On to Christ; the gospel of the new era

Introduction

THE PEESENT CRISIS

^ fnp\ HE Past is the foundation on which we I work. The Present is our field of activity.

The Future is what we work for. j In facing the present Crisis of Christianity in entering the New Era we must keep these facts clearly in mind. The Church cannot afford to spend its energy and strength in merely conserving the things of the Past. The foundation has been well laid, and we do not have to worry about it. We can learn some lessons from its mistakes and in faith we must go ahead and build. The Future is hidden in the mist, but through the mist we catch glimpses of prominent features and probabilities; keeping our eyes on these things we must forge ahead. The Present is filled with perplexities and opportunities. We may make many blunders, but only the coward will falter, as the greatest blunder of all is to do nothing. We must see as clearly as possible, think deeply and act quickly. The crisis is upon us and failure now is irreparable. We must go for-

vii viii Introduction ward, and our motto should be *'Oii to Christ. '* There are some people who have failed to grasp the significance of the rapid changes that are taking place in our civilisation and religious ideas. They expect to return to pre-war times shortly after peace has been declared. They do not realise that the war has destroyed many things besides the economic life of Belgium and the dynasties of Europe. They fail to realise the effect that the army training and war experiences will have on America. They fail to take account of spiritual influences that are bound to follow on the world-wide upheaval that has taken place.

HOne of the cardinal sins of the Church is her desire to walk forward while she keeps her eyes on the past. She has been so deeply interested in her study of the faith of the Fathers that she has often forgotten that her main duty is to create the faith of their sons. The faith of the Fathers was all right. It served to make them men of God and it was the cradle of true democracy. That same faith needs to be applied in a new way to meet the problems of the New Era.!

The Church has been trying to go ahead like a man who walks forward with his head twisted over his shoulder and his eyes fixed on an object far behind him. A man walking in that un-

Introduction ix natural way cannot keep a straight line — neither can a Church. He will bump into every object that crosses his path — so will the Church. He will hurt himself and many others on the street — so will the Church.

The time has come for the Church to turn her eyes to the front — this means getting her attention on the future. "^Here is our real problem. Will the Church be big enough and strong enough to stamp its character on the new civilisation that is being born out of the world travail of the present time? If it fails the world will suffer a great loss. It will be due to the weakness of the ecclesiastical mind and the prejudices of those who are unwilling to learn new spiritual truths. It cannot fail if the men of the Church really know the power and purpose of Christ.)

The war, with its terrific loss of life, destruction of property, overturning of dynasties, and social upheavals, has affected the mind and heart of the whole world. In the general readjustment of the processes of production and social relationships the ideas of thinking men are bound to change. Religious conceptions are sure to feel this influence. If Christianity continues to cling to the past and fails to apply the truth to new conditions in a practical way, she will fail to stamp her character on the institu-

Introduction tions and policies that will affect the spiritual life of millions of people as yet unborn.

The Purpose

The object of this study is to bring home to all thoughtful minds some of the problems of the Church in dealing with the opportunities of the New Era. An effort is made in the first half of this book to point out the failures of the past, and then in the last half we try to show how the Church can meet these problems in a practical way. The problem is outlined in the first chapter and then different phases of it are discussed with suggestions of how they should be met in the following chapters. In the Second Part we make some practical suggestions on the reconstruction of the Church's life and thought. Some of these solutions may seem radical, but it must be remembered that structural weaknesses cannot be permanently repaired by superficial patches. The structure must be rebuilt and the weakness must be eliminated. It may be impossible to get unanimous support for suggestions that seem to affect whole ecclesiastical organisations, but no other alternative seems adequate to meet the needs of the New Era.

For years the Church has been talking Feder-

Introduction xi ation and Unity. The time has come to stop talking and make some experiments in Federating our religious forces and unifying their work. This cannot be done at once in every field, but it can be worked out in sparsely settled communities where the multiplication of Protestant churches merely breeds or continues petty local jealousies. The number of weak and struggling churches is more often a disgrace to the denomination that supports them than a credit to its Christian statesmanship, as many weak churches could be eliminated by uniting different Protestant organisations in sparsely settled communities.

It is possible to outline the theological conceptions that must control this movement without trying to write a creed. If such a creed is needed it can be worked out by theologians of spiritual vision and broad sympathy. It will be another interesting document for future generations to study and then pigeonhole. 'The true Creed of Christ is written in His life and work, and it must be rewritten anew in the life of each generation for itself. J

The purpose of this study is to show that the Christianity of Christ was broader and more spiritual than the creed of any Church. The creeds are merely man's efforts to define what their authors believed was Christ's interpretaxii Introduction tion of religion. They are limited by the scientific knowledge and philosophical conceptions of the age in which they were written^ It is hoped that some men who have mistaken the definitions for the things that were being defined will realise that they too can join with the Church in the spiritual work of saving the world and establishing it in the righteousness of Christ.

In solving the problems of the New Era the world needs the guidance and wisdom of God. The only way that we can get into touch with the mind of God is through prayer, and therefore the Church must cultivate in its people as never before the habit of prayer. If life is spiritual and the solution of its problems is only found in spiritual help, we should guard against thinking of this life and the life beyond the grave as being two different lives. Life is one. Therefore the Church cannot limit its message to this world. Men need a practical application of the Gospel of Eternal Hope to heal their wounded hearts.

The culmination of the criticisms made and the efforts at reconstruction offered comes in the last chapter, where the keynote of our conclusion is found in the phrase **0n to Christ." This is not merely a new shibboleth, it is also a program of work. It means a truer interpretation of Christ and a more thoroughgoing

Introduction xiii effort to follow His leadership and to avail ourselves of His power.

The Sources

The material for this study has been drawn from the author's own experiences in different fields of Christian work. It was his privilege to act as the Y. M. C. A. Director of Religious Work at one of the army cantonments for three months. The duties of this position brought him into close personal contact with the chaplains, camp pastors, and all the religious work in the cantonment. This position was the strategic centre of all the religious work in camp and gave a unique opportunity for seeing both its details and also its larger outlines.

The writer has also visited a number of camps as a preacher or lecturer. These experiences have broadened the impressions gained by the intensive study of the religious life of one camp.

The men in camp gave a unique opportunity to study the opinions and interests of the men of the country. They were just ^^home folks,'' but they showed how the masculine element of home folks really felt and thought.

The author spent a good part of five years during his student days in a social settlement with all the problems of a great city seething xiv Introduction by the door. For several years while pastor of a city church he had the privilege of acting as chairman of the committee that had charge of the Home Mission work of a whole State. This position revealed the inside problems of many village and country churches. These experiences laid the foundation for the ideas expressed in the following pages, which are illustrated by incidents from actual life.

The chapter on the ** Crystallisation of the Eeligion of the Inarticulate" has been based on personal experiences in several places and a study of books written by men who have known the soldier in the trenches. Donald Hankey's Student in Arms (both series), Chaplain Tiplady's The Cross at the Front, Papers from Picardy by Two Chaplains, and The Heart of a Soldier by Laughlan Maclean Watt are some of the books used. The opinions expressed as to the significance and importance of the campaign of education carried on by the Government and the welfare organisations of the Army are based on actual experiences in this work.

Although the writer has had no opportunity to know our men at the front, he rejoices in the privilege of having spent enough time in one cantonment to really know the spirit of our National Army.

Introduction xv

Where use has been made of the observations of studies of others this is indicated in the text. The author regrets that they cannot be mentioned by name, but their personal request for obviously good reasons has made this impossible.

The incident quoted in the chapter on ** Practical Work in the Army and at Home'^ to illustrate the chasm between labour and capital is not intended as a reflection on the labour movement. The writer believes in organised labour. This incident is merely used in an effort to awaken the mind of the Church to the seriousness of the misunderstanding that exists between these groups at the present time. The whole future of the world depends on getting these two antagonistic classes into a different mental attitude toward each other. The Church is the only institution that can do this.

The chapter on ^* Practical Immortality" received some suggestions from the article that appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in the spring of 1918 on **The New Death" by Winifred Kirkland. Just how much is due to this article is doubtful, but it is a pleasure to confess the stimulus it gave.

It is impossible to go into more detail as to where these thoughts have come from. They have been inspired by books, magazines, xvi Introduction articles, conversations, and the present conditions in the world.

This little study deals with big things. It is not expected that the Protestant Churches can be moved at once to make any radical readjustments to meet the problems of the New Era. It is hoped that a brief statement of actual conditions can stimulate discussion and awaken criticism. Out of this discussion and criticism something practical may come.

