October 1928
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
607
And Let’s 7 v[ot Forget — A man may be a great scholar, and yet be a great sinner. Judas the traitor, was J u d a s the preacher. The toad that has a pearl in its head, has poison in its bowels. The tree o f knowledge has often b e e n planted and flourished, where the tree o f life never grew. A man may be acquainted with the grace o f truth, and yet not know the truth o f grace. Parts, and even all gifts without grace and holiness, are but like Uriah’s letters, which were the death warrants o f him who carried them. Naked knowledge will be un serviceable to the soul, in the dying day, as a painted fire would be to the frozen body in a cold day. — Seeker.
them into a cheery and reasonable faith, as they did the writer; and also that it may be a warning to those who have hastily criticized in a destructive way, those whom God has been so much pleased to bless and use. Out of Uncertainty Into Clear Conviction W e publish the following testimony handed us by a student o f the Institute because it shows the vital necessity o f Institute training in the education of the youth of today: “ After having spent seven semesters at the State Uni versity in Los Angeles, I entered the Bible Institute last F e b r u a r y I came for the express purpose o f regaining my‘ faith in the fundamental truths of the Christian reli gion. It seemed an impossibility at that time to ever be restored to my former satisfying fellowship with the Lord. I was so distressed and miserable that I did not care to live, and I turned to the Institute almost hopelessly. “ My particular difficulty was loss of faith in the super natural. My former study o f certain courses in Sociology, Science, etc., seemed to me to take the presence of God out of history,— then to throw doubt upon the inspiration and authenticity o f the Bible, and finally to rob the Gospel o f Christ of the miraculous in His virgin birth, atoning death, and bodily resurrection. “ I was further troubled because a certain part of the church, .represented by learned men, also accepted these ideas,? It seemed entirely hopeless to me that among so many conflicting opinions I could find the real truth. But I thank God that that very thing has been realized in this one short •semester. The spiritual atmosphere of prayer and faith which I found in the Bible Institute was exceedingly helpful. But that could not quite furnish the solid basis for my faith o f which I was so much in need. “ As I listened to the deliberate, fair-minded treatment of the great facts of the Christian religion in your philoso phy lectures, I gradually began to realize that I could use my own mind and heart to discern the truth and not be tossed about by every wind of doctrine. “ A fter these sound and honest dealings with the problem, I could not escape this conclusion— that the Mod ernists were utterly mistaken in their attitude toward the work o f Christ and the historic facts of His life. I saw how absolutely necessary each great fundamental fact was to the whole scheme o f redemption, as all the previous dogmatic statements of these facts had not been able to make me see. “ I believe that my faith has been so strongly grounded in the'Christian truth that now by His grace, I shall be able to ‘keep the faith.’ “ Many of the students have told me that the, philoso phy class has cleared up problems and made a way for greater spiritual growth. I know that we come to it with great eagerness and interest. Not all of them have had particular difficulty with doubt, but I believe that uncon sciously they are being forearmed against the subtlety o f modernism, which it seems most probable that they will encounter in their future ministry. “ No one who has not realized it can know how blessed it is to come out of doubt and uncertainty into a,clear con viction of the truth. Upon this foundation of faith my Lord js reconstructing my spiritual experience. It makes life worth living once more and restores to me the joy o f my salvation. I cannot express, Dr. Maclnnis, how large a part your course in philosophy has taken in my restora tion. And I do wish to thank you so much for your zeal
by E. Stanley Jones and “ Peter the Fisherman Philoso pher” by John M. Maclnnis. Both these hooks appealed to the mind as well as the heart. Both have about them the touch o f wide learning and culture. Both savor of a deep, personal faith in a unique Christ, dying and rising to save mankind. Both fearlessly grapple with those problems which have perplexed thinking youth and present a rational answer to these questions, satisfying to the mind and heart. The pages breathe forth into the soul of the unprejudiced reader,'the fragrant spiritual experience that is theirs, and which could come to them only1by daily perusal of the Word, which is “ full of life and power.” One knows that the|J speak from the heart, not without experience of the living Christ.' Jones will never know until we converse together among the flowers o f eternity in the garden of heaven (granted he remains loyal to the salvation scheme), just how much his chapter, “ What or Whom” did for me, when, as a perplexed and mentally befuddled, bewildered young man, I was being tossed about between the angry waves o f unbelief and darkness. The same holds true for Maclnnis. Every chapter of his book was an inspiration, a gloom dispeller, a benediction of peace and joy and rest, vitalizing faith to the perplexed one. It gave me positive, personal, precious convictions. No longer is. the world purposeless, separate from Him whose face we see in Christ. A sovereign— personal— Father-God is the “ Maker o f the universe, purpose is at the heart of it, love under neath it, providence is in control of it, victory ahead of it. In Christ I have found God, and He “meets the de mand of the intellect for a- rational universe, of the moral nature for an ethical ideal, and of the heart for a com panion who has power to lead and guard.” In Him I am happy and at peace with God. It is because I deplore the spirit of destructive criti cism and misunderstanding among Christian forces mak ing for suspicion and division, the false, unfair labels which have been attached ,to the names of these two heroic leaders that I write these words o f personal testimony. It is my prayer and hope that-these books, with their positive Christian message, will prove a like blessing and benedic tion to other storm-tossed college boys and girls, leading
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