[J. K. McLean, D. D., in Baccalaureate Sermon at Mills College, Oakland.]
My subject may be called the supreme personal equipment, which I take to be religious principle, in contrast with mere religious sentiment or even religious conviction. Religious sentiment is apt to be a thing of the lips only; religious conviction, a thing of the mind. Religious principle holds in vital control the man’s whole being. Religious sentiment is the law of God upon one’s tongue; religious conviction is the law of God in one’s head. Religious principle is the law of God made vitally regnant over his whole being.
Religious sentiments are good, but insufficient. They are like cut flowers; they beautify and adorn, but are no part of the structure. They decorate, like potted plants, but they do not constitute the reality.
Convictions go deeper. They constitute the rock principle in human nature; they are more solid, and far less fragile than mere sentiment. They constitute largely the holding power in character. But convictions, like rocks, are not imperishable. They may be rent by great convulsions, melted under excessive heat of passion, suffer erosion under pressure, or disintegrate thru exposure to the elements.
Religious principle, in contrast with both these, is possessed of vitality. It has a self-renewing, self-propagating power. It draws up into itself all the great forces and processes of life, and so is imperishable.
The three things are not antagonistic to one another, but are supplementary. It is the purpose of true education to secure and develop them all. The one gives beauty of character, the other stability, the third vitality. Taken all together, they constitute the complete life; they reproduce the life of God in man.
Following Christ’s Example
“WHAT Christ did, every Christian should be willing to do.”
HOW MAY WE OBTAIN THE SPIRIT?
THE Holy Spirit as the life of God longs to flow into every living soul, bringing with it all “the power of an endless life.” It is not the work of the Spirit that the carnal mind sets itself across the current of the Spirit’s flow from the great Heart of the universe. The choice of the man is responsible for that. For even the man is, by his sinful nature, incapable in himself of rising above the power of sin, which holds him down; and even the environments are wholly of a downward tendency, yet man may so yield the evil and choose the good as to ally himself forever with the Strength of Eternity. The choice rests with the individual soul; the power is given by the eternal God. But God will not use His infinite power to enter man’s circle of free will, and compel man to act. The domain of choice within that circle is sacred to man so far as his Creator is concerned; it is only malefic influences which seek to control the human will.
The will, the right of choice, must remain sacred to man, first, because God asks only for willing, loving service; and secondly, because man’s character and happiness, to be permanent, must be the result of his own choosing.
Christ comes to all, pleading that He, the rightful Ruler of the heart, may enter and occupy His throne, expel the usurper, heal the wounds of sin, and restore the rightful, normal conditions of life. He has all, all to satisfy the longing of every soul.
When He comes to us, He comes unto His own by creation, by right of purchase. And to as many as receive Him, to them gives He power (right, privilege) to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. John 1:11, 12. But this change is wrought only when self and sin are all surrendered, and He is given the power to control absolutely the life. This He does by His Spirit, thru the channel which faith opens,—“thru sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” 2 Thess. 2:13. Faith is not the power; it is the channel thru which the power flows; it is the trolley which reaches up and appropriates the mighty current of electricity flowing above; it is the rootlets that strike down to the perennial streams of refreshing below; it is the open leaves and flowers which drink the life of the sunshine and shower overhead. God’s Spirit is the power, the streams of life below the burning sands, the sunshine and shower from above. It is the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.
The car is dead without the connection which the trolley makes. The life-currents might flow for years underneath the tree, and the tree receive no benefit if its roots did not reach down and drink. So God’s Spirit might flow about us and around us forever, bringing His presence and power and life, and we receive no benefit unless our being is yielded to its power; unless we are anxious that the wretched old life shall be changed; unless we long for the life of His righteousness so much that we shall plead for its presence and power. And “if we do,” here are the answers: “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” Luke 11:9-13. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God thru our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. . . . And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.” Rom. 5:1-5.
Then ask with all the heart; seek with all diligence; knock unceasingly, expecting, using to His glory the life given, and God will make the desert of your life blossom like the rose, and bear fruit to His glory. “There is no other way but His way.”
THE PURPOSE OF THE SABBATH.
SABBATH means rest. The Lord’s Sabbath is the Lord’s rest. To observe the Lord’s Sabbath is to observe the Lord’s rest.
But rest implies labor performed. Previous to the Lord’s rest came the Lord’s work. “In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day [the rest-day], and hallowed it.” Ex. 20:11. It is therefore evident that to keep the Lord’s rest, we must do the Lord’s work.
The character of the Lord’s work is thus given: “And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good.” Gen. 1:31. “The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works.” Ps. 145:17. “The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honorable and glorious; and His righteousness endureth forever.” Ps. 111:2, 3. The above expresses the character of the work wrought by our God.
And this expresses the character of His rest: “In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.” Ex. 31:17. The original word naphash, means in its active sense to breathe; in its passive, “to be breathed upon,” that is, refreshed as by a current of air. So Strong. The thought is that the day which came at the close of God’s wonderful works for the blessing of His creatures brought to Him such pleasure, such restfulness, such delight, as comes to the wearied man when a cool, balmy breeze from resinous forests and flower-laden fields fans his fevered face and refreshes his whole being. The Lord was not tired. “Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary;” but He uses the most satisfying figure which could come to weary man to express the blessing and satisfaction of His rest. He breathed His satisfaction and refreshing into the day. He, the great God, was refreshed in the blessing which he gave to man.
He has commanded us to “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” We are not to keep it to make it holy. Its holiness is not affected by aught that we can do. The sanctity of the day rests wholly upon God’s appointment and blessing and law, and not upon aught that the creature may do or not do. The rest-day is one of God’s righteous ways. To observe it, to “keep it holy,” it must first be made holy; and this holiness God gave it in His separation of that day from the others of the week by His resting, blessing, and sanctification.
Only a holy person can keep holy a holy day.
Only a holy person can perform the holy works necessary to the observation of the holy rest.
Only an essentially holy Being—Creator—can make an essentially holy day.
Only a holy Creator can make a holy person who can perform holy works and keep holy a holy day.
All these are great self-evident facts which God desires to make great manifest living truths in the experience of all His children of earth. And therefore saith the Scripture of the children of God: “And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins [transgressions of His law, Rom. 7:7; 1 John 3:4]; . . . But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. . . . For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained [“prepared,” margin] that we should walk in them.” Eph. 2:1-10.
And thus sinful men “put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Eph. 4:24.
Now among God’s “good works” “before prepared,” is His righteous life and holy Sabbath of rest; and He creates sinful man anew, makes him a new creature, in order that man may serve God, not in his own vain imaginations, but “in righteousness and true holiness,” keeping holy what God hath made holy, what is in the very nature of things essentially holy, whether eyes dimmed with sin can see it or not; for God is no arbitrary ruler. The Sabbath, therefore, becomes a sign to the recreated, regenerated, sanctified child of God, not only “that ye may know that I am Jehovah your God;” but “that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.” Eze. 20:20, 12.
The primary idea of the Sabbath, then, is spiritual rest and refreshing in God. To obtain that it is absolutely necessary to dissociate its blessings from the ordinary “work” of the other days; or in other words to cease the ordinary work of physical, everyday labor on the Sabbath day, and use the day in the contemplation of the work of God, or in works especially and emphatically ordained of Him as belonging to the day and its rest of soul, the rest which Jesus alone can give. Matt. 11:28, 29.
But it would be useless to deny that poor, sinful, weary, mortal man needs physical rest. God grants it and guards it in His law. Ex. 20:8-11. But no mere physical cessation keeps His Sabbath. Only spiritual rest reaches its great fount of refreshing.
