King's Business - 1922-06

T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S must fail, unless some new power comes to their rescue which goes beyond any­ thing which man has ever yet dreamed of. But when that day comes, men will be mad, for the next step is noth­ ing short of complete demon possession with all the orgies which such a day foretells. But the art of ¡the past will still sur­ vive, for it has abiding qualities which are true esthetic motives; and the same is true of great literature. Those things are not mere impressions for the day, but gripping facts. They endure. The impressionist is soon forgotten, for the thrill he once gave can never come again. Bach succeeding thrill is like the dying away of the waves from a pebble thrown in the bosom of the ocean. But the Word of the Lord abideth forever, for He has settled it in Heaven. Handling of the Word of life does not leave impressions, it is life, and life that endures. It is everlasting life, and has behind it the eternal Godhead and His promise that His word shall not re­ turn unto Him void. The Word and Life versus modernism and impression­ alism. LOVE’S NOBLE SERVICE We can not all be preachers and sway with voice and pen, As strong winds sway the forest, the minds and hearts of men; But we can be evangels to souls with­ in our reach; There’s always love’s own gospel for loving hearts to preach. ARE YOU CONCERNED? Dr. Archibald Alexander, the great theologian and preacher, was asked one day if the heathen could be saved if we do not send them the gospel. He replied: “ I am not so much concerned about whether the heathen will be saved as I am whether we shall be saved if we do not send the gospel to them.”

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to give the public thrills when they de­ nied the Scriptures, may not have been as popular as movie stars, but it has taken only a few years for the majority of the ministers to thrill their audiences by this method rather than by the old time Gospel. Back of this fact of the transitoriness of impressionistic methods lie the causes for the adoption of the modern­ istic views of Scripture. It was the at­ tack upon institutions and sacred things, made by giving impressions rather than facts, that gave the crowd thrills, and they fell for it. The truth of the statements was not questioned. After all, truth was not the thing desired, it was stirred emotions. But any emotion which does not have a solid foundation and is not hedged by common sense and truth, leaves the victim exhausted, rather than strengthened. And so this is true of all phases of the impression­ istic process, especially in the religious sphere. Were it in the province of this short article to survey the field of kindred sen­ sationalism, we would discover that fashions, including dress, house furnish­ ings, and implements for common use, education, and even business are af­ fected by this modern heresy from com­ mon sense, impressionalism. What is it leading us to? It is lead­ ing us to a non-appreciation of stable, natural things, but most of all, truth, whether expressed from the pulpit, press or by the brush is no longer appre­ ciated, but a semblance of it which im­ pressions give. What will save us from it? Nothing but the truths of the Bible which are not shaded pictures of caricatures but very human nature; nothing but a care­ ful discriminatiofi of truth from error, not by reason, but by the' guidance of the Holy Spirit wkich was given to lead us into all truth. The modernist thrillers have about come to the end of their course, and they

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