CIHM Microfiche Series ({Monographs) ICIMH Collection de microfiches (monographles) Canadian institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut canadien de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notes / Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of th:a copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly charge the usual method of filming are checked below. y Coloured covers / Couverture de couleur Covers damaged / Couverlure endommagee □ Covers restored and/or laminated / Couverture restauree et/ou pelliculee I I Cover title missing / Le titre de couverture manque I I Coloured maps / Cartes g^ographiques en couleur I 1 Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black) / Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) Coloured plates and/or illustrations / Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur n Bound with other material / Relie avec d'autres documents Only edition available / Seule edition disponible I I Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along I 1 interior margin / La reliure serree peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distorsion le long de la marge int6rieure. n n Blank leaves added during restorations may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming / Use peut que certaines pages blanches ajout6es lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte. mais, lorsque cela etait possible, ces pages n'ont pas ete filmees. Additional comments / Commentaires suppl^mentaires: L'Institu! a rmcrofilme le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a ete possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exem- plaire qui sont peut-etre uniques du point de vue bibli- ographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite. ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la metho- de normale de filmage sont indiques ci-dessous. Coloured pages / Pages de couleur I I Pages damaged / Pages endommagees D Pages restored and/or laminated / Pages restaur6es et/ou pelliculees Pages discoloured, stained or foxed / Pages d6color6es, tachet^es ou piquees I I Pages detached / Pages d^tach^es I ^/\ Showthrough / Transparence I I Quality of print varies / D Quality in^gale de I'impression Includes supplementary material / Comprend du m?t6riel supplementaire Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc.. have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image / Les pages totalement ou parliellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata. une pelure. etc., ont 6te filmees a nouveau de fagon a obtenir la meilleure image possible. Opposing pages with varying colouration or discolourations are filmed twice to ensure the best possible image / Les pages s'opposant ayant des colorations variables ou des decolorations sont film6es deux fois afin d'obtenir la meilleure image possible. This item Is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below / Ce document est tilme au taux de reduction indiqo* ei-dtssous. lOx 14x 18x 22x 26x 30x 12x 16x 20x 24x 28x 32x The copy filmed here has been reproduced ihanks to the generosity of: HcMaster University Mills Neffloridi Library This title was microfilmed with the generous permission of the rights holder: George His, grandson L' exemplaire filme fut reproduit grace a la generosite de: NcNaster University Hills Nemorial Library Ce titre a ete microfilme avec I'almable autorisation du detenteur des droits: George His, grandson The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impression, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol ->(mcaning "CONTINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed begin- ning in the upper left hand corner, left to nght and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: 1 2 3 Les images suivantes ont ete reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la nettete de I'exemplaire filme, et en conformite avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimee sont filmes en commengant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la derniere page qui comporte une empreinte d'im- pression ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires ongin- aux sont filmes en commengant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la derniere page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la derniere image de chaque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole -» signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent etre filmes a des taux de reduction differents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour etre reproduit en un seul cliche, il est filme a partir de Tangle superieur gauche, de gauche a droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d 'images necessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la methode. 1 2 3 4 5 6 MICROCOPY RESOLUTION TEST CHART ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No 2 1.0 I.I 1.25 I- 1^ !: 1^ t IAS 1.4 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6 ^ APPLIED IN/MGE Ir ■':'■' tast Wa-'- i^'ee* '.^'6; 482 - 030C - Phone ' ■ '6; 288 - 5999 - ra« C^g^'^X'S <»^r^AJ^ >V^. SLS^ El 0U0Uifittx VnibetKitp librarp fmn L^:..^_LLl_Cl-^-v^....l^J...tV,.V^:^.l.a.^^^ The Old Evangel £5* The New Evangelism Fleming H. Revcll Company Chicago, New York dr" Toronto Puilitkers of F.vangelicc LUrraturf MCMI f • t , V K H II 1. I ')'> '. 11 V K 1. K >t I N < : II K ► \ y 1, L 5 o ((Ml A N ^ WITH R E V F. R F N T LOVE TO MY WIFK WHO HELHKU ME TO SEE THE LIOHI I FOREWORD The brightest glory of the new century's dawn springs from a hope, deep and wide- spread, of coming religious Revival. The Church is great in numbers, wealth, machin- ery, but there is everywhere a haunting sug- gestion which is fast becoming conviction, that the Power has departed from us. Much is being done ; there are good and true men and women in all the Churches; statesmanship and desire and sacrifice are not lacking, but a wholesome sense of failure is bringing Believ- ers of all names to their knees. Mr. Moody who, more than almost any other man of his time, labored and hoped as seeing Him who is invisible, was firm in the belief, to the day of his death, that a great Revival is near at hand. No man can say from what quarter the light will appear but those who can see catch far off glimpses of the Coming One. Surely the Foreword J' f . li hi ■J Lord is at hand. It is high time to awake out of sleep lest when the Master comes suddenly to His Temple He find us unprepared. Because the Revival is needed, is expected, is promised and will surely come, this book is written with the hope and prayer that it may serve some humble part in preparation for a Blessing so Great. Toronto, May, 1901. If ! If CONTENTS PAOB The Ciilrcii Expectant 9 The Need ok Revival 35 The Revival We Neei> 47 The End or Revival 6i What the Church Lacks 71 The Separated Life 79 Pravfr 89 God's Word loi How God Looks at the Sinner .111 The Sin ok Unbelief 125 A Christian Conversion 137 The Church Expectant And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven an of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there ap- peared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them. Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words; for these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel ; and it shall come to p>ass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams ; and on my servants and on my handmaids I will pour out in those days of my Spirit ; and they shall prophesy ; and I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath : blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come : And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be SAvtd.—TAt Acts, lo CHAPTER I THS CHURCH EXPECTANT The dawn of the new century is marked by widespread expectation of religious revival, among Christians of all creeds and countries. The Ifirst ground of this universal expectation is the evident need as shown by the spiritual condition of the Churches. In the last few years a great change in the matter of worldli- ness has swept over Christian people every- where, chilling into deadly torpor their spiritual energies. We may trace this change to reac- tion against Puritanism, to a growing culture, or to any other cause we choose ; the fact itself is beyond dispute. Evangelism, organization, education was the original order in Church development. Of late this order has been reversed. Now organization too often seems to be put first, education next and last of all, if there is time for it, evangelization. At first the barrier between Church and world was let down slowly; then frivolity broke through with a rush until Christians have come to vie II .J 1 2 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism with each other in all those pursuits which constitute the highest happiness of that section of our fellowmcn whom John sadly describes as "lying in the evil one. " I am not now dis- cussing the essential moral quality of these actions and ideals, nor yet their significance as an index to spiritual life. I am simply stating the fact that worldliness has come to charac- terize those who profess to be citizens of heaven. In this matter few believers arc in a position to cast the first stone; or any stone. It is not so much a matter of form as of life or lack of life. We must all have our "social functions" and other like devices for the quenching of life, always after the most approved "fashion." Earnest Christian parents are everywhere per- plexed and saddened because church member- ship is of little aid in keeping their children unspotted from the world. Professed follow- ers of Jesus, for the most part, are in no wise unlike their unbelieving neighbors as to busi- ness ideals, and methods. Cash like charity, covers a multitude of sins and failure to make money is about the only hell believed in and feared. The great contradiction between what Christians say and do threatens to destroy the churches, for even the world will not believe in a lie preached in the name of Jesus. And w The Church Expectant 13 the ultimat*! effects or invariable accompani- ments of this subtle worldliness are seen in cold and formal prayer meetings sparsely at- tended ; in social cliques and sets within the church ; in machinery without power to move it; in pointless and vapory preaching; in a spirit of unchristian criticism ; in tolerance of evil under the name of charity; in a delirium of covetousness ; in lives without love and in a cooling and thinning of the spiritual fervor and passion of the people at large. If there is need of revival as an escape from frivolity in and out of the Church there is even greater need of such a revival as a cure for the commercialism of the time which has laid its vulgar and sordid touch upon all things sacred and threatens to degrade the holy relationships in Christ to the selfi'^h level of the market. It is now commonly, if not universally, held that firancial success is proof positive that a church is prosperous. The man who has the money must be treated tenderly, because he has the money, for it is very evident that no church can be carried on without him. VThile there are grand exceptions it is true, as Dr. Josiah Strong points out, that the Chris- tian sense of debtorship has not mastered money as it has learning. A preacher or 14 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism physician or teacher who works simply for money, that is for self, is shunned and de- spised; but a business man or laborer who works for money, that is for self, is lauded and honored for his ability if he is successful. Ruskin, after showing how the soldier dies for his country, the scholar for knowledge, the preacher for righteousness, the artist for art, asks, "For what does the merchant die?' What is the answer? One might safely guar- antee that no pastor or church would know how to begin or be quite sure that they ought to begin discipline of members personally con- nected with the legal iniquities of modern stock gambling. Yet this daily substitution of the spirit of self for the Christian spirit of service does more to neutralize the power of the gospel than any other single influence. Consciously or unconsciously we have adopted unchristian social standards and have brought our Church relations under the paralyzing sway of a commercialism without conscience and which is the very incarnation of selfishness. On all sides one hears of debts that drag upon mission work and hamper progress. In sections like rural New England we were recently told by no less an authority than a Governor of one of the States, that the in- The Church Kxpcctant 15 habitants, many of them aliens, are fast fall- ing into practical paganism. And on the other hand, it must be admitted that the Churches have failed to adequately meet the need in great cities. The whole path of mod- ern Church history is strewn with the wreckage of curious enginery for reaching the masses, which has been tried and discarded. Institu- tionalism as a substitute for personal, hand to hand contact and eifort has failed. In an hon- est endeavor to meet the strange new condi* tions of the time ministers have fallen into a certain secondaryism in preaching which has been demonstrated useless or worse than tise- less in effecting the end sought. It is indeed a fact not without comfort, that the multitudes show even less appetite for the east wir ^ ' sensationalism than for the sincere milk of j word. Not until the pulpit begins once more to make a contribution to the constructive thought of the time can it regain its rightful supremacy in the lives of men. For all life has a rational basis, and when the great ele- mental truths of Christianity are restated in terms of modern thought and applied fearlessly and intelligently to the whole of life, social as well as individual, they will compel attention and belief. 1 6 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism These grounds may be stated frankly with' out charge of pessimism. The slightest acquaintance with history will show that in spite of them, taken in the large, no century since the early ages «)f the Church has opened under more hopeful spiritual conditions than the present. There is darkness but it cannot compare with that which preceded the Refor- mation of Luther and through which Savon* arola shines as a lone star; or even at the close of the eighteenth century with its deistic philosophy, its ranting revolutionaryism and its bold and widespread infidelity in word and deed. But this very fact makes our responsi- bility the greater. To sin against great light is worse than to sin against no light or little light. And the heavy charge which must be laid against our time is that with all its knowl- edge it has turned away from the Fountain of Spiritual Life. Aside from the evident need of revival there are certain general grounds furnished by his- tory and analogy for this expectation. In all periods of which we have any record revivals have been the method of spiritual progress. The Old Testament from Moses and Noah to Ezra and Nehemiah, is almost monotonous in its story of revival and reaction. Through the The Church Expectant 17 early and middle ages of European history, the same is true. In the eighteenth century Ed- wards, Whitfield, and the WesleyH, were only following the historical method; and in our own time this has been the story of the high- est religious progress. Leaving the realm of religion we find that the same law obtains in the history of thought. When, following the Turkish victories in the East, Greek learning fled to the West, a "Revival of Learning" aroused Europe from the intellectual torpor of the dark ages. Within the Lost fifty years a great revival of science has furnished modern philosophy and theology with most of their problems and has revolutionized all life. In nature the same law holds. The tide comes in and goes out : winter is followed by spring and the full toned glories of summer are prophecies of golden harvest. Industrial development is marked by the same law. Depression alternates with revival and wise men who can read the lesson of his- tory and experience are careful in times of prosperity to prepare for the inevitable reac- tion. On these grounds, after the long winter of our discontent, it is strictly within the bounds of reason to expect that very soon there must 1 8 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism come a gracious revival to the waiting and needy Church. There arc certain particular grounds sup- plied by the actual history of the Church in the past generation or two and by present condi- tions resulting from this history which makes the present expectation of revival reasonable. There has been a wonderful preparation in thought. Two mov^ements have absorbed the intellectual and moral energies of the civilized world for a long time. On the one hand Sci- ence has been making its contribution in the realm of thought and on the other the awaken- ing of what is called a social self-consciousness has deeply affected the practical attitude of men towards the church and towards spiritual truth. Both of these movements have about exhausted themselves in the way of positive religious results. Science at first took largely from the spiritual energies of the Churches by forcing them to defend the Bible and theology from its supposed attack. At last the battle has been fought through and, while vast areas are still in dispute, in a general way it may be said that we know the worst and best. Sus- pense has given place to certainty and whether we have been helped or hindered we feel our- selves once more upon solid ground. One The Church Expectant 19 intellectual result traceable to modem science has been the "Higher Criticism." This is an attempt to apply the scientific method in the interpretation of the Word of God. It was a radical departure and has involved results which none could foresee. Its adoption was followed by a period of uncertainty which weakened the authority of the Word of God and in a measure devitalized preaching. Un- less a prophet is sure and can rest fearlessly and unreservedly upon his "Thus saith the Lord" his message will fall upon unheeding ears. The moment he begins to weigh prob- abilities and suggest doubts, the results of his preaching vanish into the mists and