In the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah is a divine commentary on the law of the Sabbath. After revealing the character of the every-day life-work which is pleasing to Him, the Lord thus speaks of the crowning act of acceptable service: “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.” Verses 13, 14.
The exemplification of all this was manifest in the life of our great Pattern, Jesus Christ. Those who keep the Sabbath as He kept it will find it constantly a refreshing fountain of life, a haven of rest, a port in time of storm, because in it is the abiding holiness, rest, blessing, and presence of our Creator and Redeemer.
A MISSION MISUNDERSTOOD.
By C. M. S.
God left His church in the earth for a purpose, and a well-defined one; but that purpose has been, and is still, sadly misunderstood. Writers and speakers on the “social problem” are demanding of the church that she take a position in the social world, and direct her energies in the line of bettering social conditions, forgetting or overlooking the fact that to the true Christian the “social problem” presents no insurmountable difficulties.
The Christian sees, as the social philosopher sees, that the condition of the world is deplorable; but God in His wisdom has given to the Christian—to the church as a company of Christians—the true and the only solution of the situation, and that is the salvation of souls thru the atonement of Christ. If the world were not lost in sin, there would be no “social problem;” but it is; and to be seeking out a solution of that “problem” which makes that salvation the last article of consideration, or leaves it wholly out of the question, is to turn completely away from the plan and purpose of God. It is like bringing to the man sinking in the quick-sands a basket of delicacies, and forgetting that his greatest need is a rope and strong arms to pull him out of the clutch of the grave. To make men happy and contented with their lot while still unsaved is not the business of Christians. Their work is to make men dissatisfied with sin; to bring to them God’s message for their time; to rescue perishing souls. This done, the “social problem” dissolves like limestone at the touch of water, and thus dissolved enters at once into the building of God.
The members of Christ’s body on earth will go about doing good as He did, uniting His teachings with works of charity and mercy; but as He refused to be turned from His work by sophistry, flattery, or misapplied Scripture, so will they. Christ came into the world to save it and its inhabitants; but there was only one way to accomplish it. Satan offered it to Him for a simple act of worship. Satan would have been well pleased had he been permitted to map out a plan of his own for Christ to use in inaugurating His work in the earth; and he is well pleased when he can induce Christians to accept other plans of work than those which Christ established. Christ spurned the suggestion, and they who are His will do likewise. Had Christ attempted to do His work along Satan’s lines, He would have been lost with the angels that are doomed. Neither can the church carry on His work on plans contrary to His instruction.7
One prominent educator declares: “If we feel a need which a church supplies, we use the church to satisfy that want, just as we would use a museum, or a bank, or a hotel. We need worship. Since men were born, we have never succeeded in getting along without it.” Therefore the business of the church is presumed to be to satisfy a desire which men feel for something to worship. Men are to join the church to satisfy that craving. Thus the church becomes a means simply of gratification to its members, instead of a strong, positive force in the earth, carrying forward God’s message of salvation, and preparing the bride of Christ for her heavenly Spouse. Christians will worship God—they can not do otherwise and be Christians; but if Satan can induce the church to believe that its chief or only mission in the earth is to satisfy man’s craving for something to worship, he has succeeded in turning her from the work that was given her to do. “The tendency of much of the teaching of the present time is in the way of influencing men to look to the church itself for that which can only come to men by personal, living connection with God. It belittles the work of the Gospel, and tends towards shallowness in Christian experience. It makes of the church a means of gratification to its members, instead of an aggressive instrument for saving souls. The reality of God and His work is lost sight of in the haze of generalities accompanying such teachings.
In a time when God is closing up His work in the earth, it is the plan of the adversary of souls to blind the eyes of men so they can not see what is coming upon the world, or what God demands of men right now; and just such teachings as above referred to are his instruments for accomplishing it. There was never a greater need for a living, working church; there was never a time of greater danger from the soothing teachings of the world. C. M. S.
GOD'S EXPLICIT DIRECTIONS.
By T.
