July 1927
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
414
He shall be saved from death. “The wages',of sin is death,” but in the valley of, death God has opened a door into life. “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” To enter by this door is to enter into life, the abundant arid uncommon life. Why abide in “The Valley of Troubling,” the place of sin, defeat and death, when God has opened wide a door of hope? Christ is the door, our only hope. A Pro testan t S tud ies th e Mass JOHN R. SÇOTEORD in an article in “The Christian J Leader” (Boston), takes up the question of why the Roman Catholic Mass is the best attended form of reli gious observance to, be found in the world. Writing as a Protestant, Mr. Scotford thinks the Catholic Church is . “wise in its incidental arrangements.” “The idea of early mass is most fortunate,” he declares. “The Protestant hour of eleven is the most common-place . and prosaic period in the entire day.- Early morning worship com bines religious effectiveness with practical convenience. “Simply to be about early in the day is a religious experience. To entér a church in darkness and leave it in the glory of dawn is an experience in which romance and religion fuse.” He writes further of the rich lessons which Rome teaches through her architecture. Even an empty church conveys a religious message to the receptive heart. Real izing that most people see far more than they hear, Rome provides much for the worshiper to look at.: . He thinks that the very fact that the service is rend ered in an unknown tongue actually stimulates the imag ination. This, he thinks, prevents the worship of the indi vidual being cast into a certain mould. Rather is hé brought into “an atmosphere of devotion.” But—is there anything in all this psychological setting
that the criminal indifference of parents is largely re sponsible. He agrees with President Coolidge that “what the youth of the country 1 needs is not more public control through governmental action, but more home control through, parental action. “Through indifference or because of a generous bift ill-considered belief in the dangerous doctrine ;■ of ‘the new freedom,’ parents have given over the reins of authority,” says the Judge, “And now they watch with consternation the resulting runaway. “You cannot give, youth the reins and say. ‘Drive!’ without inviting a smash. Youth—I am speaking now of immaturity—lacks judgment. It ... is dominated to a large extent by the physical urge. Without a guiding hand it will run amuck and smash itself. True religion and good citizenship are inseparable. Supplementing the work of the church is the Sunday 'school. I am sorry that the Sunday school and the church must often do, un aided, what the home should cooperate in doing.” Eli, the priest of Israel, was chastised of God because he “restrained not his sons” (1 Sam. 3:13), whom he knew to be living lewd, and licentious lives. The margin of the R. V. shows that the words bear the meaning.: “He frowned not upon them.” The Bible everywhere teaches the duty of the parental frown. The absence of it in these days is responsible for the raising up of a genera tion of “flappers” and “sheiks.” The land is full of Eli fathers who indulge their children, furnishing them auto mobiles and money and asking no questions as to what they are up to. Parents are becoming a joke to their children and the next generation of parents will be even more of a joke to their offspring. Is the family institution about to pass away? Disobedience to parents and the overthrow of headship in the family are signs of the perilous days of the age end (2 Tim. 3 :1-3). The Door of Hope T HIS door was opened in an unlikely place—the val ley of Achor. (Hosea 2:15). This is the valley where the people of Israel assembled dispirited and afraid after the defeat of Ai. Here Achan, who: brought shame and confu sion to the sacramehtal host, confessed his sin and was stoned to death. They called it “The Valley of Troubling,’’ for it was the scene of defeat and death. God transmuted the scene of failure and death into a place of victory and life. Here He provided a highway into the brightness of hope. This is what God in Christ has done for the world. In the place of defeat and death He has opened a door of hope. Jesus is that door of hope. He says, “I am the door and by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” He shall be saved from sin. It was sin that created “The Valley of Troubling,” and Jesus is the only door out of it. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Wherever there is sin there is trouble and men cannot be saved from trouble until first they are saved from sin. He shall be saved from defeat. The men of Israel were defeated because they sinned and did that which was evil in the sight of God. Saving us from sin means saving us from defeat. Sin is defeat, it is missing the mark, and every man that misses the mark is a defeated man. Jesus is the door to the mark and the life of victory.
that can bring the soul into vital relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? Cod seeks those to worship Him who can-worship Him in spirit and in truth (Jm 4:23). The devil has never found it difficult to palm off the coun terfeit of a mere feeling of awe, inspired by mechanical devices, such as grand cathedral architecture, beautiful stained windows, im ages of the dead, weird artificial lights., the false voice of one speaking an unknown language, and mere empty forms. In all this there is nothing that relates a soul to God. Our Lord plainly inforrned the Samaritan woman that place and form had little if anything to do with the true worship demanded by the Father.
The sad feature of Mr. Scotford’s study of the mass, however, is that he seems to entirely overlook the false platform on which the whole thing rests. The simple words of our Lord, in which He calls upon His followers to remem ber His all-sufficient sacrifice by the use of the symbols, bread and wine, are twisted into the absurd doctrine of the mass. Rome’s clergymen are declared priests, and a priest must have an altar and a sacrifice. Therefore, Jesus is made a victim to be offered on the Roman altars to satisfy the church’s theory. The priest professes to change the bread into the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ. After the sup posed change, the bread is worshipped and prayed to, but
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