marshes of negativism. But the higher criticism has now made its contribution, and we have grown familiar with its view point, phrases and methods. What of value it has had to give, the Churches have already made a part of their intellectual furniture. The air is cleared and after a long period of indecision and doubt men once more trust their Bibles, and the pulpit is ready to speak and act with au- thority. On the other hand the first result of an awakened social self-consciousness was to alienate the masses from the Church. As 20 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism soon as the multitudes of men ujion whose bowed forms our social structure rests discov- ered that they were men, they discovered also that any progress they might hope for must be based upon a moral foundation, for social im- provement is always a matter of conscience. In so far as their claims were just and right they might expect sooner or later to have them recognized. It was inevitable that the masses should find in the Sermon on the Mount just that moral ideal and standard which best exprej -cd their unspoken aspira- tions and desires Turning to the Church they expected to meet a powerful and sympathetic ally, for the Church professed to base its life upon these very teachings of Jesus. But alas! stupified with worldliness and prostrate under the sturdy blows of an unspiritual rationalism the Church had no answer for the masses, and for a whole generation or more we have missed our opportunity. Mutual antagonism, suspi- cion, misunderstanding and on the part of the working men very often hatred, was the result. We preached and professed to believe the moral ideals which formed the only hope for the masses and we did not practice what we pr'-ached. The church stood for religion, the masses for morals; and both were wrong inas- The Church Expectant 31 much as a half truth is not the truth. Now these a^'-inated forces are coming together. Religion has gol as far as it can without an adequate morality; and social ethics has got as far as it can without religion. Working men are more sympathetic than they have been towards the Church, and the Church understands working men better and sympa- thizes with them as it has not done for a long time. It is dawning upon all classes that if we accept the morals of Jesus we mast accept His re ^ion also, since these are related as eflfect and cause in His life and in the experience of His true followers. Still another movement must be noted, deeper and more universal, which appears as a door opened by the hand of God through which He beckons the church to wider dominion. All observers must have marked the startling changes heralded if not produced by the new "Imperialism." The political ideals and problems of a generation ago are now obso- lete. Nationalism has expanded into imperial- ism; not because the national sentiment has weakened but rather because it has become regnant in all countries. A true world con- sciousness has at last been awakened. The earth has shrunk to a neighborhood. Com- 22 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism merce is now a matter of continents and hemispheres. The sea no longer divides but rather unites all lands. The view point for the new century in politics and business is that of world citizenship. The Chinese puzzle is puzzling because it has revealed, as by a lightning flash at midnight, the solidarity of the race, the community of life, the complete oneness of all human interests and problems. No country or civilization is any longer iso- lated. Into the matrix of a common life all civilizations are flung and mui ' give and take what they can. No one can forecast the na- ture of the new product, the universal man which will spring out of this combination. One thing is certain, ail peoples will be modi- fied in ideal, institution and method. If China takes our products we will have to take hers. If we press upon her on all sides she will im- print her outlines indelibly upon us. And we cannot escape the contact. If we carry the boasted light of our civilization to Africa, then African darkness will dim our light. The mighty hand of God is pressing the nations to- gether. Henceforth no man can live or die unto himself. It was the poet's drr-am that some day we should witness a federation of mankind. The The Church Expectant 23 task of the new century from which there is no escape will be to realize that dream. " What whispers are these, O Lands, Running ahead of you, passing under the seas? Are all nations comiruning ? Is there going to be but one heart to the Globe ? " Whitman is dead, but we can see now near at hand what he, with prophetic vision, saw afar off. Yes, there is going to be one heart to the Globe. The hour of destiny has struck. And herein lies the absolute certainty that the Church will revive. For if commerce and statesmanship see the new universalism ; see and accept it and develop policies and machin- eries to utilize and express it to pecuniary and political profit, how much more must we who live the life of Him who died for all the world see the need and opportunity and take up with glad hearts the new and grander task. Great God ! speak unto Thy people that they go for- ward. For this hour we have waited long. Surely it is time for the knowledge of the Lord to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Into the political and commercial impulse that has dwarfed the globe to the limits of a market town we must breathe the spiritual impulse of Christian debtorship. Christian love and brotherhood; else the new propinquity will 24 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism mean anarchy. Races differ but they all are men. Their common qualities lie below poli- tics and trade, in the deeps of a common humanity. This is the g^round for religion. If lust of gold hurls race against race in pas- sionate battle for possession of the material resources of the earth, love of God must be everywhere to soften the impact and change competition to co-operation, rivalry to brother- hood. If lust of land, which is a marked symptom of national imperialism, makes the strong ruthless of the rights of the weak, then the Church which is the conscience of the world must be everywhere present, militant and fear- less, speaking with authority and transforming a perverted patriotism into universal love, " Then let us pray that come it may As come it will for a' that, That man to man the warld o'er Shall brothers be for a' that." There must soon be a great revival of mis- sionary zeal and effort. The conditions de- mand it; nay, make it absolutely necessary. The wise men from the east did not fail to see and follow the Saviour's star; Saul of Tarsus did not miss the Light from Heaven on his way to Damascus; William Carey did not fail to hear the new call to world-wide evangelization The Church Expectant 25 at the end of the eighteenth century. Nor shall the Church to-day remain deaf to the loud Voice of God calling her to take the world for Christ, which He has in His Providence brought to her very feet. Because there l\ supreme opportunity and need at the present time of a great aggressive religious movement, extensively over the whole world and inten- sively through all social strata, God will revive His Church. Surely we have come into the Kingdom for such a time as this and if we do not the work to be done then shall God raise up from some other source those who will. Since, then, we are once more upon firm ground in our thinking and have re-opened communication with the alienated masses and re-established ourselves in their confidence; since the whole world has suddenly become an open door for evangelization, may we not on these grounds fairly expect a great revival? A first feature of the coming revival will be its emphasis upon the teachings of Jesus. As pointed out by Dr. Stalker in his admirable "Christology of Jesus," great attention has been paid during the last half of this century to the Life of Christ and now that this field has been exploited the minds of biblical students are turning, naturally, to His teachings. This 26 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism movement expresses itself in the new science of Biblical Theology and is helped by a recoil from the Pauline conception of truth which has obtained since the Reformation. We had considered salvation from the standpoint of the receiver so long that it was inevitable we should soon begin to think of it from the standpoint of the Giver. The cry "Back to Christ" whatever its origin or motive will have a real meaning for some time to come and our Lord's words, as well as His character and work, will be studied with fresh interest. This will affect theology on the one hand by making it more practical and sociology on the other by making it more religious. Dr. W. N. Clarke in speaking of the Christian Doctrine shows how it has been elaborated by philos- ophy, formalized by organization, and scat- tered and vitalized by Individualism. He might have gone further and told how it has been intellectualized by science which has taught us to distinguish clearly between the fact and its explanation, between reality and hypothesis ; and how it has been ethicalized, if I may so speak, by socialism which has quickened love, inbreathed our social thought with a spirit of compassion and revived the sense of social debtorship. The Church Expectant 27 The coming revival will be marked by a return to apostolic methods. The personal rather than the institutional agency will be foremost. We are now too often tied to a building or crippled by an organization. The present popular idea of a revival is of great meetings with the contagions enthusiasm of numbers accompanied or caused by more or less direct appeal from the pulpit. It is doubtful if in the coming revival so much emphasis will be put upon special meetings; but rather Churches and pastors will carry on their work steadily, persistently and quietly in their own way. Preaching will never be superseded in any age. It is the divinely ordained method of proclaiming the truth. But the preaching of the future, as in early ages, will not be confined to the ministry. In- dividual members of the Church will feel that they are each called to be witnesses in life and deed and word to the blessed power of the Lord. In the transaction of business, in the giving and taking of the exchanges, in the close touch and stress of politics, in the lighter and happier amenities of social intercourse. Christian men and women will endeavor to set forth Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The preacher will be the hand and bis church ■ s I i. f 28 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism members will be the fingers which together, thrilled by the divine energy of the Holy Spirit, will grip and lift the community. A return to apostolic methods will mean a revival of apostolic righteousness. Not righteousness of theory but actual righteousness of character as taught in the Sermon on the Mount and in the Epistles. Then we shall take seriously the statement that the Lord's disciples are the salt of the earth, the light of ihe world, His wit- nesses; then we shall endeavor to become doers as well as hearers, followers as well as believers and a regenerated life will mean a regenerated living. The essential message of gospel preaching can never greatly vary. Certain truths are always new. Life, death, love, holiness, sor- row, sin, these are as new to each individual to-day as they were to the first man. How to live; how to face the vicissitudes of time and the mystery of eternity, these constitute in all ages the vital message of the preacher. These are questions which the preacher must answer and, if he would rise to the height of his great opportunity, he can only answer them by preaching Jesus Christ as slain for the world's sin and risen for its justification. In all this it is implied that the Holy Spirit The Church Expectant 29 will be present. We sometimes speak of the enduemcnt with power as though it were an accidental artificial thinjj. But it will always be true that God manifests Himself to each man or Church just in proportion as that man or Church is doing his will. We are not con- scious of His presence and do not have his Power because we do not the things that are pleasing unto Him. When we seek to know the mind of the Master and follow in His steps and bear our cross daily, hourly, putting Christ first and counting self nothing then we shall realize the presence of the Spirit. **Lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the world." This promise is true, but we can only realize that Presence in proporton as we "preach the gospel to every creature. " The Spirit is given to lead us into all truth but if we refuse to face the truth of character, of ex- perience, of sacrifice, of work, as well^as the truth of logic and theology, we cannot be conscious that the Spirit is with us. It will always be true that consciousness of God is the only preparation that can make preach- ers and preaching effective. Carlyle speaks of a pile of dry sticks that remained only dry sticks until fire fell from heaven and ignited them. Such is the church apart from the supernatural. 30 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism The new revival will powerfully affect the daily lives of Christians. It will make a dis- tinction in the way a Christian man works and enjoys himself and the way an unconverted man docs these thing's. It will be marked by a return to the morality of the golden rule. It will make all living reliy:ious and all religion living. That is to say, the new revival will once more give the Church her right leadership in thought and social life. To properly realize itself organized life must grow more and more religious and moral. The Church has per- mitted herself to be elbowed to one side; and the sharp distinctions which give her message a meaning have been blurred. Too often she has assumed a faltering and apologetic tone and as a result has lost her divine and heaven- given leadership in the affairs of men. What do the sixjculators who crowd the exchanges of our orreat cities care for the onin-nn of preache.-s and churches? Absolutely noinmg. What does the foul brood of criminal politicians battening upon the festering pollutions of our civic body care for the churches? How much heed does commercial greed give to the ad- monitions of the pulpit against covetousness? When has it happened that worldliness paused with whitened cheek and hushed its gay self- The Church Hxpcctant 31 ishness at the stern rebuke of the preacher> To what extent do the brothel and saloon feel the restraint of a Christian conscience in the great cities of civilization? When Christian preachers and Christian people, inbreathed with the Spirit of Jesus, withdraw from taking part in this organized selfishness, it will crumble instantly to the ground. Let the fol- lowers of Jesus come thumlcring at the i>ortals of these strongholds of respectable crime, thundering there against hypocrisy; against outrageous selfishness, and cruelty; uttering there the solemn warninj;s of the divine law (first taking the precaution to obey that law themselves) and then men will care what the Church thinks. The new revival will result in a vast expan- sion of missionary effort at home and abroad, in evangelization and education. For it will stimulate giving and going; and men will give themselves and give their monev when once they re-learn the spirit of Christ who gave Himself for the sins of the worid; and of the chief apostle who acknowledged himself to be debtor both to Jew and Gentile, wise and sim- ple, bond and free. A great revival would settle most of our problems; heal differences; purge pride, and 32 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism unite the churches in the compelling passion of divine ideals and service. By contrast it would quicken that wholesome sense of sin which seems almost to have vanished from the world. It would lift Christian and Unchristian alike out of the atmosphere of deadly indiffer- ence which enwraps us like a shroud. It would set us free from that shallow and base- less optimism which is worse than pessimism in its paralyzing effects upon an aggressive and self-sacrificing Christianity. It would restore once more a belief in the authority of the Bible which as Chillingworta said is and always must be the religion of Protestants. It would give to preachers a real message and so make impossible the present pointless preach- ing which seems to be without any perceivable foundation either in philosophy or experience. It would rebuke and break the sordid and soul destroying materialism of the present time. In the realms of thought, of business, of pleas- ure, of heart experience, in the individual, in society, in politics, it would manifest itself as a cleansing and purifying energy direct from God. Our personal responsibility in this matter is perfectly plain. We cannot go round it, or underneath it, or through it. While I keep the The Church Expectant 33 revival away from myself by indifference or failure to do or be I am responsible for its keeping away. When the Spirit entered the Church on the day of Pentecost they were of one mini in one place waiting and expecting and they straightway went forth doin'^ and speaking as the Spirit taught; until at last it was said of them that they turned the world upside down. That first great revival which followed shortly after the time when "they all forsook Ilim and fled" did not burn itself out in mere feeling or argumentation but took per- manent form in work and life and institution. Surely to-day fields are white and harvest waiting and it is for each who calls himself a follower, in all humility and honesty to say, "Here am I, send me." The priests said not, Where is the Lord' and they that handle the law knew nie not; the pasiors u^so transgressed against me, ami the i)r<)i)hets jjrophcsied by H.ial, and walked after thinjjs that do not pniJit. Hath 'a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my peojjle have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. He astonished, <> ve heavens, at this, and bo hornbly afraid, lie ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For my peopk- have com- mitted' two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee. Know there- fore and see that it is iin evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy Cmd. and that my fear is not in thee, s;iith the Lord (iod of ha^ts.—Jeremta/!. But when the righteous turneth away from his righteous- ness, andcommittelhinifiuiiy, and d.it'thacconling to all the abominations that the wicked man doelh, shall he live^ All his righteousness that he hath d ; not a political partisan who is not eager t > explain his views; not a lawyer but stands ready to argue any case, pro or con; xv i! i iS i. If I 50 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism Criticism in its methods and results, applied Christianity, aesthcticism all have their place and a most important place. But it is not the first place. In a striking passage the mission of our Lord is described by Paul. "It is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." He Himself declared that the "Son of Man came to give His life a ransom for many." In the great command, love to God is placed before love to man, as root is before fruit. "Good conduct presupixjses. good char- acter." In this s'^nse the Sermon on the Mount itself is secondary, for underneath it and implied by it lie certain j^reat elemental truths, apart from which it has no meaning. It presupposes a spiritual world, real, present, to which all men are vitally related and by which they are measured here and hereafter. It implies an atonement as a perfect fulfill* ment of its high behests. It implies on the part of those who submit to it, a nev/ spiritual birth, for it is the law of a higher life, and man in his natural state obeys a lower law. What therefore God has placed first His ministers , must place first. What Jesus preached to Nicodemus, His called servants must preach to all without respect to persons; namely, "ex- The Revival We Need 51 cept a man be born again he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. ' ' The world is full of voices and echoes calling loudly. Shows and shadows press upon our attention. But ministers of Christ are men of vision, seers, sent ones. They have seen the Lord; have heard His voice. They listen to these jangling minor voices in the great melody of the world, and they know the relative place and value of each. Back of these the preacher must go; back to the eternal, spiritual facts. God, holy and sinned against. Man, lost, fallen from heaven to hell by sin. Jesus Christ the Saviour, delivered for man's oflfences, raised again for his justification. The Holy Spirit. God incarnate in redeemed souls, building them into the old-time divine Image; guiding them in all they do; teaching them the deep mysteries of faith and fitting them in power and wisdom for their high, unique service as followers of Christ. The preacher must know these facts experimen- tally. Let him be brave and true enough to turn away from secondary calls and duties and deal with these elemental forces and facts. Thus, and thus only, can the pulpit of to-day meet the evangelistic need of its time. In all this I do not wish to be understood as 52 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism li ft it n i ignoring or desiring the preacher to ignore the actual intellectual and social conditions of modern life. There is a sense in which the Bible contains everything for the preacher, that may be found in all other books. Here are set forth the eternities out of which and into which man is faring. Here is displayed the whole tragedy of human li fe in its various parts, individual, national, ecclesiastical, social. Here is life and its philosophy. Here is the highest revelation of God and of man. Here are moral precept, practice and sanction in natural and truthful juxtaposition. The great fruitful, fertilizing doctrines of the Bible ex- perimentally known are the preacher's only adeqiiate equipment. When he turns from these and puts any other thing first, however good in itself, he descends at once from the high place of God's Ambassador to the level of an essayist, lecturer or entertainer. But we must know something of our target as well as of our ammunition and weapon, else we shoot into the air. Human nature and human needs are always the same. God is always the same The method of bringing mans need and God's supply together is always the same. But there are local conditions which change with time and place that either help or hinder the 111 I ^ i The Revival We Need 53 work. These we must know and take into account if we do not wish to needlessly dis- count results. For instance, Mr. Garvie in his study of the Ritschlian Theology describes the great out- standing characteristics of our age as distrust of philosophy, confidence in science, the activity of historical criticism and the prominence of the social problem. These conditions are said to explain the rise of this particular school of theology which is very deeply affecting the modern church. Preaching for the times must therefore be wisely adapted to the times. Paul made one kind of appeal on Mar's Hill to the Greeks and another at Jerusalem to the Jews. If sociology is helping religion by proving it to be the one necessary factor in social progress; and injuring it by softening the New Testament emphasis upon the neces- sity for individual experience of the new birth, the preacher will be better for knowing the facts as they are. If science is determined upon bringing all thought and experience (in- cluding religion) under its categories of causality and the principle of uniformity in nature we must be prepared to show why we cannot acquiesce. If the Idealism with which the name of Hegel is so closely identified \ 54 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism i.5 III tends, as it is claimed, to reduce the con- tribution of Jesus to the enunciation of a metaphysical principle, namely the essential unity of God and man, and of an ethical rule, namely, "dying to live"; we need to recall in the presence of this tendency that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; to seek and to save the lost; to give Himself a ransom for many; that He was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification. If, as an English Unitarian affirms, the sense of sin is waning to-day because of the wide- spread acceptance of the theory of evolution through which sin is reduced to the survival in man of a remnant of the lower animal nature from which he is sprung ; because of a subtle pantheism which makes human nature a part of the essence of Deity and so regards sin as mere limitation or defect; and because we moderns are beginning to regard all religious sanctions as due to superstition and to neglect that self-analysis which makes us conscious of the testimony of our moral natures ; — if these are truthful statements of actual forces and tendencies then the preacher is vastly stronger for knowing them. But to know symptoms of disease is not necessarily to know its cure and if the modern preacher is only equipped The Revival We Need ss with knowledge such as this he is in the position of a soldier who sees the enemy advancing but is without entrenchments or ammunition with which to check the advance. It is the disease not its symptoms that we must treat, and no man can become a true doctor of souls who has not experienced in the deeps of his own being that the "Blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin." A moment's reflection will show the dire folly of ministers attempting to compete with newspapers and other sensation mongers. The sensory organs of the public are already jaded beyond re- sponse except for an occasional titillation by .some grotesque performance of the "yellow" press. But when the preacher, according to the example of his Master, shifts the point of attack from the sensations to the conscience and deals with the eternal verities and sanctions rather than with the Heeting small talk of the hour, then he will be met with a vital and very wakeful interest. The second great evangelistic need is seen in the pew. If the pulpit needs to fall back upon the first principles of its divine experience and message, much more the pew. With a Christ- less Christianity here no minister can convert a soul. Rather, by giving the lie to what the If I: V ' 'H 5^1 The Old Evangel and New Kvanfjelism preacher says, conversion of sinners outside the church is made forever impossible. The spiritual energies of the modern church are paralyzed and neutralized by a ijreat and plain contradiction between what church members say and do. The majority are conformed to the world rather than transformed in life and deed by the renewing of their mind. The Christian man and the unbeliever do business side by side. They both acknowledge the same heathen selfish standard of commercial morality. The only difference between them is that '.he Christian lives up to his standard while the unbeliever does not. Christian women weary themselves to follow the fash- ions of a Godless world. They are in many cases more anxious to acquaint their children v/ith the inanities and imbecilities of polite society than to teach them by word and ex- ample and pleading prayer to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom God hath sent. In a word church members have very largely succumbed to ♦^heir environment and have allowed the difference between them and a God-hating world to become one simply of degree and not of kind. The most faithful and eloquent preacher on earth, yea an angel from heaven could not bring about a revival ■J; The Revival We Need 57 when the members of the church in daily deed and word prove to the world that there is after ail nothing in religion. A most subtle and chilling change in our modern religious history has lain in the silent transfer of emphasis in work and testimony .rom the individual to the organization. Men talk as if the church were a strange new some- thing charged with doing certain duties for- merly done by individuals. As though the church were other than the individuals that comprise its membership? The fallacy of thus putting an imaginary general organism in place of the real responsible individual is pain- fully evident in the meager results achieved. Systems and organizations are fast going to seed. The age of machinery has proven itself a failure in the region of mind and spirit. Carlyle called attention to this long ago. "Has any man, or any society of men, a truth to speak, a piece of spiritual work to do; they can nowise proceed at once and with the mere natural organs, but must first call a public meeting, appoint committees, issue prospec- tuses, eat a public dinner; in a word, construct or borrow machinery wherewith to speak and i do it." So I would sa> to all Christians every- where, Don't organize. Live. Christianity is t I • H i' t 5S The Old Evangel and New Evangelism a Life not a machine. Believe, therefore in Life. There in no more pitiful sight than that of the average modern church wrestling with the problem of soul winning. The few faithful ones feel a burden upon them. They urge and organize until at last an''evanq:elist is en- gaged. Artificial preparations are made for his coming. Enthusiasm and expectation aru manufactured in such quantities as the circum- stances allow. All the force pumps familiar in these connections are set to work. Then the evangelist comes and there follow a few weeks of special meetings, attended for the most part by the same old few. Here and there, as a result, a stray conversion is re- ported, or it is confided to the press that "so many signed the cards," a proceeding often as misleading as it is meaningless. Then the brother goes ; the momentary interest dies and reacts, and the church settles down into deeper worldliness, inactivity and failure. What is the New Testament evangelization? It is twofold. Believers, the ordinary every- day Christian, of the time, went forth as indi- viduals. They did their daily task, they traveled, they bought and sold as other men But wherever they went, by example, by word. II The Revival We Need S9 by the spirit and tenor of their whole liven they kept persistently presenting Christ as the Sav- iour of the world. On the other hand, the outstanding leaders, apostles, evangelists and others, preached to any and every kind of an assembly before which they could obtain a hearing. There is no record of artificial inter- est, of committees and buildings, and special choirs, and the improved machinery that ex- hausts in its running the spiritual energy of the modern church. The Christian individual, no matter what his official position, took the task that he found next to him and did it for Jesus' sake. By this means, within a century after the death of Christ, the new faith had won it- self a first place in the world. This is one of the oldest and the most radical of all religious methods. Christian gentle- men organizing great financial undertakings and incidentally corrupting governments, brib- ing the public, over-riding the laws of the land; such believers would find it hard in- deed to lead another to the Saviour. Their proper method is to hire an evangelist, for it is very evident in this case that religion is religion and business is business. The Christian of low estate working in the employ of another, giving a niggard service, selfish and untrust- 3 * i i III ^.. » 60 The Old Evangel and Now Evangelism worthy, would find k uillicult to speak con- cerning higher things to those who knew his daily life. The lady of place and culture who has surrendered her life to the rule of inanity and who seeks the society that is centered in selfishness and foppery, rather than in the hea. of Jesus, would find it difficult to speak to her maid or to her friends of the great realities of eternal life. And the maid, waste- ful, selfish, careless, would give a poor testi- mony among those of her household, to the power of the Gospel in her life. From these considerations it would seem that the next great revival will be a revival / within the church itself. It will consist in an improvement in quality, rather than increase in quantity of church membership. It will turn away from machinery and artificiality and organization, and will depend upon personality and character. It will deal directly as between man and man. It will be a thing of life; of every-day life to be lived as the hours go, sim- ply and honestly; and by obeying this first spiritual law it will surely bring the world nearer to God. The End of Revival 61 fl 1'- ■ • V V in fl: ■I i I fv,^ wilderness and the solitar>- place shall be glad for Sth ii^f ^^^ ''^'l"^ ';^^". '^J'^''-"*' ^°'J '''o^^'"' ^^'^ the rose. • n ;:^ b ossum abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and sm^cng; the gory of Lebanon shall t* given unto it the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our CJod. Strengthen the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees Sav to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear ni.t ; behold your God will come with vengeance, even God with a re- 1'^^^°^®^''?.^" •■•°"^e and save you. Then the eyes of the blmd shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and tne tongue of the dumb sing; for in the wi!(!eme,s shall waters break out, and streams in the de-^ert. And the parched p-ound shall become a pool, an.l the thirsty land spnngs of water; in the habitation of dragons, where each ill\{'i!^L^ ^"""^i "^'^^ '■'**^'' ^"'' '^^'"^'^- And a highway shall be there, and a way. and it shall l)e calle.l The way of holiness; the unclean shall not jni-ss over it; but it shall be J^lWl ^^.J'*"" '^''" ^ "'"^'- ""^ "">• ravenous beast shall go up thereon, jt shall not l>e found there; but the redeemed shall walk there; and the ransomed of the Lord snail return and come to Zion with songs and everlastimr joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. -AJ/a A CHAPTER IV THE END or REVIVAL Religious revival is a deepened sense of God. What in detail arc some of the results involved in this experience? It will be neces- sary to avoid confounding accidentals and non- essentials with reality. Education is the ability to determine values. And he who is taught of the Spirit must learn first of all to distinguish between what is real and per- manent and what is local and secondary. A movement for example which has for its end mere denominational advancement, cannot be called a revival. It may assist in advancing the general interests of religion, but in itself considered such a sectarian struggle is not of the nature of a religious revival. A deepened sense of God among believers will manifest itself first of all in their experi- ence. It is the curse of all generations that they use words without meaning. Against this sin our Lord hurled terrific anathema; against word-jugglers, formalists, Pharisees, 63 if 1 it?'' m t Y :■'■ ! ■ • ! ii I ii. J IP J 64 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism His wrath was kindled. And in these days we have come to use New Testament phrases glibly, skimming over their surface as a bird skims the surface of the sea. Paul speaks, for example, of the "Peace of God which passeth all understanding, and which shall garrison our minds and hearts in Christ Jesus." Yet be- lievers still sink down under the weight of many cares and sorrows. They lead a weary, threadbare life. They have not in their ex- perience anything that corresponds to such peace. To many the passage has no meaning, although they read and recite it often. We need revival in order to bring the peace of God, which passeth understanding, as a reality, actual, potent, into the lives of all Christians. In one of his letters the Apostle Peter uses these transcendent words, of Jesus. "Whom, not having seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. ' ' The most superficial observer can see that there is little or no experience in modem Christianity that corresponds to this. Who knows a Chris- tian man or minister who has been baptized into the mysteries of his faith so completely as to rejoice with "joy unspeakable and full of glory"? Yet this to the Apostle was a reality. The End of Revival 65 These are the commonplaces of Apostolic Christianity. For these things we modern believers have substituted machinery, organi- zation, externalism, noise, vain striving and lifting up. Revival must have as its end the restoration to the church of this heritage, which it has thrown away. Jesus has spoken unto us in order that His joy might remain in us and that our joy might be full. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is lib- erty. "But we, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image fro:n glory unto glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. For God hath shined into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. " "We are called out of darkness into His marvelous light." "The day star has risen in our hearts." Are these mere words? Have they any meaning? Have they ever had any meaning? Have Christian men at any time enjoyed actual, natural, sane experiences corresponding with these words? If so, until we have restored these realities the Church has failed. We may attain numbers, intellectual leadership, social prestige, wealth, but until we know Jesus and the power of His i i-i ^4 66 The Old ICvangel and New Evangelism endless life and the fellowship of His suffer- ings, and are made conformable unlo that mystery of love and service. His death, we must remain poor. The Church has long walked on the edjje of this great ocean of reality. It is time to launch out into the deep. A deepened sense of God must result in creating great changes in the behavior of be- lievers. We are disciples, learners. What have we learned? Apparently we have learned only the A B C of the gospel. We are still babes, needing milk rather than meat. We languish and pine like sickly children, ever learning, ever studying about the truth, ever gazing afar off wistfully upon these experi- ences, which we have failed to realize. Per- haps we have not learned the secret of the Christian life. Perhaps we have not learned that the Christian is called to be a doer as well as a hearer of the Word. It may be we have failed to see that service is the cross, is Cal- vary; and that aGethsemaneof preparation, of experience, must for the Christian always pre- cede his Calvary. Believers are witnesses. Witnesses to what? A witness is useful only in so far as he knows. He is not permitted to testify upon what he has heard, or upon what he imagines, or guesses, or hopes. What he f The End of Revival 67 has seen and knows, this is his only testimony of any power. To what great realities does the average modern Christian testify? A man eager, almost frantic, in his striving for wealth; the frivolous, shallow member of some Christian church, intriguing and degrad- ing herself for the sake of social preferment among worldlings; to what do these testify? Church "service," misnamed, wherein indolent believers luxuriate in enjoyment of observing with critical eye the intellectual gymnastics of their minister; to what do these testify? Cold and formal prayer meetings, sepulchral and oppressive; to what do these testify? "Ye are my witnesses," saith the Lord. Let the Church beware, lest she prove a false witness, lest she belie and deny her Lord. "We testify that which we have seen, we speak that which we do know." The revival of religion, which already, like the silent coming of dawn, is breaking over the modern church, will bring us to the point. One must be struck with the evasiveness of modern preaching. Not the evasiveness of diplomacy, of tact, but a certain inability to come to the point. A shrinking from the fact, which amounts almost to a disbelief in the fact, that men are lost and that Christ 68 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism crucified is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. The average Chris- tian will seldom address an unbeliever directly on the matter of personal salvation. He will invite him to come to church or ask him if he reads his Bible, or to what denomination he belongs. Anything except the simple ques- tion, "Wilt thou believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and live?" The lost are advised to re- form; to sign the pledge, to be better, to attend Church. They are told that persistence in their present way will produce disastrous results of a quite intangible and far-off nature. They need to be brought to the point. The prophets of ancient Israel, the preachers of the New Testament, our Lord Himself, the great voices of the church in periods of revival throughout all the centuries, speak with direct- ness and the clearness of light. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon," "He that believeth shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned. There is no other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved but the name of Jesus." lis hi The End of Revival 69 The Christian church is seeking to do the business of eternity without eternal power. We have been trying to navigate a ship of fourteen feet draught in twelve feet of water. We have not gotten on, and have compromi.sed by throwing over our cargo to lighten the ship. We cannot testify; throw it overboard. We cannot pray, we are too busy; throw it over- board. We cannot acquaint ourselves with the Bible, there is not time; throw it overboard. We cannot be peculiar, it would not be good form; throw it overboard; and so the ship has been lightened until it would sail in froth. Indeed that is the only medium upon which it does sail in many cases. We have deceived ourselves as to the nature of the practical. Jesus was practical but His method and instru- ment was the truth. He believed in Life. Paul was practical but he based his practicality upon the eternal, unmovable foundations of Truth. We weary ourselves about methods and machinery and forget that the most prac- tical thing in the world is to bring a soul into contact with the vast, fertilizing, vitalizing' truths of God as set forth in a crucified Christ. We have allowed the "How" to displace the "Why" and the "What." We have been so careful of the engine that we have allowed the 70 The Old Kvangel and New Evangelism '■% . i^ fire to go out. The first thing is Life and Life comes to those who believe that apart from Christ they are dead and in Him may be made alive again. The facts are the same to-day as on the da> of Pentecost. Human nature is the same, human need is the same, human sin is the same. God is the same. The only diflference is that on that day there fell upon the waiting disciples, in response to their faith, supernat- ural power — the spirit of God which brought to their remembrance the truth and made their message mighty, because their experience of eternal things was real. The same Spirit at the same time fell upon the minds and hearts of unbelieving persons and convicted them of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. By faith men believe in the Lord Jesus Christ unto the salvation of their souls ; by faith also, they appropriate to themselves that divine power, or rather person, the Holy Spirit. He comes and makes His perpetual abode with us above and beyond the new life which is given in response to our initial faith. This is the peace, the joy, the certainty, the vision which is lacking. This we must have. {•*3 I 1^ What the Church Lacks 71 :.ff .1) 'II And when the ser\'ant of the man of Gotl was risen early and gone forth, behold, an host compatsed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him. Alas, my m.-tster! how shall we do' And he answered, Fear not . for they that be with us are more than they lliat be with them. And Klisha prayed, and said, LorJ«i. Therefore let no man glory in men. For alK things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is (iod's. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all thing.s but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him. not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith; that I may know him, and the Gwer of his resurrection, and the fello%v8hip of his sufferings, ing made conformable unto bis death.— ■/'aw/. 7a tit* 1 .•«» CHAPTER V WHAT THF CHURCH LACKS What is it that the church lacks? Not num- bers, for, after all allowances are made, there is no doubt that a very large proportion of our population may be found at some time or other within the churches. Not social position, for the very best people, usinjj the word in its ^'ood sense, are members of Christian churches. Certainly not money, for the leading financiers of the world are prominent members of Chris- tian churches. Not learning, for our chief educational institutions are more or less under Christian influences. We do not lack the spirit of earnestness and sacrifice, for large numbers of good and true men and women, day by day, lavish their time and thought and means ii. Christian work. Nor do we lack skill and statesmanship, for in the church may be found the finest and strongest leadership. What, then, do we lack? We lack God. The churches are filled with reverent people who observe the forms of worship faithfully and 73 74 The Old Evangel ami New EvanRelism ■ .1 5 give and sing and bow in prayer and listen attentively to the sermon, but, who, for the most part, go to their homes apparently with- out the hush and thought of God upon them. The pulpit is interesting, learned, insf ictive, even impressive, but the same lack seems to be there. Women retire to their homes, but God is not there. He is not in the drawing-room ; He is not in the boudoir; He is not in the kitchen. Occasionally, when death or calamity falls upon the family, God seems to draw nigh, but too often as an ominous avenging Presence, rather than as a loving Father. Men go to business, buy and sell, bargain and struggle, but God is not there. He is not in the office ; He is not in the counting-house; He is not in the factory; lie is not upon the exchange. Men go to their studies, but God is not there. They investigate and measure and weigh, and criticise and analyze, and they find everything but God. This is the lack of the world. It is certain that God wishes to speak to men, touch them, give them His own life. He fills the universe with Himself; He becomes flesh and dwells among us, and we behold His glory full of grace and truth; in Him we live and move and have our being; yet still He is far from us. Can this lack be supplied? Yes, if the con- What the Church Lacks 75 ditions are fulfilled. Emerson says that sooner o; u'T each man must take himself for better 01 worse. There also comes a time when ea . nan chooses between his higher and his lower self. He who chooses the higher, the spiritual, and is willing at all costs to "seek first the Kingdom of Heaven" may lose the world, but he will find his own self; he will find God. "Ye shall seek Me and find Me when ye search for Me with all your heart." To seek God with the whole heart involves a negative process. "They that are after the ficsh do mind the things of the flesh. To be carnally minded is death, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not sub- ject to the law of God, neither indeed can b ." "So they that are in the flesh cannot please God." The first step, then, is to break the bonds of the flesh. The flesh is all that region of our life from which God is excluded; it may be our refined pleasures, our highest intellec- tual pursuits, as well as the lowest passions. When we break with these which are the rul- ing power in our lives, we are seeking God with our whole heart. The Apostle describes certain who have "the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the 76 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism I i blindness of their hearts. ' The second step, therefore, in seeking God with the whole heart is an escape from a darkened understanding. That is, we must reject the world's standards of mea.surement and values and adopt eternal standards. The darkened understanding places things in a false perspective, makes that which is small and mean and temporal appear large and divine and eternal, and re- fuses to believe that the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which arc unseen arc eternal. "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin." Campbell Morgan in his recent work on the Holy Spirit, ba.ses an argument for abandon- ment of self as a condition of spiritual power upon this passage; and, doubtless, herein lies the secret of finding God. We must deliber- ately turn irom yielding our powers to the control of self and sin, abandoning every ambi- tion, our own wills, our own desires, and like little children unquesiioningly come to the feet of Him who said : "If any man will come after Me let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me." There are certain positive conditions with- out which no man can seek (lod with the v;hole heart. Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. What the Church Lacks n disturbed in mind and spirit. He sought for solid j^round upon which to rest, and Jesus told him that "except a man be born again, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God." This is Clod's way by which men may hnd Him. In- tellectual acuteness. kindliness of disposition, philanthropy, morals, will not do. These things arc real and ^'Ood and right, but except a man be born from above, except the new life of God impL-mted '.n his heart in response to faith gives him vision, he cannot see; gives him hearing he cannot hear; gives him under- sandinj,% he cannot enter into the secret of the Most High. As the new birth is the initial step in seek- ing God with the whole heart, so receiving the Holy Spirit is the continuous condition of find- ing and knowing G>»d. As the new birth is given in response to faith, so the Spirit of ])owcr and wisdom and joy and peace is given in response to a humble, persistent, yearning faith. "Be filled with the Spirit," is a com- mand to every l)elievcr. To deny the reason- ableness of this command would be to cut out the entire New Testament history from the Day of Pentecost «mward and to throw grave doubt upon the promises of Jesus. This i> God's worid, and He is in His world. 78 The 01(J Evangel and New Kvangelism w 1 He as anxidiis and willing to <,'ivr Himself into the lives of nun made in His own image. The world has wearied itself in the getting of knowledge. Nations hover upon the edge of war in their struggle to seeure trade and terri- tory. Political parties subject themselves to turmoil and eonfiict and even worse, to obtain I)ower. Devotees of pleasure offer up«)n their chosen altar health and even eharacter. Bui these all pass away. They arc as unstable and ephemeral as the breathing of the winds. God alone abides. He is the only eternal posses- sion attainable by man. He is the only object worthy of the most strenuous seeking. "Seek ye the Lord while He may l)e found, call ye upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy ui)on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." Surely He is not far from any one of us for "in Him we live and move and have our being." O Lord, open Thou our eyes that we may see. The Separated '^ife 79 I< I I lill lit 111 nil : ! 18 r ■J 5 Except a n-.an be born af;ain, he cannot see tl-,e kingdom of (JfMl. Nic lan he enter thi- soionfl time into his mother's womb and \>c born' Jestis answered. Verily, verily, I say imto thee. Except a man be Iwrn of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of (lod. That which is born of the Hesh is flesh; and that which is txirn of the Spirit is spirit. .Marvel not that 1 s.ud unto thee, ye must J>e »K>rn aj^jain. The wind bloweth where it listeth. and thou iiearrst the soimd there. .f, but c.inst not tell whence it Cometh, and whitJier it gotth ; s«. is every one that is lx>rn of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him. How can these things be' Jesus answered an.l said to him. Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest nf)t these thinjfs' Ver- ily, verily. I say unto thee. We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. —/oAn. Ye are from beneath; I am from above; ye are of this world ; I am nf)t of this world. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. Hut whosoever shall deny me f)etore men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send jteace on earth I came not to send peace, but a sword. !• or I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of nie. And he that taketh not his cross, and fol- loweth after me. i.s not worthy of me.— Jesus. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ silteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.— /Iik/ do CHAPTER VI THE SEPARATED LirE As the accumulated knowledge, discoveries, inventions, changes and hopes of the century past bear in upon us we are conscious of a changed emphasis in life and of a new view point. But in whatever way these may min- ister to the higher life, we must come back always to the primal fact : They who believe are of the Spirit, not of the flesh; their citizen- ship is in heaven, not in earth. "Ye," said Jesus in that time of strenuous opposition, "Ye are from beneath, I am from above ; ye are of this world, I am not of this world." Surely in this the disciple must be as his master. The separated life is not asceticism ; it is not a matter of dress and attitude, phrase and form. It is deeper. Here are two brothers, children of the same father, bearing the same name, wearing similar garb, graduates of the same school, and perhaps in the same business. In all these externals and incidentals they are one. But one of them is a follower of Jesus, Si 82 The Old Hvangel and New Evangelism I I'l' ;f and the other is not. They stand in the world side by side, but by this supreme central fact they are separated as far as the east is from the west, and unless one chan^'es they will remain separated forever. In the deep im- pulse of their lives one is from above, and the other is from bene;ith. I wcnild plead with the Christian ciiurch that it reco^niize this eternal distinction now between believers and unbe- lievers; recoj^^nize and accej)t it in all that such acceptance involves. In one of Paul's letters he says: "If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit kl us also walk." A perfectly sane and sober statement of the principle open to all, that a deeper life must show itself in a hi;;her living;; a richer ex- perience in a nobkr action. To live by the Spirit is to be born, tau^^ht and used by the Spirit. It is very evident that any type of life must have a be^inninj^; it must be born. Jesus says: "Ye must be born ajjain." "Ex- cept a man be born of the Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.'