In conclusion I desire to acknowledge the courtesy of the editors of The Continent and The Presbyterian Advance in allowing me to use material that has appeared from time to time as articles in their magazines.

PART I THE past: its weakness and failures

CHAPTER PAGE

I The Church 's Peril and Its Cause 21 II The Church and Her Men . . 42

III The Weakness of the Denomina-

TivONAL Appeal .... 60

IV The Need of a Practical Chris-

tianity 81

V Crystallising the Religion of the

Inarticulate 99

PART II the future : its hope and promise

VI The Return of Faith

VII Spiritual Orthodoxy

VIII The Power of Prayer

IX Practical Immortality

X On to Christ .

115 125 144 156 167

PART I

THE PAST: ITS WEAKNESS AND FAILURE

THE Churches of America are facing at this time the possibility of one of the greatest failures in history.

The whole nation is seething with spiritual unrest and vague aspirations and almost no one is looking to the Church for a solution of his problems. This is a blunt statement of an unpleasant fact, but it sometimes takes a shock to shake the easy-going self-confidence of our church people and their spiritual leaders. There is a tendency to always evade an unpleasant situation by plausible excuses and it is only by holding before our eyes these unpleasant facts that we realise the danger that confronts the Church.

In recent months there has been a noticeable falling off in church attendance in one of our typical Eastern States. The secretary of an Inter-Church society reports that on his trips throughout the State he finds small congregations and discouraged ministers everywhere. The superintendent of Home Missions of one

Protestant denomination in this State reports that he has noticed the same situation in the churches under his care. Here we have the observations of two men on the spiritual life of a whole State. This does not represent a neglected field, as in this area there are at least four theological seminaries. Some people may try to explain this situation by saying that the people in this State have been so much occupied in the war-welfare work that they have no time for church attendance. That is an explanation that does not explain. If the people had felt the need of the spiritual help that their churches gave, their activities in behalf of others would have made them go to church and not kept them away.

This same lack of interest in the Church's spiritual message is shown by the kind of books that people are reading. People read the books that either interest or help them. The publishers of religious literature say that there is no interest in this country in any books that deal with the spiritual lessons of the war. People simply will not read them. Here we find the greatest war of history closing and the people of our country absolutely indifferent to its spiritual lessons. This lack of church attendance and indifference to the lessons from the war show the state of mind that the Church must deal with in its effort to awaken the conscience of America.

For a clear understanding of the situation that confronts the Church it is necessary to review the things that have caused it.

America's Lack of Spiritual Reaction

With all our sacrifices in the use of food substitutes and in saving the money we wanted to spend so as to buy our share of bonds and in giving the money we wanted to save to help the Red Cross and Y.M.C.A. we have not felt the burden of the war enough to cause a spiritual reaction. The shortages of wheat and sugar were merely temporary inconveniences. Our purchase of United States bonds was too good an investment to be called a sacrifice and the sums we gave to the Red Cross and Y.M.C.A. were not excessive.

"We entered the conflict at just the right moment and the heroism of our Army in one short severe campaign was the turning-point of the conflict. If this struggle had continued for several years and if the loss of life in our forces had reached the same proportion of our population as it did in England and France, the horror would have sunk deeply into our soul. Men would have been forced to think of

God. They would not have gloried so much in their own power, as they would have been forced to realise their own weakness.

There is grave danger that a spirit of selfsatisfaction will be developed instead of a spirit of humility. The danger of having our spiritual life weakened and side-tracked is so imminent that it is startling, and yet we are just as blind to this danger as we were to the German avalanche of August 1, 1914.

This weakened spiritual interest is not caused entirely by the lack of reaction to the war stimulus. It is too deep-seated a malady to have grown up in three or four years. The influences that affect the religious life and thought of a nation have to be studied for a period of thirty or forty years to be understood, as religious ideas spread slowly and take time to affect a nation.

During the period preceding the Great War there were several causes at work that were weakening the spiritual hold of the Churches on the life of the nation.

