W2 *li I" cv%%r BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT J. -- 13. JL Rev. L. W. HPSTHALL, M.A., D.D. A^****^*,^ tfAow 7 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . 12 CHAPTER I. THE GENESIS OF METHODISM . . . 15 II. PRESENT DAY METHODISM .... 36 III. OUR EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS ... 47 IV. OUR SCHOOLS OF THEOLOGY .... 66 V. SUNDAY SCHOOL LITERATURE . . . 88 VI. SUNDAY SCHOOL LITERATURE (Continued) . 100 VII. THE BOOK CONCERN . . . . .112 VIII. EVANGELISM 129 IX. THE EPISCOPACY . . . . .142 X. ECCLESIASTICAL POLITICS . . . . 150 XI. AMUSEMENTS . . . . . .166 XII. RICH MEN 179 XIII. SUMMARY 193 XIV. THE OUTLOOK ...... 203 XV- THE NEED OF THE HOUR .... 209 A PERSONAL FOREWORD MOST of my folks were Methodists from the beginning of the movement in this country. I have been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for more than fifty years. I have held numerous of- ficial positions class leader, steward, and Sunday school superintendent; and have represented the Philadelphia Annual Conference in the last three General Conferences, *. e. 1904, 1908, 1912. My name appears in the "Official Journal and Year Book of the Philadelphia Conference" as an or- dained local preacher ; and my membership is with Gethsemane Church, Philadelphia. I have given many thousands of dollars into the treasuries of the Church, and very much time and energy to promote its many interests. More than fifty thou- sand members have been added to the Methodist Episcopal Church from meetings I have personally conducted during the forty years I have been doing the work of an Evangelist. I am, and have always been loyal to the doctrines, polity and mission of the Church. It must be, therefore, that I love my Church, and I surely do. Consequently, when I take notice of the secular, unmethodistic and revo- lutionary influences at work in the Church, and conspicuously dominant, I must offer my protest and sound an alarm. By reason of my ordination vows to "With all faithful diligence banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines 7 8 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT contrary to God's Word," I am under solemn obli- gation to do this; all of which is made the m'ore obligatory by the command of God to "Earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered unto the saints." Jude 3. "To reprove them sharply that they may be sound in the faith. ' ' Titus i : 13 ; and "Reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long suf- fering, and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine ; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears ; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. . . . Do the work of an evangelist." 2 Tim. iv: 1-5. The great body of our ministers and majority of our members believe the Bible is the Word of God, and are loyal to our doctrines and polity. According to the constitution of the Church these doctrines cannot, under any circumstances, be changed. But a coterie of men, mostly in our educational institutions and among General Con- ference officials, have formulated and are promul- gating a propaganda that denies the integrity, in- fallibility and authority of the Bible, and thereby nullifies the doctrines of the Church doing what the constitution imperatively forbids. Our Church periodicals are, with two, and possibly three ex- ceptions, edited by men in sympathy with this propaganda; and, though we claim, as a Church, to be a very democratic ecclesiastical body, it is entirely impossible to bring to the attention of the Church at large the radical and revolutionary A PERSONAL FOREWORD 9 character of this propaganda. Therefore, if any one, in his love for and loyalty to the Church, desires to arouse the Church to the impending peril, he is compelled to issue pamphlets and books, upon his own responsibility and at his per- sonal expense, though occasionally he may have an opportunity to sound the alarm in a public assembly. It is urged by those in sympathy with this prop- aganda that I have no right to do this. They say: "If a minister is promulgating heresies he should be proceeded against formally in his Annual Conference." This is begging the ques- tion so far as General Conference officials are concerned. To illustrate : When memorials from five Annual Conferences, i. e. Philadelphia, Wil- mington, New Jersey, Southern California and Michigan, and, the Pittsburgh Lay Electoral, pro- testing against the unmethodistic, erroneous and destructive teaching in our Sunday-school litera- ture were presented to the last General Confer- ence, Dr. McFarland and his friends deliberately tried to obscure the real issue by charging that these memorials and criticisms were personal at- tacks upon his character as a man and minister, and the General Conference had nothing whatever to do with such a matter, excepting on an appeal, as a minister's character is determined by his Annual Conference ; and, therefore, if any charges were to be brought against him, they must be brought before the Kansas Conference, of which he is a member. The Memorials said never a word 10 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT about Dr. McFarland's character; but they pro- tested against the character of his work, and prayed for an investigation of it, and for a change. Dr. McFarland was elected editor of the Sunday School literature of the Church, by the General Conference, and is responsible to it, and not his Annual Conference, for the manner in which he administers his office. The General Conference is composed of dele- gates from the Annual and Lay electoral confer- ences. Those who elect these delegates should know of the condition and needs of the Church, in order that they may select fit men and women to act in harmony with the constitution, doctrines, polity and mission of the Church, in its only law- making body. This I am seeking faithfully and prayerfully to do. Not only have I a right to do so, but it is my bounden duty to do so. Some who deny me this right are writing and publishing books and pamphlets containing unmethodistic and infidel teachings, and defences of their un- faithfulness, and compelling the Church to pay the bills; and I have heard no protests from the ad- vocates and friends of the propaganda. My self-imposed task is an unpleasant one. I shall be misunderstood, misrepresented and per- secuted, even as I have been because I have dared to oppose false teaching in the Church ; but I will fare better than the Master, who said: "If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you," and "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you. and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil A PEBSONAL FOBEWOKD 11 against you falsely, for my sake." I am not "Seek- ing my own," nor "Honors of men." "For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ," but am trying faithfully to honor Him, before Whom I must soon stand to give an account of myself and stewardship. I would be false to most solemn ordination vows and recreant to obli- gations as weighty as eternity if I should hesitate or turn back from my purpose. I subscribe most heartily to these pertinent words of a man who never sounded a false note, and while living was reviled and denounced by many ministers for his faithful testimony against false teachers in the Church, the late Charles Had- don Spurgeon. "We have to guard with jealous care 'the faith once for all delivered unto the saints. ' When you find, as you do now, professing Christians and professing Christian ministers denying every article of the faith, or putting an- other meaning upon the words than they must have been understood to mean, and preaching lies in the name of the Most High, it is time that some- body set a watch against them. A night watch- man's place is not an easy berth, but I am willing to take the place for my blessed Master's sake. These professing servants of Christ who enter into an unholy alliance with men who deny the faith, will have to answer for it at the last great day. As for us, brethren, when our Lord comes, let Him find us watching as well as praying." L. W. MUNHALL. INTRODUCTION A FEW years ago Dr. Buckley sent out numerous letters into all parts of the Church inquiring as to the reasons for the great spiritual dearth throughout Methodism. He published many re- plies; they made interesting reading. Short- ly afterwards I met the Doctor and he asked me what I thought of the replies to his question. I said: "They all contained some truth, but none gave the one, all inclusive answer." He asked, "What is it?" I said, "The dishonor that many Methodists have put upon God's Holy Word in their criticisms of it, by which its integrity has been denied and its authority challenged, and the Church has tacitly indorsed the same; and the Holy Spirit has been grieved thereby, and with- drawn Himself from us. The sin of one man, Achan, brought defeat to Israel, and not until the sin was put away was there victory for them. And until this sin of criticising the Bible, that we as Methodists have tolerated and condoned, is put away there will be defeat for us, for it is "not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts." The Doctor said, "I think you are right." I then said, "Well, why do you not say so in the Advocate, where it will do some good." He replied: "I am thinking of doing so." But he never did, for the simple reason that he would have condemned himself had he done so. 12 INTEODUCTION 13 The leaders in our leading, so-called "Metho- dist" educational institutions, believing that Meth- odist doctrines and usages are behind the times, and they themselves being in sympathy with the rationalism of the German universities, and out of touch with spiritual things, deliberately decided upon a change. Prof. H. G. Mitchell, who by a unanimous vote of the Bishops was ousted from the faculty of 'The School of Theology, Boston University, and is now, so I have been informed, teaching in a Universalist school, where he proper- ly belongs, twelve or fifteen years ago boasted that he would revolutionize Methodist theology. Though he is no more of us, his work among us is still felt, and his prediction may come to pass. In fact, what he taught, and for which he was officially condemned, is now being openly taught in nearly all the schools of the Church, and very much worse things in some of them; and there is conspicuously concerted action among them in pushing their anti-biblical and unmethodistic teaching. Our Sunday-school publications are edited in harmony with this anarchistic propaganda, as are most of the Church periodicals; while our book concern has published numerous books in line with this movement. Since the death of Bishops Fitz- gerald, Joyce, Fowler, McCabe, Spellmeyer and Mallalieu, it appears as though a majority of the Board of Bishops is in sympathy with this wretched business, as I certainly know some of them to be. Besides, an increasingly large num- 14 BKEAKEES! METHODISM ADRIFT her of our wealthiest churches have pastors of the same mind. These things indicate plan and purpose, and are strikingly significant. Some of the brethren in this offending, doubt- less, like Saul of Tarsus, think they are doing God service; but when Saul's eyes were opened he saw clearly that the thing he thought to be right made him the chief of sinners. Pride of intellect and heart is responsible for it all. God is dishonored, and the Holy Spirit, being grieved, has left us; and being without Him we are leaning upon the arm of flesh, toadying to the rich, building fine churches, depending upon ritualism, intellectual- ism, shows, music, and worldly influence and power. Meanwhile our pews are empty, our altars deserted, and the multitudes perishing in their sins. I hope through this volume to arouse the Church to the situation and its need, that it may repent before God shall remove her candlestick from its place, and spew her out of His mouth. CHAPTER I THE GENESIS OF METHODISM LIKE Pentecost and the Reformation, the rise of Methodism marks a distinct epoch in the history of the Christian Church. The conditions existing, and circumstances leading up to these epochs, are in many things strikingly analogous. At the time of the advent of our Saviour, God's ancient people were as sheep under the care of false shepherds; "For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams, they comfort in vain; therefore they go their way like sheep, they are afflicted, because there is no shepherd." Zech. x: 2. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you; they teach you vanity: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. (Higher criticism.) They say continu- ally unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace ; and unto every one that walketh in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil shall come upon you. (They did away with future punishment. No hell.) For who hath stood in the council of the Lord, that he should perceive and hear his word (denial of verbal in- spiration) ? Who hath marked his word, and heard it? . . .1 sent not these prophets, yet they 15 16 BKEAKEES! METHODISM ADRIFT ran : I spake not unto them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, then had they caused my people to hear my words, and had turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings." Jer. xxiii: 16-22. Two things followed, inevitably, viz. : First When Jesus began His public ministry the Pharisees and Scribes had, in a large degree, ''Made void the Word of God because of your (their) tra- dition. ' ' Matt, xv : 6. He said to the Jews * * For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me ; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words ? ' ' John v : 46, 47. ''And ye have not His (the Father's) Word abid- ing in you : for Whom He sent, Him ye believe not. ' ' John v:38. "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. ' ' John i : 11 ; and Second The unspiritual state of the chosen people as indicated by not only their degraded and sinful condition, but also by the iniquities and hypocri- sies of their leaders, the Scribes and Pharisees (see Matt. 25 chap.), who, because of their zeal in promulgating their false teachings led the Saviour to say of them, "Woe unto you, Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is be- come so, ye make him two-fold more a son of hell than yourselves." What was the supreme need of the time? A faithful proclamation of the Word of God; even the Old Testament Scriptures ; the very same Old Testament that we have to-day. In the record we THE GENESIS OF METHODISM 17 have of His sayings, we find He quoted from the Old Testament more than one hundred times. These quotations were from twenty-one different books. He always did it reverently. He never criticised them. With Him they were of equal and final authority. "And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning him- self." Luke 24:27. He said, "As my Father hath taught me, I speak these things." "He gave me commandment what I should say, and what I should speak. " " Whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me so I speak." "I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest me. " ' ' The words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life. ' ' What wonder, there- fore, that "They were astonished at His teach- ing : for He taught them as having authority, and not as the Scribes." Along with this He denounced the false teachers in burning, withering terms. He called them "Fools," "Liars," "Blind Guides," "Hypo- crites," "Murderers," "Serpents," "Generation of Vipers, ' ' etc. ; and warned the people against them and their unscriptural, soul-destroying teach- ing. For all of which the Eulers resorted to every possible disreputable means to entrap Him in His words and acts, in order to find accusation against Him; and they persecuted Him to the death. Before He ascended into heaven "He breathed on" His disciples "and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. ' ' He had previously instructed 18 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT them as to their ministry and work ; all of which was enforced by His example. He told them, * * The disciple is not above His Master, nor the servant above his Lord. ' ' They were exhorted to be brave and true; and though they would suffer persecu- tions and death, the Holy Spirit would be their all-sufficient and unfailing Helper; and, if faithful, they would be glorified together with Him in the Kingdom. After the Master "Was carried up into Heav- en," the disciples "Returned to Jerusalem," and there tarried, as He had commanded, until they were "Clothed with power from on High;" after which Peter stood up as the spokesman and preached a sermon which, as reported, homileti- cally considered, was very commonplace, accord- ing to our present day notions of a sermon. More than one half of the discourse was quotations from the Old Testament. We are told, 1 1 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them;" but we are in ignorance as to what they were: the only thing in the sermon of sufficient importance to preserve was the use he made of the Old Testa- ment Scriptures. But it did the work. God's Word always will when the conditions are met. "For it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth ; ' ' and ' ' It shall not return unto me void, "God Himself declares "About 3,000 souls" were converted as the immediate result of this one discourse. The next day about 5,000 men were converted as a result of some more preach- ing of the Old Testament, together with rebukes THE GENESIS OF METHODISM 19 of their sins and unbelief. These two things were conspicuously characteristic of the preaching of those times. Stephen's sermon was almost wholly made up of Old Testament exposition and rebuke. Hear Him, "Ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute ? And they killed them which showed before the coming of the Kighteous One ; of whom ye have now be- come betrayers and murderers; ye who received the law as it was ordained by angels and kept it not. " As a result of this discourse * ' They gnashed on him with their teeth" and killed him. It is probable that this sermon was blessed of God to Paul's conversion. If this is true, who will say that Peter's first sermon accomplished greater ultimate good than Stephen's! Paul's preaching and teaching were along the same line only he gave more attention to the false teachers. He was the greatest "Heresy hunter" the Church has ever known; and was pointedly personal and unsparing in his treat- ment of the false teachers. Take the case of Ely- mas who sought "To turn the proconsul from the faith. But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, fastened his eyes on him, and said, full of all guile and all villainy, thou son of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt not thou cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord ? ' ' Also note what he said of Alexander, Demas, Hymeneus and Philetus. The loving John 20 BREAKERS ! METHODISM ADRIFT was almost as severe in his denunciations of the false teachers as was the Master. "Whosoever is advanced," or goes ahead and takes the lead, "and abideth not in the teaching of Christ hath not God." "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ." And he warned be- lievers against them. So also James and Jude; and for that matter all the leaders in the Apostolic Church. Because of such faithful preaching the Church "continued steadfastly in the Apostles* teaching . . . And fear came upon every soul ;" "And the Lord added to them day by day those that were being saved;" "And the Word of God increased; and the number of the disciples mul- tiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly ; and a great com- pany of the priests were obedient to the faith." So long as they continued to preach the Word faithfully, God was with them in power and bless- ing, and they became a mighty, victorious host. THE REFORMATION I need, I think, in referring to the Reformation, only to call attention to the condition of the Church at the time, and remind my readers of God's ways in times of distress and need. The "Dark Ages" were brought about by false teach- ers, who substituted their own views and words for God's Word, even as the prophets of old had done, leading the people to depart from the living God. The Church became rotten, morally, to the core. The priests became corrupt and sensuous; and everywhere the few who were loyal to God and THE GENESIS OF METHODISM 21 His Word were subjected to the bitterest perse- cutions ; and like the Master and the Apostles were hunted to the death. God, however, has never left the world without witnesses. In the mountains of Savoy and Lombardy the Waldenses, hiding from their enemies in dens and caves amid the glaciers, preserved the Word of truth. Huss, under God, marshalled a noble band at Prague, while at Zurich, Zwingli, with his heroic followers, did glorious battle for the historic faith. Then Luther, most ably seconded by Mel- anchthon, unchained the Bible and gave it to the common people. At Geneva, Calvin and his co- adjutors rallied a great army to do battle for ' ' The faith once for all delivered unto the Saints;" and in far-away Scotland Knox, with invincible leader- ship, gave himself undaunted to the same glorious battle. These heroic leaders were great scholars, and with their pens they exposed the fallacies of the degenerate and corrupt teachers, and effec- tively refuted their erroneous and absurd claims. Along with it all they denounced in most wither- ing and unsparing terms the hypocricies and cor- ruptions of kings and priests alike. They also preached the Word of God with power, in the Holy Ghost and with much assurance, and multi- tudes were saved. The red hand of fiendish perse- cution was laid upon them. But not chains and prison walls, nor fire, nor death could intimidate or deter them. God was with them and enabled them to shout victory even amid the flames of martyrdom. Who with any iron in his blood can 22 BREAKERS ! METHODISM ADRIFT contemplate the history of these men and times, without being thrilled with admiration, and led, if a child of God, to give thanks to the God of heaven, for the mighty revival He then sent to the Church, and through it to the world? Within two hundred years, through the corrup- tion of the Word of God and false teaching, the Church became unspiritual and most sadly con- formed to the world. Then arose the "Deistical controversies"; and the Church being unfit and unprepared to meet the issues raised thereby, was swept as by a torrent from her anchorage; and the floods of unbelief and immorality almost sub- merged Protestantism. In the language of Prof. Howard Osgood: "If we go back two hundred years to England we shall find a series of cham- pions against the Bible's being the revealed Word of God who, in the prestige of place, of learning, of attractive style, of skill in debate, were the peers of any men of any age of the world. Blount, Toland, Shaftesbury, Collins, Woolston, Tindal, Morgan, Bolingbroke, Hume, to name only a few, stood abreast of the foremost men of their day in learning. Shaftesbury and Bolingbroke were masters of lofty and popular style in English. Some of the works of these champions were issued in editions of twenty thousand, and some of their works reached in a few months a twelfth edition. None of the answers to these works ever attained a success at all to be compared with the popularity of their opponents. Cambridge and Oxford were the schools from which most of these men came. THE GENESIS OF METHODISM 23 The teaching in both these great universities was very far from a living faith in God and His Word. Yea, even many of the answers to these anti- biblical writers contained concessions to the Deis- tical arguments that made them weak against the victorious tone of their opponents and the deists were not slow to prove their arguments against the Bible by the aggregate of these concessions. It seems hard for men to learn that a hungry lion seeking his prey will not be appeased with any- thing less than their blood and flesh and bones." There is nothing to-day in the ranks of anti- biblical writings to compare with the popularity and literary success of their predecessors in Eng- land one hundred and fifty to two hundred years ago. Then the Established Church was largely deistical. The Presbyterians and Congregation- alists in England were deeply tinctured with ra- tionalism or deism. The Baptists were only half alive. The Methodists had not yet arisen. It really seemed as if in spite of and under cover of an orthodox liturgy and orthodox articles the English Church was fast becoming the home of bold, undisguised rationalism. The most popular poets, Prior, Swift, and Pope, were deists. Pope, though a Roman Catholic, in his "Essay on Man" formulates the deistical creed Bolingbroke taught him. 'The arguments of these able writers were directed against the general credibility of the Old and New Testament as tested by their common sense; against prophecy, which they proved to their satisfaction was myth and legend; against 24 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT miracles, which they asserted could not be proved by any human testimony whatever. This is the age when enemies and defenders of the Bible appealed to reason as the final arbiter of the debate. If one wishes to read all that can be said in favor of reason as the judge of revela- tion he must make himself acquainted with the best writers of this period, from 1700 to 1750, and not rest in the puny imitations of this day. The rationalism of the eighteenth century was born and nursed, and grew great in England before it went over to conquer Germany. The plays, the novels, the biographies, the poets, the papers, the ''Spectator and Tattler," all bear witness to the popularity of antibiblical opinions, to the frequent separation in the clergy and mem- bers of the churches between doctrines and life, between profession and piety, and to the swollen tide of immorality from the court down to the ale house. The efforts in the pulpit were essays on virtue, patience, resignation under difficulties, cold and drear, without a note of the ruin of sin or the infinite love of God, appealing to the heart of man by the free gift of His Son to die for sinners. Nothing called for louder denuncia- tion, nothing aroused and disturbed the rheumatic stiffness of mere professional religion so much as a display of zeal." Voltaire, with more commanding influence than any Emperor or King, went over to England and paid his respects to Lord Bolingbroke and his deistical associates, and gave the full weight of THE GENESIS OF METHODISM 25 that influence to the movement to discredit and destroy the Bible. Prof. Osgood says : ' ' There is no literary success at the present day at all to be compared to his (Voltaire's). His works were published in enormous editions in France, and were immediately translated and sold by every bookseller in Europe and Russia. Of the literary world of Europe he was the crowned king. Eoman Catholics and Protestants, yea, Presbyterian ministers of Geneva, and German Protestants paid abject court to him and professed themselves at one with him in his creed, which was deism pure and simple, as he often says. His was the spirit of all the popular writers of the eighteenth century in France. Taine has drawn a true pic- ture of the godlessness and the immorality of that age. A few years after Voltaire was crowned on the stage in Paris by king and priests and people, the king was dethroned and murdered ; the guillo- tine was at work day and night to fill the streets with human blood ; priests and people proclaimed the Christian religion and churches forever re- nounced, and reason and nature the only objects of rational worship. "In 1740 there arose on the throne of Prussia the overshadowing incarnation of the cold, clear, cynical, victorious spirit of the century, who knew no God, who cared for no religion, whose scepter was the sword, whose friends were the deists and the drill sergeant Frederick the Great. His con- quests in war, his firm, wise rule in peace, his destruction at one blow of all the old tests of ortho- doxy, his unceasing effort to plant agnosticism in every school and university, were the powerful allies of the teachings of the English writers, and soon in Germany in every university, in number- less pulpits, and from the most popular presses, the English arguments against the Bible were adorned with the treasures of German learning, and in the leading literary circles no man was tolerated who believed the Bible was anything more than a purely human book of legends and myths interspersed with some good moral pre- cepts. ' ' Frederick the Great was a diligent pupil and devoted friend of Voltaire. In order that any of my readers who may not know just what Vol- taire believed and taught concerning the Bible, I here give a few of his sayings about the Penta- teuch. "It is said even in their books, that this Pentateuch was not known until the reign of their king, Josiah, thirty-six years before the destruc- tion of Jerusalem, and then they only possessed a single copy, which the priest Hilkiah found at the bottom of a strong box while counting money. The book found under Josiah was unknown until the return from the Babylonian captivity." (Phil. Dictionary, Art. "Moses," 1762.) "Almost all men well acquainted with antiquity agree that this book (the Pentateuch) was not issued among the Jews until the time of Ezra. . . . The greatest proof to some learned men that Ezra edited all the Jewish books is that THE GENESIS OF METHODISM 27 they appear to be in the same style." (God and Man, 1769, chap. 19.) "Those best acquainted with antiquity think that these books were written more than seven hundred years after Moses." (Dialogue 16.) "It has been supposed that the whole Penta- teuch was written by some Levites eight hundred and twenty-seven years after Moses (according to the Vulgate), in the time of Josiah." (Bible Explained, 1777, "Dent.") "The Pentateuch could not be from Moses.'