THE KING’S BUSINESS
IS
maker o f heaven and earth; the Eter nal Son, only begotten, of one sub stance with the Father, immanent in all created being, and incarnate in Jesus Christ; and the Holy Spirit eternally proceeding from the Father (later “ And from the Son” was add ed), dwelling in and giving life to the community of believers who constitute the Body o f Christ, one with the Fath er and the Son in the unity of a com mon spiritual life.” In this statement we have an effort to put in doctrinal form three things concerning God. God the Father Almighty source and sustainer of all things, God the only begotten Son, revealer of the Father and Redeemer from sin, and God the Holy Spirit working out this redemp tion in history. Nothing of vital im portance was added to this during the mediaeval period, it was practically the doctrine of the Catholic Church at the time of the Reformation. The tend ency o f the Reformation theologians was to lay exaggerated emphasis on the transcendence and sovereignty of God. This tendency found expression in Hyper-Calvinism and the philoso phy of Deism. In modern times there has_ been a very decided reaction ^gainst this tendency finding expres sion in the teachings of men like F. D. Maurice, Dean Stanley and Erskine of Linlathen and also in the Hegelian Philosophy. This reaction permeates much o f what people speak o f as “ The Modern Conception” and in many in stances seems to border on a species of Pantheism. This tendency is given a new impetus by the fact of the col lapse of materialism in philosophic thought. There is no need of arguing for the existence of God in our day. That fact is practically taken for granted by our great thinkers. Sir Francis Younghusband, writing in the October number of The Hibbert Jour nal, says thgjt we are all practically agreed “ That we are under an in fluence which makes for Good.” In
other words, men everywhere are real izing that back of the phenomena that we know must be an active Creator with purpose and plan. But men, more and more, shrink from definitely defining this active power which works for good. However, to refuse to ac cept certain definitions is not to reject the fact defined. Here is my boy. He is a personality. But there are a great many theories of personality. I may not be able to accept in detail any the ory of personality—that I know. But I am not going to reject my boy and refuse to accept him simply because I cannot explain him in the terms of certain'theories of personality. I can not think of three great thinkers in the world today who question the fact of God. This is so because the more men know of the world and the uni verse the more they need God.' Mod ern thinking logically demands a God. If there were no God modern thought would force us to invent one. Men through their studies of nature and history are driven to the conclusion that we are under an influence which makes for Good. Jesus says that that influence is the presence of God our Father in the world endeavoring to reproduce His own life in beings who are capable of responding to Him. This is.the purpose which men find everywhere in nature and history and it is the goal towards which the whole creation moves. Nothing has been discovered by modern science or philosophy to con tradict this interpretation of “ the in fluence which makes for good.” On the contrary it gives us a conception o f the universe which meets the need of modern thinking better than any other conception known to human thought. In this interpretation of God given by Jesus Christ we have a tremendous moral challenge. The great purpose o f nature and history is to reproduce the life of God. Christ revealed to the world that the life of
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