The Critical Controversy

The first of these was the critical controversy that has been going on among theologians. The introduction of the scientific method of study in

Biblical subjects has overturned some things that were held to be sacred by an older generation. This method of study caused ministers to take sides, and the controversy raged merrily over the question of whether we have a Pentateuch or a Hexateuch ; whether Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament or whether they were a compilation from other authors showing in many places the hand of an editor. The questions of the historicity of Daniel and Jonah have filled the minds and ears of many thoughtful Christians to such an extent that they have entirely forgotten the messages contained in the books they were quarrelling over. This whole controversy has taken up energies that might have been better used in trying to make clear the personality and work of Jesus Christ. The theories of the students and the investigations of the scholars have constantly been aired from the pulpit before they were completely worked out. These investigations have their place in the study, but they should be kept there. When properly used they form a valuable background, but when used controversially they only create mental uncertainties and spiritual unrest. The champions of the old theories have spent more time in defining their theories than in trying to make men see a living Saviour. They did not think it was possible for a man to know Jesus Christ as his Redeemer unless this man agreed with their opinions on the books of Moses and Jonah. Both sides unintentionally have been throwing stumbling-blocks in the way of the Church and preventing the man on the street from getting a grip on spiritual truth. We have merely accepted some of the destructive principles of the scientific method of Bible study and have failed to assimilate a spiritual conception of Jesus Christ.

We do not need less science in our Bible study, but we need a great deal more spiritual assimilation. We have fallen into the old sin of the Scribe and Pharisee of repeating text on text and quoting authority on authority and forgetting the spiritual life that Christ imparts.

This controversy has developed four different types of theologians. They do not classify themselves, but we will do it for our own convenience and to clarify our own minds.

First, We have the Liberal-Liberals, occupying the extreme Right in this controvers5\ They accept every scientific conclusion and many conclusions that are only called scientific. They are not only severely critical in their Bible study, but they have also lost their sense of spiritual values. They have no use for anything that seems mystical and is beyond the analysis of their intellectual laboratories. Many of them are real Trinitarians in their theology but are so vague in their philosophy that they fail to give any adequate help to the spiritual needs of men. They are the champion exponents of good works and reform movements. Their loss of spiritual sense has created a white-heated humanitarianism. You find them opposing social, economic, and civic wrongs and working night and day in the cause of human betterment. All honour them for their zeal and activity, but the man of deep spiritual interest regrets their diminished interests in the spiritual side of Christ's Gospel.

Second, There is another group that has often been overlooked. They are what we might call the Conservative-Liberals. Their fundamental intellectual position is that of the liberal school. They believe in and practise the scientific method of Bible study, but they also see the hand of God moving in a unique way through the life of the Israelitish nation. They do not care to press their theory as to the authorship of Old Testament books. They realise that the authors may be unknown, but they know that God spake through holy men in times past. They are striving to hear God's voice and interpret His message to the present age. Their object and interest differ a good deal from those that we have called the Liberal-Liberals. They want to bring Christ as a Saviour into the lives of sinful men. They desire to see God's Kingdom established on earth, but they also want to keep the spiritual and personal emphasis which Christ gave to all His teachings.

Third, We have the Liberal-Conservatives. These are the men whose fundamental theological conceptions are based on the principles established in the time of the Reformation. They are honestly convinced of the traditional conception of the Bible and the authors of its various books. But they are neither hurt nor troubled by those who have reached a different conclusion, for they are men of liberal spirit and they recognise that many students who disagree with them on questions of research are absolutely one with them in purpose and spirit. They do not yield one iota of their own conceptions, but they possess large minds and are of such a deep spiritual nature that they realise the oneness of purpose of all those that are working for Christ's Kingdom, even if their theological opinions widely differ.

The spirit of the Liberal-Conservatives can be best shown by an incident that happened some years ago at a meeting of a Presbytery. A young candidate of the ultra-Liberal-Liberal type had been examined and Presbytery was preparing to vote as to whether he should be ordained or not. One of the men of strong conservative convictions arose and said that he absolutely disagreed with the position taken by the candidate but he was pleased with the careful preparation of the young man and the clearness of his statements. This conservative theologian then went on to say that he realised that it was possible for men to hold different opinions and still work together in the same Church and he was prepared to vote for the young man's ordination although he still disagreed with the liberal position. Such breadth of spirit is not only commendable, it is far more than that — it is an indication of the way theological problems should be solved. The bitterness of argument is conquered by the spirituality that lifts men above their own opinions by bringing the disputants face to face with the Christ they both serve.

The last class are the Conservative-Conservatives. They are conservative both in theoretical conception and in spiritual practice. They believe in the verbal inspiration of Scripture and they pronounce anathemas on the scientific-liistorical method and all who practise it. They condemn a man who teaches that the Book of Jonah is a divine parable containing a great spiritual truth if he fails to accept the absolute historicity of both Jonah and his book.

