The Washington herald., 1907-02-10

Rev Dr.. Waraclauer. in the London Chronicle,
Seldom iu the history Of religion prob
ably has a title so rapidly won accept
auce as that which heads this article. a
s5gr, time ag0 used only by q few. who
were Gevotiug themselves 90 the adyo-
cacv of a certain view of religion, it has
to-day passed into common currency. is
discussed and commented on tn every
Journal throughout the length and
breadth Of the land. and forms the topic
of conversation wherever people inter
ested in religion-uot necessarily ''rel-
gious" peopIe-conEregat There is no
need for me 10 refer to the special cir
cumstauces which have precipisated the
present crisis quite apart from those cir
cumstsnces. that crisis was bound 10
come. and was confidently expected by
those who were watching the trend Of
thought. as in the nature Of things in
evitabIe
During the past fifty years forces have
been nj work producing q change in the
outlook of vast strata Of the population,
so profound and far-reaching as to
amount 90 a revolution. Slowly, but
very effectively. the main conclusions Of
/ evolutionary science and Biblical criti-
/ cjsm have been altering down through
/ the media of popular landlords lectures.
magazine articles. and the like; and
/ wherever these conclusions found accept
ance. or even entrance, orthodoxy, as We
/ have been wont to understand IL, has
/ been undermined. There has followed "a
very wide distrust of religion as gener-
+ ally expounded, the man in the pew
doubling either the intelligence or the
! candor Of the man in the pulpit; there
/ has even been a considerable recoil on
/ the part Of thoughtful people in the Gi-
/ rection of agnOsticism.
/ But man is too inCurably religious TO
/ find a permanent rest in the bleak cline
/ Of negation; already what We may for
/ convenience sake call the Huxley period
/ lies far behind as. and during recent
/ years nothing has been more manifest
/ than a great desire for a restatement Of
! religion in terms that will not antag-
onize, but harmonic, with the modern
outlook on the world.
Fundamental Axioms,
This widespread want on the part of
those whom orthodoxy has alienated. and
/ whom the churches can i'll afford TO spare
/ We conceive 70 be met by what is known
as the New Theology. Its fundamental
Z axiom is the divine immanence; its diff
Terminating feature IS its Christocentric
l character Both these terms viii need
/ explanation. The deistic conception
| which reigned supreme in the eighteenth
! century saw God set over against the
/ world and asserted His mere transccn-
/ dence. the nineteenth century gradually
/ rediscovered the truth that God was not
/ merely transcendent. but also immanent
| indwelling in His universe, the Life OF
/ its life. the Mind and Energy, OF which
ala the visible world was only the pass
ing manifestation. But in addition to this
the thought came TO force itself upon
men that so far as God was transcen-
dent-infinite and eterual-He must re
main unknowable TO finite human intelli
genCcs. and that only i'm so far as IL
was mmunent-manifested in the world
upon a finite scGle-couid He become al
object Of knowledge at all.
But II the immanence of God in natur,
reveals Him as Power. His immanenc,
in man reveals Him under higher as
pects-as Righteousness and Love W,
have returned from the dualism Of tn,
past centuries to the spiritual monism q
Paul and the fourth gospel. the convic
ton that man is the temple of the lV
ing God. the partaker of His substance
nay that we are ali one. even as Coo
and Christ are one. That revelation. tn
highest of all, has come to the WorlC
through Christ In whom the essentia
oneness Of deity and humanity became s,
unmista kably manifest as 10 raise to IL,
level Of a conviction which had hither
to been only guess. The historical