* (Ex. of Lord Bolingbroke.) "I am asked who is the author of the Penta- teuch? One may as well ask me who wrote the Four Sons of Aymon, Robert the Devil, or the His- tory of the Enchanter, Merlin." (Important Ex- amination, 1767, chap. 4.) "Is it not plain that Genesis was taken from the ancient fables of their (the Jews) neighbors?" "The Fable of Moses," "The Fable of the Penta- teuch." (Ex. of Lord Bolingbroke.) "Their chronology is always erroneous." "The innumerable mistakes of geography, of chron- ology, and the contradictions found in the Penta- teuch." (Ex. of Lord Bolingbroke.) All this is very much like so-called "Modern (sic) Biblical, or Higher Criticism," that not a few "Reverent" and devout gentlemen call "The assured results of up-to-date scholarship. All we have of the higher criticism to-day, and which has found a haven in the Methodist and other de- nominations, is just what was in the Anglican 28 BREAKERS ! METHODISM ADRIFT Church, her universities, colleges and cathedrals in the eighteenth century, and gave to that age the character of being the corruptest in morals, the most infidel in doctrine and most spiritually dead, in the annals of English Christianity. For a vivid picture of the times any one has only to spend a day or two in some respectable library and consult the volumes of "George Selwin and Contemporaries," "Fielding and Smollett" and "The Life and Times of John Wesley" by Tyer- man. The very criticism that cursed the Church then, curses it to-day, and makes deists and in- fidels as it made them then. Wesley was born in 1703, and entered Oxford when 17 years of age. In 1726, when Wesley was ordained, Voltaire came from France to London and was welcomed by Lord Bolingbroke, Gibbon, Chesterfield, Tom Paine, and all the infidels of the day. It was a time of wealth, luxury and splendor in Church and State, and the Anti-Biblical criticism ruled in England as it did in Germany and France. In the words of Rev. Richard Cecil. "The Anglican Church sent more souls to hell than she did to heaven." "England," says another, "was a carnival of natural unbelief, corruption and lust, a nation cursed with a denial of God's Word, and made no effort to save the people. The Church was passing to Rome with rapid steps. Oxford and Cambridge were breed- ers of infidels. Tyerman describes the Methodist movement, as have others, as "a protest against the vices of society a cry for purity and reform in the midst of ambition in the Church, wealth, THE GENESIS OF METHODISM 29 spiritual death, unbelief and godlessness" "a protest against the rationalism, deism and scep- ticism entrenched in the English universities, cathedrals and churches. Never was a century so void of faith as that which opened with Queen Ann and reached its misty noon beneath the sec- ond George a dewless night succeeding, followed by a sunless dawn. The Puritans were buried; the Methodists were not yet born." Vedder, the Baptist historian, says: "In the established Church the manners and morals of the clergy, as depicted in contemporary literature, were frightful. The drunken, lecherous, swearing, gam- ing parson is a familiar character in the plays and romances of the period, and survives even to the beginning of the present century. Preferment in Church depended upon subserviency to those who were masters in state, and the clergy took their tone from the court. Not only was personal piety a bar to advancement rather than a recom- mendation, but virtually infidelity in the State bred rationalism in theology. The clergy became timid, apologetic, latitudinarian in their teaching and the people became like unto them. Eeligion never sank to so low an ebb in England as during the first half of the eighteenth century." Bishop Ryle says : * ' From the year 700 till about the era of the French Revolution, England seemed barren of all good. There was darkness in high places and darkness in low places; darkness in the court, the Parliament, and the bar; darkness in the country and darkness in town; darkness 30 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT among rich, and darkness among poor a gross, thick, religious and moral darkness; a darkness that might be felt." But notwithstanding the prevailing unbelief and widespread apostasy, the Lord's faithful ones, though few in numbers, obscure and uninfluential, and bitterly persecuted, stood, undaunted, hero- ically for the Bible as the Word of God and loyally for the historic faith. Again quoting from Prof. Osgood: "While Vol- taire, in his deistical doctrine and licentious life, was the fit representative of court and literary circles in France, and led the dance of death till it whirled into the bloody bath of the Revolution, there were in the south of France a few hundred of the scattered, crushed, abjectly poor Huguenots. The edicts administered by dragoons, laws of in- credible severity, had driven from France every Huguenot of wealth, name, or position; only the poor were left charcoal-burners, sheep-herders on the lofty mountains, farmers on the bare moun- tain sides, weavers and servants. They read the Bible despised in Paris ; they in the depth of night lapped the water of life and became the small but invincible army of God. Soon there were assemblies of one thousand, four thousand, ten thousand, twenty thousand people, gathered at night far away from human habitation, to listen to preachers on whose heads a great price was set, and who, if caught, were as sure of torture and the gallows on earth as they were of heaven afterward. Hundreds of these poor were caught THE GENESIS OF METHODISM 31 praying in French or listening to French preach- ing, and willingly paid the penalty of a lifetime in the torturing galleys or found a more blessed end on the gibbet. All the efforts of the government were in vain to prevent the importation of Bibles from Switzerland to feed the increasing number of those who knew it to be the bread from heaven. Through unresting persecution of eighty years, surrounded by a cordon of fire, outside of all law, past the gibbets where their beloved hung, the galleys where the backs of their brothers were lashed till they rotted, the towers and prisons where grandmothers and mothers and babes were shut up for life, whose cry of agony re-echoed among the hills, this band of poor, with the Bible and for the Bible, worked and taught, testifying of the grace that is come unto us, until the few hun- dred had become more than a million and the Eevolution broke the infamous laws that op- pressed them. Never since the Apostolic age has the power of the Bible as the living word of God been more gloriously manifested than in the Church of the Desert, the Huguenot revival of the eighteenth century. ' ' In the midst of a well-nigh universal defection of German learning from the Bible arose another church of the poor, the Moravians, whose only store was the Bible, relatively the most thoroughly missionary people of all the denominations. While the German universities were proving to their satisfaction that the Bible contained more errors than truths the Moravians were gathering con- 32 BEEAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT verts to the Bible in Germany, England, Green- land, the West Indies, Asia, and Africa. Life from the dead was the ever-recurring miracle where they carried the Bible to stricken hearts." As in France and Germany, so also in England God was not without witnesses in these degenerate times: They were poor and despised; but while the enemies of God's Word were exultantly sing- ing: "As sure as there's a God in Gloucester, Moses was a great impostor," they were studying "Moses and the prophets," searching the Scriptures as the Master command- ed, rejoicing in their life-giving and sustaining power, and telling them to ever willing listeners. These faithful witnesses were not alone of Dis- senters, but were also members of the Established Church. They were widely scattered throughout the Kingdom, mostly in the rural districts. But God was raising up and preparing leaders for His people. Among them were Watts and James Fos- ter in London, and Doddridge of Northampton. Then the "Twenty Oxford Methodists arose," though they were all members of the Established Church, John Wesley in the lead. "I began," says Wesley, 26 years of age, ' ' to study my Bible as the one and only standard of truth and only model of pure religion. ' ' They were called ' ' Bible Bigots," just as the lovers of the Bible as God's Word are called Bibliolaters in our day. It ought to be noted that the profligate Astruc's THE GENESIS OF METHODISM 33 invention of the "Jehovistic" and "Elohistic" documents, which form the bed-rock of the so- called "Higher Criticism" of the present day, appeared in 1730, and that the name "Higher Criticism" was next invented by Eichorn, a Ger- man rationalist, and covered and concealed under that designation all that there was in the rational- ism, deism and infidelity of the times, as it does to-day. It is only another name for it. To it is justly charged the prevailing unbelief and con- sequent spiritual dearth of the times, and the im- moralities that were so conspicuous and alarm- ingly characteristic of that age in both church and society. John Wesley was so well satisfied of this that he called this criticism "The Spawn of Hell," and ever treated it as such, as did his associates. In all their ministries, the while they denounced those who criticised the Bible, they proclaimed it as God's Holy Word, infallible and therefore authoritative. We know how they went through the red hot fires of persecution, chiefly from those in authority in the church, because of their loyalty and devotion to the Word of God. Believers were brought together and built up in spiritual things. Thousands were made savingly acquainted with Jesus Christ. Britain was con- vulsed as by an earthquake by the mighty revival that shook the strongholds of infidelity and agnos- ticism, and which brought comfort and joy to God's faithful people. The surging tides of un- belief were turned and England was saved from the fate of France. But not alone in England 34 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT did those revival fires give life and warmth; for o'er three thousand miles of ocean winds and waves they flashed, and burned from Newburyport to Savannah, and saved the Church of God in our land from apostasy, to be a living force, mighty in influence and long continued. But once again let me quote from my good friend Professor Osgood: "But God, who never hurries, never delays, was preparing His over- whelming answer to learned doubt. In the Bull Inn at Gloucester, in the west of England, and in the secluded rectory of Epworth, amid the fens of Lincolnshire, God prepared the three flaming heralds of His love and grace, Whitefield and the two Wesleys, who were to do more to answer the deists and rationalists than all the libraries written against them. To all men, rich and poor, but chiefly to the common people, who heard them gladly, they commended the Bible as the Word of God with power ; they preached the very heart of the Bible's message, the infinite love of God over against the dark background of man's sin; they had found perfect peace of soul in trusting the finished work of Christ, they believed in what others termed the blood theology, the blood of Christ as their redemption, and they could tell others how they could find rest to their souls, by a whole-hearted trust in the Word of God, which ' cannot be broken. ' Bibles, long hidden and dusty, were brought out and searched, and to every heart crushed and bleeding, self-condemned and hope- less, the discredited Bible proved itself to be the THE GENESIS OF METHODISM 35 power of the living God, until in England and America a host of believers, 'who knew no more but knew their Bibles true,' rose up through the mighty Spirit of God to accomplish the wonder- ful works which have continued to this day." In summing up the distinctive characteristics of these three great epochs in the history of the Church we find the following similarities : FIRST False teachers, bringing in "damnable heresies." SECOND Prevailing unbelief. THIRD Consequent immoralities. FOURTH God not without witnesses a faithful and heroic few. FIFTH Persecutions. SIXTH Eevival God's Spirit poured out. SEVENTH God's Word triumphant. "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof f alleth away : but the Word of the Lord endureth forever." 1 Peter i : 24, 25; Isa. xl : 6-8. CHAPTER II PRESENT DAY METHODISM "For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God." 1 Peter iv: 17. "And now is the axe laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire." Matt, iii: 10. " A BLIND optimism is far more dangerous than ** a nerveless pessimism. That is a whole- some optimism which faces the worst while be- lieving firmly in the possibility of the best." From Episcopal Address to General Conference, 1912. But some say, ' ' It will hurt the Church to speak of its backslidings and shortcomings." The Sa- viour did not think so in what He had to say con- cerning the Seven Churches of Asia. Paul in his Epistles as often denounces the unfaith and sins of the members of the churches as he commends their conduct and works. False teachers object to a true statement of the situation. So also the worldlings in the Church. Likewise a few who seem to be more concerned for the good name of the Church their particular Church than the glory of Christ, and the welfare of souls. "For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth." 2 Cor. xiii : 8. An Optimist, in the popular sense, is one who, 36 PRESENT DAY METHODISM 37 in the presence of indisputable evidence that the world is capturing the Church, persistently insists that exactly the contrary is true; while the one who believes the evidence is called a Pessimist. It is popular to call black, white ; because the great majority don't like black; but no matter what the many may think or say, let us try fairly and hon- estly to face and state the facts. Methodism has, in a large degree, lost its former distinctive characteristics, and been shorn of its old-time spiritual life and power. The late Bishop Randolph S. Foster delivered himself on this sub- ject in the following comprehensive and emphatic manner : "Just now four out of five of our churches are doing nothing, almost absolutely nothing; and God's blessed cause is not made one whit stronger in numbers or influence by their living. The Church of God is to-day courting the world. Its members are bringing it down to the level of the ungodly. The ball, the theatre, nude and lewd art, social luxuries, with all their loose moralities, are making inroads into the sacred enclosure of the Church. "As a satisfaction for all this worldliness Chris- tians are making a great deal of Lent and Easter ornamentations. It is the old trick of Satan. The Jewish Church struck on that rock, the Romish Church was wrecked on it, and the Protestant Church is fast reaching the same doom. Our great dangers, as we see them, are assimilation to the world, neglect of the poor, substitution of the form 38 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT for the fact of godliness, abandonment of dis- cipline, a hireling ministry, an impure gospel, which summed up is a fashionable church. That Methodists should be liable to such an outcome, and that there should be signs of it in a hundred years from the 'sail loft' seems almost the mir- acle of history; but who that looks about him to-day can fail to see the fact? "Do not Methodists, in violation of God's word and their own discipline, dress as extravagantly and as fashionably as any other class! Do not the ladies, and often the wives and daughters of the ministry, put on 'gold and pearls and costly array'? Would not the plain dress insisted upon by John Wesley, Bishop Asbury, and worn by Hester Ann Rogers, Lady Huntingdon, and many others equally distinguished, be now regarded in Methodist circles as fanaticism? Can any one go- ing into the Methodist Church in any of our chief cities distinguish the attire of the communicants from that of the theatre and ball goers? Is not worldliness seen in the music? Elaborately dressed and ornamented choirs, who in many cases make no profession of religion and are often sneer- ing sceptics, go through a cold artistic or operatic performance, which is as much in harmony with spiritual worship as an opera or theatre. Under such worldly performance spirituality is frozen to death. "Formerly every Methodist attended class and gave testimony of experimental religion. Now the class-meeting is attended by very few, and in PRESENT DAY METHODISM 39 many churches abandoned. Seldom the stewards, trustees, and leaders of the church attend class. Formerly nearly every Methodist prayed, testified, or exhorted in prayer-meeting. Now but very few are heard. Formerly shouts and praises were heard; now such demonstrations of holy enthusi- asm and joy are regarded as fanaticism. "Worldly socials, fairs, festivals, concerts, and such like have taken the place of the religious gatherings, revival meetings, class and prayer meetings of earlier days. "How true that the Methodist discipline is a dead letter. Its rules forbid the wearing of gold or pearls or costly array; yet no one ever thinks of disciplining its members for violating them. They forbid the reading of such books and the taking of such diversions as do not minister to godliness, yet the Church itself goes to shows and frolics and festivals and fairs, which destroy the spiritual life of the young as well as the old. The extent to which this is now carried on is appalling. The spiritual death it carries in its train will only be known when the millions it has swept into hell stand before the judgment. "The early Methodist ministers went forth to sacrifice and suffer for Christ. They sought not places of ease and affluence, but of privation and suffering. They gloried not in their big salaries, fine parsonages, and refined congregations, but in the souls that had been won to Jesus. Oh, how changed! A hireling ministry will be a feeble, a timid, a truckling, a time-serving ministry with- 40 BREAKERS ! METHODISM ADRIFT out faith, endurance, and holy power. Methodism formerly dealt in the great central truth. Now the pulpits deal largely in generalities and in pop- ular lectures. The glorious doctrine of entire sanc- tification is rarely heard and seldom witnessed in the pulpits." Few, if any, of the above statements will be called in question by any one at all familiar with the situation. The following is taken from the Cleveland Daily Leader, of Feb. 10, 1903 : "Rev. Dr. Buckley, editor of the Christian Ad- vocate, startled the meeting of the Methodist min- isters to-day by disputing the statement of Rev. Dr. Thompson, of Chicago, that a million and a half converts have been made by the Methodist Church in the past four years. Dr. Buckley de- clared that statistics showed that Methodism was actually rapidly declining, especially in some of the Eastern conferences. "'The trouble with too many preachers to-day," said he, "is that they never teach the deity of Christ. They preach the divinity of Christ, but that is a different thing a mere theological point But the deity of Christ they neglect. They might as well be Unitarians. "I don't believe it is necessary to preach the absolute depravity of man. I don't believe that I was ever so bad as I really could have been. But the essential truths regarding the remission of sins should not be overlooked. To preach the crucifixion and not to preach it as having a pur- pose is not to preach it at all. PEESENT DAY METHODISM 41 ''There are thousands of men in this city who have never had the gospel presented to them in a manner which could reach them. They are to be saved in the manner in which the heathen are to be saved, by the light that reached them. While I cannot agree with the Calvinists that none of the elect ever fall away, the older I grow the more I think that very few fall away who were really converted." Dr. Buckley added that many ministers will plainly state in public their frank doubt as to the truth of the Pentateuch. He continued: "Some of our ministers even do not hesitate to state in their pulpits that in a few years Abraham will be generally regarded as a name and not as a person. For twenty years I have not heard a real sermon on such a topic as the new birth. I have heard only one sermon on sin properly pre- sented. ' ' Eev. Dr. Leonard, secretary of the Methodist Missionary Society, took up the discussion. "I do not believe there is the same sort of re- ligious experience in our Church that there was twenty-five years ago," he said. "The class meet- ing is out of date. There is a sort of substitute in the Epworth League, where members are called upon to say a word. But one cannot tell his soul's experience in a word. I have heard such experi- ences when I was a youth that thrilled me through and through, and made me really feel that if I did not repent I would surely be lost. "We do not have the old love feast either. And 42 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT when do our preachers sternly preach the damna- tion of hell and the worm that dieth not? You hear little about future punishment. "We should preach in terms that will make men feel there is an awful hell, and that unless they repent and have faith in Christ they are lost. In the time of John Wesley many of the ministry were drunk- ards. Many were thoroughly bad. Voltaire pre- dicted then that Christianity would soon die out in the world. Is it possible this prediction is about to be fulfilled?" The following is from a communication in the Christian Advocate, of May 20th, 1909, bearing the title "The 'New' Methodist Episcopal Church," by C. Herbert Richardson, D.D., of the Baltimore Conference : THE OLD AND THE "NEW" CHURCH ' * The old was autocratic and oligarchic ; the new is democratic. The old was paternal, brotherly, social, fervent; the new, legal, political, commer- cial ; the old was an evangel ; the new an ecclesias- ticism. The old held to the traditional interpreta- tion of Scripture; the new has accepted broader, popular views. Over the Church, moreover, has come a lessened appreciation of the pastoral office, an almost com- plete abnegation of discipline, the rise of the pro- fessional evangelist, yet decreased evangelistic power, because of less administrative force owing to the diminution of pastoral authority and pas- toral effectiveness. The connectional spirit is re- PEESENT DAY METHODISM 43 ceding and the Church through the abrogation of the time limit, the election of presiding elders, the rule on amusements, etc., attempts to revive its ancient fervor and prosecute its historic work. Inspiration is giving place to regulation, unction to law. The Methodism of to-day, in sentiment, in in- stitutions, in law, in work, differs much from that of former years. Whether these are for its better- ment and extension, or whether the "New" Church itself is a transition to some new phase of the kingdom of God on earth, depends on how far the changes wrought in its fibre are in harmony with the unseen but eternal verities of that king- dom which is an everlasting kingdom, and that dominion which has no end. ' ' The following excerpts are taken from "The Episcopal Address, ' ' delivered to the last General Conference, held in Minneapolis, Minn., during the month of May, 1912 : "The spiritual thermometer registers certain conditions that create anxiety. Our distinctive doc- trines are not emphasized as they once were; or, where preached, discredited for the time by a gain- saying world, drunk with vain philosophies and sated with gluttonous indulgence. The emphasis of Wesley's great movement was on the necessity of the new birth as evidenced by the depravity of the human soul. Has this generation so dem- onstrated goodness that we need no longer insist upon spiritual regeneration? What prophet or apostle is vouching for the moral character of this 44 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT generation that the Christian pulpit has become silent about human depravity and the judgment to come t That a mad contagion of greed, worldli- ness, pride and lust has invaded the churches, and that many thousands of all denominations have turned from their vows without compunction, it is useless to deny. "Wherever rationalism has so despoiled the Bible that to many, both in pulpit and pew, it is left without inspiration and authority, so that expediency takes precedence of God's law in the home and even in church administration ; wherever the offices of the Holy Spirit have been psychologi- cally negatived and the manger of Bethlehem robbed of its divine child; wherever the cross of Calvary bleeds without atoning virtue and there is no longer a fountain filled with blood in which sinners may find cleansing; wherever, indeed, there is no issue of damnable sin between God and the transgressor, it can be no marvel if there church discontent prevails. "When we think of the millions of dollars our people are investing in beautiful modern church buildings, in Christian schools, in home and for- eign missions, in orphanages, homes for the aged, and in great hospitals and then of all the children born in their homes, and the millions of other chil- dren who attend our Sunday schools, and from all adult conversions throughout our entire con- nection, we have a reported increase of but 55,000 to our church membership, less than 2 per cent., as the outcome of a year's activity and the outlay of so many millions of dollars ; it is then we trem- PRESENT DAY METHODISM 45 ble for the Church. The statistical paradox glares us out of countenance. It shames and humiliates us. Only tears of repentance become us; our hearts bleed contrition. If the soul be dying with- in us, what have we to legislate for? What are honors or offices worth in an army that does not win battles?" Then after all this, and some more of the same sort, the same Episcopal Address adds: "Meth- odism was meant to be an itinerant revival a moving Pentecost. Into its wheels was breathed the Master's word, Go ! It is not geared for stand- ing still. Its equilibrium depends upon forward motion. It wobbles only when speed is slackened. It will topple over in to the ecclesiastical scrap- pile if it stops. Therefore it must not stop." The above deliverances are well within the truth; but they do not state the whole truth. The very worst part of the present situation is found in the fact that in not a few Methodist Educational Institutions infidel objections to the Bible are openly taught, and scepticism and agnosticism are alarmingly prevalent ; and many of our young peo- ple are being turned from the faith and church of their fathers and mothers. Hundreds of pastors have taken up with these infidel objections, and, in violation of their most solemn ordination vows proclaim the same, while many other hundreds offer no word of protest, although when ordained they covenanted "With all faithful diligence to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's Word." The church periodicals seldom say anything on the subject; and usually what they do say is favor- ably of the false teaching, and apologetically of the men who are responsible for it. Even some of the bishops are in sympathy with this God- dishonoring and soul-destroying business. They will often promote men who are notoriously un- sound and unsafe. It seems not at all to be in the way of his promotion that a man is known to be a believer in and advocate of antibiblical and unmethodistic views. Indeed, it sometimes appears as though a premium was placed upon this very thing. Men who have faithfully kept their ordination vows and obeyed the Divine com- mands have been given the cold hand by those in authority for doing so, and subjected to persecu- tions, as were the Wesleys and their coadjutors by the authorities in the Established Church. Great sweeping revivals such as but a few years ago were the glory of Methodism are now infre- quent, and the churches' altars are well nigh de- serted. Evangelists and their work are slurred by editors and officials, as were the Wesleys ; and even some of the bishops are opposed to revivals in any real and scriptural sense. But amid all this unbelief, worldliness and un- faithfulness the Lord has faithful witnesses, but in decreasing numbers, because the "New" Meth- odism has the whip-hand, and the many go with the crowd; and loyalty to the truth has always been costly, and always will be. CHAPTER III OUR EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS " I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the Scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? " 1 Cor. i: 19, 20. MARTIN LUTHER once said: "I am much afraid that the universities will prove to be the great gates to hell, unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, and engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not unceasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt." The Methodist Episcopal Church has, properly and wisely, from the beginning of the movement, been an ardent advocate of Christian scholastic education, with the emphasis placed upon Christ- tian. In a land like ours, where the State fur- nishes freely, adequate educational advantages, the Church has no reason whatever for supporting and operating a purely secular school, and there is not the least bit of sense in the Church giving its money to support schools that are no better if as good nor Methodistic, save in name, than 47 48 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT the State freely provides. Most of our schools were organized in the formative periods of the churches where located, which in the case of nearly all the leading schools of the denomination is synonymous with the early history of Methodism. Our fathers, with full knowledge of the perils to the faith of the young in the schools of their time, gave heroically of their means to establish and support schools in which should be taught nothing contrary to the Word of God, or the doctrines of the Church, that our young people might be- come and ever remain good Methodists. This is the chief, if not only reason for founding and sup- porting these schools. At the present time most of these schools are as secular as the State schools ; and, save in name, no more Methodistic. They have entered into competition with the schools of the State, and the authorities believe themselves justified in employ- ing unmethodistic, unchristian, and even infidel instructors, providing they are experts according to the methods of the secular schools. In them the Bible is freely criticised, its authority chal- lenged, its infallibility and trustworthiness de- nied ; and the doctrines of Methodism and the his- toric faith discredited. Naturalism, scepticism, agnosticism, infidelism, and worldliness have largely taken the place of the one-time spiritual and religious life of these schools; and the faith of multitudes of our youth has been and is being wrecked. These are sad and terrible statements to make, but they are awfully true, or I would not OUE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 49 make them ; and I will prove them to be true, hop- ing thereby to arouse the Church to the peril that threatens her very existence. Four years ago Mr. Harold Bolce, in the Cos- mopolitan Magazine, made some revelations of what is being taught in many educational institu- tions of the country that startled the civilized world and horrified the Church of God. Many educators pooh-poohed and ridiculed Mr. Bolce 's revelations, but no one even attempted to disprove them or call him to book. The fact is Luther's fear was reasonable and has been justified again and again. Some years ago I conducted chapel exercises one morning in Syracuse University, which Mr. Bolce calls "a religious institution tempered by secular subsidies." The professor having charge said to me: "Just read a short Psalm or an ex- cerpt from the Sermon on the Mount, and repeat the Lord 's Prayer. ' ' I asked : " Is not this a Meth- odist school?" He replied: "Yes, but you know we have Jews, Catholics, Unitarians and Agnos- tics in our student body, and we think best to keep what Methodists believe in the background." Professor I. J. Peritz of the faculty of Syracuse University is in sympathy with destructive higher criticism and teaches it to his students. Mr. Bolce entered Syracuse University as a { * special student, taking a course in sociology un- der Prof. Edwin L. Earp." He bears the follow- ing testimony as to Prof. Earp 's work : "It seemed to me that if anywhere among the 50 BREAKERS ! METHODISM ADRIFT colleges of America old-time doctrines would find valiant defence it would be here, in the teachings of this doctor of philosophy and divinity, in an institution presided over by one of the foremost leaders of a great evangelical denomination. "Early in the course Professor Earp touched upon the doctrine of the origin of morals. He was expounding the scientific interpretation of con- duct, and explaining that our standards of right and wrong are the product of experience. I had heard a number of other professors in other col- leges dwell upon this same theme, saying that our conceptions of what we should do are not sent to us from heaven, but are the development of the centuries. Mankind, they asserted, had tried many things from age to age, and out of all the stumblings and successes of the race had selected whatever was best for any particular period. "I wanted to know what this capable sociologist, who had obviously thought himself out from old- time tradition, would say in reply to a direct ques- tion. So from my seat in the class-room I ad- dressed him. " 'Do you not believe, Professor,' I asked, 'that Moses got the ten commandments in the way the Scriptures tell?' "The professor smiled. 