T H E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S T . C . H O R TO N , Editor KEITH L. BROOKS, Managing Editor R. A .TORREY , D. D. FREDERIC W . FARR, J. H . HUNTER W . H . PIKE Contributing Editors
E D I T O R I A L
T H E ILLOGICAL Sopkistry of Newell Dwigkt Hillis. For ten years The Family Altar has been a welcome visitor to thou sands of Christian homes. It has on its editorial committee, Board of Directors and Advisory Board some of the leading evangelists and minis ters of the country. But the December number must have brought sorrow to the souls of many of the saints who have followed the teaching and inspiration of this little paper with such great pleasure. In. this number is a sermon by Newell Dwight Hillis entitled “ Where Are Our Slain Soldier Boys?” which is as false to Hod and Christ and the Holy Spirit and the teaching of the Bible as was ever the utterances of Robert Ingersoll. The sermon is full of highsounding words, pyrotechnics for the gallery, but beneath all is the subtle poison of Satan which is being so insiduously introduced into all quarters of the church. Here are a few selections: “ In old tim es th e youth who perform ed some brave deed fell upon his knees before the throne, while the king touched his shoulder, and cried: ‘Rise up, sir knight! But all these noble ones who died th a t our in stitu tion s m ight live, have been knighted. * * * W ith a certain solemn pride and a glory shining upon our tears, we celebrate young soldiers who received from God in advance th e g rea t assurance of imm ortality. * * * The psychology of th e soldier’s conviction th a t if he falls.h e will find his own and live again, and th a t th e re is a meeting place of th e dead, has a certain moral sense of justice in it. Uncon sciously they p u t th e ir theology as to life imm ortal, into these words: ‘When you grow accustomed^ to th e fellows dying, you ju st know th a t somehow th e re must be a God th a t w ill m ake it up to them .’ * * * But the young soldier who has nobly sacrificed him self upon th e field of battle, th e m artyr, the patrio t, the men who have been tested by suffering, as gold is trie d in the fire, th e mothers an d the fath ers who have given up th e ir best beloved because they love what God loves, and hate w hat God hates, shall en ter into th e empire of etern al beauty, tru th , justice, science, liberty, and develop un til no im agination can conceive the kingdom of gold and am ethyst in which these shall live and reign as centers of ligh t and love. * * * O men you cannot beat F ran ce and B ritain w ith men and women so divine. These are the souls for which God made the world. They have slain death and dying. F o r them victory is inevitable, both here and there. * * * In th is g rea t hour, therefore, look toward your son and say: ‘My son, he is; God’s soldier let him be. I could not wish him a fairer d€ath.’ ” The whole sermon is Unitarian and full of those smooth sentences so well calculated to deceive even the elect, and in perfect harmony with all the infidel teaching of those ministers and laymen who have trampled under foot the solemn words of the Scripture, and are putting on thrones in heaven, the men who have died in the war. The men who died in the war were fighting for a righteous cause, but
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker