A New Religion by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 16, 1909

A New Religion

By C. M. S.

PROF. CHARLES W. ELIOT'S assertion of the necessity of a new religion has come late. There is already being preached in all parts of the land a new religion. It has come to be a kind of common ground for the principal Protestant denominations. It makes little or nothing of Christ in his true mission as man's Redeemer, but seeks through the influence and power of his name to exploit a sort of religio-centric socialism. It designates as a one-day religion the faith and practise of evangelical Christianity, and sets itself forth as a seven-day religion. It consists in a kind of moral gloss thrown over secular activities. Speaking of Dr. Lyman Abbott's advocacy of this new religion, the Washington Post of December 12 says:—

It may be that the world is rushing faster, that a deal of wickedness is abroad, and that truth and beauty are not always triumphant. Where religion flourishes at all, however, it is being directed into the channels of every-day life, and is not confined to the churches. Some of the remarks of the Rev. Dr. Lyman Abbott at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia might before last May have fallen upon the ears of the most puritanical of his listeners with an air of irreverence. After declaring that what was written in the four Gospels was “colored by His reporters,” and must not be followed literally, the editor said:—

“The Gospels do not contain a record that Christ ever declined a social invitation. He did not condemn the desire for pleasure, and he did not renounce the world. . . . Christ did not think that good dress, good food, and good pleasure were wicked. And yet no one ever accused Jesus Christ of being an epicure. His teaching was that the things are right which are a contribution to

character, and the things are wrong which do not contribute to character. . . . I think Jesus Christ would be one of the men who think it right to be rich. He never condemned thrift or industry or the accumulation of wealth or property. What he did condemn was making the accumulation of property an end in life. . . . To bring about the kingdom of heaven on earth was his fundamental teaching. Every railroad man who helps to bind the country together with iron bands, every manufacturer who makes shoes and clothing and distributes them far and wide for mankind, every cook in the kitchen who makes the body better minister to the spirit, is doing the work of Christ.”

This is the religion of to-day. It is being preached by all creeds. It is the religion of service, and it is for all men. It may at first seem irreverent to place Christ in the midst of our hurrying, bustling cities, and picture him dealing with modern conditions. But it is only by this method that his teachings will become effective to-day. The religion that sent a man to church one day a week, and gave his soul a holiday for the remaining six days, has passed. This is the age of a seven-days' religion.

These two quotations lay bare the kernel of the new religion, which in a sense is not new, but very old, being a religion of works, and as old as the day when Cain made his self-selected offering to his Creator. It seeks to put the real religion of the Bible out of mind and heart, and thrust into its place a deification of good works. In accomplishing its purpose the Higher Criticism has been its strongest and most subtle helpmeet. That is shown in Dr. Abbott's declaration that the Gospels were “colored” by our Saviour's “reporters,” and must not be followed literally. If followed literally, of course, no such “religion” could be manufactured out of them. Christ taught good works, but he taught more than that—“without me ye can do nothing.” He had a message of brotherhood, but he had more than that—“except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish;” “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.” The Higher Criticism and the new religions that grow out of it know nothing of these great facts, save as propositions fatal to their philosophy, which must be denied in toto. Our Lord's attitude toward the pleasures of this world is sufficiently illustrated in the parable of the sower. Luke 8:14. The pleasures of this world choke the word and hinder the bearing of fruit in our lives. This contradiction of the teaching of the “new religion” by the words of our Saviour himself is but an illustration of the complete contradiction, by his entire life and mission, of the whole fundamental hypothesis of the “new religion.”

“He did not renounce the world,” says Dr. Abbott. But Jesus himself says: “The world hated them [the disciples], because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” Again, in the same prayer, he says, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” John 17:14, 16.

The “new religion” stops with the making of moral characters, and knows nothing of the power of Christ in the human heart to make the perfecting and possession of a moral character possible. The “new religion” makes man his own savior. Christ says: “Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life,” teaching in that one declaration that outside of him there is no life beyond the tomb.

Similarly does this “new religion” misinterpret the teachings of Jesus concerning riches. Said he to his disciples: “It is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” Matt. 19:23, 24.

The building of railroads, the making of shoes, the cooking of food, are all proper occupations, and honorable when honestly done; but he who makes a religion out of them is self-deceived and steering his bark toward ruin; while he who makes them equal to the mission of the self-humbling Son of God to this world has never learned what Christ's mission was or what the world needed. The subtle skepticism of unconverted theologians alone could weave such a fabric and call it Christian.

It is true, as the Post says, that this has become the religion of the day; but it only emphasizes the crying need of the louder and speedier proclamation of the everlasting gospel. In proportion as such a “new religion” prevails in the world, true faith disappears, and the time of the culmination of the gospel work draws near. C. M. S.