'I do not,' said he. 'It is unscientific and absurd to imagine that God ever turned stone-mason and chiselled commandments on a rock.' "What gives piquant emphasis to Professor Earp's scholastic denial of the divine origin of OUE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 51 the decalogue is that even now, in addition to his busy and successful labors in Syracuse University among many classes of young men and women, he frequently speaks from the orthodox pulpit. ' ' It will be apparent as this record proceeds that Professor Earp is by no means a solitary pioneer among the modern college authorities in the scien- tific handling of the sacred story. Syracuse Uni- versity, at least in this department, is merely pro- claiming the same character of latter-day criticism and belief that caused the suspension by the Gen- eral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Dr. Charles A. Briggs, now of Union Theological Sem- inary, and in more recent times the retirement of his colleague, Doctor Crapsey. I shall show, when I have occasion to quote Prof. George H. Howison, of the University of California ; Pres. David Starr Jordan, of Leland Stanford University ; Dr. Her- bert L. Willett, of the University of Chicago ; and Prof. George A. Coe, of Northwestern University, which is governed by a religious denomination, that the reverend academician of Syracuse is really a conservative among his contemporary iconoclasts." Day before yesterday a ministerial friend of mine said to me: "Recently one of my members told to me this, 'We sent our daughter to Syracuse University a warm, earnest, whole-hearted Chris- tian. While there her faith was wrecked, and she is now an agnostic.' " A short time since a bishop of a sister denom- ination said to me : "I sent my daughter to Boston 52 BBEAKEES! METHODISM ADRIFT University an intelligent, devoted Christian. The other day she came to me and said, 'Father, I want to make a confession. While at Boston Uni- versity, because of what we were there taught, I came to disbelieve the Bible and lost my faith in my Saviour; and all the girls in our class had the same experience as I. It has taken me six months to get back on to the Bock.' : A prominent Methodist pastor told me : " I sent my son Harry to the Wesleyan University at Mid- dletown, Conn., with a view to fit him for the min- istry. The teaching there destroyed his faith in the Bible as the word of God, and he has aban- doned his purpose of entering the ministry." While conducting an evangelistic campaign in a western city a wealthy member of our Church, a delegate to two General Conferences, told me, "I sent my oldest son to Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. Before he left home he was considered by all who knew him to be a model Christian young man. He would conduct 'family worship,' lead the church prayer meeting; was a teacher in the Sunday school, and would speak and exhort in the meetings of the church. While at school he came under the influence of a certain professor, who is a higher critic. He came home an infidel, and has not once been inside a church since." When the father told me this, he burst into tears and said, "Brother Munhall, I would a thousand times rather my boy had lived all his days in ignorance than to have had his faith thus shipwrecked." OUE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 53 A year ago a Methodist lady friend of mine, in the presence of her husband, said: "We dedi- cated our only son to the ministry at his birth. We sent him to Wesleyan University with that in view. They sent him back to us an infidel. Our hopes are dashed and our hearts are broken." The Wesleyan University, at Delaware, Ohio, has what is known as the "Merrick Lecture Course," founded for the praiseworthy purpose of giving the students encouragement and help in right thinking and doing. Four years ago the Eev. George Jackson, a notoriously destructive critic of the Bible, was brought from Toronto, Canada, and gave six lectures in this course, which had been previously given in that city, to the as- tonishment and disgust of loyal Methodists throughout the Dominion, and for which he was prosecuted for heresy by Dr. Carman, editor of the Christian Guardian, the official organ of Cana- dian Methodism. A district superintendent writing to one of our bishops, said: "Regarding the Jackson lectures. ... I heard two of them. They eliminated the first eleven chapters of Genesis, and put good old father Abraham, and everything from his day to Moses, in the realm of mythology. I felt badly about it, because I had always liked Enoch and Noah, and the patriarchs; and he did it with such an egotistic and triumphant air that he must have impressed some that he knew some- thing; but it was all assertion not a word of proof for all he assumed and yet it was all done 54 BREAKEES ! METHODISM ADRIFT in the name of the Merrick Lectures. What are we coming to? There were young men many of them waiting a clear Gospel call to work, and they got a doubt. ' ' The following is a report of the lectures, taken from the Daily Journal-Herald, of Delaware : FIRST LECTURE, SUNDAY, P. M., APRIL 25, 1909 SUBJECT: "The Old Testament and Modern Criticism." "It has resulted in assuring us that a greater portion of the Old Testament than was formerly believed is anonymous, that it makes use of a greater variety of literary form, in fact of every form of which the Hebrews were familiar, and that most of the books are composite in character, that they are the work of several hands instead of one, and that their present form is a compila- tion of the materials at hand when the books were collected. These emphatic negatives on the ques- tion of authorship, however, should not shake our faith in the Bible. It is the Bible just the same a collection of ideal thoughts of 1,000 years. But the question becomes more serious when certain portions are to be classed as myths or legends, but this variety of form we must admit. It is the composite character of the various books which raises the greatest difficulties, however, for it throws out the old ideas of the inspiration of the writers of the Old Testament. OUR EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 55 SECOND LECTURE, APRIL 26, P. M. The distinction we are accustomed to draw be- tween the historical and prophetical books of the Old Testament does not exist at all in the Hebrew Bible, so that to the Hebrews themselves, those of their sacred writers whom we name historical, were rather prophets, interpreters of the divine will as that will had expressed itself in their na- tion's past. Have we not in this fact the key to the interpretation of their writings? Their su- preme concern is not history, as we understand it to-day, but religion; not man and his doings, but God and His providence, and the result is that the Biblical writers are often careless about de- tails. But if, through the adoption of the pro- phetic standpoint and method, there is a loss to history, how great is the gain to religion! Its narratives may sometimes disappoint us as his- tory ; they satisfy us as religion. The seeker after dates and facts and figures may often be sent empty away ; but the hungry for God is filled with good things. . . . Such, then, are some of the facts which call for frank recognition on the part of the student who is seeking to form a true es- timate of the historical trustworthiness of our Old Testament Scriptures. And once more be it ob- served that it is not the critic but the Bible itself that is responsible for them. But it is urged, if we cannot be sure of Abraham how can we be sure of Christ I Yet in the early dawn of every nation, not of the Jews only, there are dim figures whose outlines we can but faintly descry through the 56 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT thickening mists of the past, etc. . . . Let us abandon our wholly baseless idea of the exact and equally historical truth of every part of Scrip- ture, and mix with our reading of the Bible a little common sense. THIRD LECTURE, APRIL 27, 1909 THEME : The Early Chapters of Genesis. They are not literal history and must be ad- justed to the modern faith. . . . "We have an impression that many of these things are not his- tory, but myths, legends and allegories. . , . The stories of men living to be 900 years of age has been discredited by scientific discoveries and are supposed to be traditions handed down from a barbarous age. The stories of the fall of Adam and Eve, the flood, and the Tower of Babel were taken up at length, discussed and proved to be only types of allegories as far as our knowledge goes. Their physical impossibility are far from being credible, for Egyptian records deny the flood, and it was supposed to cover the whole earth. The Tower of Bable corresponds to the myths of giants, etc., of early Greek mythology. However, the results so far have been mainly negative. With the help of the science of literary and historical criticism men have examined anew this Hebrew literature. They cannot find history or science in them, but they have found myths .that under- neath them have to do with the customs and early life of a developing people and a lesson to all OUE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 57 readers. . . . But why should we still keep it in the Bible if it does us no good? Whatever has been long respected is probably respectable. FOURTH LECTURE, APRIL 28, 1909 SUBJECT: "The Book of Jonah." The miserable literalism which will persist in reading poetry of the Bible as if it were prose has ended here, as it always ends, in adding new burdens to belief at the same time it makes sport for the unbelieving Philistines. The Book of Jonah belongs plainly to the realm of imagination, not of actual historical fact. Some will ask, Is the Book of Jonah true? The answer is: No, it is not and it was never meant to be, and when we so read it we are misinterpreting !the writer's own evident intention. . . . Truth in the sense of literal historical fact it does not contain. FIFTH LECTURE, APRIL 29 SUBJECT: The Moral Difficulties of the Old Testament. If it is to be said that modern criticism is slay- ing its thousands, then it must also be said that the doctrine of the equal authority of all parts of Scripture is slaying its tens of thousands, and that the day has fully come when loyalty to truth and the interests of the Church alike demand its complete and unequivocal disavowal. The right place for the Old Testament is not 58 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT in front of, nor even by the side of, but behind the New. The Son of Man is Lord also of the Old Testament, and the servant is not greater than his Lord; indeed, he is without authority at all save in so far as his word is endorsed and re- affirmed by the Master himself. SIXTH LECTURE, APRIL 30, 1909 SUBJECT: Summary of the Series. If the narratives of Genesis are not history or science; if the Pentateuchal law is not the work of Moses ; if the story of Jonah is only a parable, what becomes of our faith in a divine revelation to Israel? There is one ground, however, which is firm footing for all, and that is the fact that there is a universal God, and that He has revealed Himself to His people through the prophets and other means. And this belief is strengthened by the fact that God is just as real and full in the reconstructed history as He was in the Old. Mod- ern Criticism does not touch the fact of revelation except to set it in a clearer light. It cannot touch the substance of that living Word, which shines with the same divine truth at all times and under every form of revelation. Criticism presupposes this inspiration, it seeks only to determine the conditions under which it operates and the liter- ary forms through which it manifests itself. It (the Old Testament) is only at best a collec- tion of books, a national literature with 1,000 years from its earliest to its latest contents. OUR EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 59 Away back there we find the wonderful, cruel and omnipotent Jehovah, the same God who has been reconstructed into our modern idea of God. . . . All the facts that one could gather from Israel's history, literature and religion make it obvious that we are in the presence of a moral and spiritual phenomenon wholly unaffected by inaccuracies, obscurities, or immoralities pre- sented by individual narratives in the book. The application of the historical method to the study of the Old Testament has put into our hands a new apology for the Bible far superior to any heretofore presented." But it may be urged by those in sympathy with such teaching that these are newspaper reports of what was said. But I have been informed that they were edited by Mr. Jackson himself. But, that there may be no doubt as to the character of his teaching, I will make some quotations from his book, "The Preacher and the Modern Mind," that contains much found in the lectures. THE OLD TESTAMENT RECORD 1 ' The early chapters of Genesis are not history ; and the problem of origins we must be content to leave to science to make of it what it can." P. 23. "We must learn to recognize varying degrees of historical trustworthiness in the Old Testa- ment. ... In the case of the Pentateuch, how- ever, there is a gulf of centuries between the earli- est written records from which it was compiled 60 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT and the events which it relates. When we get back to the age of the patriarchs the gulf has wid- ened into a millennium. To a writing composed under such circumstances (there is absolutely no proof that it was so composed Munhall), it is manifestly impossible to ascribe a strictly histori- cal character." Pp. Ill, 112. CONCERNING THE GOSPELS "We must make room for a possible inter- mingling of legend with history in the Gospel narrative." P. 142. "After the most patient and prolonged investi- gation, Christian scholarship (sic.) seems now to be finally settled down to the judgment that be- hind the first three Gospels, in the form in which we now possess them, there lie at least three main sources from which they have been compiled." P. 132. He approves Dr. Denney's statement: "Many of the fulfilments of prophecy referred to in the First Gospel have for us neither intellectual nor religious value." P. 97. AS TO MIRACLES "Every student of the four Gospels knows the miraculous incidents in our Lord's life are not all equally attested, and, as Dr. Sanday has pointed out, that the apparition of the dead on the day of the crucifixion (Matt. 27:52) (The resurrection spoken of here did not take place "on the day of the crucifixion," but "after His resur- OUR EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 61 rection." Great biblical scholars these. Mun- hall.) belongs just to that stratum which carries with it the least weight." P. 130. "Unless we are prepared to admit varying de- grees of certainty in the miraculous stories of the Bible, we must abandon all idea of making good our defence on grounds of evidence, and en- trench ourselves as best we can in the old fort of biblical infallibility." P. 129. He discounts the records of the sun standing still; crossing of the Bed Sea; Sampson slaying 1,000 Philistines ; falling of walls of Jericho ; mak- ing the axe to swim, etc. Concerning the giving of manna he says: "It belongs to symbolical his- tory rather than to history proper. . . . The story is a symbol of the historic truth that in this barren environment and trying period of their history Jehovah amply provided all that was needed for the welfare of His people. The narra- tive of Elijah and the ravens belongs to the same category." P. 147. He disposes of the case of Peter catching a fish with a coin in its mouth in this fashion: "Is it not far more natural to suppose that Christ's words were simply a bit of playful banter ad- dressed to Peter, the fisherman, reminding him that a simple catch in the lake hard by and a sale in the Caperneum market would solve the whole difficulty." P. 142. He commends this saying of Dr. Forsyth : * * The evidential value of miracles is quite gone. They are no more a part of Christianity." 62 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT THE BIBLE NOT AUTHORITY "It is no longer possible to use a text any text, every text at its face value. It must be first appraised, and perhaps discounted before it can be offered as legal tender. ' ' P. 108. "No modern theologian would dream of fortify- ing his conclusions by heaping together a number of proof texts in the fashion we find, for example, in Rom. iii : 10-18. St. Paul sometimes quotes the Old Testament with entire disregard for the orig- inal context, and even puts into its words a mean- ing exactly opposite to that which they originally possessed. . . Only a preacher with a bad exe- getical conscience would take St. Paul for his example." P. 99. JESUS AND THE APOSTLES NOT AUTHORITY "We must maintain the limitations of the knowl- edge of Jesus, alike in the interests of a true Christology and of intellectual liberty." P. 168. "The authority of a particular Psalm, the lit- erary character of a book of the Old Testament, for example, are not questions that can be deter- mined by the words of an Apostle; they cannot be determined, with all reverence be it said, by the Words of Jesus Himself." P. 97. "When I am told that the Bible is, in a sense that belongs to no other book, the Word of God, I cannot receive the saying merely on the author- ity of another, not even of the Apostles, nor Christ Himself." "It is now admitted on all hands the few OUE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 63 protesting voices do but emphasize the general consent (a presumptuous falsehood Munhall) that Christ's authority cannot be invoked to in- validate the findings of modern biblical criticism. If in his references to the Old Testament, in mat- ters of authoriship and the like, our Lord assumes a point of view which later investigation shows to be untenable, we no longer imagine that by an ap- peal to Him we can reverse the verdict of the facts." P. 167. Once Delaware was distinguished for its spir- itual atmosphere. Christian young people who matriculated there were not only immune from scepticism, but were quite certain to be confirmed in their faith and have their spiritual life enlarged and intensified ; and the unchristian students were more than likely to be converted and saved. But all this is now changed. However, could it be otherwise? The glad Hallelujahs for signal victories through the "Blood of the Cross" that so many times were heard in the halls of Ohio Wesleyan, and which was her chief glory, are sel- dom, if ever, heard. One of our district superintendents recently said to me: "I sent my daughter to Ohio Wesleyan an earnest Christian ; they wrecked her faith and she is now an agnostic." I say, with all the vigor I can put into the words, it were infinitely better that every so-called Meth- odist educational institution should go into hope- less bankruptcy than that one such case should occur ; and there are doubtless hundreds of them, 64 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT for an atmosphere of faith and soul-destroying scepticism pervades most of our Methodist schools. A large number of these educators now admit the fact that many young people coming to their halls lose their faith in the Bible as the Word of God, but they insist they are not to blame ; that the trouble is in the teaching of home and Sunday school, where the old ideas of Methodism and our fathers and mothers are being taught, and when they go to college and hear about the "Newer learning" (sic) they lose faith in their father's God and their mother's Bible. As a remedy for it all they insist the "Newer learning" must be taught in home and Sunday school, and this will relieve the colleges of the responsibility of making infidels of our young people. And so, according to this edict, mothers and fathers who do not ac- cept the infidel teachings of the higher critics are not competent to teach their own children, and no one should be allowed to teach in our Sunday schools who is not an avowed disciple of Kuenen, Wellhausen, Eichorn, Astruc, et al. The late Bishop Charles H. Fowler once said: "It may seem a severe thing for a Methodist bishop, and one who has been president of one of our largest universities to say, but nevertheless I believe it to be true that the schools and univer sities of the Methodist Episcopal Church belong more to the devil to-day than they do to our Church." Some time ago I had occasion to ask a president of a prominent Methodist college: "Why do we OUR EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 65 not have revivals in Methodist schools as we used to?" He made the following reply: "We are not running reformatories now." I then asked: "When addressing conferences, preachers' meet- ings and Methodist congregations, and appealing to them for sympathy, money and students do you tell them that?" He said: "Certainly not." I then said to him: "If you get any response to your appeal you are obtaining money under false pretenses." Most of the money with which these schools were built and endowed would never have been given had the donors known what is now being taught in the great majority of them. It is a base be- trayal of a sacred trust, and the betrayers glory in their shame. CHAPTER IV OUR SCHOOLS OF THEOLOGY "That we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and car- ried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error." Eph. iv : 14. " For the time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine; but, hav- ing itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables." 2 Tim. iv : 3, 4. T T is said that when Bishop Ames was on his *- death-bed he made this remark: "I fear that our theological schools will give us trouble." If he could see the condition to-day, no doubt, he would realize that his fears were well founded. Presumably the object of these schools is to qualify men for the ministry of the Word. Of course a pastor has many other things to do be- sides expounding the Word of God, but that is his chief business if he is a minister of Jesus Christ. In view of the transcendent importance of his mission all sensible people are agreed that the wisest and most thorough preparation is fully jus- tified indeed, indispensable and therefore these schools have been built and endowed, and are ap- proved and heartily encouraged. If they were true to the object had in view by their founders, 66 67 and loyal to the Word of God and the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church, they would have a perfect right to expect hearty sympathy and continued generous support from all good Methodists, and would most surely receive it ; but, sad to relate, the most influential of these schools are disloyal to the Word of God and the doctrines of Methodism, and are therefore not entitled to the sympathy and support of the Church. Fourteen years ago I addressed the Chicago Methodist Preachers' Meeting. In that address I said, "There are two Methodist Theological Schools where the so-called higher criticism is taught." President Little, who was present, in addressing the meeting, said, "I am sure Garrett Biblical Institute is not one of the schools to which Dr. Munhall refers; for we believe and teach the Bible and the doctrines of Methodism." Three years later in the Chicago Tribune of April 26th, 1902, President Little is reported to have said: "It is true that he Prof. Horswell teaches higher criticism and has been attacked for it. But he fills a position where attacks must be expected, and higher criticism is taught throughout the school. We are compelled to teach it. Students ask questions that must be answered, and we must answer them in the only logical way. Many stu- dents have come to me with complaints that Pro- fessor Horswell is teaching heresy, but upon ex- amination I have always found that they were mistaken and that the professor's views were not 68 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT altogether different from those of the remainder of us." If President Little is here correctly reported, we not only have a frank admission that the "higher criticism is taught throughout the school, ' ' but also a statement that they are ' ' com- pelled to teach it. Students ask questions," etc., etc.; all of which is startling, if true. Obliged to teach that the Bible is not infallible, trustworthy or authoritative, because some students ask ques- tions! I, for one, do not believe that this is the real reason why the higher criticism is taught in Garrett and other of our Church schools. The real reason is that these teachers believe higher criticism, and desire to make converts to their way of thinking. Prof. Horswell was a member of the Des Moines Annual Conference, which in a most emphatic manner condemned his teachings in Garrett. He shortly afterwards quit the school. My statement that higher criticism was being taught in two Methodist schools (I meant Boston and Evanston) was denied by Pres. Little of Gar- rett ; but in less than three years freely admitted ; and no one now will for one moment deny it. The last session of the Rock River Conference was held in Evanston, October 2-8, 1912, inclu- sive. Bishop William F. McDowell presided. Both he and Dr. Charles M. Stuart, President of Garrett Biblical Institute, delivered addresses, Sunday afternoon, in the First Methodist Church, at the Ordination Service. Three young men were OUE SCHOOLS OF THEOLOGY 69 ordained as Deacons, and eleven as Elders. Dr. Stuart, according to the Daily Inter-Ocean of Octo- ber 7th, among other things, said : " 'Criticism has changed public opinion about many matters once deemed primary, now seen to be of subsidiary importance. It is not now thought to be necessary to one's salvation that he shall believe the world to have been created in six days of twenty-four hours each, or that woman was created from the ribs of man, or that the deluge was universal, or that the waters of the Bed Sea separated at the word of Moses. " 'One may still have fellowship with God and surmise that the Pentateuch was not written by Moses, that the Levitical legislation was post- exilian, that the Book of Isaiah is of composite authorship, that the Book of Daniel is a story to illustrate how God keeps watch over His own, that the Book of Job is a dramatic putting of the prob- lem of evil in the world, and that Jonah is an alle- gory setting forth the universality of God's love. " 'We may even go farther than that. We may admit that the Bible as we have it is a book derived from secondary sources; that the autographs of the evangelists and apostles have been irrevocably lost, that there are omissions and interpolations, glosses and misreadings numerous enough to be discouraging, that genealogies and chronologies are hopelessly confused, and that there are dis- crepancies of statement about matters of fact which are not to be reconciled. " 'I say we may admit all that, and still realize 70 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT that in its central feature of its commission as a veritable word of God is so full, so final, so clear- cut, so intelligent, so authoritative, that the way- faring man has to be a superabundant fool who seriously errs with respect to it.' " There are over 100 theological students at Evanston. They were doubtless present and heard these utterances. The air to-day is full of scepti- cism. Our leaders, Bishops, Editors, Agents, Preachers, are more responsible for it than all the infidels outside the Church. False to ordination vows, and the most sacred trusts, they seem to have united in a mad propaganda to wreck Meth- odism. Is it any wonder our pews are empty, and our altars deserted? The uniform teaching of this school is admitted- ly in harmony with these antibiblical and un-Meth- odistic utterances of its president, as can be easily proven by the published writings of members of the faculty, notably those of Professors Milton S. Terry and Charles F. Eiselin. When these gentlemen were ordained deacons in the Methodist Church the Bishop asked, "Do you unfeignedly believe all the canonical Scrip- tures of the Old and New Testaments!'* They answered, "I do believe them." The Bishop then asked, "Will you diligently read or expound the same unto the people whom you shall be appointed to serve?" They answered, "I will." When ordained elders, the Bishop asked, "Are you persuaded that the Holy Scriptures contain OUR SCHOOLS OF THEOLOGY 71 sufficiently all doctrine required of necessity for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ? And are you determined out of said Scriptures to instruct the people committed to your charge, and to teach nothing as required of necessity to eternal salvation but that which you shall be per- suaded may be concluded and proved by the Scrip- tures?" They answered, "I am so persuaded, and have so determined, by God's grace." The Bishop again asked, "Will you be ready with all faithful diligence to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's Word," etc.? They replied, "I will, the Lord being my helper. ' ' Also, every Methodist preacher is under solemn obligations to keep the General Eules of the Church. In paragraph 33 of these rules we read, "All of which [the rules] we are taught of God to observe, even in His Written Word, which is the only rule, and the sufficient rule, both of our faith and practice." These gentlemen would never have received or- dination without making these solemn subscrip- tions. And, now they not only do not keep these solemn vows, but are themselves promulgating "Erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's Word," and teaching the rising ministry to do the same, the while they eat the Churches' bread. Since our Articles of Religion cannot be constitutionally changed, such procedure is noth- 72 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT ing less than ecclesiastical anarchy. One result of higher criticism is to obtund the moral sense. The following petition explains itself: To the Trustees of Boston University: "We, the undersigned students of Boston School of Theology, respectfully submit to you this peti- tion. We ask an investigation into the teachings of the Department of Old Testament Exegesis, especially as to its bearing on Christology; and in justification of this petition we enclose a limited number of representative statements by students, together with a history of the movement of which this petition is the result. The autograph copies of the enclosed statements, together with others of a similar character, are in our hands. "As students, we feel that we have a grievance. We came to Boston School of Theology expecting from all representations to be prepared for Meth- odist Pulpits in Methodist and Christian Doctrine. We have grown more than suspicious that the sub- tle influence of the teaching received in the above- mentioned Department leans far toward Unitari- anism and Naturalism. We cannot help resenting this, not alone for our own sakes, but for the sake of the School and the Church. Other young men are preparing to come here. If things are to go on as they are, ought not these young men at least have a choice as to the general character of the instruction which is to shape their lives. Ought they be allowed innocently and ignorantly to walk into disappointment? Many men now in school have felt this to be their experience, and in con- OUR SCHOOLS OF THEOLOGY 73 sequence a number are making arrangements to finish their course elsewhere. Ought our School to be willing to remain silent when to do so means to mislead a large per cent of the students who come to her? We feel, and fell deeply that some- thing should be done. These are not the convic- tions of a day, but in the case of many of us, have come at the end of a long struggle to keep on our feet intellectually and spiritually, and save our- selves from scepticism and despair. "We believe the investigation we ask for is just in any case. Either the teaching of Prof. Mitchell is misunderstood, or it is unsound. In the former case he ought to be vindicated and placed in a true light before the Church; in the latter, the Church ought to know the facts, that she may act accordingly. "Should the objection be raised that Prof. Mitch- ell's Department is not Dogmatics but Exegesis, we plead that Exegesis cannot be separated from Doctrine, and that under the cover of Exegesis unsound doctrines are vastly more dangerous and more misleading than when explicitly stated in a class in Dogmatics. Therefore do we present this petition. We, as students of the Middle and Senior Classes (the Junior Class having as yet had no critical work under Prof. Mitchell), would welcome nothing more than a full and impartial investiga- tion under the auspices of your Honorable Body. (Signed) Respectfully submitted, Benjamin Rist, E. K. Smith, H. H. Critchlow, T. A. Wilson, Chris. F. Reisner, Ambrie Field, Ed- 74 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT win H. Hadlock, Jerome Greer, Joseph E. Houl- gate, Edwin S. Collier, H. G. Curless, Howard H. Scott, J. E. Cope, E. M. Crandall, G. H. Myers, Albert C. Knudson, F. I. Johnson, Elmer E. Noble, F. E. Ayers, George R. Grose, F. L. Strickland, Jr., Chas. C. Elson, Chas. A. Tighe, Everett M. Hill, S. E. Grant, Fay Donaldson, W. N. Mason, B. McCarty, H. C. Millington, E. 0. Bullock, S. L. Stewart, Jay Kirkendall, W. F. Taylor, Chas. Tel- ford Erickson, E. V. Hinchliffe, J. E. Johnson, Geo. H. Geyer, C. A. Bowen. March 15, 1895. This petition was passed over and silenced. But it gave trustworthy information as to just what kind of teaching was done in the Boston Univer- sity School of Theology. Four years later the following petition was made: To President W. F. Warren, and the Trustees of Boston University: "We, the undersigned students of Boston Uni- versity School of Theology, respectfully present the following statement for your consideration : "We believe that the teachings in the depart- ment of Old Testament Exegesis are decidedly detrimental to the best interests of the University, as well as out of sympathy and harmony with the fundamental teachings of our Church. We pro- test against a narrow, one-sided presentation of views, concerning the Old Testament. The ration- alistic and destructive view held by the Higher OUE SCHOOLS OF THEOLOGY 75 Critics is presented to the almost entire exclusion of others. We call attention to the following points in the teachings of Dr. H. G. Mitchell : "The impression made upon us is that his teach- ings about Jesus Christ are essentially Unitarian. He denies the omniscience of Christ. He holds that we are not compelled to accept the statements of Christ with reference to the Old Testament, and that no argument can be based upon them. He states that belief in the Deity of Jesus Christ is not necessary to salvation, and that a man can be saved through believing in other men without any knowledge of or teaching about Christ. That it was not a part of God's redemptive plan that Christ should die for the salvation of the race. That the vicarious sufferings of Christ were not necessary to the salvation of men. That Christ's death was simply the culminatory act of His life. He holds that no prophet of the Old Testament knew anything about the person of Jesus Christ. That the prophets did not prophesy of any event not having its causes in the local conditions of their own time. He minimizes or calls in question the miraculous elements of the Old Testament. He treats as mythical the persons and history of the Ante-Deluvian Patriarchs and questions the exist- ence of Noah and Isaac. He holds that the Sab- bath is not of Divine origin. He accepts and teaches the general positions of the Wellhausen School with reference to the Pentateuch to the ex- clusion of all others. His teachings with reference to the authorship and credibility of most of the 76 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT books of the Old Testament are destructive rather than constructive. Dr. Mitchell says that we misunderstand him with reference to the teachings to which exception is taken. This may be, but it seems singular to us that scores of students should have misunder- stood him, year after year, for at least the past six years, covered by the enclosed evidence. In any case the effect is the same, whether he is mis- understood or not. The strongest evidence of this is furnished by those students who accept and de- fend his views. Professor Mitchell will make a general statement which seems correct; but will follow it with reservations and negations until the first statement is practically destroyed. He does this on some of the most vital points of doctrine. By this means, his statements can be given a double interpretation, and leave it so that he can either affirm or deny them. Dr. Mitchell recom- mends the students to read the conservative side, but when asked whom to read he proceeds at once to discredit nearly every scholar who disagrees with him, including such scholars as Sayce, Hom- mel, Lange and Harman. "The effect of these teachings upon the students is that while some reject, a large percentage of them accept these views in the main, while some go much further. A distinctly Unitarian element is being thus introduced into the Methodist Church. If this is allowed to continue we believe it will prove disastrous to the cause of Christ. This we think is illustrated by the history of the Congre- OUB SCHOOLS OF THEOLOGY 77 gational Churches of New England. Signed: Harcourt W. Peck, William W. Shenk, Oliver L. Utter, George A. Pegram, Eli M. Paddleford, James E. Boss, George W. Coultas, Ernest E. Wareing, Orion L. Griswold." All who signed this statement had taken the Senior or Middle Hebrew or both under Dr. Mitchell. In face of this Prof. Mitchell was unanimously re-elected by the Board of Trustees for another five years, and confirmed by the Board of Bishops ; and the students were peremptorily ordered to desist from further agitation of the matter. This, two of the petitioners and seven other students refused to do, by addressing the following com- munication to the authorities and withdrawing from the school: DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES AND WITHDRAWAL Boston University School of Theology, Nov. 15, 1899. " President Warren and Faculty of the School of Theology : "Your communication of Nov. 13, singled out to a portion of the signers of this declaration and signed by yourself and Prof. H. C. Sheldon, Sec'y, is received. Its official notification is also ac- cepted, by the rest of the signers of this declara- tion, as enjoining them as well, 'to abstain from further agitation of matters now pending, and to submit faithfully to any decisions which may be rendered by the authorities,' while we remain as 78 BREAKERS ! METHODISM ADRIFT students of the institution. In other words, this ultimatum demands of us that we either smother our convictions and compromise our integrity by remaining in the institution under silence, or else accept the other alternative, however reluctantly it appeals to our personal feelings and involves us in individual inconvenience. Since, then, no choice remains except the other alternative, alone toler- able to us and in consistency with past action and present conviction, therefore we do hereby sever our connection, as students, with this institution. This action rests explicitly upon the following con- siderations : "1. The re-election of Prof. Mitchell on Nov. 13, by the Board of Trustees, both in point of time and in the manner of events leading thereto, sig- nifies a continuance of his destructive teaching in Boston University School of Theology. 1 '2. We have done our utmost to inform the authorities of the School of the facts of his class room work and have communicated to them our purpose to give the church these facts, if Prof. Mitchell should be retained in his present posi- tion. "3. The School of Theology is now practically committed to Prof. Mitchell's destructive teach- ing, and the church has a right to know what he teaches. The most charitable construction we are able to place upon this re-election, in the light of the notification from the faculty enjoining upon us silence, cannot commission the School to re- ceive our young ministry from every quarter of OUE SCHOOLS OF THEOLOGY 79 the church and return them again to our Meth- odist pulpits and absolve the school from all re- sponsibility for the teaching of Prof. Mitchell, or give it a grant of secrecy for his class room work. "4. Having exhausted every available means directly with the authorities of the School for the correction of this destructive teaching, we now, by the affixing of our several names, record our personal protest against the continuance of a form of teaching essentially unmethodistic and destruc- tive, in one of our Methodist schools. "5. We protest against the endorsement of the doubts of rationalism and the favoritism shown the specious presumptions of Unitarianism, insin- uated under the name of truth into the theological thinking of our Methodist ministry. "6. We protest against a destructive criticism that considers of no authoritative worth the testi- mony of Jesus Christ with regard to the Old Testa- ment, and claims to supersede fundamental doc- trines of Paul's theology with a new and better theology. "7. We protest against the uncertainty given to the Gospel message by the scepticism raised regarding its Divine credentials, namely, those significant in Messianic prophecy, the theophanies of the Bible, the essential Godhead of Jesus Christ and the necessary work of His atonement. * * 8. We protest against the propagation of thi s teaching in the name of scholarship, because this teaching undertakes a denial of the authority of 80 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT the Sacred Scriptures, exalting the authority of the human consciousness above the same. "9. We protest against the deteriorating effect of these teachings upon the evangelical spirit of our beloved Methodism, and the introduction of an element into our ministry adverse to the old time revival fervor, and the holy unction insepar- able from a union of conviction and faith. "10. We declare it to be an injustice to place professors in the faculty who are in accord with few or none of the destructive views of Prof. Mitchell under common embarrassment because of his specific teaching, and also to put the grad- uates of the institution under suspicion upon en- tering their conferences. 1 '11. We believe that a proper sense of fidelity and honor on the part of Prof. Mitchell should lead him to perceive that he holds an anomalous attitude to the School, out of harmony with its publicly assumed position, and in strange relation to his vows as a Methodist preacher, and that, being a discrediting influence among his colleagues and a disturbing factor in Methodism, he ought to see the fitness of voluntary resignation from his present position. "12. We express our unfeigned regret that this school should not present a more loyal and inspir- ing front against the weakening influences of Unit- arianism, Universalism and liberalism, in this cul- tured center, where, of all places, Methodism should hold an impregnable, masterful and con- quering position. OUR SCHOOLS OF THEOLOGY 81 "13. We contend for a scholarship that does not come to the examination of the Holy Word with postulated presupposition against its super- natural character; but, rather, with the closest, most penetrating and luminous investigation, in- clusive of its spiritual import and life, sets forth the eternal verities contained therein in such a way as to disclose its supernatural characteristics in all their guarantee of heavenly righteousness for men here and surety of the felicitous life to come, so that its truth may run and encompass the whole earth with the kingdom of our Lord. "14. We here record our conviction that the time has come for Methodism to reaffirm, definite- ly and positively, the fundamentals of her faith and polity, before this destructive movement, now so strongly setting in, shall have insidiously sapped the vitality of her doctrines and left her little more than a helpless human mechanism, lack- ing in the fullness and supernatural life of the Holy spirit. "15. We, therefore, as Methodist preachers and as ambassadors of Jesus Christ, in loyalty to our church which we believe was reared for a world- wide evangelism, and in conformity to the behests of our conscience, feel that we cannot endorse the re-election of Prof. Mitchell, by remaining longer in this institution; that an acquiescence, on our part, and a tacit avowal of cessation from further action in this matter, would be to compromise our integrity, to stifle our sense of duty, and to make still more difficult and improbable any hope of re- 82 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT lief for the church outside or correction within the School. ''Signed. W. W. Shenk, 0. L. Griswold, B. Frank Neff, Manly J. Munford, W. N. Robertson, W. E. Verity, W. C. Hartinger, J. H. Elliott, P. P. Carroll." In 1904 Prof. Mitchell was again re-elected for a term of five years, but the bishops by a unani- mous vote, refused to confirm, and he is to-day teaching in a Universalist school. A year later President Huntington in his report said: 1 ' The unfortunate events of last year, by which the Faculty of this department lost one of its most faithful and scholarly members have not, it is hoped, lessened the respect of a large company of devout and scholarly men for this institution. Although the wish of the University was over- ruled, and ecclesiastical authority exercised its veto power, nevertheless the principles for which the University stood were not abandoned. Reason- able freeedom of teaching is still maintained." This is strange language to come from the authorities of a Methodist University. Here is open rebellion. The President says: "The Facul- ty of this department lost one of its most faithful and scholarly men." Who was to decide upon the faithfulness of Mitchell? If he were "faithful" why did not the bishops confirm him? Who is to decide what is "reasonable freedom of teaching?" When elected and confirmed, Professor Mitchell was under contract to teach according to Meth- OUE SCHOOLS OF THEOLOGY 83 odist standards and the bishops are constituted authority to determine that matter. This is history; very important history, that should never be forgotten ; because it is conspicu- ously identified with the present, that is to say, the same un-Methodistic, infidel, soul-destroying things are taught in this so-called Methodist Theo- logical Seminary to-day as Prof. Mitchell taught in its halls before he was deposed by Episcopal authority. Drew long withstood the insidious wiles of higher criticism. But five years ago a student writing me from Drew, said: "We get a touch of it here now and then. ' ' For a time the students of some of the professors were told, in a non- committal way what the critics say ; and then the other side would not be given ; or if given, it was in such a way as to impress the student with the idea that the higher critics were great scholars, and their opinions must be respected. It was not so much what was said, as how it was said; the critics seldom, if ever opposed, and the orthodox side never emphasized. Four years ago one of our bishops wrote me as follows: "I fell in with Prof. Rogers while busy with the book ( Hasting 's one vol. Dictionary), and told him what I thought about it. He told me that he himself was a Higher Critic; and when I asked him what he meant by Higher Critic, he wriggled around and put on airs of supreme wisdom and told me that I was not competent to judge of such matters. He told me he was a ' Specialist, ' and that he ' could judge of 84 BBEAKEES! METHODISM ADRIFT such matters as I was not able to judge.' I gave him to understand that I was specialist enough to stand by the genuineness, authenticity, in- tegrity, authority and Divine inspiration of the Bible." Two other members of the faculty at Drew, if not four, are of the same mind with Prof. Rogers in this matter, and I know of no one in the present faculty who is bearing a clear cut, unmistakable testimony against destructive higher criticism, and standing four-square for the doc- trines of Methodism and the historic faith. Drew is not committed openly to higher criticism as Garrett and Boston, but occupies a shamefully compromised position. All of which is unspeak- ably sad! The Iliff School of Theology at Denver, Col., takes its cue from Evanston, and is no better. . . . The two German schools, at Warrenton, Mo., and Berea, Ohio; the Norwegian-Danish and Swedish at Evanston, Ills.; and the Gammon School for colored people, at Atlanta, Ga., are as far as I know, doing good, faithful work. But, it is asked: "In view of the fact that the instructors in these schools, who are teaching higher criticism, are men of probity, how explain the fact that they are false to their ordination vows and obligations as teachers in Methodist Institutions? They doubtless think they are right in the matter; but that does not make it right. Saul thought he was doing God service in holding the clothes of those who stoned Stephen, and con- senting unto his death; but he was nevertheless OUR SCHOOLS OF THEOLOGY 85 wickedly and criminally wrong. It is possible some of these gentlemen never were 'born from above.' It is probable that not a few of them are without the Spirit. Some of them were fail- ures in the pastorate, but being book men were elected to teach young men to do what they them- selves had never been able to do. Because of the character of their work and the lives they live they are not in vital touch with the spiritual ac- tivities of the Church, and they naturally become critical and sometimes captious. Many of them recognize this fact, and have made some efforts to remedy the same ; but it cannot be done so long as they hold to erroneous views of the Bible. Shortly after it became known that higher criti- cism was taught in these schools, and it was urged that such views and teaching were paralyzing to spiritual living and things, both Boston and Gar- rett thought to refute the suggestion by organiz- ing evangelizing bands from the student body and sending them around among the churches to con- duct soul-saving work. Some good was accom- plished, because not a few of the students were true to the Bible and loyal to the doctrines of Methodism, in spite of the false teaching of the schools; but the movement, as such, proved to be a failure. Prof. Mitchell led one of the Bands from the Boston School, which operated in Boston proper. A layman, one of the most prominent and influential in the connection, a resident of Boston, attended a number of these meetings, writing me about them, said: "They were the most pitiable 86 BEEAKEES! METHODISM ADEIFT failures I have ever seen." Then I think intel- lectual pride has turned the heads of some of these brethren. They talk much about "Scholarship" and the "Modern Mind." But there is not one of these gentlemen, who teaches higher criti- cism in any Methodist school, who is in any real sense a scholar of the first order. They all have some learning, and are pretty familiar with the lore of the schools ; and wishing to impress people with the idea that they are scholarly, have taken up with the views of certain men in the schools of the Old World who have the reputation of be- ing great scholars, and parrot-like they repeat their utterances as representing their own views. But whatever explanation may be offered, the in- disputable fact remains that these gentlemen are recreant to most solemn and weighty obligations, and the schools in which they teach are Methodist only in name, and are doing infinite and irrepar- able harm. The students in these schools are presumably called of God to preach His Word, and it is believed by them that a three years* course in these institutions will better fit them for this ministry; and it surely should, but does itf Most of them are graduated with but little real knowledge of the Word they are called of God to preach. So far as the instruction they receive, it is not taught them; but contrariwise, the objec- tions urged by sceptics and infidels against the Bible ; and these young gentlemen go out into the world to preach what? Not the Bible, for it was little taught them while in the Theological School ; OUB SCHOOLS OF THEOLOGY 87 nor how to defend the Bible against the infidel ob- jections to it and the doctrines of Methodism that are so alarmingly prevalent in these days, but to preach ' ' another gospel that is not another ! ' ' and their ministry will result in failure. I know scores of alumni of these schools who have taken up with the divisive and destructive things taught them, and not one of them is a soul-winner as real, loyal Methodists believe in soul- winning ; they do not believe in revivals in any real scriptural sense, and therefore do not have them. Of course, there are many ministers who were graduated from the three chief schools I have named when they were yet loyal to the Bible and the doctrines of Methodism; and some who were graduated after the incoming of false teachers and teachings, who yet maintain their faith in the Bible as God's Word, in spite of what they were taught, and are preaching it; and God is with them in power and blessing; but these schools, as at present conducted are entitled to no credit for their successes. CHAPTER V SUNDAY SCHOOL LITERATURE "And them shalt teach them diligently unto thy children." Deut. vi: 7. "Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things." Gal. vi: 6. "From a child ( Babe-Brephos ) thou hast known the Holy Scrip- tures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. iii: 15. EACH quadremrium the General Conference elects an Editor of Sunday-school Literature. The present Editor, J. T. McFarland, D. D., was elected in 1904, and re-elected in 1908 and 1912. Dr. McFarland is in sympathy with much of the Higher Criticism of the Old Testament, of the Graf-Wellhausen school, which is essentially and necessarily destructive of the historic faith. His chief assistant, Dr. Henry H. Meyer, is in substan- tial agreement with Dr. McFarland 's views in this matter as are nearly all the contributors to our Sunday-school Literature. The day after the adjournment of the General Conference of 1904, I rode with Dr. McFarland from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara, California. We talked about this matter. He said: "I un- derstand you did not vote for me." I answered "No, I did not, because a number of the dele- gates from your Conference (Kansas) told me you 88 SUNDAY SCHOOL LITEEATUEE 89 were a higher critic, and for that reason you were not elected a delegate." (Dr. McFarland was not a delegate to the General Conference that elected him.) Before we parted, I said this to him, "If you will be loyal to the Bible and the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church, even as your prede- cessor Bishop Neely was, you will do more good than any ten men in Methodism ; but, if you allow your higher criticism views to dominate your work, you'll do one hundred times more harm than good." As we parted I said, "I am going to pray that you may be guided aright. ' ' Higher criticism views have had much to do with his work, from the first. Hundreds, if not thousands, of protests have been sent him and the publishers. (I never sent one nor had anything whatever to do with sending any.) But they have been unheeded; he has gone from bad to worse. The last General Conference passed the follow- ing: "Those who are in charge of our official Sunday- school publications should consistently adhere to a cautious and wise policy during these times of unrest. Such a policy should include the avoid- ance of unsettled questions so far as is consistent with honesty in teaching. If tentative views are set forth, they should be plainly labeled "tenta- tive." Care should be taken to keep the teach- ings of our literature in harmony with the funda- mental doctrines of evangelical Christianity and the standards of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Not only the comments upon the lessons, but every 90 BREAKERS ! METHODISM ADRIFT part of the literature should have a definite evan- gelistic purpose and an inspirational evangelistic power. "The Sunday-school Helps" should help the teachers to reach the hearts as well as the minds of their scholars. The aim of all our Sun- day-school work should be to bring both young and old, through a study of the Bible, to an ex- perimental knowledge of God, and of His Son Jesus Christ, our Saviour." This official admonition has brought about no change, nor will it, unless some more drastic action is taken. In "The Lesson Handbook," for 1913, Dr. McFarland says: "The Pentateuch was not an original work written throughout in the same period by a single author; it was a compilation from earlier works. It was the final edition of the Law of Israel, these earlier works being for- mer editions of the law. ' ' Also, ' ' The Pentateuch is a combination of four earlier works dealing with the history and the laws of Israel. These works are known as (1) the Primitive Document (also called the Jehovistic, or Yahwistic Docu- ment, (2) the Elohistic Document, (3) Deuteron- omy, and (4) the Priestly Document. These four were combined by the editors of the Pentateuch into a single continuous work." In fine, Dr. McFarland denies that Moses wrote the Pentateuch. He gives no proof that his asser- tions are true, for the simple reason that there is none absolutely none. His statements are sim- ply the conjectures and presuppositions of ration- alistic and destructive higher criticism. SUNDAY SCHOOL LITERATURE 91 John Wesley said : ' * Concerning the Scriptures in general, it may be observed, the word of the living God, which directed the first Patriarchs also, was, in the time of Moses, committed to writ- ing." Adam Clark, than whom no man ever had a pro- founder knowledge of ancient languages and liter- ature, said in his preface to the Book of Genesis : 1 1 Every believer in Divine Revelation finds himself amply justified in taking for granted that the Pen- tateuch is the work of Moses. For more than 3,000 years this has been the invariable opinion of those who are best qualified to form a correct judgment on the subject. The Jewish church, from its most remote antiquity, has ascribed the work to no other hand; and the Christian church, from its foundation, has attributed it to the Jewish law- giver alone. The most respectable heathens have concurred in this testimony, and Jesus Christ and His Apostles have completed the evidence, and have put the question beyond the possibility of being doubted by those who profess to believe the divine authenticity of the New Testament." Jesus said, "Did not Moses give you the Law?" John vii : 19. The Pentateuch represents Moses as its author, the talker with Jesus Christ in His preincarnate state, the receiver of the Law from the mouth of God, the writer and maker of different books, in which History, Law, and the Mosaic Institutions were recorded at God's command. The writer of Genesis, in the land of Midian, the Lord com- 92 BEEAKEES! METHODISM ADEIFT manded him to write in his then being written second book, "The Book," viz., ''Exodus," the account of Amalek's overthrow, Ex. xvii: 14. He "wrote all that God commanded for Aaron and his sons ' ' the whole Priest Code, i. e., Leviticus, and whatever else is elsewhere "for Aaron and his sons," 1 Chron. vi:49; Ezra iii:2; vi:18. He "wrote all the goings out and journeyings of Is- rael," i. e., the Book of Numbers, Num. xxxiii: 2. He "wrote the Book of Law," known as Deuteron- omy, and passed it into the custody of the Levites. "Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the sons of Levi," Deut. xxxi:9. He "wrote all the com- mandments, statutes, testimonies, and judgments of the Lord," 1 Kings ii : 3. All that Moses wrote, God commanded Joshua "to observe and not let depart from his mouth," Josh. i:7, 8. Ezra and Nehemiah both teach that the Pentateuch was the work of Moses. Jesus quotes profusely from every one of the five books, and ascribes all to Moses. With Him the name "Moses" stood for the five books of Moses, Luke xxiv : 27, 44. So it was with the Prophets. He told the Jews that * ( Moses wrote of Him," and absolved from the duty of believing on Him if His statement was false, John v : 45. Stephen told the Sanhedrin that it was "Moses" who "received the living oracles" from God, Acts vii : 37. James says that when the Pentateuch sec- tions are read in the Synagogue, it is "Moses" that is read every Sabbath Day, and not J. E. D. P. E., and the whole apostolic council assented, Acts xv : 20. Inside and outside the Pentateuch, SUNDAY SCHOOL LITERATURE 93 the overwhelming testimony of Moses, the Pro- phets, Ezra, Nehemiah, the Sanhedrin, Jesus, the Evangelists, the Apostolic Council, Stephen, Paul, proves the utter worthlessness of Dr. McFar- land's teaching. It is a saying of the Talmud, "He who studies