LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Chap Copjiiglit No.A_3 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
OUR FIRST CONGRESS 
 
Our First Congress 
 
 CONSISTING OF 
 
 ADDRESSES ON RELIGIOUS AND THEOLOGICAL 
 
 QUESTIONS, DURING THE FIRST CONGRESS 
 
 OF THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST, HELD 
 
 IN ST. LOUIS, APRIL 25-27, 1899. 
 
 ^ 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 J. H. GARRISON 
 Editor Christian-Evangelist . 
 
 St. Louis 
 
 CHRISTIAN PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 1900 
 
35386 
 
 
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 72799 
 
 Librsiry of Con<^ree& 
 
 Two CopjES Received | 
 JUL 26 1900 I 
 
 Cop^ght entry 
 
 SECOND COPY. 
 
 Oeliverfld to 
 
 ORDER DIVISION, 
 
 3 ^900 
 
 AUGL 
 
 Copyrighted, 1900 
 By Christian Publishing Company 
 
Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface 7 
 
 Introductory Address 11 
 
 I. The Vai,ue of Theology. Edward Scribner 
 
 Ames 18 
 
 II. The Cry, "Back to Christ." /. /. Haley 55 
 
 III. The Cry, "Back to Christ" — A Review. 
 
 /. B. Briney 85 
 
 IV. The Cry, "Back to Christ" — A Review. 
 
 W. J. Lhamon . .- . . . .100 
 V. Crucial Points Concerning the Holy 
 
 Spirit. R. T. Mathews .... Ill 
 VI. Crucial Points Concerning the Holy 
 
 Spirit — A Review. JV. E. Ellis . . 151 
 VII. Crucial Points Concerning the Holy 
 Spirit: A Supplementary Statement. 
 
 E. N. Calvin 171 
 
 VIII. Organization and its Adjustment to the 
 Present Needs of the Church. Allan 
 B. Philputt 189 
 
 IX. Organization and its Adjustment to the 
 
 Present Needs of the Church — A 
 Review. W. E. Richardson . .211 
 
 X. Enrichment of Public Worship Among 
 
 the Disciples. Ida Withers Harrison . 223 
 5 
 
preface* 
 
 It was one of those charming summer days, 
 characteristic of Macatawa Park, on Lake Mich- 
 igan, at the close of our annual interdenomina- 
 tional Assembly there, in August, 1898, that a 
 dozen or more ministers of the Disciples of 
 Christ, together with their wives and some other 
 lay members who chanced to be spending their 
 vacation there, chartered a small steamer and 
 sailed up Black Lake to Point Superior for a 
 picnic and a social visit. There on a timbered 
 tongue of land jutting out into the lake, with 
 either side washed by the rippling waves, and 
 under the cool shade of the spreading oaks, we 
 sat and talked of those things in which we all 
 felt the deepest interest — the welfare of our own 
 religious movement. 
 
 Among other things presented for our consid- 
 eration was the propriety of holding a Congress 
 somewhere, at some time during the ensuing 
 year. Such a convocation had been suggested 
 many times before, but the move had never 
 taken definite or decisive form. It was urged, 
 at this little lake-side gathering, that there were 
 a number of questions which needed to be care- 
 fully and thoughtfully discussed among us, and 
 that there was no time at our annual missionary 
 
 7 
 
8 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 conventions for such discussion. Besides that, 
 it was agreed that many of these questions would 
 hardly be germane to a National Missionary Con- 
 vention, even if there was time for their discus- 
 sion. 
 
 After the foregoing considerations, and others, 
 had been duly weighed, it was voted unanimous- 
 ly that it was expedient to hold such a Congress, 
 and that this informal meeting, made up of rep- 
 resentatives from several states, should issue a 
 call for it. After a little further conference, St. 
 Louis was selected as the place, the latter part 
 of April as the time, and a committee was ap- 
 pointed to arrange a program, issue the call and 
 make all needful arrangements for the Congress. 
 The committee did its duty to the best of its 
 ability, and the First Congress of the Disciples 
 of Christ was the result. 
 
 The success of our First Congress exceeded 
 the expectation of the most sanguine, even of 
 those who called it. The attendance was large 
 and representative. The papers were worthy of 
 the men who prepared them and of the themes 
 they treated. The discussions were earnest, 
 pointed, and yet strictly parliamentary. The 
 spirit of fraternity and freedom which prevailed 
 was delightful, and to many it was a needed sign 
 and assurance of our future progress and pros- 
 perity. It was a splendid illustration of the 
 
PREFACE. 9 
 
 raotto, "In essentials unity; in opinions liberty; 
 in all tilings charity." 
 
 It was the general feeling among those who 
 ;attended the Congress that the leading papers at 
 least should be published in a permanent form, 
 and it is in response to this request from many 
 who heard them, and from many others who 
 were not privileged to hear them, but who wish 
 to keep in touch with the best thought of the 
 brotherhood, that they are now presented to the 
 public in this volume. It is hoped that the in- 
 terest with which they were received in the 
 Congress is prophetic of the wider interest they 
 will awaken in the larger public to which they 
 are now offered. Editor. 
 
 St. Louis, Feb. 15th, 1900. 
 
Introductory Hddrcse** 
 
 Brethren: — It is my pleasant duty, as Chair- 
 man of the first session of this our first Congress 
 and of the Committee on Program, as well as a 
 resident of St. Louis, to call the Congress to 
 order, and to extend to you a very cordial welcome 
 on behalf of the churches and brethren in this 
 city. It is a great pleasure to us all to have you 
 with us as our guests during the sessions of this 
 Congress, and we shall be delighted to do what 
 we can to make your stay among us both pleasant 
 and profitable. The freedom of Jthe city and of 
 our homes is yours. 
 
 I wish to congratulate you upon having real- 
 ized an honor to which so many of our fellow- 
 citizens have aspired in vain, viz., your election 
 as members of Congress. Nor is the honor less 
 because you are here to consider, not the polit- 
 ical issues of the day, but the great questions 
 which, in one form or another, belong to all 
 time, because they have to do with the funda- 
 mental and enduring needs of men in the higher 
 ranges of their being and nature. As I look over 
 this large audience present at the opening session, 
 and representing so many States of the Union, I 
 
 * By J. H. Garrison, who presided over the first session, 
 and acted as general chairman of the Congress. 
 
 11 
 
12 OUR FIE.ST CONGRESS. 
 
 feel that the wisdom of the call for this Congress 
 has already been fully vindicated. 
 
 It is altogether fitting and proper, brethren, 
 that we who have championed the cause of relig- 
 ious liberty, and who owe our existence as a 
 religious movement to a revolt against the 
 tyranny of human creeds and ecclesiasticisms, 
 should hold such a Congress as this for the free 
 and unfettered discussion of those questions 
 which are attracting the attention of the 
 thoughtful men of our time. Holding fast to 
 the deity and lordship of Jesus Christ, as the 
 true object of faith, we can freely express our 
 opinions and conclusions concerning these dis- 
 puted questions without fear of that theological 
 odium which has been so often used to suppress 
 freedom of thought. Trained as we have been 
 to do our own religious thinking and to give a 
 reason for the faith that is in us, we may safely 
 anticipate a season of delightful, intellectual and 
 spiritual intercourse during the sessions of this 
 Congress. 
 
 We do not know of any city in our beloved 
 country where the first Congress of the Disciples 
 of Christ could have been more appropriately 
 held than in this great metropolis on the bank of 
 the Father of Waters, — the imperial city of St. 
 Louis. Not to mention the fact that it is the 
 home of the Christian-Evangelist, whose honor 
 it was, many years ago, to suggest such a Con- 
 
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 13 
 
 gress, St. Louis is at the heart of this great 
 Union of States, being near the center of popu- 
 lation and also the center of the membership of 
 the religious body represented in this Congress. 
 In such a center, surrounded by such a member- 
 ship, the Congress is sure to find a congenial 
 atmosphere, both climatically and religiously 
 speaking. In the name of our churches, our 
 ministers, our citizens, we bid you a cordial wel- 
 come to St. Louis and to our first Congress. In 
 the year 1903, during the World's Fair, celebrat- 
 ing the Centennial of the Louisiana Purchase, 
 we hope to welcome to St. Louis another session 
 of this Congress which shall be even more 
 largely attended than this one. 
 
 The first session of the Congress, over which I 
 am called to preside, is to be devoted to "The 
 History of Doctrine." The paper to be read is 
 on *'The Value of Theology." I need scarcely 
 remind you that the study of God — his being, 
 character and will — is the very highest of all 
 studies. Because the Disciples of Christ have 
 never formulated their theology into a creed, 
 but have always distinguished between theology 
 and the faith, it may have seemed to our relig- 
 ious neighbors, and even to some of our own 
 number, that we attach little importance to the- 
 ological study. This would be a wrong conclu- 
 sion, however. From Alexander Campbell to 
 the leaders among us to-day, clear thinking 
 
14 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 about God and his revelation to men has been 
 held in high esteem, and we, no less than others, 
 have had our theological system, though we have 
 never sought to impose it on others as a test of 
 fellowship or a condition of membership. In 
 this lies the great distinction between the Dis- 
 ciples of Christ and other religious bodies. We 
 have never regarded our theology as finished and 
 ready for being stereotyped. We believe there is 
 vastly more to be learned yet about God and His 
 way with men than has yet been found out, and 
 we prefer to hold our minds in readiness to re- 
 ceive the new light as fast as it breaks out of 
 God's Word. 
 
 It gives me great pleasure now to introduce to 
 you Prof. Edward S. Ames of Butler College, 
 Irvington, Ind., who will present a paper on 
 '*The Value of Theology." 
 
I. 
 
 The Value of Theology 
 
OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 I. 
 
 Cbe Value of ZhcoXosy. 
 
 THERE is great diversity of opinion as to the 
 value of theology. Very extreme state- 
 ments, both for and against it, might be quoted 
 from prominent religious leaders. Such a tabu- 
 lated list of opposing views, however, would 
 afford little real help to a man who seeks to 
 give the subject earnest consideration. There is 
 scarcely any topic upon which similar difference 
 of opinion does not exist, but that does not 
 hinder us from having opinions, — from being 
 republicans or democrats, imperialists or anti- 
 expansionists, realists or idealists. There is no 
 resting place in any matters of human interest 
 for the man who tries to settle important prob- 
 lems by asking simply for a catalogue of the 
 names on either side. The questions of conse- 
 quence always challenge the thoughtful man to 
 an investigation of the case upon its own merit. 
 This is true of the question as to whether the- 
 ology has any value. The fact that men differ 
 2 17 
 
18 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 about it is no sufficient excuse for dismissing it 
 without a hearing. Rather is it a reason why 
 each man should think it over for himself with 
 candor and carefulness. Every one who is 
 awake to the movements in present-day thought 
 is brought face to face in some way with the 
 new interest in theology. Instead of being 
 utterly banished from the world, it is seeking to 
 clothe itself anew in the language of the times, 
 and sooner or later will urge its claims for rec- 
 ognition. Neither are the advocates of a new 
 theology a feeble folk. They are among the 
 scholars of all countries. To show what weight 
 of learning and influence is cast on the side of 
 this science to-day, one has but to make clear 
 the meaning of the work of such men as Princi- 
 pal Fairbairn and Canon Gore in England, 
 Sabatier in France, Pfleiderer in Germany, 
 George A. Gordon and Henry Van Dyke in 
 America. It is noticeable that pastors and 
 practical religious workers are giving promi- 
 nence to these problems. There is a serious- 
 ness, even an anxiety, betrayed in the writings 
 which indicate that for them the situation seems 
 to involve the very foundations of religion. 
 The feeling is clearly expressed that the old 
 statements are already exploded, and practically 
 discarded. With Calvinism dead and many 
 times buried, these who have survived it may 
 well inquire whether theology itself has also 
 
THE VALUE OF THEOLOGY. 19 
 
 perished or whether another mighty system is 
 likely to arise. The whole Christian world can 
 not but be vitally concerned with this alterna- 
 tive. Under these circumstances the funda- 
 mental question is, What is the value of the- 
 ology? The question is not what is the value of 
 this or that system, but what is the value of any 
 system whatsoever? It is analogous to the in- 
 quiry whether science in general, not this or that 
 science, has any value. In other words, it is 
 conceivable that a man should be dissatisfied 
 with all the particular theories of physics with 
 which he is acquainted, and yet be convinced 
 that physical science is a possible and important 
 field of knowledge. 
 
 Theology may be defined as the science of God 
 and of divine things. It attempts to think out 
 clearly and to put into systematic form the 
 knowledge which man possesses of the Divine 
 Being and his relation to the world. It includes, 
 therefore, such subjects as the relation of God to 
 nature and to human life. The doctrines of sin 
 and of the atonement, of miracles and revela- 
 tion, of a future life and its rewards and pun- 
 ishments, — these and related subjects constitute 
 the material with which the science of theology 
 deals. The special departments of theology 
 need not be considered here except to point out 
 the relation of Biblical and S3^stematic theology. 
 Biblical theology investigates the Scriptures in 
 
20 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 order to set forth in an orderlj^ way the teaching 
 of the different writers upon the various sub- 
 jects considered, care being taken to interpret 
 each writer in terms of his time and circum- 
 stance. Sj'stematic theology, on the other hand, 
 builds upon these results, and seeks to translate 
 Biblical truth into the language and experience 
 of the present age. Systematic theology in- 
 cludes among its materials, therefore, not only 
 the revelation of God in the Bible, but also that 
 revelation which he makes of himself in nature 
 and in the progressive development of history. 
 The physical sciences, social institutions and 
 various world religions, — all the forms and prod- 
 ucts of human activity are made contributors to 
 the final view, under the conviction that, in some 
 way or other, every department of human life 
 reveals the nature of God and of his wonderful 
 ways. Systematic theology, therefore, sets for 
 itself no less a task than that of bringing to bear 
 the whole field of modern knowledge and experi- 
 ence in the interpretation of the idea of God 
 and his relation to humanity. 
 
 It is important to note the relation in which 
 theology stands to religion. They are neither 
 identical nor entirely separate, but may be 
 thought of as related in the same way that the- 
 ory is related to practice or science to art. Sci- 
 ence is the knowing and art is the doing, and in 
 point of time, art is much older than science. 
 
THE VALUE OF THEOIvOGY. 21 
 
 For example, ethics is the science of conduct, 
 bat human conduct had been going on for cen- 
 turies before a definite science of ethics arose. 
 Like^Yise men did not have to wait until a sys- 
 tem of logic was devised before they could 
 think, and think correctly. As Locke says, it is 
 a mistake of the scholastics to suppose that God 
 made a two-legged animal and left it to Aristotle 
 to make him rational. In the same way religion 
 is as old at least as the historic age of man, 
 while theology as a science is relatively a mod- 
 ern affair. Religion is the active attitude in 
 which the individual worships, propitiates or 
 serves the deity. It is the communion of the 
 individual with the universal Being. Theology, 
 on the other hand, inquires into the existence, 
 nature and attributes of the object of religious 
 adoration, and into the methods of mediation 
 and redemption. There is thus sought a trans- 
 lation of the immediate experience into con- 
 cepts, into scientific knowledge. The same rela- 
 tion may be illustrated in terms of theory and 
 practice. The theory is a statement in clear, 
 logical form of the processes, laws and worth 
 of the practice. 
 
 Theology as a science or theory does not arise 
 by accident, but is the natural and necessary 
 product of man's intellectual activity. Man is 
 by nature a thinking being. The image in which 
 he is created is characterized by infinite wisdom 
 
22 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 and knowledge. The normal individual, what- 
 ever the stage of his development, reflects more 
 or less upon the meaning of life and its infinite 
 source. The di:fference between the Hottentot and 
 the sage of civilization is not that one theorizes 
 and the other does not. The difference is in the 
 extent and consistency of their theories. It is 
 almost a commonplace now-a-days to say that it 
 is not a question as to whether one shall have a 
 philosophy of life or not, but the only question 
 is whether or not one's philosophy is good or 
 bad. The same applies equally to theology. 
 The only thing of interest is as to the kind of 
 theology, — is it a cheap, second-hand edition, 
 picked up at random and perhaps unconsciously, 
 from among the vagaries of men? Or is it a 
 theology bought at first hand by careful study 
 and thoroughly scientific investigation? Some 
 one may reply to this that he is certain of his 
 theology, for he gets it out of the Bible itself. 
 It would be just as much in point and just as 
 true for such an one to say that he knows the 
 sky is blue because he just looks at it and sees 
 that it is so. Of course the sky looks blue, but 
 it is blue for a seeing eye, and if the eye is color 
 blind, or if one wears colored glasses, then the 
 sky may not be blue. In any case, the condition 
 of the organ determines vision. The same is 
 true in reading the Bible. It means more to one 
 than another, and something different to all. The 
 
THE VALUE OF THEOLOGY. 23 
 
 advocates of the most diverse views have ap- 
 pealed to it for support. Royalist and demo- 
 crat, slaveholder and abolitionist, prohibition- 
 ist and moderate drinker, woman suffragist and 
 anti-woman suffragist, Calvinist and Arminian — 
 the opponents on every great moral and religious 
 question have sincerely appealed to the one 
 Book as their authority. And as we look back 
 upon such controversies, the particular texts 
 and passages are recalled which seemed to lend 
 support to each contestant. It is possible for 
 the historian to see these warring parties in the 
 perspective of centuries, and to explain it all by 
 the different points of view which they occu> 
 pied, that is, by the different interpretations to 
 which they were naturally led. This process of 
 reflection goes on more or less clearly and con- 
 sciously in every man and in every denomination 
 to-day. Some wish to cut the knot by prohibit- 
 ing men from thinking in matters of religion, 
 but that is obviously impossible. The only 
 alternative is to do more and better thinking, to 
 frankly confess that we all have our theology in 
 some form or other, and then proceed to develop 
 and correct it to the best of our ability. Any 
 view which tries to separate religion from theol- 
 ogy, as though they were two distinct and abso- 
 lutely separate things, presents the appearance 
 of a man who tries to lift himself off the earth 
 by his own boot-straps. That is, he proposes to 
 
24 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 abolish all theological theory by a specific theo- 
 ry, which he tries to think is no theory at all. 
 He unconsciously brings in at the back door 
 what he has just dismissed by the front door. 
 This phenomenon of a theology gotten up for 
 the express purpose of discarding theology alto- 
 gether may furnish much instruction, and even 
 amusement, to the man who reads history with 
 his eyes open. 
 
 It is important to notice here that although 
 there is some sort of theology wherever there is 
 a spiritual religion, yet the two are not identical. 
 The intellectual system of doctrines is only a 
 statement of the meaning of the religion, and it 
 is not the religion itself. The value of such a 
 system of doctrines is to be understood in terms 
 of the relation of science and art. The science 
 draws out in definite form the principles upon 
 which the art proceeds. Theology seeks to ex- 
 plain the central facts of religion, and to em- 
 phasize their relative importance. Its value 
 may be summarized by saying that it helps 
 religion to understand itself, to distinguish the 
 essentials from the incidentals, to free historical 
 religion from its excrescences. For instance, 
 religion was at one time apparently in danger 
 from the scientific theory that the earth is not 
 flat but spherical, and that this planet is not the 
 center of the solar system. 
 
 Many people to-day seem to be very anxious 
 
THE VALUE OF THEOLOGY. 25 
 
 for their religion, when science tells us that 
 whales' throats are not large enough to admit 
 Jonah, or that it is not likely that men ever 
 lived to be hundreds of years of age, or that the 
 human race itself, like all other forms of life on 
 the globe, has come into existence through the 
 process of evolution. We all have a profound 
 conviction that none of these things can really 
 endanger permanently the foundations of relig- 
 ion, but we also have a natural and justifiable 
 desire to understand how the well-attested 
 results of science are to be fitted into a view of 
 the world which will also give due recognition 
 to the facts of the Christian religion. Even 
 more than this is demanded by the religious con- 
 sciousness. It is demanded that the new views 
 of nature which science brings us, shall, when 
 they are established, reinforce and deepen our 
 spiritual lives, and make it possible, in the light 
 of all the facts, to say openly and with convic- 
 tion, like the psalmist of old, but with even 
 greater significance, "The heavens declare the 
 glory of God, and the firmament showeth his 
 handiwork." Any less thorough-going attitude 
 thau this weakens and narrows the religious 
 nature. Men cannot long be whole-souled and 
 enthusiastic about a religion which trembles 
 every time it looks into the eye of an anthropoid 
 ape, or which feels compelled to assert that 
 religion is only a matter of feeling, and hence 
 
26 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 has no interest in the new heavens and the new 
 earth which science has discovered in this cen- 
 tury. Nor are such problems entirely peculiar 
 to the present time. Every age in the Christian 
 era has had its Newtons and its Galileos. In 
 fact we claim it is the glory of Christianity that 
 it cultivates such fine types of men. Every age 
 has accordingly been compelled to some degree 
 to restate its theology, and thus to enable the 
 religious spirit of man to feel itself at home 
 in the midst of a changing and growing world. 
 In general, then, it may be said that the value of 
 theology consists in the progressive restatement 
 of the nature of God and his relation to the 
 world, in terms not only of a better knowledge 
 of the Bible, but also in terms of a better un- 
 derstanding of physical nature and the course of 
 human history. 
 
 This belief in the necessity and importance of 
 theology is not entirely new in the history of the 
 Disciples of Christ. It is commonly understood 
 that the Disciples have given little attention to 
 theology, and it is sometimes claimed that they 
 have none. Some might even contend that their 
 distinctive characteristic is that they discard 
 speculation altogether, and simply take the 
 Scriptures, especially the New Testament, as 
 their statement of religious truth. Nothing but 
 a thorough history of doctrine among the Dis- 
 ciples can adequately determine these matters. 
 
THE VALUK OF THEOLOGY. 27 
 
 but even a superficial view reveals many in- 
 teresting things in connection with the topic 
 under discussion. It is true that the leaders of 
 thought have violently opposed much of the 
 theology current in popular thought. Particular 
 doctrines were denounced on every possible 
 occasion. Human speculations were apparently 
 held in contempt, but yet there is danger of a 
 misunderstanding concerning these things. Is it 
 not true that their denunciations were hurled at 
 theological systems, not in themselves, but as 
 bonds of fellowship? They were contending for 
 individual liberty in the interpretation of the 
 Bible, and hence were thoroughly incensed at 
 the practice then common of imposing creeds 
 upon individuals by church authority as terms 
 of salvation. Not creeds as such, but creeds as 
 bonds of union ; not theological systems in them- 
 selves, but as conditions of church membership, 
 were the objects of attack. Theology, in their 
 judgment, was a matter of mere opinion, and 
 hence belonged to the individual. So long as it 
 was held as one's private view, and not made a 
 condition of fellowship or an occasion of strife, 
 there was no objection. In fact, Alexander 
 Campbell boasted that the ground upon which 
 he stood was so catholic that men of all per- 
 suasions and of all denominations and prejudice, 
 were united with him in one community, upon 
 the simple confession of faith in Christ. Among 
 
28 OUR FIRST CONGRKSS. 
 
 them he says are found those who had been 
 Eomanists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Meth- 
 odists, Baptists, Restorationists, Quakers, Ari- 
 ans. Unitarians, et cetera. ''And these per- 
 sons," he continues, "of so many and so contra- 
 dictory opinions, meet weekly around the Lord's 
 table." 
 
 Mr. Campbell had his own doctrinal convic- 
 tions, which he did not hesitate to set forth at 
 length in his publications, and he by no means 
 restricted himself to the phraseology of the 
 Bible in doing so. Thus he discussed freely the 
 doctrines of inspiration, in connection with 
 which he held that God taught man directly, vive 
 voce, how to talk, and that the Holy Spirit gave 
 the writers of the Scriptures the very words 
 as well as the ideas. He held the view that the 
 only notion men ever had of God was first re- 
 vealed through the Hebrew Scriptures, and that 
 all the ideas of the Deity found among other 
 peoples were more or less true reproductions of 
 that given to the chosen race. In like man- 
 ner his views of the operation of the Holy Spirit 
 in conversion, of the nature of the Godhead and 
 the relation of the three persons in the Trinity, 
 of a future life, of the ordinances, church organ- 
 ization, — all of the usual problems of religion 
 are freely considered. His theology is easily 
 recognized as modified Calvinism, and he him- 
 self understood it to be such, although he pre- 
 
THE VAIvUE OF THEOLOGY. 29 
 
 ferred not to have it labeled. It was the name 
 rather than the substance of Calvinism which he 
 he rejected. At one time he declared his con- 
 victions in the customary form of the formula 
 of the confessions of faith. Among these arti- 
 cles are the following: "1 believe in one God as 
 manifested in the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Spirit, who are therefore one in power, nature 
 and volition. I believe that every human being 
 participates in all the consequences of the fall 
 of Adam, and is born into the world frail and 
 depraved in all his moral powers and capacities. 
 So that without faith in Christ it is impossible 
 for him, while in that state, to please God. I 
 believe in the right and duty of exercising our 
 own judgment in the interpretation of the Holy 
 Scriptures." It was only when such statements 
 were misused that he objected to them. Mr. 
 Campbell indicates in many passages that he 
 favors the freest theological speculation so long 
 as it is held as a merely individual matter. His 
 attitude is well expressed in these words: "Let 
 men think as the}^ like on any matters of human 
 opinion and upon doctrines of religion, provided 
 only they hold the Head Christ and keep his 
 commandments." (Mem. 2-519). That he him- 
 self was fond of such speculations is evident to 
 even the casual reader. In a lecture to one of 
 his classes in Bethany College upon the subject 
 of theology, he said, "Theology, in its proper 
 
30 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 amplitude and significance, is the most ineffably 
 sublime of all the sciences of earth or heaven. 
 It presents to us Grod in everything and every 
 thing in God." 
 
 The same general standpoint is maintained by 
 Isaac Errett. In his tract entitled "Our Posi- 
 tion," he presents the particulars in which we 
 agree with, and those in which we differ from our 
 religious neighbors. This is nothing more nor 
 less than a popular summary of the theology 
 which is characteristic of the brotherhood. It 
 is intended as a concise presentation of the main 
 doctrines generally held among the Disciples. 
 But it is not a creed in the sense of an authori- 
 tative document, since it ne^^r received any offi- 
 cial indorsement. In fact there was no official 
 body who could sanction it in a way to make it 
 correspond in that respect to the creeds of other 
 denominations. Yet the real significance of this 
 famous tract is that it is a statement of the 
 accepted theology. It defines our position, pre- 
 sents our plea, and throughout uses synonyms 
 for the usual phraseology of such publications. 
 It is only a very superficial view which cannot 
 discover that in reality it is our theological posi- 
 tion, our doctrinal plea, and our specific theol- 
 ogy which is here set forth. If one examines the 
 teaching in detail, he finds that it is practically a 
 restatement of the theology current among evan- 
 gelical churches at the time, with such modifica- 
 
THE VALUE OF THEOIvOGY. 31 
 
 tions as are necessary to show the particular 
 features upon which the Disciples of Christ 
 place distinctive emphasis, or hold unique doc- 
 trines. 
 
 One reason why the Disciples have been able 
 to appear less theological than some other de- 
 nominations is because they have accepted, for 
 the most part, views which are common to all 
 evangelical Christians. Theological controversy, 
 on this account, has had a narrow range and has 
 been occupied with questions such as the ordi- 
 nances, which could be treated mainly from the 
 linguistic or historical sides. The fundamental 
 theological problem concerning the nature of 
 God has never been brought into serious, or at 
 least original, consideration. It was quietly ac- 
 cepted under the traditional forms. There were 
 only relatively minor principles which the broth- 
 erhood ever had to consider in anything like 
 an independent manner. These concerned the 
 interpretation of the authority of the Scriptures 
 with reference to polity and liturgies. The con- 
 troversy over the missionary societies and instru- 
 mental music was sufficiently intense to mark a 
 distinct epoch in the historical development, and 
 to effect, to all intents and purposes, a division 
 of the forces into progressives and conservatives, 
 according as the spirit or the letter of the Bible 
 was made the rule of conduct. At the present 
 time the division of sentiment upon this line is 
 
32 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 only felt as a sort of inertia in the whole body, 
 while the conservative party no longer is able to 
 sustain any vital or life-like contention. 
 
 From these few references to the history 
 of the Disciples it is evident that the value of 
 theology appears in a practical and half-con- 
 scious way. But in reality every doctrinal state- 
 ment, such as Errett's "Our Position," and 
 every debate of Alexander Campbell's, is a con- 
 fession that there is great importance in a clearly 
 formulated and well defended statement in 
 propositional form of what are considered tne 
 essential doctrines concerning the fundamental 
 facts of the Christian religion. 
 
 The form in which theology presents itself in 
 the history of the Disciples brings out with strik- 
 ing clearness the relation in which the reflective 
 activity, particular doctrines, and creeds stand to 
 each other. The speculative process arises out 
 of the inquiring, questioning nature w4iich be- 
 longs to all men. It shows itself in the develop- 
 ment of all orderly, systematic knowledge of sci- 
 ence and philosophy. It is inevitable that this 
 same reflective tendency should show itself in 
 reference to the facts and experiences of relig- 
 ion. The products or results of this speculative 
 process are presented in the form of the particu- 
 lar doctrines of individual thinkers. Accord- 
 ingly the history of doctrine presents the various 
 typical systems of theology which different men 
 
THE VALUE OF THEOLOGY. 33 
 
 have worked out. These systems are known 
 usually by the names of their authors, as those of 
 Augustine, Pelagius, Luther, Calvin or Armin- 
 ius. The creed arises when a council or synod 
 or other representative body accepts a particular 
 set of doctrines as an expression of divine truth. 
 The individual doctrines thus officially pro- 
 claimed are called dogmas. With reference to 
 the speculative process it has been shown that 
 it is universal and necessary to all thinking men, 
 but Christendom is divided into two parties over 
 the further question as to whether individual 
 men shall be left free to think out conclusions 
 for themselves or whether they shall be obliged 
 to reach certain definite conclusions in their 
 thought. Protestantism holds to the former, 
 Catholicism to the latter. The fundamental 
 principle of Protestantism is that the individual 
 should be absolutely free in his reflection upon 
 religion and all other subjects. The only condi- 
 tions which anyone expects him to fulfill are 
 those of all scientific inquiry, namely, adherence 
 to fact and to the laws of thought. But he is 
 not even held to these by any ecclesiastical 
 authority. Catholicism tends to require that all 
 speculation shall issue in support of the dogmas 
 of the church. The Roman Catholic Church 
 practically calls upon the individual to relin- 
 quish his particular views in deference to the 
 
 conclusions of councils and popes. And this is 
 3 
 
34 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 not an inconsistent position from the standpoint 
 of the Eoman Church. The church claims that 
 the voice of council and of pope is the voice 
 of God, and that therefore the decrees thus 
 announced have divine authority. 
 
 The Protestant, on the other hand, denies 
 theoretically that the Church has any right to 
 identify its dogmas with the will of God, and 
 exalts, in opposition to the ecclesiasticism, the 
 Word of God as contained in the Bible, and in- 
 terpreted by the individual. The fact that 
 Protestantism has not been true to its lofty prin- 
 ciple, and has often fallen into the Catholic 
 error of exalting the authority of an ecclesias- 
 tical body into the place of the Bible, does not 
 lessen the significance of the principle itself. 
 It is true that since the days of Luther, Protest- 
 ants have often lost sight of their guiding star, 
 but they have steadily moved toward the goal of 
 "the Bible and the Bible alone," in the words of 
 Chillingworth, as their only rule of faith and 
 conduct. As to what the specific teaching of 
 the Scriptures is, they allow evrey man to judge 
 for himself. From this standpoint, therefore, 
 the Protestant churches cannot consistently pro- 
 mulgate creeds in the sense of completed and 
 perfect systems of divine truth. They can at 
 most endorse certain doctrines as setting forth 
 the most acceptable interpretation of the relig- 
 ious experience thus far obtained. But the very 
 
THE VALUE OE THEOLOGY. 35 
 
 genius of Protestaatism favors a continual de- 
 velopment of theology in order to gain a more 
 and more adequate statement of religion in 
 terms of the thought of each age. It favors the 
 constant exercise of thought, of inquiry, of 
 further elaboration of the content of the Chris- 
 tian faith. It recognizes the transient character 
 of all specific doctrines as theoretical state- 
 ments, and constantly revises them in the light 
 of new knowledge and experience. For the 
 true spirit of Protestantism, truth lies open like 
 the spreading lines of an angle. Religious faith 
 here presents itself as an inexhaustible field, 
 which the mind of man may progressively inter- 
 pret, ever with new meaning, but never with 
 perfect completeness. This transformation and 
 enrichment of theology may be seen as a vital 
 process both in its historic development and in 
 contemporaneous thought. The doctrine of the 
 atonement furnishes a typical example. This 
 fundamental fact of the Christian religion is set 
 forth from time to time in terms of various 
 social conditions. Anselm reflected upon the 
 atonement in terms of commercial relations. 
 Man owed a debt greater than he could pay, and 
 Christ pays it for him. Anselm proceeds from 
 the standpoint of the laws of his time governing 
 indebtedness, and is also influenced by the pre- 
 valent ideas of chivalry. Abelard advances the 
 moral theory of the atonement, which, in con- 
 
36 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 trast to the commercial view, makes the atone- 
 ment such a manifestation of Christ's infinite 
 love as breaks down the heart of the sinner and 
 leads him to repentance. Judicial theories are 
 presented in the covenant theology and also in 
 the system of Grrotius, who was himself an emi- 
 nent jurist. It is evident that all these views 
 get their distinctive form chiefly from the social 
 or political conditions of the time, or from the 
 molds of thought into which their authors have 
 been cast by their daily occupations. While no 
 one view is an adequate statement of the great 
 fact of Christ's death, yet each contributes some 
 helpful factor to a many-sided and therefore 
 truer doctrine of the atonement. 
 
 All the other facts of religion undergo chang- 
 ing explanations as time goes on. Sabatier, in a 
 most suggestive little volume on the "Vitality of 
 Dogma," likens the growth in doctrines to the 
 growth of language. Words have a life of their 
 own quite analogous to that of animals or plants. 
 Each dialect, so long as it is spoken, is in 
 motion, and it may be said that the intensity of 
 its life is identical with this power of evolu- 
 tion. "It is the same with the dogmas of a 
 church, which form likewise a living organism, 
 and which are, if rightly considered, only a kind 
 of theological language by which the consciuos- 
 ness of the Church or the piety of its members 
 reveals itself outwardly, and grows stronger by 
 
THE VALUE OF THEOLOGY. 37 
 
 this self-revelation. . . . It is only in the 
 compilations which go by the name of books of 
 Symbolics, that we find dogmas in their state of 
 fixity, in a form of irreproachable and frozen 
 orthodoxy. But watch them in the daily prac- 
 tice of individual or public piety; listen to the 
 prayers which rise from hearts moved by feeling; 
 note what each believer finds in them or adds on 
 his own account to these venerable and custom- 
 ary expressions of religion; catch them in their 
 flight, so to say, in popular sermons, in the 
 teaching of the young in daily practical appli- 
 cations, and you will be quite surprised to find 
 these apparently hieratical formulas so easy, so 
 undulating, so rich in meaning and in shade, so 
 susceptible of so many interpretations." 
 
 If this freedom of thought, which is the pride 
 of Protestantism, is justifiable, then theology is 
 at the same time established as the natural and 
 necessary result. Theology simply means the 
 results of thorough-going and systematic think- 
 ing upon divine things. It is distinguished from 
 the every-day thought of the plain man in 
 degree, not in kind. Like all scientific thinking, 
 it seeks to take account of the whole range of 
 facts, and to attain consistency and clearness in 
 the midst of a great wealth of details. Its value 
 as an interpreter of religion will depend alto- 
 gether upon the success with which it explains 
 the facts of religion in relation to the facts of 
 
38 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 the whole life. In the very nature of the case, 
 then, there will be no ultimate and absolute unity 
 of theological doctrines among Protestants. 
 Any system will have wide acceptance and 
 endure to the extent to which it commends 
 itself to the thought and religious spirit of indi- 
 vidual men. Different systems will continue to 
 exist side by side, commending themselves to the 
 differing culture and experience of different 
 classes. It is essentially the spirit of Catholi- 
 cism, as already stated, to form a sect upon 
 every particular system of theology. And just 
 so far as Protestantism has expressed itself in 
 mutually exclusive denominations, just to that 
 extent it has been untrue to its historic princi- 
 ple and has returned to the standpoint of Cath- 
 olicism. It is possible, and indeed, let it be 
 hoped, the prevailing conviction is, that the dif- 
 ferent evangelical bodies of Christians so far as 
 they are really separate at all, are so only in the 
 sense of different schools of theology, each 
 attracting to itself those whose convictions 
 present religion to them under that particular 
 doctrinal form. In fact, any individual who be- 
 longs to a given denomination for any other 
 than doctrinal reasons would evidently just as 
 well belong to any other denomination, if. social 
 and practical consideration permitted. 
 
