A Refreshing Departure by S. B. Horton

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 1, 1914

A Refreshing Departure

By S. B. Horton

IN these busy and strenuous days of National Reformism, Lord's Day Alliance activities, and endeavors of the Federal Council of the Churches, it is refreshing to read a contrary opinion from some pastors of those different organizations.

Rev. Robert J. Dogan, pastor of the Fulton Avenue Baptist Church (Baltimore), in his sermon on December 7, pointed out that the keynote of Christ's ministry is for men to adjust their relations with God. He said further: "Notwithstanding that Christ emphasized the fact that his kingdom was a spiritual kingdom,—a kingdom not of this world,—there are some who would make us believe that the whole trend of the New Testament is to teach the readjustment of material conditions."

Opposed to the principles for which such men as Reverend Dogan stand are such organizations as, (1) The Lord's Day Alliance and the National Reform Association, seeking for legislation to compel men, by civil law, to adjust their relations with the Lord by forcing them to render to Caesar the things that belong to God; (2) the Federal Council of the Churches, endeavoring to secure a monopoly of philanthropic and church work through civil laws; (3) the Roman Catholic Church, which proposes to gather all forces, religious and political, under the dominion of the Pope.

S. B. Horton.