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standards are embarrassed when called upon to defend It. A final proof of its apostasy from evangelical standards is the fact that its leaders are now seeking to open its doors of membership to Roman Catholics, Jews and Unitarians. If John R. Mott succeeds in doing for our churches what he has done for mis sionary conventions and the Y. M. C. A., evangelical Christianity will be discred ited if not destroyed; and we cannot, therefore, longer follow his leadership. Another leader, almost equal in influ ence to John R. Mott, is Fred B. Smith, in whose mighty evangelical work we rejoiced a few years ago. His powerful Gospel addresses won thousands of men to Christ and led them to confess their allegiance to Him. Under the spell of the “ Men and Religion” movement, Fred B. Smith became an evangelical wreck. He lost the Gospel evangelistic note, and now he is avowedly anti-evan gelical. In St. Paul, Minnesota, a few weeks ago, he made an address in the interest of the “ Inter-church” Move ment in which he referred to his for mer evangelical addresses as “ canned goods” which he would like to sell for a dollar and a half. Time was, he de clared, when we sought to save drun kards one by one, but that time has passed. Now we are seeking to save so ciety and make such an order that no more drunkards will be made. Of course he does not expect to save so ciety by means of the “ canned goods” Gospel which he has discarded. We have, therefore, a leader in this “ Inter church” Movement whose program is to cease all efforts to save individuals, while he seeks to save society without an evangelical Gospel. Can we follow such leadership without falling into the ditch ? Another Inter-church leader is John D. Rockefeller, Jr., a nice young man who teaches a Bible class on Sunday and has heavy burdens of business dur
ing the week. When I was in New York a few Sundays ago his subject was “Honesty in Business” , and he is doubt less helpful to men who attend his class. But John D. Rockefeller, Jr., is not con tent to keep within the circle of the things he is in daily touch with; but he has been telling us through the press what kind of a church he would like to see established in the world, and those who have devoted their lives to Bible study see at a glance that the young man has no Biblical vision of the Church which Jesus Christ founded. One wonders whether he has ever in his busy life taken a systematic course of Bible study. And without such ballast of Biblical knowledge he has been near enough to the Chicago University to be driven by its rationalistic winds upon the breakers of Destructive Criticism. Though we are glad that such a young man shows a willingness to give money and time to useful things, he is not a safe leader of evangelical Chris tianity. As reported in the daily press he said, “ This Inter-church movement must succeed,” by which he doubtless meant that he would furnish enough money and organizing ability to insure its success. But if such success means the surrender or neutralizing of evan gelical truth it will be the most tragic failure that has ever come to the church of Christ. 4. The purpose of this “ Inter- church” movement seems to be to make a great ecclesiastical machine which will dominate all smaller bodies. It is an at tempt to form a papacy without a pope; and, if evangelical truth is to be sacri ficed or compromised, such a papacy without a pope will be no improvement upon the present ecclesiastical machine which has its center in Rome. Indeed, that machine cannot be improved if we desire to do things through an organ ization without the Spirit of God work ing through evangelical truth.
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