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September, 1922

Number 1

M6 2^

"To Melt Hearts of Stone

The Rev. H. L. Hellyer, of the Hebrew Christian Alliance, and Mr. O. R. Palmer, Home Director of the Africa Inland Mission, are in Ukraine, Russia, investi- gating conditions and distributing material relief in the famine and pestilence-stricken regions, the authorities placing facilities at their disposal.

There are six millions of people there in a state of starvation many of whom must die before the winter is ended unless outside aid is given. They are Jews and Gentiles, including a large Christian community.

The brethren above-named write that the "conditions are enough to melt hearts of stone. We believe the gates opened to us will remain open for supplies to come in, and we plead for the cooperation and help of our brethren at home to make these things known."

We have confidence in Messrs. Hellyer and Palmer, and gladly publish this information. Send your contribu- tion to Moody Bible Institute Monthly and we will place it where it will be converted into needed supplies ot tood and medicine.

In any event, read James 2 :15,16, and 1 John 3:17.^

1 1

1 You Should Honor These Christian Scholars

Sunday, October 1st

FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY

IN a small room in the Bible House in New York, on October 4, 1872, there met a group of earnest Christian scholars called together

for the purpose of giving the Christian world a modern, accurate, authentic transla- tion of the Bible. Not that the most generally used and accepted version, that translated under the authority of King James, had outlived its usefulness — far from it — but that important discoveries had been made; that reverent, scientific, self- sacrificing research had shed much added light and had cleared up many uncertain- ties of language used in former versions.

Thirty-two of America's Foremost Biblical Scholars

These men, thirty-two in all, known as the American Committee of Revision, headed by the late Philip Schaff, D. D., LL. D., as President, approached their task with the peculiar enthusiasm of those whose only reward lies in the joy of a great achievement. They were peculiarly fortunate in having at their command for translation, for the first time, three sacred manuscripts of comparatively recent discovery — the Sinaitic, the Alexandrian, and the Vatican.

It has been left to time itself, perhaps, to give recognition to the work of this little band of American Scholars, but this recognition, found in the truly remarkable acceptance of the Holy Scriptures authorized under the name of the American Com- mittee of Revision, has come at the hour when those who did the work are no longer with us.

Honor Yourselves by Honoring them

Thus it is that we, in this later generation have the privilege of commemorating in a fitting way, the splen- did work of these men^ — American scholars, every one. The American Standard Bible is their monument. Shall we not therefore do honor to the memory of the men who have given us a translation of Holy Scripture which is in use by practically every periodical devoted to Bible study, in every College, University, Seminary, Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., in an ever-increasing number of Pulpits?

No translation of the Bible has ever approached the American Standard in ac- curacy, clarity of language, beauty of diction, authenticity, rapidity of acceptance by the clergy, by scholars, institutions of learning and by Christians generally. In hon- oring the men who gave us this priceless Book of Books, we honor the Book itself and we do honor to ourselves.

The date of the nation-wide celebration is Wednes- day, October 4, and for that event there has been pre- pared a program of historical interest and of inspira- tion. Every Sunday School and Church should set apart either that evening or a part of the' Sunday service on October 1. Copies of this specially pre- pared program may be had on application to

AMERICAN BIBLE CELEBRATION COMMITTEE

Every Sunday School

and Church should participate

Division E, Room 94

Bible House, New York

2-3

Moody inl'muu. Monthly

SEPTEMBER, 1922

EDi rORIAL NOTES

"To be spiritual minded is life and "^eace." — Romans 8:6. This is one of the Scripture phrases

,^ often quoted and often misapplied.

L To say that a person is "spiritually

, minded" is thought to be

Cut From the "end of all contro-

*^ The Loaf versy," but everything de- » pends upon "what manner

^ of spirit ye are of," for "many false spirits are gone out into the world."

To say that one is "spiritually minded" is not synonymous with saying that he is a devoted and intelligent Christian, or indeed, that he is a Christian at all. A worshiper of Buddha may be spiritually minded, and the same is true of a follower of Bahaism. Many Spiritists and Chris- tian Scientists are spiritually minded, but none of these are people whom the inspired apostle has in mind. The context shows that he is thinking of those only in whom dwells "the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," the Holy Spirit by whom they have been regener- ated and set apart to God forever. Such as these have life, eternal life, which is the gift of God, and they have peace because they are at peace with God. Moreover, in the measure in which they realize this fact do they come to enjoy the peace of God.

Spiritism is a new revelation according to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, hence it is in order to ask how the revelation came?

Conan Doyle's Through automatic New writing, he tells us.

Revelation where the hand of

the human medium was controlled by an alleged dead human being, or through trance utterances or table-tilting.

We are not disposed to sneer at these things. Communications to men from an unseen world must come some way, and why not this way?

But has Conan Doyle compared the way in which this new revelation has come to him with the way in which the old revelation came to Moses, or Isaiah, or Paul, or any of the prophets of the Old and New Testaments? Is there no worth-while distinction between the things he reports and the awful sublimity of Mt. Sinai, the tongues of fire on the day of Pentecost, or the appearance of Jesus Christ to Saul on the Damascus road? If sources and origins have weight, can the new

^ September, 1922

revelation at all compare with the old?

But he admits that if one comes to you with an account of life in some other world and has no credentials save his own assertion, it amounts to nothing.

What, then, are the credentials of Spiritism? Julia Ames told Mr. Stead things in her own earthly life of which he could not have cognizance. Ray- mond, the deceased son of Sir Oliver Lodge, tells of a photo, no copy of which had reached England at the time, but which afterward proved exactly as he described it. Arthur Hill received messages from folks of whom he never heard, and which he afterwards verified.

\"ery good. But Moses foretold the Babylonian captivity of the Jews 900 years before it came to pass. Ezekiel predicted that haughty Tyre should cease to be the throne of the waters, and become, as she afterwards did become, a bare rock on which the fishers spread their nets. Three hundred and thirty-three predictions, some of them uttered hundreds of years in advance, and some of them most contradictory in terms, found the minutest fulfilment in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If it comes to proofs as well as origins, which revelation has the advantage?

And these are serious questions, for Conan Doyle is not in America on a scientific raid, but a religious raid. He frankly says that. He is dealing with the continued life of the soul, the nature of that life, and how it is influenced by conduct at the present time. Men cannot afford to be led astray here.

^ ^ ^

Conan Doyle says that "the early church was saturated with Spiritism." But Sir William Ramsay in his great work, The Bearing of Christianity Recent Discovery on the and Trustworthiness of the New

Spiritism Testament, takes direct issue with him by say- ing that "there was no class of opponents with whom the earliest Christians were brought into collision more frequently and whose antagonism was so obstinate and determined as Spiritists." He calls them magicians, and adds, "in such phenomena as those of Spiritism lay the power of such magicians." He had in ' mind such cases as those

of Simon Magus at Samaria (Acts 8), Elymas, the sorcerer, at Paphos (Acts 13), the young woman possessed with the spirit of divination at Philippi (Acts 16), and the Diana worshipers at Ephesus (Acts 19).

In the case of the young woman at Philippi, the inspired historian writes that the Apostle Paul was "sore troubled" with this perplexing masterpiece of the enemy, for she was masquerading as a witness for the salvation which he preached.

Paul saw that she was really possessed of a demon, and he charged the evil spirit in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her, and out of her he came. The damsel's owners thus lost their means of gain, and they raised a riot against Paul and caused him to be placed in jail (Acts 16).

Thus instead of the early church being "saturated with Spiritism," the truth is that paganism was saturated with it and the early church was com- batting it at every point. There were but few cities in the Greek and Roman world that did not possess magicians, soothsayers, mediums and their ilk, who catered to a large part of ordinary society. The more thoughtful of the people believed them to be disreputable and evil, and warned young people against them, but this only proves their belief in the power they could exert.

There were opponents of Christianity in that day who were doing just what Conan Doyle is doing to-day, confound- ing the doings and the beliefs of Spiritism with Christ and His work and teachings. But there was this difference between the opponents in that day and their present successors. In that day they sought to dishonor the marvels of Christ and His disciples by- reducing them to the level of their own unlawful arts: but in this day they are seeking to elevate their unlawful arts by putting them on the plane of Christ's holy religion.

4. -^ 4«

The May issue of The Chosen People, a publication of the Williamsburg Mis- sion to the Jews, said some very serious things about the spiritual The declension of this great or-

Salvation ganization once so won- Army drously used of God in

saving men's souls. It ap- pears to have formed a New York

committee to help raise a half million dollars for its work, on which committee are "at least five Jews who are un- believers, besides several Catholics." One of these Jews presided at an anti- prohibition meeting, whereupon the head of the army den^anded his removal from the committee, showing, according to the editor of The Chosen People, that in the estimation of the Army to deny our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is an offense less heinous than to be on the other side of a political and social question of that character.

There is usually moral and spiritual danger to Christian organizations in becoming too big; in trying to do too many things, and to cover too much ground. The Y. M. C. A. began to weaken its testimony for Christ and to lose its evangelistic power at the point where it needed the money of worldly people, both Jews and Gentiles, to erect great buildings and operate great social enterprises. The Inter- church World Movement split on that rock, and for some years we think we have seen the Salvation Army headed in the same direction.

We are not surprised to have Miss Booth quoted in the New York Times as saying that the world is growing better, and that the army desires this half million to assist in its reconstruction. Such folly of utterance appeals to the world and gets the dollars, but what shall it profit the Salvation Army if it gains the whole world and loses its own soul?

•i" "i" "i"

The North American (Philadelphia) recently contained an interesting and informing editorial on "A Cleavage in the Churches," as it termed A it, covering the present doc-

Curious trinal conflict between Evan- Paradox gelicalism on the one hand and Modernism on the other, in which it referred to "a curious paradox" which had developed, namely, that the Evangelicals or Fundamentalists, as they are sometimes called, are now regarded by many as the heretics while the Modernists or Rationalists who are the real heretics are coming to be regarded as the orthodox! Whether the attitude is acknowledged or not, the editorial goes on to say, "belief in the miraculous or supernatural aspect of Christianity is widely deemed a form of heresy, or at best, of sincere delusion."

We mention the matter not to deny it, for we believe it is con-ing to be a current opinion, and it is one for which we have been forewarned by the wise and discerning among God's saints. It is part of the deep laid scheme of the prince of darkness whose repre- sentative before long will be found seated in the temple of God giving out that he himself is God.

4" + •f'

The powers of darkness are not ha\ ing everything their own way, it is en-

4

couraging to know. The Berean Band is a movement to stimu- The Lord Is late Christians every- Marching On where, and of all ages, to learn one verse of the Bible each week. It originated in England, but its American representative is the Moody Bible Institute. One year ago the total number of men, women and children enrolled in the American section was 4,735, but to-day it has reached 13,534. Help push the good work along. It costs almost noth- ing. Write the Moody Bible Institute for particulars addressing a postal card to 153 Institute Place, Chicago. Write in the corner "Berean Band." Do it now.

4. ^ 4.

Rev. S. B. Rohold, writing recently from his watch tower on Mt. Carmel in the land of Palestine, has some hopeful and encouraging inci- Hopeful Signs dents to report amid in Jewry much that is sad and

disquieting indeed. He speaks of a young Jewess, who, when up- braided for her admiration of Jesus, said without fear: "I love Jesus more than all the Rabbis put together."

Once, in conversation with some young men, Mr. Rohold pointed out to them the terrible suffering they would have to go through, when one of them replied, "Now what better thing can we do than to die in the land where Jesus died?" This was spoken in the presence of a large crowd and there was no protest.

"If we consider the attitude of the Jews in other parts of the world," adds Mr. Rohold, "and their fearless expressions and open reading of the New Testament, we believe that a wonderful advance has been made in Jewish evangelization, and that the Spirit of God is undoubtedly working among the dry bones of the house of Israel. There is a most wonderful and unprecedented spirit of inquiry, espe- cially among the thinking class of those who are forming the 'Returning Rem- nant.' We are coming into contact with them daily, and the readiness and wholeheartedness with which they enter into discussing the claims of our Messiah is amazing."

■' 4. 4, 4,

Between capital on the one hand and labor on the other, this country is being pushed into the government control of

the railroads and the Government mines with scarcely a Control word of protest from

people who a decade ago would have been aroused to the boil- ing point over such a likelihood. This is Socialism whether we like it or not, and there is no help for it. No help, because the gospel of Christ, than which no other remedy exists for the selfishness and law- lessness of men, is ignored by our leaders. Nor will government control halt at the railroads and the mines, but other public utilities will be put under its direction until by and by the government itself may need governing. Will a superman then appear to take hold of things, and

shall he be one whom the^god of this age has in readiness for the emergency? Oh, that men would repent before it is too late!

4. 4. 4.

We wonder how many of our sub- scribers read the inflammatory appeal which he addressed to the industrial

unions last July from a Chi- Eugene cago sanitarium where he was V. "recuperating." This was the

Debs man that a compassionate

government released front the penitentiary a few months previously on the ground that he was aging rapidly and afflicted with a serious complaint. He is sowing the seed of unrest and hate among the industrial workers of this country in preparation for a crop of violence and robbery unprece- dented in our brief annals. Those in authority seem unable, or, it may be they are afraid, to prohibit his propa- ganda, but the children of this genera- tion will pay dearly for the pusillanimity of their fathers.

4. 4. 4,

We are grateful to a friend who called our attention to a "break" we made in our April issue in referring to the growing use of A the words "the Christ"

Correction instead of simply "Christ."

We said that the definite article was not used in the epistles except in certain instances which we named, but we omitted to explain that we were thinking of the English version only and not the original Greek. Doubt- less most of those of our readers who are familiar with the Greek understood it in this way because of what we said about its use in the Gospels, but that does not excuse the omission, especially when we added that the use of the fiefinite ar.icle is not Pauline.

We are the more sorry that it occurred because some of the enemies of the truth may have supposed it was inten- tional and in order to find an argument for what followed, whereas all that followed stands on its own foundation just the same.

Modernism speaks of "the Christ" just as Bahaism docs, and Christian Science and other semi-pagan cults where an "ideal" is in mind rather than the God-man who "died for our sins and rose again for our justification," and we have come to be suspicious of it.

4" + -f"

It is in connection with that picture on page 1135 of our August issue en- titled, "The Boston Commons." First, there is no such place. Caught Bostonians are very care- Napping ful to have it known as Bos- ton "Common." Secondly, it was a picture of the Public Garden of Boston, and not the "Common" at all.

Some of us who lived in Boston for years and reverence every nook and corner of it feel humiliated, but there is no use in crying over spilt milk.

Moody Bible Institute Monthly

Another Ninety -two

Editorial

THIS time last yeai' editorial comment was going the rounds of the liberal religious ])rcss as to the effect of education upon efficiency. A very practical demon- stration was said to have been obtained by an investigating conamittee which had discovered that the ministerial graduates of a certain rationalistic university were strongly evangelistic. Ninety-two ministers had been in- vestigated who had received 11,000 people into their churches on confession of faith in five years, and those churches during the same period had averaged $2,000 a year for the various denomina- tional benevolences.

On the other hand men from "a popu- lar, short-course institution" were in- vestigated who had averaged only five such admissions through five years, and raised only $200 a year on the average for benevolences. The com- mittee resolved "never again to look to short-course men for the building up of strong spiritual churches with the missionary outlook."

These observations naturally interested us and we raised some inquiries about them.

For example, was the same number of men investigated in each case, ninety- two short-course men as well as ninety- two long-course?

Were the long-course men located in large cities with large opportunities for evangelism, and the others possibly in rural districts or on the frontiers?

What was the average si/t nl their congregations in each case, did the one ])reach to hundreds and the other only to scores?

Did the long-course men have wealth in their congregations while the others preached to the comparatively poor?

Obviously such data were important in forming a correct judgment.

Receiving no replies to our inquiries we instituted an investigation our- selves covering the output of three or four Bible institutes whose graduates had been as long as five years in the ministry.

Limiting the questionnaire to ninety- two men selected almost at random, we found that instead of only five additions a year on conversion, they averaged twenty-three, and instead of only $200 a year for denominational benevolences they averaged $1,226, not so discouraging a result.

But as we said at the time, it is not a question as to whether a highly- trained ministry is preferred, the cause in which we are engaged is worthy of the best, but it is rather a question as to what is the best. We have just listened to a series of lectures on Chris- tian philosophy by a man highly trained for the purpose, and who based all that he said on the writings of the fisherman Peter, a master philosopher whose faith did not stand in the wisdom of men.

There was one long-course man in

I lie apostolic leadership, jjossibly two if we include Luke, or shall we say three, anil add Apollos? Hut as our Lord neglected the wisdom of the schools in his own preparation, so he omitted it, as Dr. Christopher Hazard reminded us recently, from the curricu- lum of His twelve disciples, and yet they did a good piece of work.

We value a well-trained ministry, and not infrequently we counsel gradu- ates of a Bible institute who missed their college course to try to get it before entering on their life work. We take pains to aid them in finding a college where their faith in Christ shall not be shaken by man's philosophy and empty deceit.

We have taken the same attitude toward the theological seminary. Many graduates of a Bible institute, following our advice, have taken a seminary course, and seminaries of different denom- inations in this country .are pleased to witness that their entering classes have been materially increased as a result.

No, the question is not training, but the kind of training. The church needed Paul as well as Peter, but whether it was Paul or Peter, he must be a re- generated man, knowing the God of the Bible and filled with the Holy Ghost. Give us such men and we will stand by them whatever training they have had. And if they be pastors, whether long-course or short-course, they will build up "strong spiritual churches with a missionary outlook."

In the Dawn of a New Revival

By Rev. Joseph W. Kemp, Auckland, N. Z.

THE news of revival amongst the fisher folk of Lowestoff in England, and of the north of Scotland, has created through- out the Christian church a wistful expectancy of a widespread spiritual quickening. Already many centers have been strangely stirred and the move- ments in England, Scotland and many parts of Ireland, would make it appear that we are at the dawn of a new awaken- ing. God grant that it may be so! We are "as they who watch for the morning." For years the coming revival has been discussed, but discussion has not brought it. There is a divine sovereignty in revivals and men may decree their character, form and pur- pose, but "the wind bloweth where it listeth," and the glorious gale is under no man's control.

While we have been debating, the masses have been drifting, and there is a growing conviction that the most urgent need of the hour is a God- given revival, in order that the drift may not be more aggravated.

The conviction is shared by states- men. Lloyd George, said a little while

ago to a small group of Free Church ministers: "It is necessary for the churches to stimulate the spiritual revival that is needed in order to improve the material conditions of the people."