 Perhaps it may be asked. What, then, is to be 
 understood by union? Well, it may be answered, 
 
THE VALUE OF THEOLOGY. 39 
 
 certainly not a doctrinal union. That, as every 
 thinking man knows, is an impossible and unde- 
 sirable thing. It never can be effected, and if 
 by any chance it should come about, it would be 
 followed in time by another Lutheran reforma- 
 tion. We are not at all in doubt as to what kind 
 of a union Christ designed for his followers. 
 He himself describes it as a spiritual union, 
 such as exists between himself and the Father. 
 For human beings, at least, this may be realized 
 as a practical fellowship of service, a co-opera- 
 tion in the bonds of love for the relief of the 
 world's suffering and the banishment of sin. 
 It is repeated on every hand these days that 
 Jesus did not ask men to accept a proposition, 
 but to accept himself. So far as we know, he 
 always asked men to follow him, and left the dis- 
 cussion of theology to moments when they were 
 shut up in ships upon the sea, or had time to 
 take a little excursion into the mountains. Men 
 in all ages need comfort and encouragement 
 and inspiration to higher ideals, and the vast 
 majority, if not all, get these things through 
 personal relations. It is perfectly true that 
 theology is not something to be preached in it- 
 self, but it is also true that if preachers were 
 better theologians than they are, there would be 
 less doctrinal preaching than there is to-day. 
 When you say that Christ, and not theology, 
 should be preached, you state a profound truth; 
 
40 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 but that statement is a doctrinal statement, and 
 is not itself the message to be preached to the 
 sinning world, however much it needs to be said 
 to preachers themselves. In other words, min- 
 isters have yet to learn that theolog}^ stands to 
 the work of preaching the gospel very much in 
 the way that the science of painting stands to 
 the actual work of making a picture. The high- 
 est works of art are the embodiment of the 
 clearest and truest principles of drawing, color- 
 ing and expression, and they must be known to 
 the artist, but he does not trouble the soul hun- 
 gry for beauty with all the details of his study. 
 In like manner the world wants the best and 
 most life-like picture of Christ, but it is only 
 secondarily interested, if at all, in the way in 
 which that picture is presented to it. 
 
 Nowhere has theology been denounced more 
 persistently than in the pulpits of the Disciples 
 of Christ, and, strange as it may seem, nowhere 
 has theology been heard more. The result has 
 been, as our religious neighbors have often dis- 
 covered, that we have been conspicuous for argu- 
 ment and a doctrinal plea more than for the 
 practical deeds of the Christian life. In fact, it 
 can be easily shown that the union which exists 
 among the Disciples to-day is more a theological 
 than a religious union. It matters little in what 
 part of the country or in what social class a Dis- 
 ciple is found, he holds almost invariably to a 
 
THE VALUE OF THEOLOGY. 41 
 
 certain formula of religion, especially if his 
 views are likely to be overheard by the brethren. 
 He often has more fear of being judged by the 
 irresponsible and intangible court of public 
 opinion, than men of other days have had of 
 being brought to trial before tribunals, of which, 
 whatever else might be said, it was yet true that 
 they preferred definite charges and gave some 
 explanation of their sentence. After seventy- 
 five years of pleading for Christian union, is it 
 not true that there is a great lack of a spiritual, 
 personal union, such as was no doubt prayed for 
 by our Lord? If union is to commend itself to 
 this practical age, should it not bind the local 
 congregation in a fellowship filled with forbear- 
 ance and helpfulness? Could it not reasonably 
 be expected that neighboring churches would 
 co-operate for evangelistic and missionary work? 
 Above all, would there not be such a common 
 sentiment of service and mutual consecration as 
 would express itself in national and world-wide 
 movements throughout the brotherhood in be- 
 half of Christian progress? Hundreds of 
 churches are torn by internal strife. In these 
 churches everybody is sound in the plea, but 
 many are conspicuously lacking in that charity 
 which suffereth long and is kind, which beareth, 
 believeth, hopeth, endureth all things. Three 
 thousand churches, in good standing and full 
 fellowship, never have lifted a finger in union 
 
42 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 with their brethren to do the world-wide work 
 of the Master whose disciples they claim to be. 
 Different excuses and explanations are offered 
 for this lamentable condition, but I submit that 
 it is chiefly due to the fact that these churches 
 have been taught a doctrinal rather than a prac- 
 tical, personal union. History shows that relig- 
 ious bodies, like individuals, exhibit definite 
 characteristics, and it also shows that, like 
 human beings, they bear the marks of their early 
 training through life. The Presbyterian is intel- 
 lectual, the Methodist zealous, the Quaker 
 peaceable, the Episcopalian elegant, and these 
 distinctive features were prominent in the 
 founders of their respective denominations. If 
 one thing marks the typical Disciple more than 
 any thing else, perhaps it is independence. This 
 independence has shown itself in protest against 
 creeds, in the unsocial life which the Disciples 
 have led as regards other denominations, and in 
 the intense individualism which has governed 
 congregations, to the great detriment of all 
 co-operative undertakings. Union among the 
 Disciples of Christ becomes actual and efficient 
 just to the degree to which a vital, personal fel- 
 lowship supplants a mechanical theological 
 scheme of salvation as the basis of church life. 
 Jesus' plan was to win men to himself first and 
 teach them doctrines afterward. Is not that 
 suggestive for the church to-day? Instead of 
 
THE VALUE OF THEOLOGY. 43 
 
 presenting to a weary and fainting world a 
 proposition about Christ, it would be far more 
 appropriate to tell the simple story of his love, 
 paint a picture of his face, or, above all, repro- 
 duce him in a concrete life of service. 
 
 Strange as it may appear, it is theology which 
 is helping the church to understand this. Such 
 a statement will doubtless be unintelligible to 
 one who identifies all theology with Calvinism, 
 but an acquaintance with the new spirit which is 
 already transforming the old doctrines will beget 
 confidence. The old theology has been unable 
 to withstand the flood of new life which has 
 poured into modern religious thought. The 
 instrument of this quickening spirit has been a 
 critical inquiry into the sources and history of 
 the Christian religion. Exegesis, Biblical study, 
 and the history of doctrine have been pursued in 
 our day with an unparalleled thoroughness and 
 fruitfulness. The most conspicuous result has 
 been to show the vast discrepancy which has ex- 
 isted between the Biblical teaching and the old 
 theology with reference to the person of Christ. 
 That theology had lost sight of the human side of 
 Christ's nature. It exalted the divine nature of 
 Christ so that it seemed impossible any longer to 
 hold to his earthly existence as a genuine reality. 
 After interpreting the life of Christ through 
 abstract metaphysical ideas of God, the theologi- 
 ans felt the necessity of harmonizing with their 
 
44 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 views the teaching of the Scriptures concerning 
 the earthly life of Jesus. Two methods were 
 adopted for this purpose. One abandoned the 
 belief in the real and natural humanity of Christ 
 and held it to be only an empty semblance of 
 human life, a sort of apparition. The other 
 held that the two natures existed in the person 
 of Christ side by side, totally distinct, but in 
 some occult way gave the appearance of a single 
 life. Even modern theologians defend such 
 hypotheses. One represents the body of Christ 
 as miraculous in its freedom from sickness, its 
 power over animals, its exemption from the 
 necessity of death. Dr. Shedd, in his Dogmatic 
 Theology, says: "The divine nature had its own 
 form of experience, like the mind in an ordinary 
 human person, and the human nature had its 
 own form of experience, like the body in a com- 
 mon man." Dr. Henry Van Dyke, in comment- 
 ing upon these views, shows their total inade- 
 quacy. He says: "If we accept this picture 
 of Christ, the manhood of Jesus fades, retreats, 
 grows dim and shadowy . . . The Son of 
 God behind that veil is beyond our reach. The 
 Son of man, whom human eyes beheld and 
 human hands touched, is not the real, living veri- 
 table Savior, but only the form, the garment, of 
 an inscrutable life. And if in our dire confu- 
 sion, our reasoning faith still succeeds in hold- 
 ing fast to the Eternal Logos, our confiding faith 
 
THE VALUE OF THEOLOGY. 45 
 
 is maimed and robbed by the loss of that true, 
 near, personal, loving, sympathizing Jesus, who 
 was born of a woman, suffered under Pontius 
 Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. He is 
 gone from us as certainly as if the Pharisees had 
 spoken the truth when they said that his dis- 
 ciples came by night and stole him away." 
 
 For centuries, here and there, pious hearts 
 have revolted against that lifeless theology and, 
 like Erasmus, longed to see "the Christ pure 
 and simple implanted within the minds of men." 
 Throughout the Reformation period the demand 
 for the simple life of the Son of man grew in 
 strength, and eagerly seized upon the discoveries 
 of modern scholarship. Biblical study finally 
 succeeded in a reverent and eager quest for the 
 materials from which to reconstruct a picture of 
 the real Christ, in his human as well as in his 
 divine life. The Christ of the New Testament, 
 as thus understood, comes close even to the 
 humblest side of man's daily life. He labors for 
 bread, he grows by the discipline of adversity. 
 He weeps, is tempted, is lonely and disap- 
 pointed. He confesses ignorance, asks for in- 
 formation. He gives no hint that he is leading 
 a double life. In like manner, throughout the 
 Epistles he is the self-humiliated, tried and 
 tested, emptied and beggared, though at last 
 glorified. Son of God. It is this rediscovery of 
 Jesus in his complete humanity that explains 
 
46 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 the fresh life of religion at the present time. 
 To sa}' that modern thought is Christo-centric is 
 not a sufficient description of this renovating 
 principle. In a sense, all systems of theology 
 have exalted the Person and Work of Christ. 
 What is demanded to-day is the exaltation of the 
 Divine Christ, who is also thoroughly human, 
 who appears as a man among men, and who 
 attracts disciples by the surpassing genius and 
 perfect development of the same nature which 
 they experience in themselves. 
 
 The task which a new theology finds already 
 suggested is to take this central fact of the con- 
 crete life of Christ, and make it the determin- 
 ing principle in the restatement of the whole 
 field of systematic theology. As yet the work- 
 men have been gathering the material for the 
 great achievement of a constructive epoch. 
 Heretofore, painstaking scholarship has been 
 required. Now, the thinker, the systematizer is 
 needed. The period of criticism is now seen to. 
 have rendered an incalculable service in over- 
 hauling the foundations and in testing every 
 element which may be employed in the total 
 structure. And what has been done in Biblical 
 research has been paralleled in other lines which 
 are tributary to the vast edifice which is designed 
 by the constructive spirit of the new age into 
 which the religious world of our day is rapidly 
 passing. Science and literature, history and art, 
 
THE VALUE OF THEOLOGY. 47 
 
 will furnish substantial pillars and appropriate 
 ornaments for this temple of truth. At the 
 present time these rich fields seem to lie quite 
 kpart from each other and from the problems of 
 theology in particular. And this fact of their 
 separation is perplexing to the religious life. It 
 is no longer possible for thoughtful men to 
 return to the ''double truth" of the early mod- 
 ern period. They cannot be satisfied with a 
 religion which shuts itself up from the labora- 
 tory of the physicist, or from the discoveries of 
 the geologist. In some way these various de- 
 partments of established truth must be reduced 
 to a unitary universe in which the Holy Spirit of 
 religion may feel itself at home. Otherwise 
 there will continue to be enormous waste and 
 distressing friction through the apparent antag- 
 onism of different, but equally indispensable, 
 sides of human life. This demand for a the- 
 ology which will effect a synthesis of all the 
 diverse elements without sacrificing any truth is 
 a marked characteristic of current religious lit- 
 erature. The following is a representative utter- 
 ance from a leading theologian: *'We feel sure 
 that theology, in time, must and will vindicate 
 its claim to be considered as an essential factor 
 in the intellectual life of man, by adapting itself 
 to the changed conditions, and producing even 
 mightier works by the new methods than those 
 which it produced by the old." But along with 
 
48 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 this confidence in the final achievement of the- 
 ology there is a profound sense of the greatness 
 of the undertaking. Dr. Gordon, in his admira- 
 ble book, "The Christ of To-day," puts it thus: 
 **What manner of man must he be who is to 
 give epoch-making expression to the new con- 
 sciousness of Christ, it is not difficult to imag- 
 ine. He must know the method of physical 
 science, and be in sympathy with its great gener- 
 alizations ; he must be at home in the kingdom 
 of thought, familiar with the noble and fruitful 
 ideas in philosophy, a companion of the imperial 
 thinkers of the race; he must have at his 
 tongue's end the salient facts of Christian his- 
 tory, and the fundamental conceptions and dis- 
 tinctions of historic theology; he must be a 
 master of the new Biblical learning, widely and 
 deeply versed in the classical literatures of the 
 world, and able to work in the consciousness of 
 the true interpretation of the religions of the 
 world; and in addition to all this he must have 
 original power." 
 
 The value of such a comprehensive, construc- 
 tive theology is assured from two of its main 
 characteristics. In the first place, it proposes 
 to use the mind of Christ as revealed in the New 
 Testament and in the life of the Church, as the 
 medium through which to interpret the idea of 
 God and his relation to the world. In this way 
 a safeguard is provided against abstract and 
 
THE VALUE OF THEOIvOGY. 49 
 
 lifeless speculations. A standard and a method 
 are thus provided which promise to save theol- 
 ogy from the besetting sin of a one-sided intel- 
 lectualism, and to give proper place to the feel- 
 ings and the will. 
 
 Secondly, such theology is less likely to 
 obtrude itself into the domain of religion. By 
 its constant emphasis upon the fact that Chris- 
 tianity is the religion of personality, it is likely 
 to avoid the frequent error of the past of allow- 
 ing theology to forget its secondary position and 
 to attempt to identify itself with the religion 
 which it serves merely as an interpreter. Such 
 a theology may be hailed as the ally and defender 
 of the simple, ancient gospel of our Lord and 
 his apostles. 
 
 In conclusion, then, it may be said, theology 
 is a natural and necessary product of the rea- 
 soning powers of man, directed to the all- 
 important problems concerning God and his 
 relation to the world. It is consequently char- 
 acterized, like all science and knowledge, by con- 
 stant growth and development. Whenever this 
 growth is arrested by any cause, so that a partic- 
 ular theological system outlives the spirit of the 
 age from which it arose, then it becomes a hin- 
 drance and an obstacle to Christian progress. 
 It is the distinctive insight of present day relig- 
 ious thought to realize that theology is by its 
 
 very nature progressive, and therefore that par- 
 4 
 
50 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 ticular systems are relative to given periods and 
 types of thought. But it is also true that hand 
 in hand with this clear, historical knowledge of 
 its development, the value of theology is newly 
 appreciated. Heretofore it has been felt that if 
 systems changed or were suspended, they were 
 thereby shown to be false and worthless. Now 
 it is being understood more and more that these 
 systems are of surpassing value just because 
 they speak the message of each age, and inter- 
 pret the fundamental facts of Christianity, in 
 ever new and richer forms according to the new 
 ideas and spirit characteristic of the times. It 
 is therefore noticeable that the value of theology 
 for our own particular day and generation 
 appears best in the special task which it sets for 
 itself. This task has been outlined by a recent 
 writer as follows: Theology is trying at the 
 present time honestly to take account of the 
 great convictions of our own age, and by 
 means of them to make the great abiding truths 
 of Christianity real to this generation. It there- 
 fore seeks to be personal, and to insist upon a 
 recognition of the whole man in all his faculties 
 and powers, and in all his moral and spiritual 
 relationships; it seeks to be Biblical, depending 
 upon the historical revelation of Grod in the 
 lives and work of the holy, inspired men of the 
 past; it seeks to be more historical, striving to 
 know more and more the ways of God in his 
 
THE VALUE OF THEOLOGY. 51 
 
 providence over the nations of the earth; it 
 seeks to be more scientific, searching the deep 
 things of God in the forces of nature, in all 
 their scientific variety and beauty ; it seeks to be 
 social, remembering that the great command- 
 ment, first above all others, because it includes 
 them, is the commandment to love. But while 
 modern theology seeks thus to be personal, 
 biblical, historical, scientific and social, it seeks 
 above all to be Christian, supremely Christian. 
 He that has seen Christ has seen the Father. 
 "Other foundation can no man lay than that 
 which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." "And 
 this is life eternal, that they should know thee, 
 the only true God, and him whom thou didst 
 send, even Jesus Christ." 
 
 Edward Scribner Ames. 
 
 Note. — The discussion which followed this paper was led 
 by Dr. Albert Buxton, Chancellor of Add-Ran University, 
 and C. C Rowlison, who presented no papers, and was partic- 
 ipated in by a number of other volunteer speakers. There 
 was very general unanimity in the positions of the paper.— 
 Editor. 
 
II 
 
 The Cry "Back to Christ." 
 
SECOND SESSION. 
 
 The evening session of the Congress was devoted to the 
 popular subject of education. President E. V. Zollars, of 
 Hiram College, presided, and the address was by President J. 
 H. Hardin, of Eureka College, on "College Endowment." 
 This address has been published elsewhere. The discussion on 
 this subject was led by President Clinton Lockhart, of Chris- 
 tian University, and Prof. W. P. Aylsworth, of Cotner Uni- 
 versity. The former emphasized the need of large endow- 
 ments based on the demands of modern education; the latter 
 pointed out the value of making the best use of such facilities 
 as we have, while waiting for the realization of larger things. 
 Several others took part in the discussion, calling attention 
 to the fact that, whatever might be the case in other depart- 
 ments of Christian work, we were certainly behind others, 
 and far behind our ability, in the matter of college endow- 
 ments. It was felt by the friends of higher education that 
 this session was an exceedingly valuable one, in the informa- 
 tion elicited and the enthusiasm generated by the address and 
 the discussion. 
 
 THIRD SESSION. 
 
 The Third Session of the Congress was presided over by D. 
 R. Dungan, LL. D. of St. Louis, and the general topic for 
 consideration was "Biblical Study." The chairman made 
 some introductory remarks pertinent to the topic under con- 
 sideration, and introduced J. J. Haley of Cynthiana, Ky., 
 who read the paper which follows, on "The Scope and Signi- 
 ficance of the Cry, 'Back to Christ,' in Modern Religious 
 Thought." The reviews of this paper were by J. B. Briney of 
 Moberly, Mo., and W. J. Lhamon of AllegheDy City, Pa. The 
 former spoke from notes which were afterwards vsrritten out 
 for this volume. A very courteous discussion followed in 
 
 which several participated. 
 
 54 
 
Zhc Cry, ''Back to Christ:'' 
 
 Its Scope and Significance in Modern Relig- 
 ious Thought. 
 
 THE strange mixture of religious and political 
 interests that clustered about the "Sanctu- 
 ary of Waters" at Csesarea Philippi, in the 
 first century of the Christian era, may be seen 
 in rich profusion upon the ancient coins of the 
 town, which DeSanly has reproduced. On one 
 coin we have the pipe of Pan, on a second coin 
 Pan leaning on a tree and playing a flute, on a 
 third the mouth of the sacred cavern, with a 
 railing in front of it, and Pan within, again 
 leaning against a tree, playing the flute; on 
 others the laureled head of Apollo, a pillared 
 temple, and inside the figure of Poppsea, Nero^s 
 wife, whom he first kicked to death and after- 
 wards raised to divine honors; various emperors 
 with their title Divus and the town's own title — 
 "Csesarea-August, Sacred, and with Rights of 
 Sanctuary under Paneion." This shows an 
 amalgamation of the two systems of religion, 
 Greek and Roman, and that Pan was worshiped 
 in the grotto, whose niches still bear his name, 
 
 while divine honors were paid to Caesar in the 
 
 55 
 
56 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 white temple that stood perhaps on the cliff 
 above the site of the present Mohammedan shrine 
 of St. George.* While both of these sanctuaries 
 were open and men worshiped side by side the 
 forces of nature and the incarnation of political 
 power, Jesus came with his disciples to Csesarea 
 Philippi, and here on heathen ground, as far away 
 from Jerusalem as he could get, he drew from 
 Peter the central and crucial proposition of his 
 religion, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the 
 living God." It is a matter, therefore, of arrest- 
 ing significance, that a spot bearing the symbols 
 of the apotheosis of the Gentile spirit in a tem- 
 ple erected to Csesar by the flattery of a Herod 
 should have been chosen to emphasize the claims 
 of the Master upon the faith of mankind, and 
 that the first clear confession of Christ's Divine 
 Sonship should be made near the shrine where a 
 fellowman was already worshiped as God. 
 These were the two religions that were soon to 
 enter into a deadly conflict for the possession of 
 the world, and they had this element in com- 
 mon, their representative symbol was the per- 
 sonality of a man, and they responded to the 
 longing of the age for the embodiment of 
 authority, they worshiped a fellowman as God. 
 Men bowed the knee to the bust of an emperor 
 
 * Historical Geography of the Holy Land, by George 
 Adam Smith. Page 476. 
 
THE CRY, "BACK TO CHRIST." 57 
 
 because the reigning Caesar was the incarnation 
 of political and social power, the dispenser of 
 its largesses and its gifts to his flatterers and his 
 favorites, reigning in glory to-day, but superseded 
 by another to-morrow; but they adored the 
 Christ for his own eternal sake. He was the 
 Kingdom, the Religion, the Truth, and every 
 thing lay forever to men in his character and in 
 his love. The emperor compelled allegiance by 
 his rank, his splendor; his power, but Christ 
 turned from the symbol of all this to his cross 
 and sacrifice, changing the center of the world's 
 faith from incarnate selfishness and badness to 
 incarnate goodness and love. 
 
 Here, then, on the neutrality of pagan soil, 
 far away from orthodox Jerusalem, where the 
 ancient Semites worshiped the Baalim, the 
 Greeks adored Pan, and the Romans bowed the 
 knee to Caesar, we catch the first clear accents of 
 the distinctive and fundamental truth of Chris- 
 tianity. Nor must we forget that great Her m on 
 is looking down upon this scene, perhaps the 
 very reach of the mountain that witnessed the 
 transfiguration, and heard the voice from the 
 excellent glory, and the Jordan is bursting up 
 from the base of the mountain, the sacred river 
 that witnessed the first divine acknowledgment 
 of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Thus 
 nature, the history of religions, and the history 
 of man, all conspire to make this rock-based 
 
58 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 town the most appropriate place in the world for 
 the new faith of humanity to first enunciate its 
 characteristic truth. 
 
 What was the destiny of this truth, and what 
 is our relation to it? As the Kiver Jordan is 
 often upon our lips in the language of religious 
 symbolism, it may not be amiss for me to make 
 a slightly new use of it in illustrating the course 
 through history of the truth of Peter's confes- 
 sion, which, strangely enough, is strikingly anal- 
 agous to the course of the Jordan through Pales- 
 tine to the sea. Eight or nine miles from its 
 source, the river finds its way into Lake Huleh. 
 Thirty miles farther south it glides over its own 
 delta into the Lake of Galilee, belted by Greek 
 influence and commerce in the time of our Lord. 
 Disentangling itself from this body of water, in 
 which it seems for a time to be lost, it flows still 
 in a southerly direction through the crevice of 
 an old ocean bed, a deep, yawning ditch in the 
 earth, descending in less than a hundred miles, 
 through jungled banks and a poisoned atmos- 
 phere, nearly 1300 feet below its surface, empty- 
 ing itself into the Dead Sea, to which there is 
 no outlet except by evaporation. Breaking out 
 at the base of Hermon, where other religions 
 had found sanctuary, the Jordan of pure Chris- 
 tian truth found its Huleh in Judaism, and its 
 Lake of Galilee in Greek philosophy and the 
 beginning of the pagan reaction, and then 
 
THE CRY, ''BACK TO CHRIST." 59 
 
 opened the great ecclesiastical ditch of Roman 
 legalism and pagan sacerdotalism, through 
 which the Jordan of divine truth, constantly 
 dropping below the high level of its source, at 
 last found its way into the Dead Sea of the 
 Papacy. There it stopped, except that the name 
 and truth of Jesus were barely kept alive in the 
 world by a thin evaporation from the Dead (Sea) 
 See of Rome. The fundamental religious 
 problem of our own day is the way back to 
 Csesarea and the source of the Jordan, is the 
 need of a fresh baptism of theology in the 
 sources of Christianity, that thus we may cut a 
 new channel for our theological Jordan that it 
 may find its way no more into the Dead Sea of 
 priestcraft and superstition. 
 
 The men who live to-day have great reason to 
 congratulate themselves that the characteristic 
 and crowning joy of this new time that looks 
 toward the dawn of the twentieth century, is the 
 re-discovery and re-coronation of Jesus the 
 Christ, the Son of God. The new feeling for 
 Christ, which will be satisfied with nothing less 
 than his reinvestiture with supreme spiritual 
 authority, is the growth of nearly a century's 
 travail of thought and investigation. 
 
 The "Leben Jesu" of Strauss in 1835, awoke 
 the Christian world from its dreams to study 
 the reality of history. Never did so many able 
 men devote themselves to the study of Christ; 
 
60 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 Neander, Ewald, Tholuck, Harless, Engelhardt, 
 Ebrard and Hase, took up the life of Jesus and 
 exposed the mistakes of Strauss. The Jesus of 
 history emerged from the sepulchre of specula- 
 tion in which he had been entombed, with 
 clearer and clearer light upon his face, much 
 better known through this greatest controversy 
 of modern times. The interest in Christ for a 
 long season simply absorbed the critical world, 
 and it has continued to this hour. Notable lives 
 of Jesus multiplied. Napoleon suffered eclipse 
 through the intenser interest in Jesus. Schenkel 
 came forward with his character-sketch of 
 Jesus, and made him out a German radical of 
 the most pronounced type ; Renan came forward 
 next to make of him a Parisian impressionist; 
 while Keim and Riggenbach and Pressense and 
 Weiss and Beyschlag andNosgen have conducted 
 criticism into quieter and truer paths. The 
 church of Rome has also contributed a notable 
 life of Jesus to the series; I refer, of course, to 
 that of Father Didon; while English scholar- 
 ship has given in Farrar's, Geikie's and Eders- 
 heim's brilliant volumes that help us greatly in 
 getting back to Christ. Another great help has 
 just been provided by M. Tissot in his marvel- 
 ously illustrated "Life of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 The Ritschlian school in Germany, by far the 
 most influential theological movement of the 
 
THE CRY, "BACK TO CHRIST." 61 
 
 century, has been an important helper in the 
 return to historic Christianity in the person of 
 its founder. The positive principle of Ritsch- 
 lianism is the historical person and revelation of 
 Jesus Christ, the founder of the kingdom of 
 God. Ritschl strikes a true note when he tells 
 us it is time that the mind of the church was 
 recalled from abstruse theologies and scholastic 
 refinements of doctrine to the fresh, living 
 impression of Him whose life and work are the 
 foundation of her whole structure. While to 
 this German thinker is largely due the wide- 
 spread reversion to the idea of "the historic 
 Christ" in theology, there is one fatal limitation 
 in his system which will bar it from sympathetic 
 contact with evangelical Christianity, — it stops 
 with the crucifixion. It emphasizes the histor- 
 ical but negatives the supernatural revelation in 
 Jesus Christ. It raises the cry, "Back to Jesus," 
 but it has no living Christ. A system of religion 
 which has no empty tomb and no risen Savior,* is 
 itself empty, and not destined to rise to the 
 exalted level of the New Testament faith. But 
 still, Ritschlianism, in its great affirmative prin- 
 ciple, the historical persou of Jesus Christ, the 
 center and source of revelation, the foundation 
 of Christianity and the kingdom of God its most 
 
 *Since this was written a book has appeared by the most 
 authoritative writer on Ritschlianism, in which he affirms the 
 belief of Ritschl in the resurrection of Christ. 
 
62 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 vital expression, is true and helpful as far as it 
 goes. 
 
 Professor A. B. Bruce of the Free Church 
 College in Grlasgow, a follower of Ritschl, as 
 far as I have indicated him to be correct, said in 
 an address at a Reunion Conference in Switzer- 
 land, that he owed his present knowledge of 
 Jesus, under God, to the disruption of the 
 Scotch Kirk fifty years ago. That ecclesiastical 
 rupture, with its accompanying bigotry and bit- 
 terness, revealed to him the intrinsic weakness 
 and unsatisfactory character of the actual church, 
 and drove his sensitive mind from the sorrowful 
 reality to the ideal, from the church to the 
 kingdom of Grod, from the clergymen to Christ. 
 His discovery of Jesus and the kingdo m, 
 although at the cost of catastrophe and pain, 
 was a blessed experience to him, and to multi- 
 tudes of others, for no living writer has done so 
 much, through his numerous books, to acquaint 
 us with the mind of the Master, as he himself 
 reveals it in the Gospels. It was borne in upon 
 the mind of Professor Bruce as the sorrowful 
 and calamitous fact of religious history that for 
 whole centuries together the personal Christ of 
 the Cgesarean confession, the real Jesus of the 
 parables and the miracles, had been lost — the 
 world as empty of his spirit as the tomb of his 
 body after he had risen from the dead — lost in 
 the church, lost in the cloister, lost in sacra- 
 
THE CRY, "BACK TO CHRIST." 63 
 
 ments, lost iu creeds, lost in controversy, and 
 lost, even in the Bible. The world has had plenty 
 and to spare of the ecclesiastical Ch rist of Latin 
 Christianity, the metaphysical Christ of Greek 
 Christianity, the dogmatic and theological 
 Christ of Protestant Christianity, but all too 
 little of the historic. Messianic, personal Jesus 
 of the Gospels and the kingdom of God, the 
 living and loving and reigning Christ of the 
 throne. 
 
 Dr. Bruce, in his '^Training of the Twelve," 
 *'The Kingdom of God," *'The Parables of 
 Jesus," '*The End of Revelation," and the last 
 part of his "Apologetics, or Christianity De- 
 fensively Stated," has given us a many-sided 
 portraiture of Jesus along the lines of his self- 
 representation in the evangelical narratives, 
 that has made a profound impression on the 
 religious life of Scotland and the English 
 speaking world. And the unprecedented circu- 
 lation on both sides of the Atlantic of Mr. 
 Sheldon's book, **In His Steps, or. What Would 
 Jesus Do?" has immensely broadened and deep- 
 ened and popularized the cry for the return to 
 Christ in the actualities and all the phases of 
 human life. 
 
 The fathers of our own movement built far 
 better than they knew when they insisted that 
 the Confession at Csesarea Philippi was the 
 characteristic and peculiar truth of Christianity, 
 
64 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 the only creed of the church, and the only con- 
 fession of faith the Apostles required in order 
 to baptism and fellowship in the body of Christ. 
 Upon the central truth of the incarnation in the 
 personality of Jesus, and the need in modern 
 times of the divine creed which the Messiahship 
 embodies, we have based our plea for a return 
 to the Christ of the New Testament. Walter 
 Scott's * 'Great Demonstration" was the first 
 book written in the English language on the re- 
 turn to Christ. The Christological renaissance 
 was just beginning in Germany, but at that time 
 had not been heard of in this country. Walter 
 Scott's great discovery was not baptism for the 
 remission of sins, nor a kind of pedagogic clas- 
 sification of the elements of the Gospel, but the 
 place of Christ in his own religion. He insisted 
 on going back, not to Rome, not to the apos- 
 tolic fathers, not to the Christianity of the 
 fourth century as set forth in the Nicene creed, 
 not to Jerusalem simply or chiefly, but to Csesa- 
 rea — back to Peter's confession, back to the 
 indestructible rock, back to the personal, his- 
 toric Christ of the inspired Gospels, back to the 
 simple but comprehensive creed of the New Tes- 
 tament church, back to the fount of religion 
 imdefiled, before the stream was polluted by 
 Greek metaphysics, Roman imperialism and 
 Protestant sectarianism. The chief difficulty in 
 the way of a thorough-going comprehension of 
 
THE CRY, ''BACK TO CHRIST." 65 
 
 the scope and significance of this plea on the 
 part of its advocates, has been the reformation 
 dogma of inspiration, which, practically, places 
 Ecclesiastes, Chronicles and Jude on the same 
 level of authority, if not importance, with the 
 words of Christ in the Gospels. The motto, 
 *'The Bible and the Bible alone the religion of 
 Protestants," has been an unfortunate one for 
 Protestantism, for it signifies to the average 
 theologian an apotheosis of the Bible that puts 
 the Book in the place of the Man. The cry 
 *'Back to Jerusalem," has tended from the first 
 to shunt the Christ position on to the side track 
 of Jewish literalism that neutralizes more than 
 half the force of the original plea. Jerusalem 
 in poetry and song is the City of the Great 
 King, and the prototype of the capital of the 
 New Empire of God in the Millennium, but in the 
 stern reality of history it is the symbol of the 
 fiercest type of intolerance and dogmatism. It 
 stoned the prophets, crucified the Redeemer, 
 persecuted the Church, and stood, till removed 
 by the providence of God, an impassable barrier 
 to the manifestation of the kingdom. We may 
 pause here long enough to listen to Peter's ser- 
 mon, to get fast hold of the new coming of the 
 Holy Spirit, and to gather a few lessons from 
 the life of the infant church; but we must 
 hasten out of the stifling air of an intolerant 
 
 legalism and a fanatical conservatism, and hie 
 5 
 
66 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 away to catch the refreshing breezes of Hermon, 
 and to quaff the pure, crystal waters at the 
 source of the Jordan in Csesarea Philippi. 
 
 The "old Jerusalem gospel" idea that we 
 must come this side of Pentecost to learn the 
 conditions of salvation, is thoroughly pernicious 
 in several respects. This cuts off the vital 
 stream of teaching from the mouth of Jesus con- 
 cerning the kingdom of God, when it suits the 
 interpreter to cut it off in the making out of his 
 mechanical theory of salvation. It cuts off the 
 Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, the Para- 
 bles, those incomparable spiritual discourses in 
 the fourth Gospel delivered in the Temple 
 Courts, which contain our Lord's own exposi- 
 tion of the way of life, or there is no such way. 
 John Calvin's construction of the cry "Back to 
 Christ," was the Augustinian interpretation of 
 the epistle to the Romans. Some of us construe 
 the return to Christ to be a return to the Acts of 
 Apostles, and this signifies a certain interpreta- 
 tion of its examples of conversion. This is right 
 as far as it goes, but it does not go far enough or 
 deep enough. Calvinists may return to the 
 Romans, and we may go back to the book of 
 Acts, and neither of these documents will be 
 correctly interpreted unless we go farther. It is 
 from the standpoint of the mind of Jesus that 
 everything going before and coming after must 
 be interpreted and applied. Jesus explains 
 
THB CRY, "BACK TO CHRIST." 67 
 
 everything, and then everything explains him, 
 but this order must not be reversed, or nothing is 
 explained. The first and fundamental necessity 
 is the return to the mind of Christ, to his way of 
 looking at God and the world, to the spirit of 
 Christ, the teaching of Christ, to the Sermon on 
 the Mount, the beatitudes, the parables, the con- 
 versations, the Galilean ministry, his last utter- 
 ances in the Temple Court at Jerusalem, the 
 ethics of eternal life, — and I use this last phrase 
 as the nearest approach to the expression of my 
 conception of the Christianity of Jesus, — and all 
 this without sacrificing or minimizing either the 
 cross or the new birth. 
 
 The return to Christ, then, which the modern 
 position contemplates, is the absolute and un- 
 qualified acceptance of the personal Jesus, the 
 Divine Man of the Rock of Csesarea Philippi, as 
 absolutely the only Savior and spiritual Master 
 of the world whom we are bound to follow. 
 What does this involve? 
 
 The weakness of Christendom has been its 
 substitutions for Christ which have been made 
 to supersede him in popular faith and devotion. 
 The intelligent student of religious history has 
 not failed to observe that the priest, the church, 
 and the Bible have often bulked more largely in 
 the faith of men than the Master himself ; and 
 these have been easily made to lend themselves 
 to the perversions of priestcraft, ecclesiasticism 
 
68 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 and bibliolatry. Priestcraft is an abuse of the 
 ministry, ecclesiasticism is an abuse of the 
 church, and bibliolatry is an abuse of the Bible, 
 and these abuses have been set up as idols in 
 the temple of religion, ancient and modern, as 
 substitutes for Christ. Three things, therefore, 
 must be earnestly considered as falling within 
 the scope of the return to Christ. 
 
 1. We must come, in the first place, to the 
 prophetic as distinguished from and opposed to 
 the priestly conception of religion. It is a fact 
 made clear beyond the possibility of reasonable 
 controversy by the evangelic narratives, that 
 Christ was in the prophetic, but not in the 
 priestly succession, except in a purely spiritual 
 sense. I heartily agree with Sir Walter Besant 
 that the English race is indebted to John Bun- 
 yan for two magnificent truths which he burnt 
 into the souls of men, but Bunyan himself was 
 indebted to his New Testament for these truths. 
 First, the direct responsibility of every man to 
 God. Secondly, Christianity does not want and 
 cannot have a priest. Every man is personally 
 responsible to his Maker; there cannot, in the 
 nature of things, be any human go-between. 
 God reigns; he is like a sphere whose center is 
 everywhere, and circumference nowhere. Priests 
 stand in the way of human knowledge of this 
 mighty spiritual fact; they are the products of 
 conventionality and superstition, and the great 
 
THE CRY, "BACK TO CHRIST." 69 
 
 ecclesiastic structures built round the priest are 
 the work of human hands. The first thing that 
 Christ does for a man is to tear away these hin- 
 drances inherited from Paganism and Judaism, 
 and open a way of free access for the soul to 
 God, teaching him, in the joy of a new found lib- 
 erty, that there is one Mediator between God 
 and man, the Man Christ Jesus. In listening to 
 Pere Hyacinthe, the illustrious representative of 
 the old Catholic movement in Europe, at the 
 Reunion Conference at Lucerne, some years ago, 
 I was struck with the fact that he used language 
 very similar to that which is constantly upon the 
 lips of our own people. He spoke of going back 
 to the Apostles, and of the restoration of the 
 Apostolic Church, but his position when ex- 
 plained turned out to be, back to the post-Apos- 
 tolic fathers, back to the fourth century, back to 
 the Nicene creed, back to the sources of Greek 
 and Latin Christianity, and this signifies thus: 
 the Apostolic interpretation of Christ, the post- 
 Apostolic interpretation of the Apostles, the 
 Nicene interpretation of the post- Apostolic fath- 
 ers, and the Roman Catholic interpretation of 
 the traditions and dogmas of the Nicene docu- 
 ments ; but this instead of being the way back to 
 Csesarea is the plunge of the ecclesiastical Jor- 
 dan into the Dead Sea of the reaction to Juda- 
 ism and Paganism. The third and fourth cen- 
 turies were the most corrupt and corrupting 
 
70 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 periods in the history of Christianity. It was 
 then that the old sacerdotal trappings and 
 priestly externalisms came trooping back in 
 swarms into the church, from which Christ had 
 expelled them, and most unhappily for mankind, 
 they came to stay. The people of these cen- 
 turies who became Christians were not prepared 
 to understand a religion purely spiritual and 
 ethical in its character. They had never seen 
 anything of the kind, and they could not con- 
 ceive of a religion without a temple, an altar, a 
 priesthood, a ritual, without sacrifices, ceremo- 
 nies, sacred places, and sacred persons, and 
 sacred seasons, and without losing all of the new 
 they began unconsciously to read the old back 
 into the new. From the analogies of the old 
 religions, a process quite easy to understand, 
 they came to think of the apostle, the prophet, 
 the presbyter, as a priest, and they could not 
 think of a priest without thinking of a sacrifice, 
 and they could not think of sacrifice without 
 thinking of a temple ; and priest, sacrifice, tem- 
 ple brought back the old Pagan and Jewish ideas 
 which have held sway for many a dreary century 
 in the Christian Church. The New Testament* 
 by a plausible artifice, could be made to lend 
 itself to the support of this paganized concep- 
 tion of the Christian religion. The epistle to 
 the Hebrews interprets the Christian faith in 
 terms of the Jewish temple and priesthood. Its 
 
THE CRY, "BACK TO CHRIST." 71 
 
 language is borrowed from, the sacrificial system 
 of Judaism, but with a new and larger meaning 
 read into it. The New Testament writers, being 
 Jews, naturally and almost necessarily employed 
 the phraseology of the old religion, but they used 
 its terms in an accommodated sense with a new 
 spiritual significance. If you take up your New 
 Testament and read the terms "priest," *'altar," 
 *'temple," "sacrifice," "blood," in the old lit- 
 eral, sacrificial sense, you Judaize Christianity, 
 and find yourself in the very heart of a full 
 blown sacerdotalism; but if you pour into these 
 words the new spiritual meaning of Jesus Christ 
 you Christianize Christianity, you spiritualize 
 and ethicize your conception of the gospel, you 
 bring yourself at once into sympathy with the 
 religion of faith and freedom rev^ealed by the 
 Divine Spirit to apostles and prophets. Jesus 
 revolutionized religion in freeing it from the old 
 priestly conception. He himself was no priest 
 in the accepted meaning of the term, and per- 
 formed none of the recognized priestly func- 
 tions. His Apostles, in like manner, offered no 
 sacrifices, wore no sacerdotal garments, and 
 never called themselves, or were called by oth- 
 ers, by the priestly titles. The primitive church 
 presented to the world for the first time the sub- 
 lime spectacle of an equality of privilege before 
 the Eternal. Christ's work of mediation was 
 purely a spiritual function, figuratively repre- 
 
72 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 sented by reference to the sacrificial phraseology 
 of the old dispensation. In respect to the so- 
 called priesthood of all Christians, Peter gives 
 us a key to the interpretation of all that class of 
 facts: '*Ye as living stones are built up a spir- 
 itual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spir- 
 itual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus 
 Christ." Until the priestly idea of religion, in 
 all its forms of manifestation, is driven out of 
 men's heads and supplanted by the prophetic 
 conception, which asserts as its primary doctrine 
 the right and privilege of every man to fulfill the 
 holiest and most imperial of his duties — that of 
 knowing and believing the God who made his 
 reason, of worshiping and serving the God who 
 speaks in his conscience — without this and the 
 whole prophetic ideal of life and conduct real- 
 ized in Christ and set forth in his teaching, it is 
 impossible for men to understand Jesus Christ 
 and the truth concerning him. 
 
 2. In the second place, this return to Christ 
 of which I am speaking, means the substitution 
 of Christianity for Churchianity, the spiritual 
 and practical for the ecclesiastical interpretation 
 of religion. Not that we are to despise and repu- 
 diate the church, but that we are to come to the 
 church through Christ, interpreting it through 
 the Mind of the Master, and not by the reverse 
 process of coming to Christ through the church. 
 There is more importance than at first sight 
 
THE CRY, "BACK TO CHRIST." 73 
 
 appears in this distinction. There are millions 
 of Christians who are in the habit of looking at 
 Christ through the church, or their particular 
 section of the church, instead of looking at the 
 church through Christ, and this fills the wide 
 stretching space of difference between a Church- 
 man and a Christman. The Churchman puts the 
 church in front of Christ. He sees the organi- 
 zation, the creed, the ritual, the offices, the 
 usages, its outward history; the institution fills 
 his eye and Christ is out of sight. He is a dog- 
 matist in the Douglas Jerrold sense that dogma- 
 tism is puppyism come to maturity. The Chris- 
 man puts Christ in front of the church, above it 
 and beneath it; this illuminates and purifies the 
 institution, spiritualizes its fellowship and makes 
 it a fit dwelling-place for the infilling and out- 
 shining of God by his Spirit. 
 
 The historic church has been from the first 
 imperfect and open to criticism. There are 
 great dark stretches of history where it has been 
 oftener a hindrance than a help to Christianity. 
 There is nothing on which people are so sensi- 
 tive, nothing on which there is a wider and more 
 hopeless divergence of opinion among Christians 
 than the church. It is altogether a delicate and 
 a difficult question to deal with. But are we not 
 all substantially agreed concerning Christ? Is 
 he not the absolute Monarch of our realm? And 
 since the saving power of God and the source of 
 
74 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 authority in religion reside in him alone, need 
 we agree in anything else in order to mutual tol- 
 erance and Christian fellowship? If we under- 
 take to say that all a man has to do is to come to 
 the church, we have taken in hand a very diffi- 
 cult problem, for he will at once ask us what 
 church, and what do you mean by the church? 
 This will lead to explanation and discussion, and 
 invidious comparisons, and soon we will find our- 
 selves plunging and floundering in the turbid 
 stream of ecclesiastical controversy, and let me 
 confess with sorrow, that church history, to me, 
 is neither pleasant nor profitable reading. More- 
 over, if we are to depend for the solution of all 
 our religious problems on the teaching of the 
 church, what a tremendous amount of learning 
 and leisure will be required to disentangle the 
 skein of history and to trace the tortuous lines 
 of the historical growth and development of doc- 
 trine. I have neither time nor ability, and why 
 should I go to the fathers when I can go to 
 Christ? Will any Christian deny that Christ is 
 better able to explain the fathers than the fathers 
 are to explain Christ? And why should any man 
 be confused and distracted by the *'lo heres" and 
 "lo theres" of what Canon Hammond has called 
 *'Pollychurchism," w'henthe clear ringing accents 
 can be heard above the storm of the One Infalli- 
 ble Voice? I feel that every thoughtful man 
 must agree with Dr. Fairbairn, that we of this 
 
THE CRY, "BACK TO CHRIST." 75 
 
 age are better able to distinguish that Voice than 
 any other Christian century since the first. We 
 know more of the historic Christ to-day than 
 ever men knew before since he was here. As 
 the result of investigation and criticism the real 
 Christ of history stands before the modern mind 
 more clearly and luminously than he has ap- 
 peared to any other since the apostolic age. 
 The happiest and most hopeful sign of the times 
 is the symptom here and there manifesting itself 
 that the church is beginning to marshal its forces 
 around the central fact and figure of history, the 
 adorable person of our Divine Redeemer; and 
 when this movement has been far enough ad- 
 vanced to reach the standpoint of Csesarea Phil- 
 ippi, all our church problems will be compara- 
 tively easy of solution. Under Christ the church 
 must not regulate Christianity but Christianity 
 must regulate the church. The church is not 
 the head of Christ, but Christ is the head of the 
 church, and hence we must interpret the church 
 through Christ, and not Christ through the 
 church. 
 
 3. Another point involved in the issue before 
 us is the personal supremacy of Christ over the 
 literature of revelation by which a knowledge of 
 him is conveyed to mankind. As many Protes- 
 tants make a Savior of the Bible, as Roman 
 Catholics make a Savior of the church. Bibli- 
 olatry and ecclesiolatry sin in the exaltation of 
 
76 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 the media of our knowledge of Christ above 
 Christ himself. The Bible is the organ of reve- 
 lation, the church is the organ of the H0I3' Spirit 
 and the purchase of Christ's blood, and both are 
 23recious and indispensable; but the man who 
 comes to the Bible and insists on looking at 
 Christ through a preconceived interpretation of 
 the book, learned by rote, rather than at the 
 Bible through the mind of Christ, is putting the 
 fruit before the root and starting in the way 
 that makes narrow dogmatists instead of broad- 
 minded and generous-hearted Christians. It is 
 true that our first knowledge of Christ is derived 
 from the Bible, and equally true that no man 
 can adequately understand the Bible except he 
 read it through the mind and from the stand- 
 point of Jesus. There are men who insist on 
 explaining Christ through the Old Testament in 
 place of interpreting the Old Testament through 
 Christ. It is scarcely possible to imagine a 
 greater mistake. If, for example, you burden 
 yourself with Old Testament difficulties when 
 you begin to reason with the unbeliever, you will 
 fail of your purpose to bring him to Christ by 
 that road. I have for a long time been under 
 the distinct impression that we make a serious 
 tactical blunder in loading the non-Christian in- 
 quirer with assumptions and theories of inspira- 
 tion and Biblical infallibility upon the threshold 
 of his inquiry into the merits of the Christian 
 
THE CRY, ''BACK TO CHRIST." 77 
 
 revelation. He starts in that case with the very 
 difficulties that have made him a skeptic, and 
 that predispose him to a prejudiced investiga- 
 tion. If we laid these evangelic narratives be- 
 fore him, and said, make a careful, candid and 
 critical study of these biographical fragments of 
 the great Person, take nothing for granted, as- 
 sume nothing as proven or disproven, disengage 
 yourself from the entangling meshes of church 
 theories of inspiration and Biblical inerrancy; 
 study these histories and this Person on their 
 own merits, and tell us candidly what you think 
 of the portrait and the painting. Instructions 
 like these would disarm prejudice and predispose 
 the mind to an impartial and truth-seeking inves- 
 tigation, which, as a rule, could have but one 
 result. If you start men with Christ they will 
 stay with him, but if you start them at a distant 
 standpoint seriously handicapped and burdened 
 with difficulties, the very difficulties that have 
 caused their troubles, the chances are they will 
 never find their way to him. If you should listen 
 to an infidel orator hurling his negative criti- 
 cism at the Christian faith, nine cases in ten 
 he would be engaged in the congenial task of 
 picking holes in the Old Testament. He would 
 labor with might and main to sheet home to the 
 Christians' God the direct responsibility of every 
 shady transaction and every questionable sen- 
 tence in the Book, forgetting, of course, that 
 
78 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 the Old Testament is a record of a progressive 
 revelation, that its different portions were many 
 hundreds of years in course of writing, and that 
 during the whole of this time God was revealing 
 himself more and more fully to mankind, "try- 
 ing to express eternal things in mortal speech." 
 Have any of us been able to realize what a diffi- 
 cult thing it must have been for God to reveal him- 
 self to man at all, except in a very indefinite and 
 general way? It is extremely difficult for the 
 wisest men to get fresh ideas into people's heads. 
 Dr. Dale, of Birmingham, who preached to one 
 of the most intellectual audiences in England, 
 declared that it took him fifteen years to famil- 
 iarize the minds of his people with a new con- 
 ception. Mr. Gladstone has testified to the 
 immense difficulty which he had of getting the 
 average Englishman to understand a new pro- 
 posal. Our own experience goes to show that it 
 takes at least fifty years of incessant hammering 
 to get one leading truth well into the public 
 mind; and when it becomes familiar and well 
 understood, new light calls for further change, 
 and we begin again to hammer, breaking up the 
 old and ramming in the new, and so the hammer- 
 ing process, like Tennyson's brook, goes on for- 
 ever. As God's thoughts are not as our thoughts, 
 we can readily understand how hard it must have 
 been all through the ages of revelation for God 
 to make himself intelligible to man. As a result 
 
THE CRY, ''BACK TO CHRIST." 79 
 
 the moral standard of the New Testament is so 
 much higher than that of the Old, when the dis- 
 ciples desired to imitate Elijah and call down fire 
 from heaven to consume their enemies, Christ 
 rebuked them sharply, declaring that it would be 
 wrong for them to do what Elijah did in the 
 early dawn of revelation. The end explains the 
 beginning and not the beginning the end. We 
 must not suppose, however, when we come to 
 the New Testament, that it is superior to Christ, 
 or in any sense displaces him as the ultimate 
 authority in religion. The New Testament is 
 invaluable to us and fundamental to Christianity, 
 not because it contains a mass of infallible dicta, 
 but because it conducts to Christ. We must not 
 look at Christ primarily through Paul or John or 
 Peter, but at them through him. The Epistles 
 do not explain the Gospels. The Gospels explain 
 the Epistles. Christianity means Christ as he 
 explains himself, and not as others explain him. 
 The consciousness of Christ is the revelation 
 of God, and Christ best explains for us his own 
 consciousness. The supreme question now is, 
 What did Christ think of himself? where do 
 Christ's own views come in? are they really over- 
 topped and vitiated by the teaching of the apos- 
 tles? This question is forcing itself more and 
 more to the front. Is the teaching of Christ a 
 rudimentary form of Christianity which the 
 other transcended, or was it a perfect form 
 
80 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 which they only supplemented? Christ fre- 
 quently spoke of his own words in terms of 
 grandeur which it would be difficult to surpass. 
 In his own eyes he was the sovereign prophet of 
 his teaching. Christ claimed to himself the 
 position of a teacher far above all those who 
 preceded him, and still more did he place him- 
 self above all who came after him. There could 
 be no more emphatic warning against placing 
 the apostles on the same level as the Master. 
 From the point of view of the old doctrine of 
 inspiration, the objection might be used, and I 
 have often heard it, Why should the words of 
 Jesus be considered more important than the 
 rest of the Bible? Even from the old point of 
 view, that objection can be met with a decisive 
 answer. It is true, in one sense, that all parts 
 of Scripture are equally important, because they 
 are parts of a whole, which would be mutilated 
 if any of those parts, even the smallest, were 
 absent. But of the whole revelation none can 
 be compared to the words of Jesus. 
 
 By some this contrast, however, is carried 
 farther, and it is proposed to convert the teach- 
 ing of Christ into a standard with which to crit- 
 icise and correct the rest of Scripture. For- 
 merly the whole Bible was looked upon as the 
 single authority. At first the Old Testament 
 was dropped and the New Testament adopted. 
 And now the narrowing process is carried f urth- 
 
' THE CRY, ''BACK TO CHRIST." 81 
 
 er, and the contention is made that the author- 
 ity is not the New Testament as a whole, but the 
 teaching of Christ alone, and some have gone so 
 far as to exclude all the teaching of Christ 
 except the Sermon on the Mount. This is the 
 position taken up by Dr. John Watson in "The 
 Mind of the Master," and by Count Tolstoi in 
 numerous books. But Jesus expressly said that 
 after his death he would speak through his 
 inspired apostles in continuation of his own 
 teaching. The only question, therefore, is the 
 harmony of the apostolic interpretation with 
 that of the Lord himself. For a long time the 
 return to Christ meant a violent reaction against 
 Paulinism, or rather against what was mistaken 
 for the teachings of the apostle. That was the 
 price we had to pay for emancipation from the 
 tyranny of scholastic Protestantism, which only 
 allowed Christ to be approached through Paul. 
 But now there are distinct evidences that we are 
 coming nearer to a condition of equipoise. A 
 calmer judgment is affirming the immense im- 
 portance of the man who saved Christianity 
 from degenerating into the private creed of a 
 Jewish sect. Quite a library of works on Paul 
 has appeared of late, and the fertile theme 
 seems to be inexhaustible. Renan, Pfleiderer, 
 Sabatier, Beyschlag, Stevens, Cone, Lyman 
 Abbott and others, have set forth different 
 phases of the great apostle's life and work. The 
 
82 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 peculiarity of this newer study of Paul is that it 
 is all carried on in the historical spirit, not 
 with a view to establish dogmatic theology, but 
 in order to understand the man and his ideas. 
 The result is a general consensus of the best 
 critical opinion, that Paul's contribution to 
 Christianity as a spiritual, universal religion is 
 second only to that of his divine Master. 
 
 4. A fourth point can only be mentioned; 
 there is no time for its discussion. It is the most 
 vital point of all. The return to Christ involves 
 fundamentally and necessarily an immediate 
 application of the ethics of Jesus to modern 
 life. It is this consideration in Mr. Sheldon's 
 little book, "What Would Jesus Do?" that has 
 stirred the whole English-speaking world as no 
 one book has ever stirred it before. It has 
 helped men to realize that the ultimate concern 
 of Christianity is not to propagate metaphysical 
 orthodoxy, but to work out a moral reformation 
 and to reconstruct society on sounder principles. 
 This new study of the Savior has brought us 
 face to face with the problem that the great 
 need is straightforwardness and courage in ap- 
 plying Christianity to the conduct of business 
 and the regulation of sociaUpolitical affairs. 
 The ethics of eternal life must be applied to 
 individual character, and the church must make 
 this the most vital part of its message. Dogma- 
 tism and bigotry can no longer do duty for Chris- 
 
THE CRY, "BACK TO CHRIST." 83 
 
 tian love and good morals. Polemic religion is 
 played out. Controversial Christianity is a back 
 number, except in the backwoods. The nar- 
 rowness and bitterness of the sectarian spirit are 
 giving way to the sweetness and light of the 
 gospel of the Cross. We are learning, under 
 Christ, to displace the metaphysics of the creeds 
 with the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount, 
 and the altruism of the judgment scene in the 
 twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew. Fighting 
 stress is now laid, not on the difference between 
 tweedledum and tweedledee, but on the differ- 
 ence between a life of sin and a life of right- 
 eousness. A return to the Logia has taught 
 us that Christianity is a law, a life, a spirit, a 
 character, and not shallow theories about specu- 
 lative trifles. Thanks to investigation, criticism, 
 research, and the freedom of the modern spirit, 
 our convictions are growing deeper, our ideals 
 higher, our spirit is better, our faith is stronger, 
 we understand Jesus Christ more profoundly, 
 and may we not say the united kingdom of 
 heaven is at hand? 
 
 The whole substance of the divine plea for the 
 return to Christ is this: In every thing and in 
 all things, make Christ the starting-point, the 
 path-finder, the source of authority, the revela- 
 tion of God, the ideal, the judge, the interpre- 
 ter, the Prophet, Priest and King. It was on 
 this conception of Him that the apostles 
 
84 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 founded the Church and proclaimed the king- 
 dom of God. This is my gospel, it is the only 
 theology, if I may call it such, I have ever pro- 
 pounded or ever expect to propound. I have 
 found in it the solution of all my difficulties, the 
 answer to all my questions, the satisfaction of 
 all my desires, the joy of my own heart, the in- 
 spiration of my life, and I do not hesitate, there- 
 fore, to commend it with all confidence and 
 affection to others. As I have grown older my 
 creed has become shorter. At the last revision 
 it stood thus, and having found bed rock it will 
 ever stand: *'My faith looks up to thee, thou 
 Lamb of Calvary, Savior Divine." 
 
 J. J. Haley. 
 
Zhc Cry ^'Back to Christ/^— H Review. 
 
 LEAVING the many good and strong points in 
 the paper that has just been read to speak 
 for themselves, I proceed at once to the task of 
 an adverse critic, kindly pointing out what 
 seem to me to be material defects in Brother 
 Haley's essay. 
 
 1. That Christ chose the region of Csesarea 
 Philippi as the place where he elicited from 
 Peter the ''central and crucial proposition of his 
 religion" for the reason implied in the paper, 
 looks like a strained, unwarranted and unreas- 
 onable assumption. Just what is meant by **the 
 neutrality of pagan soil" is by no means clear. 
 The essayist points out the fact that it was a land 
 of idolatry in its grosser forms, and therefore 
 it was not a country of religious neutrality. It 
 was a place where "the Semites worshiped the 
 Baalim, the Greeks adored Pan, and the Romans 
 bowed the knee to Caesar," and these things and 
 the truth that "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of 
 the living God," are certainly not congenial. I 
 do not think that Jerusalem was as repellant to 
 Jesus as it seems to be to Brother Haley. The 
 
 true and living God was known and worshiped 
 
 85 
 
86 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 there, and many sacred and hallowed memories 
 clustered about it; and in view of religious 
 characteristics I can see nothing that would have 
 drawn the Master "as far away from Jerusalem 
 as he could get," into a land where "men wor- 
 shiped side by side the forces of nature and the 
 incarnation of political power." There would 
 be some consistency in our essayist's contention, 
 if Christ had told the apostles "to tarry in 
 Csesarea Philippi till endued with power from 
 on high," and had said that "repentance and 
 remission of sins should be preached in his name 
 among all nations, beginning from Csesarea 
 Philippi." That he meant to disparage Jerusa- 
 lem by selecting a land of idolatry as a more 
 fitting place to make the first announcement of 
 the central truth of the gospel, and then se- 
 lected the slighted and dishonored city as the 
 radiating center of his kingdom, seems extreme- 
 ly improbable. 
 
 Jerusalem may be the "City of the great King in 
 poetry and song," but it is also in Scripture the 
 city of prophecy in connection with Christ and 
 his kingdom, and he who slights that city in his 
 search for Christ will not find the Christ of 
 sacred history. "For out of Zion shall go forth 
 the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusa- 
 lem." This law and this word of the Lord are 
 for the purpose of showing forth Christ in his 
 fullness. The Christ that Peter confessed at 
 
THE CRY, *'BACK TO CHRIST." 87 
 
 Csesarea Philippi, was a very small Jewish Christ 
 whom the apostle afterwards forsook and de- 
 nied. The winds from Hermon, laden with the 
 cold, chilling conception of Christ which the 
 Jews (including Peter) entertained, dwarf him 
 into very small proportions as compared with 
 the Christ that the Holy Spirit revealed on Pen- 
 tecost. It requires Zion and Jerusalem to put 
 life and warmth and power into the Christ of 
 Hermon. We must go to Jerusalem to find the 
 Christ who shows us an empty tomb and pre- 
 sents himself as alive from the dead. We must 
 stand upon Zion within the enclosure of Jerusa- . 
 lem, if we would hear the voice which assures us 
 of this all-important fact: "Let all the house 
 of Israel know assuredly that God hath made 
 him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye 
 crucified." Zion is really the Mount of final, 
 permanent and complete transfiguration, in 
 which for the first time we behold Jesus in his 
 true Christhood and Lordship. Standing upon 
 this summit we witness the rising of the Sun of 
 Righteousness, the warmth of whose rays melts 
 away the snows of Hermon, and whose glorious 
 light dissipates the darkness that resides in the 
 shadow of the northern mountain. In the light 
 that glorifies the top of the mountain of the 
 Lord, and amid the gentle, warm and congenial 
 zephyrs that fan the face of the City of the 
 Great King, we see the Christ of Hermon and 
 
88 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 Csesarea Philippi expand into the Christ of Zion 
 and Jerusalem. Thus we are enabled to see the 
 Great World-Christ instead of the Jewish Christ 
 that dwelt in the mind of Peter when he made 
 his confession. That Christ would be meaning- 
 less and powerless without the supplemental 
 Christ of Pentecost and Jerusalem. 
 
 The reason it gives Brother Haley the shivers 
 to contemplate Jerusalem is found in the fact 
 that he fails to discriminate between the two 
 Jerusalems, — the Jewish Jerusalem and the 
 Christian Jerusalem, the fleshly Jerusalem and 
 the spiritual Jerusalem. It was the Jewish Jeru- 
 salem, the fleshly Jerusalem, that stoned the 
 prophets, crucified the Redeemer and persecuted 
 the Church. The Christian Jerusalem, the spir- 
 itual Jerusalem, had neither part nor lot in these 
 matters. In the fleshly Jerusalem are heard the 
 jangling voices of the Pharisees, the scribe and 
 the priest; there are seen the mockeries of a 
 merely formal religion; there is heard the shout 
 of the mob that cries, "Away with Him ! Crucify 
 Him!" there is seen the bloody hand of perse- 
 cution that wastes and scatters the Church. But 
 in the Christian Jerusalem, the spiritual Jerusa- 
 lem, we see the glory of God and the beauty and 
 sweetness of a spiritual brotherhood in Christ 
 Jesus ; there we hear the song of mercy and par- 
 don ; there we behold, the wonderful works of 
 the Lord as he magnifies the name of his Christ; 
 
THE CRY, "BACK TO CHRIST." 89 
 
 there we discover the way of life and salvation 
 as illuminated by the light that shines from the 
 face of the Son of God; there we feel the thrill 
 of the joy and satisfaction that are born of the 
 assurance that ''God hath made him both Lord 
 and Christ." If we linger in the proper Jerusa- 
 lem there is nothing to blight, nothing to chill, 
 nothing to dwarf, nothing to alarm. We need 
 not go to Hermon at all, for the Holy Spirit has 
 brought Hermon down to Mt. Zion, and given it 
 a new significance and a new beauty, and now, 
 as never before, we can see Christ as the fairest 
 among ten thousand, and the One altogether 
 lovely. In Jerusalem we find the Christ of hope, 
 the Christ of promise, the Christ of glory, the 
 Christ of salvation. A Christ that has not 
 passed through the grave, that did not go into 
 the heavens, that was not made both Lord and 
 Christ, that did not send forth what the people 
 saw and heard in Jerusalem, is not the Christ 
 whom the soul needs. Select the right Jerusa- 
 lem, and in her lap you may rest with perfect 
 security. 
 
 2. I am acquainted with no *'old Jerusalem 
 gospel" idea which says that we must come this 
 side of Pentecost to learn the conditions of sal- 
 vation, nor do I know what Brother Haley means 
 by that remark. Very sure I am that we must 
 come this side of the empty tomb of Christ to 
 find a direct and plain statement of the condi- 
 
90 OUR FIRST CONGRKSS. 
 
 tions of salvation. "He that believeth and is 
 baptized shall be saved," is Christ's own declar- 
 ation on this subject, and this is the law that 
 was to go forth on Mt. Zion. If we would under- 
 stand this matter we must come to Pentecost, 
 for then the first offer of salvation was made 
 under this commission. Repentance and remis- 
 sion of sins were to be preached among all 
 nations in the name of Christ, beginning from 
 Jerusalem; and if the idea of going to Pente- 
 cost to find out how to be saved is pernicious, 
 then the teaching of the Master himself is per- 
 nicious. Just how going to Pentecost "cuts off 
 the vital stream of teaching from the mouth of 
 Jesus concerning the kingdom of God," is 
 known only to those who are wise above what is 
 written. Surely the Holy Spirit never said any- 
 thing on or after Pentecost that is inconsistent 
 with anything that Christ said before Pentecost. 
 He who finds a full and complete way of salvation 
 proclaimed before Pentecost, cuts off the Com- 
 mission from the mouth of the Savior, and dis- 
 allows the speech of the Holy Spirit on Pente- 
 cost. What the Spirit then said is just as 
 authoritative and binding as anything that 
 Christ ever uttered in person. The idea of 
 pitting one portion of Scripture against another 
 is thoroughly pernicious, and equally pernicious 
 is the idea of constructing a theory of salvation 
 upon what Christ said in person, and then 
 
THE CRY, "BACK TO CHRIST." 91 
 
 twisting what he said through the Spirit after- 
 wards, into harmony with that theory. If Christ 
 taught a full and complete way of salvation for 
 an alien sinner in the Sermon on the Mount, in 
 the parables, in the conversations, in the Gali- 
 lean ministry, in his last utterances in the Tem- 
 ple Court at Jerusalem, etc., what is the mean- 
 ing of the Commission, in which he conditions 
 salvation on faith and baptism? and what is the 
 meaning of the language of the Spirit who con- 
 ditions the remission of sins on repentance and 
 baptism? 
 
 That '*some of us construe the return to Christ 
 to be a return to the Acts of the Apostles" is 
 news to me. There are those who think that 
 the book of Acts must be used in getting back 
 to Christ, but surely no one holds that the ter- 
 minal point is in Acts. That document is simply 
 one of the gateways that lead to Christ, and he 
 who leaps over it, or goes around it, will not 
 find the real Christ, the Savior of the world. 
 From Acts we first learn that God made Jesus 
 both Lord and Christ, and in Acts we find the 
 first proclamation of repentance and remission 
 of sins in the name of Christ. It is true that 
 Acts will not be correctly understood without 
 the Gospels, but it is equally true that the latter 
 will not be correctly understood without the 
 former. Christ is in Acts as well as in the Gos- 
 pels, and we see some features of him there 
 
92 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 that we do not see so clearly here. It is correct 
 to say that everything must be interpreted from 
 the mind of Christ, but how do we get acquainted 
 with the mind of Christ? Does the only avenue 
 of access to Christ's mind lie through the Holy 
 Scriptures? The notion that "our first knowl- 
 edge of Christ is derived from the Bible," im- 
 plies that there is a second knowledge of Christ 
 that is derived from some other source. This 
 idea is dangerous in the extreme. It opens a 
 way for all kinds of wild vagaries and unbridled 
 fanaticism. This conceit has done more to par- 
 alyze the Bible and cause it to be regarded as "a 
 dead letter," than almost anything else. This 
 implied **second knowledge" is perhaps the 
 father of the spirit that characterizes high re- 
 gard for the Bible as "bibliolatry." This vague 
 and indefinite something, that comes from do 
 one knows where, is to revise and correct the 
 writings of the apostles, through whom '*we 
 must not look at Christ primarily." Here our 
 essayist seems to contradict what he says about 
 getting "our first knowledge of Christ from the 
 Bible." Dictionaries have led me to suppose 
 that primary means first. 
 
 The tap-root of this doctrine seems to me to 
 be about this: One forms an idea of Christ 
 from a "second knowledge" of him, derived 
 from some other source than the writings of the 
 apostles, and then makes that idea the standard 
 
THE CRY, "BACK TO CHRIST." 93 
 
 by which the sacred writings are to be inter- 
 preted. This is what Universalism and Unita- 
 rianism do. The former sees in Christ an un- 
 conditional Savior of the world, and interprets 
 Paul and Peter and John accordingly. The 
 latter sees in Jesus a mere man, and the apos- 
 tolic writings must bend to this theory. Kenan 
 and the whole rationalistic school of teachers 
 appear to occupy this ground. Is it possible for 
 Brother Haley or me to have a better under- 
 standing of the mind of Christ than the apos- 
 tles who had the Spirit to guide them into all the 
 truth? *'He shall take of mine and show it to 
 you," said the Master to the apostles concerning 
 the Spirit. This means that the Spirit was to 
 reveal the mind of Christ to the apostles, and 
 that they might not err he told them that it 
 would not be they who would speak, but the 
 Holy Spirit speaking in or through them. I do 
 not believe that any knowledge of the mind of 
 Christ that does not come through the Script- 
 ures is trustworthy. If he is not interpreted 
 through the Scriptures, he will be misinter- 
 preted. 
 
 3. If it is a mistake to "insist on explaining 
 Christ through the Old Testament," it is a much 
 greater mistake to insist on interpreting Christ 
 through a theory of that book, which some men 
 are doing. A theory is constructed concerning 
 date and authorship of parts of the Old Testa- 
 
94 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 ment, and then Christ is explained in his use of 
 those documents by such theory. As thus ex- 
 plained, either his knowledge must be limited, 
 or he is forced to sanction egregious errors in ac- 
 commodation to a popular mistake. This is thor- 
 oughly pernicious. . If the Old Testament is to 
 be interpreted through Christ, Moses wrote the 
 Pentateuch, for he says, "Moses wrote of me." 
 If the Old Testament is to be interpreted through 
 Christ, and not Christ through the Old Testa- 
 ment, then the prophet Daniel wrote the book 
 of Daniel, for he says that "the abomination of 
 desolation" was spoken of "by Daniel the 
 prophet." If this principle is sound, Jonah was 
 "three days and three nights in the whale's 
 belly," for Christ so declares. Interpreting the 
 Old Testament through Christ is a good rule 
 unless it is to be modified by some such clause 
 as "when it suits me." The essayist is alto- 
 gether correct when he indicates that "you should 
 not burden yourself with Old Testament difficul- 
 ties when you begin to reason with the unbe- 
 liever." But suppose the unbeliever burdens you 
 with the difficulties a certain school of critics have 
 thrust upon the Old Testament, and begins to 
 sing the song of errancy, ungenuineness, mis- 
 takes, etc., that he has perhaps learned from 
 you. Then you find yourself hors de combat and 
 hoist with your own petard. Many unbelievers 
 know much more about these difficulties than 
 
THE CRY, "BACK TO CHRIST." 95 
 
 they know about the Bible, for they are not 
 ''cribbed, cabined and confined." When you 
 find an unbelieving mind that has not been prej- 
 udiced and poisoned with critical difliculties, the 
 thing to do is to present Christ as he appears in 
 the Gospels, with the distinct understanding that 
 everything he says therein is true, and that 
 everything that the writers say about him is 
 true. The literature that is to reach and influ- 
 ence the young mind in the Sunday-school 
 should not be burdened with these difficulties. 
 
 4. I am not sure that I fully know the mind 
 of Bro. Haley as regards the church, but his 
 words seem to me to unnecessarily and wrongly 
 disparage that divine institution. If he would 
 discriminate between the church of the New 
 Testament and the church of subsequent history, 
 what he says would be unobjectionable. He 
 seems to laud and exalt the Kingdom of God 
 while depreciating the Church of God. The 
 New Testament church is the Body of Christy 
 and the kingdom of heaven, and I do not see 
 how you can discount one without discounting 
 the other. Christ died for the church, and it is 
 ordained that "unto the principalities and the 
 powers in the heavenly places might be made 
 known through the church the manifold wisdom 
 of God." The church of God should not be 
 disparaged, for it is of equal importance with the 
 kingdom of God; yea, it is the kingdom of God. 
 
96 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 I am unable to see the justice of lumping **the 
 apostolic interpretation of Christ" in with "the 
 post-apostolic interpretation of the apostles, 
 the Nicene interpretation of the post-apostolic 
 fathers, and the Roman Catholic interpretation 
 of the traditions and dogmas of the Nicene docu- 
 ments," and throwing them all overboard as 
 equally worthless. If, having received the 
 Spirit to guide them, the apostles did not inter- 
 pret Christ correctly, we may despair of ever 
 getting a correct interpretation of him. 
 
 5. The paper seems to betray some confusion 
 of thought as to the relative importance of the 
 words of Christ and those of the apostles. "The 
 supreme question now is. What did Christ think 
 of himself, where do Christ's own views come 
 in, are they really overtopped and vitiated by 
 the teaching of the apostles? This question is 
 forcing itself more and more to the front." 
 With whom is this the supreme question? and 
 who is forcing it to the front? If such a ques- 
 tion is being agitated I am in blissful ignorance 
 of it; nor do I believe that there are those who 
 are contending that Christ's views are "over- 
 topped and vitiated by the teaching of the apos- 
 tles." If so, they deserve the scorn of all 
 Christians. "Is the teaching of Christ a rudi- 
 mentary form of Christianity which the others 
 transcended, or was it a perfect form which they 
 only supplemented?" The paper seems to deny 
 
THE CRY, "BACK TO CHRIST." 97 
 
 the first hypothesis and affirm the second. I am 
 not able to see how that which is perfect can be 
 supplemented. A supplement is **an addition to 
 anything, by which it is made more full and 
 complete." The teaching of Christ is not **a 
 rudimentary form of Christianity," but a per- 
 fect part of a s^^stem that was not perfected till 
 the Holy Spirit came and did his work; if so, 
 the work of the Spirit was superfluous. He 
 came to complete something, and not to supple- 
 ment something that was already complete, 
 which is an impossibility. 
 
 What is meant by the declaratiou that Christ 
 placed himself **above all who came after him" 
 is not clear. If the reference is to authority, the 
 point is well taken, for all authority was given 
 into his hands. But the context indicates that 
 in teaching Christ put himself above all that 
 should come after him. This makes him put 
 himself above himself, for Bro. Haley himself 
 says that ** Jesus expressly said that after his 
 death he would speak through his inspired apos- 
 tles in continuation of his own teaching." It is 
 true, then, that whatever Christ taught through 
 his apostles is just as high and just as important 
 as anything that he ever taught through his own 
 person. In view of this, what becomes of the 
 **emphatic warning against placing the apostles 
 on the same level as the Master?" The teach- 
 ing of XDhrist and the teaching of the apostles 
 7 
 
98 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 are not two teachings, but two parts of one and 
 the same teaching, Christ being the teacher all 
 the way through. No invidious distinctions 
 should be made between the teaching of Christ 
 and that of the apostles. 
 
 6. "Polemic religion is played out. Contro- 
 versial Christianity is a back number except in 
 the backwoods." These statements look strange 
 in their polemic and controversial setting, for 
 the paper bristles with controversy, and I pre- 
 sume that those who are conducting a crusade 
 against * 'controversial Christianity" will have to 
 be understood about thus: *'My controversy is 
 all right, but your controversy is all wrong." 
 Opposition to controversy is itself controversy. 
 But are the statements true? If so. New Testa- 
 ment religion *'is played out," and apostolic 
 Christianity "is a back number except in the 
 backwoods." Christ himself was a master in 
 controversy, and Paul was an expert in polemics. 
 "How then does David call him Lord?" is a 
 sample of the Master's incisive controversy. 
 Paul disputed, controverted in the synagogue at 
 Ephesus for three months, and then transferred 
 the disputation, the controversy, to the school of 
 Tyrannus and carried it on for two years ; and 
 he was in a constant controversy with the Jewish 
 teachers, who taught a corrupt form of Chris- 
 tianity. Indeed, the New Testament is a 
 history of one of the hottest controversies that 
 
THE CRY, "BACK TO CHRIST." 99 
 
 ever agitated the world ; and the history of the 
 gospel from then till now is a history of contro- 
 versy. Polemic religion gave us the Lutheran 
 Reformation, and controversial Christianity gave 
 us our own restoration movement, and some of 
 us are now occupying feathered nests that were 
 built by the hands of ''polemic religion." We 
 can certainly afford to use decorous respect in 
 referring to the men and the methods that have 
 made us what we are and given us what we have. 
 It is not nice to fling mud at the bridge that has 
 brought us over. Truth has always had to make 
 its way in the world through conflict and con- 
 troversy, and the mission of Christianity is to 
 controvert everything that is wrong; and a 
 Christianity that is not controversial is inane 
 and puerile. 
 
 With many of Bro. Haley's positions I am in 
 hearty accord, and I close this review with a 
 thorough indorsement of what seems to be his 
 fundamental thesis, namely: "The return to 
 Christ, then, which the modern position con- 
 templates, is the absolute and unqualified ac- 
 ceptance of the personal Jesus, the Divine Man 
 of the Rock of Csesarea Philippi, as absolutely 
 the only Savior and spiritual Master of the 
 world whom we are bound to follow." This, 
 however, is not so very modern. 
 
 J. B. Briney. 
 L.ofr 
 
Cbe Cry ''Back to Christ/'— H Review; 
 
 THE cry *'Back to Christ" is inevitable; his- 
 torical and literary criticism have made it 
 so. Historical and literary criticism are inevita- 
 ble; the inductive method has made them so. 
 The inductive method is inevitable; common 
 sense and the progress of man have made it so. 
 The deductive method was not progressive. It 
 was an intellectual tread-mill. Its premises, 
 syllogisms and conclusions, the latter becoming 
 the premises for other syllogisms and conclu- 
 sions, went round and round, like a log in a 
 whirlpool. Thirteen centuries of deductive phi- 
 losophy — misnamed theology — left the world 
 where Luther found it religiously, and where 
 Bacon found it empirically. Macaulay likens 
 the centuries dominated by this method to such 
 of the matrons of Ancient Rome as refused to 
 bear children, disdaining to be fruitful that they 
 might be beautiful. 
 
 * This paper can scarcely claim, to be a review of J. J. Haley's 
 paper on the subject, "Back to Christ," since this was written before 
 its author had seen that. No material change has been made in it 
 since Mr. Haley's excellent paper appeared. Its production proceeded 
 wholly from what the writer deemed to be the merits of the subject 
 itself, and from his previous knowledge of Mr. Haley's position. Of 
 that position Mr. Haley himself was kind enough to pronounce the 
 paper an excellent summary. — W.J. Lhamon. 
 
 100 
 
THE CRY, "BACK TO CHRIST." 101 
 
 However, this method was not entirely fruit- 
 less. Though it refused to improve agriculture, 
 and harness steam and lightning to the mills 
 of men, and sweeten domestic relations, and 
 popularize education, and turu monarchies into 
 democracies, and on the ruins of slavery build 
 fraternity, and replace pagan altars with com- 
 munion tables — though it refused to do such 
 things, it did breed dogmatism; it stood as the 
 foster-mother to sacramentalism, and from its 
 lap have gone forth the damnation clauses of 
 the Holy Roman symbols, together with such 
 impossible creeds as are now trying to get them- 
 selves partially revised or wholly forgotten. 
 
 The deductive method did not rebuke the In- 
 quisition, did not abate priestcraft, did not 
 emancipate the popular mind, and did not free 
 us from a vast mass of unwholesome tradition. 
 
 With the advent of the inductive method came 
 our reverence for facts as against theories, for 
 history as against speculation, for deed as 
 against dogma, for investigation as against tra- 
 dition, and for Christology as against theology. 
 With the advent of the inductive method we 
 have made a complete "about-face," and we 
 have hit upon a whole new world. We esteem 
 facts, when we can get at them, as legal tender, 
 and we have lost all reverence for count of holy 
 noses. We have dethroned tradition and we 
 have enthroned .investigation. What we call 
 
102 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 historical criticism is but the inductive method 
 applied to history, and what we call literary crit- 
 icism is but the inductive method applied to lit- 
 erature, and what we call Biblical criticism is 
 but the inductive method applied to the Bible. 
 Everything must go into the crucible of this 
 method. What is dross is bound to be burned 
 away; the gold will abide. In the crucible of 
 this method tradition means little and dogma 
 means nothing. Thank God it is so. We want 
 a Bible that can stand on its own merits pre- 
 cisely as Shakespeare does, or Whittier, or the 
 multiplication table. If the Bible is vulnerable 
 by reason of its intrinsic feebleness or falseness, 
 no theory of inspiration, no traditional canon- 
 icity can save it. If the Bible is false, inspiration 
 cannot make it true. If it is true the inspira- 
 tion of it is a secondary matter. By its assured 
 truth or falsity, and not by its assured inspira- 
 tion, it must stand or fall. All theories of in- 
 spiration are on trial quite as much as the Bible 
 itself, or even more so, and very likely we shall 
 come at last to believe that the book is inspired 
 because it is true, rather than it is true because 
 it is inspired. Possibly we shall find that it is 
 easier to reach the inspiration of it by way of the 
 truth of it, than the truth of it by way of the 
 inspiration of it. In any event the question of 
 inspiration is secondary, the question of historic 
 verity is primary. 
 
THE CRY, "BACK TO CHRIST." 103 
 
 As regards the New Testament, the above is 
 but saying in other words that Matthew, Mark, 
 Luke, John, Peter, James, Jude and Paul are on 
 trial — not as inspired writers, but as historians, 
 and as brother men. As brother men, historians 
 and witnesses to Christ they must be received if 
 at all, and not at all as legislators, or dicta- 
 tors, or creed-formulators, or dogmatists of any 
 sort. Brother men to the rest of us — that is the 
 superscription they bear, and we infer that their 
 eccentricities, foibles and deficiencies are cousins 
 to our own. They rise not above the level of 
 the human, they belong to our category; they 
 stand in the light of Jesus and cast such shadows 
 as we do. Our measuring-reeds are not too 
 short for them, they fight in our defective 
 armor — and, in short, we who have thrown off 
 all traditionalism, who have revolted from all 
 dogmatism, who have taken seriously to heart 
 the solidarity of humanity, will not bow to them. 
 I speak in all this as seeking to express in a few 
 bold words the spirit of our times. This age will 
 not conjure even with the superlative nathe of 
 Paul until it has had reasons for doing so. If, 
 therefore, we are to have authority it must come 
 from a source higher than the human ; if we are 
 to have a revelation reaching beyond reason, it 
 must proceed from one more reasonable than 
 ourselves; if we are to have an infallible cap- 
 taincy, the one in whom it rests must fight in an 
 
104 OUR FIRST CONGRKSS. 
 
 armor that neither Saul nor David can wear; if 
 we are to bow the knee, it must be to one not of 
 our category. The cry, "Back to Christ," is 
 inevitable, and it is the only saving cry. 
 
 But how are we to get back to Christ except 
 by the infallible writings of these men? This is 
 the crux to the whole matter. We must reach 
 our infallible Christ through the hypothesis of 
 a fallible medium, and thereafter, if ever, prove 
 our medium to have been infallible. The pro- 
 cedure maybe a strange one, but it is a neces- 
 sary one, and not an impossible one. It may be 
 a dilemma, but Christ helps us out of it. His 
 career was such that the very shadows cast by 
 the defects of his representatives are indicative 
 of his perfections. The New Testament writers, 
 however human and fallible they may be upon 
 our hypothesis, enshrine for us in their produc- 
 tions a character that is superhuman and infalli- 
 ble — so that when we behold the moral manhood 
 of Jesus towering into Godhood, we find our- 
 selves constrained to say, "This sun is perfect, 
 though he shines through our fog." And yet 
 further we are compelled to say, "This fog of 
 ours did not create this perfect sun." And 
 further still — and at last — we find ourselves say- 
 ing, "Perhaps this perfect sun will yet dispel 
 this hypothetical fog of ours — much of it, if not 
 all of it." 
 
 The recovery, therefore, of the historic Christ 
 
THE CRY, "BACK TO CHRIST." 105 
 
 must be by the way of a medium hypothetically 
 fallible, and if the medium is ever shown to be 
 infallible, it must be by the way of the recovery 
 of the historic Christ. 
 
 Suppose, now, that the historic Christ has 
 been recovered, and I, for one, verily believe it, 
 what follows? 
 
 (1) This historic Christ is to us not merely a 
 metaphysical one of three, he is vastly more 
 than the Christ of the Trinity. 
 
 (2) He is not merely a far-away, first century 
 being, he is the risen, the ascended, the now 
 regnant Christ. 
 
 (3) He is not merely the subject of specula- 
 tive thought, to be cabined, cribbed and confined 
 and defined by a formidable array of infinitudes 
 and syllogisms. He transcends all that. 
 
 (4) Nor is he merely, in the eyes of the scien- 
 tific method, a fact among facts, or a fossil 
 among fossils, classified, labeled and shelved. 
 He is infinitely more than a rare and interesting 
 specimen ; and we who are reverent must rebel 
 against his treatment as such, by a dwindling 
 class of hyper-higher critics. 
 
 (5) This recovered historic Christ is, and is 
 seen and felt to be, *'the Word made flesh," 
 whose glory is the '*glory as of the only begotten 
 of the Father, full of grace and truth." He is the 
 one who in his brotherhood reveals God's Fath- 
 erhood, and who seizes vitally upon our human 
 
106 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 kinship, throwing over the lowliness of our 
 humanity the halo of his divinity. 
 
 (6) He is the constructive Christ — this recov- 
 ered historic Christ. He builds around himself 
 a whole world of superlative ethics and inerrant 
 didactics and supernatural benefactions. And 
 all these things are becoming to him, they fit 
 him precisely as our own lowly words and works 
 are befitting to us. Nay, having Christ we re- 
 flect that such ethics, such didactics, such mira- 
 cles are natural to him, and are to be expected 
 of him. Then we say in the deepest soul of us, 
 the record is true ; Jesus did naturally walk on 
 the waves, and still the winds, and feed hungry 
 thousands with bread that grew in his hands, 
 and heal blind eyes, and raise the dead, and rise 
 from the dead. We expect such a record of 
 such a man. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John 
 unite in bringing us the expected record. We 
 are therefore convinced of their truthfulness, 
 and thus our recovered Christ has recovered for 
 us our precious records. He is the constructive 
 Christ, and around him there rises the whole of 
 the New Testament literature, filled with his 
 thought as the eye is with light, and throbbing 
 with his love as the heart throbs with blood, and 
 instinct with his promised Holy Spirit as the 
 human body is instinct with its own soul. 
 
 Finally, to get back to Christ is to get back 
 the Christ himself, and the literature that 
 
THE CRY, "BACK TO CHRIST." 107 
 
 he inspired, and the life also, and the church 
 that are the children sprung from the travail of 
 his soul. 
 
 The salvation of the present and the hope of 
 the future have conditioned themselves upon 
 our complete severance from dogmatism and 
 traditionalism, and upon bringing the living 
 Christ face to face with living men and women ; 
 seating him in their homes; introducing him to 
 their societies and electing him at their polling 
 places. 
 
 Our great poets are at least potential higher 
 critics, and they are thorough-going Christolo- 
 gists. Such souls as Whittier, Longfellow, 
 Tennyson and Browning have insight. They are 
 seers. They do not go limping on the crutches 
 of logic. They scorn dogmatism, for it clips the 
 wings of their inspiration. They find value in 
 written forms only in proportion to the living 
 ideals throbbing there. For them the word that 
 does not inspire is not inspired, and to them that 
 book only is ideal that has an ideal soul in it. 
 The man in the book must be more than the 
 book, and he it is who must transmute its letters 
 into inspired and inspiring life. In the spirit of 
 science they seize upon facts, and in the spirit of 
 prophecy they make them vital, till whole val- 
 leys of dry bones rise up clothed in flesh, and 
 are thrust forth among men, conquering and to 
 conquer. 
 
108 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 It is in this spirit that Whittier warns us 
 **back to Christ," crying, 
 
 *' Our Friend, our Brother and our Lord, 
 What may thy service be? 
 Nor name, nor form, nor written word, 
 But simply following thee." 
 
 It is in the same spirit that Tennyson, bereft 
 of his friend, and travailing in sorrow, finds com- 
 fort in Christ, through whom incarnate truth 
 enters at last our lowly doors : 
 
 ' ' And so the Word had breath, and wrought 
 With human hands the creed of creeds 
 In loveliness of perfect deeds, 
 More strong than all poetic thought; 
 Which he may read that binds the sheaf, 
 Or builds the house, or digs the grave ..." 
 
 It is in the same spirit that Browning finds 
 hope for all the mad King Sauls of earth. 
 
 " 'Tis the weakness in strength that I cry for! my flesh that 
 
 I seek, 
 
 In the Godhead! I seek and I find it. O Saul it shall be 
 
 A face like my face that receives thee; a Man like to me. 
 
 Thou shalt love and be loved by forever; a Hand like this 
 
 hand 
 Shall throw open the gates of new life to thee! 
 Seethe Christ stand!" 
 
 W. J. Lhamon. 
 
V. 
 
 Crucial Points Concerning the 
 Holy Spirit. 
 
FOURTH SESSION. 
 
 E. W. Darst, of Chicago, was chairman of this session. 
 The general subject was "City Evangelization." Twenty 
 minute addresses were delivered by J. A. Lord, editor of the 
 Christian Standard, on "The Urgency of City Evangelization;" 
 "Congregational Selfishness," by George F. Hall, Decatur, 
 111.; "Heroic Methods of City Evangelization," by F. G. 
 Tyrrell of St. Louis; "Resources for City Evangelization," 
 by G. W. Muckley, of Kansas City; the "A. C. M. S." by B. 
 L. Smith, Cincinnati; "The Pastor's Relation to City Evan- 
 gelization," by B. Q. Denham, of Tonawanda, N. Y. These 
 addresses were all able and spirited, but most of them were 
 unwritten and do not appear in this volume. 
 
 FIFTH SESSION. 
 
 W. T, Moore, LL. D., of Columbia, Mo., presided and made 
 an introductory speech on the subject of the evening, which 
 was "Literature." Prof. W. D. MacClintock, of the Univer- 
 sity of •Chicago, being introduced, delivered an exceedingly 
 interesting and suggestive address on "The Value of Litera- 
 ture in the Training of the Teachers of Religion." He was 
 followed by B. O. Ay les worth, of Denver, Colo., and Mrs. L. 
 W. St. Clair, of Columbia. These addresses, with the excep- 
 tion of that of Mr. Aylesworth, were unwritten, and none of 
 them appear in this volume. 
 
 SIXTH SESSION. 
 
 The chairman of this session was W. B. Craig, Chancellor of 
 Drake University, and the subject for consideration was 
 "Theology." After a happy introduction, he introduced R. 
 T. Mathews, of Newport, Ky., who read the paper which fol- 
 lows, on "The Crucial Points Concerning the Holy Spirit." 
 He was followed by F. N Calvin, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 
 in a supplementary statement on the same subject. W. E. 
 Ellis, of Nashville, Tenn., then reviewed the original address. 
 The discussion which followed these carefully prepared papers 
 was one of the most interesting of the whole Congress. 
 110 
 
Crucial points Concerning the Roly 
 Spirit 
 
 "T BELIEVE in the Holy Spirit." This confess- 
 1 ion of the great catholic creed is receiving, 
 in our day, a new, notable accentuation. What is 
 thought and said concerning the Holy Spirit, let 
 it be observed at once, does not run into the like 
 of either a fad or a hobby. The thought on the 
 subject is too wide and serious for any mere 
 speculator to advertise himself by novel views. 
 What especially distinguishes the revival of in- 
 terest in this matter, is its unpolemical, its rev- 
 erent, its intensely practical spirit. We may 
 notice this interest in new books that have ap- 
 peared in the last decade or two. We may see 
 it in the study of men of God gathered in some 
 special conference. There is impressively ap- 
 parent a minimum of wordy debate, and, in- 
 stead, a maximum of quiet, intent thinking and 
 praying over this master truth of the Word 
 of God. The history of doctrine, in its long 
 evolution, has never exhibited a riper time 
 for a wholesome understanding of the Script- 
 ure teaching concerning the Holy Spirit nor 
 more pointedly shown the necessity that, if 
 
 one essays to "bring out of his treasure things 
 
 111 
 
112 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 new" on the subject, he must present them in a 
 truly logical connection along with "things old." 
 It must still be the old doctrine of prophets and 
 apostles, if in new lights and lessons — old in 
 substance, new in elicitation; old in content, 
 new in application; the old doctrine always the 
 test of every new light elicited and every new 
 lesson applied. 
 
 But what are the conditions and reasons that 
 go to make a fresh study of the Holy Spirit so 
 timely, and that call for a study positive, 
 thorough, full, suited to this day and generation? 
 The answer lies in the fact, speaking generally, 
 that the present age is singularly open, as never 
 before, to the whole revelation of God. The 
 Scriptures speak significantly, "In the fullness of 
 the time God sent forth his Son." It is no 
 strain nor fancy to see that there is also a pro- 
 found sense in which this "fullness of the time" 
 repeats itself as regards the sensitiveness and 
 openness of man to receive more completely this 
 manifold revelation of God. Of course, there 
 is no progress possible at all for man except in 
 the providential leading of God. It is only in 
 the light of God that man sees any light on 
 anything — as the psalmist sang, "In thy light 
 shall we see light." But in this age man's 
 knowledge has grown "from more to more" in 
 the knowledge both of the world around him and 
 the world within him, in the knowledge of 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 113 
 
 ^Nature and in self-knowledge, until a remark- 
 able condition has resulted in his scientific study 
 of universal truth. To-day particularly, strik- 
 ingly, *'in the fullness of the time," the truth of 
 the universe is making itself felt on its Grodward 
 side, is making itself felt on its manward side, 
 in a constant meeting of the two sides in the 
 consciousness of the age. 
 
 For instance, is it an age in which Humanita- 
 rianism is both a plea and cult? It is also an 
 age in which Theism stirs its questions and mul- 
 tiplies its books on the largest scale. But is it 
 an age in which Theism is burningly discussed — 
 whether there be a God, and, if there be, wheth- 
 er he is knowable? It is equally an age in which 
 Humanitarianism is a very gospel, with its deep 
 concern for man's humanity to man. On the 
 Godward side, consequently, we hear a varied 
 discussion concerning Deity. There is an intense 
 study or emphasis of God as a Father. There 
 is, at the same time, an increasing interest in the 
 fact of his historical incarnation in his Son. On 
 the manward side, we see man's lordship over 
 the earth more and more ambitious. There is a 
 triumphant course of proud science in its mas- 
 tery of the secrets of Nature. There is a steady, 
 onward victory of democracy in society. 
 
 But the full fact of this interest equally in the 
 
 divine side of truth and in the human side, is 
 
 not stated until it is also said that the two sides 
 8 
 
114 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 are increasingly studied in their vital relations 
 to one another. Look where one will, there is 
 seen this two-fold concern in all truth to-day. 
 For instance, at one extreme in the realm of 
 thought, is seen a meeting point of God and 
 man in Science: Science inevitably looks up 
 through Nature to Nature's God, in the inquiries 
 of the Agnostic as well as of the Theist. At 
 the other extreme, in the realm of activity, is 
 seen a meeting-point of God and man in mis- 
 sions: missions have become world-wide in the 
 growth of international commerce and politics. 
 All between these extremes are, one after an- 
 other, the meeting-points of God and man in 
 the consciouness of the age. Is it literature? 
 The poet's finest song is not '* of saddest 
 thought," but ever of man's knowing God 
 and living forever; and the novelist who por- 
 trays most strikingly the tragic experiences of 
 mortals, blends in singular pathos the heart's 
 doubts and aspirations. Is it education? Edu- 
 cation begins anew, and begins aright, as it leads 
 the child to think by doing, and in all its thought 
 and work to worship God. So of philanthropy, 
 of socialism, of penology, or if there be any other 
 concern of humankind. The meeting points of 
 God and man were never more open, more rec- 
 ognizable, more fraught with intensely practical 
 issues, than in the thought and experience of 
 the present age. 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 115 
 
 Now, it is precisely here that the Scripture 
 doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit has for us 
 its momentous significance. According to the 
 Scriptures, the agency of the Holy Spirit in the 
 salvation of men is supremely concerned with 
 the incarnation of God in his Son. The Holy 
 Spirit's office is exercised in the Gospel of Deity 
 and Humanity perfectly united. The historical 
 life of the Son of God, including his death and 
 resurrection, constitutes the material for the 
 work of the Holy Spirit in the progress of the 
 Gospel. At every step, at every stage where the 
 influence of the Holy Spirit has its normal exer- 
 cise in human salvation, there the historical life 
 of Jesus Christ — fact, doctrine, example, pre- 
 cept, promise — is still powerful as it makes for 
 the perfect union of God and man. Always, 
 always, the ideal of human salvation — the 
 salvation of individuals, the salvation of the 
 race — is man's life sensitive to God's life at 
 every point, open to God's life on every side, so 
 as to be ''filled unto all the fullness of God." 
 The history of redemption is that man, in the 
 blood of the cross, is not only redeemed from 
 the guilt and power of sin, but is redeemed so 
 to live "till all attain unto the unity of the 
 faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God 
 unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the 
 stature of the fullness of Christ." 
 
 This agency of the Holy Spirit, with its 
 
116 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 abundant fruitage, is unquestionably clear in 
 the course of the gospel in the apostolic minis- 
 try. In the light of the apostolic ideal it be- 
 came necessarily the need of the Church of 
 Christ to appreciate this all-sided office of the 
 Holy Spirit. The long evolution of Christian 
 history has had the meaning of its travail in the 
 endeavor to read all human life according to the 
 life of the Son of God, and to live that life in 
 the power of the Holy Spirit. From time to time 
 a significant fact has not been wanting, namely, 
 that there has been a study, or an emphasis, 
 more or less fruitful of good, on the Holy Spirit. 
 Even when this Scripture doctrine has been sub- 
 jected to error or disproportion, there was still 
 the sign that it was making itself felt in agita- 
 tion, and was growing in the mind and heart of 
 the Church for some practical good. For in- 
 stance, Montanism, in the second century, may 
 have been wildly notional; or Mysticism, in the 
 Middle Ages, may have been one-sidedly spirit- 
 ual; or Pietism, in the seventeenth century, 
 may have been narrowly practical; or Wesley- 
 anism, in the eighteenth century, may have been 
 unduly emotional. Nevertheless all along from 
 Montanus to Wesley, the doctrine has gone on 
 developing itself in the apprehension of the 
 Church, whether in the elimination of errors or 
 in the deposit of truth, until to-day, as never 
 before, God's people are ready to be filled with 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 117 
 
 the Holy Spirit, because to-day, as never before 
 since the Apostolic ministry, the life of man is 
 open on all sides to the light and life of God. 
 
 The practical good of a thorough study of the 
 Holy Spirit to-day is that a clear view of this 
 doctrine may help to bring together, healthily, all 
 the needs of man and ail the blessings of God. 
 But the focus of this benefit, as a study of the 
 subject will increasingly disclose, lies just where, 
 so often in the past, the most, unhealthy repre- 
 sentations of Christian doctrine and Christian 
 life have always had, and always will have, their 
 occasion; namely, in the maladjustment of the 
 divine and the human, the supernatural and the 
 natural, the inward and the outward. A true 
 appreciation of the blessings of the Holy Spirit 
 always finally involves a healthy correspondence 
 of spirit and form in Christian thought and liv- 
 ing. It is an astute criticism of Faber, *'I can- 
 not think of one heresy which has not come 
 either from a disunion of the interior and exte- 
 rior, or a dwelling on one of them to the 
 neglect and depression of the other." This 
 judgment can be verified enough in historical 
 theology to give it the credit of a true generaliz- 
 ation. Its trueness is notably plain in the views 
 and exercises of certain periods as regards the 
 Holy Spirit. It ought to be the hope of our day 
 that all this new interest in the Holy Spirit may 
 have its richest fruitage in a clearer knowledge 
 
118 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 of the fine, deep relations between all truth and 
 all life, especially between the life of the senses 
 and the life of thought, more especially still be- 
 tween form and spirit as presented in the Chris- 
 tian religion. If *'a disunion of the interior 
 and the exterior" does not go the length of here- 
 sy, it always does lead to one-sided thinking and 
 dwarfed living. It is the very genius and glory 
 of Christianity that it corrects, and transcends 
 all violent disruption between the interior and 
 the exterior in religion, and discloses the living 
 relation between Nature and Spirit in the uni- 
 verse. This vital, healthful comprehensiveness 
 of Christianity is indeed impressively summar- 
 ized in the sound words, one Body, one Spirit, 
 one Hope, one Lord, one Baptism, one God and 
 Father of all — a formula which will ever be the 
 crucial test of all thinking and teaching on the 
 Holy Spirit. 
 
 This living theme, therefore, is altogether 
 worthy of a place in the discussions of a church 
 congress. The entire time of such a conference 
 might be spent profitably in its consideration. 
 But in the present hour it may be found wise 
 and helpful to select intentionally a few aspects 
 of this broad subject, and to bring these under 
 critical review. Again and again in theo- 
 logical study the best method is to seize on the 
 crucial points of some weighty doctrine, and to 
 endeavor to understand these in their truth and 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 119 
 
 bearings, and thence to follow their logical rela- 
 tions to other truth and their practical results in 
 life. With this purpose before us, let us essay 
 to understand some Crucial points concerning 
 the Holy Spirit, as our understanding of these 
 will necessarily determine our understanding of 
 the rest of this important doctrine. 
 
 1. The Personality of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 This is a decidedly crucial point. Every stu- 
 dent of the subject observes that, inevitably, in 
 all consideration of the Holy Spirit, the point 
 comes up whether the Holy Spirit is a self-con- 
 scious person or merely an impersonal influence. 
 The importance of this determination bears, it 
 will be found, on some of the most practical 
 matters of the gospel mission and the gospel 
 life. It becomes really thus important and prac- 
 tical because the full truth concerning the Holy 
 Spirit affects all other truth of God's revelation 
 of himself to men, and, accordingly as we grasp 
 these relations, whether in incipient faith or in 
 growing knowledge, will determine both our 
 thought and our experience as religious beings. 
 
 What, therefore, saith the Scripture? Let 
 this be our treasure for consultation, what- 
 ever our theory of revelation or inspiration. All 
 who accept the Bible as a record of God's reve- 
 lation of himself must come to this law and tes- 
 
120 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 timony, if they would have in them either a light 
 for knowledge or a lam^D for duty. 
 
 To bring to a focus at once this question of 
 the personality of the Holy Spirit, let us not 
 quote only some Scriptures of the A. V. or of 
 the R. v., especially of the R. V., where the 
 note of personality is altogether distinct in the 
 English. Such a one is Rom. 8:16, ''The Spirit 
 himself beareth witness with our spirit;" or 
 Rom. 8:26, "The Spirit himself maketh inter- 
 cession for us." We are to remember, of course, 
 that dispute seemingly might be justified over 
 the fact that, in these passages, the pronoun in 
 the Greek is neuter gender. But let us turn to 
 our Lord's farewell discourse to his disciples; 
 and here again and again there is to be seen an 
 indubitable emphasis of personality in the very 
 Greek pronouns. "He shall teach you all 
 things" (John 14:26); "He shall bear witness 
 of me" (15:26); "When he, the Spirit of truth, 
 is come" (16:13); "He shall glorify me" (16:14). 
 Every time here the Greek pronoun is in the 
 masculine gender, and, as Greek students will 
 recognize, the specially emphatic pronoun, 
 eheinos. 
 
 By no law nor reason of interpretation can 
 these personal pronouns be explained as only a 
 personification of an impersonal influence. In 
 the expression of actual personality here we can 
 find nothins: inconsistent nor absurd. In the 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 121 
 
 use of these personal terms there is no plain de- 
 parture from the facts and phraseology concern- 
 ing the Holy Spirit elsewhere in the Scriptures. 
 Nor is there at all any vivid play and interplay 
 of imaginative sights or sounds or actions, such 
 as universally are attributed to matter, or even 
 to spirit when personified. On the contrary, 
 every sentence of our Lord concerning the office 
 of the Holy Spirit is notably plain, direct, actual, 
 factual, with the idea of self-conscious per- 
 sonality. 
 
 Unquestionably these Scriptures are the 
 strongest proof-texts of the personality of the 
 Holy Spirit. Their light irradiates the dozens 
 and dozens of other Scriptures in which his per- 
 sonality is taught either explicitly or implicitly. 
 Such are Acts 10:20, "Separate me Barnabas 
 and Saul;" 1 Cor. 2:10, "The Spirit searcheth 
 all things, yea, the deep things of God;" 1 Cor. 
 12:11, "The one and the same Spirit, dividing to 
 each one severally even as he will;" Eph. 4:30, 
 "And grieve not the Holy Spirit, in whom ye 
 were sealed unto the day of redemption." But 
 especially does Christ's emphasis of the Spirit's 
 personality agree with those two well-known pas- 
 sages in which, fully and formally, the Father 
 and the Son and the Holy Spirit are associated 
 in a unity of name and blessing (Matt. 28:19 
 and 2 Cor. 13: 14). This striking use of the 
 name of the Holy Spirit, in the baptismal for- 
 
122 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 inula, is undoubtedly the Hebrew style of refer- 
 ring to the essential person of the Spirit. 
 Equally does the supplication for the Spirit's 
 blessing, in the apostolic benediction, denote his 
 co-ordination with God and Christ as a person in 
 the bestowal of grace. These two passages 
 alone, not to refer to others, logically evince the 
 the scripturalness of the old creed in its confes- 
 sion of the Holy Spirit, *'who together with the 
 Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.'^ 
 The worship of the Holy Spirit, of course, is 
 scripturally sound, not as sometimes heard in the 
 cant and rant of Protestant revivals, but, as a 
 true, logical inference, "together with the Father 
 and the Son." Thus, by our very manner of 
 sound speech, as, for instance, in the precious 
 historic doxology, not being wise beyond what is 
 written, we may be wise in what is written, with 
 scriptural propriety and proportion. 
 
 The scriptural estimate of the personality of 
 the Holy Spirit has immensely practical conse- 
 quence in religious thought and life. Let us 
 consider the chief concern of this truth in the 
 present day. To-day there is a burning focus of 
 interest on the subject of personality — person- 
 ality, both of man and of God; not only what 
 personality is, but especially the practical issues 
 of man's personality in relation to the personal- 
 ity of God. If self-conscious determination 
 constitutes the essence of personality, it is easy 
 
THE HOIvY SPIRIT. 123 
 
 enough to see how all-important this fact be- 
 comes in man's manifold life. 
 
 To state the matter philosophically, man is, on 
 the one hand, organically related to Nature ; on 
 the other hand, he is organically related to 
 Spirit. Whatever he is rationally, his thinking 
 has its organ in a sensuous brain; whatever he 
 is physically, he is a creature who "looks before 
 and after," and "whose thoughts wander through 
 eternity." Given this twofold condition, it is 
 the oflSce of reason in man to realize this ideal 
 unity of Nature and Spirit in the self-conscious- 
 ness of personality. 
 
 To state the matter scripturally, man is de- 
 pendent on God, he is responsible to God, in 
 the obedience of faith. Given this twofold con- 
 dition, it is man's salvation to work out this ex- 
 perience of dependence and responsibility in 
 fellowship with God not far-off, in whom man 
 lives and moves and has his being. 
 
 But if self-conscious determination constitutes 
 the essence of personality, then, as the whole his- 
 tory of human thought abundantly proves, man 
 can know, for his highest good, his self-con- 
 scious, self-determinative personality, only in 
 vital, organic relation to the personality of God, 
 against either a drear Agnosticism or a fatalistic 
 Pantheism. 
 
 It is in relation to this supreme need of man, 
 in winning his own soul, that the doctrine of the 
 
124 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 Holy Spirit, as self-conscious and self -determina- 
 tive, is vitally important. Man, in the bondage 
 and guilt of sin, all the more needs a God 
 "closer than breathing, nearer than hands or 
 feet." So has God come close to us, as he was 
 "manifested in the flesh;" but so has he come 
 closer still, as he was "justified in the Spirit." 
 The splendid truth of the Bible has its climax in 
 the revelation of God in Christ; but the power 
 of this historic revelation henceforth has its 
 course in the presence and agency of the Holy 
 Spirit. But the office of the Holy Spirit, accord- 
 ing to the Scriptures, is always connected not 
 only with the Incarnation and Sacrifice of the 
 Son of God, but especially with the relation of 
 the risen Lord to the gospel of salvation. The 
 gospel of salvation throbs with personality, in 
 heaven and on earth. The doctrine of the Holy 
 Spirit's personality, therefore, as he operates 
 the historic gospel in co-operation with the 
 Father and the Son, is thrice important: 
 
 1. The Holy Spirit, as self-conscious and self- 
 determinative in operating the blessing of salva- 
 tion, illumines, invigorates, intensifies man's per- 
 sonality in self-conscious communion with God. 
 In man's dire extremity, there may be ignorant, 
 inarticulate prayer; or, in view of his ideals, there 
 may be noble living and fruitful service. Either 
 way, and always, according to the Scriptures in 
 which is set forth the most intimate influence of 
 
 i 
 
THE HOIvY SPIRIT. 125 
 
 the Holy Spirit on man's spirit, we see deep, 
 rich experiences which can be fully interpreted 
 only in the light of a unity of self-conscious, self- 
 determinative personality between the two. 
 
 2. The Holy Spirit, as self-conscious and self- 
 determinative in operating the blessing of salva- 
 tion, represents and conserves the Biblical idea 
 of the one true God, and of God's relation to 
 man as man's Creator and Savior. In the light 
 and life of this doctrine, God is alwa3^s personal, 
 not some unknowable "power not ourselves," 
 and man is always personal, accountable, capa- 
 ble of knowing and communing with God. 
 
 3. The Holy Spirit, as self-conscious and self- 
 determinative in operating the blessing of salva- 
 tion, vitally correlates the historic gospel with 
 the obedience of faith. In this vital operation 
 in which man as a dual being is concerned nec- 
 essarily with sense as well as spirit, the Holy 
 Spirit, mediating the blessing of the historic and 
 living Lord, unites truth and message, doctrine 
 and life, word and sacrament, in the essential 
 relation of self-conscious intelligence between 
 the Spirit of God and the spirit of man. 
 
 //. Baptism in the Holy Spirit. 
 
 It is a matter for deep regret that this point 
 of the Scripture doctrine concerning the Holy 
 Spirit has been the occasion of such raging con- 
 
126 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 troversy. It is to be regretted all the more that 
 this hot debate has been mixed up with evan- 
 gelism, and has engendered both errors of doc- 
 trine and errors of practice. We cannot be 
 too careful in measuring every line of the 
 Word of God on this point, while remem- 
 bering] Trench's golden counsel to interpret 
 Scripture primarily in the light of its grammar, 
 and let the doctrine take care of itself. Amid 
 cloudy vagaries there is so often a temptation to 
 dissipate them by unconsciously explaining away 
 this or that Scripture in the interest of some 
 fancied harmony of truth. When we are led to 
 do this, then, as Jowett says, "we had as well 
 shut our grammars and dictionaries and draw 
 lots for the sense." Let our study of baptism in 
 the Holy Spirit be a clear, straightforward in- 
 duction of the Scriptures that teach it. Then 
 we shall be all the better able to refute errors of 
 doctrine and cure errors of practice in our posi- 
 tive elicitation of the entire truth on the subject. 
 On certain aspects of this crucial point there 
 have been and can be no differences of opinion. 
 We all agree that, according to the Scriptures, 
 it was to be a distinctive feature of the mission 
 of Jesus to baptize in the Holy Spirit. We all 
 agree that such a baptism occurred on the Day 
 of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius. 
 But then we begin to disagree on the matter; 
 and the point of disagreement is whether bap- 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 127 
 
 tism in the Spirit occurred only thus twice, or 
 oftener, and especially whether it may be ex- 
 pected to-day. 
 
 Let us not pause over the Scripture in dis- 
 pute — "I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all 
 flesh" (Acts 2:17) — whether its meaning was 
 exhausted on the Day of Pentecost and in the 
 house of Cornelius. Nor let us care just now 
 either to affirm or to deny that certain miracu- 
 lous effects of this baptism prove necessarily 
 that it was limited to these two occasions. Let 
 us examine the Scriptures whether there is the 
 fact or the truth further of baptism in the Holy 
 Spirit, either in explicit statement or by logical 
 implication. If there is, then let the doctrine 
 take care of itself, while we endeavor to elicit 
 its whole, exact meaning, without anxiety that 
 some fancied harmony of doctrine will be sacri- 
 ficed, or that certain practical dangers will be 
 engendered. 
 
 Let us accordingly examine the following 
 Scriptures : 
 
 1. 1 Cor. 12:13, "For in one Spirit were we 
 all baptized into one body, whether Jews or 
 Greeks; and were all made to drink of one 
 Spirit." The Revised Version here is tellingly 
 accurate. It states a definite fact of the past. 
 It affirms that fact of a totality of persons. The 
 fact is simply, unambiguously described as a 
 
128 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 baptism in the Spirit, and as a draught of the 
 Spirit. 
 
 2. 1 Cor. 6: 11, "And such were some of 
 you : but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, 
 but ye were justified in the name of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God." It 
 is rather strange that this explicit Scripture has 
 been neglected in the big controversy on this 
 subject. But the exact rendering of the Re- 
 vised Version now brings it forward as an indis- 
 putable proof-text of baptism in the Spirit. 
 Paul is revealing the secret of the marvelous 
 change for good in the lives of his Corinthian 
 converts. They *'were washed," that is, bap- 
 tized, not only baptized but ''sanctified," not 
 only "sanctified" but "justified," all "in the 
 name of the Lord Jesus Christ," and baptized, 
 sanctified, justified, "in the Spirit of our God." 
 The glowing affirmations of their conversion 
 hang together in a vital connection with the 
 Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. 
 
 3. Titus 3: 5, 6, "Not by works done in right- 
 eousness, which we did ourselves, but according 
 to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of 
 regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 
 which he poured out upon us richly, through 
 Jesus Christ our Savior." Here again the Re- 
 vised Version is priceless, with its accurate, del- 
 icate revisions. In their light the logical pro- 
 priety, if not necessity, of inferring here also 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 129 
 
 baptism in the Holy Spirit, stands out all the 
 clearer. "Which he poured out upon us richly" 
 — these words so tally with Acts 2: 17, "I will 
 pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh," that, 
 along with the explicit wording of 1 Cor. 12: 13 
 and 6: 11, just considered, they may be regarded 
 not only a literary felicity, but a doctrinal land- 
 mark concerning baptism in the Holy Spirit. 
 
 4. Eph. 5: 18, "And be not drunken with 
 wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the 
 Spirit." So also this Scripture. It is the doc- 
 trine of a complete occupancy of life with the 
 Holy Spirit. The very contrast with the influ- 
 ence of wine, to denote the abundant, pervasive 
 influence of the Holy Spirit, logically justifies 
 the conception as baptism in the Spirit, both 
 from a literary as well as from a doctrinal point 
 of view. 
 
 5. John 7: 38, 39, "He that believeth on me, 
 as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall 
 flow rivers of living water. But this spake he 
 of the Spirit which they that believed on him 
 were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet 
 given; because Jesus was not yet glorified." 
 The figure impressively exhibits the overflowing 
 blessing of the Holy Spirit — flowing into the 
 believer and filling him, flowing out of him and 
 copiously refreshing others. To describe the 
 blessing as baptism in the Spirit, is altogether 
 true and accurate. 
 
130 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 6, Eph. 3: 14-19, 'Tor this cause I bow my 
 knees unto the Father, from whom every family 
 in heaven and on earth is named, that he would 
 grant you, according to the riches of his glory, 
 that ye may be strengthened with power through 
 his Spirit in the inward man; that Christ may 
 dwell in your hearts through faith ; to the end 
 that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may 
 be strong to apprehend with all the saints what 
 is the breadth and length and height and depth, 
 and to know the love of Christ which passeth 
 knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the 
 fullness of God." All of divine revelation, all 
 of human salvation, are in this sublime prayer. 
 The deepest capacities of the Christian heart 
 are searched; his widest experiences are in- 
 cluded; his loftiest attainments are idealized. 
 Strength, faith, love, knowledge in the unity of 
 man's perfect character, as this is perfected and 
 filled with the riches of the glory of the triune 
 God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — all, all are 
 here. Again the Holy Spirit and the glorified 
 Christ are pictured together. The certainty of 
 the historic faith, the assurance of the personal 
 experience — these appear in their healthy unity ; 
 and the Spirit's office in the disciple, through 
 the process of salvation in its vital unity of 
 light and love, is ever filling the disciple *'unto 
 all the fullness of God." Nothing short of bap- 
 tism in the Holy Spirit, fact and figure, can rep- 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 131 
 
 resent the marvelous blessing. The crucial 
 point, therefore, of baptism in the Holy Spirit, 
 certainly simplifies itself in view of these six 
 Scriptures. In these, baptism in the Spirit is 
 taught — in the first two passages, explicitly; in 
 the other four, implicitly. If we confined our 
 study to 1 Cor. 12: 13 and 6: 11, there would 
 confront us a plain statement of baptism in the 
 Spirit, beyond the day of Pentecost, beyond the 
 house of Cornelius. Let us not straightway 
 deny this explicit doctrine, or begin to explain it 
 away in answer to some supposed requirement 
 of interpretation. The doctrine can take care 
 of itself against every difficulty of interpreta- 
 tion, whether you and I are successful in solving 
 the difficulty or not. The doctrine can take care 
 of itself against every danger of practice, 
 whether you and I are wise in avoiding the 
 danger or not. "We can do nothing against the 
 truth, but for the truth," says Paul, in his splen- 
 did hyperbole. You and I may lose much good, 
 and may do much harm by our wrong teaching 
 of truth and our >vrong application of it; but 
 the truth itself always at last prevails over our 
 misteaching and malpractice. The Scriptures 
 emphatically teach baptism in the Holy Spirit 
 beyond the day of Pentecost, beyond the house 
 of Cornelius. Let us hear it, and receive it, 
 and understand it, not deny it nor explain it 
 away, but make the most of it for our practical 
 
132 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 good, while we learn to explode errors, and solve 
 difficulties, and avoid dangers, and cure mis- 
 chievous waj^s of evangelism. 
 
 For instance, is it difficult to understand why 
 miraculous effects do not follow every baptism 
 in the Spirit? There need be no difficulty here. 
 In the light of the Scriptures, it is plain enough 
 that miracles were an incidental or temporary, 
 not a necessary nor permanent accompaniment 
 of baptism in the Spirit. Or, is there a ques- 
 tion, what, then, about the *'one baptism" of 
 Eph. 4: 6? — which is it, and how then more than 
 one? There need be no difficulty here. The 
 *'one baptism" of Eph. 4: 6 is the "one bap- 
 tism" of the Grreat Commission. Indeed, it is 
 *'one baptism" in 1 Cor. 12: 13 and 6: 11. But 
 the "one baptism" in water is none the less, 
 when rightly received, baptism in the Spirit. 
 The abundant presence of the Holy Spirit does 
 not annul the baptism in water. Neither bap- 
 tism in the Spirit, nor baptism in sorrow, nor 
 baptism in fire, which the Scriptures also teach, 
 evacuates the "one baptism" in water of its 
 meaning of unity. It is not "one baptism" as 
 counting times nor excluding other exercises 
 termed baptism, but "one baptism" in its richly 
 unifying purposes and effects in evangelism. 
 The "one baptism" in water does not lose its 
 unity of meaning and phrase because it is also a 
 baptism in the Spirit, or because there may be 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 133 
 
 also a baptism in sorrow, or a baptism in fire, or 
 a baptism in the Spirit. 
 
 The really serious concern about baptism in 
 the Spirit is a practical one. The doctrine has 
 suffered caricature and perversion in evangelism. 
 Baptism in the Holy Spirit has been looked at in 
 an abstract, isolated way. Sinners have been 
 exhorted to pray for and expect it, in passiv^e 
 waiting, wholly aside from obedience to the gos- 
 pel. Consequently the promise of salvation has 
 got mixed up with how one feels, and certain 
 electric sensations have been described as the 
 sign of pardon and acceptance with God. But 
 this error and malpractice are not to be cured 
 by false exegesis and false logic. The sover- 
 eignty of the Holy Spirit in evangelism must be 
 duly recognized. If the gospel, with its facts, 
 its precepts, its promises, is not to be ignored 
 when the Holy Spirit is in view, neither are the 
 presence and agency of the Holy Spirit to be 
 ignored as the gospel is in progress. We are to 
 cure or prevent the extravagances of revivalism, 
 not by explaining away nor ignoring a present 
 baptism in the Spirit, but by preaching all the 
 more insistently the gospel of grace, instructing 
 and exhorting sinners to obey it, while we also 
 are careful to explain the rich, varied meaning 
 of baptism in the Spirit, and especially to cor- 
 relate it soundly with the message of faith and 
 the obedience of faith. 
 
134 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 In a positive light, therefore, we should intel- 
 ligently and devoutly make all that the Word of 
 God so obviously makes of baptism in the Holy 
 Spirit. Let us not pervert the truth in error or 
 malpractice. Let us not make a hobby of the 
 truth and ride it in the pride of self-conceit and 
 self-deceit. How are we finally to regard it 
 aright in the light of the Word of God? What 
 is its whole secret, in view of which Ave may see 
 its meaning at once in summary and detail? 
 
 Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a luminous figure 
 of speech, to denote the superabundant in-fluence of 
 the Holy Spirit in salvation. 
 
 It is a figure at once simple and rich. It is a 
 simple figure of a rich fact. It is a figure, not 
 technical, but poetical; not abstract, but vital — 
 because the fact is illimitable and immeasurable. 
 It is a free and fluent figure of speech, to picture 
 the suberabundant influence of the Holy Spirit, 
 whether in revelation, or regeneration, or re- 
 newal, or enduement, or administration. It is 
 pre-eminently the figure to describe this super- 
 abundant influence of the Holy Spirit at any or 
 every stage of his office in man's salvation. 
 
 When a pagan fell down in the presence of the 
 Corinthian Church, and worshiped God, declar- 
 ing, *'God is among you, indeed," such over- 
 whelming conviction may well be called bajDtism 
 in the Holy Spirit. When the humble con- 
 
THE HOIvY SPIRIT. 135 
 
 fessor, convicted of sin and believing in his 
 heart on Jesus, says with the mouth from the 
 heart, * 'Jesus is Lord," and says it, as Paul 
 teaches it can be said, only '*in the Holy Spirit," 
 such heartfelt confession may be fittingly pic- 
 tured as baptism in the Holy Spirit. When the 
 candidate, in the water of the *'one baptism," a 
 penitent believer, is baptized "into the name of 
 the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Spirit," this obedience of faith recalls at once 
 the very verse of Scripture, ''In one Spirit were 
 we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or 
 Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all 
 made to drink of one Spirit." Nay, this climax 
 of obedience in the "one baptism," even as it 
 sums up and consummates all faith and blessing 
 going before, at once becomes the type, the 
 ideal, the secret of all faith and blessing coming 
 after; and the blessing of the Holy Spirit re- 
 ceived there, scripturally termed baptism in the 
 Holy Spirit, may be renewed daily in prayer and 
 service, if we have the faith to seek more and 
 more the fullness of the gift of the Holy Spirit, 
 edifyingly conceived and expressed as baptism in 
 the Holy Spirit. Nay, further, this measureless 
 presence of the Holy Spirit, of whose fullness 
 one begins to receive in regeneration^ of whose 
 fullness one continues to receive in reneival — the 
 measure of one's faith, the measure of one's 
 reception — one receives more capaciously still in 
 
136 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 enduement, as one not only seeks it for some un- 
 selfish service of others, but seeks it especially 
 along with other servants of Christ in the mani- 
 fold administration of the offices and gifts of 
 the body of Christ. 
 
 Such, according to the Scriptures, is the mean- 
 ing, the large meaning, of baptism in the Spirit — 
 his measureless presence in his operation of sal- 
 vation. It is not an exceptional nor transient 
 influence for just one end. It is not even a reg- 
 ular, permanent influence just for one effect. 
 As it is measureless, so is it not to be singled out, 
 isolated, identified with only a particular step or 
 stage of salvation. On the other hand, it is 
 concurrent with the whole of salvation — a meas- 
 ureless presence of the Spirit himself in operat- 
 ing salvation, received by man more and more 
 fully in an increasing faith. It may have a crisis 
 or an emphasis in one's experience; still it is 
 ceaseless and measureless in operation, with 
 manifold purposes and results in the process of 
 one's salvation. 
 
 III. Method of the Holy Spirit's Operation in 
 Salvation. 
 
 The debate over baptism in the Holy Spirit 
 has been only a part of the larger controversy 
 on the method of the Holy Spirit's operation in 
 salvation. Let no one say that this is a needless 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 137 
 
 subject for study. It is a decidedly crucial point 
 for more than one reason. Our view of the 
 method of the Holy Spirit's operation in salva- 
 tion will not only affect our evangelism, but it will 
 none the less certainly determine the temper and 
 tone of our spiritual life. If we have not a 
 scriptural understanding of the matter, we shall 
 find ourselves either absorbed morbidly in 
 thought and talk about the Holy Spirit, or 
 plainly silent in either testimony or prayer. The 
 full appreciation of the Scripture concerning 
 the Holy Spirit especially requires us to correlate 
 soundly his person with his office in man's salva- 
 tion. On this critical point concerning the Holy 
 Spirit's method in operating human salvation, 
 there has been an oscillation between two errors. 
 1. There is the error of mysticism. It has 
 shown itself in various phases. Sometimes it 
 has been a habit of the devotee to disregard the 
 senses, even to deny any reality to what is seen 
 and heard, to become wholly absorbed in what 
 the mystic calls direct visions of God and direct 
 communications with him. Historically, it has 
 subserved good in counteracting barren dogmas, 
 burdensome rites, scandalous immoralities. In 
 certain provincial circuits, it has uttered ex- 
 treme language about the condition of the sin- 
 ner. It has represented him as "dead in tres- 
 passes and in sins" as Lazarus was in the grave. 
 It has disowned Sunday-schools or missionary 
 
138 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 societies, or any agency concerned with teaching 
 the Bible to children or preaching the gospel 
 to the whole creation. It has notably voiced 
 such phrases as *'only a book-religion," '*mere 
 historical gospel," "the word a dead letter." 
 It has affected to commune with God, or to 
 receive salvation, in what it calls the direct, 
 immediate operation of the Spirit, separate and 
 apart from "the word of the truth of the gos- 
 pel," the latter thus far needless or impotent. 
 
 2. There is the error of rationalism. It has 
 shown itself in various phases. Sometimes it 
 has been a habit of the skeptic to disregard a 
 supernatural revelation, even to deny the need 
 of a voice from heaven or a vision in a cloud, to 
 judge one's self able, in independent exercises 
 of reason, to know Deity and duty and immor- 
 tality, and self-sufficient in working out one's 
 own salvation and destiny. Historically, it has 
 subserved good in counteracting tyrannous creeds 
 and exclusive hierarchies. In certain provincial 
 circuits it has uttered extreme language about 
 the condition of the sinner. It has represented 
 him as naturally able to hear and receive salva- 
 tion without any need of an initiative influence 
 of God in the ability. It has magnified human 
 agencies, schools, societies, services, programmes, 
 ways, means, personalties, individualities, meth- 
 ods of work and mannerisms of the worker. Its 
 utterances are on record, either in print or in 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 139 
 
 memory, such as, "The Holy Spirit has finished 
 his work in inspiring the apostles and leading 
 them into all truth; and now we must use sim- 
 ply moral suasion to induce sinners to obey the 
 gospel." Indeed, there have been more extreme 
 utterances in a more colloquial style. "The 
 New Testament is all the Holy Spirit there is to- 
 day;" "The Spirit has left a will of blessing for 
 sinners; it is on file in the clerk's oflice in Jeru- 
 salem, where they can go and read and comply 
 with its conditions and enjoy its privileges." 
 Finally, to rebut the mystical notion that the 
 Spirit operates in salvation separately and apart 
 from the Word of Truth, it has affirmed the mis- 
 leading negation that the Spirit operates to these 
 ends only through the Word. 
 
 Now, it is soundly scriptural to confute th^ 
 error of mysticism by appealing to Scripture 
 upon Scripture that teaches the operation of the 
 Holy Spirit in salvation through "the word of 
 the truth of the gospel." When sinners are left 
 in sad suspense for weeks and months concern- 
 ing salvation, it is a great privilege to show them 
 the Scriptures that teach the agency of the 
 Spirit in closest union with Word and Gospel — 
 enlightened by the Word (Psa. 119: 130), begot- 
 ten through the Word (1 Pet. 1: 23-25), sancti- 
 fied by the Word (John 17: 17), edified by the 
 Word (Acts 20: 32). It can be proved incon- 
 testably that the salvation of sinners, in the 
 
140 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 apostolic ministry, was too constantly exhibited 
 in certain intimate connection of the Holy Spirit 
 with "the word of the truth of the gospel" to 
 justify any procedure that practically silences or 
 muffles the voice of the gospel, with its facts to 
 be believed, its precepts to be obeyed, its prom- 
 ises to be enjoyed. It is a momentous triumph 
 of evangelism for one to be able to preach the 
 gospel in this way, knowing the Scriptures and 
 the power of God. 
 
 But while we make void this error of mysti- 
 cism, we cannot be too careful against establish- 
 ing the error of rationalism, as regards the 
 method of the Holy Spirit's operation in salva- 
 tion. The crucial point, where this error may 
 get a foothold in our understanding, may be ex- 
 hibited in one's habitual conception of the rela- 
 tion of the Holy Spirit's presence to his method 
 in operating salvation. Is it simply a presence 
 of record in the Scriptures, true and intelligible 
 in the narration, but a record, a memory, a tra- 
 dition of the past only, good for argument and 
 proof of facts, but a history only? or is it still 
 a living force of itself, as live and real as when 
 thousands of sinners, pierced to the heart in 
 what they heard, cried out for relief? Is it a 
 presence in the gospel like water gathered in a 
 cistern, or like water flowing out of a fountain? 
 Is it a presence in the Word like the echoes of a 
 voice, echoes only, where the original speaker 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 141 
 
 not only is silent, but must let the word go forth 
 out of his mouth, himself henceforth both inac- 
 tive and ignorant whether the word shall not 
 return unto him void, or accomplish that which 
 he pleases, or shall prosper in the thing whereto 
 he sent it? Is it a presence in the truth simply 
 like the presence of a human spirit, where the 
 teacher of a truth may be wholly unconscious of 
 the way and struggle of the truth he has taught, 
 as it runs in noontide glory or is darkened in 
 midnight ages of error, as it is crushed to earth 
 or arises again in God's eternal years? Critic- 
 ally, crucially, this is the point — is the presence 
 of the Holy Spirit, in his scriptural office of 
 operating salvation, historical only, or eternal; 
 traditional merely, or continuous; unconsciously 
 passive, or consciously active; a mechanical iso- 
 lation from the person of the Spirit, or a dyna- 
 mic influence forever in the purposes and energies 
 of his being? 
 
 The crucial point, therefore, for both thought 
 and life, is to conceive and cherish aright, script- 
 urally, the presence of the Holy Spirit himself in 
 relation to his method of operating salvation. 
 The very foundation of this sound, scriptural 
 conception is the fact that his presence is eter- 
 nal, continuous, consciously active, a ceaseless, 
 potent influence in Christian doctrine and Chris- 
 tian life. Holding fast this conception, we are 
 
142 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 then prepared to correlate his presence with his 
 method in operating salvation. 
 
 Here again we may begin to understand this 
 relation in view of a familiar controversy on the 
 subject. It has often been a debate whether the 
 Holy Spirit, in his office of conversion and sanc- 
 tification, operates on the human soul "indi- 
 rectly" or "directly," "mediately" or "imme- 
 diately," only through the Word or separately 
 and apart from the Word. There could not be 
 a more needless debate in religious matters. 
 It is possible at all only as each opponent en- 
 deavors to express absolutely, in the language of 
 the senses, what pertains to the sphere and 
 activity of spirit. A full examination of the 
 Scripture doctrine will show that such terms as 
 "mediately" or "immediately," applied to the 
 Holy Spirit's office in salvation, cannot be used 
 in a rigid, exclusive sense of di:fference. Rather, 
 it will be seen that the Scriptures teach a neces- 
 sary relation of the Spirit's person to the 
 Spirit's office in man's salvation, so that the 
 terms "mediately" or "immediately" must find, 
 not contrariety, but harmony of meaning as re- 
 gards the Spirit's operation. 
 
 The Scripture doctrine, therefore, concerning 
 the Holy Spirit, again and again represents and 
 emphases the person of the Spirit as truth. In 
 the words of Jesus (John 14:17, 15:26, 16:13), 
 notably, he is "the Spirit of truth." According 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 143 
 
 to the Apostle John, to quote the exact language 
 of the Revised Version, *'The Spirit is the 
 truth" (1 John 5:8). Words cannot more plain- 
 ly teach the essential unity of the Spirit's per- 
 son and the Spirit's office. Word's cannot 
 more plainly teach that the office of the Spirit 
 inheres in and grows out of his very nature as 
 truth. 
 
 Particularly must we appreciate this delicate 
 Scripture use of "truth" in relation to the two 
 other Scripture terms, "word" and "gospel." 
 Evidently Truth is the more comprehensive, 
 more appropriate term to characterize the person 
 of the Spirit. Truth includes Gospel, which ex- 
 presses the good news of salvation. Truth in- 
 cludes Word, which denotes the revelation and 
 record of the will of God in the Bible. But 
 Truth includes also the revelation of God in 
 the starry heavens above and in the moral law 
 within, in each hint of nature and in the still, 
 small voice of conscience. Truth, more than 
 Gospel or Word, is a term of Spirit, the very 
 term to express the profound unity of the Holy 
 Spirit's person and office in salvation — "The 
 Spirit is the truth." 
 
 Healthily, beautifully, impressively indeed, do 
 the Scriptures set forth this vital relation of the 
 Spirit himself to his office. They say significant- 
 ly, not responsible for the errors of mysticism, 
 "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither 
 
144 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up 
 into heaven, thou art there. If I makp my bed 
 in Sheol, behold, thou art there. If I take the 
 wings of the morning, and dwell in the utter- 
 most parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand 
 lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me" (Psa. 
 139:7-10). They say significantly, not responsi- 
 ble for the errors of rationalism, "This is he 
 that came by water and blood, even Jesus 
 Christ; not in the water only, but in the water 
 and in the blood. And it is the Spirit that bear- 
 eth witness, because the Spirit is the truth" (1 
 John 5:6, 7). Thus, according to the Script- 
 ures, the Spirit of God is everywhere — in pagan 
 twilights, in Jewish moonlights, in Christian 
 sunlights. He understands man's thoughts, he 
 searches out man's paths, he besets man behind 
 and before : he strives with man according to 
 truth, in Nature, or Law, or Gospel. Thus, ac- 
 cording to the Scriptures, his presence in pagan 
 twilights of conscience, or in Jewish moonlights 
 of psalm and prophecy, becomes a larger, a fuller, 
 a measureless presence in the sunlight of the 
 Gospel of the Son of God's love. Here, most 
 significantly of all, his presence becomes power 
 in vital relation to the Incarnation, the Recon- 
 ciliation, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. His 
 presence, eternal, continuous, potent, as exer- 
 cised in his office, is truly described as "the law 
 of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." 
 
THE HOivY Spirit. 145 
 
 To understand soundly, therefore, the Holy 
 Spirit's method in operating salvation, to guard 
 against both mysticism and rationalism, we must 
 be careful to hold together his person and his 
 office in the light of the Scripture unity — "The 
 Spirit is the truth." The trite phrases of debate, 
 "direct operation," or "indirect operation," 
 "mediate presence" or "immediate presence," 
 used as exclusive definitions, cannot scripturally 
 represent the Holy Spirit's presence and agency 
 in salvation. Equally in the light of the Script- 
 ures and in the light of the philosophy of spirit, 
 the Holy Spirit's presence and operation in sal- 
 vation are at once immediate and mediate — at 
 one and the same time, mediate and immediate. 
 
 Stated scripturally, the presence of the Holy 
 Spirit, self-conscious, self-determinative, in oper- 
 ating salvation, is immediately related to "the 
 word of the truth of the gospel." The imme- 
 diacy of the Spirit's presence and power is in 
 and through "the word of the truth of the gos- 
 pel." His mediate operation through "the word 
 of the truth of the gospel" involves necessarily his 
 immediate presence in "the word of the truth 
 of the gospel." In one sentence, the full rea- 
 son of the Holy Spirit's immediate presence 
 vitally in his mediate operation, as "the law of 
 the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," making men 
 free from the law of sin and death, is that it is 
 
 the presence of "the Spirit of life" who, in 
 10 
 
146 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 presence and operation, *'is the truth" (Rom. 
 8:2; IJohn 5:6). 
 
 Stated philosophically, the presence of the 
 Spirit, anywhere, everywhere, is essentially a 
 presence of intelligence or truth, and necessa- 
 rily a presence of law. His essence is light, his 
 nature is intelligence, his manifestation is truth, 
 his operation is law. So is his presence imme- 
 diately related to all the reason and thought of 
 the universe, whether of mind infinite or mind 
 finite. It is none the less a true immediacy of 
 presence because of it may be truly predicated a 
 mediacy of relation or operation. The mediacy 
 of his operation is not to be conceived nor cher- 
 ished, to the exclusion of the immediacy of his 
 presence. His immediate presence and his 
 mediate operation bear to one another an ener- 
 getic relation. The mediacy of his operation is 
 in and of the immediacy of his presence ; the 
 immediacy of his presence fills and feeds the 
 mediacy of his operation. His mediate opera- 
 tion flows from his immediate presence; his im- 
 mediate presence becomes the law of his mediate 
 operation. In one sentence, the mediacy of the 
 Spirit is really his immediacy viewed according 
 to his person — his essence light, his nature intel- 
 ligence, his manifestation truth, his operation 
 law — as the glory of the sun is beheld in each 
 small, far-off ray, each small, far-off ray the 
 mediation for human, finite eyes, of the glory 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 147 
 
 which nevertheless outshines and passes beyond 
 the horizon of our wondering gaze. 
 
 Such are the crucial points concerning the 
 Holy Spirit — the personality of the Spirit, bap- 
 tism in the Spirit, the method of the Spirit's 
 operation in salvation. The Holy Spirit is not 
 an impersonal influence, but a person self-con- 
 scious and self-determinative. His presence in 
 the Christian economy is baptismal in measure 
 and power. His operation of human salvation, 
 the office of self-conscious, self-determinative 
 Spirit, measureless in his presence, is in organic 
 unity with his nature as *'the truth," and thus 
 becomes *'the law of the Spirit of life in Christ 
 Jesus." 
 
 In view of these conclusions of this essay on 
 the Holy Spirit, two cardinal lessons may be 
 drawn. 
 
 1. The sound interpretation of the person 
 and office of the Holy Spirit in salvation will 
 exert both an enlightening and a steadying influ- 
 ence in the progress of the Kingdom of God in 
 this age. These meeting points of God and man 
 in the consciousness of this age — we cannot be 
 too wise nor diligent in knowing them and cor- 
 relating them for the good of all. The influ- 
 ence of the Holy Spirit in his measureless pres- 
 ence, scripturally understood and cherished, will 
 enable us to live by all sides of our being, in the 
 healthy unity of Nature and Spirit. Right there 
 
148 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 the Holy Spirit concentrates his operation, 
 against frigid deism, against blincl pantheism, 
 against airy mysticism, against vapid rationalism. 
 His one great aim is to bring the life of Jesus 
 Christ and the life of man into the perfect union 
 of body and soul. If he bears witness with our 
 spirit that we are children of God, he also makes 
 the body a temple for his presence. The two 
 sacraments, baptism and the Lord's Supper, are 
 the symbols of the Holy Spirit's operation of 
 joining man in holy fellowship with the risen 
 Lord. All life thence becomes sacramental 
 under the influence of such a presence. Fire- 
 side and shop and market and field and 
 thoroughfare, the merchant's counter and the 
 student's desk, the private closet and the public 
 sanctuary, all have in them the promise and 
 potency of the Holy Spirit's presence. So shall 
 we avoid Romish sacerdotalism; so shall we 
 avoid Protestant provincialism. So in this age 
 of expansion of environment and thought, when 
 Nature reveals her subtlest forces, when society 
 becomes more intensely self-conscious with the 
 ideas of liberty, fraternity, equality, shall we be 
 wise and strong, under the influence of the Holy 
 Spirit, to reproduce the life of the Son of God 
 "that died, yea, rather that was raised from the 
 dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also 
 maketh intercession for us." 
 
 2. The sound interpretation of the person 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 149 
 
 and office of the Holy Spirit in salvation should 
 test us whether we are making the most of his 
 blessing practically for our individual good. 
 There is not a duty nor a promise, not an experi- 
 ence nor a blessing, of the Christian life, but, 
 according to the Scriptures, is vitally connected 
 with the presence of the Holy Spirit. Notably 
 is his presence expressed or implied in the hid- 
 den motives and woful needs of human life. 
 "Why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the 
 Holy Spirit?" (Acts 5:3); "Grieve not the Holy 
 Spirit" (Eph. 4:30); "We know not how to 
 pray as we ought; but the Holy Spirit himself 
 maketh intercession for us with groanings which 
 cannot be uttered" (Rom. 8: 26). These Script- 
 ures unquestionably set forth the presence and 
 operation of the Holy Spirit, self-conscious and 
 self-determinative, with whom we have to do. 
 The practical question then is, as we read the 
 doctrine, as we interpret the doctrine, does the 
 doctrine have its sound influence in all our 
 thinking and living? One test alone is decisive. 
 Not slighting either Word or Sacrament, do we 
 find ourselves not indifferent nor silent concern- 
 ing the Holy Spirit himself? As we seek to live 
 in the Spirit, are we all the better enabled to 
 realize his blessing because we correlate soundly 
 his person and his office, and speak of him freely 
 according to his law and testimony? 
 Let the memorable apostolic exhortation 
 
150 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 (Eph. 4: 3-6) be the fitting summary of this 
 essay. It is the classic Scripture on the sub- 
 ject, as it emphasizes "the unity of the Spirit." 
 That rich phrase, "the unity of the Spirit," sig- 
 nificantly contains all of the Holy Spirit's person 
 and his manifold operation in salvation. "Giv- 
 ing all diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit 
 in the bond of peace. One Body and one Spirit, 
 even as ye were called in one Hope of your call- 
 ing: one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God 
 and Father of all, Avho is over all, and through 
 all, and in all." 
 
 R. T. Mathews. 
 
Crucial points Concerning tbc Roly 
 Spirit'^ — 3 Review. 
 
 THE essay is a vigorous treatment of this very 
 interesting subject. I commend highly the 
 spirit of the paper, and ask for it a most 
 thoughtful reading, for it is the product of a 
 scholarly mind on this vitally important theme. 
 The writer is an independent thinker, fearless in 
 expressing himself, but is no dogmatist. He has 
 boldly written what he has said in the search for 
 truth, in the conscientious belief that he is right. 
 From investigation we have nothing to fear. 
 Truth is the end we seek. Let it be had at any 
 cost. A more difficult subject is not presented 
 in holy writ, nor is there one more in need of 
 thorough investigation and profound handling. 
 The subject is timely, the paper well written, its 
 spirit commendable. In this, as in all questions, 
 let us be sure that our conclusions have the sanc- 
 tion of the Scriptures. The Word of God is our 
 final court of appeal on all subjects pertaining 
 to life and salvation. Beyond its teaching we 
 dare not go. From its pages much may yet re- 
 main to be learned. The Bible is our pillar of 
 cloud by day, our pillar of fire by night. Let 
 
 us not seek to be wise above what is written. It 
 
 151 
 
152 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 is a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our 
 path. It reveals all we know of God and Christ 
 and the Holy Spirit. Therefore our investiga- 
 tion of this subject must be scriptural iu order 
 to be sound. If not scriptural, it will be all 
 sound and no sense. 
 
 The essayist finds three "crucial points" in 
 the subject. 
 
 1 . The Personality of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 This is a "crucial point." We have heard so 
 much about the influence of the Holy Spirit that 
 we are apt to forget that he is actually a person. 
 There is a tendency to regard the Holy Spirit as 
 an emanation flowing from the Father or the 
 Son, and not to think of him as a distinct per- 
 sonality. It is easy to think of the Father as a 
 person, and it is no hard matter to look upon 
 the Son as a person. The names "Father" and 
 "Son," are associated in our minds with actual, 
 living persons. But when we come to deal with 
 the Holy Spirit we find his acts are so separated 
 from everything that appeals to sense, and so 
 much that is mysterious has been attributed to 
 him, and the terms in which his operations have 
 been expressed are so unintelligible, that it is 
 difficult indeed to conceive of him as a person. 
 We need to strip this subject of its mystical 
 aspect as far as we can, and look at it in the 
 light of reason and Scripture teaching, and not 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 153 
 
 lose ourselves in the fog in which the subject has 
 been shrouded by various writers and speakers. 
 The Holy Spirit is not simply an influence, or an 
 emanation, or a something flowing from the 
 Father, but is as much an actual person as either 
 the Father or the Son. The two Scriptures, the 
 apostolic benediction and the baptismal formu- 
 la, quoted and commented upon by the essayist, 
 forcefully teach his personality. If the Holy 
 Spirit were only an influence, why mention him 
 in relations so important? Then we find the 
 Holy Spirit making his appearance on the day 
 of Pentecost and at the baptismal waters when 
 Jesus was baptized. Cloven tongues as of fire 
 is the manifestation of him on one occasion, on 
 the other he was seen as a dove descending and 
 lighting upon Jesus. An emanation simply, or 
 an influence, could not make an appearance. 
 We cannot see an influence, nor an emanation, 
 nor an attribute. The fact of an appearance to 
 mortal eyes and an appeal to mortal sense indi- 
 cates personality. We find very substantial evi- 
 dence of his personality also in the fact that the 
 attributes or characteristics of a person are 
 ascribed to him. In 1 Cor. 2: 11, '*For who 
 among men knoweth the things of a man, save 
 the spirit of the man, which is in him? even so 
 the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit 
 of God." Here the Holy Spirit is represented 
 as understanding and knowing. Is it possible 
 
154 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 for a mere influence or emanation to have 
 knowledge and understanding? Are not these 
 attributed to persons only? And in 1 Cor. 12: 
 11, we find the power to will ascribed to the 
 Spirit. "But all these worketh the one and the 
 same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even 
 as he will." Knowledge, understanding, will, 
 are not attributed to an influence, but belong to 
 persons. We find, too, that sensations are 
 ascribed to the Holy Spirit. In Eph. 4:30, 
 "Grieve not the Holy Spirit." Acts 7:15, "Ye 
 do always resist the Holy Spirit." Acts 5:9, 
 "Ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of 
 the Lord." It cannot be possible that an eman- 
 ation or an influence can be grieved, tempted, 
 resisted. These attributes belong to persons 
 only. The Holy Spirit is also represented as an 
 actor. In Gen. 1:2, "The Spirit of God moved 
 upon the face of the waters." The germs of 
 life, from which all being sprang, were implanted 
 by him. Thus he is seen to be the giver of both 
 physical and spiritual life. Only the possessor 
 can be the life-giver. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that we heartily concur 
 with the essayist as to the personality of the 
 Holy Spirit, but must dissent from his conclu- 
 sions that the Holy Spirit is therefore to be wor- 
 shiped. This conclusion is unscriptural. 
 
THE HOIvY SPIRIT. 155 
 
 2. Baptism in the Holy Spirit. 
 
 At this point our lines of thought diverge, and 
 from his conclusions we are compelled to dis- 
 sent. I agree with the essayist that "it is a mat- 
 ter for deep regret that this point of the 
 Scripture doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit 
 has been the occasion of such raging controver- 
 sy." I also believe that "we cannot be too care- 
 ful in measuring every line of the Word of God 
 on this point," leaving "the doctrine to take 
 care of itself," and not to give way to the 
 "temptation to dissipate by unconsciously ex- 
 plaining away this or that Scripture in the inter- 
 est of some fancied harmony of truth." But 
 may I modestly suggest that the essayist has 
 fallen into the very error against which he warns 
 us? And this arises from a failure to keep 
 clearly in mind the differences in the meaning 
 attached in the Scriptures to the various expres- 
 sions concerning the office and work of the Holy 
 Spirit. "There are diversities of gifts, but the 
 same Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:4). And "He divides 
 to every man severally as he will" (1 Cor. 12: 
 11). He has also a Scripture expression to de- 
 fine each special office. Some of these mani- 
 festations are limited in their bestowment to 
 certain periods of time and for certain specific 
 ends. "Whether there be prophecies they shall 
 be done away, whether there be tongues they 
 shall cease, whether there be knowledge it shall 
 
156 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 be done away" (1 Cor. 13:8), because the end 
 for which they were given is reached. When the 
 work is finished for which the special endow- 
 ment was made, the promise ceases to be in 
 force. 
 
 The methods of his manifestations may be 
 different at different times, according to the 
 character of the work and the conditions under 
 which it is to be accomplished. That particular 
 manifestation of the Holy Spirit, known in the 
 New Testament as "baptism in the Holy Spirit," 
 had its origin, in so far as our knowledge ex- 
 tends, on the day of Pentecost. The specific 
 power which came with this manifestation of the 
 Spirit, was the power to testify miraculously 
 with tongues in order to confirm the truthfulness 
 of the speaker and the divine origin of the mes- 
 sage. "Baptism in the Holy Spirit " is a tech- 
 nical expression used in the New Testament only 
 in connection with the power to witness miracu- 
 lously, as for instance, by speaking with tongues, 
 and hence is specific in meaning, and if we to- 
 day read it into our vocabulary as descriptive of 
 the Spirit's work now, we must give to it a dif- 
 ferent meaning from that given it in the New 
 Testament, since no one claims now to be able to 
 speak with tongues, or to attest his message by 
 miracle. To say that this "is an incidental or 
 temporary, not a necessary nor permanent accom- 
 paniment of baptism in the Spirit," is to assume 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 157 
 
 the very point at issue. It merely expresses the 
 essayist's own opinion. It has not the force of 
 an argument. In a careful study of the Script- 
 ures concerning the Holy Spirit, we find that his 
 permanent work is twofold, — that of Comforter 
 to the child of God, and that of Keprover to the 
 alien. We find, also, that there is a twofold 
 manifestation of the Spirit by which to express 
 his temporary work, that is, "baptism in the 
 Spirit" and the "miraculous gifts of the Spirit." 
 These are all gifts of the Spirit for different 
 purposes. The gift of the Holy Spirit as a Com- 
 forter is promised to all who believe and obey 
 the gospel. The "gifts of the Spirit," that is, 
 miraculous gifts, is also specific, and means a 
 power of the Spirit conferred through the special 
 agency of the apostles, the act of bestowment 
 being the laying on of the apostles' hands. (Acts 
 8: 14-17). Philip, the evangelist, could lead the 
 Samaritans to Christ and baptize them into 
 Christ, whereupon they received "the gift of the 
 Holy Spirit." But the presence of an apostle is 
 needed to impart the miraculous gifts of the 
 Spirit. So Peter and John came down from 
 Jerusalem for that purpose. There is, then, no 
 connection between the "one baptism" of the 
 great commission and the miraculous gifts of the 
 Spirit, which would lead us to conclude that the 
 latter always follows the former. Men may serve 
 Christ perfectly without these gifts. Miraculous 
 
158 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 endowments were divine provisions for tempo- 
 rary exigencies in the development of the 
 church. Since they were given only by the lay- 
 ing on of the apostles' hands it is plain that we 
 cannot claim his presence now in this extraord- 
 inary way. There are four instances in the New 
 Testament of the miraculous bestowment of the 
 Spirit. These are recorded in Acts 2:4; 8: 17; 
 10: 44, 45; 19: 6. In two of these it is known as 
 baptism in the Spirit. This special manifesta- 
 tion of the Spirit was bestowed without the im- 
 position of the hands of an apostle, and so it 
 seems to be distinct from other miraculous gifts 
 in that it was bestowed by Jesus alone, without 
 the intervention of human agency. Baptism in 
 the Spirit was not for the purpose of cleansing 
 from sin nor solely for the purpose of empower- 
 ing for service, only in a special sense of the 
 meaning of the word "service," but is a tech- 
 nical expression used to convey the idea of spe- 
 cial power imparted by Jesus alone for the accom- 
 plishment of a specific end, and the presence of 
 ■the power in each case was made evident by the 
 ability to testify miraculously by speaking with 
 tongues. Now if this evidence is lacking and 
 the power is not forthcoming, it seems incon- 
 sistent to use this expression as applicable to the 
 work of the Holy Spirit to-day, if we would call 
 Bible things by Bible names. The Scriptures 
 which the essayist uses to sustain his position, 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 159 
 
 are, to say the least of them, doubtful as to their 
 bearing upon this point. A doubtful exegesis of 
 any passage is not to be accepted when it contra- 
 venes Scripture text. He quotes first, 1 Cor. 
 12: 13: "In one Spirit were we all baptized into 
 one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether 
 bond or free, and were all made to drink of one 
 Spirit." This is not the technical expression, 
 ^'baptism in the Holy Spirit," for which we con- 
 tend. Baptism in the Holy Spirit was not to 
 introduce into the one body. The Corinthians 
 were baptized in water into the one body. The 
 apostles at Pentecost were baptized into the one 
 body before they were baptized in the Holy 
 Spirit. In their case the two acts are separate 
 and distinct. Those of the household of Corne- 
 lius were baptized in the Holy Spirit before they 
 were baptized into the one body. From which 
 it will be seen that the two acts, baptism in the 
 Holy Spirit, and baptism into the one body, are 
 separate and distinct in the only two cases on 
 record where baptism in the Holy Spirit is 
 spoken of at all. In order to accept the con- 
 clusion that baptism in the Holy Spirit is for 
 every disciple of Christ to-day, there must be 
 a specific Scripture given which states that fact, 
 or it must be shown by logical deduction that 
 baptism in the Spirit is a condition of entrance 
 into the one body common and necessary to all 
 believers. The terms of entrance into the one 
 
160 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 body are specifically stated by the Master him- 
 self in the fundamental law of the kingdom of 
 God. The one body, in the passage under con- 
 sideration, must refer to the body of Christ, the 
 church, the kingdom of God. Baptism in the 
 Holy Spirit is not found in this fundamental law 
 as a term of entrance into the one body. This 
 phrase, **In one Spirit were we all baptized into 
 one body," cannot, therefore,refer to baptism in 
 the Spirit in the scriptural use of the term, since 
 it states a condition which is common to all in 
 entering the one body. We must, therefore, find 
 its meaning in the terms of entrance as expressed 
 in this organic law. 
 
 He quotes again from 1 Cor. 6: 11: "But ye 
 were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were 
 justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and in the Spirit of our God." It is a gratuitous 
 assumption to identify this as baptism in the 
 Spirit. I again emphasize the fact that baptism 
 in the Spirit is a technical phrase used to indi- 
 cate a specific, temporary work of the Spirit ia 
 the introduction of the gospel. 
 
 The use of Titus 3: 5, 6, involves the same 
 error as the above. He also quotes Eph. 5: 18, 
 "And be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, 
 but be filled with the Spirit." This is the point 
 at issue. Filled, in this use of the word, means 
 fulfilled — to accomplish. It means to have the 
 Spirit, in all his fullness, as a Comforter. The 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 161 
 
 man who is doing his life work normally is 
 Spirit-filled. It would be erroneous to say that 
 this is the same as the extraordinary enduement 
 at Pentecost. In defining the work and office of 
 the Holy Spirit, the expression "be filled with 
 the Spirit" (one specific gift or work of the 
 Spirit) is as distinct in meaning from ''baptism 
 in the Spirit" (another specific gift or work of 
 the Spirit) as baptism in the Spirit is from '*the 
 miraculous gifts of the Spirit," — a specific gift 
 which was imparted by the laying on of the apos- 
 tles' hands. The infilling of the Spirit is for the 
 purpose of empowering for service. It endues 
 us with power, not to work miracles, but to work 
 for Christ in the spread of the gospel and the 
 salvation of men. The essayist would add to 
 the strength and value of his paper were he to 
 make the distinction between ''filled with the 
 Spirit," and "baptism in the Spirit," — both of 
 which are specific in meaning, but each convey- 
 ing a different idea and expressing a different 
 work of the Spirit. One is permanent, the 
 other temporary. Nor is this a mere quibble 
 over words. If we insist on using the phrase 
 "baptism in the Spirit" as applicable to the 
 work of the Spirit to-day, we are forced to give 
 to it a different meaning from that given it in the 
 Scriptures. If we do this it will have as many 
 meanings as there are schools to define it. It 
 
 may mean anything or nothing, and will become a 
 11 
 
162 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 loose expression, as it has already done, without 
 any definite meaning other than a vague concep- 
 tion of some mysterious power which is to come 
 upon those who are to receive it, accompanied by 
 certain electric sensations which find expression 
 in different ways, varying with the temperament 
 of the individual. If the phrase retains its orig- 
 inal meaning it can not apply to the work of the 
 Spirit as he manifests himself to us now. The 
 curse of denominationalism arises from a mis- 
 conception of the office and work of the Holy 
 Spirit. Its cure will be found in "rightly divid- 
 ing the word of truth" and measuring its every 
 line of teaching concerning the Holy Spirit. 
 The follies and fads that are mixed with evan- 
 gelism, which retard the progress of the king- 
 dom of God on earth, and tend to mystify and 
 mislead the minds of intelligent students of his 
 Word, have originated in almost every case from 
 a misconception of the Holy Spirit in his various 
 manifestations and functions, confounding the 
 temporary and the permanent. The baptism 
 in the Spirit is a gift separate and distinct from 
 the gift of the Spirit as a Comforter, which gift 
 is promised to every obedient believer. It is 
 also difiPerent from the extraordinary gifts of the 
 Spirit, which were imparted by the imposition of 
 the apostles' hands. It is different from being 
 filled with the Spirit, an expression to indicate 
 the more complete work of the Comforter. A 
 
THE HOIvY SPIRIT. 163 
 
 vessel may be filled with water without being 
 immersed in it. It may be immersed in water 
 without being filled with it. It may be both im- 
 mersed in and filled icith water at the same time. 
 The two expressions, "baptism in the Spirit," 
 and "filled with the Spirit" are not synonymous. 
 A man was baptized in the Spirit when Christ 
 Jesus sent the Spirit upon him in such profusion 
 as to completely control him and give to him 
 power that is superhuman, the evidence of which 
 was the ability to testify miraculously by speak- 
 ing w^ith tongues to prove the truthfulness of 
 the message and the divine origin of the mis- 
 sion. A man is filled with the Spirit when he 
 knows God's will as revealed in the Scriptures, 
 and gives himself unreservedly to the Spirit 
 whose words it contains. The baptism in the 
 Spirit is a miracle not dependent upon the con- 
 dition or character of the individual. The filling 
 of the Spirit is his blessed permanent work, sub- 
 ject to the mental and spiritual conditions of the 
 individual himself. The extent of our ignorance 
 of God's Word and of our failure to submit our- 
 selves to the guidance of the Holy Spirit who re- 
 veals that will, measures our lack of being filled 
 with the Spirit. Hence we are responsible to 
 God if we are not filled with the Spirit, but no 
 one is responsible if not baptized in the Spirit. 
 God alone is responsible for this. The Holy 
 Spirit has a plan for work. His different offices 
 
164 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 are expressed by different phrases. He "divides 
 to every man severally as he will." He convicts 
 of sin. He sheds abroad the love of God in the 
 heart. He helps in prayer by strengthening our 
 infirmities. He is available for edification, for 
 service, for holiness. The needful thing to-day 
 is a ministry, a church, filled with the Holy Spirit. 
 But let us not confound this precious ministry 
 with the baptism in the Spirit, which was for a 
 different purpose, the end of which has been 
 secured. 
 
 3. Method of the Holy Spirit's Operation in 
 Salvation. 
 
 Here again mysticism has triumphed over dis- 
 cernment in the author's treatment of the 
 method of the Holy Spirit's operation in salva- 
 tion. He has permitted his theory of baptism 
 in the Holy Spirit to mystify his conception of 
 the Spirit's method of operation in salvation. 
 In order to a clear understanding of the method, 
 let the special function of the Holy Spirit, called 
 "baptism in the Holy Spirit," be eliminated. 
 This will clear our vision and simplify our study. 
 In such an investigation we ought to move along 
 the line of well certified facts. We are not war- 
 ranted by scriptural facts, in reference to bap- 
 tism in the Holy Spirit, to admit it as a factor 
 essential in the conversion of sinners or the 
 sanctification of believers. Therefore, it must 
 be eliminated from our study of the Holy Spir- 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 165 
 
 it's method of operating in salvation. The facts 
 that the Holy Spirit operates in effecting salva- 
 tion, and that he operates through the specific 
 truth of the gospel to this end, are conceded. 
 The universality of this fact in every case of 
 conversion and sanctification recorded in the 
 New Testament, places this proposition beyond 
 controversy. This luminous truth has made 
 evangelism intelligible and has been potent in 
 dispelling the clouds of mysticism, and has given 
 to the world the highest type of spiritual life. 
 
 The two errors mentioned by the essayist 
 (** mysticism and rationalism"), indicate ex- 
 tremes of thought, each containing partial truth, 
 which is the most dangerous kind of error. 
 These errors have found representatives among 
 the unintelligent or unconverted, but have found 
 no advocates among intelligent disciples of 
 Christ. Hence the expressions quoted in the 
 paper are incompetent as premises for a general 
 conclusion. They are expressions put into the 
 mouth of the advocates of the truth by their 
 enemies, or extorted from them in the heat of 
 discussion. 
 
 From these two errors thus meeting each 
 other, the essayist comes to the following con- 
 clusion, quoting his own words: "Finally, to 
 rebut the mystical notion that the Spirit oper- 
 ates in salvation separately and apart from the 
 Word of truth, it (rationalism) has affirmed the 
 
166 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 misleading negation that the Spirit operates to 
 these ends only through the Word." The propo- 
 sition which he here calls a ''misleading nega- 
 tion," has passed through the crucible of the 
 keenest investigation and has not been found 
 wanting. Without a single fact in connection 
 with any conversion recorded in the New Testa- 
 ment, or a single statement of the inspired 
 writers to the contrary, we must still hold with 
 the fathers as a truth, that the Holy Spirit oper- 
 ates in salvation not without the Word of truth. 
 Mr. Campbell, in affirming this proposition, 
 speaks as follows: (Campbell and Eice Debate, 
 page 723.) '*Thus we have all the authority of 
 the Bible with us in our views of spiritual and 
 divine influence. A spiritual or moral or crea- 
 tive power without the Word of God is a phan- 
 tom, a mere speculation. It receives no counte- 
 nance from the Bible." In his closing address 
 on this subject, he speaks as follows, (page 745): 
 "I believe the Spirit accompanies the Word, is 
 always present with the Word, and actually and 
 personally works through it upon the moral 
 nature of man, but not without it." On page 
 747, he speaks again as follows: "Now I ask 
 Mr. Rice to bring forward one single case of any 
 one being converted to the Lord without the 
 Word being first heard and believed! If the 
 salvation of the world depended upon it he 
 could not give it. It is, then, so far as the New 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 167 
 
 Testament deposeth, idle and worse than idle, to 
 talk about sanctification or conversion without 
 the Word and Spirit of God. They are always 
 united in the great work. No one is converted 
 by the Word alone nor by the Spirit alone." 
 . . . "So that, as far as sacred history goes, 
 the Spirit of God never did operate without the 
 Word." He also says on page 748, *'So that it 
 appears in fact, indisputable, that the Spirit of 
 God rather follows, and in no case precedes, the 
 progress or arrival of his Word. We have 
 the history of man in the four quarters of the 
 world, in attestation of this most significant and 
 momentous fact." . . . "Not one single 
 thought, idea, or impression truly spiritual, can 
 be heard from any man in Christendom not bor- 
 rowed from the Holy Book, directly or indirect- 
 ly." On page 750 he says further: "My thir- 
 teenth argument consists in that most sublime 
 and impressive fact, that God nowhere has oper- 
 ated without his Word, either in the old creation 
 or in the new. In nature and in grace, God 
 operates not without his Word. He never has 
 wrought without means. He has, as far as earth's 
 annals reach, and as the rolls of eternity have 
 been open to our view, never done any thing 
 without an instrumentality. The naked Spirit 
 of God never has operated upon the naked 
 spirit of man, so far as all science, all revelation 
 teach. Abstract spiritual operation is a pure 
 
168 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 metaphysical dream. There is nothing to favor 
 such a conceit in nature, providence or grace." 
 These quotations from an author so eminent, 
 are abundantly sufficient to invalidate, so far as 
 human authority can, the contention of the es- 
 sayist as expressed in the following language: 
 He says, "It has often been a debate whether 
 the Holy Spirit in his office of conversion and 
 sanctification operates on the human soul indi- 
 rectly or directly, mediately or immediately, only 
 through the Word or separate and apart from 
 the Word. There could not be a more needless 
 debate in religious matters." The essayist 
 would turn the thought on this question back- 
 wards a hundred years, and repudiate as unnec- 
 essary and wasteful the work of giving the ra- 
 tional, scriptural conception to the religious 
 world of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit's 
 method of operation in salvation. Mr. Camp- 
 bell, the Christian thinker, whose exposition and 
 defense of this doctrine has molded the thought 
 of our time and exerted an influence upon the 
 religious life of the age equal to or above that 
 of any man in this century, let us believe, did 
 not live nor work in vain. The essayist says 
 further, *'Thus, according to the Scriptures, the 
 Spirit of Grod is everywhere, in pagan twilights, 
 in Jewish moonlights, in Christian sunlights." 
 . . . *'He strives with man according to truth 
 in nature, or law, or gospel. Thus, according to 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 169 
 
 the Scriptures, his presence in pagan twilights of 
 conscience, or in Jewish moonlights of psalm 
 and prophecy, becomes a larger, a fuller, a meas- 
 ureless presence in the sunlight of the gospel of 
 the Son of God's love." He says also, "Equal- 
 ly, in the light of the Scriptures, in the light of 
 the philosophy of Spirit, the Holy Spirit's pres- 
 ence and operation in salvation are at once im- 
 mediate and mediate." The fact that all truth, 
 whether found in "pagan twilights or Jewish 
 moonlights," or in heathen consciousness, or 
 Hebrew history, may benefit the world, is not 
 here called in question, because not vitally re- 
 lated to the subject. The theme under consid- 
 eration is "The method of the Holy Spirit's 
 operation in salvation" through the Christ. The 
 methods of his operation, if operating at all, in 
 any other salvation, is not within the scope of 
 our discussion, and must be left entirely within 
 the domain of conjecture. The inference of the 
 essayist that the Holy Spirit operates in salva- 
 tion aside from the Word of truth, as seen in the 
 use of such terms as "immediate," "direct," 
 etc., can not be accepted in the light of script- 
 ural facts and historic conclusions. We have no 
 confidence in any conversion not wrought by the 
 Spirit of God through the Word of truth. Any 
 separation of Spirit and Word in operating in 
 salvation is an injustice to both. The theory of 
 the essayist leads to indefiniteness in religious 
 
170 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 conception, mysticism in faith, and correspond- 
 ing deformity of life. Any theory which does 
 not develop a robust Christian consciousness, a 
 definite, intelligent faith, and a symmetrical 
 Christian character, is, to say the least, incom- 
 petent. The contentions of the essayist as to 
 the unity of the person and the office of the 
 Spirit can not receive our endorsement. The 
 Spirit's person is larger than, and distinct from, 
 his office. His very personality implies this. 
 We believe that the Scriptures relied upon do 
 not sustain the inference when subjected to a 
 correct exegesis. 
 
 In conclusion, we cordially agree with the 
 essayist in the value of a correct conception of 
 the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, believing that it 
 will greatly advance a scriptural evangelism and 
 enrich the spiritual life of disciples of Christ. 
 
 W. E. Ellis. 
 
Crucial points Concerning the Roly 
 Spirits 
 
 A Supplementary Statement. 
 
 IT is evident to my mind that the last word 
 concerning the Holy Spirit has not yet been 
 spoken. There never was a time when there 
 was so much unrest and anxiety; desire to know 
 more, express more and feel more upon this 
 question, than within the last few years. Scarce- 
 ly any other theological question is eliciting more 
 careful study or inspiring more new books. 
 
 The leading paper shows very careful thought 
 and preparation, and is well worthy of the at- 
 tention which it will no doubt receive from you. 
 
 My instructions from the committee do not 
 require me to review the leading paper, nor 
 write a critique upon it. It is rather our duty, 
 as leaders, to bring this theme as fully as possi- 
 ble before you, and leave it for you to review 
 and criticise. Hence, my paper will be rather a 
 supplement to the leading paper than a review 
 of it. 
 
 He has presented the theme from the exeget- 
 
 ical and philosophical standpoints. I wish to 
 
 look at its practical side. His presentation is 
 
 171 
 
172 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 from the viewpoint of the pulpit and the plat- 
 form, the theologian, the philosoher, the 
 scholar. 
 
 My presentation will be from the position of 
 the pew, the work-bench, the counting-house 
 and the drawing-room. He deals with a theory; 
 I wish to deal with the application of that 
 theory. 
 
 For his purpose, I suppose that his classifica- 
 tion is satisfactory. However, it seems to me 
 that the time has come for a new classification 
 in our study of this important question. The 
 old classification has been fought over so long 
 and so hard that it has almost come to have a 
 technical meaning, and the very mention of it is 
 suggestive of lengthy discussions, wrangles and 
 contentions. 
 
 If I were writing a volume, I would make a 
 very different classification from the one I shall 
 use here. For a general and voluminous classi- 
 fication, I would consider the following to be 
 crucial points in the study of the Holy Spirit : 
 
 1. His Personality. 
 
 2. His Relation to God and the Christ. 
 
 3. His Relation to the World. 
 
 4. His Relation to Man. 
 
 Under the last, as a subordinate classification 
 of crucial points, I would consider: 
 (1) His relation to the alien sinner. 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 173 
 
 (2) His relation to the disciple learning the 
 way to the Master. 
 
 (3) His relation to the saint, or obedient dis- 
 ciple. 
 
 Owing to my limitations in time, I shall in this 
 paper consider only the last of these subdivisions. 
 For the present study, I regard the crucial point 
 in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit to be: 
 
 1st. A realization of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 2d. A realization of the realization of the 
 Holy Spirit. 
 
 Is it not a fact that the experience of the 
 Christian world measures far below its theories 
 and teachings concerning the Holy Spirit? It 
 seems to me that one of three things must be 
 true: 
 
 1. Our teachings are not sustained by the 
 Bible promises; or, 
 
 2. The Bible promises are not true; or, 
 
 3. The Christian world is living far below 
 its privileges and possibilities. 
 
 Does the Bible teach that there is a Holy 
 Spirit, self-conscious, who is interested in us, 
 who cares for us, whose mission is to help, com- 
 fort, witness, seal, strengthen and pray for us? 
 
 The leading paper has shown that the Bible 
 so teaches. Then some important questions arise : 
 
 Does the experience of the Christian world 
 correspond with this teaching of the Bible? If 
 not, why not? 
 
174 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 If there be such a Holy Spirit, self-conscious, 
 one of the Godhead, thoughtful, helpful, regard- 
 ful of me and my interests, with me and dwell- 
 ing in me, should I not have other evidence of 
 the fact than simply a testimony from without? 
 Are all the truths and facts concerning the Holy 
 Spirit simply matters of careful and critical 
 exegesis? Or is the Holy Spirit a personal exist- 
 ence who is able to testify in his own behalf? If 
 the Holy Spirit has a mission for man, with man 
 and ill man, may we not reasonably expect that 
 his presence shall be experienced? That there 
 shall be evidence of that presence derived from 
 our own consciousness? After all, may there not 
 be more ground for the idea of "feeling" in re- 
 ligion than we have been wont to admit? 
 
 In our study of the limitations of the Spirit, 
 let us consider carefully whether God has lim- 
 ited him so that he cannot make his presence 
 known to us except by a correct exegesis of the 
 Scriptures, or whether we by our actions are 
 limiting him, and in this way preventing his 
 becoming to us an actual experience. This, to 
 my mind, is the real battle-ground. I care little 
 for a war of words. It matters little to me 
 whether you call it a possession of the Spirit, an 
 enduement of the Spirit, an overwhelming of 
 the Spirit, or a baptism in the Spirit. 
 
 The important thing to me is to know whether 
 there be any Holy Spirit promised, and whether 
 
THE HOIvY SPIRIT. 175 
 
 that promise has been fulfilled in me. Does he 
 actually dwell in me, and help me? If not, why 
 not? It seems to me that we have had quite 
 enough of fine-spun theories and intellectual 
 analyses on this subject. The thing we need now 
 is the experience, if such is to be had. If we 
 have it for ourselves, then we may show others. 
 
 If it is not to be had, then we must readjust 
 our interpretations of the Bible, for any inter- 
 pretation that will not stand the test of practi- 
 cal application must be faulty, and of little 
 value. He is certainly promised to the Christian 
 in a way that the world has him not. But the 
 w^orld has the Word, and the teaching of the 
 Word; then in what other sense may he be the 
 Christian's possession unless it be in a blessed 
 experience of which the world knows not? 
 
 Let us suppose a man on a journey. He is 
 promised that he is to have with him a guide, 
 companion, comforter, helper. Suppose he 
 never knows anything more of the companion 
 than the promise. He never sees him, hears 
 him, nor in any way realizes his presence. You 
 ask him if he has a companion with him, and he 
 answers, ''Yes, I suppose so; I have the prom- 
 ise of one." But you ask, "Have you realized 
 his presence or help in any way?" He says, 
 "N-n-no, not exactly." But you insist, "Has 
 he comforted you at any time, has he really 
 
176 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 helped you in any way?" He replies, "I can't 
 say that he has," etc., etc. 
 
 In a case of that kind, you would soon come 
 to one of three conclusions: 
 
 1st. There was something wrong about the 
 promise; or, 
 
 2d. There was something wrong about his in^ 
 terpretation of it; or, 
 
 3d. There was something wrong about him. 
 That he was in some way responsible for the 
 absence of the promised friend. 
 
 Apply this thought to Christianity of to-day. 
 Assuming all the people in our churches to be 
 just as honest and frank as the Ephesians men- 
 tioned in Acts 19:2, let us apply Paul's ques- 
 tion, "Eeceived ye the Holy Spirit when ye be- 
 lieved?" I fear that a large number would be 
 compelled to answer, **We have not so much as 
 heard whether there be any Holy Spirit." Some 
 could say that they had read something about it,, 
 or had heard it mentioned. 
 
 ANOTHER TEST. 
 
 But, says one, "We have a test by which we 
 can determine the presence or absence of the 
 Spirit. 'By their fruits ye shall know them;^ 
 'Now the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, 
 longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, temperance, 
 patience,' " etc. 
 
^ THB HOLY SPIRIT. 177 
 
 It must be true that wherever the Holy Spirit 
 of God is, there are love, joy, peace, longsuffer- 
 ing, temperance, patience, etc.; but is the con- 
 verse true? — that wherever love, joy, peace, long- 
 suffering, temperance, patience, etc., are found, 
 that this is proof positive of the presence of the 
 Holy Spirit? 
 
 If this be true then we must readjust our exe- 
 gesis of the passages that refer to lioio we obtain 
 the Spirit, and iclio may have the Spirit's pres- 
 ence. 
 
 For we find many people who have not obeyed 
 the gospel, and who do not pray for the Holy 
 Spirit; who, indeed, do not believe in any such 
 personality or indwelling, and yet they have love, 
 joy, peace, longsuffering, etc. 
 
 It seems to me that we are forced to one of 
 three positions: — 
 
 1st. To a readjustment of our interpretation 
 of the Scriptures on this subject; or 
 
 2d. Accept the rationalistic view; or 
 
 3d. Begin a new crusade for a larger spiritual 
 
 experience than we have ever yet enjoyed. This 
 
 is to be done by first opening our own hearts for 
 
 an infilling; then we may carry to the multitudes 
 
 what but few Christians have ever yet enjoyed — 
 
 a kind of after-Pentecostal experience. 
 12 
 
178 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 WHY THIS SPIRITUAL DEARTH? 
 
 It cannot be that God has promised the Holy 
 Spirit to us and then limited him so that he can 
 not fulfill the promise. It is contrary to all the 
 revelation that we have of the Holy Spirit, to 
 say that he is regardless of us. Then it must be 
 that the limitation is on our part. 
 
 Jesus told the woman at the well, that if she 
 had asked of him he would have given unto her 
 living water, after drinking of which she would 
 never thirst again. It was right there, flowing 
 all about her, and yet even the Master was lim- 
 ited from giving it to her, because she was not in 
 proper condition to receive it. May it not be 
 that we are to-day where she was? 
 
 In all of God's dealings with man he recog- 
 nizes his free agency. It was four thousand 
 years before the Christ came because the world 
 was not ready to receive him. When he came he 
 never compelled any one to accept him. Can it 
 be possible that after his coming and sacrifice 
 his Holy Spirit has been limited in his work for 
 two thousand years more, because the world is 
 not ready to receive him? 
 
 Jesus teaches this same lesson in that rebuke 
 to his own countrymen who rejected him : ''I tell 
 you of a truth many widows were in Israel in the 
 days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three 
 years and six months, when great famine was 
 
THE HOIvY SPIRIT. 179 
 
 throughout the land; but unto none of them 
 was Elias sent save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, 
 unto a woman that was a widow. And many 
 lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the 
 prophet; and none of them was cleansed saving 
 Naaman the Syrian" (Luke 4: 25-27). 
 
 The historian tells us that "Jesus did not 
 many mighty works in Nazareth because of their 
 unbelief." 
 
 The New Testament teaches that we may 
 oppose, resist, grieve, drive away, quench and 
 blaspheme the Holy Spirit. 
 
 These things being true, may it not be also 
 true that we have the key to the solution of 
 the problem of spiritual decline that has so long 
 puzzled earnest, thoughtful men? An important 
 question: — 
 
 Who is responsible for this state of affairs? 
 Largely^ the ministry. 
 
 1st. The Evangelists. 
 
 2d. The Pastors. 
 
 1st. Much evangelism has been to depreciate 
 the work of the Holy Spirit. I have heard 
 more sermons telling what the Holy Spirit does 
 not do than I ever heard telling what he may do. 
 
 But, says the objector, "They have success." 
 
 True, an intellectually strong man, or a man 
 of force and method may get people to come 
 into the church; and many may, and I fear often 
 do, join just as they join a club or a lodge by 
 
180 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 complying with the outward conditions without 
 the spiritual birth. 
 
 Intellectual and physical results are produced, 
 but not spiritual. They need spiritual powder 
 behind the ball to drive it home, to produce 
 spiritual results. 
 
 May it not be that the reason why so much 
 preaching falls lifeless upon so many in our 
 audiences is because the preacher and the mem- 
 bers are barren of any rich experience of the 
 presence of God's Holy Spirit? 
 
 The people come to the services asking bread, 
 and they get a stone. They come seeking life, 
 and they find a dead body. The stream rises no 
 higher than the fountain head. 
 
 How can men lead others to the store-house 
 of the bread of life if they have never been there 
 themselves? They can not lead up to the foun- 
 tain of the water of life who have never tasted 
 it. They who have never seen it cannot point 
 others to the spiritual light. 
 
 How many converts go down into the water 
 realizing a birth both of the water and of the 
 Spirit? Too many have failed to impress all 
 that is involved in Jesus' teaching on regenera- 
 tion. 
 
 "BORN OF THE WATER AND THE SPIRIT." 
 
 There are two extremes relative to this doc- 
 trine : 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 181 
 
 The Mystics make it all Holy Spirit baptism. 
 
 The Rationalists leave out all practical ideas 
 of the Holy Spirit's part. Some churches have 
 too many Mystics. 
 
 But I fear that we have too many Rational- 
 ists — who have been born of the water only. 
 
 2d. The second responsibility for this condi- 
 tion of affairs is to be found in our pastoral 
 teaching. 
 
 The churches are not nurtured to experience 
 the Holy Spirit. 
 
 I wonder how many pastors among us have 
 ever given their congregations a careful, sys- 
 tematic study of the word of God upon this sub- 
 ject — presenting it in simple language so that 
 even the lambs are fed. I wonder how many 
 believe and have realized from experience all 
 that is involved in such promises as these : — 
 
 1. "In one Spirit were we all baptized into 
 one body." 
 
