335
June 1928
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
those who had been breathing plenty of good fresh air. One reason church members lack the discernment of error today is, we believe, because they have not exercised their spiritual senses. They have not partaken regularly o f the truths of the high altitudes. This may be largely due to personal neglect o f Bible study, yet preachers also should be aroused to the danger of giving too little attention to the exposition of the Word. No church can long thrive on controversy. While a high pitch o f enthusiasm may for a time be kept up, more than one pastor’s successor has found it necessary to put a supposedly well-instructed church back upon the milk bottle. To individual Christians may we point out the fact that we are commanded to grow in knozvledge as well as in grace (2 Pet. 3:18) ? Too many have'remained suck lings. A believer should grow in capacity so that he would desire fuller and higher teachings. Christian teaching advances from the simplicity suited to the young convert to the deeper Christian philosophy suited to the full-grown stage. It is one thing to grow in grace, and live a sep arated life ; it is quite another to advance in the knowledge o f the deep things of God’s Word. W e pity the man who has a head crammed full of Bible knowledge, with no growth in grace to balance it. Should we not feel equally alarmed about those who think a consecrated life an evi dence of spiritual superiority, 'while they still feed upon the milk bottle? The church today needs to be stirred up "to go on Unto perfection” (Heb. 6 :1 ). There are not enough meat-eat ing Christians, and too many ministers have lost sight of that old-fashioned rule o f preaching:— -“ They read in the book o f God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading” (Neh. 8 :8 ). . Speaking of “ Uncovenanted Mercies” AS we have understood the teachings o f the Roman - t V. Church, it is considered that only Catholic priests hold office in the line of unbroken succession from Peter (the first pope— ?? ?) and that the grace purchased by Christ’s death can flow only through the hands o f the Roman priesthood. The “ infusion o f grace” is said to be through the sacraments and administered by the “ only true church.” Now it must have been manifest to Roman Catholics throughout the centuries that hundreds and thousands outside of their church have had heart experiences of the grace of God; W e have Often been puzzled to know how they would account for this tremendous.-“ overflow” of grace to people who could not for a moment tolerate the practices of Romanism. This seems to have been a ques tion that has arisen in the minds o f some Catholics, for The American Church Monthly, a Catholic paper, has re cently attempted to answer it. Can there be any reality in the spiritual life of Protes tants ? Are all outside of the Catholic Church completely cut off from the influences of His grace? The editor thinks it would be saying too much to answer the first question in the negative and the second in the affirmative. Here is his course o f reasoning:
“The authorized way by which the grace, o f God comes to men,” he declares, “ is through the seven sacraments o f the one church He has instituted, and a Catholic is'quite within his rights in refusing to receive Holy Communion at the hands of anyone who is not a regularly ordained priest whose orders come from a bishop in the apostolic succession. We should' never condemn the spiritual life of others as being unreal or false, however irregular or invalid any sacramental ministrations to which they are ac customed may appear to us.” Then comes this striking admission: “ Those who do riot believe in the priesthood maxi, for all we know, receive the grace of Christ quite as fully as those who are conforming to all the requirements o f the Catholic Church. It is not for us to dictate to Christ how He shall dispense the merits of His redemption to pious and believing souls."', Those who, through no fault of their own, do not understand the Catholic religion, yet are living up to what light they have, may be safely left to the uncov enanted mercies o f God.’’ That explains it! Alas, how profuse have been these “ uncovenanted mercies of God” to popeless and priestless churches o f the world! This Catholic editor is hewing close to the line o f Scripture truth when he grants that if we live up to our light, we may yet pull through without the help of Romanism. " I f we walk in the light as H e is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood o f Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 Jn. 1 :7). By what “ light” shall we walk? "Thy word is . . . . a light unto my path” (Psa. 119:105). Had we nothing more than the Epistle to the Hebrews, the way faring man could quickly learn for himself that there re mains no more sacrifice for sin, and no more priesthood, and the way into the heavens is open unto all who come unto God by Jesus Christ. Let our Catholic friends read in their own version of the New Testament the terms of God’s Covenant, and they will see that His grace is covenanted to "whosoever be- lieveth ” and with no mediator, other than Jesus Christ Himself (1 Tim. 2 :5 ). (Since the above was written there has come from the press a hook entitled “ The Belief of Catholics” by Father Ronald Knox. One thing he insists on is that there is no salvation outside of Rome. “ Catholics believe,” he says, “ that there is no other religious body in the world through which salvation can be procured.” However, he goes on to explain that some are “ Roman Catholics without know ing i t ” ) ; Why the Bible is “ Foolishness” to Some H ERE is a paragraph from an Atheist paper which is quite widely circulated among the young people ,of our land, and the editor o f which is one of those more enlightened individuals who looks with pity upon the poor mortals who have found comfort and help in the Scrip tures :
“ On a rainy day with nothing to do, I picked up that old Jew book called' the Bible and waded through two sections known as Isaiah and Jeremiah, and if it is possible to waste one’s time in a more foolish manner, I know not how unless one reads the book o f revelations. There is nothing of importance , to be found in any o f them, and why they have been preserved for so many centuries is a mystery. The man who can feed his mind on such meaningless jar gon must be classed with fools and imbeciles, for, there is where he belongs.”
“ It is an underlying principle of Catholic theol ogy that Christ, being God, is the absolute Master of His gifts and of the manner of their distribution. We cannot pretend to determine how he shall dispense His blessings.
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