the Torah, but does not teach it as Moses did, is like a man who sows and reaps no harvest. The Torah is the Word of God to Israel. Moses has written nothing better. One should always occupy himself with the Torah as divine. He who denies the Torah as divine, has no part in the world to come." Such was David's view when he called the Pentateuch "the Law of the Lord," at which the wicked scoffed. The "Five Books of Moses," with their History, and Three Codes of Laws, put into the mouth of Moses by the mouth of God, Ex. 4 : 10-16, are in perfect agreement, and are a unitous production by the same author, "Moses," for a definite pur- pose, with a definite Theme and a definite Plan of writing. I do not speak of any editorial notes or remarks added by some prophets or histori- graphers of Israel, and which, as Adam Clark, Dr. Strong, and a thousand others, have said are of "no moment" as to the question of Mosaic authorship, but of the "Books" as a whole. All from Genesis I to Exodus XIX is preparatory History ; all following, to the end of Deuteronomy, is the continuation^ of the History in connection with the Laws God gave to Moses for both the ex- ternal and the spiritual life of the people, and for 94 BEEAKEBS! METHODISM ADRIFT the political administration of the Theocracy. The "Book of the Covenant" (Ex. xx-xxii) is the cor- ner-stone of the whole subsequent legislation. The one Theme of the whole is the Establishment of the Covenant of God with the Hebrew people to be His people forever. That Theme is the "Pole" around which all the History and all the Laws turn. The Theme is one, the Plan of writing is one, the Author is one, "Moses" himself, called of God to be the great Historian, Legislator, Leader and Founder of the Hebrew Nation. That Genesis was written by Moses, and that, apart from this Book, the other Books are unintelligible, is evident to the most ordinary reader. Still more: Not only do the Laws of the Pentateuch claim to be from God, through Moses, but the whole Pentateuch claims to be written by Moses, the father of the Hebreiv Nation. With unanimous voice, the Prophets, Kings and Saints of the Old Testament regard Moses as their law-giver, and also as the inspired Author of the Books that bear his name. We know that "God spake by Moses." They called the whole Bible the "Torah" or "In- struction" from God. But pre-eminently and tech- nically, the Pentateuch was the "Tor ah," the written "Law of the Lord," as David, the Proph- ets and Ezra call it the Teaching of Israel." It was the Codex and Standard of their Covenant Life Supreme, authoritative, final. The Talmud itself so defines it. Following the example of Christ and His Apostles, the whole Christian Church, from the beginning, held Moses to be the SUNDAY SCHOOL LITERATUBE 95 Author of Genesis, and the four Books that fol- low; nor was there a dissentient view, until the modern Higher Criticism arose, and assailed, by its audacity, ignorance and craft, the Self-Testi- mony of the Pentateuch, of the Jewish Church, of the whole body of Eabbinic teaching herein, of Jesus Christ, of His Apostles, and of the Chris- tian Church as a delusion, and denied that Moses wrote of Christ, and affirmed that what the Lord called "his writings," were not "his writings," but the self-contradictory compositions, fable- filled, unhistorical, mythical, of unknown men, who lived and wrote them, compiled them from float- ing and corrupted traditions, edited, worked over, re-edited, from 600 to 1,000 years after Moses was dead as many as two and three authors, living far apart, responsible for a single verse. This is the "Higher Criticism." It is this destructive, negative criticism that Dr. McFarland persists in putting into our Sunday-school periodicals not- withstanding the General Conference directed him not to do so. "What will the harvest bef" But it is asked: "What matters who wrote the Pentateuch, since we have it?" It must matter a good deal, else why should the so-called * ' Modern Scholars" be evermore insisting that Moses did not, as did Voltaire, Paine and Ingersoll? But it does matter, and matters immensely, for the om- niscience of Jesus is involved in the question and thereby His Deity. Jesus, speaking to the Jews, said : ' ' Think not 96 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT that I will accuse you to the Father ; there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, on whom ye have set your hope. For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me ; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words!" John v: 45-47. Where in the writings of Moses is anything said of Jesus? In Gen. iii : 15 it is said, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed ; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." The evangelical scholars are agreed that this is a pre- diction of Christ, and is one of the writings re- ferred to by the Saviour as by Moses. Another one of these predictions is found in Gen. xxii : 18. Likewise a double prediction in Deut. xviii : 15, 18. Jesus says Moses wrote these. Jesus answered and said unto them, "For the hardness of your heart he (Moses) wrote you this precept." Mark x:5. Where is this precept found ? In Deut. xxiv : 1. That is, Jesus said Moses wrote Deut. xxiv: 1. When Jesus said these things He either knew what He was saying was true or untrue. The Church has always believed that in Him "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Col. ii:3); that He "knew all things" (John xvi : 30) ; as clearly seen in all His teachings, but especially in confounding the Doctors when He was but twelve years old, and His claims to equal- ity with the Father; therefore, what He said was true. He is the Truth. But Dr. McFarland, in denying the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, SUNDAY SCHOOL LITERATURE 97 teaches otherwise. If Jesus knew Moses did not write the Pentateuch and taught that he did, He deliberately taught a falsehood. If He did not know what He was teaching was untrue, did not know even as much as Dr. McFarland claims to know, how can any one trust their eternal interests to Him with that confidence that alone can give quietness and assurance forever? Such teach- ing is essentially and radically destructive, and this is made all the more emphatic when we re- member that John the Baptist said of Him: "For He Whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God; for He giveth not the spirit by measure." John iii:34. The Saviour's own words are in perfect agreement with John's, when He said: "The words which thou gavest me I have given unto them" (John xvii: 8) ; and "I spake not from myself, but the Father which sent me; He hath given me commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. . . . The things, therefore, which I speak, even as the Father hath said unto me, so I speak." John xii:49, 50. To deny the Omniscience of Jesus is tantamount to saying the Father did not know some things as well as the so-called higher critics. Such teaching is blas- phemous. Along this same line ex-Chancellor D. W. C. Huntington had a communication in the Sunday- school Journal of September, 1904, that Dr. Mc- Farland commended as "Some Sane "Views," in which under the sub-head, Higher Criticism, the writer says: "What has the religion of Christ lost 98 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT if the Book of Isaiah was written by two prophets instead of one?" The school of critics to which Dr. McFarland belongs is agreed that Isaiah wrote never a word of the prophecy after the 39th chapter. But Jesus said that Isa. liii:4, "Was spoken by Isaiah the prophet." See Matt. viii:17. He likewise said Isa. xlii: 1-3 "Was spoken by Isaiah the prophet." See Matt, xii : 17. He also said that Isa. liii : 1 was "The word of Isaiah the prophet . . . which he spake. ' ' See John xii : 38. Let it be noted : Jesus did not say these things can be found in a book called "The book of the Prophet Isaiah. ' ' He said distinctly and definitely that Isaiah the prophet "spake" them; and they are found in that part of the book that these critics say Isaiah did not write. If Dr. McFarland and his school are right Jesus did not know what He was talking about, and taught that which was not true, all of which con- stitutes a denial of His Ominiscience and incident- ally of His Deity, in which case "The religion of Christ" has "lost" its Head. Our Sunday-school periodicals two years since denied the authenticity of the Book of Daniel, as did the arch-infidel Porphyry long centuries ago, teaching that it was written about B.C. 170, during the times of Antiochus Epiphanes and the Macca- bees, and therefore not by Daniel. But, Jesus said Dan. ix: 27 was "spoken by Daniel the prophet." See Matt, xxiv : 15. But the so-called biblical critics of the school SUNDAY SCHOOL LITEEATUEE 99 to whose teaching Dr. McFarland has committed himself, now, almost to a man, openly agree with Mr. George Jackson (from whom I have made numerous quotations in a preceding part of this volume) when he says: "The authorship of a par- ticular Psalm, the literary character of a book of the Old Testament, for example, are not ques- tions that can be determined by the words of an Apostle ; they cannot be determined, with all rev- erence be it said, by the words of Jesus Himself;" and ' ' When I am told that the Bible is, in a sense that belongs to no other book, the Word of God, I cannot receive the saying merely on the author- ity of another, not even of the apostles, nor of Christ Himself." "What mil the harvest le?" CHAPTER VI SUNDAY SCHOOL LITERATURE CONTINUED BUT the teaching that has given most offence and has led to most of the multitude of pro- tests from all parts of the Church is that which in effect makes unnecessary the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. I quote Dr. McFarland's own words from "Preservation versus The Rescue of the Child." "The child begins life as a child of God." Pp. 8, 13. "The child does not come into this world corrupt and depraved." P. 11. "The child is already in the Kingdom." P. 13. "We have said from the beginning that the child belongs to the Kingdom of God. " P. 11. " They are in the King- dom; our business is to see that they remain there." P. 13. " She was a child of God and had always been such." P. 23. "We should impress it upon children in the beginning of their lives that they belong to the heavenly Father's house, and that the wisest thing they can do is to remain contentedly, obediently, and happily in that house." P. 13. "There are no unchristian chil- dren in the world none in our fair Christian land, none in our churches or in our homes." P. 20. ' ' The next time people come to you asking, 100 SUNDAY SCHOOL LITERATURE 101 'Have these little children had any change of heart?' do you say to them that you are laboring and praying seven days in the week to prevent them from having a change of heart?" P. 19. In the Sunday-school Journal, p. 884, December, 1912, he says : * ' Every soul, by the innermost es- sence of his nature, is a child of God. ... If we become His children in the higher ethical sense it will be by voluntarily developing the latent capacities for righteousness in our natures into actual righteousness in our lives and characters." The Seventh Article of Religion of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church is as follows: "Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam (as the Pelagians do vainly talk), but it is the corrup- tion of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and of his own nature inclined to evil, and that continually. ' ' In the "Order for the Administration of Bap- tism to Infants," the officiating minister says: "Dearly Beloved, forasmuch as all men are con- ceived and born in sin, and that our Saviour Christ saith, 'Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God;' I beseech you to call upon God the Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that having, of His bounte- ous mercy redeemed this child by the blood of His Son, he will grant that he, being baptized with water, may also be baptized with the Holy Ghost ; ' ' and in the prayer of consecration that follows, the 102 BEEAKEES ! METHODISM ADEIFT case is thus stated: "We beseech thee, that of thine infinite mercy thou wilt look upon this child ; wash him and sanctify him, that he being saved by thy grace, etc. ... merciful God, grant that all carnal affections may die in him, and that all things belonging to the Spirit may live and grow in him." By these quotations it is plainly apparent, to even common folks, that Dr. McFarland is not only not in harmony with the doctrines of his Church, but is using his high office and great op- portunity to annul the same, and is false to his ordination vows and solemn obligations as a Meth- odist minister. Bad as this is, it is not the worst of it. His teaching is contrary to the Word of God. The Holy Scriptures speak as follows: "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." Ps. li:5. "The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.'* Ps. Iviii : 3. " Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin ; and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned." Eom. v:12. "And you did he quicken (make alive) when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins . . . and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." Eph. ii: 1-3. "The tares are the children of the wicked one." Matt, xiii : 38. "Ye are of your father the devil." John viii : 44. "0 full of all guile and all villainy, thou son of the devil. ' ' Acts xiii : 10. " In this the SUNDAY SCHOOL LITEEATUEE 103 children of God are manifest and the children of the devil. ' ' 1 John iii : 10. " Children of disobedi- ence. ' ' Eph. v : 16. " They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God." Eom. ix : 8. Because of this awful condition of affairs Jesus said: "Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God." John iii: 3. "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature" crea- tion. 2 Cor. v:17. "Partakers of the divine nature. ' ' 2 Pet. i : 3. " Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God." 1 Pet. i:23. Saved "by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Titus iii: 5. "But as many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become children of God, even to them that 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." John i: 12, 13. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God." 1 John v:l. "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." Gal. iii: 26. "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." I Cor. xv : 22. Eead also Eomans, chapter vii, and viii : 1 : 17 ; and Gal. iv : 21-31. We see by the above quotations from the Holy Scriptures First. That the fountain of our hu- manity, in Eden, was poisoned by sin. Second. That the stream that has flowed through the gen- erations of men is the same, so that all the sons and daughters of men, according to natural law, 104 BEEAKEES! METHODISM ADEIFT are possessed of sinful natures. Third. That the "mind of the flesh is death ... is enmity against God ; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Eom. viii: 6, 7. Fourth. That man's loss and need has been and can be made good to him through the finished work and mediation of Jesus Christ, our Eedeemer, Saviour and Lord. Fifth. That the work of regeneration is alone through the Word of God, by the enlighten- ing and quickening energy of the Holy Ghost, as Executive of the Godhead. Sixth. That the New Birth is an absolute necessity to Sonship that there is no other way to become children of God. Therefore we conclude that they who teach that all human beings are the children of God the so-called "Fatherhood of God" theory; that the New Birth is not a necessity to Sonship; that all that is necessary is to educate and develop thought and character along ethical lines, are un- Methodistic and unscriptural, and their teaching is to be rejected as dangerous because untrue. Dr. McFarland makes a labored effort to justify his contention by the use of Matt, xviii : 3, where Jesus said: "Except ye be converted (Turn- Strepho) and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. ' ' He is either woefully ignorant of the real meaning of that scripture or wilfully perverts the same. Possibly both these things are true of his teaching; it looks very much that way. Conversion is not salvation from the guilt of sin in justification, nor from spiritual death in SUNDAY SCHOOL LITEEATUEE 105 regeneration, or the new birth, and it is quibbling and darkening sound doctrine to hold these terms to be synonymous. The gospel of Matthew is particularly for the Jews, as all spiritually minded scholars believe. The ancestry of our Lord is given only to Abra- ham, to emphasize the fact that he was, after the flesh, a "Hebrew of the Hebrews." It is the gos- pel of the kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is mentioned nowhere else save in Matthew. It is the ultimate, manifested kingdom, when Jesus, assert- ing His regal rights, shall have "Dominion from sea to sea." Ps. lxxii:8. "But now we see not all things put under Him. ' ' Heb. ii : 8. Hence Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "Thy King- dom come" (Matt. vi:10), even the Everlast- ing Kingdom (1 Cor. xv: 24, 25). Into this King- dom His disciples, in whom was already the Kingdom of God, could not be admitted unless they turned from their erroneous notions concern- ing the Kingdom of Heaven (for there was strife among them as to who should be greatest) and be- come humble, docile, teachable and obedient, even as a little child. There is but one kingdom, it is true, but various aspects. The Kingdom of God is the spiritual phase of the Kingdom. It "Com- eth not with observation . . . for, behold, the Kingdom of God is within (entos in the midst) you." Luke xvii: 20, 21. "For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." Eom. xiv:17. Into this Kingdom no one can ever enter except 106 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT through the quickening, transforming energy of the Holy Ghost. " Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God." John iii: 3. If a child when born into this world, according to the law of natural generation and life, is also a child of God, when, if ever, and how, does it be- come a child of the devil, of "disobedience," of "wrath"? Dr. McFarland does not attempt to explain the Scriptures on this matter; indeed, I am inclined to think he does not believe them; he certainly cannot reconcile them to his views. The teaching of the Holy Scriptures and the belief of the Church is that until a child reaches that period in life when it knows the difference between right and wrong, and is capable of exercising its will in matters of moral conduct, it is unaccountable ; and, if it were to die in that state would most surely be saved, into the heavenly life, because Jesus, by His shed blood, provided an atonement for all. But when does a child reach that age! Who can say? By what rule can it be determined? Certainly no arbitrary rule can be laid down. No longer ago than yester- day a friend of mine said to me: "When a very little boy I one day heard my father and mother talking about this very thing. I became very much interested and anxious. At last they agreed that at ten years a child reached the age of ac- countability; and I at once dismissed my anxi- ety, for I was not yet that old. My parents be- came 'Children of God by faith in Christ Jesus' when seven years old. Before this they 'were by SUNDAY SCHOOL LITERATUEE 107 nature children of wrath even as the rest,' accord- ing to God's Word. Dr. McFarland thinks and teaches otherwise ; in fact he does away with the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Where in the Sunday-school literature has he ever definitely stated the all important doctrine of the new birth as the Bible teaches it, and Methodists believe it? He disparages and ridicules evangelism in our Sunday schools, and the great body of our schol- ars are past the age of accountability, and a ma- jority beyond fourteen years of age. Is it any wonder that "more than sixty per cent of our Sunday-school members are lost to us just as they are coming to maturity?" (Pittsburgh Christian Advocate, April 24, 1913.) More than this, so far as his work and influence extend our young people are growing up with little or no knowledge of the doctrines of Methodism; and indeed they are taught much that is anti- scriptural and un-Methodistic. Take for instance this prayer, from Sunday-school Journal of March, 1913: A PRAYER ' * Thou who art the God of Power and of Love, we come to Thee with thankful praise and adora- tion. Without Thee there is no life, nor any joy. Thou hast made the world in all its beauty. Thou hast caused the sun to give us warmth and light. The shining stars obey Thy will ; the flowers also are Thy ministers. "Teach us, Father, true obedience to Thy perfect law. From all proud thoughts defend us. 108 BKEAKEES! METHODISM ADRIFT In our ignorance, Thy wisdom give us. Make us strong in Thy eternal strength. And thus, en- folded by Thy power we would live in fellowship with Thee, God, forever. Amen. ' ' This is neither biblical, nor Methodistic, but Unitarian. No recognition of the Mediation of our Saviour, who said to His- Disciples : "No one cometh unto the Father but by Me" (John xiv: 6) and, " Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you. ' ' John xvi : 23, 24. And so of almost all the fundamental doctrines of Methodism they are passed over or glossed. The writings and writers he recommends are almost all of other schools, many of them having no re- spect for what we as Methodists believe and stand for. The syndicate graded lessons had their birth in that hot bed of infidelity, Chicago University. The Presbyterians were led into adopting them, but they made so much trouble that the last Gen- eral Assembly ordered them discontinued. Pro- fessor Casper "Wistar Hodge, of Princeton Theo- logical Seminary, said of these lessons: "The fact of the matter is that the Graded Les- sons appear to be a deliberate attempt to substi- tute moral truths and some of the truths of natural religion for Christianity, and then to seek in the Bible for illustrations of these truths. In point of fact, the underlying ideas which give the tone to the Graded Lessons are fundamentally opposed to those of the religion of the Bible, being formed and determined by the idea that all that the child needs is instruction, not salvation. In this way, SUNDAY SCHOOL LITERATURE 109 the whole Bible is distorted." This is a fair state- ment of the case. The Christian Workers' Magazine treats the matter thus: "No person of sense objects to the best religious education in our Sunday-schools or to the graded lesson in itself, but only to the way the enemy would use these things to come in upon us like a flood. It is the treatment of these lessons put out by the syndicate of publishers so known, to which we are opposed, and this on four grounds : (1) It is unscientific in method. (2) It is impracticable in application for a large constituency of Sunday-schools. (3) It is unscriptural in character. (4) It is exceedingly harmful in its spiritual results. To speak only of the last named the particular treatment referred to stands for the radical criti- cism and a purely human and faulty authorship of the sacred books. It reduces the Word of God to the level of ordinary literature. It substitutes na- ture lessons for Holy Scripture. It breaks the unity of effort which has been one of the strongest features of the Sunday-school work for forty years, and it slurs over the great essentials of the Christian faith. By these essentials we mean the nature and guilt of sin; the divine justice in dealing with sin; the atonement of Jesus Christ as the only hope of the sinner ; the need or regen- eration by the Holy Spirit; justification by faith, and the eternal retribution of those who die in 110 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT their sins. To have the children of this generation grow up with almost no instruction upon these vital truths of Holy Writ is a crime against hu- manity and against the state, to say nothing of the stewardship of the church in the account it must render to its divine Head." The Presbyterians having repudiated these les- sons, our church, the Methodist Church South and the Congregational Church, are the only ones us- ing them. Dr. McFarland will continue their use because it is part of the plan to do away with things Methodistic, and in conflict with higher criticism and so-called new theology. The Literary Digest, of June 28, 1902, tells us that Professor Camden M. Cobern, now of Alle- gheny College (Methodist), Meadville, Pa., said: "That the viewpoint of present-day evangelical scholarship with regard to most Biblical questions is different from that occupied twenty-five years ago is also evident, not only to ministers, but to most of the intelligent laymen connected with our Sunday-schools. Even those who are not academi- cally trained, or well read theologically, are sure that something has happened. Many of these are eagerly inquisitive to know whether there is a new 'orthodoxy' which, while it takes account of all the valid results of modern criticism, yet finds it- self able to hold to the great fundamental faiths of Christianity. "The main function of Biblical criticism in the Sunday-school is to safeguard the scholars from false teaching, so that they will not have to un- SUNDAY SCHOOI/LITERATURE 111 learn in later years what they learn in Sunday- school, or else drift off into infidelity. My judg- ment would be that 90 per cent, of the prevailing intellectual scepticism has arisen because of child- hood misconceptions as to what truths were fun- damental to Christianity. These men have discov- ered the unreliability of certain things which they were taught to believe, and, supposing these be- liefs to be essential to Christianity, they have given up all faith in the Christian system." This is the first outspoken utterance favoring the movement to introduce this faith and soul- destroying teaching into the Sabbath-school I have seen. And it will be noticed that Dr. Cobern charges that "90 per cent, of the prevailing in- tellectual scepticism" is chargeable to instructions imparted to our young people in our homes and Sunday-schools. It is an insult to the intelligence of the Christian fathers and mothers and faithful, godly Sunday-school teachers of our land. 'These false teachers false to God and the Church, false to solemn ordination vows and obligations as weighty as eternity are openly, persistently, and concertedly pushing their God-dishonoring, Bible- degrading, faith-destroying propaganda ; and then impudently charge those who are loyal to the Word of God, and the * l Faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints," with the responsi- bility for the wreckage and ruin they themselves have brought about. If the Methodist Church tol- erates this thing much longer God will surely spew her out of His mouth. CHAPTER VII THE BOOK CONCERN "rpWENTY Methodist preachers, meeting in Annual Conference in the little Wesley Chapel, in John Street, New York, in May, 1789, determined that a publishing house was a neces- sary adjunct of their mission of spreading the gos- pel throughout the new republic. John Wesley's successful use of the press had already pointed the way for Asbury, Coke, Whatcoat, Lee, Garrettson and others of that obscure little company too in- significant to be mentioned in the newspapers of the day. "The Conference of 1789 left no detailed record of its action on the Book Concern, but Bishop Coke wrote: 'It was all peace and concord. Glory! Glory be to God ! We have now settled our print- ing business.