The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-09-16

try that we traval; along the Kings
highway that we journey by the Kings
instruction: the Kings law that we
transgress at our peril: enemies Of the
King that bring us into danger; SER
wants of the King that accomplish
our deliverance, and the welcome ac-
corded at the very last La the welcome
that only the King OF Kings could ex-
tend. In all of this the prince of
allegorists has emphasized one as
pect of spiritual doctrine emphasized
In the teachings of Jesus, and yet it
Is not the aspect of the Masters re-
lfsion to which we give the greatest
prominence to-day. The theology of
this twentieth century 10 conferred in
the thought of the Fatherhood OF God.
and interprets sin and redemption in
terms of the parallels of fatherhood
rather than in the terms of those of
rebellious subjects and violated law.
The new viewpoint has been we'll
taken. The, teachings of Jesus fall
naturally into those that center about
His doctrine of the kingdom Of heaven
and into those that center about His
doctrine OF the Fatherhood OF God.
The later theology does not contend
that the earlier theology was false.
Nor does 1t contend that it itself IL
exhaustive of reality. 1t simply holds
Liidt IL HaS SdiHsu niknNT view
point and that 1t emphasizes what
Jesus put to the forefront in His own
teaching with regard to life.
Again. the church has gained in its
conception Of social service.
1t is unfair to judge the church of
the seventeenth century by the stand
ards OF the twentieth, and comparison
OF ideals is permissible only for the
purpose OF determining what progress
Christianity is making. The author
OF Pilgrims Progress was Puritan
child OF his time. and the Puritan OF
two hundred and fifty years ago was
separatist of the separatists. He be-
lieyed that the world was altogether
bad; that the great majority OF It's
institutions were ripe for Judgment,
that the salvation of the individual
could be found only in separation
from all that was OF the earth earthly;
and that life at Its best was but a
pilgrimage through alien territory to
a land OF promise where God reigned
indeed. This other orldliness," az
1t may be called, runs through and
through the great allegory. The PHI
grim has but little concern for others
lie does not mingle in the ways OF
men, nor does he go out among men
for mems sake. Society offers him no
Masters spirit of democracy. In all
this he differs from the practical
Christian of the present day. The
ehurch OF the twentieth century FROM
its higher viewpoint is teaching the
followers OF Jesus that the Gospel OF
the Son OF God has social message,
and that nothing which bears upon
lie In the least particular need be
counted foreign to the Christian re-
to- II
the sacred and the secular is over.
All life is sacred. The ethics of re-
hgion and the ethics OF labor, of
commerce, OF politics. Ii one. And that
the church should hesitate to recog-
nize the obligations discerned from ts
new point OF vision would be but an
acknowledgment of its want OF faith
In Him who said. Il come to save tho
world"
And again. the church has gained In
It's conception of missionary enter.
prise.
And in this above all other things
mas the progress OF the church been
manifest 1t will never cease to be a
wonder that the Puritauism of tha
seventeenth century with its knowl-
edge of the Bible and with It's de-
vetion TO the Scriptures should have
tailed to usher in the era of modern
missions When IL is remembered
that John Bunyan lived before the
birth of this splendid movement OF the
church, and that he was bound by n
theology which made missionary
activity but little less than an insult
TO the Almighty. 1t Will not be sur
pristng TO the reader of Pilgrims
Progress" TO find nothing given in the
Interpreters House in explanation OF
the great commission, or to find
nothing in the view from the De-
lectabie Mountains suggestive of fields
white unto the harvest" or TO dis
cover In the companions of the Pill
grim no prototypes OF Carey, and
Judson. and Patton and Mackay. It
was only a little over a century ago
that the church began to regain the
viewpoint an regards q world wide
evangelism that the church had oc-
cupied in the first centuries OF its
history The splendid achievements
or a hundred years are not to be de-
spised, but they are not to be COM
pared with the achievements that shall
De wrought in the coming century b.
the church now awakened 10 IN
duties. II the crises OF history were
reckoned by episodes rather than by
movements. by the incident of the
moment rather than by the process
OF the years. then IL might be said
that since the hour when Martin
Luther nailed his theses on the door
or the church at WEttenburg, no mora
significant sound was ever heard In
tnristendom than the rappinE of the
gayal which called to order twelve
hundred delegates from every Quarter
OF the earth in the recent Missionary
conference in Edinburgh. The twen-
ueth century is to witness the evan
n tnF 49, h