* "I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly." To be born again is simply to receive the Spirit of (iod into one's life, and give Him the place hitherto occupied by the spirit of self. Jesus Christ was God and man. The Separated Life 83 So is every one that is born of the Spirit. This is the essence of that eternal necessary distinction between the Christian and the world. It is a difference in life; a difference in kind of life. The boundary between the United States and Canada is for thousands of miles simply an imaginary line. Two men may occupy farms separated only by this line. But vhile in daily affairs they seem to be alike; interested in the same problems, doing the same work, under the same sky, yet there is a vital difference between them. They are citizens of different countries. They owe allegiance to different governments; they live under different laws. The capital of one is Washington, of the other Ottawa. Politically they have a different center. Much deeper the difference between the Christian and the unre- generate. They have different centers. The one is a child of this present evil world whose fashion perisheth and which lieth in the evil one. The other has his citizenship in heaven. They live under different laws; they acknowl- edge different ideals; they are moved by im- pulses totally unlike. The one is a child of the first Adam in whom all die. The other is a child of the second Adam in whom all shall be made alive. I M > H4 The Old Kvangel and New Evangelism If a life is l)orn it must be nourished. Jesus says: "I am the l.read of life; except a man cat my rtesh and drink my blood he cannot live." The character of Christ is, therefore, the food and strenKth of the Christian. Bishop Urooks used to illustrate the difference between external and internal strength in this way: To make a building strong we buttress it from the outside, but to make a man strong we feed him. The strength of what is made lies in its construction; the strength of what is bom lies in the quality and volume of its life. The work of the Spirit is to feed the new life b(.rn from above. My meat, said Jcsus is to do the will of Him that sent me. The strength of the Christian therefore is the strength of God. He lives, yet not he; it is Christ that liveth in him, Jesus has overcome the world, and this is the victi.ry that, fur the Christian, overcom- eth the world ; even his faith. The life he now lives he lives, like Paul, by the faith of the Son of God. The soul that feeds upon the living Bread is made strong both to will and to do the will of God. In the spiritual as in the physical we eat to live rather than live to eat. Could anything be more preposterous than the idea that a Christian is doing his duty when he simply attends the services of the church and i i The Separated Life «$ observes private devotions' How long would a farmer keep a man in his employ who at the end of the week would say. "I have faithfully and heartily eaten the three meals provided by you every day; I have therefore done my work. Now I pray thee give me my wages." Vet this is what, in effect, a large proportion of professing Christians are saying to their Lord. They go to church, when it is not too cold or warm, or wet or dry or they are nor too tired or busy. This is their " service. " Be- iwcen meals they do nothing except it may be to offer harsh criticism upon the spiritual food served them l.y the preacher. Is it any won- der with such a foolish conception of Christian life and duty that the churches are full of spiritual dyspeptics, chronic grumblers, lan- guid and useless? These unfaithful servants present the truth of God to the world as a lie. The life that is born and nourished must be taught, for the Spirit of God must minister to the whole man ; and we have the promise that the Spirit shall take the things of Christ and reveal them unto believers. He will bring all those things to our remembrance that we have learned of Him. If one is born of the Spirit; the end of it all must be that he shall be u.sed by the Spirit. This is what God wants. He MICROCORY RESOLUTION TEST CHART ANSI ond ISO TEST CHART No 7 !^ 136 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.8 A APPLIED IIVHGE '653 Cost Main Street Rochester. Ne. Yon, U609 USA 1 716) 482 - GJOO - P.,one (716) 288 - 5989 - fat 86 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism has His own purpose and His own work. He calls us each one to be workers with Him. We are to surrender our will and purpose and plan to His will. We are to think of money, fame, position and influence, not as ours but His, given to us as the instruments of labor for Him and with Him. This wonderful transaction, then, reduced to its simplest terms, means that when God comes into a man's life he is born a new creature in Christ Jesus ; that his body and spirit are daily nourished by the Spirit of God; that his mind and conscience are taught by the same Spirit; and that his will, the real citadel and center of personality, is surrendered to the will of God. Clearly, to live by the Spirit is to be unlike the world in motive, standard and object. To walk by the Spirit is simply faith working by love. If we live we must work and walk according to the laws that govern our lives. Life will produce fruit. We read of the "works" of the flesh and of the law. These are artificial, dead things; they perish. The Spirit is life, and what the Spirit produces is fruit. These are from within, the outward expression of a hidden vital reality. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuflfering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, The Separated Life 87 self-control. Against such there is no law, for they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof. Just as coals lie in the furnace a smouldering dead mass until the forced draught quickens them into white heat, so the life of man lies meager, cold, powerless, until the Spirit of God blows upon him a breath out of eternity, and he burns with white heat of life and power. ''Behold I set before you this day the way of life and the way of death. ' ' Choose ye. \ Pi ill If 4'i I J' Oh that I knew where I might find himi that I mi^ht come even to his seat! I would order my cause before him. and fill my mouth with argruments. I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto tn^.—Job. Ask, and it shall be given you , seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For everj-one that asketh receiveth ; and he that seeketh findeth ; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone ? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Again I say unto you. That if two of you shall agree f)n earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my rather which ia in heaven.— //j«i. 90 CHAPTER VII PRAYER While everybody prays few really believe in prayer. It is as natural for men to speak to (iod as it is for them to speak to each other, but the prayer instinct in the majority of cases remains a mere instinct and is not lifted up into the region of reason and made the intelli- gent utterance of the whole man. Like the fabled lady who prayed for the removal of mountains and then opened her eyes expecting to see them still standing in the old place, so Christians use words without meaning. There is a prayer that is answered and there is a prayer that is not answered. The determin- ing factor is faith. The prayer of faith is a chief gauge of the reality of religious experi- ences. A praying man is a strong man, and a praying church is an aggressive, strenuous, triumphant church. It ought to be as natural and inevitable for Christians to pray as it is for children to talk with their parents. Unless prayer is a reality, both as an expression of 91 92 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism n experience on the part of the believer and as a moving force in the realm of God's moral gov- ernment, there is no reality in spiritual reli- gion. The prayer of faith is the prayer that is answered. Such prayer has a f(Jundation in experience and in reason. "Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." *'If ye abide in mc, and my words abide in 5rou, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our in- firmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself makcth intercession for us with g^roanings which can- not be uttered. And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." "And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him." [' t Prayer 93 These passages all imply a previous spiritual experience on the part (jf the one who prays. God does not hear the prayer of unbelief; if indeed it can be said that there is a prayer of unbelief. The cry of the wicked brought face to face with eternity is a cry of fear, not a prayer. It is the act of the fetish worshiper. At the Judgment the wicked shall pray for the rucks and mountains to hide them, but there will be no answer to such a cry. The history that lies back of the prayer of faith, and with- out which the prayer of faith is impossible, in- volves first of all a new birth. "Except a man be born of the Spirit he cannot enter the King- dom of God." Except a man be born again he cannot pray the prayer of faith. The child born into the warm love of his father's family asks, in perfect trust, for what he needs at the hand of his earthly parent. He is a child. Hut the outsider, a declared enemy of the fam- ily and especially of the father, cannot ask ex- pecting to receive. He is not a child. Here is a good man. An impostor comes to seek for help, anu the good man refuses the prayer of the beggar because it is not genuine. Another outsider comes; he is in genuine need of help, and their common brotherhood com- pels the man to minister somew^hat to his i ? 94 The Old i:variKel anti New Evangelism needy nci^'libor. Hut when the man's own son comes and asks, ilien blood relaiionship gives answer in fulness <.f love. If the son is bad, he cannot obtain much from his father, because he has violated his father's will, and denies the ri^^htncss of his father's life. The Kood son asks and receives, because he is i)art of the good father. It is, indeed, the father asking of himself and giving to himself. The outsider receives little because he is an out- sider and has little or no history in common with the father. So the true believer receives what he asks of God, because he is a true child of God. The second experience without which the prayer of faith is impossible consists in per- petual surrender to the law and will of God. "If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you." "To abide in Christ is to obey Him." "If ye keep My commandments ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. " The faith which makes prayer effective must have acted previously in the life of the suppliant. No man can submit himself to God unless he trusts (iod. He who submits his case to a lawyer does so because he trusts the Ml Prayer 9S lawyer. If a patient does not trust a Jocior ho will not seek cure at his hands. If a student does not trust the teacher he will ni>t submit his life to tlic teacher's leadership. Unless a woman trusts a man she will not love him and },Mve her life into his keeping as a pledge and expression of that love. So submission to the will of God rests upon faith. If a man there- fore, is born of the Spirit he submits his will perpetually to the guidance of the Spirit; is, day by day, taught by the Spirit; and he is enabled to offer a prayer that God can answer. Not only so, but he is assured that his prayer will be reinforced by the intercession of the Holy Spirit, with groanings which cannot be uttered. With these experiences, not only is the prayer of faith possible, but it would be impossible not to have the prayer of faith. The prayer that is answered has foundation also in reason. If a boy believes that twice two arc four because his teacher says so, that is not faith ; that is credulity. The whole boy in his experience, his intuition, his reason does not lie back of that conviction that two and two make four. A Columbus, studying signs of land to the west, comes to believe from what he has seen and heard and thought and dreamed that there is land to he west. This 9^3 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism is faiih. It «jvcrleaps the wild unknown seas and unites the evidence that the man has in his possession with the land that he has never seen, but which the evidence gives hint of. True faith in every realm is based upon evi- dence. The evidence up m which the prayer of faith rests is given by Charles G. Finney in this wise: We may have a promise, general or particular, as for instance, "If ye, 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?" This is good evidence upon which to base belief. Supported by this particular, definite promise the believer may be absolutely certain of receiving the Holy Spirit in response to his prayer. Or we may have a prophecy. "And it shall come to pass afterwards, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams: your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit." "Bring ye all the tithes unto the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the I'rayer 97 windows of heaven, and pour you out a Ijless- in;,', that there shall not be room enoURh to receive it." This is evidence upon which, after fulfilling the conditions laid down, the church may expect an outpouring of the Spirit of God. Or we may have certain signs of God's providential working about us. For example, at the present time over all the Christian world there is expectation of reli- gious revival. It seems to be in the very air. No man knows whence it has come or whither it will lead. This surely, is evidence upon which Christians can base prayer for a great revival of spiritual religion. And if we refusr to see this Presence; if we are faithless and indifferent when God is calling to the harvest need we wonder or complain if He leaves us in anger to taste the bitterness of failure; to starve and die under the curse of a formal fruitless service? Or the prayer of faith may rest upon some inner prompting of the Holy Spirit. You are moved to pray for some par- ticular friend. You cannot shake it off; the thought haunts you day by day. If you have fulfilled the spiritual requirements of the new birth and of submission to the will of God, such a feeling is proof that prayer for that particular friend will surely be answered ; and to neglect 98 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism ;4K : to pray in faith would amount to direct denial of God's truthfulness. Few people really pray, because few people have fulfilled the conditions of prayer. God will certainly give certain things in response to prayer. He feeds the ravens, and cannot His children who love Him ask for food at His hands? He clothes the lilies of the field, and cannot those who are His children expect that He will clothe them; and clothe them not in the rude garments of the savage, but in such u \va} as refined, civilized beings ought to be clothed. We need shelter and cannot we ex- pect Him who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb to grant us shelter from His wild storms? We who know that man shall not live by bread alone, can we not ask and receive that food for mind and spirit which is the very word of God? Men think they pray as the Pharisee thought he prayed; but it is mere words. God does not hear it; and if He does hear He will not answer. It is His will, His desire, to supply every need of His children, created and re- created in His image. These things He will give us in response to the prayer of faith, but we cannot ask for these things unless we know His will. We cannot know His will unless we submit our lives to its control. And we can- .1- ■■ iiH \ I-- ! ; l-.l Prayer 99 not submit our lives thus unless we have faith. When Christians fulfill the conditions of pre- vailing prayer, their supplications will sprinj; as naturally as tlie bird sings, and the answer will come as surely as gravitation draws a body to the earth. i* i' I I* ir 1 1 if f I j. V ' I \ , Is i niviiiK thanks unto the Father, which hath made tis meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in Hght; who hath delivered us from the power of (iarkness. and hath translated us into the kingdom of his (kMr Son ; in whom we have redemption, through his b'.M.id, evin the forgive- ness of sins: Who is tl;e itnaj^eof the invisible God. the first- born of every creature; For by him were all things created, that are m heaven, and that are in e;!rth. visible and invis- ible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or princip.ili- ties, or powers; all things were created by him. and for him; and he is before all thin,L,'s, and ])y hini all thinj^s con- sist. And he is the head of the body.' the cluirch; wh(< is the beginning', the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence. For it ple.i-ed the Father that in him sl.oiild all fulness dwell ; And. having made peace through the bloo'l of his cross, by him to recon- cile all things unto liiniself ; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you. that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reccmciled in the body of liis flesh through death, to present you ho"y and unb'laniable and unrcproveable in his sight. — /\iit/. Who being the brightness f>f his glory, and the express image of 1. is person, and upholding all things by tho word of his power, when he had by himself pi;rged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. — '/"//«' Hebrews. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was liod. The same was in th" begin- ning with (1(k1. All things were made by him; and with- out him was not anything made that was' made. In him was life; and the life was the liglit of men. And the light shinetli in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. That was the true Light, wlr'ch lighteth every man that Cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was nii'de by him. and the world knew him not. He came unto hi a own. and his own icceivcd him not. But as many as received him. to them gave he power to become the sons of God. even to them tl;at believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among iis. {and we belield his glory, the glory as of the only begoiicn of the Father, i full of grace and truth.