Obgamed CmtiMiiin BIEELANB HATT EETCDIH * S. /7. 2o . LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRINCETON, N. J. Presented by H^nS-cX^P iX ORGANIZED CHRISTIAN I T Y ited the divine authority of the Bible as a vol- ume, and as to all particulars indeed, except a few chosen ones endorsed and made authentic by their own diversified vagaries. So they dis- card our Saviour's divinity, miraculous birth and deeds and vicarious death and resurrection. "But let us now hold to His ethical teachings and example — and perhaps resurrection," they are saying. By what testimony ? What do we kntnv of His words and works, having no au- thenticated and reliable record? The lunatic who sawed ofif a branch on which sat his friends, over whom he gleefully exulted as soon to be sprawling in helpless discomfiture below, forgot that he sat on the same branch and out- side the saw, and soon was seen groveling in the yery humiliation and discomfiture which he had so cheerfully predicted and provided for the others. When the Ihhle is dispensed with, it is totally gone in its reliability, and any one man's exceptional si)ecia1ties of light and li(jpe are gone with the rest, and no • 37 ORGANIZED CHRISTIAXITY weak and fantastic dreams of a sinful and morally deranged man can reclaim them. "Let us cast the Bible on the dust-heap or in the waste-basket — l;ut hold — let us each, after all, for life and immortality, according to the passing fancy of each, fish out the Truth, and so live, and help to live." • In the Outlook of September 23, 1905. Jacob Riis gives a beautiful and most instructive translation of Jorgensen's "Strand from Above." From a tree above, an enterprising spider had let himself down to the hedge Ijelow by a firm, well-anchored strand, to which he skilfully attached the web of his future home and occupation. .\s he prospered he grew ex- acting and self-important, and one overcast and depressing evening he inspected his strands. "At the farthest end of the web he came at last to a strand that all at once seemed strange to him. All the rest went this way or that — the spider knew every stick and knob they were made fast to — everv one. But this preposter- 38 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY ous strand went nowhere — that is to say, went straight up in the air and was lost. He stood up on his hind legs and stared with all his eyes, but he could not make it out. To look at. the strand went right up into the clouds, which was nonsense. The longer he sat and glared to no purpose, tlie angrier the spider grew. He had quite forgotten how on a bright September morning he himself had come down this same strand. And he had forgotten how, in the building of the web and afterward when it had to be enlarged, it was just this strand he had depended upon. He saw only that here was a useless strand, a fool strand, that went no- where in sense or reason, only up in the air. where solid spiders had no concern. . . . 'Away with it!' and with one vicious snap of his angry jaws he l)it the strand in two. That instant the web collapsed, the whole proud and i)rosperous structure fell in a heai), and when the spider came to. he lay sprawl- ing in the hedge with the web all about his head . 39 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY like a wet rag. In one brief moment he had wrecked it all — because he did not understand the use of the strand from alnn'c." To any thoughtful man the "strand from above" is the only reliable cord of light and hope to depressed and straitened humanity, and when in the pride and wantonness of human conceit this, in the repudiation of the Bible, is wilfully snapped, the spiritual disaster is complete. In the precarious voyage of the soul, the captain who looks into the hold of the ship for either the stars, or the telescope of his own rude and guess-work construction, will be stranded. After remarking, "A secular jour- nal in England received in the course of three months nine th.ousand comnuuiications ivom people seeking for light on the religious ques- tion'' — "never before has there been such a crisis in the history of belief" — Prof. Goldwin Smith — himself a comet and not a star — writes : "One clergyman it seems denies the 40 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY infallibility of the Bible and treats the Church as an association for general improvement. A second finds in the Bible inaccuracy and worse. A third professes to believe only so much of the Bible as commends itself to his judgment — the three eminent clergymen, it is to be feared, are sliding down a slippery incline, on which no permanent foothold is to be found." Yes. and sliding "not alone" in their unbeliev- ing or self-believing temerity, and the third is sliding down just as unmistakably and fatally as the others. In the preface of his book. "The Inner Light," Dr. Amory H. Bradford says : "The teaching of