* Capital was needed and the capi- talist was at hand. It is an old story, and one that Methodist ministers will never tire of telling, that John Dickins, the secretary, who was ap- pointed the first 'book steward,' put up every shil- ling of his savings, six hundred dollars, to start the business. "Dickins was appointed to preach in Philadel- phia and there he opened the business, the first entry in the books being on August 17, 1789. The first book issued was The Christian's Pattern, a 112 THE BOOK CONCERN 113 reprint of Wesley's abridgment of The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a Kempis." Had these old heroes known what kind of stuff the Book Concern would be turning out in these days, they certainly would not have launched the undertaking. They sought to counteract the in- fluence of the deistical and infidel teachings of Paine and Voltaire and their associates which was identically the same as the so-called Higher Criticism of the present time by providing lit- erature in harmony with the Word of God and Methodist doctrine. Now, sad to relate, the Book Concern is publishing and selling carloads of books and periodicals containing much of the teachings of these infidels I have named. An iniq- uitous betrayal of a sacred trust. I have, in a previous chapter, quoted largely from Rev. George Jackson's book. This book is published by the Methodist Book Concern; and Paine and Voltaire never said anything worse about the Bible than can be found in its pages. George Preston Mains, D.D., Agent of the Book Concern, at New York, while receiving $5,000 a year from the Church for his services, wrote a book, and the Book Concern published it ; and has advertised it more widely, and pushed its sales more energetically than any book they have ever published in harmony with the Bible and Metho- dist doctrines. The following are quotations from the book, to show how nearly Dr. Mains agrees with Paine and Voltaire. Dr. Mains says, "But on the assumption, for in- 114 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT stance, that one writer was the author of the five books of the Pentateuch, it is evident to the casual reader that as these writings now stand in the canon they yield no satisfactory evidence of either historic order or of progressive revelation. They present in brief compass, and not with freedom from confusion, many varieties of literary style, diverse conditions of civilization and laws which, for simultaneous administration, would certainly conflict with themselves." "It is the conclusion of critical scholarship that the literature embraced in the Pentateuch is the product more nearly of a thousand years rather than the writings of a single author" (p. 111). Paine said, " Moses is not the author of the books ascribed to him. . . . All the contradictions in time, place and circumstances that abound in the books ascribed to Moses prove to a demonstra- tion that these books could not be written by Moses, nor in the times of Moses" (pp. 87, 89, Age of Reason}. Voltaire said, "The Pentateuch could not be from Moses" (Ex. of Lord Bolingbroke. . . . ). "Those best acquainted with antiquity think that these books (the Pentateuch) were written more than seven hundred years after Moses" (Dialogue 16). Dr. Mains says, "In the common thought Gene- sis has been received as the oldest Hebrew litera- ture. It has been assumed that Moses was its au- thor. . . . But in the sense in which these as- sumptions were held they are denied, and univer- THE BOOK CONCERN 115 sally so, by modern critical thought. . . . Gene- sis, in its compilation and present form, is one of the most recent books of the Old Testament. . . . The book was not, and could not have been, writ- ten by the hand of Moses" (p. 98). Paine said, "The Book of Genesis, though it is placed first in the Bible and ascribed to Moses, has been manufactured by some unknown person after the Book of Chronicles was written, which was not until at least eight hundred and sixty years after the time of Moses" (p. 99). "The first book in the Bible is not so ancient as the book of Homer by more than three hundred years and is about the same age with JE sop's Fables" (p. 92). Paine also said, "The Book of Genesis, instead of being the oldest book in the world, as the Bishop called it, has been the last written book of the Bible, and that the cosmogony it contains has been manufactured" (Reply to the Bishop of Llandaff, pp. 256, 257). Dr. Mains says, "It is now indubitably proven that many of the stories which appear in the ear- lier records of the Old Testament were simply taken over and adapted from older mythical or legendary sources, and that they are not to be taken at face value as sober and measured his- tory" (p. 98). Paine said, "Take away from Genesis the be- lief that Moses was its author, on which only the strange belief that it is the Word of God has stood, and there remains nothing in Genesis but an 116 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT anonymous book of stories, fables and tradition- ary or invented absurdities or down-right lies" (p. 86). Voltaire also said, "Is it not plain that Genesis was taken from the ancient fables of their (the Jewish) neighbors" (Ex. of Lord Bolingbroke). Dr. Mains says, "It is clear, say our modern authorities, that he (Moses) could not have been the author of this book (Deuteronomy). For reasons equally convincing, it is evident that the book must be the product of a period or periods far later than that of Moses" (p. 118). "The date of its origin is probably not far from the middle of the sixth century B.C." (p. 120). Paine said, "In Deuteronomy the style and man- ner of writing marks more evidently than the for- mer books that Moses is not the writer" (p. 81). "Though it is impossible for us to know identically who the writer of Deuteronomy was, it is not difficult to discover him professionally, that he was some Jewish priest who lived, as I shall show in the course of this work, at least 850 years after Moses" (p. 83). Dr. Mains says, "The writers of Genesis had no authentic knowledge of a flood" (p. 103). He quotes, approvingly, from Professor Driver as follows : "We are forced, consequently, to the con- clusion that the flood, as described by the biblical writers is unhistorical " (p. 106). Paine said, "'The story of Eve and the serpent, of Noah and the Ark, drop to the level with the THE BOOK CONCERN 117 Arabian tales, without being as entertaining" (p. 12). As face answers to face in water, so Dr. Mains answers to Tom Paine. Their business is the same. Their method and principles are the same. Their end and results are the same. Their pur- pose may not be the same ; but that makes no dif- ference, since they do the same. Paine was only earlier at work, but following the same rationalis- tic and infidel wake, like Dr. Mains. John Wesley once said, "It would be excusable if these menders of the Bible would offer their hypotheses modestly. But one cannot excuse them when they not only obtrude their novel scheme with the utmost confidence, but even ridicule that Scriptural one which always was, and is now, held by men of the greatest learning and piety in the world, thereby they promote the cause of infidelity more effectually than either Hume or Voltaire." He called such teaching "the spawn of hell." This book was published about two years ago. A short while before, I spent a little time with the late Dr. Homer Eaton, the Senior Agent of the Book Concern. He then told me that Dr. Mains had written this book and intended publishing it; and, that he had objected to his doing so, and told him it was a great mistake, for which he could not be responsible. Dr. Eaton also told me if it ever became necessary to relieve him of any responsi- bility in the matter, he would publish to the Church what he had told me. Dr. Mains addressed the New Jersey Confer- 118 BREAKERS ! METHODISM ADRIFT ence at Atlantic City, March 6, 1913, on the work of the concern, as he, or some one else, does at each of the conferences in the connection every year. "When through with his address a resolution was offered by Dr. Eldout, of Trenton, expressing re- gret that the Book Concern has issued some books not in harmony with Methodist doctrines ; and re- spectfully asking the book committee not to do so any more. Nothing whatever was said about Dr. Mains 's book, but he construed the resolution as referring to it and attempted a justification of the same by declaring that five bishops approved of it, and that it was in harmony with the teachings of Methodist schools and the scholarship of the civil- ized world. 'Then several members of the confer- ence expressed themselves in such a very frank manner concerning the book and some other pub- lications of the concern that Dr. Mains was made to perspire excessively. As a result a large and influential committee was appointed to make a careful and thorough investigation of the literature issued by the Book Concern and report to the next conference. Dr. Mains 's statement that the infidel teachings of his book were ' ' In harmony with the teachings of Methodist schools," confirms what I have said regarding the work done in these schools. His declaration * * That five bishops approve ' ' the same is in the nature of news, yet not surprising. I think I can name the five. Dr. Mains owed it to the bishops who would not approve such teach- ings, to name the five who did. But that five THE BOOK CONCERN 119 Bishops should approve such teachings as Dr. Mains 's book contains, is real occasion for alarm. If the Methodist Church will stand for such teach- ing, she owes an apology to the memory of Tom Paine for what the fathers and heroes of Metho- dism have said of him and his teachings ; and, to be consistent, should place a memorial statue of the arch infidel in the vestibule of the New York Book Concern. I have now before me an advertisement issued by the Book Concern, and printed in all the official papers of the Church, which reads as follows: "HELPS FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS "The International Sunday-School Lessons for 1907 will be from the Old Testament, and every enterprising teacher will need an equipment for leading the class in the study of those lessons of absorbing interest that will come before them from week to week. There is a great wealth of splendid works that are of value, of which we sug- gest the following list." In the list are a few very good, helpful books; quite a number of harmless ones ; and eighteen that are by such men as Henry Preserve Smith; Lyman Abbott; M. S. Terry; George Adam Smith; Charles Foster Kent; Wm. North Rice; John E. McFadyen; S. R. Driver; Wm. R. Harper and Washington Gladden, all of which are rationalistic, infidel and essentially de- structive. Also a list of seventeen books, of the same sort as the eighteen above referred to, made out by Professor Robert William Rogers, of Drew 120 BREAKERS ! METHODISM ADRIFT Theological Seminary. Knowing full well the dan- gerous and destructive character of the books he recommends he adds: "Finally, let the reader go slowly amid all these new views, not resisting them, but studying them with open-mindedness. Let him live a righteous life, hold fast a personal communion with God and no views however ex- treme they may seem at first, will do any injury to his personal faith. A faith based upon experi- ence will not topple down on the appearance of any new view, or any new discovery. The Chris- tian faith is in no danger." And this Professor presumably teaches young men, called of God to preach "The Word," how to do it; and this Methodist Publishing House was founded for the purpose of providing literature for our people in harmony with our standards of doctrine. The Book Concern pushes the sale of such books with far greater energy than books in harmony with God's Word and Methodist doc- trine ; and sells them by tens of thousands ; getting them into the libraries of the young preachers, and working irreparable mischief. The Agents present to each Annual Conference a draft on New York for several hundred dollars for the worn-out preacher; and the Conferences applaud. Profits from the sale of books and periodicals containing infidel objections to the Bible is "Blood Money"; and if I was a worn-out preacher, I would go "Over the hill to the poor house," or scrape the streets before I would have a penny thus made; any more than I would accept money made from THE BOOK CONCEEN 121 the sale of intoxicating liquors. No amount of money ought to make us blind to the things with which we should have no part. But our Book Agents say, "We are in the book business and must supply the trade;" and this plea justifies them, in their own mind, in doing as they do ; and, in selling love-sick novels by the car-load; and the popular magazines with their demoralizing stories, and their exaltation of the theater and theater actors and actresses, selling Teddy Bears and Bryan Donkeys, and all sorts of rubbish. November 10, 1907, 1 sat in a trolley car, on Vine Street, Cincinnati, and opposite me in a panel was an advertisement of the Methodist Book Store, 220 Fourth Avenue, West, which read as follows : "No, you are mistaken ! We do not sell merely religious books, but every sort. Fiction, Cook-books, Classics, Science and Poetry. Books you can't get anywhere are here at our elbow in huge quantities." The Methodist Church has no more reason for running a publishing house and a lot of book stores, that are, in no particular sense, different from the ordinary publishing house and book store, than for operating a grist-mill or gro- cery store. Our sublime mission and work is the salvation of men; and the sooner we cut out the purely secularities, and get down to the business for which God raised us up the better for us as a church. The periodical literature issued by the Book Concern is voluminous and varied; and ought to be tremendously influential in furthering the 122 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT spiritual work of the Church ; but it is not doing so. I have already shown the un-Methodistic and ruinous character of the Sunday-school literature. The Methodist Revieiv either says nothing about the really vital questions before the Church, or lines up on the wrong side, all of which is in the interests of the propaganda of the Destruction- ists; as is also manifestly the policy of most of the Church papers, by their silence and otherwise. At the last General Conference, Hon. Marvin Campbell, lay delegate from the Northwest In- diana Conference, made some startling revelations concerning the Church periodicals, information that the Book Committee were unwilling to give to the Church, that the Church had a right to know, and ought to know. Mr. Campbell was three years in getting this information, the most impor- tant of which is as follows : "A great many Methodists, devout in their love for the Church and intensely partial to its every interest, think that our homes could be supplied with Christian Journals, superlative in quality and sufficient in quantity and yet at a handsome profit instead of the heavy loss that has hereto- fore obtained. Now, bearing in mind that losses to our pub- lishing houses are borne wholly by our Conference Claimants, and with the knowledge that at least some unofficial Methodist papers have shown a fair profit, as I have found by correspondence, what total amount in losses to our official papers and subsidies to our non-official papers, do you THE BOOK CONCERN 123 think should be sanctioned without investigation as to the necessity, or without any effort to change ? I am about to tell you the amount of this one source of loss for the quadrennium. ... If I have correctly tabulated the losses for the quad- rennium, it is $212,502.02. Divided as follows : Western Christian Advocate $12,882.47 Northwestern Christian Advocate. 20,042.31 Central Christian Advocate 392.32 California Christian Advocate.... 21,364.10 Epworth Herald 30,161.96 Christian Apologist 7,353.59 Hearth and Home 1,223.57 New York Advocate 5,940.30 Methodist Review 7,596.55 Total loss on official papers $106,957.17 Subsidies to other papers 77,415.69 Total loss upon the official and semi- official $184,372.86 Add to this loss upon the Journal Adult Bible Class 28,129.16 Total loss $212,502.02 In the face of this tremendous loss, supply bills have been paid promptly and without compromise ; laborers have been paid fair wages and without delay; advertising agents have had their commis- sion without discount; Editors have had salaries in full one $1,500, one $2,500, one $3,000, one 124 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT $4,000, six $4,500, three, $5,000. Probably all have had close to if not quite as much, as they did re- ceive or would get for other classes of work. Not a person from whom purchases have been made, not an employee, not an agent, not an edi- tor, in short, not a man in any way associated with these papers has been embarrassed by this $212,- 000.00 loss, and further the industrial credit is as good as the best rating in Dun or Bradstreets. You have borne no part of this loss, neither have I. The congregation of which you are a member has not shared in this loss. The congregation of which I am a member has taken no part of this loss. Every dollar of this $212,000 has been borne by the superannuates of the Church." The above is from his address to the General Conference, and, of course, created a sensation. The matter was brought before the Committee on Book Concern, of which I was a member. It was proposed to unite the Western, Northwestern and Central Advocates, whch together, showed a total loss for the quadrennium of $33,219.10. But that meant to do away with two sets of highly- paid editors and their staffs; and, as the publish- ers, nearly all the members of the Book Commit- tee, and numerous editors and assistant editors were on the committee, the proposition was not viewed with favor. It was decided to reduce the price of these three papers from two dollars and a half, per annum, to one dollar. In addressing the committee, I said, among other things "Our people do not want cheaper papers, but better THE BOOK CONCEKN 125 papers ; papers loyal to the Bible and the doctrines of the Church; and not trimming in the interests of a propaganda that proposes to revolutionize Methodism. Mollycoddleism and Dilettanteism will never make a popular paper with sensible Methodists. They care mighty little for the 'Ke- ligious element in Browning;' but a great deal about the religious element in our theater-going, card-playing, dancing, ritualistic, rule-defying, back-slidden members; as to how such can be led to repent and do their first works, and the Church become what it should always be, an all-conquer- ing host, to win the lost to Jesus Christ for salva- tion here and hereafter. "With the large, influen- tial constituency these three papers have, if they were loyally and ruggedly Scriptural and Metho- distic, they would receive such support as would soon make them bring large profits to the pub- lishers." 1 One of our honored Bishops some time ago de- livered himself as follows: "A strange indifference to the success of our own publications has come over many of our pas- tors and people." "What does it mean? It means a steady trend away from Methodist ideals. It means decreasing intelligence, decreasing loyalty, decreasing sym- pathy toward our connectional institutions." The responsibility for this "Indifference" is not with "pastors and people," but with those who edit and make the papers. Our pastors and peo- ple, for the most part, are in profound sympathy 126 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT with our ' l connectional institutions;" but, are al- together too intelligent to assist in the circulation of publications that are not out and out for things Methodism stands for, and that teach "erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to the Word of God," even though they are issued by the Book Concern. Here is a concrete case by way of illus- tration : In its issue of June 16, 1909, The West- ern Christian Advocate had a front page portrait of the late Edward Everett Hale, a Unitarian preacher ; and a full page panegyric of the honor- able, elegant and distinguished gentleman. But he was a denier of the Deity of our Lord and op- posed to the fundamental things of Methodism. Has the organ of the Unitarian Church ever ac- corded such honors to any loyal and distinguished Methodist? And the same question may be perti- nently asked with regard to the Western Advocate itself, under the present management. Dr. Gilbert has eulogized some distinguished Methodists, it is true ; but, in nearly every instance, they have been men in sympathy with higher criticism and so called "New Theology," with which he himself is in full sympathy ; and as the logic of such views is a denial of the Deity of our Lord, he has a kindly feeling for good Unitarians. Does any one remember seeing in The Western under the pres- ent editor a front page portrait of James Haven, Joseph Tarkington, James B. Finday, Granville Moody and other of the great and noble men, who gave their lives to the Methodist Episcopal Church, within the very territory where this paper THE BOOK CONCERN 127 most circulates, or eulogies of their heroic achieve- ments f But it is urged that the death of Dr. Hale was in the nature of news. But the Western Ad- vocate is not a newspaper. People that want the news go to the daily papers, and the magazines. The mission and business of our Church publica- tions is to propagate the religion of our Lord and Saviour, and further the interests of Methodism; and when they do this, they will receive the most hearty and generous support of all sensible and loyal Methodists. The entire front page of the Western for June 2, 1909, is taken up by an article of which George A. Gordon, D.D., pastor of the Old South Congre- gational Church, of Boston, is the author. Dr. Gordon is known to be one of the most advanced "new theology" advocates; and has no sympathy whatever with the fundamental doctrines of Methodism. Do any of the readers of the Western remember any Methodist who believes the Bible to be the Word of God, and is unswervingly loyal to our doctrines, being similarly honored? And why? There is but one reply to be given. The editor being in sympathy with the so-called * ' New theology" is using his office and influence to pro- mote the propaganda that has for its object the revolutionizing of Methodism. And this explains why the paper had, the first of this year, about half as many subscribers as it had when Dr. Gil- bert became its editor, and that in spite of official influence and denominational pride. The good bishop also said (and he is a good 128 BREAKERS ! METHODISM ADRIFT bishop, loyal to the Bible and Methodist doctrines and usages) : "It ought to be understood that a Methodist Episcopal minister who does not push the circulation of our papers has gone mentally and spiritually astray, and that a Methodist Church member whose home is not supplied with at least one of the Advocates is in disgrace." A Methodist minister is under solemn obliga- tions to God and the Church to keep the wolf out of the fold, as certainly when he seeks to enter through the Church publications as by any other way; and he will meet these obligations unless he is "a hireling." And a man who keeps out of his home publications that challenge the integrity of God's Word and deny its authority, and are not loyal to Methodist doctrines, rules and laws, is not in disgrace, but is deserving of all honor for his intelligent and conscientious devotion to the wel- fare of his household, and is a credit to the Metho- dist Episcopal Church. CHAPTER VIII EVANGELISM "Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all nations." JESUS. "The world is my Parish." WESLEY. THE first and supreme work of the Church is that of conquest. She is to go into the streets and lanes of the city, and highways and hedges, and bring in the poor, the maimed, the halt and the blind. Doing this in loyalty to the Divine Com- mand, and according to Divine directions, she shall be enlarged, and enriched in all the graces of the spirit. Failing here, she will fail in all things besides ; for the Church that is unevangelistic soon becomes unevangelical, formal and worldly. Methodism, like the Christian Church and the churches of Reformation times, was born and cradled in a tempest of revival fire; and, as long as her preachers in holy fervor proclaimed the pure ''Gospel of the blessed God," those fires con- tinued to burn, and she became numerically great and strong. But, like Israel of old, in their pros- perity they forgot God. Little by little the temp- tation to please men was yielded to by some, and then standards of truth and discipline were low- ered until the world came in like a flood, sweep- ing away barriers and quenching the zeal of many. Gradually intellectual pride has destroyed the fer- 129 130 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT vor of many a pulpit that once blazed and glowed with holy fire, and formality and unbelief domi- nate the same. Revivals, once characteristic of Methodism, have become fewer and less effective until spiritual inertia and inanition are not un- common. Other means than the divinely ap- pointed are freely resorted to ; but, of course, the lack has not been supplied. Bishops, editors, sec- retaries and others animadvert against evangelists and their work as the authorities in the Church of England did against the Wesleys, Whitefield and their associates, and their work, until opposi- tion to revivals is very widespread among the churches and pastors, many of them not believ- ing in them at all. And thus the Church has for- gotten the pit from which she was digged. * ' How are the mighty fallen ! ' ' For example, Thirty to forty years ago the Methodist churches in Boston were, as a rule, crowded, and Methodist altars thronged. The preachers believed the Bible to be the Word of God, and were loyal to the doctrines of the historic faith, and preached with authority and power. The School of Theology, once loyal to the Bible and Methodist doctrine, slipped its anchorage, and drifted, taking up with Higher Criticism, and promulgating the same, not only in its classes but widely through New England Methodist churches, in the columns of Zion's Herald. Not a few pastors took up with the false teaching. Others were afraid to bear such testimony against it, as by solemn ordination vows they were under EVANGELISM 131 obligations to do. The Holy Spirit was grieved by the dishonor thus put upon God's Holy Word, and the fires were quenched; until for the past ten years empty pews and deserted altars are the rule; and the six New England Conferences, with 1,052 churches, during these ten years show a gain of but 6,046 members, and several hundred of them came from a revival meeting in Boston conducted by a Presbyterian ; and the population in the ter- ritory covered by these six conferences increased, during that time about 14 per cent. What is true of the New England Conferences is measurably true of many other conferences, indeed, throughout the whole Church spiritual death seems to prevail. The Church has a vast and complicated machinery, with organizations, societies and agents in large numbers; but the fires are burning low or are gone out, until it looks like Ezekiel's vision of "Dry bones." I know the statistics for the whole Church show considerable increase of membership, but apart from the work in the foreign field, they are not creditable to us, especially when we know that very many per- sons are admitted to membership who know noth- ing, experimentally, of regeneration that is, the bars are so low, that it is easy to get in, especially if one has money and influence. This is from the Episcopal Address to the last General Conference : "When we think of the millions of dollars our people are investing in beautiful modern church buildings, in Christian Schools, in home and for- eign missions, in orphanages, homes for the aged, 132 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT and in great hospitals and then of all the chil- dren born in their homes, and the millions of other children who attend our Sunday-schools, and from all adult conversions throughout our entire con- nection, we have a reported increase of but 55,000 to our church membership, less than 2 per cent., as the outcome of a year's activity and the outlay of so many millions of dollars, it is then we trem- ble for the Church. The statistical paradox glares us out of countenance. It shames and humiliates us. Only tears of repentance become us; our hearts bleed contrition. If the soul be dying within us, what have we to legislate for? What are hon- ors or offices worth in an army that does not win battles?" While the Methodist Church has been lagging in evangelistic work, the conservative, staid old Presbyterian Church, formerly opposed to reviv- als, has awakened to the divine order and method, and gone to the front as a revival church. She expelled Professors Briggs and Smith for false teaching concerning the Bible which things are to-day being openly taught in some Methodist schools, and disowned Union Theological Semi- nary for the same reason. She also, in a most unequivocal manner, put herself on record as to the Bible being the Word of God. She then de- clared for aggressive soul-saving work. A proper committee was appointed ; a competent leader was chosen, money was provided; evangelists were sought out, commended and put to work ; and the whole Church gave the movement the right of way EVANGELISM 133 and all possible encouragement; and to-day the Presbyterian Church (all honor to her) leads all the denominations in evangelistic work. I know it has been urged by many in authority in the Methodist Church, that " Every pastor should be his own evangelist." While it is true some pastors have the evangelistic gift, such dec- laration is contrary to the divine order. "When He ascended on high He gave some, apostles; some, prophets ; and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ, ' ' etc. Eph. iv :8- 16, E. V. Five offices of the Christian ministry. By no law of exegesis or rule of interpretation can it be made to appear that the office of the pas- tor includes the office of the evangelist any more than that it includes the apostolic office. No ; this Scripture teaches us that the office and work of the evangelist are as necessary to the work of the Church as that of the pastor, and the sooner the authorities in the Methodist Church recognize the divine order, the better it will be for the Church they represent. Of course, there is a sense in which all pastors, and for that matter all Chris- tians, should be soul- winners ; but that does not constitute them evangelists. Then we certainly do know that many Methodist pastors have in no degree the evangelistic gift. In the early times the Methodist preacher was an evangelist, rather than a pastor. As a result of his work great churches came into existence; and conditions are 134 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT now very different. The pastor who has a church with from 500 to 1,000 members, to make and preach two or more sermons a week ; lead the mid- week and other services; make numerous ad- dresses ; marry the living, visit the sick, bury the dead, comfort the sorrowing and do the 1,000 and 1 other things that he must do unless he slights his work, is a most extraordinary man, if he can additionally conduct an evangelistic campaign of three or more weeks' duration, each year. The late Dr. J. 0. Peck did it ; but he would have lived twenty years longer had he obeyed the divine or- der. The present movement in the Presbyterian Church recognizes the divine order ; the Methodist Church does not. At the General Conference at Omaha, the office and work of the evangelist was formally recognized. But since then, whenever a bishop had a man for whom he could not find a place, he would appoint him Conference Evan- gelist; and, though occasionally a good, fit man was appointed to this office and work, the great majority thus appointed were in no real sense evangelists or competent to do evangelistic work, and the office has been thereby made the subject of ridicule and contempt. Everywhere throughout the length and breadth of the land, inside and outside the Church, the question has been and is being asked What is the matter with the Methodist Church that she has lost her fire and fervor? and let the Presbyterian Church take the lead in soul-saving work? Be- cause of these things the Rock River Conference, EVANGELISM 135 and others memorialized the General Confer- ence at Los Angeles to take such action as would place the Methodist Church where she, by virtue of her record, belongs at the head of the proces- sion. I was a member of that Conference, and, of the Special Committee to which this memorial was referred. We prayerfully and carefully con- sidered the matter. We believed that in the great body of her local preachers and evangelists, to- gether with the pastors of an evangelistic mind and spirit, the Church had the men for such a forward movement as would shake the very foun- dations of sin and hell; and that all that was needed was organization and leadership. We therefore reported in favor of appointing a Com- mission that should have control and give direc- tion. This report was received and adopted. But when the Commission was appointed, the "Fine Italian" hand of ecclesiastical politics was seen, in that some men were put upon the Commission who were incompetent, while some who were in every way qualified and should have been ap- pointed, were passed by, and so the movement was sacrificed upon the altar of personal ends and preferment. The honored chairman of the Com- mission, together with several Commissioners who were of his mind as to what should be done, la- bored diligently for two years to bring things to pass; but having little or no money, and being otherwise handicapped, nothing much was accom- plished. At a meeting of the Commission, at Ocean Grove, some of the New York brethren, 136 BREAKERS ! METHODISM ADRIFT taking advantage of the enforced absence of the chairman, relieved him of executive control and placed it in the hands of one not a member of the Commission, whom they designated as Executive Secretary. This brother, an honored, able and suc- cessful pastor, but with little experience in evan- gelistic work and without the evangelistic temper and message in any marked degree, opened an office in New York and called to his assistance several other gentlemen, no more capable than himself. A lot of printed matter was issued, gen- erous with suggestions to pastors and churches as to what they should do. Most of the pastors re- sented the same and threw the communications in the waste paper basket or fire. These gentlemen usurped valuable time at annual conferences in telling pastors nothing new, and conducting evan- gelistic meetings that were quite novel to old- time Methodists. They organized and conducted some evangelistic conferences in some of the chief cities, in the calls to which they declared "Con- troversy of every form and phase is to be elimi- nated."