— /(^A«. I02 lis .» CHAPTER VIII GOD S WORD "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners s'^^'.e in the time past ti) the Fathers by the projV ots. hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son."— Heb. i : 1-2. **Hovv shall we escape if we neglect so j^reat salvation?" — Heb. 11:3. In these sonorous and majestic words tlie writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews opens an argument addressed to Christian believers who, overshadowed on the one hand by heathen materialism, and, on the other, by Jewish cere- monialism, were in danger of falling away from the true faith. Brushing aside all secondary considerations, he goes back at once to tliu primal fact: God hath spoken: God hath spoken to us. There comes to his mind the long succession of chosen ones in whom and through whom the Voice had been heard. Abraham, going out, not knowing whither, but sure of the goodness of the guiding Hand. Jacob at Bethel making the wild and solitary 103 iv 104 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism ifi' ; 1 .1- i \ Hi wilderness a place of communion, — a house of God. Moses, the royal law-j^ver, coming down from the Mount of Law, his countenance glistening with the transfiguring glory of those days of face-to-face intercourse with I)eity. David, in lyric and legislation and heart ex- perience; Elijah before Ahab and on Mount Carmel; The "rapt, seraphic Isaiah," with his "burden" of the Servant; Jeremiah's weeping protest and warning against the sins of the nation. Ezekiel's mystic vision of spiritual realities, under strange material forms and symbols. Daniel's story of "One like unto the Son of man." Joel, with promise of future spiritual blessing. Malachi, with prophecy of the "Messenger" who should appear suddenly in His temple. In these and many others, in history and symbol, in liturgy and laws, in forms and institutions, in song and sermon and philosophy, in all the ten thousand voices of a nation's experience that go to make up the full harmony of its growth, God was speaking. It is a high thought, this, of God's progress- ive revelation of Himself through the chang- ing centuries. It is like the outcropping of the Laurentian rock across our broad northland. Away in the far northwest, where frozen rivers run to the silent sea; beside the blue "inland k -I mi God's "Word los ocean"; on the lonely shores of Huron; amidst the primeval beauties of the Muskoka wilds; by the Lower St. Lawrence, where at evening the purple shadows clc ' ^ the sentinel hills in the garments of majesty; out where Labrador lies wrapped in the fogs and chill of the north Atlantic, — everywhere the same ancient rock with its story of unimaginable mystery and wonder. So in times past, in many ways and parts, hath God spoken through the prophets. In these last days He hath spoken by His Son. As the human embryo is a condensed history of all zoological life, so Jesus is the full expression and completion of all the words of God to man. And what does He say by the Son? The first message which Jesus brings from above is that God is Father. On Sinai we learn of the Lawgiver. On Calvary of the Father. Say, when we pray, "Our Father." "To your Father and My Father I go," were the words of the Master to those who loved Him. He hath now spoken in a Son, and this is the word: "I love the world." "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begot- ten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have eternal life." "God is love," is the new message to a world io6 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism full often taught of His power and changeless justice, a message spoken so clearly and simply that all may understand. *'I am Father and I love the world." **Lo, I am come in the per- son of the Son to take upon Myself the world's guilt and shame and failure." Henceforth there is hope, for, in Jesus, the Father is in the world, reconciling the world imto Himself. By and in Jesus Christ external and negative moral legislation is internalized and made pos- itive. He transferred emphasis in moral truth from enactment and deed to the inner law of life and thought. He appears in history as the great Unifier gathering into eternal harmony of purpose and process Creator and Creation. By His Life and Cross He brought man back to his source in the spiritual nature of God. In Him, by Him and for Him were all things crerted and his harmonizing Power, as the Image and Word of God, extends from the lowest phyvsical forms to the highest grades in the spirit world. This message transcends the grammar of intellectualism. Dr. James Ward, in his Gifford lectures in 1894-96 on "Naturalism and Agnosticism," shows how modern physical science has failed, in that it has no word from God. Sir Isaac Newton concluded his "Prin- ■.: I God's ••Word" 107 cipia" with a general scholium, in which he maintains that the present diversity of the natural order could have arisen only from the idea and will of One who is God, everywhere omnipotent, absolutely supreme. A hundred years later Laplace wrote his '•Mecaniqiie Celeste," in which he expressed Newton's philosophy in terms of the differential calculus. When he presented his book to Napoleon the latter said: "I hear you have not mentioned the Creator in your book." "Sire," was the answer, "I had no need of such a hypothesis." If imidst the silent laws of nature science sees and hears naught of a personal God, in the great loving, universal Divine Man, Christ Jesus, there breathes a full-toned message from heaven. Pascal was wiser than his coun- tryman, when he said: "The heart hath reasons that the reason knows not of." And to reason and heart, to conscience and will, to the whole man and to all men God hath spoken by the Son; a complete message beyond which, or rather, beyond whom, there is noth- ing to learn, for in Christ all things consist. Worthy indeed is the "Lamb that was slain, to receive power and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing," yea, and obedience. 't 1 08 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism 1. Iff I f 1 t It would seem impossible to avoid the ques> tion: How shall wc escape if we neglect so great salvation? Great in its source, great in its means, great in its results. This solemn word is for believers, although it comes with more terrible meaning to those who have found in the Son no form nor comeliness, nothing to be desired, and have declared, "We will not have this man to reign over us." "So great salvation" — what is it? It is, first of all, a supernatural life or energy implanted in be- lieving lives, direct from heaven, just as in the first creation God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of lives and man became a living soul. With the new supernatural life is given a new law or code of morals by which it is to express itself. This is the Sermon on the Mount, which implies a regenerated life, be- fore it can be practiced. This also is the ex- ample of Jesus Himself in His passion and compassion. And the new life and new law project themselves against a background of human experience which from the beginning re yeals their reality and reasonableness. There is no escape for those who reject or neglect this great salvation. There can be no escape. How can a man learn wisdom if his days have run away in foolishness? How can l^i i \i.l * Hi! I! Gods "Word" 109 there be a harvest if spring time and summer have passed without sowing? How can health be found by those who have squandered their physical resources in rioting? If men cannot find God by this noonday light, how can they find Him by the flickering, dying flame of their own imaginings? Over the unknown sea must each fare alone. How can one escape its engulfing mystery and terror unless he has learned of Him who alone has said: **I know whence I come and whither I go." ^1 i . I.i|:l it ; ■I* 1' Saith the Lord God. Behold all souls are mine; as the sou of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine- the soul that sinneth, it shall A\e.—Ezektti. Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Rise up. ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters- give ear unto my speech. Many days and years shall ye be troubled, yc careless women; for tne vintage shall fail the gatheri.ig shall not come. Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones; stnp you. and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your \o\n%.— is aiah. The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made • in the net which they hid is their own foot taken. The Lord IS known by the judgment which he executeth ; the wicked IS snared m the work of his own bands. The wicked shall be turned mto hell, and all the nations that forget God For the needy shall not always be forgotten; the expectation of the poor shall not perish {orcver.— Psalms. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begot- ten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not Densh but have everlasting Mi^.—John. H^- I ixa CHAPTER IX HOW GOD LOOKS UPON THE SINNER In the 7th Psalm, nth verse, we read, "God is angry with the wicked every day." The context shows that the insertion by the trans- lators of the phrase, "with the wicked," is a fair and correct rendering of the meaning of the passage. In John 3: 36 the evangelist says: **He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abid- eth on him." In the first chapter of Romans, the 18th verse, Paul says: "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness." If these words, taken from various sections of the Bible, mean any- thing, their meaning is so grave that they ought to receive the earnest attention of every rational being. The Old Testament is full of the terrible truth of God's anger against the wicked. It flashes a lurid, bodeful flame over every page 113 ^il 1 14 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism k. of Jewish history. It is written in the wreck and ruin of nations and cities that forgot God. It is the burden of the Psalmist's c:y; "We are consumed by Thine anger, and by Thy wrath we are troubled." It is the message of every great prophet who sought to lead his people to a higher life. One typical passage is enough: "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness mighty to save. Wherefore .'irt thou red in thine apparel and thy garments like him that treadt ;h m the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone ; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and there was none to help; and I won- dered that there was none to uphold : therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me ; and my fury, it upheld me. And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth. ' ' I i .1 1 How God Looks Upon the Sinner 115 Nor must any imagine that this is a dis- tinctively Old Testament truth. It is as com- mon in the New Testament as in the Old. When John appeared on the banks of the Jor- dan preaching the gospel of the New Kingdom', his question to the Pharisees was: "Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" The character of Jesus was not devoid of anger, for we are told that, "looking around upon the Pharisees, He was moved with anger at the hardness of their hearts." John, the evangelist of love, declares that "he that believ- eth nc . the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of G. J abideth on him." The writer to the Hebrews believed that "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." While space will not permit the presentation of all, it will be enough to quote at length one more typical New Testament passage: "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness be doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns ; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a ves- ture dipped in blood : and his name is called the Word of God. And out of his mouth goeth (I in: It n6 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism i ■' ! "! i :|.ti i il a sharp swf)rcl, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written King of Kings, and Lord of Lords." The first question we must ask is as to the nature of God's anger. The New Testament answers our question thus: God's anger is His opposition to man's disobedience and sin, manifesting itself in punishment of the sinner. It is not anger of passion ; it is not selfish anger; it is not contrary to God's character of love, else it would involve contradiction in the nature of God, and He would, therefore, cease to be God. It is a necessity of His being, because He is j^ood and just. Whatever the nature of God's anger, it is a terrible thing to be feared. Yes, feared. It is seriously sug- gested in these days t'.uit an appeal to fear is irrational and unchristian, but the man who does not fear the righteous anger of a Holy God is a fool. There is a rational as well as an irrational fear. Yonder the children are play- ing beside the sea. The tide has gone out, and the children have followed the retreating waves. But llie tide will not stay out; and even now the first ripple of the returning flood IIuw (i 1 I , Upon the Sinner 117 breaks at their feel. Far up the shore along the line of rocks is \\\-^\\ water mark. Shall the children stay here and play; here on the flats? They are not afn;id. But, wuether they are afraid or not, the tide must come in, and if, when the tide comes in, they remain here they must be engulfed and destroyed. Is it not perfectly reasonable for children who have followed the tide oiu to flee before the uplifted flood of its incoming? And is it not reasonable for those who have by wrongdoing set themselves against the changeless forces of God's moral government to fear and flee? This world, spiritual as well as physical, is governed by laws, and the reasonable man is one who knows, fears and obeys these laws. We may ask now, What is the cause of God's anger against the wicked? The first cause is God Himself. Were He not opposed to sin He would not be God. While He takes no pleas- ure in the death of the wicked. He takes no pleasure in the sin that caiiseth death. When Fort Sumter was fired upon it became instantly necessary for the United States to rally its energies and to assert its whole authority in order to preserve its existence and integrity. Had it failed to do tliis it would have forfeited at once its right to nationhood and ceased to m if ii8 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism exist. Whatever may be said as to the nego- tiations preceding the war, the moment the Boer armies were flung across the interna- tional line into British territory, the whole empire, led by the central organizing power and authority, must have gathered itself for the task of repelling the invading armies cr it must have ceased to be an empire. It is in the nature of a nation to defend itself against de- struction from without and from within. It is in the nature of God to put down rebellion against His supreme will, whether that rebel- lion is seen among the spiritual hosts that people the invisible universe or among the sons of men. The second cause of God's anger is the sin- ner himself. Here is a machine, vast, compli- cated, gathering about one ruling idea for the performance of a certain work. In this ma- chine a single wheel is broken. Forthwith the whole machine must stop and that broken wheel be taken out. The wheel is broken; shall its ruin spread to the rest of the parts to which it belongs, or shall it be taken out that they may be saved? A man absorbs typhoid poison, and forthwith his whole system is fevered with the struggle of nature to rid her- self of the foreign substance. Unless the a u How God Looks Upon the Sinner 1 19 subtle poison is overcome and thrown off the man must die. Here is a criminal; the mo- ment he becomes such he opposes himself to the organized life, law and well-being of the whole community. Because his hand is against every man it is the duty of every man to be against him: not in anger, but with the calm, judicial conviction expressed by and through the laws, that this criminal is a menace to the well-being of the com- munity, and must therefore be regenerated or exterminated. So with the wicked under the moral government of God. Because he is what he is, he is opposed to that moral govern- ment which has for its end the highest well being of the human race. He must be got nd of, therefore, either by regeneration or de- struction, for he is a perpetual offence to God, a menace to man and a curse to himself. That the anger of God against the wicked is perfectly reasonable and just is seen when we consider the ruin wrought by wickedness. A man has entrusted to his care a little family. His children look to him as their highest known authority, and very largely what he makes them they will become. If this father, by his subtle influence leaves his children without knowledge of God, without belief in t .i w $■ ! I'l 1*1 • Mi- i :n \ ■ ; \ • ■■;. P 1 1 i 1 -f. 1 ■ i } ' U' i-^ I20 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism truth and righteousness, without right equip- ment for the solemn duties of their after life, ought not God to be angry with him for his selfish failure and for the ruin which it has, produced? A young man endowed with force and brilliancy of nature and intellect finds him- self the leader of a group. He is bad, and by example and i)recept he makes them worse. P'or it is beyond dispute that just as one rotten apple in a barrel will destroy all the rest, so one bad man in a community will contaminate that community and weaken its moral tone from center to circumference. Ought not God to be angry with such a man? Here is a pro- fessing Christian, a member of a prominent church. By his selfishness, his sordid material- ism, his greed and cruelty, he becomes a stum- bling-block to his neighbors, and leads them to disbelieve in the reality of Christ's religion of love. One such man will work more ruin than a whole church can counteract. Is it not reasonable that God, who desires the well- being of that church and that community, should be angry with such a man? The nat- ural man is enmity against God. This alone is reas-.n enough