July 1929
320
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K i n g ' s
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An even more frank and striking statement about the real meaning of modern religion is found in a sermon by A. Wakefield Slaten, pastor of the West Side Uni tarian Church in New York. Mr. Slaten represents the most advanced type of Modernism. With the late Pro fessor Gerald Birney Smith, of the University of Chi cago, he believes that it is possible to translate the word God “into exclusively humanistic meanings” ( Current Christian Thinking, p. 162). He defends “the religion of humanism” and speaks of it as “the new emphasis in religious thought.” He says further: “I would not con ceal from you what this new emphasis involves. It may well cause the boldest to pause and consider. Humanism . . . . calls upon you to give up the comforting thought of the fatherhood of God and offers you instead the inflex ible impartiality of immutable natural law. . . . You sense your isolation that you are physically alone in a terrifying and uncaring universe, and that when your little span of life is done you sink into extinction, the blackness o f dark ness forever!” (Type emphasis mine.) Mr. Slaten adds: “It requires some courage to take that frightening look and then to creep back into the homey, happy human relationships, find them sufficient, dream of a better world of human life, not in Elysian fields, or Walhalla, or the New Jerusalem, but here upon this good brown earth.” Such is the substitute-offered by modern religion for the Christian hope. It means the reverse of hope as con cerns both the life that is to come and that which now is. The attempt to build a better world on such a foundation is hopeless. Christian morality will become a thing of the past as such views are gaining ground. Now there are three things necessary to a healthy body,—namely, air, food, and exercise. The Christian lives in the atmosphere of prayer. It is the spiritual air he breathes. He has the Bible as his spiritual food. And he should take plenty of soul-winning and different kinds of Christian activity for exercise. Prayer should be as constant as the air we breathe. Food should be served to the soul three times a day. And the exercise should be taken regularly. Now it is of the food that we are writing. What do we eat? The daily news, the magazine, the weeklies, the latest books. These are found in the hands of most people every day. But what about the Bread of Life? I . T h e B ib l e t h e G r e a t e s t F ood fo r T h o u g h t The Bible is food for the mind. It is the greatest of all books. The greatest seller. The greatest in the num ber of languages and dialects into which it has been trans lated. The greatest amount of truth is contained in it. In fact, one writer says, “It contains more truth than all other books put together.” And another says, “The Bible is not, and does not profess to be, a Book on Science. But it has handled its contents conservatively yet com pletely, carefully yet conclusively. It, of all books, has stuck to its theme. It has not roamed afield to other realms, as has science. Its subject is Salvation, not Sci ence. Its realm is heart religion, not head rationalism.
of doubt and to feel their feet slip just when they thought that some rock on which they stood was firm.” Is it not passing strange that Professor Foster, not withstanding these admissions, put forth great effort to persuade his students to accept the Modernistic viewpoint ? Are not his writings a defense of the advanced Modern ism? How could he ignore the fact that these theological students were to be the pastors of those who were stand ing firm in the Christian faith? He says in one of his books that some of the students, when in the seminaries they come under the influence of advanced theological thought, turn away from the ministry to follow some other calling. His writings show, as stated above, that his influence as a teacher was all in favor of radical Modern ism, but when he succeeded in winning his students to his views, and when consequently their consciences and a sense of common honesty urged them to abandon the ministry, he did his best to persuade them to stay in it, though he admitted that what he taught was not the Chris tian faith and it was not well that his views be spread among orthodox Christians. God alone knows the multitude of Christian believers who have suffered shipwreck of faith in Christ and the future life through the influence of pastors who were trained in institutions of the class represented by the one in which Professor Foster was a prominent teacher. Pro fessor Foster conceded, as we have seen, that Modernism has nothing better to offer than the pious hope to be kept “ from freezing in the dark” and admitted that the old faith is a great treasure to those who cling to it. Though it is apparent that he had his struggles of conscience in reference to the questions involved, he may never have duly considered his personal responsibility. OOD is a much-discussed subject in many cir- cles. But I am not prescribing a course in die- cKylt teti'cs: rather I would suggest the subject “What shall we eat spiritually?” At this moment there are more people in the world who are starving for the want of spiritual food than there are in want of physical food. More people with skeleton souls and dwarfed minds because they are feeding on error instead of truth. More people within and without the Church who are poisoning their inner life by believing the untrue reasonings of false teachers. Jeremiah (15:16) said, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy words were unto me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart.” There are people who have eaten so much of one kind of physical food, that their hunger for the food they need is nearly gone. There are those who have read the philosophies of men of unbelief until they have no hunger for the true Bread of Life. Others have neglected the Bread of Life so long that they have no taste for it. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out o f the mouth o f God” (Matt 4 :4). What we are physically de pends largely upon what we eat. I know of a mother and daughter who live mostly upon tea and toast. They show it in their emaciated bodies. There are Christian people who are trying to maintain their faith and their souls upon one poor sermon a week, and that may be half sawdust. |iT j|
.$!£. ¿y? jfe j&i What Shall We Eat? B y .R e v . W. H. P ik e Secretary Evening School, Bible Institute of Los Angeles
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