* Many men on the programmes of these conferences knew little or nothing about evange- listic work; but being influential, they were put forward, manifestly to give caste to the movement, or to further the personal schemes of the projec- *In a letter to the late Bishop McCabe, signed by two members of the commission in sympathy with the policy of the Executive Secretary, occurs the following: "We have no controversy with evangelists. We share in no controversy, either critical or doc- trinal." EVANGELISM 137 tors; and, in every instance these conferences failed of accomplishing anything in the way of an awakening along the line of soul-saving work. Then extensive evangelistic campaigns were ar- ranged. Large numbers of pastors and churches responded to the call and fell into line ; and thus fine opportunities for great things were offered ; but as they ignored evangelists, save one, and had little experience in such campaigning; and re- solved to "Eliminate every form and phase of controversy," the movements resulted in failure. I know these campaigns were written up for the Church papers as being very wonderful and suc- cessful, but they were not. The meetings in In- dianapolis, for instance. A prominent Methodist layman writing me some weeks after these meet- ings says, "If we never have any greater revivals than the Revival in this city, the future of the Church and of the city is certainly to be very much deplored." The executive secretary of the Commission as- sumed the right to give direction to the evangelis- tic campaign, in connection with the sessions of the 1908 General Conference. The Baltimore pas- tors fell into line. Proper and influential commit- tees were appointed and $3,000 pledged for ex- penses. The secretary took things in hand. A great opportunity was his; but favoritism and personal ends apparently ruled in the selection of his assistants and in directing the movement, and a dismal failure was the result. He is now an ar- 138 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT dent advocate of the unscriptural and unsensible theory of "Every pastor his own Evangelist." The work of the General Conference Commis- sion on Evangelism for the four years following the Los Angeles General Conference having failed to accomplish the desired results, it was up to the General Conference at Baltimore to take the thing in hand. The whole matter was referred to the bishops. They decided to continue the Com- mission with some changes, and appointed five of their number to have control and give direction. Three of these bishops, if not four, never had a real revival when they were in the pastorate, and I am inclined to think that two of them do not be- lieve in revivals in any real Scriptural and Metho- dist sense at all. They are issuing proclamations much as did the former Commission, with the same results. The last one, as published in the Christian Advocate, July 22, 1909, bears the title "Wanted: A Supply of Pluri-Lingual Preach- ers." In view of the fact that peoples of many tongues are coming to our land; and also that Paul could preach in Hebrew and Greek, and pre- sumably in Latin, these bishops are calling for "evangelists and pastors and teachers possessing the linguistic equipment of Paul." This is all right ; and there is quite as much reason for the bishops themselves being "Pluri-Lingual Preach- ers." But the business of these gentlemen, as di- rectors of the Commission on Evangelism, is not to start a school of languages, but to organize the men and women, too who can preach the Gos- EVANGELISM 139 pel in one tongue, into a movement that will awaken and vitalize all the competent and avail- able forces of the Church for immediate, direct and effective soul-saving work. Will this be done? I for one, believe it will not be done at least by the present Commission. The report of this Com- mission to the last General Conference was made up chiefly of glittering generalities, and contained no real solution of the tremendously solemn and weighty problem. In the speeches that preceded the adoption of the report, made by men, with a single exception, who had no real experience in revival work, much was said about personal evan- gelism; every pastor being his own evangelist; not joining in union meetings; not inviting out- siders to conduct meetings; sane evangelism, etc. I am fully convinced that any evangelizing move- ment having official sanction and control, will be so handicapped by ecclesiastical politics and fa- voritism as to make success impossible. But will there be no relief of a general character from the widespread unspiritual conditions that exist? I believe there will, but it must come, as did the Wesleyan movement, unheralded, spontaneously, without episcopal authority or Church patronage officially ; and I fear, as was the case of the Wes- leyan movement, in opposition to the same. An editorial in the Northwestern Christian Ad- vocate, an organ of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in its issue of May 22, 1912, bearing the title "A Call to the Newer Evangelism," con- tained the following paragraph : 140 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT "There is an old-fashioned evangelism of the fathers. The very suggestion of it brings up recol- lections of the circuit rider, his humble but wel- come appearance; his temple the unadorned schoolhouse or the freer glade in the forest; his message the doom of sin and the grace of God; his altar of sacrifice the mourner's bench; his re- ward the tears of the penitent and the shining faces of the redeemed; his glory a transformed community. The story of that evangelism is the crown of Methodism's rejoicing. The saints would fain return to it. Unhappily the conditions that made it possible no longer exist. The whole tenor of our modern living and thinking is against it. One can no more go back to it than he could go back to the simple fare and dress of that time or to its simple and primitive way of thinking about the heavens, the earth, the sea and all that in them is. One may regret the change, but one must recog- nize it and reckon with it." And now this closing word. While admitting there are some problems for us to solve that be- long to these times peculiarly, that demand methods our fathers did not employ, in prosecut- ing the work of the Church, we insist that the way of life and salvation is eternally the same. No new Bible, no new doctrines, no new conditions are needed. The old Bible is God's Word and still the power of God unto salvation to all who be- lieve. The old doctrines, the doctrines of the his- toric faith, are still profitable, "That the man of EVANGELISM 141 God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." As indicated in their address, the bishops know full well what is the trouble with the Methodist Church and the cause of it i. e., the dishonor put upon God's Holy Word in school, pulpit and pe- riodical, and tolerated by the Church; because of which the Holy Spirit has been grieved, and has withdrawn Himself; and the Church, being with- out the Spirit, is hewing out cisterns that can hold no water. Also they know the way out of the trouble. Have they the courage to deal with the case as it must be dealt with before they can rea- sonably expect Divine help? And will they do it 1 ? If they will, then and not until then, will the Lord do His part, in His way, and "times of refresh- ing shall come from the presence of the Lord." CHAPTER IX THE EPISCOPACY "Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant." Matt, xx : 27. "Exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind: Neither as being lords over God's heritage : but being ensamples to the flock." 1 Peter v : 2, 3. THE Methodist Episcopal Church has always believed in only two orders of the ministry, i.e., Elder and Deacon. 'The difference between Episcopos and Presbyteros is no more than the difference between Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum. Therefore, the so-called bishops are properly and rightly denominated General Superintendents, and never should be called Bishops. Theirs is an office and not an order. In 1884 a Bishop for Africa, William Taylor, was elected, and the Gen- eral Conference passed by a very large majority the following: "Resolved, That we reaffirm the doctrine of the Fathers of our Church, that the Bishopric is not an order but an office, and that in orders a Bishop is merely an Elder or Presbyter." The itinerant system requires supervision. Hence men are chosen as general and district su- perintendents. The General Superintendent be- ing empowered with authority to station the preachers. The District Superintendents have su- 142 THE EPISCOPACY 143 pervision over the work within the bounds of their districts in the interim of the sessions of the an- nual conference; and together constitute the "Cabinet" for information and advice. The Gen- eral Conference elects the General Superinten- dents for life, and the General Superintendents appoint the District Superintendents for a year, and may continue to do so for six consecutive years, upon the same district. A District Super- intendent may have more than six years' contin- uous service, if he shall be appointed to another district, though such action is usually thought to be unwise and unjust. In the early times when the Church was poor and numerically and financially feeble, but spirit- ual and mighty, the superintendents were elected and appointed after earnestly waiting upon God ; and preachers and people, pretty generally, con- fidently believed that the General Superintendents were divinely guided in making the appointments, and whatever the appointment the preacher re- ceived, he accepted it thankfully, and went to his work gladly; and the people welcomed him even though he was not the man they may have wanted, and gave him hearty support, because they be- lieved he was sent according to the will of God. But all this has changed. The most of people now believe that the Lord has very little to do with electing and appointing the Superintendents, and less to do with stationing the preachers; though they all know He often overrules in the affairs of the Church. Because of this, jealousies, 144 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT bickerings, strife and unrest are widely and in- creasingly prevalent in the churches; and hos- tility to, and even open rebellion against, the recognized order of the Church and her rightly constituted authorities is known to exist, a nat- ural result of which is spiritual death and declen- sion. Are there any real reasons for any one be- lieving thus? I, for one, believe there are. Let me state several. FIRST, as to General Superin- tendents : Few persons who know anything about it, will deny the statement that there are General Superintendents that are not the fittest and best that could and should have been selected. That by no distinguished services they have rendered the Church ; nor any marked ability they possess, to preach or administer the aff airs of the Church, or to organize and lead its forces to great achieve- ments, have they attained to the position and hon- ors they enjoy; and that there are many in the ministry of the Church, more deserving of these honors and better qualified to administer the du- ties of the office, who will never be advanced be- yond the position in which they now serve. And why! Because favoritism, official influence and church politics outweigh real ability, merit and faithful, distinguished services. It is sad that this is so ; but it is none the less so. General Superin- tendents sometimes have their favorites and use their immense influence to advance them to the highest office in the Church, from motives that are often personal and selfish. SECOND An ecclesiastical political machine ex- THE EPISCOPACY 145 ists in Methodism that has far more to do with electing General Conference officials than any one, if not all other agencies and influences combined ; and this Machine sometimes uses the methods of secular politics to the scandal and disgrace of the Church. THIRD Some General Superintendents, without doubt, are not infrequently influenced by personal considerations in appointing District Superinten- dents. They want men who will be subservient to their wishes. The General Superintendents nat- urally desire to be continued in effective relations as long as possible. District Superintendents, by virtue of the influence their office gives them, stand a far better chance than they otherwise would of being elected delegates to the General Conference, and of being members of the Committee on Epis- copacy; which Committee has much to do with continuing or retiring the General Superinten- dents. Of course the District Superintendents on that Committee who owe their positions to a Gen- eral Superintendent whose standing and efficiency are under consideration, will more than likely vote to continue the same in effective relations. FOURTH The influence and power of wealth. The Methodists have grown wealthy. "The pow- ers that be" toady to the rich. Wealth is far more influential than spirituality. The rich lay- men are conspicuous in the General Conference, and on the Church Boards. They have much to do in electing General Superintendents, and more to do with making pastoral appointments. Of course 146 BKEAKEBS! METHODISM ADRIFT some of them are spiritually minded; but this is far from being the rule. They can get the ear of some General Superintendents, when better men cannot; and wield an influence with "the powers that be" far greater than any other men. FIFTH Large and wealthy Churches which are not infrequently worldly and formal, must have the preacher upon which they have set their hearts, or there will be trouble. The smaller churches think they are equally entitled to have their way in such matters, and failing, they also make trouble. And troubles multiply, and will continue to do so as long as the present system is con- tinued. Because of these things the General Superin- tendents are having more and more trouble in making appointments, and there is seen, widely throughout the connection, increasing dissatisfac- tion and strife. The question what can be done to lessen or do away with these difficulties alto- gether? is one of pressing and far-reaching im- portance. Some are advocating a Diocesan Epis- copacy, and it looks as though there was a con- certed if not an organized movement in this direc- tion. Let us look into the matter a little. First 'The General Superintendents never should have been called Bishops; nor should the Church talk of "The Episcopate" in connection with them. This engenders and gives character to ecclesiastical notions that do not belong to our economy and never should have place in Metho- dism. THE EPISCOPACY 147 Second Constituting the General Superinten- dency a life office, tends to increase the idea of a third order of the ministry, against which, as a Church, we are unequivocally and definitely com- mitted. Third The so-called " Consecration of Bish- ops" further promotes this un-Methodistic notion. This service differs but little from the ordination of Elders, and is as truly an ordination service. Why not also consecrate, in like manner, the Dis- trict Superintendents'? The reasons for doing so are quite as Scriptural and good. Fourth The locating of General Superinten- dents at certain strategetical points and requiring them to preside over Conferences contiguous to these points preferably. The chief arguments ad- vanced in support of such actions are (a) they will have less traveling to do and the expenses will be correspondingly less; and (b) they can better study their fields and know the pastors and their worth and needs. While these arguments are per- tinent and forceful, they equally apply to Diocesan Episcopacy. But it is argued, it is either this or do away with the itinerancy. This does not necessarily follow. And it is certain that if we adopt Diocesan Episco- pacy it will not relieve us of our troubles ; and we would thereby cease to be Methodists, in which event, to be consistent, we would have to go back to the Mother Church. Our present order once worked all right. The question now is Can it be adjusted to the 148 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT changed conditions and made effective ? Most cer- tainly not by having an Episcopacy without an Episcopate, as would be the case if we adopted Diocesan Episcopacy. There is no place in Meth- odism for a third order of the ministry. CHAPTER X ECCLESIASTICAL POLITICS "Love seeketh not its own." 1 Cor. jiiii: 5. "In honor preferring one another." Rom. xii: 10. HE machinery of the Church, with its numer- - ous well-paid and highly honored officials, and its rapidly multiplying societies and boards, is a source of constant temptation to the ambi- tiously disposed to enter into unholy schemes, and resort to the methods of secular politics in order to promote their selfish ends. The following is from the Methodist Times, September 5, 1913: "The curse of the Methodist Episcopal Church is her politics. Our form of government lends itself to political manipulation. We have many honorable and remunerative offices to fill. The opportunity of the ecclesiastical poli- tician is great. Ambitious men in sister denomi- nations are offered no such temptations. Certain things which occurred in connection with the elec- tions at the last General Conference will have a tendency to promote this political trend. This is to be deplored." The natural man basar-sarx. is ever in con- flict with the spiritual. They "are contrary the one to the other." We want to rule and have our own way, unless "The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me (us) free from the 149 150 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT law of sin and death." Most of churches have a coterie in its membership that want to be con- spicuous and rule. The same is true in most if not all Preachers' Meetings. It is the flesh, and needs to be put to death. In every Annual Conference is a man who per- suades himself that he alone is responsible for the dignity, honor and welfare of the body ; and there- fore entitled to the honors and emoluments the Conference has the right and power to bestow, or, to decide who shall have them. He will soon have a following; and then "Pipe-laying" and "Wire-pulling" proceed apace, and erelong pro- ject themselves into the wider sphere of the Church, as represented by the General Confer- ence ; where alliances and combinations are formed that have for their object the capturing of the big prizes for self or friends. Sometimes, thank God ! they fail; but, sad to relate, they pften succeed. This political gang is composed of numerous Gen- eral Conference officials, including some Bishops- many of whom got their offices in this way; offi- cials in our educational institutions, and the great army who want a job for themselves and their friends. The headquarters for this business is 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, with sub- stations at 220 Fourth Avenue, West, Cincinnati, and 101 8 Wabash Avenue, Chicago, and a few outlying agencies, such as Boston, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Detroit, Baltimore, San Francisco, Denver and Pittsburgh. I was coming down Fifth Avenue, in New York, ECCLESIASTICAL POLITICS 151 one Monday morning; when near Fourteenth Street I met the late Bishop Mallalieu. He asked me "Where have you been?" I replied Up at the Methodist Book Concern. He said "Keep away from there." I asked Why? He answered "That is the easiest spot on this round earth for a good Methodist to backslide." I said, while in the Book Room I noticed a number of brethren off in corners and behind book counters with their mouths near the ears of other brethren, and look- ing very serious. What were they doing? The Bishop asked me what I thought about it? I said I thought they were making up a list of dele- gates for the next General Conference. The Bishop said "You are way late; that was all agreed upon before the last General Conference; those fellows have things fixed up at least six years ahead." The gang decides how many Bishops shall be elected, and who they shall be. Also who shall be retired in order to make room for their candidates. These candidates are put forward, whenever pos- sible, by the Bishops that are in sympathy with what is being done, and there are such ; as do also the editors who are parties to this business; and the whole gang pushes with all its might and all the time, for their men. If these candidates are General Conference officials, they have excellent opportunities to push their candidacy, as they travel around among the Annual Conferences and Churches ; and they usually work their claims for far more than they are worth. Sometimes they 152 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT are worked into a minor official position, as a step- ping-stone to the higher office. Or, it may be one of their candidates is a member of an Annual Conference where he cannot be elected a delegate to the General Conference, or from which he could not be elected a Bishop, because of geographical difficulties; or, there is another candidate for the honors from the same Conference ; so he is trans- ferred by a Bishop, who is on the job, to an in- fluential church in the Middle West; or is worked into the Presidency of some educational institu- tion, and made a delegate to the General Confer- ence; and then is where the gang can consum- mate their plans. Of course it takes time to do this kind of work ; and they take it, as Bishop Mal- lalieu said. Is it a mere accident, or, of the Lord, that Boston University School of Theology and Ohio Wesleyan University are so largely repre- sented in the last twenty- three Bishops elected? Some may think so, but I think them ignorant of what is going on. This gang has favors for all who help in furthering these schemes; and a "Cold hand" for those who will not help them, and a "Black hand" for those who dare oppose them. At the General Conferences the gang works, as a perfectly adjusted and well lubricated ma- chine, and is called the "Third House." Let me give a few instances. At the Conference in Los Angeles, California, in 1904, Chancellor James R. Day, of Syracuse University, was a candidate for the Bishopric. ECCLESIASTICAL POLITICS 153 His candidacy had been pushed for a long time. He received quite a respectable vote on the first ballot, but his support fell away afterward until the third vote, when he withdrew from the race. Later on, when six bishops had been elected and first-class candidates were scarce, the friends of Dr. Day put him in the running again ; but it was conspicuously apparent that in the honest, sober judgment of the Conference, he was an unfit man for the office. But at this point this thing hap- pened: the Daily Examiner, one of Mr. Hearst's yellow journals, published a wild-cat story to the effect that the day before, Dr. Day had an alterca- tion with one Professor Hardie on the street and had knocked him down. When the Conference was ready for business, the morning this article appeared, Dr. Day got the floor on a question of privilege and denied the story in toto. After ex- hausting his question of privilege, Bishop War- ren, the chairman, allowed him to go ahead and deny all that had ever been said by any one about his being in any sense in sympathy with higher criticism, and, under the plea of persecution, make an argument for his own election. At this point, Dr. Buckley, who has the reputation of being in- strumental in making and retiring more Bishops than any ten men, offered a resolution excluding the Examiner's reporters from the Conference Hall, which carried by a unanimous vote. The machine, taking advantage of the situation, by applause and cheers, after the manner of a po- litical convention, carried a large number of dele- 154 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT gates from antagonism to support, as was shown by the two votes that followed, but which did not elect. A third vote had to be taken before Dr. Day's election was secured, and then not until the next leading candidate withdrew and the opposi- tion vote was scattered. Even then he got only 10 votes more than was necessary to elect. The next morning Dr. Day did just what was to be expected, under the circumstances, viz. : thanked those who voted for him for their support, and declined to be consecrated a bishop. He left at once for the East. We say this for two reasons, viz.: First, the methods by which he secured his vote were, to say the least, questionable. A promi- nent politician, a delegate to the Conference, said to me : "If this was a political convention I would say this is a set up job," and there were scores who thought as he did. Second, it is absolutely certain that the Examiner's story was the cause of his election. Had he been consecrated, he would ever afterward have been known as Billie Hearst's bishop. Now, then, a word as to the Examiner's story. One afternoon, in the Committee of Education, of which I was a member, President Little and Pro- fessor Terry made a violent personal attack upon me. I raised a point of order, protesting against the attack, but the chairman, President Bridge- man, decided that the speakers were in order. After they were through I got the floor to reply, when the chairman ruled me out of order. Professor Hardie, at one time a member of the Faculty of ECCLESIASTICAL POLITICS 155 the University of Southern California, a cultured Christian gentleman, was a spectator in the gal- lery. Afterward, in the vestibule of the church where the committee held its sessions, he was talk- ing with a friend about the manner in which I had been treated in the committee. He said: "It was unchristian, unbrotherly, unfair and shame- ful." Just then Dr. Day, whom Professor Hardie did not know, was passing, and, hearing what Pro- fessor said, stopped and said: "It is not so. What you say is slanderous. Munhall was treated as he deserved to be." Professor Hardie, still not knowing it was Dr. Day, said: "I was not speak- ing to you, sir," and turning, walked away some distance and entered into conversation with an- other man. Dr. Day followed, and addressing Professor Hardie, said: "What you have said is slanderous!" Professor Hardie replied: "I do not want you to use such language to me." Dr. Day, with his open hand, pushed the ends of his fingers against Professor Hardie 's breast and said : "I say it is slanderous !" Professor Hardie threw Dr. Day's hands aside, and said: "Keep your hands off of me ; I want nothing to do with you, sir," and turning, left the church. This is Professor Hardie 's version of the affair, and the basis for the Examiner's story. The Southern California, Michigan, New Jer- sey and Wilmington Annual and Pittsburgh Lay Electoral Conferences memorialized the General Conference of 1912 on the subject of our Sunday- school literature, condemning the same as unbibli- 156 BKEAKEES ! METHODISM ADRIFT cal and un-Methodistic, and asking for a change. These memorials reached the General Confer- ence at Minneapolis, and were properly referred to the Sunday-school Committee. A sub-commit- tee, under the rule, was appointed, and the me- morials were delivered to them for consideration and to formulate action. This committee met, and after some discussion it was apparent that a ma- jority favored the memorials and that something would be done ; but, as more time was needed, ad- journment was taken without action. That night the Chairman of this sub-committee was invited to meet the " Third House," at its headquarters, in the Hotel Eadison. This so-called ' Third House ' ' was composed of certain members of the Book Committee, several Bishops known to be in sym- pathy with Dr. McFarland's teaching, a number of secretaries and agents, several educators and such other brethren as were needed and could be counted upon to bring such things to pass as they might desire. He was directed to return the memorials to the Secretary of the General Con- ference, with the request that they be sent to the Committee on the State of the Church, the Chair- man of which was a member of the "Third House." This he had no right to do, as the Sun- day-school Committee alone had the authority to do this, and it was not even consulted. The Secre- tary of the General Conference received these memorials, supposing, of course, that they had been returned in proper form ; and, as soon as the journal was read, with only about half of the dele- ECCLESIASTICAL POLITICS 157 gates in their seats, and half of them looking over their mail and the morning papers, with no one really knowing what it meant save the members of the " Third House" and a few of the knowing ones, the Bishop put the question, and the dis- graceful thing was done. When those of the sub- committee who sympathized with the memorials learned what had been done, they were surprised and indignant. The memorials were now in possession of the Committee on the State of the Church, the Chair- man of which, as I have stated, was a member of the "Third House." He proceeded to manipulate matters so as to get a sub-committee to his liking. I was named by the delegates from the Fourth General Conference District to represent that dis- trict on the committee; but the "Third House" ordered otherwise, and when a day later the com- mittee was published, another man, known to be enthusiastically in sympathy with Dr. McFar- land's work, was brazenly announced, wholly with- out authority, and in violation of the rule that allows each General Conference Delegation to se- lect its representatives on the sub-committees, and he was made chairman of the committee. He framed the report of the committee by the assis- tance of the "Third House," and to their liking. This report passed the Committee on the State of the Church because of the engineering of the chair- man, and the fact that no one on the Committee of the State of the Church had been authorized by his Conference to represent them ; their repre- 158 BBEAKEES ! METHODISM ADRIFT sentatives were all on the Sunday-school Commit- tee, where they knew the memorials would go and belonged ; and it was thought better, under all the circumstances, to let the whole matter go be- fore the General Conference, where these repre- sentatives would have a chance to represent their Conferences, or, it was, of course, thought they would. Before proceeding further with my story, in order that some of my readers, who are doubtless unacquainted with certain things connected with General Conferences, may clearly understand what took place, I wish to remind them: First. That about 80 per cent, of the delegates of any General Conference are there for the first time, unfamiliar with the complicated rules by which the body is governed, and most of them with lit- tle knowledge of Parliamentary law, and unac- customed to public debate. Second. The General Conference is in no real sense a deliberative body, for the sufficient reason that when the real busi- ness of the Conference begins, no one is allowed more than five minutes, and not one in a dozen who wants the floor when any real live, important question is up, can get it even then, unless he knows the ropes and has inside information. By an unwritten law that never should be ob- served, almost all General Conference officials, editors, secretaries and agents, are elected by their Annual Conferences delegates to the General Con- ference. Most of them have been there before, some of them many times, and are, therefore, fa- ECCLESIASTICAL POLITICS 159 miliar with the rules, and can often bring things to pass that five times as many other delegates could not. Besides, these officials all want to keep their jobs, or get better ones, and their friends stand in with them, including most of the educa- tors, and all brethren who have "bees" in their bonnets (and there are not a few such). Now, when these brethren all get together with their knowledge of how to do it, they can sweep any General Conference off its feet, and they did it in this case. The whole proceeding was dishonorable and the basest kind of politics. I have never seen any- thing worse in a political convention and nothing in any General Conference approaching it, save the methods employed at Los Angeles to secure the election of Dr. James E. Day to the General Superintendency. It was a disgrace to Method- ism and an insult to the Annual and Lay Electoral Conferences sending up the memorials. The matter was, by far, the most important that came before the General Conference, affect- ing the very life of the Church. It should have been considered prayerfully, carefully, dispas- sionately, and with honesty, impartiality and en- tire frankness, inviting the fullest and freest dis- cussion. With the Natural Man in control, dominated by selfishness, and employing the unchristian meth- ods of the politician, need any one be surprised at what occurred during the last night session of the 160 BREAKEES! METHODISM ADRIFT Conference? The following is from the Morning Tribune, May 29, 1912: "Scenes of wild disorder characterized last night's session of the Methodist Episcopal Gen- eral Conference. ' ' The storm broke as from a clear sky while Dr. Richardson was presenting the report of the com- mittee on revision, which dealt with changes in the Church ritual governing the sacrament of bap- tism, reception of members, administration of the Lord's supper, solemnization of matrimony and the burial of the dead. "As the changes recommended by the report were reached the speaker made several witty sal- lies at old forms which he said were not applicable to modern times. Referring to the ceremony of matrimony, it was recommended to leave out the reference to Isaac and Rebecca and also the words 'and with my worldly goods I thee endow.' WORDS CALLED MISNOMER * ' * The committee thought it just as well to leave out Isaac and Rebecca,' said the speaker. 