Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-03-07


There is a certain type OF mind which
is so bent on condemning all the. things
OF the past and applauding all the things
of the present that it frequently attacks
what the Scriptures commend and ap-
proves what the Scriptures pronounce to
be wrong Its conclusive proof that a
thing is evil is that devout people of a
former time acceped it as good, and its
infallible test of the goodness of thing
is that it is present and DIVORCES from
all that men have been accustomed to call
good.
A case in point is found in the following
passage from a recent article, in which
the writer was setting forth some sup
posed defects in the religion of former
generation:
Religion was formerly far more con-
fined to personal experience than now.
Conscious relation Of the soul TO God
was the supreme matter. How is 1t
with your soul? Have you been born
again? Have you the witness OF the
Spirit? Such were the questions by
which it was determined whether men
had become the children of God or
were still in the gall of bitterness and
the bonds of iniquity. Under such
teachings INSTRUMENTATION was de-
Men thought to measure by degrees.
on the emotional scale, their attain
ments in holiness, and, from spiritual
insight to read their titles clear to
mansions In the skies. A happy death
was the supreme testimony of saliva
ton. The thought of the Christian
was not. so much of service as being
saved by grace through faith"
It will be observed that he caricatures
in a measure the thing which he criti-
cizes, and to that extent misrepresents It,.
He suggests that the saints of a former
day were possessed of a piety more emo
tional than holy, and that all their devo-
ton was tainted by a morbid "self-con-
centration.@ But in spite of his misrep-
resentation of the holy men and women,
who have gone before US, it is evident
that the very thing for which he con-
dennis them is that for which they ought
rather to be approved. ''The conscious
relation of the soul to God" is in truth
'the supreme thing" and in so far as the
good of former generations made 1t such
they were entirely right If there be a
God at all, and II men are to be children
of God their relation to Him is the SUI
preme concern of life. Moreover they
must be conscious Of that relation, If it
Is to be q realty of any consequence to
them. What is the divine fatherhood If
we know it not as a matter of personal
experienced? Can the heart find rest in
mere rhetorical figure which finds no
answer in the experience Of the soul?
What does our flial relation to God
amount to, If 1t be no more than pretty,
poetic conceft?
Is there such a thing as the new birth?
If so. it is a matter of the utmost mo-
ment, and no human soul can afford to be
a stranger to such divine experience?
Does the Holy Spirit witness to the fact
of the new birth? If so, shall we not ask
one another with the utmost interest,
Have you the witness Of the SpiritT'
Is salvation by grace important? Why
then, If it be so, shall men not be pro-
foundly concerned to be saved by grace
through faith?
These great issues of spiritual life were
the burning issues of the Reformation.
Was that great and benign movement
projected on false lines2 For one am
not ashamed of the Reformation, and l
am not one who would seek to reform the
Reformation.
The same spiritual issues were upper
most in the Wesleyan Revival also-a re-
ligious awakening which even such scep-
teal writer's as Lecky candidly admit
saved England in the eighteenth century
Were the learned and consecrated lead
ers of that mighty and blessed move
ment mistaken in emphasizing these high
matters of the soul and its salvation?
The same issues were pressed by
Dwight l.. Moody in the great work
which we wrought in the United States
and Great Britain. Was he too misled
concerning the supreme Importance Of
the souls relation to God?
What is OF more Importance for us to
consider Is that these issues were the
questions upon which Jesus and the
Apostles placed emphasis.
Hear the Saviour Speaking of His
own mission He declared, The Son Of
Man is come to seek and to save that
which is LOST. Again. He said, For
God so loved the world that He gave His
-begotten Son that whatsoever be-
heveth in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. He emphasized
the supreme value of spiritual posses
sions over all earthly treasures in these
memorable words, Lay not up for your
selves treasures upon earth, where moth
and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves
break through and steal But lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust. doth corrupt and
where thieves do not break through nor
steal. Without further citation of par
ticular passages, 1t may be said that the
whole recOrueu Leacnlng OF Jesus IL SPIT
itual in it's every line and implication.
The saints OF a former generation did
not miss the accent of the Master in
magnlfying the spiritual experiences of
the regenerated soul.
Like the Master the Apostles were pro-
foundly concerned for spiritual things,
and they were insistent upon such mat
ters as the new birth, the witness of the
Spirit, and salvation by grace. Who can
doubt or deny this after reading the
Pauline and the Johannine epistles?
Observe the teachings Of st. Paul in the
Epistle to the Romans. He affirms 'To
be carnally minded is death; but to be
spiritually minded is life and peace.
Again, LAS many as are led by the Spirit
Of God. they are the Sons Of Cod. Note
his clear and cogent teaching concerning
the witness OF the Holy Spirit to the
fact of the new birth: THE Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit that we
are the children of God, and If children,
then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ"
Nor was st. Paul afraid of too much
self-examination. Writing to the Corin-
thians he says, Examine yourselves,
whether We be in the faith. And again
he exhorts, Let a man examine himself,
and so let him eat of that bread and
drink of that cup.
St John moves on the same spiritual
L. l.. l.