August 1925
TH E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
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SKali We Mode rn i ze the Faith? Rev. G. W. jjid o u t, D. D., P . R. G. S., P rofessor P ractical Theology a fid Apologetics, Asbury College, W ilmore, Ky. A u tho r of “The Cross an d th e F lag ” ; “The P re sen t Crisis in Methodism” ; “W h at is th e M atter w ith P ro testan tism ” ; and Amazing Grace.” Dr. R idout has given us a practical and logical article, well calculated to stim u la te th e fa ith of every believer are a t least th ree attitu d e s we may assume regard to th e F a ith ; We may seek to modernize it. We may seek to hold a comprom ising a tti tude tow ard it. 3. We may embrace it, contend for it, and defend it. We May Seek to Modernize I t
4. We m u st no t modernize so as to invite an invasion of doubt. This is an age of doubt. Some conceive th a t it is th e Special prerogative of th e schools to te a r from the stu dents th e ir beliefs and th eir certainties and th ru st them into doubt and then make them fight th e ir way back to faith. Not so! Our business is not to scatter doubt bu t proclaim divine certainties when it comes to faith. A certain writer, says, “One cause of th e present decline from old beliefs is a sp iritual debility, a lack of th e power to tak e energetic hold on belief even when reason finds no fau lt w ith them. 5. We m u st n o t modernize so as to obscure th e supreme object of th e Church. The Church is called to be a com munion of saints as well as a working body. I t has a higher mission th an of socialities. It was created for sp iritual m inistries. John Wesley said to his preachers: “You have but one th ing to do, th a t is, to saye souls.” When the Church becomes so modern th a t it fails a t soul-saving it grows dead to the sacred purpose of God for which it was called into existence. 6. W e m u st n o t modernize so as to obscure th e sense of God o r lose th e God-consciousness in our soul. They say th a t both th e sense of sin and th e sense of God is sadly declining in th is age. We believe it is so. To m aintain a steady faith and a good experience we m ust tak e care to preserve the God-consciousness in our souls. This was th a t which made so many of the saints so conspicuous for holy ardor. It is said of St. F rancis th a t he would so often be filled w ith God th a t his constant saying was “My God! My God!” A Compromising A ttitude Touching now th e second point th a t our a ttitu d e towards the F aith m ight be one of compromise, let mfe say th a t the sp irit of compromise is to be m et w ith on every hand. Sufficient, however, on this point to say th a t we gain nothing by compromise. A New England w riter shows us the foolishness of this when he speaks of “ pouring the w aters of concession into the bottom less buckets of expediency.” We need again to heed th a t call of ano ther w riter who says: “We m ust be baptized again into the sp irit of nonconform ity, of intellec tu al and moral honesty— the sp irit which does no t suffer men to go w ith the crowd when reason and conscience and a living God bid them go alone.” Embrace— Contend—Defend Coming now to the th ird point, let us say th a t our Chris tia n a ttitu d e should be th a t of defenders of, and contend ers for, the faith . Most of the men of th e New Testament not only gave us those sacred w ritings, bu t they contended for and defended them w ith th eir lives. They held tru e to th e F aith and sealed th eir testimony w ith th eir blood.
The cry and clamor today is to modernize religion, .the church and th e Christian faith. They say th e modern m ind i s .calling for restatem ents, new settings, etc. The fact is these clamorous calls come more from the carnal m ind than from any other kind of mind. But let us remember th a t if we go into this modernizing business we sh all come up against, certain positive dangers an d we need to heed certain w arnings: Let us a t th is point emphasize certain cautions. 1. We m u st n o t modernize to th e degree of losing sight o f certain g reat distinctions. Remember the Christian F aith has certain g reat headlands of HistoricifeApostolic and Revealed T ru th which, like the Alps of Switzerland, abide th rough the ages and have never removed though empires have fallen, dynasties have changed, and th e map of Europe and the world have altered a hundred times and more. The Church has stood for these g reat distinctions th roughou t the ages. Methodism has held them. Abel Stevens, w riting of Methodist Theology and th e Methodist P u lp it of other days, w rote: “Acknowledging th e import ance of sound doctrine they dealt mostly in th e theology which relates to the sp iritual life— F aith , Justification, Regeneration, Sanctification and th e W itness of th e Spirit. These were the great ideas, and never since the Apostolic days were they brought out more clearly.” 2. We m u st no t modernize so as to lose ou r essential message. The message of the Church is redemptional, not m erely reform atory or. cultured. The preacher is not a prophet of social righteousness, bu t an apostle of th e Gos pel, and he is to declare the whole counsel of God and not th e resu lts of scholarship, th e guesses of philosophy or the illusions of modernism. 3. We m u st n o t modernize so as to lower th e In sp ira tio n and th e A uthority of th e Scriptures on things essential to salvationi. The modern tendency is to strik e a t In sp ira tion, lower its tone and thus deprive the Bible of its God- given authority. Wycliffe, th a t g reat man of Oxford, who fought such a royal b attle to give the common people of England the Bible in th e English tongue, said: “The New T estam ent is full of au tho rity and open to the understand ing of simple men as to the points th a t be most needful to salvation. . . . The Holy Ghost teaches us the meaning o f Scriptures as Christ opened its sense to His disciples.”
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