Slowly, but surely, men are being driven to the conclusion that there is no hope in human resources. The sufficiency is of God.

A recognition of our need is the first step to betterment. Our teachers were telling us during the War, of the golden day that was sure to break once peace was restored, but instead, we find ourselves amid a veritable welter of evil. Our young people are almost delirious from pleasure and sport, with a corresponding weakening of the re- straints of home and parental control. The picture houses are amongst the most popular resorts, while the house of the Lord is forsaken. Sin in its multifarious forms has flung its alluring mantle around the masses and the classes alike. People are finding it much easier to sin than formerly, for certain recognized moral barriers have been broken down and ethical standards

lowered. The churches have for long been impotent, for they have been captured by materialism and mammon, and learning and wealth have been substituted for testimony and prayer.

It is as the Rev. Samuel Chadwick, put it: "Rationalism has ousted the supernatural. Every human device has been tried to accommodate religion to the level of the natural man. The church has been socialized, humanized, organized, popularized, vulgarized, to make it acceptable to the people. The result is one of humiliating failure. Demons chuckle and the world smiles." Satan will not cast out Satan.

Back to Pentecostal Methods

What is the remedy? It surely lies in a quickened spiritual life. Let us get back to Pentecostal methods, and we shall get Pentecostal results. So long as we have confidence in the flesh, we do not seek the power of the Spirit. Notwithstanding all our ingenious meth- ods and complicated machinery, we are discovering the point where it is plain "with men this is impossible." We have gone a long way on the road

September, 1922

5

when we are aware of our need. We welcome the discovery — a discovery which, thank God, is becoming general.

The church needs the baptism of fire. Dr. James Hope Moulton, said at one time, "Though religion in all our churches is manifestly at a tempera- ture incomparably higher than in those dark days two hundred years ago, before Wesley came, it is also manifest that it is by no means at boiling point. And for purposes for which Christ ordained Christianity, nothing short of the boiling point will serve." Cold water drives no shafts and turns no pistons. The temperature must rise in the heart of every believer, and this can only come by the gracious working of the Spirit of God.

Too much of our religion is without fire — a morality without enthusiasm or soul. The fire is identified with the person of the Holy Ghost. He is the Spirit of fire, and we cannot be in communion with Him and remain cold or lukewarm. A revived church will be on fire. The members will have a burning passion for the souls of men, like Knox, who prayed in his garden at night fall, "O God, give me Scotland or I die."

"Oh, for a passionate passion for souls!

Oh, for a pity that yearns! Oh, for a love that loves unto death!

Oh, for a fire that burns! Oh, for a prayer power that prevails!

That pours itself out for the lost; \'ictorious prayer in the conqueror's

name; ' Oh, for a Pentecost!"

To have our souls charged with the Spirit of God, will mean that we shall have a consuming zeal for the salvation of the lost. It is in evidence just now among the fisher-folk of Frazer- burgh. Wick, Peterhead, Findochty and Eyemouth. The engineers and miners of Gateshead and Newcastle have caught it; the staid, equable, moral-living citizens of Norwich are possessed by it. In Scotland, England, Ireland, France and Holland, whole communities have been gripped by this "passion for souls," for a new revival has brought into its embrace whole communities touched by the fire of God.

Such a revival means a passionate earnestness in prayer. When touched by the Spirit of God, our prayers ascend like the smoke from the burning incense.

"I Feel It's Coming, Sir"

In a little village In England there was an old man who attended a chapel whose membership had dwindled to seven persons, all old folk. Sin held high carnival; his own son, a family man was amongst the unsaved. It was a bitter thought for the old man to take with him into the other world. So he prayed and prayed and prayed. What was to be done? Who will attack

the Devil's stronghold? An evangelist of the old-fashioned type, well armed with gospel shot, was sent to the village, and the citadel of evil was shaken, and his son was among the saved.

In conversation with the evangelist, the old man said ,"I feel sure it's coming, sir. God told me so this morning at one o'clock, when I was praying by my bedside. I have spent the night in prayer. I couldn't help it, for I feel if there is not a revival soon my heart will break."

A revival works a wholesome cleansing in the soul. The plague of iniquity in the soul must be burned out by the fire of the Spirit. Like all fire, the fire of the Spirit has its destructive energy, and if a man cleaves to his evil, contact with it is destruction.

The revival is cleansing. Erstwhile blasphemers are now singing the praises of God, professing Christians held in the grip of paralyzing habits have been set free, and like the three Hebrew youths who were cast into the midst of the fiery furnace, now walk at liberty. Thus does the new revival move on, purifying, refining, consuming, inspiring, kindling, transforming. Though the signs indicated may not be very pro- nounced in some places, the promise of the morning is sure. The dawn is struggling with dense darkness, but the night is far spent and truly it is high time to awake out of sleep.

Spiritual Pacifism — Its Folly and Peril

A Sermon by Rev. Joseph Taylor Britan, D. D., Columbus, O.

TEXT: Jude 3:— "Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to con- tend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered unto the saints."

From the very first the Christian faith made its way against vigorous opponents. From the first Christians were forced to defend the gospel and to meet argu- ment with argument and theory with fact.

Christ and His disciples were often found arguing for the faith and for the truth of His Messiahship. Our Lord vigorously defended His person. His mission, and His message against the Pharisees, the Scribes and the Saddu- cees. There is nothing more sublime, pictured in Scripture, than the courage of Christ as he contended with the un- believing Jews.

Peter's historic sermon at Pentecost bristled with arguments which the Jews could neither refute nor answer. Peter proved that Chr st whom the Jews and Romans crucified was the true Messiah, and so vigorous was his indictment that his opponents who could not answer his arguments, began to persecute the preacher.

Paul reasoned with the Jews in their synagogue. We read that he "entered

the synagogue and spake boldly for the space of three months, reasoning and persuading as to the things concerning the kingdom of God," and so vigorous was he that under his preaching, some became "hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the way before the multi- tude," so that "he departed from them and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus."

How God Defends His Cause

The early Christians were always ready to "give a reason for the faith which was in them." The apostles ex- horted the early Christians to realize that they were "set for the defense of the gospel," and they followed Jude's injunction, "to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered."

And well it is that they did so, or the gospel in those early days would have perished from the face of the earth. When certain men "crept in privily" to destroy the doctrines of the gospel and of grace, "denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ," then the great apologists and defenders of the faith appeared.

There is an idea abroad today that it is not a gracious, or gentlemanly, or a Christian thing to contend for the faith, to witness earnestly for the Lord Jesus Christ, in the face of His enemies. We

are told that truth can take care of itself, that God will defend His cause, but all the history of the past indicates that He has defended His cause by raising up men and women to do the defending. He has never sent angels to do work which men could do, or work which Christ especially and distinctly commissioned the church to do, namely, to witness for Him before all men. We have, there- fore, Christ's example and good apos- tolic authority "for contending earnestly for the faith once for all delivered unto the saints."

The Early "Modernists" Our Lord declared the gospel would be a divisive factor in human life, divid- ing families and friends. Again and again in the Acts and the Epistles, Christians are exhorted to separate themselves from those who are hardened and believe not, but speak evil of the way.

All down through the ages since Christ, the church has been compelled to con- front and refute false ideas of Christ, of His kingdom, and of the Word of God. In the first century, the Ebionites arose to teach that Christ was the great leader of all men. The Ebionites were the first Unitarians. In the second century the Gnostics arose who admitted the pre-existence of Christ, but denied His

6

Moody Bible Institute Monthly

deity. In the foiirtli century tlic Arians troubled the cluiicli, according Christ a high place in the line of great men but refusing to admit His deity. In the six- teenth century the Socinians came for- ward with the theory that Jesus was born a man but by perfect submission to the will of God He became God. This theory is closely akin to the modern idea of thoee who teach the "divinity," in- stead of the deity, of Christ. There are many declaring today that Christ was divine in the sense that the Spirit of God dwelt in Him, and that He had more of divinity in Him than any of the rest of us because He more completely than any one else surrendered His life to God.

Camouflage Tactics

As we study the statements and con- clusions of the modern liberal theologians, we are impressed with the fact that while they use Christian terms — words and phrases which the Christian church has ever used to describe its doctrines and faith — yet they use these terms with a very different meaning in mind from that which the true Christian has when using these same terms.

For instance, a recent statement de- clares, "We desire to emphasize the fact that in our judgment the Christian religion consists primarily in a belief in the fatherhood of God and in the di- vinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the application of the teachings and principles of Christ to everyday life."

To very many this sounds like true Christian doctrine, but were you to ask the writers of these words exactly what they mean you would find that their teaching is as far removed from true Christian doctrine as the East is from the West.

Take, for instance, the radical theo- logian's teaching of the fatherhood of God. You ask him what he means by the phrase and he will say that "God is the Father of all men alike, all are nat- urally the children of God, none having any need of the new birth, and conse- quently no need of the regenerating action of the Holy Spirit." Of course there is a sense in which God is the Father of all men, having created all, but fatherhood in the highest sense in- cludes far more than creation. There is a spiritual relationship implied in fatherhood which is not found in the lives of all men. Jesus said to certain men, "Ye are the children of your father the devil, and the works of your father will ye do." But modern theologians dispute Christ's word concerning the possibility of some men having Satan as their father. The betoved apostle, John, says that "as many as believed him, to them gave he the right to be- come the sons of God." God becomes a spiritual father to those who have re- ceived Christ as God and Saviour.

There is equal confusion and false teaching concerning the divinity of our Lord. Ask some of the modern teachers what they mean by the "divinity" of Christ, and their replies will show that they mean exactly what the unbelievers of old meant, — He was a man in whom dwelt the Spirit of God in large measure. Ask these modern teachers if they'^mean

what the church always has meant wheel it speaks of the deity of Christ, that he was "very God of very God"; of the same "substance" as the father, pre-existent with God; the Creator, so that "without him was not anything made that has been made"; the Pre- server of all things, so that "in him all things consist"; the Sovereign of earth and heaven, so that angels and men are subject to his command, as He intimated when he declared that He "shall send forth His angels and gather out all things that offend." When you ask many of the modern preachers whether this is their idea of Christ they will hedge and dodge and camouflage, and if you press your questions they will finally admit their disbelief in the deity of Christ. These are the men who, as Jude says, "crept in unawares and denied our only Lord God."

"Progressive" Christianity a Farce

A careful study of the teachings of the radical theologians today will prove to any one acquainted with church his- tory, that the modern and progressive ideas in theology, are simply the old heresies against which the church has ever battled and which the church has always rejected. It is difificult to under- stand why these liberal churchmen should call themselves "progressive" when they occupy exactly tlie same doc- trinal positions which the Jews held con- cerning Christ when He stood and con- tended with them in the streets of Jeru- salem.

Reasons for Controversy

There are many reasons why the men of the church should contend for the faith "once for all delivered unto the saints."

1. In the first place, "truth is revealed by controversy, and by controversy only," says Dr. W. B. Greene in a recent issue of The Presbyterian. "Truth is purified in the fires of disputation. Truth does not disclose and propagate itself in a world under the dominion of sin and error. It is only by a rational affirma- tion and defense of truth that it can be revealed and disseminated."

Herein we discover the value of the discussion of the theory of evolution which is now nation-wide. So long as none arose to challenge the theory, so long as none appeared to champion the statements of the Bible which contradict the theory of evolution, its devotees had the floor and the field. But now scientists are being challenged and they will be compelled to give to the world as never before, the reasons for the faith which is in them concerning evolution. The foundation stones on which the theory is built will be laid bare before the dis- cussion is ended and if evolution is a fact instead of a theory. Scripture will be found to harmonize with it, but if evolution is a theory, and a theory only, a theory which tends to atheism and unbelief, then these facts will emerge in the discussion and the race will be benefited. ■

So it is in the discussion of every re- ligious question — the authorship of the Pentateuch, the inspiration of the Word,

the fact of the I'.iil and the Mood, tiie Virgin Birth, and the method of salva- tion. All these subjects arc being dis- cussed by ministers and people as never before. Arguments for and against the modern and orthodox views of Scrii)lure, and of salvation, are being set forth by ministers and others. The truth is bound to be revealed in these discus- sions for the bold statements of unbelief are being challenged by countless de- fenders of the truth.

There have arisen in the modern world great apologists for the Christian truth, through whom God is speaking His message to this age. And because un- believers are so bold to propagate their theories no one should have j^atience with the theological pacifist, but should give all honor to the men who challenge unbelief and who prove the truth of the Christian faith.

2. The Christian should witness and contend for the faith also because of the consequences to the unbeliever himself if the enemies of the gospel are not opposed. If there was no one to arise in the present day in our city and land to contend for the faith, the unbelieving critics of God's Word would become unbearable. They would think of the Christians as cowards and the world at large would be led to believe that there is no such thing as Christian scholarship capable of refuting the false theories of unbelief and defend- ing Christian truth. But when the Christian meets argument with argu- ment, scholarship with scholarship, and shows the reasonableness of the Christian religion, he promotes true faith and piety, and he discredits the unbeliever.

3. But for the sake of a lost world, the Christian church must ever contend for the faith. No matter what unbelievers say, no matter what the higher critics teach, or what sinners may hope, the fact remains that eternal life is a gift from God in response to the faith of the individual in Christ as "very God of very God," and as man's substitute on the Cross. It is easy for the church to be at ease in Zion, to sneer at the ration- alist and unbeliever and to say that his arguments are not worth answering, but meanwhile thousands are perishing who might be eternally saved if only the church had the courage to urge the gospel, not only upon the ignorant and the sinful, but upon the staunch op- ponents of Christ and His gospel, as well.

4. Again the Christian is encouraged to battle for the truth, because of the lawlessness which is abroad in the world today. The matters involved in modern theological battles are not only the truth of God and the souls of man, but the very life of nations as well. It mat- ters greatly today whether people be- lieve that the Bible Is a hit or miss com- pilation of valuable maxims, — a result of "men's search after God," or whether they believe that it is in very truth the very Word of God revealed and de- livered unto men from heaven. The world has dethroned many kings and kaisers and the Bible Is practically the only remaining external authority out- side of man himself ; and when the author- ity of the Bible is destroyed, then every

September, 1922

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restraining inlluence outside of and ex- ternal to man is gone.

Men need the high ideals and the rigid restraining influence of a fully inspired Bible, as the history of modern Germany and Russia proves. Whoever, therefore, is found destroying the foundations of faith, abolishing the Bible as authorita- tive, dethroning Christ and making the human conscience and human desires the standard and final arbiter of all things, that man is undermining the institutions of civilization. _ 5. Again, the faith for which Chris- tians are to contend is the faith which was "once for all delivered." It is a faith which came down from heaven, not a faith which came up out of the conscience of the race. It is not a faith attained by the efTorts of men, but a faith which was "delivered" from God by the hands of godly men who "spoke as they were moved (borne along) by the Holy Spirit."

A few days ago, my doorbell rang and a delivery boy handed me a package — carefully sealed, directed and wrapped. All I had to do was to put forth my hand and receive it. Such is the figure in our text. Faith was "delivered." Holy men spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. God delivered the truth of the gospel to the men who wrote the words which were given them. It is truth definitely given and "once for all delivered" which we are charged to keep and to transmit to others.

The Christian church is a steward of the mystery of the gospel of God's grace, and is culpable if it does not transmit in the face of all opponents and unbe- lievers the true faith, unimpaired to posterity.

This faith, once delivered is a body of revealed truth. It is not the intuitions of men. It is not the philosophical speculations of earth's wise ones, but it is a. final and full revelation from God. It was delivered "once" indicating that it is a complete body of truth. All that man needs to know concerning God, duty, and destiny, is written in the Word. New light will break from the Bible from time to time, but all that men will ever need to guide them safely through this world of sin is written in that Book. New discoveries will be made in the old Book; but no new book will ever be given.

6. The true Christian is encouraged to witness for the faith also because the testimony of the unconverted man is ruled out of court as valueless by the Supreme Judge Himself. Our Lord has declared that "except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God"; that is, he cannot have any true perception of the kingdom, or of kingdom truth, and he can bear no testimony concerning the things of God which are worth con- sidering by the seekers of truth.

Paul also witnessed to the same fact, saying "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned; but he that is spiritual judgeth all things." As the Holy Spirit is given in response to ;t true faith in Christ as God and Saviour, the unbeliever cannot have the Holy Spirit. Therefore he can have no supcr-

8

natural assistance in the interpretaton of God's truth. Let no believer, there- fore, ever quail before the assertions of those who reject the deity of Jesus Christ.

The Value of the Faith

This faith which the Christian church has ever preached, has always answered every need of the human soul. The Bible reveals man's high origin, also the origin of sin, and of death; it tells us of God's remedy for sin which is Jesus Christ; it proclaims the way of peace and victory, joy, assurance, and eternal life. It shows God at work in His world now redeeming the sinful. It reveals His plans for purifying the earth from the presence and power of sin, and it opens the gates of heaven for men to get a glimpse of the "home over there."

The faith, "once for all delivered" has survived all human crises, all human and diabolical attempts to overthrow the same and it will survive the shock of present day battles.

Those who contend for the faith find their own faith developed and strength- ened. The man who battles for Jesus

Christ has increasingly clarifying views of the Christ whom he defends.

And more than this, the modern Christian discovers that unless he con- tends earnestly for the faith which he has, he cannot even hold his place in the ranks of the faithful or be of value in witnessing for Jesus Christ. We are placed in a world where doubt insinuates and the Devil deceives and it is only in contending for our own individual faith that this faith grows and develops and we become absolutely sure of Christ and His salvation.

If this faith "delivered" to us means anything at all, it means everything; and if the faith which we have means everything to us it ought to mean the same to every individual in all the world. Therefore we cannot keep still and refuse to witness and "contend" while the world without the gospel is dying.

If it be true that the faith has really "once for all been delivered" unto us, then the surer we are of the truth for ourselves, the more zealous must we be to win the opponents of the gospel to Jesus Christ.

The Bible Conference in Baltimore

Through its Extension Department the Institute will conduct a Bible conference in Baltimore, Md., Oct. 1-8, under the auspices of a local committee, of which the Rev. T. Roland Philips of that city is chairman. The regular sessions will be held in the Northminster Presby- terian Church.

The dean and several members of the Institute faculty will participate, includ- ing Mr. Gosnell, assistant dean, and member of the Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church; Dr. Glover, Director of the Missionary Course of the Institute, and Mr. Bitti- kofer of the Music Course. Others on the program are the Rev. John Timothy Stone, D. D., formerly pastor of the Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church of Baltimore, and now pastor of the Fourth, Presbyterian Church of Chi- cago; the Rev. Robert Dick Wilson, D. D., professor of Semitic Philology in Princeton Theological Seminary; the Rev. J. L. Campbell, D. D., formerly a Baptist pastor at Cambridge, Mass., and now dean of the Bible Department of Carson and Newman College, Tenn.; the Rev. D. S. Kennedy, D. D., editor of The Presbyterian, Philadelphia; the Rev. Irving W. Carroll, former associate of the late Dr. C. I. Scofield, but now pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Marshall, Tex.; Rev. A. L. Lathem, D. D. Third Chester, Pa., originator of a great plan of real vacation Bible schools now spreading through the country, and the Rev. J. T. Britan, D. D., pastor of the Central Pres- byterian Church of Columbus, O. In addition, the Rev. P. W. Philpot, pastor-elect of Moody Church, Chicago, and for more than twenty-five years tiie successful pastor of the Gospel Taber- nacle, Hamilton, Ont., has been invited and is expected. The voice of an out- standing Christian layman, Mr. Sydney

T. Smith of Winnipeg, Man., former president of the Grain Exchange of that city and officially connected with a number of large business concerns and philanthropic agencies in Canada, and Trustee of the Moody Bible Institute, also will be heard.

Further information will be supplied by the chairman of the local committee, the Rev. T. Roland Philips, 5105 Den- more Avenue, Baltimore, or the secre- tary of the Extension Department of the Moody Bible Institute, 153-163 Institute Place, Chicago, Ills.

ARE YOU GETTING, OR GIVING? By Rev. J. D. Kempster, Lyndon, 111.

'Tis glorious to live

When you've learned how to give,

And with others your blessings to share;

Not getting, but giving.

Doth constitute living.

The precious old Book doth declare.

No doubt you have read

Of the sea that is dead.

And it takes but a moment to say,

It always is "getting"

But never once etting

A drop of its waters away.

Some receive with a lunge,

And act like a sponge;

(And though I may seem to be bold)

These folks you must "tease" them.

And finally "squeeze" them.

To get them to loosen their hold.

So isn't it better.

To have no such fetter

To hinder your fulness of joy?

When strong on the giving

'Tis grand to be living,

For nothing your peace can destroy.

Moody Bible Institute Monthly

Intercessory Prayer

By Rev. Robert II. Glover, M. D. Director of the Missionary (>oiirsc of the Moody Bible Institute Address lilvon nt tlio Ilcpzlbnh House, New York, und reported in The Word of the Cross

(Scripture:— Luke 11:1-10)

TlllCRE arc two great phases of the Christian ministry: one is preaching, and the other prayer. They represent two God-given functions: the prophetic function and the priestly function. The one is stand- ing before man for God, tlve other before Ciod for man. The prevailing tendency is to place the prophetic function in ad- vance of the priestly; to give larger place in thought and practice to preach- ing than to prayer; indeed, to regard prayer as a kind of adjunct, a mere aid to our work of preaching.

But the early apostles did not so re- gard it. We find in the sixth of Acts that when the multiplicity of duties pressed upon those apostles, and they saw the need for better organization and distri- bution of work, they proceeded under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to appoint deacons for secular departments and then added: "But we give ourselves to prayer, and the ministry of the Word."

Note the order — prayer first, and then preaching. And as we run through the Acts we find prayer on every page. They accomplish much by preaching, but more by praying. Every need of what- ever sort they met by prayer. Things were accomplished, many and mighty things, because they gave prayer the primary place.

Jesus' Prayer Life

Jesus was a man of prayer. I should have said Jesus was the man of prayer. No Bible study could be more profitable than that of Jesus' prayer life. The parable we are to consider was spoken on the occasion of one of His seasons of prayer. It was the fact that He himself was praying that prompted the disciples' request, "Lord, teach us to pray." It was the force of His example that brought that request and stirred them to pray.

Our Lord responds first by giving them that model of prayer known as the Lord's prayer. Perhaps it might more properly be called the disciples' prayer, for the real Lord's prayer is in the seventeenth of John. This prayer that Jesus taught His disciples constitutes a perpetual model of prayer, beginning as it does with worship and adoration, then putting the interests of God's kingdom before all personal requests, and ending with an ascription of honor and glory to Him.

A Prayer Parable

Immediately following, comes this Parable of the Importunate Friend. It brings to view three persons, of whom one becomes the connecting link between the other two. There is first the man in his journey— the man in need. Then, at the other end the man whose resources supplied this need. And then the man in the middle who appealed for the one and to the other.

These arc the three actors, and it is

clear wliat each stands for. Tlie man in need represents the worhl. The man who supplied the loaves represents God. The third man represents the C'hristian intercessor, standing between the world and God, pleading for the one and get- ting from the other.

The teaching of this parable centers in the fact that the man in the center is related by friendship to both of the others. Observe how he addresses the one to whom he goes: "Friend, lend me three loaves," and how he says concern- ing the other: "A friend of mine in his journey is come to me."

Let us consider a few features of this parable of great importance in their bearing upon our ministry of intercession.

1. We must be friends of souls. We must have a genuine interest in men, we must love them as our friends, before we can pray for them as we should. Let your little one become dangerously ill. There is no longer any question about getting time to pray. Everything else is pushed aside, and you take time to pray.

Why do we not pray for the world like this? I fear it is because we do not love the world enough. I am persuaded that as our preaching ministry is rendered comparatively inefTective through its not being impelled by divine love, so our praying ministry is rendered ineffective for the same reason.

There is so much professionalism in the Christian ministry. Perhaps a casual observer may not detect the diflference, but there is a vital difference between the hireling and the shepherd. When the crucial moment of risk or danger comes "the hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling and careth not for the sheep." But, in contrast, "the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." Just so in praying, the lack of real love for souls is largely responsible for our lack or feebleness of prayer for souls. Let us ask God to supply to us this divine love which we lack, and to give us a heart that breaks for sinners.

2. We must be friends of God. This is as important as that we be friends of souls. Our effective approach to God as intercessors depends upon our relation to God. And friendship implies more than a passing knowledge; it is an intimate acquaintance, and such ac- quaintance requires time to effect.

Observe the names by which some of the greatest intercessors were called: Abraham "the friend of God," Moses "the servant of God," Elijah "the man of God," Daniel "greatly beloved of God." We see that godly character and a close and sustained relationship to God underlay their prayer power and achieve- ment.

3. We must have a sense of utter need. The man in this parable said: "A friend of mine in h.\^ journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him." If

he had been able to scrape up an apology for a meal he would not have put himself to the trouble of going to his neighbor to wake liim up and get the loaves. But he had notliing, and the realization of that fact drove him to his neighbor as his only resource.

Are we not reminded here of how many times we resort to mere makeshifts, human expedients, second-rate measures in trying to meet men's needs? We ministers are tempted to rely upon our sermon-making as a substitute for prayer, and a powerless ministry is the result. It is only when we are brought to a sense of utter strengthlessness and realize that we have not merely a little, but nothing of our own to set before hungry souls, that we are driven to God for His mighty and sufficient help. As Dr. A. C. Dixon put it: "When we depend upon organiza- tion, we get what organization can do; when we depend upon education, we get what education can do; when we depend upon man, we get what man can do; but when we depend upon prayer, we get what God can do." That and nothing less is what we need; shall we not de- termine to get it?

4. We must be willing to sacrifice our- selves. The help secured for the man in this parable was not without its cost to the one who sought it for him. He had to make an unselfish sacrifice. He had to give up his comfort, bestir himself, make a trip through the street at an un- seasonable hour, at inconvenience, and perhaps embarrassment also — all to get bread for another man. The lesson is on the surface, prayer that gets things from God costs.

Intercessory prayer is no pastime. Jesus Christ could not save both Himself and others. No more can we. We may not be called upon to give our lives literally upon the cross as He gave His, but we are called upon to manifest the same spirit of self-sacrifice that He mani- fested in His death. The life of a faith- ful minister of Christ, and pre-eminently that of a true and effective intercessor, is a sacrificial life. Are we willing to pay its price?

5. We must be importunate. This is the last feature of this parable I would mention, and its focal and culminating point. We are told that even though the seeker of loaves might not obtain them on the ground of friendship, yet because of his importunity he was assured of getting "as many as he needeth." It was when the man on the inside con- sidered the lengths to which the man on the outside was ready to go in determina- tion and unwearying perseverance to obtain the needed bread for the hungry traveller, that he felt he could not deny his request.

The parable, of course, has its limita- tions, like all parables, in setting forth the truth it seeks to illustrate. I need

September, 1922

9

hardly remind you that God is not to be thought of as pre-occupied or reluctant to grant our requests. But He does see fit at times to withhold the answer that He may more fully try our faith, and draw out the most there is in us. He has other purposes in view than merely our getting the things we seek for those for whom we intercede. He wants to develop us in the process, and in this

prayer ministry lies one of the greatest means to our spiritual development, our growth in grace and in the knowledge and likeness of Christ.

God has always sought intercessors. Never did He seek them, never did He need them more than today. Nothing but a mighty, God-sent revival can meet the desperate need of the present hour, within the church, in the world at large.

in the mission fields — everywhere. All efforts to meet the need in any other way are worse than useless, they are a farce and a mockery. "O that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down with thy presence!" Prayer — believing, persistent, importunate prayer — and nothing less, will bring Him down. Therefore, "Lord, teach us to pray."

The Habit of Devotional Bible Reading

By Margaret C. Worthington, Charlestown, W. Va.

BIBLES are numerous. The num- ber of editions an ordinary book passes through will very rightly indicate the number of its prob- able readers, but the multitude of Bibles in our land by no means represents the number of those who really read it as it should be read. Many who may see these lines can truly say, "I read it in faith and love," and to them no word of suggestion is offered here.

But there are many professing Chris- tians who read the Bible very little, and many others who do not read it intelli- gently.

Our Lord in replying to the tempter in the wilderness used the very words He had commanded His ancient people in the book of Deuteronomy, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." To us who have also the New Testament, "God hath spoken — by His Son — therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard"! We, on whom the ends of the ages have come; we, surrounded with the world's Babel voices, talking out their "problems" in the world's wisdom; we, with an adver- sary able to raise up at last his own great representative — the "man of sin."

And let us note that no Antichrist was to come in Old Testament times. That apostasy of which the apostle prophesied was for the age in which the fullest revelation has been given, and when the Holy Spirit has come to teach the written Word to the heart of the believer. In what danger then are those of us who leave the Bible unstudied in these timesi

A Mother's Bible

Some days ago, the writer took up a letter, yellow with age, written by a mother's hand and placed between the leaves of a birthday gift of a beautiful first Bible. The ink was faint in the message, but not the faith.

That Bible was read very much from force of example and duty, but it was read more or less usually, and when the light of salvation came at last, none will know till "that day" how much the mere surface knowledge of its contents may have been used to answer that mother's prayers. For God's Word is not as man's and He especially commands that chil- dren shall hear His Word.

A lady visitor was sitting in a home

reading the Scriptures, when the mother said, "If I could only turn to the places like you do, when I want to find some- thing!"

The visitor replied that it could not be done till she read the Bible straight through, as it is written.

The daughter, a school girl, standing by, was asked if she could find things mentioned in her book of history after studying it, and she confidently said that she could. History is never taught by reading selections here and there without regard to chronology or sequence of events. Yet it is the way Holy Writ is often handled. Clear and balanced views of God's truth are the result of studying His whole written revelation, accepting all in humble faith.

George Mueller and J. Hudson Taylor

Mr. George Mueller, of the Bristol Orphanages, gives somewhere his method of reading both Old and New Testament through at the same time. He placed two marks in his Bible, one where he left off reading in the Old, and another where he left off in the New; opening at these places alternately, he would continue right on. Distinguished men of God have often been led to, and sustained in, their life-work, by just listening directly to the Spirit's guidance through the Word, as they would read it day by day at devotional times.

The Rev. J. Hudson Taylor wrote of one day in China when everything looked dark and despairing for his work there, read- ing the seventh chapter of Numbers because that chapter came in order for his devotional Bible hour. And right in that portion he found the very encour- agement he so sorely needed.

One who heard him years afterwards addressing a gathering of fellow-mission- aries in the little church in Chinkiang, has carried away in memory his unhesi- tating hold on the words "Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper," as in his quiet gentle way, the veteran missionary spoke on the man who delights and meditates in the law of the Lord, as found in the first Psalm.

The Promise Under Her Finger

A Christian worker in New York City, when she had been called to walk through a particularly wicked street, said she used to slip her finger in her Bible as she walked along, and hold it

on a certain verse, pleading in her heart God's protection promised there under her finger.

But the ordinary reader may say, "I do not work in China, nor the slums." And many seem to think that ministers, teachers and missionaries should know the Bible well, but avoid any responsi- bility in the matter themselves. Yet there are express messages to children and slaves in the profoundest epistles, and the introduction to Revelation says, "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this proph- ecy." That is, whosoever reads or who- soever hears.

The predictive parts of Scripture are among those most usually avoided in the unwarrantable discrimination against portions of it. A consequence is that many have either a fear of misin- terpretation of what they know so little about, and avoid prophetic studies; or are led entirely by others when they should have some discernment them- selves, to give balance to what they accept.

The Apostle Peter tells all (not some only) of those who have obtained "pre- cious faith" in the Saviour, that prophecy is a shining lamp for them in "a dark place"; and a lamp gives light to all who will come near and avail themselves of its illumination.

Why She Joined the Adventists

Those who were best acquainted with a very active Christian mother, now with the Lord, who lived the greater part of her life in a secluded country home in one of our southern states, and where the parish church was poorly served, could not but know the deep spiritual insight she obtained by personal study of her Bible, alone with her God. The prc- millennial hope was hers, when no one else in her neighborhood would have known anything about it.

Accurate knowledge of the Word is the weapon too, ready for the false teachers who go about with "perverse things" to teach." An Adventist said her mother has left an evangelical denomination to join them because of their supposed explanation of prophecy. One may ask, "Did she have the advantage of any true and proper views of prophecy before she went over to them?"

Bclshazzar said he had heard Daniel

10

Moody Bible Institute Aloiitlily

w;is able to "dissolve iloiil)ts." I'liat is just what tlie llol>- Spirit does wlieii we l)elieve His Words. He briiiRs oiir doubts to nauj;ht. For truth is reality, and iiiitrutli finds no jjlace beside it.

A young believer was once suddeidy assailed by doubt as to everlasting luinishmcnt. In an instant that doubt iiad swept through her soul seeming to shake all she could rest on for eternity. This continued, till going to her room, she took her Bible, and fervently asking God to give some distinct message to rescue her from spiritual peril and pain, opened the Book, and enabled to believe, received from its page an immediate removal of doubt through the words which met her eyes.

The Value of a Good Breakfast It is almost unnecessary to say that the

morning is tiie best time for most of us to feed on tlie Word in pre^jaration for the day.

A doctor observed, of a I.uly who lived to unusual age, that she always had a very elaborate breakfast, even when slie cared for little or notliing else the rest of the day. If also you and I have an ample portion of spiritual food in the morning it will strengthen us all da}'.

Ciod has divided our time into days. A day's work in a day is all He requires of us. But these days are precious gifts from Him; let us not waste them, but pray with Moses the man of God, "So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." If we arc prepared for common days, we are also prepared for uncon^mon ones. Crises come in our lives, what we are will determine how we will meet them.

God has a personal service for each one of his servants, and communicates His will to us by His words. Our blessed Lord as purl of His ivork for us, when He was about to finish il, said to the Father, "I have given them the words which thou gavcth me."

"If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater," and we do constantly receive the witness of men, and act on it in secular affairs. If we act on what God says to us, faith will be strengthened by experience, so we will joy in reading it more.

Teach me Thy way, O Lord! Teach me Thy way!

* * ♦

Long as my life shall last, Teach me Thy way!

Opposition to Premillennialism

By Rev. H. Bonnema, Grand Rapids, Mich.

THE Holy Spirit was sent to lead the disciples of Jesus into all truth. It is very evident that in these last days He leads th^m in particular into the comforting truth of the Lord's second coming.

As already observed in past issues of the Moody Bible Institute Monthly, this truth is ignored, denied and, at times vehemently attacked by the church at large. A great stir has been created by those opposed, and much written against it in the official organs of the various denominations.

The debate within the last few years has invaded the Reformed churches. In one of the branches of this church, the Christian Reformed, one of the most conservative of the churches in this country premillennialism has aroused great opposition.

Some time since one of the Christian Reformed ministers, Rev. H. Buttema of Muskegon, Mich., published a book in the Holland language entitled, Mara- natha, which set forth the premillennial

coming of Christ as the teaching of the New Testament. He pointed out the distinction between Israel and the church, and laid special emphasis on Christ as the Head of the Church and the King of Israel.

Because of maintaining these two points as being biblical, he was deposed as a minister of the gospel by said church which judged his teaching not by the standard of the Word of God, but by their confessional standards. The great majority of his large congre- gation sided with their pastor and reorganized themselves under the name of Berean Reformed.

Since that time there has been almost a continual agitation from the pulpit and in the press against premillennialism. In nearly every issue of the two official church papers something is written against it. Institutes like the Moody and the Bible School in Los Angeles, and staunch defenders of the faith like Drs. Haldeman and Campbell Morgan are constantly warned against.

One young man, now a minister of the gospel, was expelled from the denomi- national college because he met with a few of his friends on Sunday after- noons to study the Word of God with respect to the coming of the Lord.

But His truth is marching on. Many conscientious members are severing their affiliation with that body and joining other churches. In several places pre- millennial Reformed congregations have already been organized which have banded themselves together to form a denomination.

Those who left could no longer be edified by ministers who systematically denied one of the fundamental teach- ings of Holy Writ. Others still prefer to stay awhile to testify against it. Some of the ministers and leaders are premillennially inclined but are afraid to take a stand.

May the Lord give courage and may He open the eyes of many to see the comfort of the coming of the Prince of Peace.

A CONSUMPTIVE'S PRAYER By Peter H. Van Wynen

Lord, may the weakness of my flesh But make my love to Thee the stronger;

The shortness of my days on earth But make my stay with Thee the longer;

The heaviness of this poor frame But make my spirit's movement lighter;

The dimness of my hopes below

But make my hope of heaven brighter.

ACCOMPLISHMENT By Rev. Christopher G. Hazard, D. D.

Could we look down upon the azure deep

And confidently step from star to star, Our names would not a larger mean- ing keep.

We would not then be greater than we are;

For, yet so much related to the clod, Already we are called the sons of God.

September, 1922

11

Evolution Leads to Sodom

N the day tliat God created man He made them male and female, — Genesis, 5:1, 2.

The first Adam was not, there- fore, of a woman (I Cor. 11:8), and if not of a woman, he must have been of beasts or from God.

Beasts could bring forth only "after their kind" (Gen. 1:21, 24, 25). All flesh is not the same flesh. There is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes and another of birds (I Cor. 15:39).

If the evolutionists are right that beasts can bring forth men, then men can bring forth beasts, and fishes can bring forth birds, and a bird-fish can bring forth a bird-fish-beast, and a bird-fifeh-beast can bring forth a bird- fish-beast-man. And this would be worse than hell itself could be.

Let us thank God that no beast or reptile produced Adam, as his flesh was of "another kind," and they could bring forth only "after their kind." If man was not of woman or of beasts, he must have been of God.

If the evolutionist is correct, there is a break between God and Adam, and Luke is wrong in his genealogy of Christ in 3:38, which reads, ". . . the son of Enos, which was the son ofSeth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God."

If the evolutionist is correct this should read somewhat as follows: "Jesus the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of a monkey, which was the son of an ass, which was the son of a vulture, which was the son of a scorpion, which was the son of a lizard, which was the son of a bumble bee, which was the son of a bug, which was the son of a tadpole, which was the son of God! !"

Luke's Genealogy Correct

But we know that Luke is right for Adam was made after the similitude of God Himself (James 3:9). Adam was made after God's kind (Gen. 1:26, 27), not by natural propagation, but by divine fiat. Adam could not have evolved sexually as there was no female of his flesh prior to Eve who was the mother of all living (Gen. 3:20).

The beasts were formed out of the ground, male and female (Gen. 2:19), but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him (Gen. 2:20). Eve was not formed out of the dust of the ground like Adam. Her creation was supernatural in a very special and different way. She was taken out of Adam after God had breathed his Spirit into Adam (Gen. 2:23). God took a rib from Adam's side and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman (Gen. 2:22). The woman did not evolve out of the rib. God made the rib a woman with

By R. J. Alderman, Alcolu, S. C.

the same power that he made the water wine and the dead alive.

The man was formed of the dust of the ground (Gen. 2:7), not of beasts. The woman was formed of the man, not of beasts. And both were made on the same day (Gen. 5:1, 2), which was the sixth day (Gen. 1: 27, 31).

And we know it was a day of twenty four hours because it says the evening and the morning were the sixth day. "The evening and the morning" make a day of twenty four hours, and this was true in the case of the creation week, for God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years. The greater light (the sun) to rule the day and the lesser light (the moon) to rule the night" (Gen. 1:14-16).

Man was made a little lower than the angels (Heb. 2:7). He was not evolved a little higher than the beasts.

Jesus was made a little lower than the angels (Heb. 2:9). "For it became him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." "That through death he might destroy him that has the power of death, that is, the devil " (Heb. 2:14).

The Devil Lives

As long as people die we may be sure the Devil lives. Death is the last enemy of man to be destroyed. Death and the Devil are destroyed simul- taneously (Rev. 20:10, 14).

"We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places." The conflict is, as it were, a race between God and Satan for the control of the universe.

God has said, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent" (Gen. 3:15).

Satan has said, "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, ... I will be like the Most High" (Isa. 14:12-14).

And God has said, "Thou (Satan) shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit" (Isa. 14:15).

The Devil works through human nature and along natural lines with supernatural power, and were it possible to have produced, in this way, a hybrid race through the transmutation of the species, he surely would have done so long ago, and thus prevented the first advent of Christ, who had to be born of a woman.

Satan's first attempt to thwart God's purpose that the seed of a woman is to bruise his head was to incarnate himself into the human race, using fallen angels who kept not their first estate but left their own habitation (Jude 6), and took to themselves wives of all which they chose of the daughters

of men (Gen. 6:2 \ hoping thereby to produce a race that would be satanic in character and power (Gen. 6:4), and also flesh (Gen. 6:3). And had not God destroyed this hybrid people at the flood, Satan would have succeeded and thus prevented the fulfilment of the prophecy that the seed of the woman is to bruise his head.

Satan later attempted the destruction of the human race in a two-fold way, beginning at Sodom and Gomorrah. He caused the women of that time to become so low in morals and so masculine in manner and habits that men would have nothing to do with them. Men burned for men. In this way the race would have soon become extinct.

His other method was to cause the people to go after strange (other) flesh (Jude 7), and thus produce an unspeak- ably repulsive hybrid which, being un- able to propagate itself, would soon die off. The Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven (Gen. 19:24), and Satan was again defeated in his attempt to destroy the seed of the woman.

Our Lord while on the earth warned us that Satan will attempt both of these things again. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed (Luke 17:26).

The lot of the unfortunate dupes of the teachers of evolution will be bad enough, but woe be unto the teachers themselves. It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for them (Matt. 11:24).

If beasts evolved themselves into men, it ought to be easy for men to evolve themselves into angels. Man was made only a little lower than the angels, and this is the easy and right thing to do if the evolutionist is right. It would do away with the Scriptures, the Cross and every other fundamental of the Christian faith, it is true. But what is that to the evolutionist?

The doctrine of evolution is the spiritual path that leads to Sodom. The Sodomites practiced it, going after flesh of another kind. The people in the days of Noah, before the flood, practiced it with fallen angels, and the Lord says they will be at it again when he returns.

"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ" (Col. 2:8).

He who would lead his people to a choice of God must first himself wholly and unreservedly choose God.

12

Moody Bible Institute Monthly

Marriage Laxity Perils America, Churchmen Find

By Rev. N. B. Norton In The Chicago Tribune

BIRTH control is condemned, while the barring from marriage of the criminal, feeble minded, and mor- ally vicious, and the presentation of health certificates as a pre-requisite to marriage are commended in a report pre- pared by a commission of the Episcopal church to be presented to the Episcopal general convention which meets, Sep- tember 6, at Portland, Ore.

Parental Control Vital

Lack of parental control, the absence of instruction concerning the purpose of marriage which, the report says, is "the perpetuation of the race, involving the begetting and education of children," indiscriminate marriages, and especially the neglect of family religion and the church for the sake of pleasure seeking and material gain, are named as factors in the present situation.

"This commission heartily indorses the warning uttered by the great Lam- beth conference of bishops, gathered from all over the world in London in 1920," the report reads, "against the practice of means for the avoidance of conception as involving grave dangers to physical health as well as moral inno- cence, and threatening the future of the human race. We make our own the words of the conference committee, as applying in particular to the United States — namely:

"Where family life is dishonored, wedded unfaithfulness lightly regarded, parental responsibility neglected, filial respect slighted, there, we may be sure, society is rotten at the core. We tremble for the future of a state or nation for.

where lax theories concerning domestic life gain ground, even laxcr practice will prevail.

Marriage Holy Vocation

"Boys and girls must be taught as early as possible that the chief purpose of marriage is the perpetuation of the race, involving the begetting and edu- cation of children for the work of the world. Marriage is a high and holy vocation, because the married pair are co-operating with the Creator in the con- tinuation of the human race. Marriage is not to be regarded solely or chiefly as a means for happiness or physical pleas- ure. It is not an end in itself, but the divinely appointed agency whereby God's will may be fulfilled in giving life, pro- tection, and proper rearing to the young of the human species.

"It is a holy thing and must be made a stable thing. Prostituted as it is in the United States to a mere means of physical union, a legalized form of con- cubinage, it will produce the result of increasing sterility, as it has always done in the past.

Divorce Called Peril

"This malignant cancer of easy divorce, resulting in race suicide, is today power- fully eating into the heart of the domestic life of the American people, and the only remedy is the plain, positive, continuous training of the people in the nature and obligations of Christian marriage.

"There should be careful teaching with regard to the qualifications, eco- nomic, social, and moral, which conduce to successful unions. It is not too early

to begin such instruction in the confirma- tion class.

"The growing insistence upon health certificates as a pre-requisite to marriage should be seriously considered by the church. The movement has already been favorably acted on by various states. Not only the criminal, but the feeble minded and morally vicious ought to be prevented from propagating their kind, and insistence on health certificates as an antecedent to marriage wouhl materially assist the movement. Uniform Laws Needed

"No small part of the problem of the family depends upon the enactment of a national law providing for uniform marriage and divorce throughout the United States. A bill now before con- gress provides for a nation-wide law, which, while it would bring into line states whose laws are lax, would permit indi- vidual commonwealths to raise the bars against divorce still higher than the national standard, if they so desired. This matter is seriously commended to the convention."

The report strongly condemns child labor, demanding that it be abolished or rigidly controlled. The employment of expectant mothers or forcing them back into work before they are physically fit, also is condemned. The request points out the dangers to girls in industry working at wages so low that they are tempted into immorality. It also warns against men receiving so low a wage that they cannot marry and rear a family and hence are tempted into a vicious course "which sows the seeds of frightful race poisons."

The Eagles Mere Bible Conference

By Mrs. M. A. Martin

HIS conference, directed by Mr. E. B. Buckalew, covered eight most helpful days.

Bishop Harry D. Mitchell, pastor of the Metropolitan Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, Washington, D. C, preached the conference sermon, his theme being "Christ and Christianity," based on Colossians 2:9.

He spoke of the controversy that is now well nigh universal in the field of government, politics, economics, social life and religion. He said that the sword had been unsheathed by the radicals and that the battle is on. While we should dread controversy, it would be criminal to shut our eyes to facts and to live by a false optimism. He was pro- foundly grateful that the imperative needs of the present moment were being met by the Bible conferences held all over the country. The present exigency demands courageous witnessing to the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. It is not a

question of whether the Fundamental- ists or the Liberalists win, we are abso- lutely certain that the truth will win. Civilization is but a by-product of Christianity. There have been great achievements of science, but knowledge does not keep people from sin.

Bishop Mitchell gave two other ad- dresses, "Christ and the Present Age," and "Christ as King."

Bible study through the medium of the Sunday-school was presented in a very practical way by Walter E. Myers of Erie, Pa., Adult Division Superintend- ent of Pennsylvania State Sabbath School Association, who gave four very interesting lectures during the confer- ence. Among other things he said:

"Some men think that after they are twenty-one years of age their time for Bible study in the Sunday-school is over. They prefer to read the papers or magazines on Sunday instead of the Bible. They drift away from the church

and never open their Bibles. They have no religious training in the home, no grace at table, no family prayers. Wom- en have no time for reading the Bible, yet they read the Ladies Home Journal and the short stories in the daily papers and magazines. Thousands of children are brought up in homes where there is no evidence of Christian training visible. Is it any wonder that boys and girls go astray?"

Dr. James M. Gray, dean of the Moody Bible Institute, gave several addresses, the more notable of which were one, entitled, "Why Contend for the Faith?" and another "How the Bible Answers Conan Doyle."

The first was an exposition of the New Testament epistle of Jude, which, he said, was written especially for these times. Jude first explained what the faith was by showing that a true Chris- tian was one who was "called," "beloved in God the Father" and "kept for Jesus

September, 1922

13

Christ." He had started to write about the faith when, as he says, he was "con- strained" supernaturally, to do some- thing else, that is, to exhort the saint's to "earnestly contend for the faith" which had thus been delivered unto them "once for all." The necessity for this contention was that false teachers had crept in "unawares" denying the Lord who bought them.

Dr. Gray spoke of the false teachers so multiplied today, who had gotten into the church through the false teaching of our universities and colleges before the great body of the orthodox laity had been aware of it. They were denying the Lord who bought them in the sense that they were denying the deity of Christ, His miraculous birth and life, His atoning death and resurrection and His ascension at the right hand of God.

This faith, he emphasized, had been delivered, revealed to the "saints," not to the colleges and universities, not even to the visible church as an organi- zation, and therefore it was no wonder that only the saints were charged with its defense against the opposition with which it was now meeting on the part of the evolutionists of all classes and grades.

Dr. Gray takes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle very seriously, and agrees with him that the cult for which he speaks cannot be dismissed with the "all rot" formula.

The scientists Sir Arthur quotes have found something which they cannot explain, but which the Bible perfectly explains.

In other words, the Bible answers Conan Doyle by revealing the source or origin of Spiritism, which is Satan, or the Devil; who is described in the Bible as just the kind of person who would be behind the phenomena to which Conan Doyle refers. It also answers him by revealing the scheme of operation in Spiritism which is through the media of demons. Demons are objects of human worship and in all the centuries they have possessed and used certain persons just as they are doing now in some cases. The Bible answers Conan Doyle in the third place, by definitely and absolutely prohibiting intercourse with spirits, or talking with the dead, or using divination, clairvoyance, palmistry and related oc- cultisms, all of which are "abominations" in the sight of God and expose their votaries to his displeasure and punish- ment.

Conan Doyle puts forth a challenge which the Bible fully and clearly meets. He asks whether this thing (Spiritism) is lunacy or a new revelation, and the Bible says that it is neither. It is a ful- filment of prophecy which marks the ending of this present age.

The Rev. Gordon Watt, a minister of the Church of Scotland, was present

throughout the conference, and gave deeply devotional messages each day centering in Christ, the Cross and spirit- ual life. This was Dr. Watt's first appear- ance at a Bible Conference in this coun- try. He was accompanied by Mrs. Watt, who spoke at the women's meeting on Sunday afternoon, in the parlors of the Lakeside hotel.

Another new conference speaker was Rev. Dr. J. Ritchie Smith, professor of Homiletics, Princeton Theological Sem- inary. Dr. Smith gave four exceptionally interesting studies in the First Epistle of John. He expressed his great pleasure in being present in the conference and being permitted to open up the Scrip- ture to those attending.

A most enjoyable feature of the con- ference was the music rendered by the "Hurlburt Quartette" named for Dr. Hurlburt, president of the African In- land Mission. It is composed of the following members: W. M. Clark, South Orange, N. J.; W. H. Williams, Wilkesbarre, Pa.; E. M. Hungerford, Albany, N. Y.; and E. B. Buckalew, Harrisburg, Pa.

Christian patriotism was injected into the conference session on the evening of July Fourth, when the Hon. Wm. D. B. Ainey, LL. D., L. H. D., chairman of the Public Service Commission of Penn- sylvania, delivered an address on "The Challenge of the Age."

Baptist Evangelical Rally

At the Moody Bible Institute, June 21, 22

rHE Northern Baptist Convention was held at Indianapolis, Ind.. in June, and the Moody Bible Institute invited some of its members to stop at Chicago on their return east for a two days evangelical rally. The invitation was accepted by Rev. Frank M. Goodchild, D. D., pastor. Central Baptist Church, New York City; Rev. J. C. Massee, D. D.. pastor, Tremont Temple, Boston; and Rev. Curtis Lee Laws, D. D., editor, Watchman-Examiner. New York and Boston. Meetings were held on Wednesday and Thursday, June 21 and 22, when three times each day, beginning at 9:00 a. m., the large Auditorium of the Institute was occupied by eager listeners to deep and stirring addresses by the brethren named. A stenographic report of one address from each follows, and others will appear in later issues.

The occasion was a memorable one because of the marked power of the Holy Spirit on the speakers, the earnestness in prayer, and the stirring, joyous singing of the great congregations.

The solid scriptural teaching of the addresses from day to day prepared the way for a stimulating appeal from Dr. Massee at the closing session, which led scores, if indeed not hundreds, of young lives to dedicate themselves to go all the way with their Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.- — Editors.

Fundamentalism From the Baptist Viewpoint

By Rev. Curtis Lee Laws, D.D.

I AM embarrassed lest my address should not prove quite proper to this audience. It was prepared for our own people at Indianapolis, and therefore, references in it may not be of interest to you. But I understand there is a great group of Baptists here and I shall address myself to them particularly and let the rest of you be "listeners-in." Yet I am remembering that these same problems are harassing all the denominations, and that our problems are common problems. So after all I am less embarrassed than I thought.

Need for Fundamentalism

There is nothing for which I thank God more profoundly than for funda- mentalism. For a quarter of a century teachers in our schools and preachers in our pulpits have been carrying on

a propaganda of rationalism which, in robbing Christianity of its super- natural content, is undermining the very foundations of our holy religion. Despite the fact that rationalism is distasteful to the rank and file of our people, it has grown amazingly, for false teaching is like leaven in its per- meating power.

Everywhere the matter has elicited discussion but everywhere the dis- cussion has ended with this question: How can a movement so powerful and so subtle be met in such a denomination as the Baptist? Everybody's business is nobody's business. Everybody felt that something ought to be done, but nobody knew what ought to be done.

How It Started

In the spring of 1920 a group of twenty- five pastors met in New York for con-

ference and prayer. That group decided that at least one thing could be done. A larger group could be called together on the day before the meeting of the Northern Convention in Buffalo to consider the situation.

They requested seven of their number to arrange for such a meeting. These seven asked others to join them in calling a conference on Baptist fundamentals at Buffalo. The call carried the names of 150 honored and respected ministers and laymen.

Fully 3,000 Baptists gathered for that Buffalo conference, and what a conference it was! It authorized the calling of the Des Moines conference, and that one authorized the calling of the Indianapolis one, and the Indianapolis authorized another such conference next year at Washington, and so the Baptist fundamentals movement has been launch-

14

Moody Bible Institute Monthly

Ill and it is ^ointj on until win I lie victory all along the line.

Origin of the Term

The word "Fundamentalist" came into being on July 1, 1920, a week alter our Buffalo conference. For good or ill the responsibility rests upon the editor of the Watchman-Examiner, for on his way home from Buffalo he wrote, and in the Watchman-Examiner of Jul>- 1 he published these paragraphs:

"All through Convention week this question was constantly asked: Wiuit do these premillennialists want anyhow? We repeat the question to remove a false impres- sion. The movement so evident in the convention which could easily be traced back to the con- ference, was in no sense a pre- millennialist movement, but in every sense a conservative movement. Premillennialists were much in evi- dence because premillennialists are always sound on the fundamentals, but eschatological questions did not enter into any of the Buffalo controversies. Standing solidly to- gether in the battle for the re- enthronement of the fundamentals of our holy faith were premillen- nialists, postmillennialists, pre- millennialists and no-millennialists. Fortunately the conservative group contains no one who repudiates the blessed doctrine of the second coming of our Lord, but the group does contain those who differ radi- cally with one another concerning the whole millennial question. We here and now move that a new word be adopted to describe the men among us who insist that the landmarks shall not be removed. 'Conservatives' is too closely allied with reactionary forces in all walks of life. 'Premillennialists' is too closely allied with a single doctrine and not sufficiently inclusive. 'Land markers' has an historical disadvan- tage and connotes a particular group of radical conservatives. We suggest that those who still cling to the great fundamentals and who mean to do battle royal for the fundamentals shall be called 'Funda- mentalists.' By that name the editor of the Watchman-Examiner is willing to be called."

