November 1926 B U S I N E S S of the readers are already familiar with the outspoken asser tions of atheism or agnosticism uttered by the famous Mod ernist giant in that sermon. Historic Faith Rejected In order to refresh the memories of those who have read the sermon, as well as to give some Idea of it to those who may not have done so, the following brief extract may be quoted as a sample of the outspoken boldness of the ser mon: “ It is interesting to note where the Fundamentalists are driving in their stakes to mark out the deadline of doctrine around the church, across which no one is to pass except on terms of agreement. They insist that we must all believe in the historicity of certain special miracles, pre eminently the virgin birth of our Lord; that we must in a special theory of inspiration— that the original docu ments of the Scripture, which of course we no longer pos sess. were inerrantly dictated to men a good deal as a man might dictate to a stenographer; that we must believe in a special theory of the atonement— that the blood of our Lord, shed in a substitutionary death, placates an alienated Deity and makes possible welcome for the returning sin ner; and that we must believe in the second coming of our Lord upon the clouds of heaven to set up a millennium here, as the only way in which God can bring history to a worthy ‘denouement.’ Such are some of the stakes which «_i_ _ JaltrAvi In morir cuurcii. . . Then the doctor began to pull up these stages and to deal with them in an unusually frank and open manner for a Modernist, for example, instead of evading the question of the virgin birth, as is customary with most Modernists, by saying that they do not know and will neither affirm nor deny it. Fosdick came out boldly that Sunday morning and spoke on it as "a biological miracle which our modern minds cannot use.” He then went on to ridicule what he termed “ the static thecry of inspiration” , etc. After going on with various emphatic denials of Scriptural doctrines, he made a touching appeal on behalf of the young people who were coming out of colleges and universities within the follow ing month, who had been taught to disbelieve the Bible and who would have to remain outside of the Christian church if the church was going to insist on being "an intolerant church," and he flattered the members of the First Church, especially the older members, by asserting that so far as he had been able to discover there was not one member who disagreed with his heretical preaching! Courtesy Does Not Necessarily Imply Spirituality The atmosphere was rather tense after the service; at least, it seemed so to me. A number of persons in nearby pews evidently felt that it was desirable that they should speak to the young men who had sat in the reserved pew, the first one to approach us in a most gracious manner being a charming young lady from across the aisle, who said, "You are evidently strangers here; I noticed that you were studying the calendar. very carefully and seemed much interested in the service; I wonder if you would like to go through our church building? If so, I would gladly pilot you.” We thanked her but declined her offer, saying that we desired to speak to Dr. Fosdick and hurry away; how ever, I said that if we had time, it would be interesting to see the room where the Spring Dance was to be held. She replied that she would be pleased to have us come to the dance if we could, and she blushed crimson when we told her that we were missionaries and had given up dancing years ago, when we became Christians. The next person (Continued on page 688)
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Thanksgiving— Spiritual Rev. Henry Ostrom, D D. B ET our Thanksgiving be without worldly tang. Let it be truly accep table thanksgiving to God. To turn aside from the will of God and resist His call and then to speak of the plenitude of harvest and the protection of the government as reasons for offering thanks to Him may seem like appreciation and gratitude but It is in reality indicative of conceit declaring Itself in terms of downright falsehood. God’s appeal to our sense of appreciation is never found in the deliciousness of the fruit or the nutriment of the bread or the advan tages of the government as it is revealed in His holiness providing for us eternal life. The two—-the material and the spiritual— can never be placed over against each other as competitors in the promptings of our grati tude, Placed thus the conclusion would be apparent and instant: which is that the material cannot accomplish the first real note in thanksgiving’s song without the spiritual, just as the material is ever fading and failing — doomed to decay and death— so the ma terial promptings to acceptable thanksgiving would of themselves lack the value and the durability, .to inspire real praise to God. God is unknown to the soul thus engrossed in material things. How then will such a soul reach Him with Its feigned ottering of praise? It is when He has been sighted by faith and He is implicitly credited as the bestower of the material benefits that He can be accep tably praised.—The Gideon.
teners for the great shock which he knew many of the older members would receive when they heard the sermon which was about to be preached by Dr. Posdick. “ In Sheep’s Clothing” I had my note paper and pencil in hand when Fosdick ascended the pulpit stairs and took his place in the pulpit in front of the electrical microphone, whjcb was to transmit his voice to the various side rooms and back rooms upstairs in the building, all of which were also crowded, mostly with students from Union Seminary and Columbia University and other institutions of that type. As I observed the pleasing appearance of this magnetic preacher, with his clear-cut features and his piercing bead-like eyes and his waving hair, and as I listened to the first sentences spoken in his melodious voice, I thought how easy and pleasant it would be Just to relax and fall under his hypnotic spell! How ever, I had read enough of his books to be warned in regard to his dangerous theology, having observed that the vital things had been cleverly omitted and the false doctrine so camouflaged that it could not be easily detected by those who were not accustomed to Modernist methods. I am unable to write shorthand but I acquired ability to write a fairly quick short-long-hand when taking notes in class, and as I felt the report of this sermon would probably be of interest to other missionaries upon my return to China, I determined to take it down as fully as possible, which I tried to do without attracting too much attention. The limitation of space forbids the giving of any adequate synopsis of the sermon in this article, but doubtless most
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