824
THE KING ' S BUSINESS
their man to look for another job. When people go into a Baptist or a Methodist church, they have a right to expect Baptist or Methodist doctrine. "The satisfaction of being thus com– plimented by a man who thinks you are doing the work of the devil, and who uses you to belabor other men to whom you feel far nearer in spirit, is a fairly dubious one. But. withal, one could but feel that in this protest there was some– thing extremely healthy and necessary. The Modernist preacher in the old churches is In a position of such grave difficulty and moral danger that even the hardest-headed Rationalist might well pray to be delivered from it. So long as he is clearly trying to be sincere with himself and his hearers he Is en– titled to the warmest sympathy of those of us who enjoy a larger freedom. But there is nothing more repellant than the preacher who privately admits that he doesn't believe what he publicly utters, and laughs at the stupidity which pre– vents his hearers from finding him out. Nothing could conceivably be more de-
moralizing than this game of sanctified make-bel!eve. The preachers denounce loose living, unchastity, drunkenness, the sensationalism of the cinema and the newspaper, the jazz band and the unseemly dance; and well they may. But none of these things, and not all of them together, are so profoundly corrupting, so ruinous to the very prin– ciple and standard of moral integricy, as that which must be plainly called re– ligious lying. By this I do not mean preaching false doctrine - doctrine which you and I think false. I mean preaching, as the highest and holiest truth, doctrine that the preacher him– self thinks false; keeping silence about things tlrnt your church professes, and your position imp1ies that you yourself hold, when, in fact, you do not hold them; using 'weazled words' to plant in other minds a different meaning from that which they convey to your own; humbugging the naive and unwary, for the glory of God and the security of your own income and social position."
iUISS ROUZEE'S WORK IN CHINA Letter received from James Stark, of the China Inland Mission, regarding meetings held by Miss M. Winifred Rouzee: "In Shanghai there has just been con– cluded a very remarkable series of meet– ings addressed by Miss M. W. Rouzee, formerly of Los Angeles, who Is at pres– ent on a visit to China. I question whether any previous missionary has ever attracted and gripped a Shanghai ered to the saints. A II classes of society have been represented, and at two of the meetings Mr. Sidney Barton, the British Consul-General, Las presided. The results of these addresses by Miss Ronzee have been most encouraging. At the closing meeting yesterday evening fifteen young people signified their de– cision for Christ, whilst at a special meeting, where the audience was com– posed entirely of women, four of those present decided for Christ, and seven- audience as Miss Rouzee has done. For teen bacl{sliders were restored. Miss
Rouzee is to preach in the Union Church next Sunday morning,· and will address a meeting in the C. I. M. Hall in the eve– ning of the same day."
nine days five to six hundred members of the community and the missionary body have daily listened to her impas– sioned defense of the faith once rleliv-
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs