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Editorial

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Aug 17, 1905

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 82, No. 33.

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Editorial

By Editor

Discarding Christianity

It ought to be perfectly clear by this time to those who have followed the trend of the teaching of present-day teachers of up-to-date theology that they have discarded Christianity in favor of their own evolutionary doctrines. Indeed they are openly doing this, so that it is no longer necessary to show that the logic of their teaching will inevitably lead to this. A recent utterance of one of their representative men will illustrate the correctness of this statement. In a volume lately issued from the University of Chicago, Prof. Gerald B. Smith contributes an article on “Practical Theology,” in which, according to a published review of the book, he “proceeds to show that the majority of clergymen of the present day are, as a rule, out of harmony with modern progress, demands, and conditions, and that their greatest mistake, a mistake which they are slow and at all times reluctant to correct, lies in their endeavor to perpetuate a religion suited only to the simple peasants of a past age in the midst of conditions in which it no longer has a place.” According to the view of such men as Professor Smith, that religion which is the embodiment of love to God and to one’s neighbor, and which is expounded by its Author in the sermon on the mount, is not adapted to “modern progress, demands, and conditions,” and it is a mistake to attempt to perpetuate it in this age of the world. It is perfectly evident that the principles of true Christianity do not harmonize with the spirit of this time when iniquity abounds, and the love of many has waxed cold, but shall they therefore be discarded? This plain avowal of the attitude of the new theology toward primitive Christianity shows that the preachers of this modern religion will not be able to turn men “from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God,” inasmuch as they set aside the one gospel which is “the power of God unto salvation” as not being adapted to this progressive age. Every such utterance as this by Professor Smith emphasizes the demand for the preaching of the original gospel truth as found in the third angel’s message—the one setting of the principles of Christianity which adapts them to modern conditions. Let this message be speedily proclaimed to all the world.