In this and in many other ways they exalt the letter of the law far above the spirit. They do not like to burn sinners at the stake, for they are not brutal, but they greatly enjoy holding them up to public scorn not merely for their own edification, but also for the pleasure of seeing the sinner squirm. Like their predecessors, the Scribes of the time of Christ, they are great students of Scripture and can quote text after text and prove themselves, to their own satisfaction, the only champions of God's Kingdom on earth. They are out of touch with reform movements and they continue sounding out the old shibboleths much to their own satisfaction and to the hampering of God's message to their own generation. They occupy the extreme Left wing of Theology.

The unreasonable attitude of the Conservative-Conservatives was once shown when two candidates for the Gospel ministry were being examined for ordination by another Presbytery. One of them was a good-hearted, earnest man of no education but of fluent speech. He could quote the Shorter Catechism and the Scriptures and he was accepted at once. The other had been for years an ordained minister in another denomination. He was a college and seminary graduate and a careful student of philosophy and theology. He explained at length and with great care his theological beliefs and gave the reasons why he thought he could do better work in the Presbyterian Church than in the denomination he had formerly served. For several hours one or two men heckled him and exhorted Presbytery on the danger of admitting such a man into their midst. The leaders of this opposition were men of mediocre education but selfsatisfied in their orthodoxy. They missed the glib quotations from the Shorter Catechism and Scriptures and were hopelessly out of their depths in the philosophical and theological language of the trained student. It is one of our misfortunes that the Church of today has to contend with the antagonisms that are created by men of this type. They cannot comprehend any point of view but their own, and they try to force all minds into the same mould.

The hope of the present time lies in the spiritual message of the men that occupy the middle ground of this theological controversy. The Conservative-Liberals and the Liberal- Conservatives work well together, and from different standpoints seek the same goal. The extreme Right wing and the extreme Left wing will always have a small following, but the spiritual problem of the present time must be worked out by the men who are not theological extremists.

America is tired of theological theories and America wants a spiritual power to grip its soul. The arguments and controversies that have been carried on by these different parties have made the laymen turn away in despair from all forms of Christianity and the Churches are suffering from this spiritual despair.

Entertainment Substituted for Inspiration

There is another tendency that has existed in recent years in the Churches of America that has destroyed their spiritual power. This is the tendency to substitute different forms of entertainment for the spiritual inspiration of Christ and His truth.

It is due to the pleasure-loving nature of the American people and to a desire on the part of the ministers to fill their churches. The desire to have a full church is a laudable one. No eloquence or spiritual power can affect empty pews. They cannot be trained into a more godly walk in life than that which they already practise.

A message to accomplish results must be given to people and not to empty pews. When the pews began to empty then the wide-awake minister started to find some way in which to fill them. In some cases he started to preach on so-called '* popular'' subjects. He dealt with politics, reform movements, and present-day questions. When these subjects appealed to the imagination of his community he would find an increase in his congregation. When they failed to attain this result he often instituted other entertainment features. The music was improved and the amount of it was increased. The sermon was shortened, and instead of a real sermon with a real message we had sermonettes whose only virtues were their brevity and their finished rhetoric. The minister had unconsciously been counting the number of people in the church and not the number of souls that were being reached.

The Gospel of Christ is a message of salvation and not an entertainment programme. Stereopticon lectures, moving-picture shows, and discussions of current events have their place in the programme of the wide-awake church, but their place is not to be a substitute for the Gospel message at the time of the stated church services.

We reduce this whole programme to an absurdity when we try to think of Isaiah giving a stereopticon lecture on the Flora and Fauna of Palestine or Jeremiah giving a moving-picture show of the Army of Israel Passing in Review before the King. Could we think of

Jesus of Nazareth inviting the Scribes and Pharisees to listen to Him while He discussed the current events of the Eoman Empire at the Passover Feast? Ilaiah, Jeremiah, and Jesus Christ are the prophets of God with a message to the souls of men. Those who claim to be their successors need the same power and the same message to grip the heart and conscience of their own generation.

Experience has proved time and time again that the best of music and the finest stereopticon lecture and even the best educational moving-pictures fail to hold the interest of the people. For a small sum of money they can get these entertainments at any time they so desire.