The Gospel of God by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Nov 1, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 43.

The Gospel of God

By Editor

THE following from an article written by the late Theo. L. Cuyler, like many others from his pen, is ever timely. It advocates unswerving adherence to the simple and pure Gospel, unadulterated by the sophistical admixtures of the Critics:

"There is abroad in some quarters an impression that the Bible is not in touch with these modern times, that its possibilities have been exhausted, and that, in order to retain its hold on the masses, the church 'must more closely aline itself with liberal and advanced thinking.' There is manifest, too, a growing taste for 'sociology;' and many ministers are tempted to give undue prominence to the discussion of problems that belong to social science and political economy.

"The Bible does, indeed, contain seed-corn principles from which all wise social reforms must spring. It teaches with divine authority the duty of the strong to provide for the weak, the necessity of honest dealing and honest wages, the stewardship of money, the claims of temperance and Christian charity, and the duties that belong to Christian citizenship. No wise minister will ignore these pressing and practical questions, and when he does occasionally discuss them he ought to do so with fearless plainness of speech.

"But the Word of God goes a great deal deeper than any problems of social philosophy. It goes to the root of things. It strikes down into the depraved human heart as the source of all the sins and the wrongs, and the sorrows and the sufferings, that exist in this present evil world. Satan's throne is in the unregenerate heart; and out of that heart proceed the evil thoughts, the cruelties, the adulteries, the thefts, the murders, the falsehoods, and all the swarm of mischiefs and miseries that afflict society. Christ's Gospel is the only remedy that can reach that heart; and therefore it is the one chief and foremost duty of every Christian minister to preach that Heaven-sent Gospel and to press it home upon every conscience. Jesus Christ, the Healer of sick bodies, came into this world chiefly to save sin-sick souls. He preached heart repentance and holy living.

"Paul and his fellow apostles did not go about lecturing on sociology, even in that corrupt age. They grappled with the mightier problem of man's utter heart-depravity, and wrought for nothing less than men's souls, and their entire regeneration by the Holy Spirit. That is the prime office of the Gospel of redemption. The wonder-working Gospel of atonement, faith-regeneration, and supporting grace—which is God's masterpiece—has no more run out than the law of gravitation has run out, and it is no more 'antiquated' than are fresh air and sunshine. . . .

"Human nature—whether in mansion or in hovel—has not changed since the apostle's day. Christianity has not changed, and never will change. It provides for the life that now is, and infinitely more for the life that is to come. The infinite God knew what He was doing when He gave to His sinning, suffering children a Gospel that covers the heart and renovates the whole man, through the incoming of Christ Jesus. To His ministers He entrusts this life-giving Gospel—not to be altered or overlaid or veneered, much less to be apologized for or concealed. The sublime purpose of this Gospel is to bring God to man and man to God. Its two principles—as Pascal well said—are the corruption of human nature and redemption by Jesus Christ. As time can never 'antiquate' these two principles, the precious Gospel is as fresh, and as strong, and as indispensable and powerful as when it was thundered from the lips of Paul."