The times., 1900-12-30
The Old Gospel for
the New Century
BY REV. FRANCIS E. CLARK.


/ believe that the new century will be
better than any that has gone before it.
The inventive mind of man is not yet ex-
hausted. The resources of God are
almost as yet untouched. New inventions,
new discoveries. new treasures from the
bowels OF the earth, new cosmic forces to
be harnessed to the will of man, all await
q new century. There will be also, be-
lieYe. improvements in the statements of
Truth, in the methods of carrying the gos-
pei into all the world in the organization
of the Church. There will be a broader
brotherhood. there will be less sectarian
rivalry, and no sectarian bitterness. 1t
will not be thought necessary in the new
century to segregate people, young and
old. into ranks by themselves, but togeth-
er they shall go out to fight the Lords
battle or to do the Lords will But With
all these improvements and with all this
progress which believe the twentieth CEN
tury Will bring, I cannot conceive of any
change in the fundamental truths of tie
Gospel.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ has with
stood the changes of far more monentous
transition periods than that from the
nineteenth to the twentieth century.
Truths that have stood the test of nine
teen centuries. which have survived the
prosecutions of the early centuries, the
midnight of the Middle Ages, the fash
ionable skepticism of the eighteenth cen
tury. and the materialism and worldliness
Of the nineteenth, are not likely to be
overthrown by any revolutions that The
twentieth century have in store for us.
In fact, there are most cheering indi-
cations that the truths of the Gospel will
be established on a frmer foundation than
ever, and that in the very near future
Destructive criticism seems TO have Gone
its worst. DR.. Hills declares that its
age is past, and that the era of construc-
tive development of Christian truth has
begun. Very many share his opinion. Tn
tenable positions have been uncovered.
twisted and warped proof-texts have
been abandoned, but every fundamental
doctrine of the Christian Church has been
maintained and is as substantially rooted
today in the hearts of the Church as ever
In the past history of the world. Igno-
rance may be favorable to creduiity, hut
1t is not the mother of intelligent faith
The coming century will hold, I be-
lieve. more strongly than ever to the
truths of Gods word. because they will
be better understood. The great facts of
sin and its consequences, the lost estate
of man and his salvation only by Jesus
Christ, the great truths Of the fatherhood
OF God and the brotherhood OF man, OF
the importance OF this life as a period OF
probation and of eternal reward and ret
ribution, Of the presence of the Holy
Spirit in the world, and OF the impera-
tiveness of the great commission to evan
gelize all nations, these truths which lie
at the base of Christian thinking and
Christian activity will, believe, be more
firmly established, and. as a consequence.
into all the open doors Of the world the
Gospel through its devoted followers will
make its way. and the twentieth century
Will be looked back upon by future gem
erations as more bright and golden than
any hundred years that have preceded it.