for G.jd's opposition to man, but when he goes forth and without heed, without care, throughout his whole life, sows How God Looks Upon the Sinner I2i the seeds of moral death and degradation, surely God cannot be God unless the hot fires of His indijjnation burn a^'ainst such an one. That the angtr oi God is not a myth, that it has had real effect in the world, can be seen by a glance at history. The spectacle of our first parents making their sad way out from the garden, guarded henceforth by the flaming sword, is our first picture. The drowning of a world completely given over to its evil lusts is another evidence of the dire results of the anger of God against the wicked. Even the chosen people were sent into exile and sifted like wheat over the world, and their central city, the place of His worship, went down be- fore the foreign invader and was sown with salt because of the wrath of God. They had taken their Messiah, and with wicked hands had crucified Him, and this was God's answer to their rejection of His Son. While adversity and sorrow is not necessarily a mark of Divine wrath, it often is clearly seen to be such. And j^ometimes the gaining of great wealth and position becomes a means of punishment; just as a child, anxious to touch the flame with its finger, is at last allowed to do so. It is and always has been true that the wages of sin is ! r I 122 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism \i i \r death, whether the sin, is done in the daylight or in the dark. Every one must have remarked the waning sense of sin so characteristic of our age. If, after all, sin is not so sinful, then Jesus ceases to be the true and only Saviour and He re- treats at once into the unrealities of the ideal. He is precious only in proportion as He saves from sin. He was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification. H not, the blood-writ story of the cross descends to the level of a mere incident in the history of hate. If in Adam all do not die because of sin, then in Christ all cannot and need not be made alive. If it is not true that all have sinned and must appear before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of the deeds done in the body, then it is not true that the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin ; and there is no right- eousness of God through faith. The corrective for this waning sense of sin is to approach the facts of life from eternity rather than from time ; to look at the human heart from God's standpoint and measure life by His standard. This is the essence of prophecy. "Thus saith the Lord" was the prophetic formula. It was not what sinful men thought about themselves but what God A! How God Looks Upon the Sinner 123 thought about ihem. Measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves, men are now as they were in the days of Paul, not wise. To become wise unto salvation they must lay their lives once more against the law of God and learn, from the dreadful discrepancy which such a course reveals, that God cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance but f( >r every sin there is reserved a just retribution. While God is angry with the wicked every day, it is equally true that He loves the world. Not with the love of complacency, as the old theologians have it, but with the love of benevolence; just as a patient mother loves, pities, and seeks to reclaim a wandering child. Because God loves the world He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him might not perish under His wrath, but might have eternal life. In Christ, God is in the world reconciling the world unto Himself. This is what gives Jesus His supremacy in the thought of man. By His life and death and resurrection He brings a way of escape by which the wicked may avoid destruction under the changeless laws of God's moral govern- ment, and by means of the new birth become new men in Christ Jesus. No rationalism, no li 124 The Old Kvanpcl and New llvanpc lisin scntimcntiilism, no spirit of unbelief can ever detract from the majesty and beauty of this gospel. There is no other name },Mven under heaven among men whtreby we mu .t l)e saved but the name of Jesus. He is the way of fscapc. He is the truth that shall make men free, and His is the life that shall lift them up out of the bottomless deeps of death and ruin and set them before the throne of God in His image, children and heirs. I . li! 1 1 \\V [V I" f, ■n ii> 11 He that beheveth on him is not condemned: but he tint be leveth not is condemned already, because he hath not behevetl in the name of the onlv begotten Son of Gosed when a man is sliut av.-ay from the sunlij,d;t. He is by nature a creature of the lij,ht and to live in darlnicss is for him xinnatural. So the human heart is made for love and the love hunj:^cr is never satisfied ex- cept by love. A loveless life is an inhuman life. Fer men therefore to reject Jesus is to deny their own essential humanity and deliber- ately cheese an unnatural and irrational exist- ence without love and without lii,dit. Unbelief is sin because it is a denial of the reality of spirit. The whole message of Jesus rests upon the reality of man's spiritual being. "God is spirit and they that worship Him must worship inspirit and in truth." By the new birth it is possible for ma:i to actually become one with God. The crowning glory of Chris- tianity is its spirituality. It is true that men The Sin of riibcli. f '33 may have certain of tlic spiritual about them and yet deny Jesus. They may be j^eneruus, civil, moral. This indeed they ought all and always to be but tlieir sin arises in their prac- tical denial of God revealed in Christ as source and support of this life. Here is a child of a fTood family who -,ols out to make his way in the wcrld. He seeks bad company, sinks to the level of tlie sot, dis-;raccs his father. Now wherein is the bitterness, the exceeding- sinful- ness of his sin? He has sinned aj,Minst himself, against his companions; and this is bad. But his deep guilt lies in the fact that he has held his family in light esteem and offered his father's fair name and fame upon the altar of his evil lusts. So to disbelieve in Jesus is to insult man's origin as spirit in the Spirit of God and to defame these high eternal qualities which distinguish the human from the brute. To deny Jesus is to deny the ideal and this is sin. And sin because it involves denial of human progress and endorsement of wrong and failure as eternal and necessary. Jesus is the ideal man. In Him we see what man may be and become; what is the real - lan. He tells us how the ideul may become actual in believers' lives. He calls from the clouds those far away dreams of human perfection JJ t ( I Nir 134 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism which in all ajj^es have haunted the noblest minds and clothes t'.iem with flesh and bloud. lie honors tlie higher aspirations and discon- tents of human nature and ofTers oneness with God as the human goal. Is it not plain that to reject this is to prove a traitor to the ideal; to fall into hopeless pessimism; to surrender to the grim thraldom of the earthly and Actual? Have we not here a rallying point for mod- ern preaching? Do we not need to hear the note of authority in our teachers calling us to conform to Jesus Christ as an historical Fact and as an inner present Experience and to decide for or against Him? This is the central decision and duty. All else will come if this be settled. The world like the woman at the well seeks to evade the issue by hiding behind secondaries. "Ye say that Jerusalem is the place to worship but we say in this mountain is the place; evidently sir there is contradiction here; and therefore" — "Verily," saith tiie Lord, "neither here nor there is essential, f r God is Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." So let us come to the point. "What think ye of Christ?" Other ground is debatable. This and that are expediences and may be ar^^ued The Sin of Unbelief 135 pro and con. But why do ye not believe in Jesus Christ? This is the question the answer of which answers all other questions, the re- fusal of which is the sum of all sins. I, ' I I n fit. fir! ti- ll: r A Christian Conversion »37 I I t M *^^ y K w If ••'* Why iboukl it be thought a thliifj incrflihle with you. that <'fO many things contrary to the name of Jt->itsof Na/.art'tli. Whitli tliinK* I alsodKl in JiTusalein . and many unished them oft in every synagoKue, and coiiij>elIe(i them to blusphtnif . and heitijj excetiliu^ly mad against them, I persecuti'd them even unto strange cities. \\ hereupon ius I went to Damascus with authority and tommission from the chief piiests, at tnidday. C> king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, al>ove the hri^htness of the si:n. vhinine round alKiut me and thetn whii h journeyed with me And when we were all fallen to the eaith, I lu-anl a voice speak- ing unto mc, and saying in the Hebrew ton^jue, Saul, .Saul, why jH-rsecutest tho\i me' it is hard for thei- to kick against the pricks. And I s lid. Who art thou, Lord' And he said. I am Jesus whom thou jH-rsecutest. Hut rise, and stand upon thy feet ; for I have ai)i>eared unto thee for this in!r|>ose. to make thee a minister and a witness both of these thin^.s which thou hast seen, and of those tilings in tluwliich I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people, and from the (lentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to o|>en their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may riieive forgiveness of sins, and inheritmce among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Whereupon, O king Aj.cnpp.i, I was not disot)edient unto the heavenly vision; but sheweil first unto them of Iianiascus, and at Jerusalem, and throi!<;hout all the coasts of Judea, and then to tl.e (lentiles, that they should repent and turn to (iod, and do Wf)rks meet for repentance For tliesc causes the Jews caui^ht me in the temple, and went about to kill me. Having therefore obtained help of (Iod. I continue unto this day, witneRsin^ both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come; that t h.rist should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and slioidd shew light unto the I>eople and to the Gentiles.— /\jm/. ns CHAPTER XI A ( HRISTIAN CONVERSION Whatever CkkI \nn<. first it i- always best f<>r man to put first. Jesus came to reveal anil set up the Kinj^doni of Heaven on earth ; a new Kin^nlom of life based upon and ruled by Love. At the entrance to this Kinj,'dom our Lonl placed the new birth. "Except a man be born a};ain, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God." This is the core of the Christian mes- sa^jc : "Ye must be born again. " If we falter here we miss the point entirely and devitalize our whole messaj^e. Amonj; many it has come to be the custom to look upon re!i}.;ion as an amiable weakness peculiar to children, people who are enfeeljled by disease and about to die, and women some- what nervously distempered, or at least given to superstition. Conversion is dismissed with a superior smile as a sort of interesting^ sur- vival from an a^e of ignorance and credulity. This tendency to disbelieve in spiritual religion is a fact which must be faced. Unless we ' '9 ijm W- i 1 '1 \ 'W, i; :' ^ 140 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism have other and greater facts with which to face it we had better give over a fruitless struggle and leave the field at once. The Realities of Doubt must be met with the Realities of Faith. One example of the new birth has more apologetic worth than all the theories ever conceived. In this chapter it is proposed to discuss the conversion of Saul of Tarsus as a historical fact by the truth or falsity of which Christian- ity must stand or fall. Here are certain experiences in the life of a great man. What caused them? Was Paul, admittedly the transcendent intellect of Christendom, de- ceived? Or was he who sealed his belief in the reality of these experiences with his blood, a deceiver? If the new tirth was real and necessary for Saul of Tarsus it must be real and necessary for ever>' man. If he found that "there is no other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved but the name of Jesus," his testimony is not to be lightly smiled away. If Paul was not mistaken, then the multitudes who to-day will not have Jesus to reign over them are resting upon a delusion and are in deadly danger. What preceded the conversion of Saul? Are there any facts or experiences in his previous A Christian Conversion 141 history that will explain his conversion? Was his experience before the gates of Damascus simply the result of natural causes to be found in his early training, beliefs and character; or was this experience a result of external new forces? In a word did he become a Christian as men become partisans of any cause by evo- lution or was it by regeneration? Let us ex- amine the facts. Saul was born and bred of good Hebrew parentage. His birthplace and early home was the ao mean city of Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia, a province of Asia Minor. He passed his youth under the shadow of a great heathen university and although it is not likely that he attended any of its courses he became master of the Greek language and absorbed enough of the heathen classics to be able to quote them with effect in his speech on Mars' Hill. At an early age he went to Jerusalem and attended the school of the Rabbis where he had the great privilege of sitting at the feet of Gama- liel, a man who was to Jerusalem what Socrates was to Athens and Philo to Alexandria. Of good birth and breeding, with acute and philosophical mind, his high and refined nature found full satisfaction in the study of the great elemental problems of human life. Whatever 142 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism IV- •1 his early iraiiiinjj may have been the products of his genius in after years show him to have possessed a mind, whieh for grandeur and sweep of conception, lofty and relentless logic, and a certain piercing quality of imagination, has never been surpassed. Not only was Saul the greatest man of his time intellectually, but he was equally strong on the moral and religious side. He did not yield to the formalism and hypocrisy which gave to his age an unenviable distinction. Amidst unspeakable corruption and chicanery he lived a pure, austere life. From the begin- ning he was consumed by one passion. To him, knowledge of God was the only thing worth having. His studies taught him that to obtain this knowledge he must obey God; so he set himself resolutely to the appalling task of keeping the law. His success is indicated by what he himself says later; "As touching the law I was found blameless." It is evident then that even in his youth he was an extraor- dinary character, true and noble. Saul of Tarsus, the young rabbi, found him- self in inevitable and deadly opposition to the new Christian faith which seemed at the time he entered upon his active public career to threaten the foundations of religion. He had m A Christian Conversion 143 never seen Jesus, as it is probable that he was stationed in some outlying community during our Lord's active ministry, but on his return to Jerusalem he fomid the new sect making alarming headway. Accustomed already to broad generalization he saw at once that Chris- tianity and Judaism could not exist side by side. The one involved the destruction of the other. He believed in Judaism; he was there- fore opposed to Christianity. And his opposi- tion was based upon the three grounds of philosophy, religion and patriotism ; the high- est grounds upon which any conviction can rest. No wonder then that he felt himself doing God service in uprooting the hateful heresy. Philosophically it is likely that Saul found the same difficulty with Christianity as did the Greeks. To him as co them Christ crucified was foolishness. For how could there be any causal connection between a crucified malefac- tor and the moral regeneration of men who had never seen Him. Considered simply as a series of propositions Christianity will never compel the obedience of mankind. Nor is this surprising for if in philosophy it has as yet been found impossible to explain the universe in terms of mind, how much less can we ex- b p t»' m i'- •t] P ^.'f ii. 144 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism press the history of the soul in logical and theological propositions. Saul of Tarsus sim- ply fell into the failure of all intellectualists who seek to measure the infinitudes of spirit- ual truth and experience by the reasoning faculty. It is like trying to dip up the ocean with a cup. The thing may enlist desire, heroism, and even temerity, but Law has de- termined that it cannot be done. If Saul was opposed to Christianity for reasons of philosophy his strongest objections were based upon grounds of religion. Of an intensely religious nature he had made right- eousness his highest good and in the attain- ment of this prize his zeal burned like fire. Saturated with the Hebrew scriptures he saw and appropriated their spiritual meaning as no other man of his nation. In them he thought he found eternal life. To all the predisposi- tions in their favor 01 race, training and tradi- tion he added a religious fervor and faith the result of long study and testing by experience. He believed that the God of Israel was the only true God; that the Jews were His chosen people; and that the Hebrew scriptures, tradi- tions, worship, priesthood and morality consti- tuted the only divinely appointed and therefore efiEectual, means of human salvation. He must A Christian Conversion 145 have seen at a glance the fundamental differ- ence between Judaism and Christianity. Sal- vation by works was the heart of the former; salvation by faith of the latter. If Chris- tianity was right Judaism was wrong. The acceptance of Christianity involved the rejec- tion and final disappearance of Judaism. The two could not exist together. But he had staked his eternal destiny upon the Jewish creed. In the works of the law he had sought and thought he had found that righteousness without which no man can see the Lord. Christianity therefore appeared to him as a deadly r.ienace involving in its acceptance a denial of the only means of salvation. To oppose, to destroy Christianity, was therefore his solemn duty for by so doing he would re- move a dreadful danger from the world. If Saul was opposed to Christianity on intellec- tual and religious grounds his opposition was equally pronounced upon grounds of patriot- ism. Like every Jew he loved his nation, be- lieved in its mission and hoped for its trium- phant future. He saw that the Jewish religion was the chief distinguishing fact which sep- arated and kept separate his people from other nations. To destroy their faith was to lose their nationality and this made religious it i HI it.