the book may be condensed as fol- lows : There is in every man light sufficient to disclose all the truth that is needed for the purposes of life; that light is from God who dwells in humanity, as he is immanent in the universe; therefore the source of authority is to be found within the soul and not in external authority of church, creed or book. That light ■41 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY beino- divine must be continuous; it will never fail ; it will lead into all trutb and sbow tbings to come: and it may be implicitly trusted." He tben proceeds to sbow tbat tbe Bible and the men of tbe Cburch are not to be trusted. Of the latter he asks : "Is not tbe Church com- posed of men? Are not men always limited and fallible? By what process do fallible men when brought together into a society become infallible?" Yes, and the question at once arises : By what process do fallible men like Dr. Bradford and his liberal friends become infallible? As he truly declares, the Churchmen are limited and fallible, and yet in fact they have ever had and have now all the advantages of Inner Light and spiritual indwelling that Dr. Bradford has, and if these men of the Church are not an au- thority, wherein appears his reliability, in any- thing in which he repudiates or distrusts the Bible? The record of the men of the Church is conclusive against them, he says. Is the 42 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY record of liberal thinking any more attractive and convincing? To take a single specimen from the writings of R. J. Campbell, of the London City Tem- ple : "Sin itself is a quest for God — a blunder- ing quest, Init a c|uest for all that. The man who got drunk last night did so because of the impulse within him to Ijreak through the barriers of his limitations, to express himself, and to realize the more abundant life. His self-indulgence just came to that; he wanted, if only for a brief hour, to live the larger life, to expand the soul, to enter untrodden regions, and gather to himself new experiences. That dnmken debauch was a (|uest for life, a (juest for God. Men in their sinful follies to-day, and their blank atheism, and their foul blasphemies, their trampling upon things that are beautiful and good, are engaged in this dim, blundering quest for God, whom to know is life eternal. The roiic you saw in Piccadilly last night, w ho went out to corrupt innocence and to wallow . 43 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY in filthiness of the flesh, was engaged in this bkindering quest for God." Other quotations — not equal to this extraor- dinary specimen indeed, but going to show that "hljcral" men are no more to be trusted as ulti- mate authority than the Churchmen — might be given, and given from the pages of the Outlook, of which Dr. Bradford is one of the editors. The fact is, this delusive cult is based on a sen- timental egoism wdiich can be expressed at a distance in books and articles, but not face to face with men and facts in a pulpit. Dr. Brad- ford is much too faithful to his ]\Iontclair flock, and to the Chief Shepherd of the same, and to his own better self indeed, than to stand u]) in his pulpit to say : "You cannot trust your Bibles, you cannot trust the Church ministers or the creed-making ministers, even though they liave had e(|ually with us the Spirit and the Inner Light ; but you can trust me and such as I am, with our Spirit and our Inner Light." 44 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY "Nor is there any way of salvation for us but unwavering and untrammelled pursuit of truth." says Goldwin Smith — with a countless chorus of liberal echoes. True ; but the pur- suit of truth is with the hosts of the self-trust- ers — like "following- conscience," as Dr. Will- iam Adams describes it — "as a man follows a wheel-barrow which he is steadily pushing be- fore him with all the obstinacy of a determined will." These load up the wheel-barrow with their own negations and imaginations — push it energetically before them, and call it following the truth. As has been well said of the "multiplied dogmas which are now asking for acceptance on the ground that they are based on the re- ligious consciousness, and must be received be- cause the religious consciousness is endorsing them, we are familiar with their range, their style, their coloring. They relate to the nature and character of (lod, to Mis ])r()\i(k'ntial and His moral administration, to the contents and ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY the claim of Scripture, to the person and mecHation of Christ, to the existence and min- istration of the Spirit, to the real nature of the Christian life, to conscience and duty, to the Church and her creeds and institutions, to the article of death, the state of the dead, future probation, a judgment to come, a final and retributive eternity. Men are