Other names given to us are "literal- ists," "dogmatists," "separatists," "medi- evalists," "cranks," "ignoramuses," and "ku-kluxes." Whether we are called fundamentalists, conservatives, premil-. lennialists, landmarkers, literalists, sep- aratists, medievalists, cranks or ignor- amuses or ku-kluxes, unafraid and undismayed we shall be present at every roll call in life to stand for the things that we believe.

Good Old Baptists, Too

But lest the oft-repeated fiction of the rationalists that the Baptist funda- mentalists are not Baptists at all, but really starting a new denomination, gain currency, let me say that we are

September, 1922

simply good old Baptists of the I'Vancis Waylaiul, ICbene/er Uoilge, Martin B. Anderson, Alvah Movey, Henry G. Weston, John A. Broadus type; and it is for their interprctatit)n of Chris- tianity, the inlcri)retation accepted by Baptists always and everywhere, that we are contending. Baptists we are, Baptists we are proud to be, and Baptists we shall always be; but that we may be distinguished from modernists and rationalists we are perfectly willing, because of the fimdamentals which we are seeking to safeguard, to be called "fundamentalists."

What Is Fundamentalism?

It is a protest against that rationalistic interpretation of Christianity which seeks to discredit supernaturalism. This ra- tionalism, when full-grown, scorns the miracles of the Old Testament, sets aside the virgin birth of our Lord as unbelievable, laughs at the credulity of those who accept many of the New Testament miracles, reduces the resur- rection of our Lord to the fact that death did not end His existence, and sweeps away the promises of His second coming as the idle dream of men under the influence of Jewish apocalypticism.

I will give you the proof of one man, who, because of the sweetness of his disposition and his ability in moving men has been highly respected among those who have held to the evangelical faith, but who has aligned himself to thorough-going rationalism, Harry Emer- son Fosdick, a Baptist minister. I have before me a stenographic report of his utterances in the lecture room, and can vouch for the correctness of the words I am about to read:

A Rationalist

"We know the cosmic order. We know that science has made miracles unreliable. A long process of tradition lies behind Mark. Wherever Matthew and Luke take from Mark they always stretch something. As for the turning of water into wine, is it not extra- ordinary that Mark, Matthew and Luke never heard of that miracle? Some of them heard nothing of the raising of Lazarus. The further away the more remarkable the miracle becomes. The modern age does not miss miracles a little bit. The Bible idea of miracles is gone. Do you wish to be reactionary or progressive? Put away all the miracles and you have lost nothing."

These are the words of a man who has written almost innumerable de- votional books that are scattered over the world.

Let who will deny it, the fact remains that many men of prominence in our schools and in our pulpits are rationalists — infant rationalists, half-grown rational- ists or full-grown rationalists. They are bold enough to resent the names, but not brave enough to deny the fact.

And the sad part of it all is that they are unconscious of the harm they are doing. Indeed they boast that they are strengthenii'ig the foundations and

making Christianity more rational and more accepl.ible to ihoirghlful peoph-. Christianity is rooted and grounded in sii]>ernaturalism and when robbed of sui)ernaturalism it ceases to be a religion anil becomes an exalted system of ethics, provided an exalted system of ethics can originate with an impostor, which Jesus was unless he was su])er- natural, for he said, "I and my Father are one."

Rationalism Is Unitarianism

This present-day rationalistic move- ment is but a rebirth of the liberal movement which one hundred years ago split Congregationalism and gave to the world the Unitarian denomination. Unitarianism by eliminating supernatur- alism felt that it was making Chris- tianity more rational and more acceptable to thoughtful people, but a century of history has proved that Unitarianism lacks the dynamic of genuine Chris- tianity. The editor of the Christian Register evidently felt that the Baptist denomination was about to make large contributions to Unitarianism, and so when he heard of fundamentalism he became as a raving maniac. He knows that rationalism and Unitarianism are one and the same thing.

But fundamentalism does not expect to save editor DiefFenbach nor straighten out the whole world. Its primary purpose is to raise the danger signal and to plead with the fundamentalists in denominations everywhere to contend earnestly for the faith delivered once for all to the saints.

Five Things Baptist Fundamentalists Stand For

I shall have time to mention only such doctrines and policies as have come more or less into the realm of controversy. All Baptists hold much in common and that is why we have Baptist churches and a Baptist de- nomination. Among Baptists there are rationalists and fundamentalists and also a great central group not definitely lined up with either the rationalists or the fundamentalists.

The fundamentalists feel that they are unofficially representing this great central group, for we know that in the main our doctrinal positions are accept- able to this group. They may not like our methods, nor see the necessity for our organized protest, nor have very much confidence in our leader- ship, but they believe the things which we believe.

We have many men of many minds among fundamentalists. We are to- gether not because we agree about everything, but because we are going in the same general direction.

I am going to speak of some of the things for which Baptist fundamentalists stand, and you will bear in mind that these are not the things for which rationalistic Baptists stand. The Bap- tists of the great central group are free to choose their own alignment. They can line up with the fundamental- ists if they choose, or with the rational- ists if they prefer; or they can stay

15

out of the dust of battle, if they think that the heroic thing to do, and applaud the side with which they sympathize. For my part I have no sympathy with the people who are not willing to take steps in a great struggle like this.

The Baptist fundamentalists invite these people from the great center group to come in with us, adopt and control the movement, washing out the impurities and ironing out the wrinkles, and protesting against the action of the rationalists.

(1.) The fundamentalists believe the Bible to be God's Word that it was written by men divinely inspired and that it has supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct. We believe its history, its miracles, its doctrines, and its prophecies.

(2.) We believe that Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world, was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary. Others may feel that the miraculous element in our Saviour's birth is not essential to His absolute deity, but we accept as true the plain and unmistakable teaching of a passage which the rationalists have cut out of their Bible because it contradicts their theories.

(3.) We believe with the Apostle Peter that Jesus Christ "bore our sins in his own body on the tree," and with the Apostle Paul that "by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowl- edge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood." In other words, we believe profoundly in the vicarious, substitutionary theory of the atonement, which is the explana- tion of the efficacy of Christ's death made by the apostles, who were divinely inspired.

(4.) We believe in the resurrection of the Christ from the dead. This does not mean to us merely that Christ's death on the cross did not put an end to His existence. We believe that on the third day after His crucifixion "Christ arose from the dead," in the same body in which He suffered, with which He also ascended into heaven.

(5.) We believe in the visible return of our Lord to this world according to His promise. We repudiate as a shameful reflection upon our Lord the charge made by rationalists that He spoke of His return in good faith, but was influenced by the crude notions of the untutored people among whom He lived and was therefore mistaken. We repudiate as a shameful reflection on human intelligence the alternate inter- pretation proposed by rationalists and near-rationalists that the promises of Christ's second advent are fulfilled in the great events of history, which mark

moral progress, and in the gradual spread of Christianity. The straight- out declaration that our Lord and his apostles were ignorant of the future is preferable to the legerdemain that seeks to explain away language as plain and unmistakable as has ever been spoken or written. Nowhere does rationalism fall into such straits as in its pitiful effort to explain away our Lord's coming.

Co-operation in Church Work

Some denominational questions arise about which some of you may not be nterested, but the Baptists are. Baptist fundamentalists are thorough-going de- nominationalists, at least this funda- mentalist is.

Recognizing the local church as abso- lutely independent and as the only authoritative Christian body, we believe heartily in the co-operation of these churches in philanthropic, educational and missionary work. Our great mis- sionary organizations are the outgrowth of the voluntary co-operation of the churches.

The early co-operation of the churches was very simple and sometimes rather tentative. The churches were slow in entering co-operative work lest their independence should be interfered with.

Protest Against Over-lordship

This is not true merely among the Baptists but everywhere, for these central organizations have developed in nearly all of the churches.

The sense of independence has lately given place to a sense of interdependence, and with the coming of this interdepend- ence great central organizations have developed an over-lordship that has attempted to dictate the policies, meth- ods and obligations of our local church life.

Against this over-lordship the churches, irrespective of their doctrinal alignments are now in a state of protest.

The fundamentalists are the loudest of the protesters. The fundamentalists believe that the whole Baptist New World Movement was established on a false premise. The marching orders of the church were not, "Go ye into all the world and establish a Christian civ- ilization," but "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." The establishment of a Christian civ- ilization, if there really can be such a thing in a land composed of Christians, Jews, unbelievers and atheists, was not the primary thing for which Christ suffered and died.

But no battle was waged on the New World Movement because of this un- fortunate beginning, for everybody recog- nized that it was a great co-operative movement through which our Con- vention agencies would attempt to do their promotional work. Despite the fact that the speaker urged the Con- vention to go slow in creating this octopus-like organization, he felt that it was best to support it with all hearti- ness after it had been created. We are all hoping that the difficulties may be ironed out so that it may be a very good movement forward.

Supporting Baptist Colleges

Fundamentalists contend that our schools ought never to have been in our budgets. This is not to be interpreted that we have little or no interest in our schools. They are our choicest pos- sessions. They were founded by Baptists who believed the very things for which fundamentalists are contending. Our schools were put in for 31 per cent of this $100,000,000.

Now it happened that among our schools there were some that many of our Baptist people have no confidence in, but all the schools were included in this, whether they needed money or not. But fundamentalists claim that no Baptist ought to be co-erced into giving to a school in whose teachings he does not believe.

When our schools of every variety and every grade of wealth were grouped together irrespective of their needs, as beneficiaries under the united budget, it appeared to be the cleverest popu- larity scheme ever invented by the genius of man, but it was this very scheme that wrecked the New World Movement. I drove but yesterday through the matchless grounds of the University of Chicago. What a mag- nificent, unapproachable group of build- ings! Yet the University of Chicago was included in our united budget and was to receive a part of the 31 per cent!

Such a protest went up that the University of Chicago said it would not receive any funds. But we have others just as objectionable as that one which are still on the budget.

The claim of the fundamentalists is that the schools ought to be separated from this missionary budget, and that every school ought to make an inde- pendent campaign for its own current expenses and endowment. This will put every school on its own merits and will enable us to give to the schools that we approve, and to refuse support to those that we do not approve.

Purging the Schools

But this is a small matter compared with the obligation that rests on funda- mentalists to use the utmost of their influence and power to purge their schools of un-christian and rationalistic teaching. The school is the fountain- head of our religious life. What the schools teach today our people will believe twenty-five years from now. Without casting suspicions on schools and teachers standing for the faith, it is our duty, through reiterated protests to the boards of trustees of our institu- tions, to free those institutions of teachers who through their spirit or the subject- matter of their teaching are injuring the cause of Christ. If protests to trustees are unavailing, our appeal should be made to the denomination, to whom the trustees are morally responsible. And when the people speak the trustees will hear.

Need of the True Missionary Message

It is said that fundamentalism is already beginning to play havoc in the foreign mission fields.

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Take tliis with a ^nun of ran I ion, but reiiuMiiber tliat f uiulameiitalists are bound to have a say in forciRu missionary work because a fumlanieiitalist is by necessity an ardent believer in foreign missions. \Vc belie\-e that the atone- ment of Christ is as necessary to tiie salvation of a Chinaman as to the salvation of an American. When mil- lions of men are going into eternity every year without the saving knowledge of Christ, how terribly urgent is the need of sending the gospel to non- Christian laiuls the world around. We feel the priniary duty of the missionary is to jireach Christ as Saviour and to urge lost men to accept Him. When many modernist missionaries seem to have no gospel message to proclaim and no passion for the salvation of lost men, is it to be wondered at that sharp ditTercnces are arising between them and some of the battle scarred veterans who have been long on the firing line?

I have a daughter and a grandson in China. I w^nt my daughter and grandson to have the privileges and joys and opportunities that I appreciate

here in America, all the uplifting civ- ilization about them, but wlien I have said that I still maintain that it is (piitc possible for our missionaries to spend their time and encit;y on things that are non-essential. Louis XVI spent his time working at a forge on locks and keys while his kingdom was on the crater of a seething volcano. Locksmiths are not to be despised, but it was despicable for the king thus to spend his time and energy. We insist that our missionaries should jiut first things first.

Emphasizing the Fundamentals Practically

Does such constantly reiterated in- sistence on fundamental doctrines dis- tract our mind and divert our attention from the ever widening tasks of Chris- tianity?

Exactly the opposite is true in my case. A wide outlook demands a firm footing. It is only when a mountain climber's feet are on a firm rock that he can afTord to look up and around.

We cannot insist too strongly that those who are interested in the preserva-

tion and promotion of the fundamentals must not abandon the im]jl(-iiients of toil for the wea])ons of war. If swords are to be found at our sides, trowels must be found in our hands. It is essential that we safeguard the jirin- ciplcs of Christianity, but it is likewise essential that we carry the message of saving grace and redeeming power to the earth's remotest bounds.

We bring discredit if we allow any man to out-distance us in sacrificial service for the great cause of Jesus Christ, who suffered and died. Con- tenders for the faith who are not pro- moters of the cause of Christ are a dead weight to be carried by true evangelicals and contendero for the faith. I declare to you we will tremendously discount our protest against error unless our lives are hid in God. As Ian Maclaren said, "It is vain to expatiate upon the excellency of the machinery if the article milled does not come up to the standard." Of what use is it to talk about the efificacy of the blood of Jesus Christ to save from sin, unless it saves us from sins?

Can We Believe the Miracles?

By Rev. F. M. Goodchild, D.D., Pastor, Central Baptist Church, New York

ONE hundred years ago miracles occupied a very different place in Christian thinking from that which they occupy today. At the end of the eighteenth century Wil- liam Paley won renown by a book on the "Evidences of Christianity," the main argument of which was that Christ ful- filled prophecy, was able to work mir- acles, and therefore must be divine.

If I had time this afternoon I could show you that Paley 's method of argu- ment was a valid one, much as men de- claim against it today, but I have not time for that just now.

Of course, if you are an atheist you do not believe in miracles, for according to your opinion there is no God in the universe by whose power a miracle could be wrought. If you are a pantheist you do not believe in miracles, for a pantheist believes that all nature is God and in that case there is no supernatural power by which miracles could be performed. If you are a deist you do not believe in miracles, for a deist places God alto- gether outside of creation. God simply made the world and let it go and now Creator and creation are so far apart they never could be brought together again.

Miracles in the Gospel Story

There is no reason why a Christian should do away with miracles. But the malady of unbelief is subtle and crafty, and so we have professedly Christian preachers in our pulpits, and professedly Christian teachers in our class-rooms, disparaging miracles.

Some who believe in miracles are put- ting them away because they believe that truth today makes a stronger appeal than if the miraculous factor of the work of Christ is made prominent. I have absolutely no sympathy with any such opinion as that. At any rate the mira- cles are in the New Testament. They have come to stay. If we reject one part of the story of the Saviour's love, it forces us to reject the other parts. Cut out the miracles, and the arguments based on the miracles and you have very little indeed of the Bible left.

We can have no doubt that the Gospel writers felt that the miracles contributed a great deal to the arguments for Christ's Messiahship, and that. they helped Him in the favor of the people. John tells us that so great a man as Nicodemus came to Christ and said, "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher sent from God because no man can do these mira- cles that thou doest, except God be with him." Peter, on the day of Pentecost, addressing the man of Israel, said, "Jesus of Nazareth, a man proved among you by miracles and signs and wonders which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves know."

Evidently, too, the Lord Jesus Himself felt that miracles ought to be convincing with men. In His denunciation of the cities of Galilee, He said, "If the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago." And on the last night of His life He seemed to think that His miracles wer^ really the bulwark of the apostles' faith, strong enough to with-

stand even the shame of His ignominious death, for He said, that if the truth of His teaching, and the marvelous character of His words did not convince them, then they ought to believe Him for His very works' sake. That should end it all.

If we only wish to prove He had a divine mission His death and miracles are sufficient credentials. He said, "The works my father gave me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness of me, that my father has sent me," and He distinctly says that if it had not been for the miracles the Jews could have not been blamed for rejecting Him, but that having seen the miracles they were blameworthy.

No one, then, in Christ's day seems to have disputed the fact that He was a miracle-worker. His friends rejoiced in it. His enemies acknowledged the power and put a vicious explanation on it, saying He got His power from the Devil. The Jewish Talmud acknowledges His miraculous gifts. The first writer against Christianity, Celsus, who lived about 150 years after Christ, confessed Christ's miraculous powers but attributed them to magic.

God, Master in His Own Universe

A fellow of Oxford University told us at the end of a series of lectures on mira- cles delivered there, "Well, gentlemen, if you believe in miracles you will be nothing better, and if you do not believe in miracles you will be nothing worse." Oh, how can one finally assume such an attitude of indifference to the testimony of the New Testament as that. Those

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who declare tliat miracles are impossible put fetters on God in the mastery of I lis own universe. If this be true God can- not be the God whom Jesus Christ presented, for the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is as much at home in the universe as any man is in his own household, and as able to stretch out His hand and help His children as any earthly father is to put his arms about the child that needs his support.

To reject miracles — I have no hesita- tion in saying it — is to reject Christianity. The miracles cannot be taken out of the New Testament and the credibility and authority of the New Testament still be maintained. Now while I say this, there are good people who profess not to be- lieve in miracles who yet accept the New Testament as one of the best of books and sincerely love the Lord Jesus Christ. All I have to say to them is that they have not thought this thing through to the end, and happily their living is better than their thinking.

Counterfeit Miracles

It is easy to see why miracles have fallen into disrepute. There are so many counterfeits, that all have a compro- mising reputation. The stories of the marvelous are common. In Brewer's Dictionary of the Miraculous there are 600 pages of miracles. If you read it you would marvel at man's credulity. But as men do not say all money is worthless because there are many counter- feits, so they are not warranted in saying there is no such thing as a miracle be- cause a hoax has been perpetrated, if they cannot at once detect the difference between spurious miracles and the miracles at the hand of Jesus Christ.

The Pebble on the Shore

A miracle is looked upon by the aver- age scientific man as an interruption of orderly processes. Science was much disposed to look upon miracles in the past as impossible and the very sugges- tion of them to a few men was regarded as impertinent.

