T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
979
She was th e most highly socialized of all nations. H er cities were clean and b eau tifu l; she enjoyed a marvelous prosperity; she was th e most highly educated nation on earth , and yet be neath th is surface th ere was a depth of moral iniquity which has been the am azem en t' of m ankind and th e dis grace of humanity. In Christ “all things consist,” and instead of this trem endous proclaim ing of reform and mere hum an betterm ent, th e church, through her preachers, needs to lift up before th e gaze of men th e crucified Son of God. The prom ise is “ I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto my self.” Every pulpit in th e world, in this hour of hum anity’s supreme anguish, ought to be' proclaim ing the message of love and calling th e stun ned and dismayed children of men back to the divine Christ. This is th e only way by which a world of sin and self ishness, wandering from its designed destiny, can be brought back to th e fulfillment of its glorious mission, which is th e realization of th e Kingdom of God, in th e personal reign of th e K ing of love, by whom all things were made and in whom all things hold to gether. UNITARIANS AT THE CROSS W h at is Unitarianism b u t a stumb ling a t th e simplicity of - th e cross? They were U nitarians who stood a t the cross when Christ died: they said, “Let Him come down from th e cross, and we will believe on H im .” T hat has been th e U nitarian character ever since: they will receive Jesu s any where b u t on His cross; b u t up there, dying in m an’s stead, He is so com monplace, th a t these g reat gentlemen run to philosophy and vain deceit soon er th a n lay hold on th a t which th e commonest may as fully understand as they.— Spurgeon.
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HAT a solemn responsibility rests upon th e church today. The church is the guardian of God’s tru th . H er preach
ers, therefore, should proclaim God’s tru th to th e lost souls of men. We are running today afte r a thousand man-made plans for “ social salv ation ;” when the Word of God is telling us th a t th ere is only one plan and th a t is Christ as “ th e wisdom of God and th e power of God.” The preachers of today are putting entirely too much tim e and streng th on side issues and incidental things. We must come back to th e g reat fundam entals. The ’'suprem e need of these times is the plain pro clamation of divine tru th by fearless prophets of God. The trouble is th a t many preachers today are trying to heal th e awful sore of hum an sin w ith soothing syrup. They are sprinkling cologne w ater on th e pu trid iniquities of a rebellious race. We cannot “re form ” th is world into the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God comes only by regeneration. Jesu s did no t say, “Ye m ust be reform ed again,” bu t He did say, “Ye must be born again.” He also said, “Except a man be born again he cannot see th e kingdom of God.” We cannot even “ see” it unless we have a sp iritual vision which comes only th rough sp iritu al b irth ; and yet some of us are imagining th a t we are going to bring in the kingdom by wise laws, righteous reform ation and th e improve m ent of enviroment. No! We cannot build a good society out of bad men any more th a n we could build a good h o u s e -o u t of bad boards. Modern Germany has amply proved all of this.
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