Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-03-14
4 Surprising Surprise to Some
By Bishop w. A. Gambler

|
ISOLATION with the vulgar and upwashed
masses?
1t rs this spirit in The conventional
lists which provoked the Saviour to utter
those three wonderful parallels of the
lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodi-
gal son which recorded in the fifteenth
chapter of the Gospel according to St.
Luke. For his joy in the rescue of the
outcast by the power of the new birth
Jesus could find no sympathy among
the conventional religionists of his
day; but he said there is joy in the
presence OF the angels OF God over one
sinner that repenteth." The fact is,
that, so far as the Scriptures disclose
no event on earth stfrs the joy of them
who dwell in heaven except the saliva
tion of the lost; and while our conven-
tionalists sit slippered and gowned in
sumptuous Libraries reading Mr.. Beg
bie's Twice Born Men" the highest
heavens are resounding with Joy because
these miracles of grace are being wrought
under the ministry of holy men all
around the world. While they in stupid
wonder are saying with Nicodemus
and angels are rejoicing in the tri-
umphs Of redeeming grace which saves
to the uttermost them that come to
God by Christ.
The immeasurable contrast between the
surprise of some at twice born men"
and the joy of heaven over the oft-re-
peated wonder of grace exemplified daily
all round the world in every land, should
cause some to pause and reflect. A lit
tie reflections may suggest that men who
are surprised by the compilation of a
comparatively few cases of the new
birth, which occurred in a few months
in the one city Of London. are not COM
petent to give us safe interpretations Of
christianity. An electrician who should
be surprised by the power of electricity
to illuminate darkness and propel cars
would hardly be sought by us to instruct
us concerning the properties OF that
ethereal agent. And in truth, no classes
more surely and completely miss the
meaning of christianity than those who
look upon the facts of the new birth as
exceptional and amazing things in the
kingdom of heaven. These facts are not
exceptional; they are just what should
be expected of religion which was not
manufactured by men, but which was
sent down from heaven by the hand Of
Gods life-giving Son. any thing less
than new births by the power OF the
Spirit would have been distinctly less
than what we might expect from the
agents engaged in the work Of the king
dom of God. Viewed in some aspects
new births by the Spirit are supernatural,
but considered from another point of
view their absence from Christianity
would be decidedly unnatural. They are
supernatural when seen from the earth,
but they are entirely natural when looked
at from the heavenly side. The evange-
listic preachers who seek to bring lost
men and women into the unearthly ex-
perience of the new birth are not a lot
Of misguided fanatics. They are doing
precisely what Paul and those who la
boured with him in the gospel did. They
are doing what Luther and the Reform
ers did. They are doing what Baxter
and Bunyan and Knox and Wesley and
Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards did
They are doing what Finney and Moody
did. If they are operating on mistaken
lines. then all the mightiest leaders of
christianity. from apostolic times to the
present moment, were likewise mistaken.
But they. nor their holy predecessors
have mistaken the genius and spirit of
The men who are Misunderstanding
christianity are they to whom twice
born men" are moral curiosities, sur
prising freaks in the spiritual word.
These world-blinded men with their
scholasticisms, ritualisms, and aesthet-
icisms know nothing of that spiritual
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man
the things which God hath prepared
for them that love Him. But God
hath revealed them to us by His Spir-
| it,. q Corinthians lis and 10). What
they can not find with their senses -
Gears and eyes, mainly)-and what they
can not reason out of what Paul calls
"the heart of man., they viii allow no
H.. A..k Il g.. e.
exclude the spiritual world with all It's
Transforming and renovating power Oh
human nature. They are. therefore, sur
prised at the twice born men,, and
look at them with incredulous interest
like that with which most men look
on the tricks of mesmerism and hyp-
notism.
But these world-blinced men, who
look with surprise at cases of the new
birth, have never with their poor inn
potent preachments been able to cleanse
one parish from immortality or turn
one heather from worshiping dumb
idols to the service Of the living God.
They affect airs Of superior wisdom
and culture. but If christianity de.
ponds upon them to maintain 1t in the
earth, 1t would perish even from the
upper classes in one generation, and II
the redemption Of the race depended
upon their endeavors, all mankind
would be lost speedily and irretriev-
ably. When did a conventional relig-
ionist ever save any soul? A Pharisee
has not spiritual power enough to do
any thing for other men except to thank
God That he Is not like them, land mcst
sensible men are as grateful as he on
account of the dissimilarity between
themselves and him. He expends all
his energy on the infinitely little things
of religion, and is surprised, IL not
shocked by the manifestation OF the
great powers of the kingdom of God
His faith expires from sufrocation in
the soporihc perfume of the incense
which he burns to himself. while he
in his pipe-dream he imagines that he
is breathing the odors of Paradise.