I remember when a certain professor once spoke on the infallibility of nature, he undertook to tell about a pebble swept up on the shore by the wave of a stormy day. Then he dwelt on the changes in nature necessary to set that pebble a foot farther up on the shore. He said the wave must have been of greater volume, and the wind that drove the wave must have been at a greater force; he said the atmosphere which caused the wind must also have been different, and the conditions giving rise to that state of atmosphere must in their turn have been different. There was no stopping place in the argument. Before making a change in the movement of the pebble conditions in Africa, where the wind arose, must be changed, and all the air currents affecting the globe must be changed and the changes could not stop until they had been pushed back to the beginning of the age and the re- motest age of the universe. Everything everywhere was in the grip of law he said, each unable for a moment to relax its hold.

Finally, the philosopher Mansell sug-

gested a way out of tlu- difficulty. "Let us imagine," he said, "that after the winds and waves have tlone their utmost with the pebble, I go down to the beach, and lifting the pebble from its place, deposit it a foot farther up on the sand?"

The answer is plain. Very few, indeed, would argue that human thought and will are under the control of physical forces as that pebble is. Only the strongest materialism you know would say that. Every view meets in that, for there is no doubt that man is a free power in the universe. God is sovereign, but man is free none the less. Old Dr. St. John, when the arguments were against him, used to stamp his foot, and say, "We know we are free and there's an end to it." Mr. Mansell, one of the best philosophers in America, calls man's will the greatest first cause. He means that his will is not under the domination of nature, but takes that pebble and sets it a foot farther up on the shore.

Nature of Miracles

That shows the nature of a miracle. You do not need to believe that God interferes with a law of nature to work His beneficent will for His children. As Lord Abbott said, "Miracles are supernatural — above nature, not contra- natural — ^that is against nature."

You can easily multiply illustrations of how we change the course of nature. We do it every day, every hour. Every spring some of you go a hundred miles out of the city into the country. The land is plowed and then harrowed. The forces of nature are at work all the time you know. The warm spring rain falls; the sun shines. Something is doing in that ground, far more than we can see, but left to itself you know nature would never bring forth what would be useful to men.

So you interfere with the process of nature, and before long you have a harvest of corn, peas, beans, etc. Left to itself for a million years that plot of ground would not bring forth those products. A superior power, man's will, comes in and directs nature's forces so they will work to beneficent ends. Do you mean to tell me that man can work in that fashion and manipulate the forces of nature to bring about desirable ends according to law, and the God of all nature must sit with hands folded in the midst of the universe that He created? There could not possibly be a sillier suggestion.

Wells says the question as to whether a miracle is possible simply means a query as to whether there is a living God who has created this world. Another says, "To raise the question whether God can perform miracles is to raise the question as to whether God is." The Psalmist expresses astonishment because Israel thought God's power was limited, and they said, "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" And we are guilty not only of folly, but impiety as well, when we say that man can so use nature's laws as to make them his servants, but a living God must sit helpless while the laws He has made work on.

Miracles and Scientists

Never let any one lead you into be-

lieving that the New Testament and science are in conflict in the matter of miracles, or the Old Testament and science either. There doubtless are indi- vidual scientists who will tell you that miracles are not believable and that the stories of miracles are nothing but fables, but that is not the thoughts of science itself. Science once may have been dogmatic, but science of our day is more modest. So many mistakes have been made in the name of science that men (scientific men) are cautious today about saying anything.

A certain scientist said not many years ago that it was impossible to know the chemical constitution of the heavenly bod- ies or suns — that they were a compressed mass; but new discoveries have been made and now we can analyze the light of the stars, and know what materials the sun and the stars are made of. Science was mistaken, that is all.

Another said that it was impossible for stones to fall on this earth from the heavens, but every child who has visited the museum of natural history knows that he was mistaken. So scientific men may speak with dogmatism, but be mis- taken none the less.

Men thought Professor Morse was crazy when he said he could talk fifty miles over a wire. We do not need even the wire today. Nobody will venture to say what is possible or impossible in the realm of the telegraph or telephone in the future. We are doing hundreds of things today that fifty years ago men would have regarded as vagaries of a crazy man if they had even prophesied them.

Hume, the great historian and deist, once said, "No evidence could prove a miracle wrought 1500 years ago, but some of the theological seminaries did not know it." J. S. Mills gave Hume his quietus and Mills has been dead a good many years now. Mills said, "No kind of evidence can prove a miracle to a man who did not believe in a Being who had supernatural power, but to one who does believe, that is full proof that the Creator of our being could interfere with the laws of nature to produce a miracle."

Of course, as I have said, we know an atheist does not believe in miracles because an atheist believes nothing out- side the carnal. Of course no one can place God oft the same level with man and still believe that He can perform a miracle. Men accept nothing today without first weighing the evidence. The men who reject the miracles are those who either have not weighed the evidence fairly or have taken sides without investigation, that a miracle is impossible.

We have men in pulpits who deny the miracles. They are men who put a low estimate on the character of Jesus Christ. Those two things always go together, and that leads me to say that when we know what sort of a person Jesus Christ was it is easy to believe that He could work miracles.

Miracles Natural to Christ

He was so great, that great things were natural to Him. His thoughts and His personality are in close relation. The

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greatest man does tlic greatest things; a divine man docs divine tilings. He Himself is the greatest miracle of all. That He did mighty works docs not 'est on the mere testimony of men, how- ever unanswerable that testimony may be. His character is the best proof of His ability to do wonderful things. In Him was the remarkable quality of life. "In Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." He made all things, John says, and then for fear we should not get it he said it over again in different form, "and without Him was not any- thing made that hath been made." His miracles are an appropriate offering of an inspirational life.

The question then is not whether Jesus Christ could work miracles but whether He could keep from working miracles. He did miracles because His was a miraculous character. There is a reality about His miracles that you do not find anywhere else. There was never any sense of jugglery about them; no muttering of incantations over them. He never made any show of His great ability; never called attention to Himself. Often He bade the man benefited by the miracles not to tell about it, or the help he had received; and He never worked a miracle for Himself. His wonderful deeds, were always the outcome of the passion of His great heart. They were a revelation of the gracious character of God Whom He came into the world to make known to men.

The Ciilniinatinii Miracle

Of course the ciilminal ion of tlie wonderful things that the Master did was in His resurrection from the dead. He laid down His life volmilarily and took it again voluntarily. He said He would do so. It was an assertion of His own power. That is the supreme miracle of all. The miracle of tlie resurrection carries the other miracles along with it.

That the apostles believed He arose from the dead does not admit of question for a moment. That Paul believed it nobody can doubt. Those men sealed their faith in the supreme miracle by laying down their lives for it, and men do not die for a lie. The evidence that they died for a great truth is sufficient if it means anything at all.

Conscience and Conversion

Now there are things connected with our life here which cannot be explained, except as we believe God has interposed in the world's affairs. No one can ex- plain how life began in the world.

A young man said to me some time ago, "Pastor, we will get it. We will know by chemical processes how life came, by and by."

"But," I said, "I have found it. I do not need to see. God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life." Men have tried to guess it but they have made mighty poor attempts. The voice of science still says as clearly as ever before that life comes only from life. Human life comes from life.

The only rational explanation of the

presence of life in the world is lli.il nl » living God who created us. How did men ever get to feel themselves morally responsible? Nobody can say much to a problem like that. There is absolutely no answer to it except by believing that God put that sense of accountability within a man's bosom, anrl thus made him different from the life below him.

Who can explain that supreme change in a man's nature that we call conversion except to say that it is a miracle? I have had conversions in my church in New York City as marvelous to me as any conversion in the New Testament. The converted man calls himself properly a miracle of grace. He is. It is so great a change that the New Testament properly calls it a "new birth" — an entire making over of the man.

That such changes are wrought nobody who is fair can deny, and the only rational explanation is that the Saviour whose power opened the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf, gave cleansing to the leper, and brought the dead back to life 1900 years ago, is in the world today and still working. We have felt the touch of that hand our- selves and we know that what it did once it still does. He who fed the hungry souls 1900 years ago can do it still. He can still our unquiet lives as he stilled Tiberias. He can make an impure man in these days, pure. He can hold onto us as He rescued Peter when sinking into the sea. He will not leave us if we are in His work; and He will keep us unto the end.

God's Three-fold Warning Applied to Modernism

By Rev. J. C. Massee, D. D., Tremont Temple, Boston

<4~I^"T"0W the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the ^ field which the Lord God - ^ had made. And he said to the woman. Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

"And the woman said unto the serpent. We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said. Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as Gods know- ing good and evil.

"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat" (Gen. 3:1-6).

Every doctrine of God's word is con- tained embryonically in Genesis. For instance, in Genesis you have two par- allel lines of revelation, and these run throughout the book, for God always reveals Himself to man individually and in community lif^.

Revelation in Genesis to the man indi- vidually is seven-fold; the beginning of the human family, the beginning of sin, of religion, of worship, of civilization, of faith and of the Messianic hope.

The revelation of God concerning man in a community life is also seven-fold in this book. A chosen seed, Seth; a chosen race, Shem; a chosen family, Abraham; a chosen man, Jacob; a chosen nation, Israel; a chosen tribe, Judah, and the Messianic kingdom, "For the scepter shall not depart from Judah until he come to Shiloh." You have the whole book unfolded in these two parallel reve- lations.

Every great warning which God gives to men is also found here, and every great exhortation, and doctrine.

I read these few words from the third chapter of Genesis in order that I might put before you: (1) The warning of God against the acceptance of the plausible; (2) the warning of God to believe the Word of God; and (3) the warning of God to choose the way of the cross.

Beware the Plausible

What do I mean by that? I mean beware of that which is evidently true; so perfectly ' apparent that everybody

sees it, that it can be demonstrated by way of the eye.

I have no doubt that Satan demon- strated to the woman the fallacy of God's statement. He walked over to the tree, pulled down a limb, picked the fruit, ate it in her presence, and then said, "See, I have shown you."

The woman looked at him and saw he did not die, but she did not discern that what he, being inherently evil, could do, she could not do without dying. Oh the plausible things men believe because they are demonstrated.

This very hour God is warning men against accepting plausible philosophies for religion, and for salvation. This world with all its philosophies and re- ligions has never discovered more than three or four substitutes for the truth, and have tried to say again and again that these will substitute. What are they?

First, they are reiterating that to have a good man we must provide him with a perfect environment, that righteous character is dependent upon environ- ment. Is that true? God said in the beginning it was not. He gave man a perfect environment. There were flowers without thorns and fruits without thistles

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in Eden. Not a single snake in the garden, and yet in there Satan crawled his slimy way, and caused the woman to sin against God, and our first parents were driven out from the presence of God. There is no place in the world where Satan will not come.

I have a friend in the Northwest who told me he had traveled up and down that great Canadian country, over mile upon mile of prairie land, and where man never came he had never seen a thistle in the ground. Grass grows there, the flowers grow, but the hour that man comes, thorns and weeds spring up. Man may go his way again, his houses may drop down and the land return waste, but the thorns and thistles remain.

It is not environment that makes the man but man that makes the environ- ment, because there is sin in man's heart and the curse of sin is not only upon man but upon the world in which he lives.

All the environment of this world will not make a man righteous. I declare that from the conviction of my heart. Today men are going up and down this land preaching a social gospel. It will never do the business.

Beware the "Social Order" Idea

The next great error of Modernism, next to infidelity, is, that you can make men righteous and retain righteousness in them, by giving them a perfect social order.

I remind you that in the early time it was said, "Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him." What happened to his sons?

If it had been possible to have right- eousness by perfect social order Enoch would have established it. Enoch lived three hundred years and had sons and daughters, and walked with God. But when he was through living, his children married the sons and daughters of Cain. Man is not able to maintain righteous- ness simply by a perfect social order.

Neither can man be maintained in righteousness by a perfect religious system.

We have two men coming to an altar. Abel laid a bloody victim on it. Cain brought the best results of his toil. God rejected Cain and then the man who had refused a bloody sacrifice went out and bathed his hands in the blood of his brother. I say to you that from that hour to this the blood of life has been shed by men who reject the bloody sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

I have a conviction that the day has come in the Christian church for those who believe in salvation through the blood of Christ to part company forever with those who reject that atonement. I do not want divisions save when God makes them, but we cannot walk in holy fellowship with men who reject the Christ of this book.

No Common Platform

A while ago, in Brooklyn, before a meeting of Baptist ministers, a Jewish Rabbi was invited to speak. Rabbi Silverman was of charming personality and glowing eloquence. For an hour he pleaded with us to do away with the prejudice against his people, and strive

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with them to help bear the burden of a troubled world. He said, "Men and brethren, let us lay aside our differences; let us lay our hands to the common task and take on our shoulders the common burden; for after all, the only thing that separates Baptists and Jews is a theo- logical dogma, not an essential evil."

My brethren in the ministry applauded him. But when he sat down, and some of them said words of appreciation, I stood up and said, "Rabbi Silverman, I accord you every courtesy of this hour. I have listened with pleasure to your appeal as you pictured the tragedy of the earth, and had you been content to ask us to share with you the burden of the world, I would have said 'Yes,' gladly, but when you say the only difference between you and me is 'a theological dogma, and not an essential evil,' I must remind you that that differ- ence put Christ on the cross, and in my heart it put Christ on the throne. That is the difference, a difference for time and eternity."

There is no common religious platform possible for me. They invited us to come on a certain day with all other citizens in the community and hold a great religious service; to put social service above everything else, and I moved that we reject the invitation on the ground that we could not have one common religious platform.

They went away and said I would not sit on the same platform with a Jew. I would sit on the same platform with a Jew, but what I said was, "I wouldn't stand on the same platform with any man who denies the deity of Christ." Sitting on the platform as a mere matter of physical juxtaposition means nothing, but to stand on the same platform I simply would not. I know of one Christ, the Christ of this book; the Christ of the supernatural birth, the sinless life, the vicarious death, the triumphant resurrec- tion, the glorious ascension, and the glorious consummation of the church of God. But I believe there is no common religion possible to man, one of whom crowns him and the other crucifies him!

A Chicago University professor once said to me that there was no difference in experience; the only difference was in explanation.

I replied, "Doctor, let me understand you. Do you mean to say there is no dif- ference in the experience of men, one of whom believes Jesus Christ was the Son of God and the other believes him to be the bastard son of Mary and Joseph?"

"Not a particle of difference, only in explanation," he replied.

God deliver us from that sort of infidelity.

Perfect social order, perfect religious system, perfect environment! God swept the earth clean and then God chose out one again. Noah came out of the ark into the world with perfect social order and a perfect religious system, the old altar rebuilt. What did he do? With a perfect social order, and religious system, he got drunk.

Then God went down to Ur and called qut one man, put of a poor environment.

and said to him as he walked in the midst of it, "Look up, Abraham, look up and believe God." His personality responded to the personality of God and of a living faith, and that is where the gospel of Christ brings us, where the other lines leave us.

Believe the Word of God

The word of God is believable, trust- worthy; try it out.

It was said to me when I went to Boston, "Massee, you are one hundred years behind the times. You are an old fogy. Do you think Boston will stand for the old stuff you are preaching here?"

"I do not know whether Boston will stand for it, but I am going to stand on that Word, and if I go down it will be when that Word goes down under me. I shall never have another gospel."

And then the man said, "Massee, do you think you will ever catch up?"

"That depends altogether on which way you are going. If you are going to perdition we never will."

Believe the Word. I want to say to you who are going out to preach and teach, whether you are in a little country church, or a great metropolitan church, men with hungry hearts respond to the preaching of the old gospel. In God's name never preach anything else. The Bible is the most scientifically correct book this world has ever had. Science will never be able to shake the divine order of creation in the first chapter of Genesis.

A young school girl came home and said, "Father is the moon made out of green cheese? The teacher down at school said the moon was made out of green cheese. I don't know whether she was being funny or telling the truth."

Her father said, "I can't tell you. Maybe the Bible would."

"Oh, you think the Bible will settle anything?"

"Yes, I think it will."

"Then I will spend this afternoon finding out if the Bible has anything to say about the moon and green cheese."

Coming down stairs about half an hour later, as- happy as could be, she said, "It's all right, dad. I know the moon isn't made out of green cheese!"

"How did you find it out?"

"Found it in the first chapter of Genesis!"

"Why, I never saw anything about that there."

"But, dad, you didn't know how to apply the scientific method! I have found that the moon was made on the fourth day, and cows were made on the sixth day. You can't have cheese with- out cows. It's the perfect scientific method."

Standard Oil in Egypt

Today, in Egypt, they are mining oil and that oil is being sold in America, and you buy it to run your automobiles.

How did it come about? One day a Standard Oil official found a Bible and began to read. He turned to Exodus and read of the most famous baby in the world. His mother hid him as long as

Moody Bible Institute Monthly

she coulil, ami tluMi she mailc a ciil) for him and ilaiibcil it inside and out witli pitch.

He read that over, "pitcli," "pitch." And then he thought if tliere is pitcii there must be oil there. And if there were pitcii and oil there 5,000 years ago they are there now, for nobody ever has bothered it. He went there and found the pitch where Moses said it was, and the oil under the pitch. Now it is being sent back to you and to all the world.

O, young people, I want to urge you to preach this book.

Calvin Thomas went down to preach in Kentucky, and took the text, "The wicked shall be turned into hell," and when he got through an old friend came up and said, "Oh, what a fool you have been! Don't you know that there is no such place as hell? Modernism did away with that theory. Take it from me and don't go on preaching that any more."

Thomas picked up the Bible, found the chapter and verse, and said, "Old fellow, it is still there!"

Then his friend went on to argue and tried to prove that there could not be a hell.

Again Mr. Thomas found the verse and put it in the lawyer's hands and said, "It is still there."

He went up in the air and for five full minutes tried to prove that there was not any hell.

Once more Thomas showed him the verse. The lawyer, thoroughly dis- gusted, walked out. But he came back to hear him preach again, when a second time Thomas proclaimed the condition of those without Christ. The lawyer this time accepted Christ, and as he came down the aisle he took Thomas by the laand and said, ."Calvin, you're the only man that I have ever seen who had sense enough to preach to a fool."

O, young men, believe the Word of God, and never cease to proclaim it.

Choose the Way of the Cross

The hour is twelve but I want just three or four minutes for a last thought. Beware the plausible, believe the Word, and choose the way of the Cross.

You say to me, "Mr. Massee is the cross in Genesis?"

Yes, it is everywhere. God wrote the Cross into human experience from the beginning. When man and God came to the parting of the ways, when our first parents' eyes were opened, when the Devil tempted them and they sinned, and their sin cried out against the whole world, God set up a place where man who had walked away from Him might come back to him.

When the Lord Jesus Christ was asked to explain the way of eternal life He said, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me."

What did He mean? He denied Him- self and gave up all for His brother man.