IN an editorial last week all the scriptures were given in which the first day of the week is mentioned. Nothing that bordered on the nature of a command for Sunday observance was found in any of those scriptures.
The first six mentions of the first day of the week in the New Testament all pertain to the one event of Christ's resurrection having taken place on that day. These six scriptures abundantly show that Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week, but they do not show that the Master made a Sabbath of that day.
The remaining two texts that mention the first day of the week merely record facts without giving any hint at Sunday sacredness or making any suggestion of a command to observe that day for the Sabbath.
When the Lord gives a command concerning a moral duty, He makes it so explicitly plain that there need be no mistake about what is designed. Read the Lord's Sabbath commandment, and see how it guards every point, and note how plain and explicit it is. The commandment reads:—
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Ex. 20:8-11.
The Lord, in the foregoing commandment, shows that the Sabbath was given to commemorate the wonderful work of creation. He definitely tells that no work shall be done on the Sabbath; He definitely tells that He “blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it,” and furthermore He definitely tells that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.”
Thus does the Lord show us how explicit and careful He is in giving a commandment. He makes everything so plain that there is no possible chance to make a mistake.
None of these essential elements of a definite and clear commandment can be found in any of the texts that make mention of the first day of the week. And it should be apparent to any one that those who keep Sunday for the Sabbath do so without any instruction whatever from the Lord. And not only that, but they keep Sunday right in the face of a clear command that the Lord has given concerning another day. The Lord of heaven and earth says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” He says He has “blessed” and “hallowed” that day. He has never set His original Sabbath command aside. It stands just as it has always stood.
What will you do about it? What are you doing now? T.
Question Corner
1156. Scripture Canon.
Is there a tract or book published that will give the true account of how the Bible came to us, and tell us the books that are canonical and the books that are not? H. M. J.
We know of no brief tract. The religious cyclopedias under “Canon” give quite full accounts, as, for instance, the “Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge,” “Kitto’s,” and others. “The Canon of the Holy Scripture,” by Gaussen, translated and abridged by Kirk, published by Sunday, Boston, we should judge to be a good work. The article to which you refer is far from the truth as to the authority of the Scripture Canon. The Catholic Church simply recognized the books accepted by the whole church, and admitted some that were not. The supreme test is, “To the law and to the testimony.” Isa. 8:20.
“FEAR NOT.”
By G.
The primary definition of fear is, “To regard with dread, fright, or terror; be apprehensive or afraid of; as to fear an enemy; to fear death by violence.” A secondary idea is, “To look upon with awe or reverence; desire to avoid displeasing; venerate, as to fear God.” These definitions are from the “Standard Dictionary.”
When God says to His people, “Fear not,” it is fear in this primary sense from which He would deliver them. Such fear is common in the world, in both man and beast. It is a result of sin. Fear in the secondary sense is a product of love; it comes of a spirit of obedience, and such fear is pleasing to God. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that do His commandments.” Ps. 111:10. Jesus says: “Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him.” Luke 12:4, 5.
We are not to be afraid of God or of Christ as of an enemy that would do us harm. “Perfect love [of God] casteth out fear [of man]; because fear hath torment.” 1 John 4:18. Christ does not want His people to suffer torment, either in this life or in the Judgment. David expresses the contrast of fear in this way: “Let them now that fear the Lord say, that His mercy endureth forever. I called upon the Lord in distress; the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear; what can man do unto me?” Ps. 118:4-6. In another place he says, “In God have I put my trust; I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.” Ps. 56:11.
When the first Adam fell, thru disobedience, his first realization of his lost condition was a terrible fear and dread of his Creator, as of an enemy. He knew that he had sinned, and that “the wages of sin is death.” He had put himself in a position of “enmity against God,” and could no more enjoy a personal companionship, as before. But Christ interposed the Gospel of salvation in order to break down the enmity, and restore the lost race. In view of this new prospect set before us, the psalmist sings, “Tho I walk thru the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me.”
