March 28, shows a singular mixture of truth and error. The title of the editorial was, “War’s Influence on Religion,” and it says: “It is said there are men who boast that they never pray. It is,probable that no such man ever lived. There are doubtless men who have never assumed a bodily attitude deemed by some as essential to what they call prayer. But if prayer is an attitude of mind rather than of body, then prayer is perhaps about as universal an experience as may be named. “In a time like this, even men who deny or question the existence of God discover themselves hoping against their belief, or unconsciously turning, men­ tally, 40 a power whose existence they would believe in, if they could. “It is a well known fact that in an hour of extreme danger men who call themselves godless have been known to call reverently for divine help.” Thus far, little exception is to be taken to the editorial, and it states (from an interesting source) an undoubted fact that the- atheism and agnosticism of the average man is very superficial, and that underneath it all men do realize in their hours of emergency their dependence upon God, and though they are not willing to serve Him, and therefore love’to doubt His existence, still, when they get into difficulty they instinctly turn to Him. But now comes the sort of utterance that is to be expected from such a source. The editor goes on to say: “It is the crudities of human interpretation rather than the vital things of religion from which the human mind has turned away.” This is not true. It is the most vital things of religion from which the human mind is turned away. Its demand for the renunciation of sin, and its sacrifice of self, and the submission of its pride and self-confidence to God, are the things against which the wicked heart which is at enmity against God (Rom. 8 :7) revolts. Men are willing to flock in droves after any system of religion, no matter how absurd, that will eliminate the call for self-sacrifice, and the giving up of sin, and the humbling of self under the mighty hand of God. The paper from which this editorial is taken is notoriously “Christian Science” in its sympathies, and Christian Science is not a revolt against “the crudities of human interpretation.” It is a revolt against our Lord’s demand

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