-- If I i '■ 146 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism duties identical with national duties. A He- brew of the Hebrews, actuated by all the senti- ments of patriotism, Saul could not but hate Christianity as a system calculated to destroy the Jewish nation. Saul was a man of action. For him to be- lieve was to do; and now as always he was ready to express his national and religious convictions in deeds as well as words. Conse- quently he became at once a most ardent per- secutor of the Christian faith. This in itself was not a bad thing for Christianity, for the greatest blessing that can come to the Church is persecution. It cannot always stand pros- perity but it always blooms under adversity. The blood of the martyrs has been in all ages the seed of the church. The church on good terms with the world is a contradiction, for our faith is defined as "the victory that overcometh the world." The flesh is always against the Spirit and the world against the kingdom. Considering his experience, beliefs and tem- perament it is not surprising therefore to find Saul at his first appearance in the New Testa- ment history giving countenance to the slay- ing of Stephen. Later we have glimpses of him going from house to house and haling men and women to prison and to death, and it A Christian Converrwon 147 must be admitted that he did his work well. No one escaped him. He thought he was doing God service and as the bloody work went on his zeal increased almost to the point of madness. This, then, is what preceded the conversion of Saul. He was well born and well bred ; his education was the best offered by his country: Intellectually strong, profoundly religious, and patriotic to a degree, he was in deadly oppo- sition to Christ and to all those who had taken that Name. The grounds that supported him in this position were those of reason, religion, and patriotism. Putting his opinions into practice he had undertaken to stamp out the hated sect not only by argument but by the more effectual means of the law. It is nearly self-evident that such a man under such cir- cumstances could not be changed into a fol- lower of Jesus without some extraordinary experience. We come then to the experience that Saul passed through at his conversion. After seek- ing out all the Christians in the vicinity of Jerusalem he obtained authority to visit Da- mascus and there continue his persecution of the Church. It is probable that the long jour- ney gave him time for thought and he found 148 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism ,♦ >i U «t t t himself disquieted. A mind less observant and acute must have seen that however wrong it appeared as a system Christianity was pro- ducing an attractive type of character. Grapes do not grow on thorns and a bad religion will not make good men. How, then, could this evil superstition cause men and women to live such pure and blameless lives and rest so quietly and even joyfully under persecution? Moreover he found himself at war with him- self. In dragging Christians to prison and death he was perfectly logical and consistent but his moral sense revolted against his logic. These deluded people seemed to possess a peace which he lacked and longed for. In the silence of the desert journey his spiritual and moral instincts leaped up in protest against his reason, his prejudice and even his patriotism. vSaul was getting near the heart of Christianity, for the Christian Truth is more than proposi- tions of the intellect. It is a life, and finds room within its infinite compass for conscience and will and conduct as well as for logic; a universal life as careless of national boundaries as the sunshine and gladly acknowledging it- self debtor to all mankind. To know this Truth is to be made free ; for this is the Truth that can reconcile the warring elements of a It i A Christian Conversion 149 man's life and brinj;^ him into perfect peace with God, with his fellowmen, and with him- self. Like an ox in the furrow that kicks against the guiding goad of the driver receiv- ing pain when only guidance was intended, so the persecutor wounded his imperious spirit against the relentless sting of an awakened and accusing conscience until at last he found peace in surrender to Him who said "It is useless for thee to kick against the goads." It was high noon at Damascus. Within the city, here and there, earnest-faced men ex- changed a meaning glance as they met in the streets; and women in quiet homes caught their children to their breasts as they thought of the fierce oppressor whom they had heard was on his way from Jerusalem with authority to bind all who were Followers of the Way. Outside the gates on the Jerusalem road ap- peared a cavalcade escorting the young emis- sary of the Sanhedrin. Suddenly as they journeyed there flashed from heaven a light above the brightness of the sun, which seemed to blind the company, so that they fell pros- trate to th^ ground. Then Saul heard a voice saying unto him. "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." Let us take his own testimony 1 50 The Old Evangel and New Kvanpelisni it ; h.- . ,1 W hi '■' ,) I il * as to what followed. "And I said, Who art Thou, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutesi. But rise, and stand upon thy feet : For I have appean;d imto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these thing's which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will ap- pear unto thee; delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from dark ess to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." When Saul rose from the earth he was blind but they led him by the hand and so, trembling and helpless, the proud Persecutor entered the city. For three days in the house of Judas in the street called Straight, he lay in total dark- ness ; darkness of soul and darkness * body. Who can imagine the tumult of thougnts that poured through his troubled mind during those days of shadow? What forebodings and wrestlings, what dumb outreaching of Faith, what glimpses through the gloom of a brood- ing Presence, the Majestic Figure of One like unto the Son of Man ! Throe days passed, days M A Christian Conversion 151 01 iragedy and crisis. Then came Ananias, of the Disciples and putting his hands on him said, "Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hatli sent me, that hou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost." "And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales : and he received sight forth- with, and arose, and was baptized. And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed, and said ; is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests? But Saul increased the more in strength, and con- founded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ." There is in all this a large element of the miraculous. While in essence the conversion of Saul was like the conversion of any other man ceicain conditions peculiar to his case ren- dered a miracle necessary. lie had never seen the Lord in the flesh. He was being calle(' to apostleship. His ofl&ce was to be that of ■;! m: a i! if t 152 The Old Evangel and New EvanKclism herald and witness. His testimony must con- sist in what he had seen and heard; and not merely those things seen and heard by all who surrender their will to Jesus, but also those things that constitute apostleship in particular as distinguished from discipleship in general. While various spiritual phenomena that have since ceased, were common in the early Church, such as the gift of tongues, the apos- tles formed an inner circle endowed with special apostolic powers, prerogatives, and ex- periences and called to a peculiar work as un- usual as it was sublime. In order then to transform this man into an apostle it was necessary that he should have an apostolic ex- perience corresponding to that enjoyed by Peter and the rest of the Eleven. Perhaps there is more than a coincidence in the fact that Paul spent a long time in solitude in Arabia after his conversion communing with the Lord and learning by special rev- elation those things that the other apostles had learned in the three years of our Lord's earthly ministry from daily intercourse with Him. There was another reason why Pauls experi- ence should be unique. Not only was he called to be an apostle, but his apostolic mis- A Christian Conversion 153 sion was of a peculiar and exalted order. The others were witnesses of the facts of our Lord's life, death and resurrection. Paul was called to the sublime task of constructing an ad ^uate philosophy of those facts. They set 'orth the facts of Mis life. Paul dealt with the jrrcat essential fact of His death and resur- rection and the "many things" which in His humiliation Jesus could not make the apostles understand Paul learned by special revelation from the Lord exalted. To him was given to elaborate and apply the great spiritual doc- trines involved in the earthly history of the Son of Man. For these reasons Paul's conver- sion was marked by certain experiences which other men, called to other and lower labors, could not expect. But, after all allowance is made for these apostolic elements, it will be seen that Paul's conversion was in its essence like the conver- sion of every other man. The Light and Voice come to all who are turned from darkness unto the marvelous light. The unconverted man lives in and for to-duy. Self-centered he has not related himself to either eternity or time. He has no hope because he is without God in the world. Sin in essence and effect is sep- aration. In loneliness and darkness the sin- 154 The Old Evangel and New Evangel . ner stumbles further into the shadow. The whole universe conspires to rid itself of his unwelcome presence. "Wheresoever the carcass is there the eagles are gathered to- gether. " These are the scavengers of God's moral government, tiie dread Forces of Law lifting up out of the Eternities to smite rebel- lion and restore order. When at last sin hatli brough forth death there will be no eye to pity and no arm to save. Law is Law; a servant to them who obey; a Gehenna of fiery judg- ment to all who dare to disobey. At conver- sion there comes to the sinner a great light. It flashes forth from the eternities out of which and into which he is faring. He sees his whole life at a glance as related to God and man. The broad road that leadeth to destruc- tion is illumined throughout its whole course. At the beginning is a deliberate wrong choice ; at the end is Hell. The same light floods the steep ascent 'of that strait and narrow way that leadeth unto life everlasting. It glows in calm radiance about the Cross and enwraps with bodeful lightings the Throne of Judg- ment. This experience may be called convic- tion of sin; it may be traced to the Holy Spirit, to conscience, to the Bible, to preach- ing but whatever its source it amounts to a A Christian Conversion XS5 revelation to himself of the sinner's life in its large relationships with eternity. With this light there comes to'every man at conversion the questioning Voice. "Why?" It is the appeal of the Spirit to the reason as the other is an appeal to the conscience and will. "Why persccutest thou me?" What reason is there for reasonable men to follow the path that leads away from God? What reason is there for reasonable beings to reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour? What reason is there for reasonable men to silence the voice of conscience; to choose darkness rather than light, to live for self rather than for God? Why? Why? Charles G, Finney defines religion as "Obedience to Go ' This is Paul's sum- mary of his experience at conversion, — "Wherefore O King Agrippa I was not dis- obedient unto the heavenly vision." And this was a continuous attitude of mind which marked the Apostle throughout every hour of his after life. His subsequent history is sim- ply the story of his obedience in word and thought and deed to the Lordship of Jesus; an obedience which involved a complete denial of and forsaking his whole past, an absolute surrender of his personality to the 1 56 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism r personality of Jesus, and a life of loving serv- ice and patient suffering. There is something startling about the sudden appearance of the Persecutor in the Synagogue at Damascus "preaching Christ that He is the Son of God; confounding the Jews and proving that this is the very Christ." The change was so com- plete and involved so much that it cannot be accounted for on ordinary grounds. It was not like the conversion of a man from Free Trade to Protection or vice versa. It involved loss of home and friendships cherished as only a Jew could cherish such things. It meant exile, loneliness, misunderstanding, ruin, social and financial. Henceforth every Jew would look upon him as a traitor, a deceiver, and opinion would be divided as to whether he were the greater fool or knave. Home tics, religious and national associations, all had to go. It would indeed be hard to fully appreciate all that the change meant for Paul and yet, what things were gain to him he counted but loss for Christ. **Yca, doubtless, I count all things but less for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for wfeom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteous- ly t If t A Christian Conversion 157 ncss. which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." Not less striking was the complete subordina- tion of Paul's personality to the personality of Jesus Christ involved in his conversion. No one can doubt that Paul was one of the few Solitary Souls, which appear here and there in history; deep creative men who originate movements and whose thought is the seed for whole cycles of lesser thinking. And yet he expressly declares himself completely given over to the domination of Jesus in body, mind and spirit. "I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me." "For me to live is Christ." Hence- forth he is the Lord's bond servant. He claims no right for himself. His will is wholly controlled by a Higher Will. This is in accord with the teaching and example of Christ who said, "I have always the Father with me be- cause I do always the things that are pleasing unto Him." And herein Paul fulfilled the Christian paradox. He lost himself in order i rr iV 1 f 1 1 1 ry.' Mil 15.S Tlic Old Evangel aiul New Evangelism to find himself. Hitherto he had stood out alone, a stronj,', sombre iii^urc at war with the best in the interests c trace tlie results of this cwnversion out into the ]l i ... , J, St'i •• It; ' iCx) The Old Evangel and New Evangelism concern mine infirmities. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: And through a window was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands." But these sufferings were not a mere acci- dent. They are but marks of a deep inner his- tory or rather incidents in the external expression of that history. When Saul of Tarsus was converted he became Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. Saul the Jewish sectary, the narrow, bigoted nationalist, became Paul the Universal Man, debtor and brother to the whole world. Deeply did he drink of the fountain of Life. The love of God for all the world that sent Jesus to die for mankind welled up in the apostle's heart until he yearned over the whole brotherhood of man with a tenderness truly heavenly. But it did not stop here. Paul was no idle sentimental- ist. He acknowledged a sense of debtorship to Jew and Gentile, bond and free, wise and sim- ple, and he made good the impulse of his heart by a life of service unequaled in all the splen- did annals of Christian self-sacrifice. A Christian Conversion i6i Mention must be made of the enduemcnt of the Spirit which so distinguished Paul's after life. Of this apart from preceding statements but one thing need be said. This is God's world and God is working in His world. When we voluntarily go to the place where God is working and do the work that God is doing we have His Presence and His Power; and it may then be said, without irreverence, in the words of Jesus, "My Father worketh hitherto and I work," for "we are workers to- gether with Him." How did it all end? Did such self-sacrifice, such stormy renunciation of the good things of life pay? Was not this man a fool? Was he not deceived? He sits in the grim shadow of his Roman dungeon. Outside, the apparatus of death is preparing and to-morrow he will be led forth to die ; an old man, weary, careworn, almost alone. What has he to say? Listen. "For I am now ready to be offered. To-mor- row they will pour my blood upon the ground even as they pour out a drink offering to their heedless gods of stone. The time of my de- parture is at hand. The tide is running out. I am casting off my moorings and soon I shall slip down with the silent ebb into the Ocean. It is evening and the day's work is done. I i62 The Old Evangel and New Evangelism '\ ' ,1' ^■. have fouj^'ht a good fight, I have finished my course, 1 have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day : and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing." Is all this but another of the delusions of superstition? Or is it of God? How can we answer? How must we answer in face of the great philosophical expression given the facts by the Apostle in his writing; in face of the sanity and moderation, the freedom from fanaticism and cant, the splendid self-sacrifice, the genuine enthusiasm for humanity, and good which mark his whole life? Paul was not mistaken. He saw Jesus. He was dealing with and resting upon Realities. And to re- peat this experience is to reproduce his history in deed and thought.