 2. "He shall be in you." 
 
 3. "How much more will your Father in 
 heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask 
 him?" 
 
 4. "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is riot, 
 but be filled with the Holy Spirit" (Eph. 5: 19). 
 
 5. "Ye were washed, ye were sanctified, ye 
 were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus 
 and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Cor. 6: 11). 
 
 6. "The kingdom of God is righteousness, 
 
182 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 14:17). 
 
 7. *'Now the God of hope fill you with all 
 joy and peace in believing, that you may abound 
 in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit" 
 (Rom. 15:13). 
 
 8. "The Spirit helps our infirmities, for we 
 know not what we should pray for as we ought; 
 but the Spirit also himself maketh intercession 
 for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. 
 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what 
 is the mind of the Spirit; because he maketh 
 intercession for the saints according to the will 
 of God" (Rom. 8:2H, 27). 
 
 9. "And because you are sons, God has sent 
 forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, cry- 
 ing Abba, Father" (Gal. 6:6). 
 
 The scientific is the method to be applied 
 here; that is, "Let each one test for himself." 
 "O taste and see that the Lord is good," is 
 especially applicable to our churches to-day. 
 Too many have not even tasted of the Spirit, 
 much less been filled with the Spirit. 
 
 Would we be filled with the Holy Spirit? then 
 let us take God at his word, and prepare a place 
 for him. When we are prepared for his recep- 
 tion, let us invite him in. 
 
 My thought can be best expressed here in the 
 language of that inimitable little work by J. M. 
 Campbell of Chicago— "4/"^er Pentecost WhatT' 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 183 
 
 "The Heavenly Father gives the Holy Spirit 
 to them that ask him, not to them who agonize, 
 but to them who ask; and he gives an increased 
 measure to them who ask for more. . . . 
 When the soul's mouth is opened wide, God fills 
 it. . . . The hope is cherished that a new 
 era of spiritual power is about to break upon us. 
 It cannot come too soon ; and come it will just 
 as soon as the church, appreciating the glorious 
 possibilities of the present dispensation, begins 
 to draw upon heaven's reserved resources. . . . 
 Is it any wonder that the life of the church is 
 fitful, that her love languishes, that her zeal de- 
 clines, and that her power decays, when she per- 
 sists in waiting for God instead of waiting upon 
 God? Her brightest hope has come to be that 
 she might be mercifully blest with an occasional 
 visitation of the Holy Spirit, when what is 
 needed to raise her out of her lethargy and 
 weakness, and spiritualize all of her activities is 
 not a movement of the Holy Spirit toward her, 
 but a movement on her part toward the Spirit; 
 not a fresh outpouring, but many a fresh inpour- 
 ing of the Spirit. Christians are not to pray for 
 the advent of the Spirit; they are to pray that 
 their eyes may be opened to his presence ; they 
 are not to pray for his descent, but for his in- 
 habitation; they are not to agonize to bring him 
 near, they are to recognize his nearness: they 
 are not to seek him in the heavens, but in their 
 
184 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 hearts; they are not to set themselves to obtain 
 his power as a gift ungranted, they are to receive 
 in larger abundance the gift of power already 
 given ; they are not to expend their labor in en- 
 deavoring to induce the Lord to make over to 
 them a new inheritance, they are to fulfill the 
 conditions necessary to immediate entrance 
 upon and complete possession of the wonderful 
 inheritance which is already theirs. 
 
 "The trouble about obtaining increased spirit- 
 ual power is not with the Spirit, but with our- 
 selves. What we need is increased power of 
 spiritual appropriation. The Spirit is as really 
 with us as Christ was with his disciples during 
 his incarnate state. As the mighty power which 
 moves through all things, and by which all 
 things are moved, he is ever at work in our be- 
 half; and what we have to do is to bring our- 
 selves in connection with him, and keep in con- 
 nection with him." 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 In conclusion, I would say that to us the cru- 
 cial point in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is 
 our attitude toward the Spirit. What the church 
 needs to-day, both in the pulpit and the pew, is 
 a new adjustment of its relations to the Holy 
 Spirit. We need to understand that the low 
 plane of our living may be, after all, the solution 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT. 185 
 
 of the problem concerning the Spirit, that has 
 confused so many for so long a time. 
 
 May it not be that when we shall have com- 
 plied fully with the scriptural conditions of 
 cleansing, and then go up into the mountain, as 
 Moses did, and spend more time with God, 
 we, too, might come down with shining faces? 
 Let us all "Taste and see that the Lord is good, 
 for blessed is the man that trusteth in him." 
 
 F. N. Calvin. 
 
VIII. 
 
 Organization and its Adjustment 
 
 to the Present Needs of the 
 
 Church. 
 
SEVENTH SESSION. 
 
 This session was devoted to "Church Organization." B. 
 B. Tyler, Colorado Springs, Colo., presided, and at once in- 
 troduced A. B. Philputt, of Indianapolis, who read the paper 
 which follows on "Organization and Its Adaptation to the 
 Needs of the Church." He was reviewed by W. P. Richard- 
 son, of Kansas City, in the paper which follows, and by 
 George A. Miller, of Covington, Ky., whose address was 
 from notes, and does not appear here. The discussion which 
 followed was exceedingly interesting. 
 188 
 
nil. 
 
 Organization and Its Hdjustment to the 
 present J^eeds of the CburcK 
 
 OUR first question is concerning the purpose 
 of the church. All will agree that in 
 some way humanity's hope stands or falls with 
 Jesus Christ. If his programme is not success- 
 ful there is no rival to take its place. But is 
 his work essentially bound up with an organiza- 
 tion? Many will question it. The outward, vis- 
 ible church is not to-day held in the highest 
 esteem. Some say that it has as often hindered 
 as helped the influence of Christianity; that it 
 is not essential to salvation, and that in the 
 process of evolution it may all but disappear. 
 
 We, of course, hold this view of the question 
 to be wrong, and find the reason for its preva- 
 lence, partly, in the divided condition of Chris- 
 tendom. The argument that will justify a divided 
 church will justify an individual in his notion 
 that it makes little difference whether he belongs 
 to any. 
 
 Before discussing details of organization let us 
 decide that there is such a thing as the outward, 
 formal, visible church, given to us of God, hav- 
 ing the high sanctions of heaven about it, and 
 
 189 
 
190 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 designed to be kept inviolate and unbroken for 
 all ages, as the channel through which salvation 
 shall come to the sons of men. The great open 
 sore of Christendom is division — the highest 
 desideratum is Christian unity. 
 
 If the Savior's aim were to rescue one here 
 and there from the wreck of a crumbling and 
 perishing world, little need would be felt for the 
 study of organization. But this conception of 
 salvation Jesus disavows. It is not a question of 
 goodness. Men may be good in the church or 
 out of the church. It is a question of a man's 
 attitude towards Christ's purpose of bringing 
 the kingdoms of this world into subjection to 
 himself. Every man has a mission to his fellow- 
 man. The church has a mission to the whole 
 world. 
 
 It is a significant fact that whenever individ- 
 uals come to feel deeply any of the ills of 
 humanity, they effect an organization at once 
 for their alleviation. It is through organization 
 that large purposes are carried out. "This has 
 been called the age of individualism," says Dr. 
 Frank Crane, of Chicago, "and the human unit 
 has been emphasized in our thoughts of business, 
 of politics and of religion, until the fabric of 
 humanity sometimes seems likely to fall apart. 
 And yet I doubt if there ever was an era in 
 which men were more inseparable than they are 
 to-day. There is no more a private opinion, but 
 
ORGANIZATION. 191 
 
 only a huge public opinion, and we care not 
 what the one thinks, but what the mighty all 
 thinks. There is talk these days about saving 
 neighborhoods, cities, countries and races." 
 
 The spirit of individualism which has hitherto 
 operated in the civil as well as the religious 
 world is fast running its course. In politics the 
 day of organization has come. The single man 
 counts for little. In business, concentration is 
 the rule. In education it is the same way. Dis- 
 trict schools are getting fewer and larger. Great 
 endowments are pushing the small colleges into 
 still narrower limits. The widespread interest 
 in church union looks in the same direction. 
 Protestantism, with all its extremes and eccen- 
 tricities, has not entirely lost the idea that salva- 
 tion is in some way bound up with the church. 
 For what we call salvation is a process that must 
 be wrought out in this world, and in part 
 through human agencies. * 'Christians live in an 
 actual world," says Dr. McConnell, "and if they 
 are to accomplish anything it must be by the 
 same kind of methods which are necessary in 
 this world. As things go here, even divine pro- 
 cesses can only be effected by the use of machin- 
 ery. God is practical. He undertakes nothing 
 without tools." 
 
 Now the kingdom of God proposes the re- 
 demption of humanity. It is to cleanse and save 
 men from their sins. It is to lay hold of body, 
 
192 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 soul and spirit, and sanctify them. It is to go 
 unto the uttermost parts of the earth with the 
 story of redeeming love. Such things cannot 
 be done without suitable organization. Govern- 
 ment is fostered by what we call the state. 
 Human affections are preserved and refined by 
 the institution known as the family. And the 
 process which includes these and many more is 
 the function of the church. 
 
 As a body of Christian people, we are at the 
 threshold of what many believe to be larger 
 things. We certainly stand face to face with 
 splendid opportunities. There is reason to fear 
 that the church is not fully meeting the demands 
 of the times. The battle of Waterloo was fought 
 with the same kind of weapons as the battle of 
 Blenheim, a hundred years before. But this is 
 a century of progress, of steam and electricity, 
 of wireless telegraphy and the motor cycle. The 
 church should not use the methods of fifty years 
 ago. Her plans and forces should be modern- 
 ized. Her enterprises are, in a measure, dis- 
 credited, because she is facing modern problems 
 with antiquated methods. It may be well that 
 she has largely surrendered the matter of educa- 
 tion to the State and to large private munifi- 
 cence. The church was once the almoner of the 
 poor, giving succor to those in distress, and aid 
 to the widow and the orphan. Public and pri- 
 vate charities and fraternal orders now do this. 
 
ORGANIZATION. 193 
 
 and in giving up this she has surrendered a cita- 
 del of power. Foreign missions are discredited 
 by some, who claim that the forces of commerce, 
 war and government are the real factors in the 
 uplifting of degraded peoples. But if the 
 church should once enter upon the business of 
 foreign missions on a scale commensurate with 
 their importance, this criticism would be well 
 answered. And until she can command vastly 
 larger resources her capacity for great undertak- 
 ings will continue to be doubted. But the prob- 
 lem is quite as much how to use as how to get, 
 and if the unused resources of the church were 
 once called out we should be surprised at the 
 result. 
 
 If we are to consider the proper adjustment of 
 organization to the needs of the church, a begin- 
 ning should be made, I think, with the local con- 
 gregation. Here rest all the obligations in mini- 
 ature that belong to the universal body, and out 
 of the local church must grow the larger plans 
 and purposes of the brotherhood. 
 
 What, then, should be its organization? The 
 New Testament presents no complete scheme as 
 divinely authorized, either by Jesus or his apos- 
 tles. The earliest churches took the form sug- 
 gested by their environment in Jewish, Greek or 
 Roman territory, and these varying types were 
 approved by the apostles, because the special 
 
 form was not essential to the validity of the or- 
 is 
 
194 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 ganism. There was the bare semblance of an 
 organization in Jerusalem at first. The mission- 
 ary spirit so filled the hearts of the people that 
 they gave themselves to telling the story. Their 
 assurance was so strong, their fellowship so 
 sweet, that they felt little need of outward 
 bonds. The new wine was in new bottles. The 
 problem was simple. When the company of 
 believers multiplied, however, and the events of 
 Pentecost began to recede, new conditions arose. 
 No one seemed to have any oflicial status at first. 
 The apostles were the leaders more because of 
 their peculiar relations to the ascended Lord 
 than from any formal selection by the people. 
 They did not rule as ecclesiastics. Later on, 
 certain of them, as Peter, John, and especially 
 James, are spoken of as pillars in the church, 
 but they had simply come to it on the grounds of 
 pre-eminent fitness. The relation of the Twelve 
 to the church at large was much more distinct 
 and official. As need arose, men were called out 
 for special service, as, for instance, the seven 
 deacons, though Luke does not call them dea- 
 cons, who were appointed to look after the 
 administration of alms. This did not interpose 
 any barrier from higher ministries, if they were 
 competent, for among them Stephen and Philip 
 became famous as ministers of the Word. In 
 general, the older men would have charge of 
 things, and so the term "elder" finds a place in 
 
ORGANIZATION. 195 
 
 the speech of the developing church long before, 
 in my judgment, it designated an official relation. 
 In Acts 15 : 23, Luke speaks of "the apostles and 
 elder brethren," showing their unofficial charac- 
 ter. No reference is made to elders in Paul's 
 letters to the Galatians, Romans, or even the 
 Corinthians. In the latter, first epistle, Ste- 
 phanus is referred to as one to whom they should 
 be in subjection, as he and his house had set 
 themselves to minister among them, and the 
 apostle urges that they be in subjection to such 
 as do this. The statement in Acts 14: 23, where 
 mention is made of Paul's appointing elders and 
 deacons in every church in Galatia, will, of 
 course, have to be reckoned with, but that is 
 another story. The service of bishops was at first 
 voluntary, and when the need of appointment 
 was felt, they naturally selected those that had 
 approved themselves. 
 
 In the second century the church shows an 
 advanced stage of organization. Ecclesiasticism 
 is plainly growing up. Deacons are the assist- 
 ants of the bishops and the two offices are no- 
 where sharply distinguished. The ruling bishop 
 develops into a functionary with special powers, 
 and we have the Episcopacy as a direct out- 
 growth of the Presbytery. Paul, in Eph. 4 : 11-13, 
 summarizes the active agencies of the apostolic 
 church as follows: "And he gave some to be 
 apostles, and some prophets, and some evangel- 
 
196 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 ists and some pastors and teachers." The prin- 
 ciple of adaptation is here most obvious. The 
 New Testament precedent gives full warrant, I 
 think, for such adjustment as the needs of a 
 given time or place may demand. Paul more 
 than once went to the utmost limits of expedi- 
 ency, as, for instance, when he told the brethren 
 at Corinth to have their women keep silence in 
 the churches. In a large way, of course, the 
 methods of the church are the same in all ages 
 because the aims are the same, and deep down 
 human nature and human needs are the same. 
 The changes pertain only to details of method. 
 The point I urge, so far as New Testament prece- 
 dent is concerned, is that there is no hard, fixed 
 form of organization set forth as divinely author- 
 ized to be made perpetual. The church is a liv- 
 ing organism, and in a living organism there is 
 always a change in order to accommodate itself 
 to new conditions. Any attempt to keep a pre- 
 cise form handed down from the past is likely to 
 be attended with disaster to the living spirit 
 within. Church history illustrates this again 
 and again. Zealous partisans are even to-day 
 holding on to forms that are against the spirit of 
 the age, and a part of the strength of the church 
 is thus locked up behind old and useless contro- 
 versies. There should be the fullest freedom in 
 the reconstruction of church machinery and the 
 
ORGANIZATION. 197 
 
 largest employment of forces for the advance- 
 ment of the cause. 
 
 Looking, then, at the average congregation to- 
 day, do we see a highly organized and effectual 
 instrument for doing Christian work? It is 
 granted that the preaching is well done, your 
 essayist will make no criticism of that. But 
 there are four things that are not well done, and 
 these four things I will mention in order, begin- 
 ning with that wherein there is the most serious 
 lack. 
 
 First. The teaching function is not well pro- 
 vided for. 
 
 Second. The benevolences of the church are 
 not well looked after. 
 
 Third. The pastoral work is inadequately 
 done. 
 
 Fourth. The evangelistic pressure is not uni- 
 form and healthful. 
 
 Let us consider these in order. The teaching 
 function of the church is of necessity entrusted 
 largely to the Sunday-school. The pulpit, of 
 course, is a factor, but didactic preaching is not 
 popular. The sermon must be full of snap and 
 tire and illustration. The teaching of the Script- 
 ures in the home is almost a thing of the past. 
 Parents have given it over very largely to the 
 Sunday-school. Now, the modern Sunday-school 
 is a bright and beautiful thing and a great bless- 
 ing to the church. But it does not, and cannot, 
 
198 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 under present conditions, supply the teaching 
 function. Look for a moment at secular educa- 
 tioD. In the last twenty-five years the public 
 school system has grown with wondrous strides. 
 Its methods are abreast of the age. A high 
 school course to-day aifords a training better 
 than the college course did when some of us 
 were boys. Specialists give themselves not only 
 to the study of methods, but to the study of 
 pupils. At what age should a child take up a 
 given study, and at what pace should he be car- 
 ried through it. Education may fairly be called 
 a science. Every faculty is trained. Every 
 sense is cultivated. It seems to me that the 
 teaching function in the church should receive 
 new emphasis. The high importance of this 
 matter grows out of its necessary union, of in- 
 struction of the intellect with the training of the 
 conscience and the will. Surely here is a field 
 for the trained specialist. Little attention has 
 been given to it as compared with that which 
 secular learning has received. Between the pul- 
 pit and the Sunday-school is a place for such a 
 man. The teaching force in our Sunday-school 
 is recruited from the ranks of busy people, who 
 are often less competent than willing. They 
 have little time for the preparation of their 
 work, and avail themselves of all convenient 
 notes and comments upon the lesson, snatching 
 them up hurriedly and forgetting them as soon 
 
ORGANIZATION. 199 
 
 as they are done with. The modern Sunday- 
 school does not by any means meet the demands 
 of the church. It is weighted down with pre- 
 liminary exercises in order to make it attractive, 
 and but a short time is really given to the study 
 of the lesson. With a man capable of training 
 the teachers, and in other and larger ways stim- 
 ulating the interest of the people in the study of 
 the Bible, a great advance could be made in this 
 department of the church. And with the man 
 would come better methods and multiplied op- 
 portunities in different directions, for the train- 
 ing of the church in the things that ought to be 
 known. We have not yet, as a people, sufficient- 
 ly appreciated the possibilities that lie in this 
 direction. Christ has a relation to childhood, 
 and the church should make sure of the chil- 
 dren. Their religious training should begin 
 early, along lines suited to their age, and the 
 same development and laws of teaching observed 
 in their religious education that have proven so 
 rational in secular education. We need trained 
 teachers. There is wonderful interest in a live, 
 critical unfolding of the Scriptures. Along this 
 line lie great possibilities. Bible institutes, 
 special courses, catechetical classes, Bethany 
 Eeading Courses, are all practicable with a 
 trained man to organize and properly adjust 
 them. But it will require expenditure of money 
 and re-adjustment of methods. 
 
200 OUR FIRST CONGRESS: 
 
 In the second place, the benevolences of the 
 church need attention. I include under this 
 head all raising of money for current expenses, 
 missionary objects, and charitable purposes. I 
 describe three-fourths of our churches, if not 
 indeed all of them, when I say that the giving is 
 unequal, and that anything that could be called 
 liberality is confined to a small per cent, of the 
 membership. The subject of money is thought 
 a delicate one, and it is touched upon very gin- 
 gerly. Our congregations need education upon 
 this matter. Not simply a deliverance now and 
 then from the pulpit, but a personal contact 
 with those who have to do with the money side 
 of the church, who shall make them acquainted 
 with the needs and desires of the church, who 
 shall acquaint them with the good their money is 
 doing and may do, and personally interest them 
 in giving. We can double our offerings for all 
 purposes in any congregation the moment some 
 method is adopted which shall bring the matter 
 fully and fairly before all the members. The 
 time will come, I think, when we shall have done 
 with methods of raising money other than by 
 plain scriptural giving. 
 
 In the third place, the pastoral work of the 
 church is not well done. And by the pastoral 
 relation I mean a close acquaintance with every 
 family and individual, their peculiar circum- 
 stances and needs, what they are and where they 
 
ORGANIZATION. 201 
 
 are, and wherein, if at all, they are remiss in 
 their religious life. Of course those who are 
 sick or in trouble are to be visited, those who 
 are indifferent and careless are to be labored 
 with, and the unruly are to be warned. The 
 true pastor is one who locates any evil or neglect 
 upon the part of the church, and addresses him- 
 self at once to its removal. It should be his 
 study to keep all, as far as possible, in sympathetic 
 relations with one another and with the church. 
 He must be a wise, politic, clean, man and one 
 whose presence in the home inspires confidence 
 and love. In this department alone, if it should 
 be studied and developed as it ought to be, there 
 is full work for one man. It cannot possibly be 
 well done under the present plan of putting all 
 the work of a congregation upon one man. 
 
 In the fourth place, the growth of our 
 churches should be more steady and uniform. 
 Evangelistic zeal breaks out too much in spots. 
 It is altogether intermittent. There is a marked 
 improvement going on, however, in this direc- 
 tion among us. The bringing in of those that 
 are without should be always kept in hand, and 
 whilst there are times and seasons in this work, 
 as in any other, there should be no long periods 
 of dearth, when the church seems to have gone to 
 sleep. When people are turning to the Lord, 
 the spiritual tides run high and a sanctifying in- 
 fluence goes on, unlocking all the springs of 
 
202 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 Christian service. Let the Lord add daily to 
 the church such as should be saved. Now the 
 great element in evangelistic work is the per- 
 sonal one, and the reason that it is not better 
 done is to be looked for in the utter inadequacy 
 of our forces. In all of these matters which I 
 have mentioned, unless we can get some new 
 leverage, some larger grasp of the situation, some 
 advanced step in methods, in other words, some 
 readjustment in organization to meet the com- 
 plex demands of a local work, things will go on 
 about as they are. Our ministry is consecrated, 
 intelligent and effective. But as long as one 
 man is given four men's work, yea, four differ- 
 ent kinds of men's work, it will be rare that 
 superior excellence shall be attained along any 
 line. Taking now the city congregation as a 
 criterion, when the number of people included 
 in it and the amount of money invested by it are 
 considered, the visible returns are small. If the 
 church is to leaven society, if it is to sweeten 
 and recast the environments of men, it must 
 brace itself for larger things. The aggregation 
 of people into cities and towns affords splendid 
 opportunities, but presents deadly perils. There 
 is nothing finer than the modern city. It is the 
 center of taste, of culture, of many of the 
 highest refinements of life. There all the forces 
 of progress focus themselves. It should be 
 made the citadel of rio^hteousness. The modern 
 
ORGANIZATION. 203 
 
 city has produced new ways of living and a new 
 type of man. The imperial desire and demand 
 of the present time is, that the gospel of Christ 
 shall hold and mold the great centers of life. 
 The living truths of Christianity must be applied 
 to these complex social conditions. But to 
 change conditions, we must first change men. 
 Let the old controversies be relegated to the 
 rear. Let old methods and prejudices give way, 
 so far as need be, to this new crusade. As well 
 use old war-ships in our modern navy, or old 
 muskets in our modern infantry, as cling to 
 old methods when they can no longer serve. 
 Many of our city churches have grown largely 
 by accretion. The country and village churches, 
 God bless them, have converted the people and 
 sent them into the cities by hundreds. These 
 have gone into the churches of the city, bring- 
 ing strength and piety and character. But there 
 is one defect — the city church of to-day has prac- 
 tically the methods of the country church. 
 With all that is fine with this large element that 
 has come in, there go certain prejudices that 
 place limitations upon the city church. They 
 are suspicious of that which seems to minister to 
 pride, extravagance or expensiveness. Their 
 ideas of giving are gauged by what they have 
 been used to. They do not readily adjust them- 
 selves to the needs of a progressive city work. 
 Patience and persistence, therefore, are required 
 
204 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 to educate them to that liberality in money and 
 method which the field requires. 
 
 Now I believe that the time has come for the 
 large church and the multiple force. Why so 
 many small churches, each starving in order to 
 starve a little more, each straining every nerve 
 to wring money from poor people to pay sala- 
 ries and carry heavy mortgages? Why, when 
 with all this trouble the work, as a rule, can be 
 but poorly done? There is no chance for spe- 
 cialists, and the tide of spiritual power is often 
 at a low ebb. The public is asked to maintain 
 far too many churches, and as a lesult all for- 
 ward movements are handicapped. 
 
 The public is not getting the worth of its 
 money with so many small meeting-houses, each 
 loaded with debt. I know the pathos, the hero- 
 ism, and sometimes the success with which a 
 small congregation grows into a large one. I 
 know also that a church must be small before it 
 can be large. But the majority of congregations 
 which I know, that were small twenty years ago 
 are small to-day. The policy of our multiplying 
 such is a bad one. Plant new congregations, of 
 course, but do it wisely and with a view to rapid 
 and large growth. A church wishes to send 
 forth surplus money and influence in the realm 
 of benevolence and missions. Its hands are tied 
 by home necessities. Each church, if normal, 
 ought to be large. Have a college of trained 
 
ORGANIZATION. 205 
 
 workers, so that every interest — educational, be- 
 nevolent, evangelistic — should be looked after, 
 and financial shortage avoided. In brief, if one 
 has a sane idea of what a church is meant to do, 
 and what it could do if its strength were not 
 drained by so many pigmy efforts and held down 
 by such petty methods, he can easily see how far 
 the modern church has drifted from the ideal. 
 The genius of our age is concentration. The 
 large church, with a number of workers, can do 
 more with far less money, and do it better, than 
 many small churches. The large church will up- 
 hold broad ideas and develop broad, construct- 
 ive men. It would be safe-guarded from one- 
 man power and strong enough to defy the whims 
 of any clique. Public worship could be main- 
 tained with the dignity which modern culture 
 demands. Uniformity and liberality would be 
 assured in its benevolence, while mission schools 
 and preaching stations could be kept up to suit 
 the demands of its large parish. 
 
 A few great religious centers, such as I have 
 described, would cover a whole city more effect- 
 ually than is done under the present method. 
 In any large city you can see numbers of old 
 church buildings abandoned, the congregations 
 following the people like the Tabernacle in the 
 Wilderness. Let us have temples, rather, to 
 which the tribes go up, and whose lights are as 
 steady as the North Star. This is advocated only 
 
206 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. " 
 
 as a step forward in cities where we are strong 
 enough to do it. It is not offered in any sense 
 as a suggestion opposed to a wisely-directed city 
 mission w^ork. 
 
 What is called the Institutional Church need not 
 here be considered, further than to say that where 
 the conditions call for it, it is right and proper. 
 Every church should adapt itself to its field. 
 Methods must be determined by environments. 
 If night classes, reading-rooms, kindergartens, 
 etc., can be the means of bringing young people 
 under the influence of the gospel, they are per- 
 fectly legitimate. But in the very nature of 
 things, the Institutional Church cannot exist 
 very numerously, for these things are all better 
 done by secular and benevolent agencies. A 
 church building should be one of the most ac- 
 cessible places in the town, and might, with 
 profit, be kept open every day in the week, 
 affording opportunity for sociability and recrea- 
 tion. 
 
 As to the organizations for general work, I 
 feel less competent to speak, except to say that 
 simplicity should be aimed at. Whether our 
 present organizations are final, or whether an 
 arrangement which involves only one, or at most 
 fewer agencies, is feasible, I am not, perhaps, in 
 the best position to judge. I confess, however, 
 that I can see no sound business reason for per- 
 manently continuing three or four organizations 
 
ORGANIZATION. 207 
 
 to do what we are assured by all, is really one 
 work. What radical difference is there between 
 home and foreign missions, church extension, 
 etc., that they should have separate boards, 
 separate days, separate programs? It would sim- 
 plify matters much if there were only one socie- 
 ty, one convention, one board, one set of com- 
 mittees. The State missionary organizations are 
 being articulated with the national work, and 
 this is right. There should be still closer unifica- 
 tion extending also to city mission boards. A 
 wise and impartial consideration could then be 
 given to all interests, and any appearance of 
 rivalry between them avoided. 
 
 One thing I am sure of, and that is, that the 
 churches are beginning to wince under the mul- 
 tiplicity of appeals. If it were practicable, it 
 would be better to have one treasury, one chan- 
 nel, through which all monies should flow. 
 Some of our people mistake what is really but 
 emulation on the part of our different interests 
 for rivalry. They get the notion, which I feel 
 sure is a wrong one, that ambition to excel goes 
 so far sometimes as to warp judgment and dis- 
 cretion. The work is one, and I believe should 
 be presented under the simple and general head 
 of missionary work. Looking the situation 
 squarely in the face and taking a long view of it, 
 more education and less importunity would be 
 better. Our people become confused amid so 
 
208 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 many appeals, wherein urgency outruns their 
 information and sympathy. Let all devices, 
 catch phrases, and decoying traps be done away 
 with, and people asked to do plain giving. Set 
 the standard high, make large claims on the 
 ground that the Master hath need, and then 
 show results. I believe such a course will be, in 
 the long run, conducive to larger offerings, and 
 in keeping with the dignity of these great pur- 
 poses of the church. 
 
 Another thing in connection with our mission- 
 ary organizations that has seemed to me worth 
 mentioning, is this: They are, somehow, not 
 close enough to the people. The effort to in- 
 crease the attendance of business men at the 
 conventions is a worthy one. It would be desir- 
 able, I think, to bring about a vastly larger rep- 
 resentation of our churches in the annual gath- 
 erings, and make it an official representation. 
 Let the leading policies of the boards be deliber- 
 ated upon, discussed and decided by such a body 
 of delegates. As it is, the churches seem out of 
 touch with the boards, and have little or nothing 
 to do in determining their course of action. I 
 cannot say that things would be more wisel}^ 
 done, but they would be more representatively 
 done. The churches would be committed to the 
 policy in a fair and open way, and we could go 
 before our congregations and say that these 
 measures which we are asked to support pro- 
 
ORGANIZATION. 209 
 
 ceed from a large and representative Dody. In 
 other words, could we not have a delegate con- 
 vention? The idea would gradually prevail 
 among the churches, and it would be considered 
 an honor and a privilege for one to be chosen to 
 represent his congregation in such a body. The 
 church, in a sense, is a democratic institution. 
 It is but fair and consistent that those who are 
 asked to give money and support measures, 
 should in some way have an influence in deter- 
 mining what is to be done. I know that, as at 
 present organized, there is a theoretical submis- 
 sion of matters to the people. We say that the 
 convention voted so and so, but you all know 
 how much that means. Thorough discussion and 
 deliberate decision are rarely seen upon the floor 
 of the convention. If we had a strictly delegate 
 body, open to representation from every congre- 
 gation, we should have a deliberative body. The 
 churches would then feel a responsibility that 
 they do not now feel in missionary matters. We 
 need in our councils the wisdom and piety of 
 men and women from all walks of life. 
 
 We need also, and shall need it more and 
 more, something like the Congregational or Bap- 
 tist council, a body of limited but recognized 
 authority, which may be summoned for special 
 purposes. Our congregations and our ministry 
 have suffered for the want of such a tribunal. 
 
 Believing, as I do, in the principle of evolu- 
 14 
 
210 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 tion, I look for such development of methods as 
 will suit the best interests of our cause. It is 
 not easy to forecast what will work and what 
 will not. Everything must be tried in the cruci- 
 ble of experience. Certain it is that no trick of 
 organization, no neat adjustment of machinery, 
 will make up for lack of unity and devotion to 
 the great work of Christ. Men count for more 
 than organization. The church needs large- 
 minded, constructive men to-day to face the 
 problems of the new century; and that she 
 needs them is assurance that she will have them. 
 This is pre-eminently an institutional era, and I 
 believe our beloved church will emerge from it 
 with such organization as its ever-enlarging 
 mission requires. 
 
 Allan B. Philputt. 
 
Organization^ and its Hdaptation to the 
 
 present ]Seeds of the Cburcb* 
 
 — 3 Review* 
 
 IT is impossible for me to review, in any proper 
 sense, the address we have just heard, since 
 it was not placed in my hands in advance of its 
 delivery. I can only offer a few remarks, there- 
 fore, by way of opening the general discussion 
 of the topic. 
 
 The Church of Jesus Christ is a living organ- 
 ism, and will therefore create its own form of 
 outward organization. We need not anticipate 
 its receiving a fixed and rigid form in advance 
 of its development as a spiritual force among 
 men, but rather that its external organization 
 will assume the type most in harmony with the 
 divine and world-wide purposes for which it 
 exists. The supreme end for which the church 
 was created is the salvation of the human race 
 through the ministry of the Christ. To bring 
 Christ to the world and the world to Christ is 
 her only mission. Not her own, but his glory, 
 his authority, his righteousness, his infallibility, 
 are to be proclaimed and emphasized. Chris- 
 tianity, rather than *'churchianity," is what the 
 world needs. Dr. Fairbairn, in the preface to 
 
 211 
 
212 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 his great work, "The Place of Christ in Modern 
 Theology," says: "Theology as well as astron- 
 omy, may be Ptolemaic; it is so when the inter- 
 preter's church, with its creeds and traditions, 
 is made the fixed point from which he observes 
 and conceives the truth and kingdom of God. 
 But theology may also be Copernican ; and it is so 
 when the standpoint of the interpreter is, as it 
 were, the consciousness of Jesus Christ, and 
 this consciousness where it is clearest and most 
 defined, in the belief as to God's Fatherhood 
 and his own Sonship. Theology, in the former 
 case, is geocentric, in the latter, heliocentric; 
 and only where the sun is the center can our 
 planetary belief s and churches fall into a system 
 which is but made the more complete by varying 
 degrees of distance and differences of orbit." 
 Like the Greeks on that notable feast day, the 
 world yet asks of Jesus' disciples, "Sir, we 
 would see Jesus;" and the more effectually the 
 Church can hide herself behind her divine Lord, 
 the more readily will her message be received. 
 The power of the gospel is not mechanical, but 
 vital, and depends not upon the peculiar polity 
 of the church, but upon the potency of the in- 
 dwelling Christ. Organization is not primary, 
 but secondary, and the legislation of the New 
 Testament has to do with the fundamentals of 
 the inner life and motive, rather than the acci- 
 dentals of the outer form and methods. God 
 
ORGANIZATION. 213 
 
 gives instinct to the insect, bird and beast, and 
 their activities follow the invariable and monot- 
 onous round of their natural impulses. But to 
 man he has given reason, and his activities are 
 to be guided by the ever-changing and advancing 
 ideals by which he is led up the heights of pro- 
 gress unto glory. The organization of the 
 primitive church followed the line of its great- 
 est need and fullest opportunity; and the church 
 of to-day should not hesitate to modify its 
 polity and methods to meet the needs and oppor- 
 tunities of this wonderful age. Without enter- 
 ing into specific and minute details, I would sug- 
 gest three particulars in which the church of 
 to-day might well readjust her methods of work, 
 Avith whatever changes in her form of organiza- 
 tion this might make necessary. 
 
 1. We need a more efficient supervision of 
 both churches and ministers. The primitive 
 church enjoyed the oversight of the apostles 
 and their immediate assistants, and even then 
 suffered from disorderly congregations and dis- 
 reputable ministers. It is not surprising that we 
 are thus troubled, with our total lack of general 
 oversight and our false ideas of the absolute in- 
 dependency of the individual church and preach- 
 er. What we have lost, in numbers and power, 
 by this gigantic blunder, eternity alone can re- 
 veal. And our million members to-day are 
 exerting but a tithe of their proper influence. 
 
214 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 because they are not united in spirit and effort. 
 We have all the members of a body, but they 
 are not fully articulated. We are so fearful of 
 an ecclesiastical tyranny that we are dangerously 
 near to individual anarchy. We exalt the local 
 church as if there was no universal church. 
 We need to examine again the statements of the 
 New Testament concerning the church in its 
 larger scope, and to study such passages as Acts 
 9: 31 in the Revised Version, "So the church 
 throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria 
 had peace, being edified ; and, walking in the fear 
 of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy 
 Spirit, was multiplied." There is a fellowship 
 of the gospel that overleaps the bounds of the 
 local congregation, and we are all, without re- 
 gard to geographical boundaries, "members one 
 of another." The welfare of every church is 
 the concern of every other church, and the rep- 
 utation of any one minister of the gospel affects 
 that of all his brethren. Pastorless churches 
 and churchless pastors ought to appeal to the 
 whole body, and the remedy for the deplorable 
 conditions now prevailing in many quarters is 
 only to be found in some method of supervision 
 which shall bring these two suffering classes to- 
 gether. Christ has ordained that men shall be 
 saved by "the foolishness of preaching;" but 
 "how shall they hear without a preacher?" and 
 "how shall he preach without hearers?" Our 
 
ORGANIZATION. 215 
 
 Methodist brethren have solved the problem by 
 their system of itineracy, which, with all its de- 
 fects, is so vastly superior to our lack of all 
 system, as to put us to shame. Until we adopt 
 some kind of intercongregational co-operation, 
 for a similar direction of our ministry, we will 
 find no relief from the growing embarrassments 
 that now beset us. If our churches and preach- 
 ers within any given territory would mutually 
 agree to be directed in the choice of pastors and 
 their support by some central authority, chosen 
 by themselves, such as a superintendent or evan- 
 gelist, or a committee of brethren, the wisdom 
 of such a course would be quickly proven. I 
 here and now declare my readiness to enter into 
 such an agreement with my brethren of the 
 state or district in which I labor, and to submit 
 to the authority of their representative, going or 
 staying as I may be directed, and as may seem 
 to be for the best interests of the cause of our 
 Lord and Master. I am aware that this sug- 
 gestion will be unwelcome to many good men 
 among us, but I am also aware that the most 
 violent denunciation of this principle will come 
 from those irresponsible and unworthy men 
 whose presence in our pulpits is a disgrace to the 
 cause of the Savior whom they profess to 
 preach. The most ardent advocates of absolute 
 independency are likely to be those whose occu- 
 pation would begone with the beginning of their 
 
216 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 responsibility to their brethren. Philip of 
 Macedonia offered peace and protection to the 
 people of Athens, if they would deliver up their 
 orators to him. When Demosthenes heard it 
 he said, "That's what the wolf said to the sheep, 
 'Give me your watch dogs and I will protect 
 you!' '" The wolf is hardly a consistent pleader 
 for the freedom of the sheep. 
 
 2. We need a more general and generous fel- 
 lowship in Christian service. Christianity is a 
 partnership, and each disciple is' called on to in- 
 vest all his capital in the common enterprise. 
 Some way must be found to enlist all the church 
 members in the work of the Lord. Meroz must 
 not be recognized as worthy of fellowship unless 
 she will come up to the help of the Lord against 
 the mighty. The burdens of the local congrega- 
 tion must not be borne by the "faithful few." 
 The "unfaithful many" must be included in the 
 service or excluded from the circle. And the 
 general work of our brotherhood must be shared 
 by all our churches. It is a shame that the ap- 
 peals of our various missionary boards are ignored 
 by thousands of our congregations and preachers. 
 It ought to be a stigma upon the fair fame of a 
 congregation calling itself Christian, that it does 
 nothing for the salvation of the world outside of 
 the meager effort made in its immediate commu- 
 nity ; for that will generally be the more meager 
 as it does less for world-wide enterprises. Any 
 
ORGANIZATION. 217 
 
 modifications in our missionary methods that will 
 help to bring about such a reform as I have in- 
 dicated, should be hailed as an advance step. 
 Personally, I believe that the further unifica- 
 tion of our missionary agencies, by combining all 
 in one society, with its separate boards or com- 
 mittees for such particular oversight as may be 
 necessary, would do much to simplify our mis- 
 sionary cause in the minds of the brethren, and 
 win their confidence and support. 
 
 3. We need such changes in our methods of 
 work in the local congregation as will increase 
 the volume and improve the quality of the per- 
 sonal service of Christians. We must reach the 
 people by getting closer to them. We need not 
 longer arms but more willing feet. It must not 
 be expected of the hard-worked pastor that he 
 shall do all the looking after weak and sick 
 members and strangers. Christian men and 
 women ought to count it a pleasure to share 
 in such a work as this. If they are busy helping 
 the preacher, they will hardly have time to think 
 of criticising him. The working church usually 
 keeps its preacher many years. Much of the 
 pastor's time ought to be given to directing the 
 activities of the members. When one plan of 
 work has been used long enough, it ought to be 
 abandoned without regret, and a better one 
 adopted. Plans are not like wine — you cannot 
 always say, "The old is better." The free 
 
218 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 Body of Christ ought to refuse the yoke of bond- 
 age to outgrown customs, and adopt such meth- 
 ods of work as wisdom approves. The facts of 
 the gospel can never be changed; t'he principles 
 of Christianity are eternal; the two solemn and 
 significant ordinances of the church embody 
 truths that forbid their change from the ex- 
 pressive mold in which their divine Author has 
 cast them. But in all other things the church is 
 at liberty to exercise her judgment, under the 
 guidance of that Spirit whose presence and 
 power are the peculiar inheritance of the saints. 
 In the matter of organization, then, the church 
 owes it to herself and to the world to adopt such 
 forms and use such methods, from time to time, 
 as will best produce the result for which all her 
 activities are called forth. And, as the living 
 man develops according to the inner life and its 
 daily enlarging necessities, so the church of 
 Jesus Christ will change its outward appearance 
 with its stature, while ever retaining its likeness 
 to Him who is the tj^pe of all true holiness; and 
 will find its constant task and inspiration in 
 striving to attain to "the measure of the stature 
 of the fullness of Christ." Just as the soul's 
 progress is marked by constant change and up- 
 ward advancement, until it at last reaches the 
 goal in full and happy union with God in 
 heaven. 
 
ORGANIZATION. 219 
 
 'Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul! 
 
 As the swift seasons roll; 
 
 I/cave thy low-vaulted past. 
 Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 
 Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, 
 
 Till thou at length art free, 
 leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea." 
 
 W. F. Richardson. 
 
X. 
 
 Enrichment of Public Worship 
 Among the Disciples. 
 
EIGHTH SESSION. 
 
 H. O. Breeden, of Des Moines, Iowa, was chairman of this 
 session, and the subject for the evening was "Christian Wor- 
 ship." After a brief introduction on the subject, Dr. Breeden 
 introduced Mrs. Ida Harrison, of Lexington, Ky., who read 
 the paper wnich follows on "The Enrichment of Public Wor- 
 ship Among the Disciples." The discussion which followed 
 the paper was wholly voluntary, but was very suggestive and 
 profitable. The general chairman of the Congress then took 
 charge of the meeting, and called for very brief speeches from 
 members expressing their appreciation of the Congress. Sev- 
 eral brief but happy talks were made. "God Be With You 
 Till We Meet Again," was sung, a closing prayer was offered, 
 
 and the First Congress of the Disciples of Christ was ended. 
 
 222 
 
Cbe Snricbment of public dorsbip 
 Hmong tbc Disciples^ 
 
 CHILDREN and people in a low stage of men- 
 tal and moral development are most easily 
 reached through the senses. The eye, in partic- 
 ular, is the great thoroughfare from the outer 
 world to the inner man, and sight and touch are 
 the main avenues by which impressions are con- 
 veyed, not only to the mind, but to the spirit. 
 We find this principle in the base of the kinder- 
 garten idea — the object lesson is the means by 
 which truth and knowledge are impressed on 
 brain and heart. The same rule seemed to 
 be the foundation of the Jewish form of wor- 
 ship; the people of the time of Moses, and of 
 many generations after Moses, were not able to 
 grasp pure and abstract ideas of the Deity, and 
 so there was given them a religious ceremonial, 
 rich in rite and symbol, by which the great 
 truths of their duty to God and man were taught 
 to them; it was a religious kindergarten for this 
 race in its religious childhood. We know that 
 this ritual was admirably adapted to the age and 
 genius of the people, and that it finally educated 
 them up to the idea of the one true and living 
 God, all-powerful, invisible, and so prepared 
 
 223 
 
224 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 them for the coming of the Redeemer of the 
 world. 
 
 But we also know that this formal religion had 
 certain dangers connected with it, which resulted 
 in a class like the Pharisees, who laid stress on 
 externals, rather than on the truths the}' symbol- 
 ized. The same tendency in man, which is the 
 reason of usefulness of prescribed forms of 
 worship, is also a cause of peril — and that is the 
 tendency of poor human nature to grasp what is 
 visible and tangible rather than what is unseen 
 and spiritual. You remember that our Lord 
 reproached those formalists of his day for mak- 
 ing so much of little matters of observance, and 
 said they passed over the essentials of the law^ 
 like judgment, mercy and the love of God 
 and that at another time, he sternly rebuked 
 them for their ostentatious practice of outward 
 forms, and making them obligatory on the Jews 
 as matters of conscience — or "teaching them as 
 doctrines," as he expressed it. 
 
 And there is not only this disposition to em- 
 phasize the form of worship rather than the 
 spirit of worship, but these forms are not in- 
 frequently the cause of fierce controversy. The 
 present ritualistic agitation in England, about 
 which we read so much, shows how a great 
 church can be torn in two mainly over matters of 
 ritual. This agitation, as far as I can gather, 
 seems to be a continuation of the Oxford, or 
 
ENRICHMENT OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 225 
 
 Tractarian movement early in the century, when 
 mobs gathered and riots ensued, and legal con- 
 tests arose over the use of certain vestments, of 
 lights, of the eastward position of the clergy, of 
 the placing of the altar, the burning question of 
 the ornaments, rubric, and numerous other mat- 
 ters of form. The excitement to-day is bearing 
 fruits in such unseemly spectacles as the vicar of 
 one church charging at the head of some of his 
 flock against an opposing church during hours of 
 worship, in immense mass meetings, where, we 
 are told, five thousand were turned away from 
 the doors, in monster petitions to queen and 
 parliament, and in many other unlovely and un- 
 christian proceedings. Of course we under- 
 stand that it is the dread of Romish doctrines 
 behind these various rites that is causing much 
 of the agitation, but the fact remains that many 
 of the Ritualistic clergymen, both in the present 
 and in the Tractarian movement, claim loyalty to 
 the English church, and merely insist on their 
 right to use decorous and beautiful forms, and 
 their use of them is creating a disturbance that 
 may result in a religious revolution. 
 
 But because ritualism in worship has been a 
 fertile cause of danger, not only along the lines 
 indicated, but in many other ways, yet that is 
 not a legitimate argument against the wise use 
 of simple and flexible forms. Some of the 
 
 greatest material blessings we have are among 
 15 
 
226 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 the most dangerous and destructive forces in 
 nature, such as fire and electricity. We must be 
 certain we know enough about them to use them 
 aright, and must use proper precautions against 
 their destructive tendencies, and then these de- 
 stroyers become blessings. And so, I think we 
 need not fear to use such helpful forms in wor- 
 ship as silent prayer on entering the church, re- 
 peating the Lord's Prayer in concert, the audible 
 amen at the end of prayer, and responsive read- 
 ings of selected passages from the Bible. The 
 rebuke of our Lord to the ritualists of his day 
 was that "they taught as doctrine the com- 
 mandments of men;" whenever we make inflexi- 
 ble and unchangeable rules for worship, and 
 impose them as doctrines on the church, then 
 we are in danger of bringing the sting of that 
 stern reprimand on ourselves ; but I cannot see 
 how the use of such simple forms as I have in- 
 dicated, when they are matters of choice by the 
 congregations, and not imposed by any authority, 
 would compromise any principle or endanger the 
 faith of the weakest. The homely command of 
 the apostle to the Corinthian Church, to conduct 
 their worship with "decency and order," seems 
 to involve pre-arrangement and the practice of 
 some forms. 
 
 I suppose there is no one before me to-night 
 who is not thankful that our churches have not 
 inherited that apple of discord, a historic liturgy. 
 
ENRICHMENT OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 227 
 
 The truth has made us free. With a great price 
 our fathers in the faith purchased it for us, and 
 we should rejoice in it, as we do in the personal 
 freedom won for us by our forefathers in the 
 Revolution. Yet, have we not sometimes made 
 that very freedom an occasion of stumbling? 
 It is often noted in reforms, that the reformer 
 who goes too far sometimes creates a spirit of 
 revolt against the truths he proclaims; the sense 
 of justice is violated by intemperance of word 
 and deed, and the unthinking often fall back 
 into the pit from whence they were digged. The 
 pendulum that swings too far east will go back 
 a corresponding distance west. I sometimes 
 fear that we have gone a trifle too far in our 
 opposition to prescribed forms of worship, and 
 so have produced in some a craving for the rest- 
 fulness and outward reverence of ritualism. It 
 may be I have been more on the alert since I 
 was asked to write this paper, but a number of 
 instances have come to my notice of people who 
 complain of a lack of quietude and devotion in 
 our churches; in a few instances I have known 
 of Disciples of Christ who attend other 
 churches because the atmosphere in them is more 
 helpful to worship. It is true, these are gener- 
 ally young members and weak members, but we 
 do not wish to be a cause of offense to the poor- 
 est saint. I don't believe we lay quite as much 
 stress on the "meeting-house" idea now as we 
 
228 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 did some 3'ears ago, aud I think it is a happy 
 decline. We have come to the conclusion that 
 the people of our brotherhood are firral}' in- 
 trenched in the idea that the body of believers 
 is the church, and not the house where they 
 meet, and that we can build beautiful and com- 
 fortable houses for worship without leading any 
 one into the error of thinking that there is any 
 essential sanctity in places. I trust we shall 
 soon go a step farther, and lay more emphasis 
 on devout demeanor when we meet in the house 
 of God for public worship. 
 
 A subject like "The Enrichment of our Pub- 
 lic Worship, " necessarily implies the need of 
 such enrichment. I have talked with several 
 representatives of the pulpit in my part of the 
 world, and they fortified me in the belief that 
 there is such a need. One of the oldest preach- 
 ers in Lexington, the honored president of our 
 Foreign Missionary Society, wrote me these em- 
 phatic words: "It is a notorious fact that our 
 congregations in this land are not as reverential 
 and devotional in the house of God as they 
 should be; many do not understand the matter, 
 and need to have their attention called to it." I 
 shall take these words of one of our wise lead- 
 ers as my text, and shall diffidently offer some 
 suggestions looking to a greater spirit of rever- 
 ence in our worship. 
 
 I would sav that one of our first needs on that 
 
ENRICHMENT OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 229 
 
 line is to create an atmosphere of stillness and 
 silence in the house of God. "The Lord is in 
 his holy temple — let all the earth keep silence." 
 "Where two or three are gathered together in 
 my name, there am I in the midst of them." 
 Surely when we enter the place where prayer and 
 praise are wont to be made, where we invoke the 
 name of the Most High and claim the promise 
 of his presence, the sacred proprieties of the 
 place require a stillness of body, a hush of 
 speech that we rarely see in one of our congre- 
 gations. Instead of that, is it not the rule, 
 rather than the exception, at the beginning of 
 worship to hear a rustling of many garments, a 
 whispering of many voices? How hard to quiet 
 the spirit to the right frame for worship in such 
 an unquiet atmosphere ! Our spirits are so de- 
 pendent on our bodies, and our bodies, in this 
 high-strung generation, are such electric, ner- 
 vous machines, so responsive to surrounding in- 
 fluences, that thoughts will wander and be dis- 
 tracted, and what should be a heavenly hour is 
 wasted. In the text, "The spirit indeed is will- 
 ing, but the flesh is weak," have we not more 
 than an intimation that the spirit is largely de- 
 pendent for its helps or its hindrances upon the 
 body in which we dwell? 
 
 I believe one of the ways of helping to attain 
 to a devotional quietude, is the practice of silent 
 prayer on first entering the church. It enables 
 
230 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 the worshiper to still his own heart by asking 
 God's help; it also protects him from thought- 
 less comments and greeting of those sitting near. 
 You may say, *' Why bring this up at this meet- 
 ing? Let those who like offer silent prayer, and 
 those who dislike such a form refrain from it." 
 The trouble is, if part of a congregation prac- 
 tice it, and part do not, those* who do, make 
 themselves remarked and conspicuous by it, and 
 so shrink from what would be a helpful com- 
 munion. In our church in Lexington, the 
 women who attend the woman's prayer-meet- 
 ing resolved that they would each offer silent 
 prayer at the beginning of the service. We did 
 so for a while, but we were only about thirty out 
 of a congregation of one thousand, and we soon 
 became so conscious of comment and criticism 
 that we lost the benefit of it, and gradually had 
 to abandon it. It would have to be of general 
 observance before it would be a helpful service 
 to the worshiper, and have a quieting eifect on 
 the congregation. 
 
 Our good minister has lately instructed his 
 ushers to keep late-comers in the rear of the 
 church, and not seat them during the reading of 
 the Scripture lesson. The distractions to mind 
 from people coming in during the invocation, or 
 prayer, or Bible-reading, are certainly hindrances 
 to a worshipful frame of mind. It is getting to 
 be considered bad form to enter a concert-room 
 
ENRICHMENT OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 231 
 
 during the progress of a musical number. 
 Would it be too much to hope for such an ideal 
 in church decorum, that late comers would 
 always wait in the rear until prayer or Bible 
 reading was finished? 
 
 St. Paul speaks of saying Amen in the church 
 at the giving of thanks. Surely we need not 
 fear to practice it then ; it gives the congrega- 
 tion a participation in the prayers that seems 
 most fitting. And why should we not at times 
 participate with the minister in prayer, by re- 
 peating the Lord's Prayer in concert? When 
 our Master gave it he evidently meant it for the 
 use of a number together, for he uses the plural 
 throughout, " When ye pray, say, Our Father, lead 
 us not into temptation,'' whereas when directions 
 were given for private prayer, it is, " Wlien thou 
 prayest, enter into thy closet,'' and so on. Certain- 
 ly it would enrich our prayer service to have the 
 whole body of worshipers repeat together often 
 this most divine and perfect form of prayer. 
 
 And I can see no rational objection to the peo- 
 ple sharing in the Bible-reading with the minis- 
 ter. The responsive reading of appropriate pas- 
 sages from the Word of God is certainly a 
 profitable and beautiful form of worship; we 
 use it in our Sunday-school, and the teachers and 
 scholars join in it heartily, and make it a help- 
 ful part of our service. The only machinery 
 needed are Bibles in the pews as well as hymn 
 
232 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 books, and a leader to face the congregation. 
 Surely an ideal in worship is to have the wor- 
 shipers participate with the minister in it, and 
 if we use these simple and becoming forms of 
 silent prayer, the audible amen, the Lord's 
 Prayer in concert and responsive readings from 
 the Bible, we shall have taken along step toward 
 that much-desired end. We are often accused 
 of making much of the sermon and little of the 
 worship in our church service. Would it not be 
 well to remove the cause of that criticism by 
 more careful attention to the details of worship 
 (whether along lines indicated in this paper, or 
 in ways suggested by those who shall follow me) 
 and so raise the worship to as high a plane of 
 dignity as the sermon? 
 
 A great preacher says, "In hymns and psalms 
 we have a universal ritual; it is the theology of 
 the heart that unites men. The art of singing 
 together is one that is forever weaving invisible 
 threads about us." And the same high author- 
 ity testifies to the value of good hymns in gen- 
 eral, and of one hymn in particular, by saying, 
 "I would rather have written 'Jesus, Lover of 
 My Soul,' than to have the fame of all the 
 kings that ever sat on earth. That hymn will go 
 on singing until the last trump brings forth the 
 angel band, and then I think it will mount up on 
 some lip to the very presence of God." 
 
 No one will question that music is one of the 
 
ENRICHMENT OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 233 
 
 important parts of worship. It is that part in 
 which all join and that part that most perfectly 
 voices the element of praise. I count that its 
 quieting, uplifting effect on the worshiper is one 
 of its primary functions. No one who has been 
 so fortunate as to see an audience of thousands 
 under the spell of the sublimest of oratorios, 
 The Messiah, who has seen them rise as one 
 man and join in the final chorus, can fail to bear 
 witness to the elevating power of music, and 
 can doubt but that it is one of the great means 
 by which the soul soars upward to the feet of the 
 Great Father. We have a familiar illustration 
 of the power of music in the service for the 
 dead. How often have we listened dry-eyed to 
 prayer and Holy Writ, but when the sweet and 
 solemn strains of the hymn floated out, tears 
 have streamed down every face. It has a lan- 
 guage that speaks more eloquently than the 
 tongue of any man. Haydn, when an old man, 
 made his first journey to England. Mozart ex- 
 pressed anxiety to him lest his ignorance of the 
 English language should mar the pleasure of his 
 visit. *'My language," said the old musician, "is 
 understood all the world over." Music is the 
 universal speech which appeals to the universal 
 heart of man ; it is the utterance of what is un- 
 utterable in words — the voice of the soul's life. 
 Creation began with music, when the morning 
 stars sang together; it greeted the birth of 
 
234 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 Christ when the angelic hosts sang to the listen- 
 ing shepherds. Our lives begin with the cradle 
 song, they close with the funeral anthem. We 
 know not whether there will be speech after the 
 manner of earthly speech in heaven, but we do 
 know that song set to strains from heavenly 
 harps will be there, and that is a speech we can 
 all understand. 
 
 If music have this power over body and spirit, 
 how important that we should use it to its best 
 and fullest in our church service. I take it for 
 granted that we are all agreed that the most per- 
 fect song service is that in which the whole 
 church can join, so I shall not enlarge on 'con- 
 gregational singing. Neither shall I emphasize 
 the use of the organ in worship, because, happi- 
 ly, the dispute over its use is passing away, and 
 it is only at rare intervals that we now hear 
 echoes of what was once a bitter controversy. 
 It has been practically demonstrated that the 
 sound of the organ in our churches was not the 
 death knell of congregational singing, as some 
 of its opponents darkly predicted. In point of 
 fact, in a town I know, where one of the large 
 churches has an organ and one has not, the 
 church without the organ has more of what we 
 call special choir singing than the church with 
 the organ. If ever an instrument was created 
 for a special purpose, the organ seems to have 
 been especially designed for religious music. To 
 
ENRICHMENT OF PUBLIC WORSPIP. 235 
 
 fail to use an instrument so peculiarly fitted for 
 divine worship, whether alone, in voluntary or 
 prelude, or as the background and harmonious 
 complement of the human voice in song, would 
 seem to be a willful neglect of opportunity. 
 
 In addition to the organ, played by one not 
 only a skillful musician but a sincere Christian, 
 I think music in our churches needs two things: 
 
 1. A higher poetic standard for the hymns 
 we use. 
 
 2. A higher musical standard for the tunes 
 to which they are set. For acceptable song be- 
 fore the Lord, we should indeed crave "perfect 
 music set to noble words." 
 
 In the reformation wrought by our church 
 fathers, song and hymn did not play the impor- 
 tant part they did with Luther in the sixteenth 
 century and with the Wesleys in the eighteenth. 
 The sermon and the debate were the means by 
 which the evils of sectarianism were attacked, 
 and the desirableness of Christian union was ex- 
 tolled. Luther's psalms and hymns gave wings 
 to his teaching; they became so popular they 
 even found their way into the Catholic Church, 
 so that a Romanist said in alarm, "The whole 
 people is singing itself into the Lutheran doc- 
 trine." Luther's great hymn, "A Mighty Strong- 
 hold is Our God," became the Marseillaise of 
 the Reformation. Charles Wesley sang the doc- 
 trines of Methodism into the hearts of believers. 
 
236 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 His *'Jesus, Lover of My Soul," and *'Love 
 Divine, All Love Excelling," did as much to 
 reach the heart of his day as the eloquence of 
 Whitfield or the administrative genius of his 
 brother John. 
 
 The fact that the sermon rather than the 
 hymn played the leading part in our reformation, 
 may account for the little stress we have laid on 
 hymns as a means of grace. They furnish the 
 best devotional reading that we have; next to 
 the Word of God, they give comfort to the sor- 
 rowing and guidance to the perplexed. It is 
 important that we have the best hymns in our 
 collections on that account, as well as on ac- 
 count of the leading part they bear in our wor- 
 ship. I have never seen a collection of hymns 
 for the use of our churches that has satisfied me. 
 Those that I have seen fail to give us some of 
 the lyrics that voice the perfect flower of spirit- 
 ual aspiration. I fail to find those two old 
 hymns that have come down to us from the sixth 
 and eighth centuries, and that possess poetry as 
 well as piety, — **Art Thou Weary, Art Thou Lan- 
 guid?" and "0, Sacred Head, Once Wounded." 
 I have never seen in our collections that beauti- 
 ful hymn of Charles Wesley, "Come, O Thou 
 Traveler Unknown." 
 
 This century has been peculiarly rich in hymn 
 writers, but we lack a number of their jewels of 
 sacred song in our collections, such as Prof. 
 
ENRICHMENT OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 237 
 
 Blackie's "Angels Holy, High and Lowly;" Miss 
 Dowdney's funeral hymn, "Sleep On, Beloved, 
 Sleep, and Take Thy Rest;" Miss Procter's "I 
 Do Not Ask, O Lord, That Life May Be a Pleas- 
 ant Eoad;" Mrs. Alexander's "There is a Green 
 Hill Far Away," and others by Mrs. Browning, 
 Adelaide Procter, Christina Rosetti, and writers 
 on Avhom I have not space to dwell. 
 
 But I do find in use among us, as well as 
 among other religious bodies, hymns that seem 
 utterly unworthy of a place in public worship. 
 The growing use of congregational singing, and 
 the ever larger part taken in worship by our 
 young people and children, have made the hymn 
 with the refrain very popular. That it is a noble 
 form no one can doubt who has heard Baring- 
 Gould's "Onward, Christian Soldier," or Miss 
 Havergal's "I Gave My Life for Thee," or many 
 of Bliss' and Sankey's songs. But that it has 
 been put to base uses no one can fail to note 
 who listens to much of the degenerate jingle 
 that masquerades under the name of Gospel 
 Songs. How many of them are merely taking a 
 popular phrase and twisting it into mechanical 
 rhymes, without meaning or devotion! Did you 
 ever think how often the good phrases, "Over 
 the River," and "Whiter than Snow," and "The 
 Sweet By-and-By," have been reproduced, until 
 they were purely perfunctory and threadbare? 
 I counted eight songs in one collection that w^ere 
 
238 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 built up on "Whiter than Snow," and seven that 
 had as their base "Some Day," or "Some Sweet 
 Day," or "Some Happy Day." There is a re- 
 frain to a gospel song we often sing that always 
 brings to my mind the Psalmist's prayer, "Lord, 
 keep thy servant from presumptuous sins;" it 
 tells of when the saved of earth shall gather over 
 on the other shore, and announces in confident 
 and oft-repeated chorus, "When the Roll is 
 Called Up Yonder, I'll Be There." To say the 
 least, it seems premature for sinning, stumbling 
 creatures to make public proclamation of that 
 fact. There is one song we used to sing at every 
 revival in our part of the country, but is happily 
 not in our later collections; it is the one where 
 the newly converted believer is represented as 
 saying : 
 
 "My old companions, fare you well, 
 I will not go with you to hell." 
 
 I do not believe it is possible to wed doggerel to 
 noble music. If the words be only jingle, the 
 music will be only jingle. Musical critics say 
 that one reason Italian opera never attained to 
 the dignity and meaning of that of Wagner and 
 other German composers was because their text 
 was lacking in intellectual quality and nobility of 
 theme. The eagerness with which great musi- 
 cians of our day have used the Faust theme — 
 that noble theme of the struggle, both in the 
 
ENRICHMENT OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 239 
 
 visible and invisible worlds, between the powers 
 of good and evil for mastery of the human soul — 
 shows the value they set on a noble text. 
 
 Much of the music set to our popular hymns 
 is trash of the purest kind. There is a wealth 
 of divine music ready for our use, written by the 
 great masters who looked on their art as a sacred 
 trust, given to them from above. Handel said 
 when he wrote the Hallelujah Chorus, *'I did see 
 heaven open before me;" Haydn wrote at the 
 beginning of all his compositions, *'To the glory 
 of God," and put at the close, *'Praise the 
 Lord;" and Mozart wrote, "I have God always 
 before my eyes." There is plenty of music by 
 them and by their peers fitted for congrega- 
 tional singing, so that the unlearned in music, 
 though guiltless of knowledge of note or bar, 
 can join therein; and there is being written, all 
 the time, music that is worthy of being wedded 
 to the sweetest and loftiest of our spiritual 
 songs. 
 
 I believe that when we have set a higher stand- 
 ard for our song service, both in words , and 
 music, we shall have taken a long step toward 
 enriching our public worship. 
 
 I have said before that we are often charged 
 with making too much of the sermon and too 
 little of the worship in our service; but there 
 is one ordinance that Disciples observe every 
 Sunday that is the very acme — the climax of 
 
240 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 worship — the Holy Communion. As far as I 
 know, we are the only people who celebrate 
 the Lord's Supper every Lord's day — the only 
 people who meet "for the breaking of bread on 
 the first day of every week." 
 
 We are often reminded that the frequent ob- 
 servance of this memorial endangers its solem- 
 nity and efficacy by making it common. We 
 should be constantly on the watch that this 
 observance, which is both a memorial of the dead 
 Christ and a communion with the living Christ, 
 should never be formal and perfunctory — but 
 should be a blessed hour spent on the heights of 
 communion, of grateful meditation on the love 
 which laid down a life for us, and in examina- 
 tion of our hearts, with a penitent purpose to 
 put away the sins that separate us from him. I 
 wish some of the brethren present, who are bet- 
 ter versed in our church history than I am, 
 would give the reasons for so often placing the 
 conduct of this service in the hands of the elders, 
 rather than with the minister of the church. 
 Is it not a fact that a change from the one who 
 has presided in all the previous services to an- 
 other person, is apt to distract the minds of the 
 congregation at a moment when the thoughts 
 should be turned within in examination of our 
 own hearts, and upward to Him who alone can 
 make them clean? In most instances the new 
 leader feels that he must make some introduc- 
 
ENRICHMENT OE PUBLIC WORSHIP. 241 
 
 tory remarks — often in the shape of a kind of 
 review of the sermon just closed. Very often 
 the best of elders has no gift for public speech, 
 and he suffers and his hearers suffer while he 
 struggles through what has been imposed on him 
 as a duty. Sometimes a good elder, faithful in 
 comforting the sick and ministering to the 
 needy, is lacking in a sense of the eternal fit- 
 ness of things. Some of you know of a dis- 
 tressing occasion, when a beautiful new church 
 was filled with a great crowd, and the good old 
 elder, whose turn it was to officiate at the Lord's 
 Supper, as soon as he took his place at the table, 
 burst out in one of the loudest and most discord- 
 ant voices ever heard into *'Alas, and Did My 
 Savior Bleed," and sang it through, while the 
 congregation sat in helpless misery through it 
 all! 
 
 It is given to very few to say the solemn and 
 uplifting word at this sacred time. The utter- 
 ance of prayer, the voice of song, the words of 
 Holy Writ, are the only words we want; all 
 other speech is apt to jar then. I have often 
 wished that some of our leading brethren would 
 arrange selected passages from the Bible for use 
 at our communion service — passages that could 
 be either used responsively by minister and con- 
 gregation, or could be read by the minister 
 
 alone — and that would help us to reach that 
 16 
 
242 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 frame of mind so beautifully expressed by Bonar 
 in his Communion Hymn: 
 
 "Here, O my Lord, I see thee face to face. 
 
 Here would I touch and handle things unseen; 
 Here grasp with firmer hand the eternal grace. 
 And all my weariness upon thee lean." 
 
 While I was writing this paper, I saw com- 
 ments in two of our secular papers on the dis- 
 regard of the benediction in many of our 
 churches. The writers deplored the fact that 
 what should be most beautiful and solemn was 
 spoiled by the congregation struggling into over- 
 coats and overshoes, and clutching for hats and 
 umbrellas. I know you will grant that this was 
 a just criticism, and that the benediction, instead 
 of being the close and climax of a sacred ser- 
 vice, is too often the preparation for an unseem- 
 ly rush to get out of the church. But while the 
 congregation seem to be the erring ones, yet, 
 with all due respect for this gathering, I believe 
 the minister is often at fault, too. Items of 
 business, forgotten announcements, are often 
 sandwiched in between the doxology and bene- 
 diction, and the spirit uplifted by communion 
 and song is abruptly jerked back to practical 
 details, and the closing blessing loses its effect. 
 The communion, the parting praise song, tlio 
 benediction, should each be a successive step on 
 the ladder of praise; to insert anything irrele- 
 vant is to break what should be a sacred ascending 
 
ENRICHMENT OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 243 
 
 series, and to rob the devout worshiper of the 
 parting promise of the presence of God, of 
 peace, of love, of grace — a humble foretaste of 
 the final blessing, "Well done, good and faith- 
 ful servant." 
 
 For any minister to make the **benediction 
 that follows after prayer" degenerate into the 
 mere formality of repeating a changeless form, 
 is to cheat his people out of a goodly heritage. 
 There is a wealth of benedictory forms in the 
 sacred writings which have power indeed "to 
 quiet the restless pulse of care." I counted 
 twenty-five beautiful benedictions found in the 
 Epistles alone, to say nothing of those in the 
 Old Testament, especially that peerless one 
 given by the Lord himself for blessing the chil- 
 dren of Israel: 
 
 "The Lord bless thee and keep thee; 
 The Lord make his face to shine, and be gracious unto thee: 
 The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee 
 peace. 
 
 Our Lord, wearied with his journey, resting 
 alone by a well-side at noon, told a nameless, 
 sinning woman the greatest of all secrets about 
 acceptable worship. The essential of worship, 
 he said, was not the place, it was not the gor- 
 geous temple ritual, it Avas the spirit of the wor- 
 shiper. "The true worshiper must worship the 
 Father in spirit and in truth." Here we have the 
 greatest need for enriching our worship — the 
 
244 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 humble, penitent, believing heart, hungering 
 and thirsting for righteousness, answering the 
 divine *'Come unto me" of Him who is both the 
 bread of life and the water of life. A clear call 
 to this age, as it is to all ages, is to lift our ideals 
 of personal piety ever higher. The noble watch- 
 word of this generation is service; nearly every 
 earnest member of our church is asking, '*Lord, 
 what wilt thou have me to c?o.^" The pent-up 
 energies of an inert past are finding avenues for 
 usefulness on every side ; doors of opportunity 
 are opening everywhere, not only to the strong 
 man trained for work, but to the women who 
 are already becoming a great host, to the young 
 people, even to the little children. How im- 
 portant that now of all times, our standards of 
 holy living and holy dying should be of the 
 highest. Paul exhorted his son in the faith to 
 be ''sanctified, meet for the Master's use, pre- 
 pared for every good work." The workman, in 
 order to do good work, must have tools bright 
 and sharp. We expect our Master to use us; 
 how should we strive to be "meet for his use?" 
 Of what exalted piet}^ and purity should we be, 
 of what lowly childlikeness, of what strong and 
 steadfast spirits, what patience, what gentleness! 
 I do not believe our Master can any more use us 
 for good works unless we are "meet for his use," 
 than he could do mighty works in the city where 
 there was unbelief. The high tide of spiritual 
 
ENRICHMENT OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 245 
 
 growth must throb through all our work and our 
 worship, or both will be cold and fruitless. 
 
 It has struck me that our people are great- 
 ly lacking in devotional literature. I do not 
 think we want to foster the introspective, ana- 
 lytical spirit of by-gone days, when the Chris- 
 tian spent the best part of his time contemplat- 
 ing his own vices and virtues and speculating on 
 them, but we want more books that strike true 
 notes of spiritual aspiration, where a busy 
 worker can find a chord that shall make his day 
 harmonious, where the poor soul, blinded and 
 bewildered with sorrow or pain, can find help, 
 where the weak can find strength. These things 
 are all in God's Word, but many are busy, or 
 blind, or ignorant, and do not, or will not, seek 
 for themselves. Some of us were preparing 
 cases of books for a traveling library in the 
 mountains of Kentucky some time ago, and on 
 inquiry as to the kind of books wanted, found 
 there was a great demand for devotional books, 
 which was a surprise, coming from that special 
 field. There is a great demand everywhere for 
 books that tell simply and sincerely how to be 
 good. 
 
 That the pulpit should often exhort to that 
 "holiness without which no man can see God," 
 goes without saying. In the church where they 
 hope to enrich the worship, this theme must 
 often be repeated. And there should be no com- 
 
246 OUR FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 promise of ideals; the only goal to which the 
 Christian is pointed should be the prize of the 
 high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The only 
 pattern held before him must be that heavenly 
 and irresistible one which draws all men to it 
 when lifted up. In order to permanently enrich 
 our worship, all the worshipers must belong to 
 that elect class whose uplifted eyes are looking 
 to Jesus, whose yearning hearts are trying to be 
 like him, and whose firm faith comforts them, 
 through all their struggles and failures, that 
 they shall be like him in that blest day "when 
 they shall see him as he is." 
 
 Ida Withers Harrison. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
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