The San Francisco call., 1897-01-18
Christian Sentiment Never 90
Strong as at the Present
Time.
The Press Gives Too Much Attention
to the Statements of the Enemies
of the Christian Religion.

ers. He spoke, in part, as follows:
Can ye not discern the signs Of the times?-
Matthew xvi:3.
God has given US many books and we
should ''read. mark, learn and inwardly
digest" them all.
With the book of current thought we
have to do tonight, and if we read 1t fear
lessly, honestly and reverently we may
humbly claim such measure of the spirit
of discernment as will enable US to in
terpret Gods handwriting inscribed upon
the page of this present time. Among
the facts and situations which indicate
the trend of current thought and its bear
ing upon the present position and the i'm
mediate future and ultimate destiny of the
Christian faith note the following:
Present-day skepticism has failed ut
terly as a substitute for Christianity.
Skeptics themselves admit this. One of
them recently expressed his anxiety LEST
the successive bankruptcies of skepticism
should lead society back once more to
the Christian faith" Such reaction IS
not at all unlikely. Indeed, it is natural
and inevitable. and signs are not wanting
that the reaction has already set in.
The successive systems of skepticism
have failed to fulfill their promises and
have paid the paltriest dividends, and
society in the closing years of our century
is getting ready to go back to him who
alone has discovered any real mastery OF
the human heart. Skepticism is a self
confessed failure as a substitute for Chris
tianity.
2. Literary men as a rule are hostile to
the Christian faith. They always have
been. Mr.. Leck6 says that during the
space of three centuries they treated
Christianity as simply contemplate.
History repeats itself. A hundred years
ago they treated Methodism in England
as simply contemplate. 1t is not con-
tenn pti BILE to-day. So we are not surprised
if Christianity receives but scant courtesy
from the literary men OF the nineteenth
century.
Some weeks ago two distinguished pro-
fessors joined in debate on the deep things
of philosophy and religion before the
Pres terian Ministers Association. One
of them stood squarely on the platform of
Christian orthodoxy and was dismissed
with one sentence of report i'll the news
paper | read. The other as squarey de-
MED the fundamental doctrines OF Chris
tianity and was reported verbatim. One
thousand years hence, If the world last so
long, another Mr.. Lecky will have to ex-
press his astonishment at the unialrness
OF large sections OF the literary men OF the
nineteenth century, who either do not un-
derstand the Christian faith or will not
give fair hearing to IL.
The literary men are mistaken If they
think that they are carrying the masses
OF the people with them. Karl Pearson, a
leader of skeptical thought, admits
this in long and loud lament
in the Fortnightly Review, and another
leader of skeptical thought, Thomas Main,
says: 1.-The masses OF the people were
never so truly religious as they are now."
The rapid progress of the Salvation Army
is convincing proof of this. Mr.. Benia-
min Kidd, in his Social Evolution. says
"that Christianity is not to be gotten rid
of in the jauniy way that literary men
affect when they deal with it. They can
not laugh out of existence the most per-
sistent force of civilization" And what
is the result of all this unfair treatment of
Christianity? Mr.. Frederic Harrison
sums it all up in these words: "The net
result of the whole negative attack on the
gospel has been to deepen its moral hold
on society"
Christianity has gained some signal
trium phs in this, our century. The herc-
est battle has been waged around the
question OF personal God. Once, and
not very long ago, it was asserted very
dogmatically that the living could come
from the not living, and hence the need
of a living God as a Creator was done
away with. A scientist of note in his day
said: Both observation and experiment
Enthusiastically testify that living matter
is constantly being formed" No scien-
tist believes in spontaneous generation to-
day. The scientist goes back from man
to monkey, from monkey to monad, and
then IS confounded with mystery, IAN
infinite and eternal energy, from which
all things proceed" AS Herbert Spencer
said, "The trend of present-day thought
is toward the doctrine of a personal God.
Our faith in the doctrine of creation has
not been shaken by nineteenth century
thought, but established rather. The
highest, wisest, latest utterances OF science
are In wonderful harmony with the utter
aaces of Moses. Science says that the
world came into being so long ago that the
mind cannot span the chasm. Moses
says SIN the beginning''-a word elastic
enough to satisfy the demands of the most
exacting scientist. There is no conflict in
the Mosaic and scientific accounts so far
as we can see. Where did Moses get his
facts?
Our belief in the Mosaic authorship of
the Pentateuch has not been shaken by
nineteenth century thought, but estab-
lished. Once, and not very long ago, it
was asserted by the critics that there was
no literary ability in the Mosaic age to
write such literature as we find in the
pages OF the Pentateuch; but archaolO-
gists have recently unearthed a vast civil
ization extending back 1000 years before
Abraham was born. HE laughs best W ho
laughs last" The assum ption of the ig-
norance and literary inability of the Mo-
sale age to write the Pentateuch cannot
stand the light of recent discoveries.
Criticism is coming round to a more
certified faith in the old book which once
it assaulted so fiercely. Skep not long
ago danced with delight around the sup
posed fact that the critics had at length
put an extinguisher upon the Bible Many
such extinguishers have been put upon it;
the light OF God 8 word within has burned
through every one of them. The Bible has
not been singed even by the fiercest fire
OF the nineteenth cantury. The religion
OF Jesus Christ is the only living religion
In the world to-day; by which we mean
that 1t Is the leading spirit O. modern
progress. The religions of the Orient are
dead. They have hundreds OF millions of
followers still, but they are dead to those
functions OF inspiration which minister
stimulus to contemporary thought. .'Is
Mohammedanism dead :" As a military
despotism. no; as a living religion, yes.
Its policy is impossible. Its record is one
OF intellectual stagnation and moral death.
Ihe ''unspeakable Turk" is sick nigh unto
death. Look by contrast at the ascending
orb OF Christian truth as it shines above
In the heavens of religions thouoht a