July 1924
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
407
tion and produced an atmosphere of reverence and respect for spiritual things, even from those who dif fered from them in belief. Their religion was real although it may sometimes have been rigorously rigid. There was no professed perfection, but a steadfastness of faith in the Bible as the Word of God, and they could give a reason for the hope within them, based upon the Book. Our country owes more than it realizes to the churches which were founded and maintained by such men and women. Now, sad to say, in many churches it is no more the catechism but just a “ kitty-chism.” Not faith in the one God, but faith in one’s goodness. Not belief in God’s Word, but belief in good works. Not “ What It is a. wholesale attack upon every precious article of the Christian faith; it has not a helpful thing to substitute in spite of its pretense to be “ constructive criticism;” it utterly ignores all the evidences gathered in centuries and today for the Christian faith; it goes to the grave of the oft-defeated and many times buried Arianism, Pelagianism, Gnosticism and Pantheism and Deism, a conglomeration of notions, and attempts their reviving; it abandons the Heav enly Father for a naturalistic Pantheism; the Deity of Christ for the mythical and wholly human Rabbi; it scouts regeneration and answered prayer, fellowship with God, and the conscious experience of the Holy Spirit, with doubts and thick clouds of doubts, and more doubts, denials, nega tions, tearings down and scatterings. Who can find any use for it in such a world of misery and sin as ours? Any use for it when souls are hungering for comfort and light and deliverance? When moral character is to be founded and built? Any use for it for men with a dark and fearful past, a crushing present, a hopeless future? There is no use for it as a religion. It multiplies doubts, denies the supernatural, explains away sin instead of saving from it, and knows no indwelling Spirit of God. Its God is in the Universe only, may hear but cannot answer prayer. Every element of a real religion, faith, spiritual conscious ness and Divine help is minimized or lost. What semblance of religion there is in Modernism is none of Christianity but an anti-supernatural and indefinite idealism. Humanity needs a loftier and better spirit but there is everything in Modernism that makes its spirit worse. He is made hypocritical, camouflaging in the presence of ortho dox congregations to hold his pulpit or other office; he is cowardly as might be expected from a religion of doubts, negations and emptiness. For no man is a martyr for his doubts; men do not give their lives for negations and empti ness. Modernism has yet to enroll its first man that volun tarily suffered for it. ’ Its spirit is detestable, boastful, un- brotherly, destructive. What use is it as a foundation for morals? Its ablest advocates lament that it has not yet found a substitute for the orthodox creed as a moral sanction. Moses broke both tables of the law in anger but God restored both. Modern ism destroys the first table but it cannot then save the sec ond. The ethics of Modernism justifies broken ordination vows, secret Modernist propaganda in Missions by the con tributions of orthodox people deceived by them, holding on to salaries while unfaithful to trusts, using orthodox term inology with emptied meanings and secret mental reserva tions and bold bluffing as to general scholarship and facts WHO CAN TELL US ANY USE FOR MODERNSM?
does the Scripture teach?” hut “ What does society think?” Not “ What is the ideal church life?” but “ What is the ideal club life?” Not faithful service for Christ, but fault-finding with fundamental Chris tians. Much desire for moving pictures, but little demand for meetings for prayer. But, thank God, there are some churches which still believe in the catechism. A careful study of individ ual churches in this country demonstrates the fact that those which are manifesting real love for the lost and áre securing the largest results in soul-stirring and soul-saving work, and have the greatest number of accessions, are those churches which believe in and battle for the fundamentals. Who can find any value in it as advancing our knowl edge, or oui_happiness, or the church, the family, or civilza- tion? It falsely calls itself Modern, for it is simply a re crudescence of most ancient notions with not a new idea anywhere in it. If there is a new idea the most insistent challenge to produce it has not been responded to. Has it made its devotees happy? They formerly said it gave a new peace and trust in their views of the Bible, but no such testimonies come now as their radical destructiveness with the Bible leaves little of it of any kind to feed trust or peace. And there are no Hallelujahs nor jubilant Psalms nor new hymns in that camp. It has not organized ev.en one new church directly on Modernism but squats dishon orably on what orthodoxy has builded. And where are the young people made better sons and daughters by being taught that the Bible is not inspired and Christ’s claims to be God and Saviour are false and that sin is a fall up ward, and so on? Has the increase of crime in the State and the demon izing of it had no relation of sequence to this loosening of morals and this denial of the supernatural? Prevalence of such views about the Bible and denials of God’s rule and intervention in humanity has always led to excessive vice, immorality, and crime. We charge Modernism, which in its outstanding advocates exhibits distressing lack of honor and honesty, with at least accelerating the fearful waves of crime. It is, to say the least, absolutely of no use in staying the flood of crime. It presents not a motive that is new or stronger than the effective old motives of orthodoxy for giving up sin. And it excuses sin as a fall upward. So that as its wild teachings percolate to the common people it simply promotes license to sin and evil. Modernism in all things is not only of no good use, it is a curse and blight upon humanity.—Dr. Charles Roads, in “ Eastern Meth odist.” of history on these issues. It is producing character and actions universally denounced by the man on the street as wrong.
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A TRACT A DAY Put a tract a day in the devil’s way, You’ll trip him every time. Don’t be afraid, or slow to upbraid His work in every clime. Preach God’s Word where it can be heard, With the Spirit’s earnest aid. Our work is to tell how to save, men from hell; And we must not let our witness fade. (B. I. Student) —-B. Wayne Travis.
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