Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-11-01
OLD-TIME RELIGION.
OPP w. 4. GAMBLER
THIS HIGH CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE is
ESSENTIAL,

~ deVout scholar, Bishop G. J. Ellicott
Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, dis
cussing the ultimte effects of the destructive
cussing the ultimate effects of the destructive
THE same spirit that has found irrecon-
Cilable difficulties in the supernatural ele-
ments of the Old Testament will ultimately
chaIlenge the evidence on which the Incar-
nation rests. And the more so as all the age
| long testimonies of the Old Testament all
the foreshadowings of all the promises that
were greeted from afar, all the sure words Of
prophecy, will have been explained away:
and there will remain nothing save two mar
ratiyes which, it will be said, bear so patent
ly the traces Of Illusion Or at least, an ideal
ism expressing itself under the guise of al
| legged facts, that the doctrine of the Word
| become flesh, the doctrine which is the hope
| light and life of the universe, will be surren-
| dered to the last demands of what will have
now become not distressed, but a ruined
faith. When that blessed doctrine is sur
| rendered the total eclipse Of faith will have
commenced, and the shadows of the great
darkness will be fast sweeping over the for.
| lorn and desolate soul"
! All that the beloved and wise Ellicott pre-
| dtcted has come to pass. Most Of the liber-
altsts now fatty deny the Virgin Birth of
Christ. and such as do not yet go so far are
moving manifestly towards that total eclipse
| of faith"
Some OF them disguise from themselves
| and from others the tendency which is draw
! ing them on to that sad end, by saying that
! they believe the fact Of the Virgin Birth, but
| do not consider it a necessary article of the
Christian faith. They profess to minimize
this great and fundamental truth Of Chris
tianity as a concession to doubters whereby
such sceptical minds may be held to the
| Church.
Such concession was proposed recently
! by one from whom such a proposal was
hardly to have been expected. A dispatch
from Boston under date of October 5 says:
Bishop William Lawrence, of the Protest
ant Episcopal diocese of Massachusetts, in
an address today at service in celebration of
1.-the thirtieth anniversary of his conservation,
said that a person whose belief in the incar-
nation was sincere might say the creed even
| though unable to accept the doctrine of the
Virgin Birth, because there is no essential
connection between the Virgin Birth and the
! incarnation.'
DO We not make a mistake in thinking
that it is the creeds that bind us together in
unity?" he asked. The unifying power is
prayer, worship and loyalty to the personal
Christ. There is no essential connection, for
! example, between the Virgin Birth and the
incarnation, and so, if ones belief in the in
carnation is sincere and since the Virgin
Birth Is not essential to it, such a one may
say the creed even though unable to accept
the doctrine of the Virgin Birth
Il am a conservative by inheritance and
temper. like to be orthodox, but my better
| spirit responds to faith as an adventure and
| believe that the youth of America are best
drawn when faith is made an adventure and
leads on through struggles toward the truth.
The future is going to bring to the church
fresh problems and battles. And what I, a
man of over three-score years and ten, do
plead for with my contemporaries and with
those of middle life, is that they trust the
younger generation to meet those problems
in their own way"
accompanying all such pleas for latitude
narianism is the notion that creeds are of
slight Importance. But when was it estab-
ltshed that creeds have little, or no, effect
| ON character and conduct? A creed is moth
Ing more nor less than what one believes
and surely the human will is directly af-
fected by the human intellect. otherwise,
what use has man for his head?'
Ones belief concerning the Christ is SUI
premey controlling. If Jesus was a mere
man he is not entitled to worship; for to
worship man is the worst type of idolatry
If, on the other hand he is very God as well
as very man, and died for our redemption he
is worthy of the most loving alteration and
the most self-saerifcing obedience. St.
Pauls creed concerning Christ moved the
apostle to say, Il crucifed with Christ
nevertheless I live; yet not l. but Christ liy-
i
the flesh live by the faith Of the Son of
God, who loves me and gave himself for
me- Galatians ii:20). And again, Il count
all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for
whom l have suffered the loss of all things
and do count them but refuse that [ NAV
win Christ, and be found in him, not having
mine own righteousness which is of the law
! but that which Is through the faith of Christ
! the righteousness which Is of God by faith;
! that [ may know him, and the power of his
resurrection, and the fellowship of his suf-
terings, being made conformable unto his
death; II by any means I might attain unto
the resurrection of the dead philippians iii:
SLID. Paul's loyalty to Christ was not the
product Of creedlessness
What sort of loyalty to the personal
Christ" can spring from misty or mistaken
belief concerning the nature of His person
atty? What kind of Christian unity can
arise from uncertain opinions about Him who
is the author and fnisher of our faith?"
The Christian name would never have been
| framed, if the church at Antioch had not
held very definite creed concerning their
Lord and ours. The followers of our Saviour
were first called Christians at Antioch when
the Antiochans perceived that the disciples
Worsh1ped Him as the Messiah, the Son of the
living God. (Acts xxv:28.) If they had
accepted him as the mere man, Jesus, they
would have been called Jesusites or Jesuits.