'They may have been good people but we did not think it necessary that we should commend them in every marriage service. We also recommend leav- ing out the words 'and with my worldly goods I thee endow.' It is a misnomer for a man to say that, for often his last dollar has gone to pay the license fee.' "The speaker's remarks were greeted with laughter and applause and the sections of the re- ECCLESIASTICAL POLITICS 161 port were rapidly adopted as read. He continued down the ritualistic service until it was recom- mended that the words 'man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live and is full of misery' and the clause reading 'dust to dust,' be stricken from the burial service. LAUGHTER PROTESTED "Here a delegate arose and protested against laughter and levity 'while action was being taken upon sacred matters. ' Another jumped to his feet and shouted that he had a minority report protest- ing against the whole tone of the majority report and demanding permission to present it. He de- nounced the majority report as a radical, drastic change in the ritual, and protested against the Conference voting to adopt it section by section in a flippant manner without giving the minority a chance to be heard. ' ' Dr. Hanley said that nothing had ever shocked him more than the flippant manner in which the ritual was being discussed and then pandemonium broke loose. A motion to lay the whole matter on the table was made* and carried. 'We had no chance to vote on the negative side,' shouted a delegate. 'I desire to utter a calm protest,' said another. 'I will not sit down,' cried the delegate with the minority report. DELEGATES JUMP TO FEET "When Bishop Mclntyre ruled that the whole matter was laid on the table an appeal from his 162 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT decision was taken to the house and he was sus- tained. His ruling was questioned and a count demanded, and he was sustained by a vote of 283 votes as against 238. ''Scores of delegates jumped to their feet shak- ing angry fists while the bishop pounded in vain for order. Some one started to sing 'Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,' in which many of the delegates joined, while others debated unheard and still others yelled 'a question of privilege,' and 'Mr. Chairman.' In the confusion a delegate shouted 'This is a scene at which men and angels should weep.' MAJORITY REPORT DENOUNCED "Finally Dr. Buckley secured the floor and de- nounced the majority report and administered a scathing rebuke to Dr. Richardson. "A motion to adjourn started confusion anew and elicited cries of 'no, no.' Dr. Richardson se- cured recognition and said that he had been called a semi-blasphemer by Dr. Buckley. 'I have been greatly misrepresented by Dr. Buckley,' he said. 'He has accused me of being a semi-blasphemer. I remember when there was no other charge they brought that against the Redeemer ' Here he was interrupted with cheers, hisses and yells. "Finally permission was asked to withdraw the report until to-day, which was granted and other routine work was taken up. "After adjournment several venerable minis- ters wept over the occurrence and said that never ECCLESIASTICAL POLITICS 163 before had such a disgraceful scene characterized a conference of the Methodist Church. Deep re- gret was expressed that it should have happened on the very last night session of the Conference" At a meeting of the Methodist Preachers Asso- ciation in Wesley Hall, 1018 Arch Street, Phila- delphia, June 3, 1912, reports mere made by a number of delegates to Minneapolis. The following is from the report of the meeting, in the Daily Evening Bulletin of that date : "Thoroughly disgusted according to his own statement, by the spectacle of political domina- tion afforded at the quadrennial General Confer- ence of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Minne- apolis, Thomas B. Fort, a lay delegate, stirred the Methodist ministers at their weekly meeting in Wesley Hall, 1018 Arch Street, to-day, when he presented a verbal report on the conference. " *I am sick at heart and disgusted with the whole affair,' said Mr. Fort. 'Practical politics dominated the conference instead of Jesus Christ. It was not a pretty spectacle to see the governing body of a great church thus handled and I don't care about ever again attending a General Con- ference so long as the same influences prevail in the same way.' " During his address, the clergymen manifested deep interest, verging at one time on excitement, and frequently interrupted with cries of 'Hear! Hear!' " 'I fought the political movement with all my heart and soul, night and day,' said Mr. Fort. 164 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT 'As a member of the Committee on Bishops I was at work from 8 o 'clock in the morning to 2 o 'clock the next morning, but it was all to no purpose. It's all well enough to talk about real democracy in this country. We ought to have a little real democracy in the Methodist Church and I'm sorry to say we have none. " *I never fought so hard in my life as I did to save Bishop Neely from enforced retirement. Twice we succeeded in saving him, but each time political deals were put through that entailed his retirement, and finally he had to go, together with Bishops Warren and Moore. I will never forget the scene when the final decision was announced ; it was heartrending. 1 ' ' Three men were selected to take the places of the Bishops forced out and five new ones were elected. Yet it will take these new men at least eight years to become as useful and effective as were the three who were put on the superannuated list. If the General Conference was properly con- ducted, it would not be necessary to have one of- tener than every ten years. The Conference of 1912 was not an uplift to the Church. I believe in using the experience of the men with gray hair rather than in the rapid elevation of the young men.' "(Mr. Fort is a prominent business man in Philadelphia, and was formerly a Select Council- man from the Twenty-fifth Ward; and therefore somewhat an authority on politics.) "John Walton, superintendent of Rehoboth ECCLESIASTICAL POLITICS 165 Sunday-school, also a lay delegate, supported Mr. Fort, saying that politics had guided the confer- ence throughout; that a fair Christian spirit had not been displayed. "J. Lincoln Hall, another lay delegate, in a milder way corroborated the statements of Mr. Fort to the election and retirement of the Bishops. He, like the other delegates of Philadelphia, voted for the retention of Bishop Neely. 'It was fixed that Bishop Neely was to go and he was pushed out with a rush,' said Mr. Hall. 'Bishop Neely is better adapted for the office to-day than he was when elected, eight years ago.' " Where lies the responsibility for this disgrace- ful and shameful condition of affairs I It is First, with the Gang the Third House. Second With those who are aspirants for official honors and place and seek the praises of men. And Third with those Methodists who have not backbone enough to come into the open and fight this iniqui- tous thing to the death. I have had lots of promi- nent and influential Methodists say to me "God surely has raised you up for a time like this : you are doing a noble work ; God bless you, but, don't quote me. ' ' God help us ! CHAPTER XI AMUSEMENTS HOLINESS unto the Lord, and separation from the fashions, fads and frivolities of the world were, in the minds and consciences of the earlier Methodists, inseparable. Mr. Wesley's Kule, which forbade ''Taking such diversions as cannot be used in the name of the Lord Jesus," and which became a disciplinary rule, was, by all good Methodists, believed to forbid dancing, card- playing and theatre-going. But as the Methodists increased in numbers and wealth they became lax in observing and enforcing the rule. Some of the transgressors insisted that occasional and dis- criminating indulgence in these pastimes was not prohibited by the rule. In order that there might be no misunderstanding about the matter the Gen- eral Conference in 1872 enacted a rule that spe- cifically forbade these things ; known as paragraph 248; now, somewhat modified, as paragraph 190. This rule was never popular with our rich mem- bers, whose children wanted to move in " Society," so called. In 1896, one of our rich members tried to get the General Conference to rescind it, but he failed. A short time afterward Professor George E. Vincent of the University of Chicago, son of Bishop John H. Vincent, and now Presi- dent of the University of Minnesota, addressed the 166 AMUSEMENTS 167 members of the Men's Club of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Evanston upon " Orthodoxy and Heresy." "I am a conservative," he declared. ''Con- nected as I am with a capitalistic institution, co- erced by it and subordinated to it, of course I am a conservative. If I was not kept in restraint by an iron hand which stifles all spirit of indepen- dence, I might tell you how I stand on some of these questions." Professor Vincent was discussing the paragraph in the Methodist discipline which prohibits card- playing , theatre-going and dancing. "Why should we repeal this paragraph," he asked, "when we can leave it there and go on do- ing as we please ? We now are in competition with other churches for the young people and should say as little as possible about these things. Tour pastor deserves praise for his failure to enforce this paragraph." At a meeting of the Alumni of the different Methodist Colleges held in Chicago some months before the General Conference met in that city, it was plainly stated by several professors that the Methodist Church was not in harmony with our educational institutions, especially with their views in respect to religion and amusements. 'Two of the Alumni thought that the institutions of learning should be brought into harmony with the Church. Headquarters were ultimately estab- lished adjacent to the seat of the Conference in Chicago for concerted effort. When they failed 168 BREAKERS ! METHODISM ADRIFT to accomplish their purpose, they were greatly disappointed, but exhorted each other to keep up the agitation, expecting to win the next time. And they are still at it. These gentlemen were on hand at Los Angeles, in 1904, and they lost out by a vote of 441 to 183. Of those who voted to strike the paragraph out of the Discipline were all the editors of Church pe- riodicals save Thompson, Nast and Munz. All paid Secretaries save Leonard, Mason and Ran- dell. All educators save five or six. Every man in sympathy with Higher Criticism. All pastors of wealthy, aristocratic city churches. This is strik- ingly significant. At Baltimore, in 1908, the attack upon para- graph 248 came from an unexpected quarter. The Bishops in their address unanimously recom- mended that the paragraph be stricken out.* This was followed by a motion to that effect ; and it was referred to the Committee on the State of the Church. Under the rule, a Sub-Committee of Fif- teen was appointed by the Chairman of the Com- mittee on the State of the Church, to formulate a report. The fine Italian hand of the " Third House" was at once seen in the make-up of that Committee. A majority of it was composed of *The Bishops have what they call a "Unit Rule," according? to which when a majority agree upon any matter of importance it is made unanimous. I know of four of their number who were opposed to any change. The rule is unsensible, misleading and unjust. The Bishops are the servants of the Church, and the Church has a right to know where they stand. Every member of the U. S. Supreme Court declares himself, whenever the court renders judgment. So should our Bishops when they act upon important matters. AMUSEMENTS 169 some of the most influential men in the Church, familiar with the rules of the Conference and ex- perienced legislators, and known to be in fa- vor of striking out the paragraph; while three of the minority had never been at a General Con- ference and were wholly inexperienced in legisla- tive matters. The Chairman of the Committee on State of the Church tried to act fairly in the mat- ter, and made me Chairman of the Sub-Commit- tee. The report of this Sub-Committee, of course, favored the Bishops' recommendation. But there was a minority report in favor of no change in the Disciplinary Eule. A lively discussion fol- lowed the reading of the report to the Committee on the State of the Church. The " Third House" did its utmost to carry the majority report; but it failed. The minority report prevailed by a vote of 103 to 33. In the discussion a Presiding Elder of the Southwest Kansas Conference said: "Those who want paragraph 248 eliminated from the Dis- cipline urge that the Bishops unitedly desire to have it done. It may cost me my job to say so, but my obligations to God and the Church require it of me ; but in my humble judgment the Bishops are mighty poor judges of the spiritual state and needs of the Church. Their chief business is ad- ministrative, making appointments, etc. They ride around the country in palace cars and auto- mobiles, toadying to the rich and are seldom in touch with the real spiritual interests of the Church." When he said this, there were several who hissed and some who hooted. He then said : 170 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT "You may hiss and hoot as you please; but you all know full well my statements are true ; ' ' upon which he was very warmly applauded. As chairman of the sub-committee I made the closing speech. The following is a brief of what I said WHO FAVOR A CHANGE? A majority of the Bishops. Two of the most un-Methodistic Annual Conferences in the Connection. Nearly all Gen- eral Conference officials, and officials in our edu- cational institutions. For the most part these all are not in vital touch with the real spiritual work of the Church. WHO WANT NO CHANGE? A large number of Annual Conferences. All our Scandinavian, Ger- man and Colored peoples. Very many of our Young People's Societies; and not one has asked for a change. A petition is now before us from the Epworth Leagues of India, representing 25,- 000 members, praying that no change be made. Our workers on the frontier; and the great ma- jority of members who support the mid-week prayer-meeting and are busy, heart and soul, for the salvation of the lost. The Bishops suggest that we use spiritual rather than legislative methods. I answer Has the Church not been using Spiritual Methods? Does the presence of paragraph 248 in the Disci- pline in any way interfere with our using Spirit- ual Methods? Will greater emphasis be put upon Spiritual Methods and more of them used by striking out the paragraph as proposed? Will a change remove the cause of agitation? AMUSEMENTS 171 It is urged as a reason for a change that the rule is a Dead Letter. So also is the Eule forbid- ding "The putting on of gold and costly apparel." Why did not the Bishops include this also in their recommendation? A good law is better on the Statute books, even though it is not enforced than none at all. If a change is made we will lose our hold on outsiders. They expect the Methodist Church to stand where it has always stood, in this matter. A tidal wave of worldliness is sweeping over the land, and the nations ; and, with proper deference to the opinions of our General Superintendents, it is my deliberate and candid judgment that this is no time to even talk of a change. I therefore sin- cerely hope the minority report will prevail. I informed the General Conference that the re- port on the Amusement Question was ready and awaiting their pleasure. It was never called for, because some one had heard it thunder; and we did not care to push the matter, as there was nothing much to gain, inasmuch as the rule was in the Discipline. The "Third House" died hard. They took snap judgment on the Conference one day, in a prolonged session, when many had gone to dinner, and tried to force through a resolution referring paragraph 248 to the judiciary commit- tee for a judgment as to its constitutionality, but they lost out. They tried to get a resolution through the Committee on Temperance, taking from paragraph 248 what is said about strong drink, which would have upset our minority re- 172 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT port, which was to leave the paragraph untouched. I spent a half day, and more, putting the mem- bers of that committee who were opposed to the Bishops' recommendation, wise as to the object of the resolution. It was defeated. Then in the closing session, when there was evidently no quo- rum present, many of the delegates from the West and South having left because the limit on their railroad tickets was about to expire, and they were nearly all opposed to the Bishops' recom- mendation, I learned that an effort would be made to rush through the majority report. But I warned Dr. Buckley, Chairman of the Engineering Committee, that if they did, I would call a quo- rum on the house, which would close the Confer- ence, with a lot of most important business unfin- ished; and paragraph 248 was undisturbed. Four years later, at Minneapolis, the Bishops, evidently chagrined over the way their recommen- dation, was treated at Baltimore, again, most un- wisely, recommended the striking out of this para- graph. The Third House, by most unfair methods got one of their own number on as chairman of the Committee on the State of the Church, to which the resolution, embodying the Bishops' recommen- dation, was referred; and, as at Baltimore, they got a sub-committee to their own liking, with Chancellor Day as Chairman. Of course they were careful to see that I was not on the Commit- tee this time. The Sub-Committee had a majority report favoring (of course) elimination, with a minority report opposed. There was a red hot de- AMUSEMENTS 173 bate, and the minority report was adopted by an overwhelming majority. Both reports came be- fore the General Conference. The Machine of the Third House was put under headway, and worked for all it could do. The debate lasted two days. The first day it was conducted fairly. Bishop Lewis presided. Six speeches were made against the majority report, which favored retaining the paragraph in the Discipline, and six against. Next day, with Bishop Hughes in the chair, three speeches were allowed for and seven against ; and, without doubt, the Bishop knew what he was do- ing. Some of the strongest and most influential members of the Conference were clamorous for a chance to speak for the resolution, but were un- fairly denied the privilege, as I think, and also many others. The following is the report of the Daily Advo- cate, as to what I said on the subject: "Mr. Presi- dent, we are not legislating here alone for cities and universities and wealthy churches, but for a world-wide Methodism. Our Scandinavian and German brethren from both sides of the sea want no change in this matter. The same is true of our colored people and the people in India and throughout almost the whole Church; but I can- not discuss that. We are told that the paragraph is not enforced, and should, therefore, be abro- gated. The law against profane language is not enforced, but who of you is in favor of abrogat- ing that law? We are told that the paragraph was enacted forty years ago and is inoperative 174 BEEAKEBS! METHODISM ADRIFT because we are dealing with twentieth century problems and conditions, and in the same breath we are advised to go back 140 years for a suitable rule, which is already in the Discipline. A sub- stitute for the paragraph is proposed; if it is adopted it will be as much disregarded as that por- tion of general rule 30 that forbids the wearing of gold and costly apparel, and reading those books which do not tend to the knowledge and love of God. To be consistent we should remove all re- strictions relating to conduct from the discipline. To adopt this amendment, and remove the para- graph, may appear justifiable as a technical cor- rection, but it will be published to the world as a removal of the ban, first, to the injury of the good name of Methodism; second, to the weakening of the hold of the Church on the world ; third, to the loosening of the reins of restraint on the wayward; fourth, to the removal of confidence of inexperi- enced and weak Christians ; fifth, to the enfeebling of youthful believers who fall back on the disci- pline when tempted by associates to enter the world ; sixth, to the plunging into sinful pleasures by thousands who are waiting for the permission of the Church as they are misinterpreting this paragraph. There is a delegate in this Confer- ence who received a letter from his daughter who is in a Methodist school, and he said, 'Some of the girls are waiting for the Conference to remove the paragraph and then they are going to organize a dancing class right away.' Seventh, the moral blight will not be confined to Methodism. Thou- AMUSEMENTS 175 sands of young people of other denominations, who know nothing of technical questions of Metho- dist discipline, will say, inasmuch as the strictest denomination says that Christians may now de- cide according to individual conscience, and go to the theater and the dance if they feel it right, therefore we, too, will decide as we like. Strike out that paragraph and every worldling in the Church will rejoice, and tens of thousands of our most devoted people will be heartbroken and bowed in sorrow. The world at large has re- spected us because we have stood against dancing, card-playing and theatre going; for the unsaved think Christians should not do these things. If we fail to respect their conviction we will lose our influence over them. "The change proposed has alarmed multitudes of our very best people, and startled the religious world; and, if this change is made, it will create such unrest and trouble throughout the Church as to greatly hinder soul-saving work; and the flood-gates of worldliness will be open." Four hundred and forty-four voted to retain the paragraph in the Discipline and 368 to strike it out; and thus the Bishops' recommendation was turned down, as it certainly deserved to be. The spectacle of the Church striking her colors at the dictation of a lot of college officials who seem to be far more anxious to have dances at their com- mencements than to secure the salvation of their unsaved students, and instruct the Christians in their student bodies in spiritual things, and a lot 176 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT of rich worldlings in our churches, at a time like this when our altars are deserted, and a tidal wave of dissolute worldliness is inundating the land, is most surely humiliating to all good Metho- dists; and made all the more so by the Bishops' recommendation. The following appeared in the Daily Tribune, and indicates how some people outside the Con- ference thought of the matter : DANCE ADVOCATES SCORED BISHOP CRANSTON AND CHANCELLOR DAY ARE GRILLED IN LETTER FROM IOWA MAN The following open letter to Bishop Cranston and Chancellor Day of the Methodist General Con- ference was received yesterday by The Tribune from William M. Boylan, postmaster at Hubbard, la., with the request that it be published: "Bishop Cranston and Chancellor Day, M. E. Conference, Minneapolis, Minn. 1 ' GENTLEMEN : "I wish to express to you at this time in the pub- lic prints (for it is there you have made yourselves most effectively felt) my most emphatic disap- proval of your supporting the movement against the amusement rule as found in our discipline. God is to be praised that you have so ingloriously failed in your attempt to open and pave it with the platitudes of religion the way that leads to dens of vice, crime and ruin. AMUSEMENTS 177 ''By your failure thousands upon thousands of young lives have been saved to purity, decency, happiness; thousands of happy homes will be blessed with contentment; thousands of mothers' hearts will remain unbroken, and yet, because of the publicity given to your vice-engendering ut- terances, emphasized by scholastic finger from un- der pompous ecclesiastic robes pointing to the ways that take hold of hell, whose feet of flesh go down therein have not power to resist the temp- tation you suggest, yet I say, because of the Christless code you champion, you make our Church contributory to the devil's den of moral pollution, putrid with social degradation, 90 per cent, of which is incipient in the way at which you wink. "What you need is a little contact with the world, the solid, wicked, old world of to-day. What you need, reverend gentlemen, is a broadened ex- perience that comprehends the Christlife beset by the appearance of evil. What you need is a daugh- ter of your own attending her first dance at the compromising suggestion of some ministerial dig- nitary, meeting there the polished gentleman, the old sinner reeking with the slimy ooze of social rottenness meeting conditions that flesh and blood in the ordinary form cannot resist, does not resist and then in after years throwing her life of shame on your broken heart. That is what you need to make you think of a million homes in this land of freedom! No person who has ever gone through such a trial will ever champion the cause 178 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT that God in His mercy has just made you lose. You ought to have grace enough in your hearts to thank him for it. "Do you know, gentlemen, that I would not trust with you the moral education of a daughter of mine ? Do you know that if I had a daughter in a school the head of which advocated, in the name of the Church, such pernicious moral standards, I should call her home that her heart might be kept pure, that her mind might not become con- taminated by the degrading influences of such teaching. Yours for the purity of church life. " WILLIAM M. BOYLAN." CHAPTER XII RICH MEN "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." 1 Tim. vi: 10. "The care of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word." Matt. 13:22. "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God." Mark x: 25. "My brethren, hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come into your assembly a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, and there come in also a poor man in vile clothing; and ye have regard to him that weareth the fine clothing, and say, Sit thou here in a good place; and ye say to the poor man, stand thou there, or sit under my footstool; are ye not divided in your own mind, and become judges with evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren; did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which He promised to them that love Him? But ye have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you, and themselves drag you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme the honorable name by the which ye are called? Howbeit if ye fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well : but if ye have respect of persons, ye commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors." James ii: 1-9. A/I" R. WESLEY once said : * ' Build your churches ^~-*- plain and inexpensive; otherwise rich men will be a necessity to you ; and when rich men are a necessity to you they will rule over you ; and when rich men rule over you, good-by to Methodism." It is no sin to be rich, providing one gets his money honestly and uses it wisely : in such a case riches are a blessing. If dishonestly gotten, they 179 180 BREAKERS! METHODISM ADRIFT will prove a curse to the man who gets them and his children; as they also will if unwisely used, though honestly acquired. A man who gives gen- erously of his wealth, that has been honestly gained, into the treasury of the church, should have voice in administering the affairs of the church, providing he is a spiritually minded man and attends the church prayer-meeting and has family prayers ; but, no more than the poor man who also is honest and spiritually minded. "God is no respecter of persons." "The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all." No greater curse could come to a church than to have rich men rule it, even though they got their money honestly, except it be by men who became rich by unchristian and dishonest methods an