That is the secret of courage and faith and success, Christ is with us. His success on earth was attained by His having God with Him. His testimony was: “I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things.” John 8:28. “The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself; but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.” Ch. 14:10.
Peter supplements this testimony when speaking in the house of Cornelius at Cesarea. In presenting the Gospel on that occasion he told the people “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.” Acts 10:38. For this reason He could stand before the Jewish Council undaunted when that body condemned Him and adjudged Him worthy of death. For this reason He could bear unflinchingly the taunts and tortures heaped upon Him by His prosecutors and by the soldiers when arraigned before Pilate and Herod. For this reason He had no dread of the governor, who had power to release or to crucify, and did not care to so much as make a defense of Himself in the face of the most cruel death that Satanic malice could invent. When He knew that He was about to pass “thru the valley of the shadow of death,” He did not fear what man could do to Him. He calmly said to the governor, “Thou couldst have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above.”
In turn we have the promise that Christ will be with us; and as He could do nothing without the Father, so we can do nothing without Him. He has left us for a time in this sinful world as sheep among wolves, yet we are to maintain courage. “In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Ch. 14:27. By faith the enmity is taken away, and peace is made with God. There is nothing more in this world to fear, if we keep the peace by trusting God and obeying His commandments. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8:1.
On a certain occasion during the earthly ministry of Christ, His disciples started across the Sea of Galilee in a boat, and Jesus remained behind. In the night a storm arose, and the disciples had a hard time in rowing. To add to their perplexity, toward morning they saw what they supposed was a spirit, or ghost, walking upon the water. “And they cried out for fear.” But Jesus, seeing their unnecessary terror, called out to them, “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” Immediately following this assurance there was an illustration of fear as a natural result of looking away from Christ. Peter wanted to test the matter, whether it was indeed Jesus, so he said, “Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water.” Jesus told him to come, and Peter started. As he walked, he lost the necessary confidence in Christ, looked away, and immediately became frightened at the wind and the waves. Of course he began to sink in the water. On his crying for help, the Lord took him by the hand, and said to him, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” The doubter is always a spiritual coward, and always fails.
When the Lord appeared unto John on the isle of Patmos, the apostle “fell at His feet as one dead.” Then the Lord laid His hand on His servant and said, “Fear not; I am the first and the last, and the Living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of hades.” Rev. 1:17, 18, R. V. Here is an assurance for frail mortals that is doubly sure. It takes in the present life and guarantees a future life. Suppose we should be placed in prison or in exile “for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus,” the all-powerful Saviour knows all about it. If the enemy is allowed to do us harm, it is for our good, or for the good of the Master’s cause. We need not fear; the enemy can have no more power over us than the Lord permits. Even if we should have to pass thru death’s dark vale, He has gone that way before us, and has the keys of the adversary’s prison-house.
Paul had more trials and tribulation than any of the apostles; yet he knew no fear, because none of these things could separate him from Christ. His hope and his courage lay in the belief that the Master holds the keys of death and the grave. He cared not that bonds and afflictions awaited him in every city. He only cared to finish the work that God had given him to do, and at last to come up in the resurrection of the righteous. “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” G.
DEMANDING OBEDIENCE.
By C. M. S.
PROFESSOR MIVART’S excommunication by the Catholic Church has brought out a communication from the pope, which is of interest as showing what is considered essential in the orthodox Catholic. Cardinal Vaughan and the English bishops issued a joint letter to their flocks, warning them against the teachings of Professor Mivart. This called out a letter from the Pope approving the action of the bishops, and stating the position of the Catholic Church in regard to freedom of mind and conscience. We give the following excerpt from the pope’s letter of approval:—
“You have done most wisely in issuing a solemn warning against the subtle and insidious spread of rationalism, than which no poison is more fatal to divine faith. In like manner, nothing is more in accordance with right doctrine than what you have laid down as to the obedience due to Episcopal authority; for subjection and obedience due to that authority are in no sense optional, but plainly a duty, and a main foundation on which the church of God is built. We therefore most heartily give you our praise and approbation for these things.”