I once heard a preacher urging that this was to be done by serving others. I do not believe this comes within a thousand miles of what Jesus said. Here is what He uaid, and He who said it was He who too!; on Himself our sins and who

died in our place: "If any man will come after me, let him put away self, l)ut self on the cross, self-life denied, self-life repudiated, self emptied of self, that God might be within him."

My will against God's will? I yield my will. My way against God's way? I yield my way. My life against God's life? I yield my life. I enthrone the will of God. I choose the way of God. I accept the life of Gud. That is life. The other way from that place of parting is death.

The Lord Jesus Christ embraced the cross that He might save the world, that man might through death find life. And I say to you today, in His name, the only way to life is through the cross.

If you go into one of the smaller gal- leries of Venice you will find a picture of a young woman facing a figure which is the artist's conception of Christ, and holding in her hand a crown. Under- neath is written, "Who's Head?"

I say to you that this is the supreme- question. On whose head will you put the crown of your life, your vision, your service? Who's head, yours or Christ's? May God help you to make the right choice.

NEWS OF MORMONISM

Utah Mornionism reports officially for 1921, 22,779 net increase, of which 7,113 were converts, the rest natural growth. The total number of the Utah faith may thus be estimated as probably 550,000, though no statistics are forthcoming. The "Reorganized," adding some for corrections, have a the grand total of about 645,000. The late state- ment of the Federated Churches by strange figuring instead of asking men who know, made out 1,646,170, which was palpably wrong to one acquainted with the facts. We have been publishing the Utah numbers as about 500,000 for a few years; and that has been correct by every test, though triple the number of a generation ago.

Courteously answering an inquiry, iln "Reorganized" officials state that tlicii number of adherents June 1, was in round numbers 94,000, exclusive of nearly 8,000 eliminated by rigorous pruning of the lists as to members, unknown or deceased, which has been done recently. Numbers of these are expected to be located later. Over 10,000 baptisms in two and one-half years are reported, with net gain in that period of about 6,000. The figures given in March, 1921, made the net membership 96,788, proba- bly over 100,000 reported this year — which would have been the case if the pruning had not been done. Both kinds of Mormonism are working very hard. They should be a lesson for Christian people of every denomination in this; only that we work for the true cause of Christ! Why should not Christian people speak as often of Him and his truth as any other system does of their fad beliefs? — Light on Mormonism.

REV. NEWTON JONES OF LONDON TO VISIT AMERICA

Rev. Newton Jones, the well-known missioner of the National Sunday-School Union of England, expects to visit the United States and Canada in the fall and winter of 1923-24. He has already made a number of engagements, but has some open dates for those who may desire his services. Mr. Jones visited this country within the past year, ren- dering excellent service in New York, Chicago, Grand Rapids, Mich., Cleve- land, O., Altoona, Pa., Baltimore, Md., and at various points in Canada.

He is a strong and popular speaker and is warmly commended by Dr. F. B. Meyer, Dr. Jowett, Rev. John MacNeil and Professor W. M. Clow, as a Bible teacher, evangelist, and "Chalk Talker" to children and young people, as well as adults. Inquiries as to his services may be addressed to The Moody Bible In- stitute.

A "VOICE"

"Tomorrow," he faithfully promised, "tomorrow for revival I'll pray;

Tomorrow I'll plead as I ought to, I'm busy, too busy, today!

Tomorrow I'll spend in my closet, tomorrow I will humbly bow."

Yet ever a "voice" kept whispering, "But the Church is languishing NOW!"

Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow — the delay e'er repeated went on ; Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow — till the years and the "voice" were gone? Till the Church its God had forgotten? Till the land was covered with sin? Till millions had hopelessly perished, and eternity was ushered in?

O members of the body of Christ, O ye Church of the living God, O editors and leaders and pastors, O saints where our fathers trod ; The "voice" still insistently whispers; answer not, "Tomorrow I'll pray." The Voice is one of authority; THE CHURCH NEEDS REVIVING TODAY I

T. E. S.

Pray, O Pray, for Revival!

September, I 22

21

What Other Editors Are Saying

J. H. Ralston

The purpose of this department is to give the views of editors of periodicals, chiefly religious, on matters of interest to our readers. In publishing what they say, we are simply endeavoring to give information w'ith no intention of endorsing or repudiating the views printed, although from time to time, comment may be made upon them in our editorial pages. — Editor.

PRESENT DAY INTOLERANCE

Daily News {Chicago).

The devotees of science who thought that science would liberate mankind from its errors were badly hit by the late war. In that war they saw the most scientific nation in the world give itself to the pur- suit of the most detestable errors and illusions. They are destined to a similar awakening regarding science in matters within our national border. The con- quering of even the impalpable waves of the ether is not the conquering or regener- ating of the spirit of man. Nor is it even any strengthening of the pure reasoning powers of his brain. He gets more information than did his ancestors, but he does not necessarily get any improved power of discriminating be- tween information and misinformation.

If the gentlemen who manage our educational system will give our children the faculty of judging evidence, of weigh- ing it, of sifting it, of separating proved truth from unproved and unestablished assertion, they will do more for this country than they could do by any possible multiplying of information and accumulating of scientific mechanical knowledge and skill.

LEADING THE CHILD INTO TEMPTATION

The Herald oj Gospel Liberty

On every hand our young people are being allured into ways to spend their money for things they cannot afford to buy, and their time in ways that are harmful rather than beneficial. Business men know the almost irresistible power of salesmanship and advertising. But few parents have realized how this same power affects the lives of their children. In magazines, on billboards, in window displays, everywhere youth is tempted to use fine tobaccos, to wear gaudy and costly raiment, to dress in daring and extreme ga^rb, to drink this or that or the other kind of beverage — and all at a cost of money which only a few of them can afford, and at a C03t of moral fiber and stamina and regular habits which none of them can afford. In no previous generation did childhood and youth ever have thrown about them so many allurements and tendencies drawing them away from thrift and industry and studious habits as at present. And happy indeed is that home whose parents have perceived this truth, and have wisely and tactfully fortified its children against this modern danger.

"THE OLD EVANGELISM IS DEAD"

Christian Advocate.

A writer, speaking in a letter of condi- tions in his section of this country, says: "Of course the old evangelism is dead."

Indeed, what did it die of? Who killed it? Is sin dead? Is death dead? Is eternity dead? Is personal need of salva- tion dead? Is God, and is the Word of God, dead?

Evangelism may be dead, but is it not then time there was a resurrection from the dead? Does it put an end to sin to say nothing any more about it, to nurse under the blanket the viper that will yet strike us down? Evangelism was dead in Sodom and Gomorrah; it was dead at the feast of Belshazzar; it was dead in the sanhedrin that crucified the Saviour — the Son of God who preached evangelism, and who preached it because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to save men from sin. Evangelism has frequently been dead — but alas, and alack, go look on the world in those days when evangelism was not so much as spoken! Go, look on the church in those dark days! There may be change in methods, but as long as men are what they are, as long as sin is sin, what can be the cry of the preacher unless it is, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world?"

COMMUNIST SUNDAY-SCHOOLS

'Daily Telegraph

Miss Margaret Milne Farquharson, speaking recently at a meeting of the National Political League, held for the purpose of directing public attention to the danger of Communist Sunday-schools of which there are reported to be 200 in the country, said that two Sundays ago one of the League's workers went into an extreme proletarian school. About eighty children were present. There was a "comrade" in the chair. The room was hung with portraits of Lenin and Trotsky and revolutionary catchwords. The teacher was a German Jew, and he said he had been often lately in Germany, and had a passport. In Germany he was put in touch with officials from Russia, who gave him instructions for the movement. He was a clever and attractive man, and the children liked him. He gave them a lesson on starvation and unemployment, rousing as much bitterness of feeling as he could. When reference was made to revolution the children cheered, and when religion was mentioned they scoffed and jeered at the word. Major Boyd- Carpenter, M. P., declared that the first article of the "Red" catechism was that there was no God; the second, that their greatest opponent was their em- ployer; and the third, that their greatest enemy was the man who had got some- thing they had not got.

THE INCREASING APOSTASY AND BLINDNESS

Our Hope

It would take many pages to record all what is going on in the greater part of the professing church of today showing the drift of things toward the predicted complete apostasy. We can give but a few of the many signs of the times in this direction.

In Minneapolis there is now a church which aims at the revival of the dance in connection with what they call "divine worship." The preacher illustrated his idea by "dancing the doxology." The spirit of Easter is to be executed by a resurrection dance and two young ladies will dance out the 27th Psalm. What next?

In the same city a preacher of an evangelical denomination declared that "Sunday evening is the playtime of the week for thousands of persons and that it is up to the church to get the people. If we are going to get them we must appeal to their play instinct. The preach- er might well study the methods of the theater and use them to advantage."

In the St. Mark's Place Episcopal church of New York City a service was recently held by the rector and by a Parsee priest. The report said the altar of the church was used in the Christian portion of the service. For the other portion there was an altar copied from an ancient Parsee shrine, and on it an urn containing the sacred fire, the em- blem of deity. Could it be worse?

Then we might quote the nasty, wicked, malicious utterances from the lips of "clergymen" of various denomina- tions who deny the virgin birth, who insult God and His Christ. If Thomas Paine, Bradlaugh and Ingersoll were living today they would blush in listen- ing to these garbed rascals who vowed once to preach the Word and stand by the creed of their denominations and who have become traitors worse than Judas ever was. God have mercy on them!

NEW— VITAL— POSITIVE

What Every Christian Should Believe

By William Evans

About the Bible, God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and Satan.

The object of this book is not to lay dowD dogmatically what every Christian should be compelled to believe, but to state in plain, unmistakable terms what true Christians from the beginning have be- lieved and what those led by the Spirit of truth do believe.

A Book of Sound Christian Doctrine for the People

12 mo., 128 pages, cloth 90 cents, postage 6 cents

The Bible Institute Colportage Ass'n.

822 No. La Salle St., Chicago

22

Moody Bible Institute Monthly

"SPOILKD" BY COINC TO A HIHLK TRAINING SCHOOL.

Evangelical Messenger.

"It has just spoiled her," was the strange and shallow-minded remark by a lady concerning a young woman whom I intimately knew, and who had attended a Bible Training School. She considered the young woman "spoiled" because the latter did not accept her views as to certain social maxims and practices, and because she took a deeper interest than ever in spiritual things. May it be the blessed lot of many others to be "spoiled" in the same manner!

But just a few words as to how the young woman was "spoiled." Her interest in and knowledge of the Bible were very greatly increased, her religious experience was considerably deepened, and her usefulness greatly augmented. Greater interest was awakened in Bible study in her home. She also became a far more efficient teacher in the Sunday- school, so that all her scholars became Christians. Going to that Bible school did not make the young woman gloomy or unsociable, but rather added charm and interest to her daily life. The un- saved were not repelled by her introduc- tion of religious subjects in social inter- course; but, on the contrary, interested and benefited. She wisely adapted her- self to circumstances, and drew them out in inquiry as to the way of salvation. "Spoiled," indeed, for the frivolous things of the world, a kind of spoiling many others need. Going to a Bible Training School, or our own theological seminary, may accomplish it for them under the blessing of God.

A GRUAT CnVS SHAMIi

Uniled Presbyterian

The citizens of fJuffalo, N. Y., elected as mayor Frank X. Schw.ib, who sought the office as an out and oui "wet" candi- date. He owns a brewery and has been convicted of violating the Volstead law. His election meant that the men engaged in the business of enforcing the prohibi- tion law of the land will have a hard and thorny path. By the election of such a man Buffalo has placed itself in a very unhappy situation. His attitude has been one of defiance to the Eight- eenth Constitutional Amendment and of open encouragement to breakers of the law. Under his regime Buffalo will surely become the bootleggers' heaven and an example to strengthen all the lawless souls and hands in the land. To see a great city in practical rebellion against constitutional law is not an assuring sight and must be the occasion of deep humiliation to its Christian citizenship. The Gazette Times, Pittsburgh, says: "Buffalo has become known as one of the wettest spots in the country, implying that there the people generally openly defy the law against traffic in intoxicants. Confirmation has been given the news that Mayor Schwab, who is president of a brewing company, has pleaded guilty to violating the Vol- stead act.

It is stated that the offenses he was accused of were committed before his election to the mayoralty. But the matter of time does not in any sense mitigate the position in which his incum- bency of the chief magistracy of the city places the community. A lawbreaker

before he took office, it is a fair surniiae that^lie has not been scrupulous in obey- ing the liquor law since he took the official oath. His attitufle toward pro- hibition had been carefully explained. He had placed himself in the position of advocate of law breaking. It would be strange if he did not do what he desired others to do. The influence of his senti- ments against obedience unquestionably has been bad. The spectacle of the mayor of a great city being penalized in open court for violating the law of the land should make the people of that city grieve and pause to take stock of their moral state. If Buffalo continues to support its mayor now that he has been revealed as a practitioner of the vile principles he has preached, it will acknowledge itself practically a rebel against the constitution."

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Personal Experiences with Mediums, Seances and Ghosts By GEORGE LEO WILKINS

A converted Spiritualist

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UNIVERSAL BIBLE SUNDAY

November 26th

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T TT F IVf F • BIBLE — UNDELIVERED TO

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YOUR church or Sunday School will welcome the education and the inspiration resulting from the observance of Universal Bible Sunday. An extremely interesting exercise, a beautiful poster in colors, an in- formative report together with leaflets for wide distribution furnished free on request to pastors, Sunday School superintendents, teachers and other religious workers. Kindly state size of congregation, school or class in ordering.

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September, 1922 '

23

Young People's Society Topics

John C. Page

September 3 Better Giving Acts 20: 31-35

The experience of the apostle presented in these verses begins with a word of warning — "Watch and remember." This warning is based on the prediction that after his departure, false teachers would arise who would "draw away disciples after them." In view of this, the apostle bids his hearers to be watchful.

The words which relate closely to our subject are found in verses 33-35. The adoption of the principle set forth in these verses will lead us to the place of "better giving."

There is, first of all, the principle of a proper estimation of comparative values. This is found in verse 33. Such a prin- ciple saves us from covetousness and the love of display. Faith lays hold of the unseen and enters into possession of spiritual joys which the world knows not of; being thus enriched, one is liberated from the prevailing sin of covetousness. Not only so, but with this proper esti- mate !of spiritual and eternal things, there comes the impulse towards better giving for the promotion of these things.

The second principle is that of industry, honest toil, in order that one may have something to give. This is found in verse 34. This principle provides en- thusiasm and zest for the daily round of toil. It transforms our tasks into work for God. It purifies and ennobles the soul and makes "better giving" a matter of service and sacrifice.

The third principle is seen in the words of verse 35, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." There are two types of life, the giving life and the getting life; one into which blessing flows, and one through which blessing flows to others.

The "giving life" is the more blessed one.

September 10 God's Commands and Our Obedience Psalm 119:33-40

"Thy statutes," "thy law," "thy commandments," "thy testimonies," "thy word," "thy judgments," are terms which indicate the revealed will of God that by which life is to be measured and guided and judged.

Some one has forcefully referred to the Bible in this way: "This book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are bind- ing, its histories are true, and its decis- ions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler's map, the pil- grim's staff, the pilot's compass, the

24

soldier's sword, and the Christians' charter. Here Paradise is restored, heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed. Christ is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure. It is given you in life, will be opened at the judgment, and be remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labor, and condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents."

To a book like this, God's Book, the only sane and safe attitude is that of committal and yieldedness. Such action, springing from faith, will lead to a life of obedience to the commandments of God.

ignores God as He has revealed Him- self in Christ, is pagan and not Christian, even though it be called a denomina- tional school.

An education is costly, not in coin as much as in hard labor, but it can be gained and is worth all it costs. God brings to the top of the mountain those who climb.

September 17

Getting an Education

Proverbs 9:1-11

The last verses give the gist of the lesson before us: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowl- edge of the holy is understanding." No education is worth getting that leaves out the wisdom and understanding which comes to the soul as a result of proper adjustment toward God.

God has revealed Himself in His Word and in His works. Inasmuch as He is the author of both, there can be no contradiction between their true testimony. A false or immature inter- pretation of either or both of these revelations may contain inconsistencies, but a true interpretation of both is bound to harmonize.

To the church, there has been com- mitted the task of interpreting and applying spiritual truth as revealed in the Bible, while to the school has been assigned the task of interpreting the revelation of God in His works, some- times called scientific truth. Between them, there should be no conflict. Nevertheless, there is today, a very serious and far-reaching conflict. This fact obviously demands the greatest care on the part of those seeking an education and imposes obligations on parents and guardians who may direct or advise in this matter. It should be remembered that the conflict between church and school is not concerned with demonstrated facts, but over a specula- tive philosophy and unproved theories masquerading under the name of evo- lution. The falsities of evolutionary as- sumptions have been clearly shown. As a philosophy or interpretation of life, this theory is waning. Nevertheless, it has wrought havoc with the faith of Christian young men and women, who were not for- tified with an intelligent knowledge of the Word of God. Any education that

September 24 How Can We Help Foreign Mission Work? Isaiah 6:1-S

The obvious answer to the question of our topic is found in the words of verse 8, "Here am I, send me. Send me in person or through a substitute; through money; through prayer; through intelli- gent and persistent eflort, in any way that seems best, send me." This atti- tude of soul presupposes an experience similar to that which the prophet himself had and which is recorded in our Scrip- ture lesson.

Here we find a vision, first of the Lord, "high and lifted up," followed by a vision of human need and opportunity. To see and learn that God is on the throne, the place of government and control, always marks an epoch in spiritual experience. Isaiah never for- got it. He even remembered the time of its occurrence, "The year that king Uzziah died." It was a vision of glory and of grace, for it not only revealed the need of cleansing, but also provided the means for the cleansing. It prepared the prophet for a larger ministry and more effective service than he had ever known before. When the vision of human need and opportunity to meet that need came to him, his heart expressed itself in the familiar words, "Here am I, send me."

God commits the interests of His kingdom and the progress of' His gospel to prepared hearts, those who have caught the vision of His omnipotence in such a clear way that their own impotence can never again be a sufficient ground for refusal to respond to the call of God. Their prayer is:

Give me thy heart, O Christ! Thy love untold.

That I, like Thee, may pity; like Thee,

may preach. For round me spreads on every side a

waste,

Drearer than that which moved Thy

soul to sadness. No ray hath pierced this immemorial

gloom,

And scarce these darkened, toiling my- riads taste

Even a few drops gladness.

As they move on tomb.

of fleeting, earthly slow, silent, to the — Selected.

THE MORAL SAG

seen in vi!e amuse- ments, bootlegging. Sabbath desecration, gambling, juvenile crime, immodest drees, calU for •otmona and addres»e«, and these demand facts. Send 50 cents for big supply. THE MEGAPHONE, Dept. 15, Evanston, 111.