everywhere test- ing these great verities of religion by their fears, their fancies, their hopes — by the dicta of their natural conscience, by the measure- ments of finite reason, by standards that are wholly sul)jective, individual, superficial, per- verted through sin: rather than by the lines and measurements of the Word and Spirit of God. In many instances they set up their little social consciousness against the consciousness of the whole Church — their temporary opinions against the enduring conviction oT the house- hold of faith living on thn)Ugli the ages." All the sjieculations and experiments of be- nighted, ignorant, weak. decei\al)le men in ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY their consummation — when they are "finished," show that there are no substittites for the Bible as to life's xi'liaf or hozc, and no Bible but a divinely inspired and so reliable one ; and how- ever self-complacent for the time, rejecters of the Bible are and are seen to be traveling in the dark, running", as has been said of a fron- tier railroad, "from nowhere, through nowhere, to nowhere"" ! But how read the indispensable Bible? In intelligent reasonableness. How read so that we may at once honor, understand and utilize it? As a little cliild and a straitened, eager child, in genuine humility, nc\cr allowing our ignorance to interfere with our knowledge, which is all the more reasonable because in life and death emergencies, we are called to seek the truth. There is a vast difference as to ani- nuis, (juestioning criticism, and preliminary ex- actions of the business, between three men hunt- ing rabbits. One for the exhilarating fun of the chase, another from curiosity in animal ■ A7 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY anatomy, and the third wlio, hungry in the forest, is starving to death. Reason helongs often to ends — supreme practical ends — not logical self-gratii'ications. What is truly rational in Bible reception may he illustrated by four American children or- phaned in London through their father's sud- denly returning to New York. Whh reason in full play they argue : "Our father will surely write to us for our guidance. Having put us here he v.ill not abandon us to the consequences of our ov;n childhood, ignorance and experience." \Mien letters come, tlicy ask : "Are these really from father ? Probably they are, but are they surely, evidently so?" So they bring to bear their resources of scholarship and "criti- cism," examine the postmarks, many details of which they cannot understand, and the text, which varies indeed as pen, or typewriter or dictation are employed. And to their bright and rational, vet not omniscient minds, thereare 48 ORGAXIZED CHRISTIANITY decided mysteries, not onl}' of w ords, but also ideas — mercantile and diplomatic ideas above them and e\-idently designed to be reported rather than utilized. But the question is: "Was father the author of the letters?" And they rationally and confidently say : "Yes," and proceed accordingly, and find their critical faith confirmed by their experience ; find that all their life needs, perplexities, enterprises, mu- tualities and prospects are here exactly met. Moreover their faith in the communications is additionally confirmed by the lucid and cheer- ing expositions of an intelligent, sympathetic and affectionate friend to whom the father cables in their Ijehalf. Thoughtfully calculating that theirfatherwas sure to write, did write, and knew just what and how to write for their highest life experi- ences — though to be sure he did not always satisfy their curiosity — they thoughtfully read, and enjoy and utilize the letters. Not all of them, though. One was forsooth 49 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY a young "liberal." He said he was his fath.er's child, and equal to him in qualifications for revelations, vainly sought to induce the sym- pathizing friend to take counsel with him, in- dependently of the letters, said his own per- sonal authority was for truth higher and more "final" than they, that he had "ideas and ideals," had "found himself" and could and would "un- waveringly pursue the truth wherever it led him," and spent much of his time in criticising and denouncing the letters — except as they were subordinate to his superior thought. Not long, however — going forth to test his unfilial theories by experience, he soon came to grief, now coldly ordered to "move on," and then run over, and here in the lock-up and there in the river; day and night lost and IdhcIv and hun- gry, in due time a sadder and wiser youth, he came to himself, returned home and in be- coming humility lived with the others a filial life of reason corrected by reason. One consideration ne\er to be forgotten in 50 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY our own Bible study is this : God has given universal notice that in His communications to men there will be always a zone of mystery between the \ oice and the ear — a zone of mys- tery to be in silent awe respected by the listener, always an intervening, an enchanted region be- tween the "burning bush" and the over-curious Moses "turning aside to see," of which God in unapproachable majesty is saying: "Moses, Moses, draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground!" God gives indeed wayside intimations of this in the very constitution of man himself, in which spiritual being mysteriously addressed by and through matter, mysteriously communicates purposes to matter. A music teacher's thought through his tongue to the pupil's ear and through the ear to the conceptions, and through the conceptions to the will, and through the will to the fingers, and from the fingers to the keys, is a familiar yet after all a startling mys- 51 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY tery. So is telegraphic communication mysteri- ous. The mystery and reserve of God's communi- cations are true universally — appearing in na- ture and science as well as grace and truth — all through, in all spheres, from the guidance of the terrified and helpless wild fowl, crying in the blackn.ess of a stormy November night yet sweeping forward with unerring certainty straight for the southern goal nevertheless, to the final "well done" and "enter the joy" of a departing Christian ! And of course there are mysterious elements in the contents and the delivery of Bible truth. It is usually said that God leaves to the sacred writers their peculiar characteristics of mind and disposition, and yet overrules them to in- sure inerrancy, and doubtless this is true. And it is also necessarily true that God must some- how have a verbal superintendence in Scrip- ture writing or none. This intervention of God in human diction in its impalpable mys- 52 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY teries is illustrated continually in Christian service. No sensitive and intelligent ambassador for Christ ever dares to preach or pray without heartfelt appeals to God to visit him, not only for the "meditations of his heart," but the "words of his mouth," as well, and every Sab- bath night he thanks his Lord for words. But let him now blunder into talk about this sacred business of the "secret place of the Most High," and tell perhaps his wife all about it, and she will corner him on the spot, by asking if he imagines that his blundering infelicities are to be attributed to God. So in devout and spirit- ual conventions or prayer circles, Christian men and women pray for words as well as thoughts, feeliiigs and purposes, and are sure that God regards such prayers, even though they might be cornered on the infelicities. "The wind bloweth where it listctli, and thou hcarest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it Cometh and whither it goelh : so is every one . 53 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY that is born of the Spirit" — or taught or used of the Spirit. Another in this divine Trinity of efficacy is the Saviour — at once supreme objective and omnipotent source. "I am the way. the truth and the hfe," He said — "No man cometh unto the Father but by me" — as elsewhere, in thought, "No man goeth forth from the Father but by me" — or as Dr. Henry Van Dyke fehcitously puts it : "Christ must be your door by whom you go into God. and out to man." Prof. Goldwin Smith is an accomphshed bi- ographer, no doubt, but he can be improved upon. Of Gladstone he writes: "Let those who shrink with horror from the spread of free inquiry (h^aw encouragement and charity at the same time from a grand exami)le. Glad- stone, as Morley's life of him show.i, was to the end of his days a High Churchman, in- tensely religious, a l;elicver in special j^rovi- dence, in the inspiration of Scripture, in the 54 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY efficacy of prayer. Yet lie could not only as- sociate and act heartily with free thinkers, but look with satisfaction on the activity of the general conscience, and say that while there had never keen an age so much perplexed with (k)ul)t, there had ne\er been one so full of ear- nest ])ursuit of truth." Yes, and he was all that and more. toD. in breadth and in depth, because as he himself says, "All I think, all I hope, all I write, all I live for. is based upon the divinity of Jesus Christ, the central joy of my poor wayward life." From his study window, for months, this writer has watched a magnificent tree, loftily towering above all its leafy, lower neighbors, with enchantment at once to resist and utilize the lenipcstunus gales, that fiercely buffet it from north and south and cast and west — and in such fascinating cxhihition of majesty and grace tha' at last, yielding to a ps\chological im|)ulse, he visited it at close (|uarlers to see its roofs. Prof. C