In reference to Professor Mivart’s teachings, we have nothing at this time to say, as we have not seen an authentic statement of his position; but in the quotation given above there is food for thought, since such a statement, coming from such a source, is regarded as Gospel truth by such a large number of people. The protection which it sets up for the church against what it terms rationalism, is “subjection and obedience” to human spiritual masters; an obedience which is due only to God; an obedience which only the Creator has a right to claim. Concerning this letter of the pope, the New York Independent of May 9 says:—
“This is the true Papal doctrine. No sound Catholic can venture to deny it. The bishops are lords of the opinions of the people. The laymen have no right to an opinion, except as it is taken from, or approved by, the bishops. They are the only people who have a right to think; and they can think only along the lines dictated in turn to them by the powers above them. And the powers above them—councils composed of bishops, and popes who are bishops—can only think as it has been thought semper, ubique, ab omnibus; always, everywhere, by everybody. This is a sad, a most lamentable condition. It explains the decadence of the Catholic countries.”
It is indeed a lamentable condition; lamentable because so many millions of people are submitting to a rulership which men have no right to exercise over their fellow-men. Even the Lord Himself does not prohibit men the liberty to think. He tells them faithfully what will be the consequence of foolish thinking, of vain philosophy, and then gives them the power of choice, holding them responsible for the choice which they make. But here is a power which is demanding of men what even their Creator does not ask; that is, that they shall think only in prescribed channels; that the mind and the conscience of individuals shall be in subjection to rules laid down by the church. This is not in accordance with the liberty which Christ came into the world to give to men. They whom the Son makes free are “free indeed,” and “One is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.” Matt. 23:8. God did not set masters in the church. He did not make one portion of His people subjects of another class; and that power which makes such demands upon men is not only putting itself in the place of God, but is going beyond anything that God ever required of men. That is the power which Paul refers to as exalting itself “above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 2 Thess. 2:3, 4. It is a dangerous position for the power that is making such a demand; it is equally dangerous for the person submitting to such lordship in matters spiritual; for he who claims what belongs to God will certainly be overthrown; and he who gives to another power the obedience and homage due to God, has broken the command of God which says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” The Lord has not delegated to any power in earth or heaven the obedience due to Him; and to the obedient child of God there is a richer liberty than the servants of men can ever hope to see.
C. M. S.
THE ROMAN CHURCH AND THE FUTURE.
By Editor
We well know that there are Protestants who believe that the power of the Roman Church is forever broken; that Protestantism is forever in the ascendancy. But neither the present progress of that church, nor the divine predictions of the Sacred Word do so forecast. We do not wish to present at this writing the evidence of the Word; that is left till a later time; but we wish to note some of the means by which Rome is regaining her lost prestige. In so doing we shall quote largely from an article in the Independent of May 16, by Henry A. Stimson, D.D., given first place by the Independent (Italics ours):—
“The political and social evolution of the Church of Rome, or as it prefers to be called, the Catholic Church, is in some respects the most important event that marks the beginning of the twentieth century. The Church of Rome is the oldest political organization in existence—using the term political not as marking the purpose of the organization, but its actual history. It has been the fashion for it to assert that it never changes. But the notable fact is that it has ceased to be the cornerstone of the old conception of monarchy, itself an ambitious temporal power, and has become the ally and representative of the people. This change of front is not marked in America, which is still, to the church, missionary ground; but the policy the church is working out at home is its policy for the world. Many believe that its rupture with modern civilization is complete and irrevocable. But as a matter of fact, since the establishment of the French Republic, Rome and the democracy have embraced.”