Moody Bible Institute Monthly

Practical and Perplexing Qiiestions

(Jraiit Stroh

The rl(llu is ri'si-rvi'il lo roject i-oiUrovorsliil t|iivH(loiis .ind ollivrN which may Ik' dcomcti uiiprolilahlo (<> aitswor. All qtioNllons nIiouUI Iu> briefly, but clearly attitod. IVrsoiiiil answers cannol be sent. — lutllors.

IN HIS NAME

F. A. T., Rolling Prairie, Ind.

Question: Should not all of our pray- ers be made in the name of Jesus, or using some title referring to Him?

Answer: Our answer is in the aflirma- tive. The promise of answered prayer is to ask in Christ's name; that is, according to His person and His will (John 15:16). Moreover, He also said, "No man coin- eth unto the Father but by me" (John 14:6). For one to persistently refuse to pray in that name, as in the case you mention, would seem to indicate that either the person is not a Christian or has been wrongly instructed.

ROMANS 8:29,30

H.L. H., Vidette.Ga.

Verse 29 teaches the foreknowledge and predestination of God in respect to the Christian's conformity to Christ; while, verse 30 teaches the effectual calling, justification, and glorification of the Christian. These truths are wholly for the comfort and assurance of the Chris- tian, whose salvation to the uttermost does not depend upon himself, but upon the love and power of God. Upon the other hand this passage does not teach barren fatalism. Man is always a free moral agent. God can save only those who believe on Him and who come to Him. Hence to the non-Christian the invitation always is, "Whosoever will."

BOOKS ATTACKED BY THE HIGH- ER CRITICS * * * * * *

To our nameless and unlocalized reader we would say that most of the books of the Bible have been subject to the at- tacks of the destructive critics, but it is impossible in our limited space to answer "all of the objections with a word re- garding each." In the Old Testament the books chiefly attacked have been the Pentateuch, the Chronicles, the Psalms, Isaiah, and Daniel. For a brief rebuttal we would recommend a pamphlet by Prof. Robert Dick Wilson, Ph. D., D. D., entitled Is Higher Criticism Scholarly? A fuller treatment of the subject is given by Prof. John H. Raven, D. D., in his Old Testament Introduction, or by James M. Gray in Primers of the Faith.

TOBACCO AND THE THEATER R.B., Cleveland, 0.

(1) The "filthy" tobacco user, the drunkard, and the drug addict may be saved and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost immediately upon believing. Such has been the repeated experience.

(2) Occasional attendance upon the theater may result in no conscious spir-

September, 1922

itual harm to one person, while another may receive spiritual injury of which he alone is unconscious. Besides, the subtle influences are such that often only the most spiritually minded would be able to detect certain phases of injury.

(3) Although the Bible says, "whoso- ever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved," it is yet possible for one to sin away his day of grace, because re- peated refusals to respond to the voice of God gradually makes the ear dull of hear- ing. Under such conditions the day of grace for that person is past.

THE BEST REFERENCE BIBLE

B. L. K., Harrisonburg, Va.

(1) The best reference Bible is a mat- ter of personal preference. For ordinary reading the King James Version is as good as any. The Scofield Reference Bible is the King James Version, but in our judgment the marginal references of this edition are more valuable than most other.s. It is well to own also an inexpensive copy of the Nelson American Revised Standard.

(2) The marginal references to God's rest in the fourth of Hebrews are based upon a mistaken interpretation. The rest referred to is not the weekly rest day of the Old Testament, but the spiritual rest of the soul, of which the bodily rest was an intimation or illustration.

(3) The prophecies in Isaiah 3:16-26 and 4:1, 3, 4, have complete fulfilment in the future. Isaiah 4:2, 5, 6 clearly re- fer to the kingdom age, which is still future. The first and second chapters of Lamentations contain a picture of the desolations and grief of Jerusalem fol- lowing the destruction under Nebuchad-

RE-INCARNATION

W. S., Admiral, Sask.

This is a revival of Brahmanism, Buddhism and other ancient religions now held by the Theosophists and others in this country. Some Jews held this be- lief, but it did not generally prevail among them. It was also considered heretical by the early church. The pas- sages quoted in the article by Mr. L. F. Englesby have little value as proofs. Would the guilty conscience of Herod at- tributing the power of Jesus to the risen John the Baptist (Mark 6:14,15) be ac- cepted as any proof of a re-incarnation of that prophet? In regard to John the Baptist being a re-incarnation of Elijah (Matt. 11 :14) the true explanation is that John the Baptist came "in the spirit and power of Elijah" (Luke 1:17). He was not Elijah re-incarnated (John 1:21,25). The phrase in Revelations 3:12, "and he shall go no more out," simply teaches the eternal security of the believer. The last

passage (John 9:2) need not nc<c:Hsurily raise the <|uestion of the blind man sin- ning ill a pre-incarnate existence. The question merely emphasizes the belief of the discii)les that sin somewlu're must have been the cause of the blindness. The question would be a slender proof for the doctrine of a re-incarnation.

Back of the entire article is evolution, from which the writer argues this theory of re-incarnation. As he says, "It fits in so well with the theory of evolution." By repeated re-incarnations the spirit of man is to "absorb experience from body to body" and finally grow "into a super- man with the ages." Time after time he will come back to this earth until "he shall have overcome all the evils of the flesh and become so perfected that he does not need to go back." This is the latest that evolution has to offer to us. Far better is it to be a son of God, and when death comes to enter at once into the heavenly mansions.

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BRIEF MENTION

V. C. K., Waterloo, Iowa.

The following Scripture passages should afford comfort to a parent from whom death has removed an infant: Isaiah 40:11; Matthew 18:1-6, 10-14; Luke 18:15, 16; Jeremiah 31:15-17.

C. D., Klamath Falls, Ore.

God is much more than a "universal principle." He is also an "external per- sonality," the all-wise, all-knowing, lov- ing Father. God may be imminent in us, but He also is transcendent.

O. M. M., North Vernon, Ind.

The case you describe does not war- rant legal separation upon scriptural grounds. Proof of the wife's death seems to be the only way out of the difficulty.

A. F., Highland, Mich.

The Old Testament saints are to be raised at the same time as the saints of the New Testament. (Dan. 12:1-4; John 5:29; 1 Cor. 15:23). Only the "rest of the dead" are raised after the millennium (Rev. 20:5).

//. R., Romeo, Mich.

(1) Enoch (Gen. 5:22). (2) Partak- ing of Christ's body and blood (John 6:53) never could have been other than spiritual. (3) So far as corporate Israel is concerned the new covenant is not in full force, since they have not met the conditions.

E. G., Pittsburgh, Pa.

Concerning the punishment of the wicked after death we would refer you to a pamphlet by Dr. James M. Gray, en- titled. The Future Retribution of the Wicked; also to one by Dr. J. F. Silver, entitled. Will Hell Be Vacated?

E. D. W., Charleston, W. Va.

The two men in your community who claim to be the two witnesses of Revela- tion 1 1 :3 are false witnesses. They prob- ably are not doing the work of the two witnesses (vv. 4-6), neither are they prophesying in the city where our Lord was crucified (v. 8).

W. S., Admiral, Sask.

(l)«We have not had access to the arti- cle upon reincarnation; nor do we know aught about the author. (2) Krishma is said to be the eighth incarnation of Vishnu, who is one of the most popular of the lesser deities of the Hindus. (3) Arjuna is the secondary hero in an epic poem of India which expresses the reli- gious and philosophical beliefs.

/. L. H., Baker, Ore.

(1) A small pamphlet entitled When Will Christ Come Again? sets forth clearly the differences between the premillennial and the postmillennial views. Send to the Bible Institute Colportage Association, Chicago.

(2) If any split comes within the de- nominations it will be between those who believe the Bible, and those who deny its divine inspiration and authority, and not over any single doctrine.

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The Westminster Textbooks of Religious Education

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26

Moody Bible Institute Monthly

International Sunday-school Lessons

p. H. Kit/.w.uoi

September 10 Teaching the Law of God Nehemiah 8:1-18

Golden Text: — "Teach me, 0 Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end." — Psalm 119:33.

It will be of interest and profit to find in this passage an ideal Sunday-school class.

I. A Model Bible Class (vv. 1-6).

1. The Eager Assembly (v. 1). The people gathered themselves together and "spake unto Ezra to bring the book of the law." It was not a matter of the teacher urging the class to come together, but the class with yearning hearts re- questing the teacher to come with God's Word. It is a most undesirable task to feed a child which is unwilling to eat. People need to come frequently together to hear God's Word. They need to see God's holiness as an ideal. Not only do they need to see their sins, but they need to be reminded of their duty. They have sorrows also which only can be met by God's Word. The Bible is the only book for the Sunday-school.

2. The Representative Assembly (v. 2) The class was made up of men, women and children. The men then did not leave the church-going to the women. Neither were the children left at home with nurses or to play on the streets. God's W'ord should be taught to all classes, men, women and children. The marvel of God's book is that it can be understood by all classes. The child can grasp its truths with the adult.

3. An Appreciative Assembly (v. 3). Their ears were attentive from morning to mid-day. So eager were they to know God's Word that they did not get tired although the lesson lasted for five or six hours. Today where the class recognizes that God is speaking through His Word they listen with attention.

4. Due Reverence Shown God's Word (vv. 4, 5). When Ezra opened the law all the people stood up. This they did out of respect for the holy Book. The reason there is not proper reverence for the Bible is that people are not taught to believe it as God's Word. Reverence in the house of God will only be when the Bible is regarded as God's very words. We should not worship the Bible, but we should esteem it as we esteem no other book.

5. They Joined Heartily in the Prayer (v. 6). As Ezra led them in prayer the people joined heartily in saying, "Amen! Amen!" bowing their faces to the ground.

II. A Model Bible Teacher (vv.7, 8).

Much depends upon the teacher as to the attitude and behavior of the class.

1. He Stood Up Where the People Could See Him (v.5). The position and bearing of the teacher has much to do with the attention and interest of the class.

2. He Read Distinctly (v.8). Much Riblo-reading is greatly to the discredit of the W'ord and the reader. I'erhaiis no reading is so jioorly done as that of the Bible.

3. Caused the People to Understand the Reading (v.8). The supreme busi- ness of the teacher is to make the Word of God so plain that all, old and young, can understand. The teaching should be clear, simple and definite. Failure in this is inexcusable.

III. The Impressions Made (vv.9-18).

1. Con\ iction of Sin (v.')). The Word of God brings conviction of sin (Acts 2:37). It is quick and powerful (Hcb. 4:12). The way to get conviction of sin is by teaching the Word of God, not appealing to the emotions by telling death-bed stories. The Holy Spirit ap- plies the Word. The people had real cause for sorrow — they were far from God. They not only had become worldly and the rich were in their greed oppress- ing the poor, but they were perplexed through their mixed marriages. They had violated the law of God of inter- marriage with the heathen. What con- viction of sin the teaching of God's Word would effect today along this line!

2. Weeping Turned into Joy (vv.lO- 12). When sins have been perceived and confessed God would not have His children to be sad. Continued mourn- ing will not atone for the sins that are past. It unfits one for present tasks and dishonors a pardoning God. Besides, joy has a salutary effect upon one's entire being. It quickens the circulation of the blood and gives buoyancy to life. "The joy of the Lord is your strength" (v. 10). To be joyful is a positive Chris- tian duty (Phil. 4:4; Gal. .S:22). We may be placed in difficult positions, but should joy in the Lord.

3. Shared Their Blessings with Others (vv. 10-12). Christianity is not having a good time alone; it is sharing our pros- perity with others. True joy manifests itself in giving to others. Pure religion goes out to minister to the poor (James 1:27).

4. The People Obeyed (vv.13-18). In their acquaintance with the Scriptures they found that the Feast of Tabernacles had been long neglected. As soon as they understood the Scriptures they went forth to do as they had been told. They went to work and kept this sacred feast in a way that it had not been kept since the days of Joshua (v. 17). If the Scriptures were read and made plain many things could be found which have not been complied with. In the keeping of this feast they dwelt in booths, thus typifying their pilgrim character and bringing to their remembrance the days of their wilderness journey. As children of Abraham we should look forward to a city which iaath foundations.

September 17 The Message of .Malachi Malachl .'):l-4:3

Golden Text: — "Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts." — Malachi 3:7.

The subject of today's lesson is broader than the text, especially the verses printed. The best way to teach this lesson is to give a survey of the entire hook.

Malachi was perhaps conteniporary with Nehemiah; probably sustained the san\c relation to Nehemiah that llaggai and Zechariah did to Zerubbabcl. After the completion of the walls of Jerusalem Nehemiah seems to have been called back to the Persian court, but returned to Jerusalem after a few years. Though outwardly the lives of the people were correct, the prophet pointed out the sins of a corrupt priesthood, mixed mar- riages and a failure to pay tithes.

I. Israel's Base Ingratitude (1:1-5).

God approached them with the ten- der affirmation, "I have loved you." It was the prophet's burden to declare this fact unto them (v.l). So formal and worldly were the people that they failed to see God's good hand upon them. The attitude of Israel to God is shown in the skeptical insinuation, "Wherein hast thou loved us?" The prophet answers this by showing God's choice of Jacob and His passing by Esau; his destruction of Edom and saving of Israel.

II. God's Severe Indictment

(1:6-2:17).

1. Against the Priests (1:6-2:9). They were guilty (1) of profanity (1:6). Their profanity was in despising the name, of God. To fail to honor God is to be pro- fane; to use His name in any unreal way is to be thus guilty. (2) Sacrilege (vv.7, 8). Their sacrilegious act was in offering polluted bread and blemished sacrifices. To bring such offerings to an earthly ruler would be a gross insult. Gifts to be acceptable with God niust be genuine; must cost something. There is no intellect too brilliant to offer in the Lord's service. The young should not esteem their lives wasted who offer them on the altar of missionary sacrifice. Most people are giving that which they do not need. (3) Greed (1:10). They were not willing to open the doors of God's house without pay. Our service should be out of a heart of love for God, not for profit. This has a vital applica- tion to ministers and evangelists today. (4) Weariness (1:12,13). Because of lack of love the routine of duty became irksome. God threatened them with severe punishment unless they would take His rebukes to heart. (5) Not teaching the law to the people (2:1-9). Those set apart to teach God's law to the people have a great responsibility and God will most surely demand an accounting.

2. Against the People (2:10-17; 3: 7-15). (1) For ungodly marriages (2:11, 12). God's purpose in the prohibition of mixed marriages was that He might raise up holy seed (v. 15). Marriage with the heathen would frustrate this

September, 1922

27

purpose. The marriage of the believer with the unbeliever today brings confu- sion into the fold of God and turns aside His purpose. (2) For Divorce (2:13-16). Divorce was the source of great sorrow — even the tears of the wronged women covering the altar (v.l3). The offerings of a man who had thus treated his wife would be an abomination to God. Per- haps the priests had set the wicked ex- ample in this. The tears of wronged women today are going up to God and make even the prayers of some men an abomination to Him. (3) Public wrongs (3:5,6). (a) Sorcery — magic. Those who practice such things should be re- garded as public offenders, (b) Adultery. This is a sin of wider extent than the parties named, (c) False swearing, (d) Oppression of the hireling, widow and fatherless, (e) Turned aside the stranger from his rights. (4) Blasphemy (3:13-15) They openly spoke against God assert- ing that it was profitless to serve Him.

III. The Severe Judgments which Shall Befall the Nation (3:1-5; 4:-l-6).

1. By Whom Executed. This is done by the Lord. Judgment has been com- mitted to the Son of God (Acts 17:30,31). When Christ returns the faithful and the unfaithful shall be differentiated and rewarded according to their deeds.

2. Time of Second Coming of Christ. John the Baptist was the forerunner of His first coming. Elijah shall be the forerunner of His second coming.

3. Result. For the righteous it will be a day of healing and salvation. To the wicked it will be a day of burning and destruction. A book of remem- brance is now being kept; a day of retri- bution is coming.

Review:

September 24 The Exile and The Restora- tion

Golden Text: — -"The Lord hath done great things for us: whereof we are glad." —Psalms 126:3.

Two methods of review may be em- ployed to advantage:

1. Character Study. Assign the out- standing heroes of the quarter's les- sons to members of the class and have them report. This assignment must be made the week previous, e.g. Ezekiel, the prophet of God; Daniel, the statesman; Ezra, the teacher of God's Word, etc.

2. Summary of Contents good method at all times, adapted to different grades, ing is suggestive of carrying out this method:

Lesson L Before Ezekiel was commis- sioned as a prophet he was given a vision of the Almighty. After that he was given an experimental knowledge of God's Word — -he ate the Book — digested and appropriated its contents.

Lesson II. Because Daniel besought the Lord he was able to make known the king's dream and interpret it. "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God" (James 1:5).

Lesson IIL While Belsha?34r ^nd his

This is a It can be The follow-

lords were engaged in drunken revelry a mysterious hand recorded divine judg- ment. There is a day coming when men must be judged. Happy is the man who has fled to Christ, for to such there is no judgment.

Lesson IV. Daniel's sterling worth brought him to the front — he was ele- vated to be Prime Minister of the Per- sian empire. Moved by jealousy cer- tain wicked men plotted his downfall. Because of a flawless record in business they trumped up a charge against him on the ground of his foreign religion. Though the king executed the foolish decree Daniel was delivered and his accusers were cast into the den of lions and destroyed.

Lesson V. Though Israel went into captivity as a chastisement of the Lord, in due time He recovered them. God's covenants and judgments are sure. He can move a heathen king to freely fulfil His own good pleasure and purpose.

Lesson VI. In the restoration of the people to their own land, the first thing necessary was the provision of a place

for the worship of God. As soon as this work was begun, violent opposition was in evidence. That which God sets out to do shall be completed though all hell oppose.

Lesson VII. Haman's wicked plot against the Jews was frustrated by Es- ther's shrewdness and courage. Those who plot against and hate God's coven- ant people shall be brought to destruction.

Lesson VIII. Through Zerubbabel the people were brought back and established in their own land, but they had gone far away from God. There was now need of a religious leader. Ezra was moved by the Spirit of God to lead them back to fellowship. Because Ezra sought the Lord his way was prospered. Success always comes to those who trust God.

Lesson IX. When Nehemlah heard of the distress of his brethren at Jeru- salem, he took the matter to the Lord in prayer. Their sorrow and distress was his sorrow and distress.

Lesson X. When Nehemiah began the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem he encountered violent opposition from

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