“The pontificate of Pius IX., lasting thirty-two years, the longest in the history of the church, was also the most important for the changes that it wrought. In the spiritual no less than in the temporal order, the church was entirely transformed, while at the same time Catholic unity was made more than ever a vital and powerful reality. This was accomplished by three principal agencies, the re-establishment of liturgical uniformity, the creation of numerous apostolic vicars in countries where previously the church had been left without any hierarchical connection with the Holy See, and the multiplication of the religious press, which has of late gained an influence not second to the episcopacy. The promulgation of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin and the dogmatic proclamation of the Infallibility of the Roman Pontiff crowned this work. This occurred July 18, 1870, the day the war broke out which put an end to the temporal power of the pope. When Pius IX. died, in 1878, strained relations existed between the Papacy and all the cabinets of Europe; the distant Catholic communities in countries republican in principle, alone consoled the Papacy by their fidelity and love.”
Mr. Stimson then notes the diplomatic policy of Leo. XIII., who, uniting with democracy, affirmed “that the church is as free to affiliate with the democracy as with the monarchy, provided that it takes equal care to maintain control. But a democracy controlled is no longer a democracy.”
Mr. Stimson continues:— “The important fact is that Rome at last received suggestion from the newer lands and yielded to the new pressure. The movement is new, but sharply defined; and if the Papal See succeeds in the course upon which it has entered, the result will be that possessing itself of the direction of modern democracy, as in other times it did of the State of the Middle Ages, it will, in the face of the loss of temporal power, find itself invested in the twentieth century with the most formidable power that humanity has ever known. This is the aspect of the movement which concerns America and the world. For the world is rapidly being democratized under American leadership, and the Roman Church aims at nothing short of the control of this world-wide democracy. It is important to recognize that it demands to-day what it has always demanded, to teach—that is, to dominate humanity—as it puts it, to secure its safety. The Roman Papacy and the Society of the Jesuits, its particular agency, have never had any other view.”
Then after discussing the relation of the Roman Church to social and labor questions, becoming ever more frequently thru her prelates the arbitrator of disputes, Dr. Stimson proceeds:—
“The evolution of the church which claims never to change is the more striking when it is remembered that it is but twenty years since, in the loss of its temporal power, it had ceased to be absolute master of the things of earth, and now it is suddenly seen placing itself at the head of the numberless multitude of laborers in all lands. Whether this latest ambition of the church clutching after power will encounter a resistance greater than it has ever known, is the secret of the future. The fact alone that the Catholic Church, for motives which are not now under discussion, makes overtures to the universal democracy, suffices of itself to give to the beginning of the twentieth century a character and interest, an attractiveness and a historic relation, which henceforth challenge supreme attention.”
“No one can doubt the tremendous influence this is having upon the other nations of Europe. It is translating the experience of America to European shores, and showing the tremendous potency of republican ideas and the efficiency of republican methods wherever they may be tried. The new attitude, therefore, of the Catholic Church toward democracy means the direction of this great political agency to the possession of the opportunities of modern society.”
“That it is at heart and in aim Christian, no one who is free from bigotry can doubt; that it is reactionary, and, as M. Spuller terms it, adulterous, as a clericalism, which means the union of the Church and the State, no one with equal candor can question. Whether for good or for evil in the development of human civilization in the immediate future, remains to be seen, but for better or for worse, it is the great fact which thoughtful men will do well to ponder.”
We merely remark in closing (1) that it by no means follows, as Dr. Stimson thinks, that temporal power will not be restored to the pope; (2) that movement is not “Christian,” whatever its aim, which seeks to unite Church and State, or makes the State a coercive power for the enforcement of religious dogmas; and (3) that this “change” of the Papacy does not in anywise controvert the averment that “Rome never changes;” for all this change is a matter of policy to accomplish certain ends, not a matter of principle as regards the end to be attained. Rome has ever changed her policy, shifted her sails to catch the political breezes, and ever will. But her principles, her object, is ever the same. And the work she is now doing with its outcome is indeed “most important.”
