15. CONDITIONS IN THE LATTER DAYS 63

But our immediate purpose is not so much to decide the merits of the controversy between the modern man and the ancient faith, as to note with impartial scrutiny the leading characteristics of these new movements, and to compare them with the prophetic Scriptures cited above. In so doing, our plan will be, not to give our own appreciation of those movements, for that (however fairly it might be done) would be open to question and suspicion; but to let the leaders and accredited mouthpieces of the several movements state, in their own words, the essential features of each.

While conducting this examination, we are to keep in mind the substance of the predicted condition of human affairs at "the time of the end," which is briefly:--

1. That an era of great industrial expansion was to come.

2. That this era would culminate in a monstrous monopoly, or organization of world-wide scope.

3. That this coming system should embrace, regulate, and control both the secular and the religious interests of mankind, being at once commercial and ecclesiastical.

4. That the basic principle of this new economic and social order would be the divinity of humanity.

5. That this colossal system should be headed, at the time of its maximum development, by a man of transcendent genius, endowed with superhuman intelligence and abilities,—in short by a “Superman.”

We can sufficiently acquaint ourselves with the main characteristics of the present religious drift by examining the New Theology of Old England and the New Theology of New England.

It is a matter of regret that, in pursuing this inquiry, it becomes necessary to mention the names of certain men who are prominent in religious circles. The writer would much prefer to conduct the discussions in an impersonal manner, for his controversy is not with individuals, however mischievous their teachings, but wholly with the teachings themselves. For the former, his only wish is that God may grant them “repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil” (2 Tim. ii. 25, 26). But as for their doctrines, seeing that these are openly and directly opposed to all that is vital in “the doctrine of Christ” and in “the gospel of God concerning His Son,” the writer cannot do otherwise than denounce them as among the greatest of all the dangers that now menace the welfare of men.

The reader, therefore, is asked to remember that the names of prominent men are mentioned in these pages solely because they themselves have publicly identified their names with the doctrines which we have undertaken to examine.

EXTRAVAGANCES OF "NEW THEOLOGY" 65

THE NEW THEOLOGY OF OLD ENGLAND

The term "New Theology" has become quite familiar of late through the very general interest aroused by a book published under that name, whose author is Rev. R. J. Campbell, pastor of the London City Temple. It would seem, however, that much more attention has been paid to certain extravagant utterances, found here and there in the book, than to the leading features of the doctrine set forth therein. These occasional extravagant utterances appear to me to be the expression rather of the author's exuberant disposition, than of his sober thought; and, for that reason, we should be misled if we were to take them (as many of his critics have done) as stating material parts of the doctrine of the New Theology. Very few religious leaders, teachers, and theologians would care to associate themselves with the extreme statements in which Mr. Campbell occasionally indulges.

On the other hand, Mr. Campbell declares, and truthfully, that while he may have been the first to formulate the distinctive teachings of the "New Theology," those teachings did not originate with him, but, on the contrary, are to be found in, and constitute the essence of, the forward movements now occurring in every part of Christendom. He points out, and it cannot be successfully denied, that the same doctrines in substance, however named and in whatever terms they may be formulated, are flourishing and spreading in the Church of Rome, in the Church of England, in French Protestantism, in Lutheranism, and in the Congregational and other Evangelical Churches of England and America. In all these divisions of Christendom "the same attitude is being taken by many who are not even aware that the name New Theology is being applied to it." (p. 13).

First, let it be noted that the New Theology is accurately described as a "movement." It is not a systematized body of stable doctrine, but is a theology in process of formation, undergoing constant and rapid change in its forms and details, and hence is recognizable only by its essential and relatively stable features. It is not a platform upon which one might find standing ground for his religious conceptions, but an inclined plane, down which those who commit themselves to it are rapidly sliding to conclusions whereof the leading characteristics may be easily discerned.

The main feature of the theology propounded by Mr. Campbell is a special variety of the doctrine of Divine Immanence. Mr. Campbell labours hard (and to little purpose) to distinguish his special kind of Divine Immanence from other varieties of that doctrine; but this distinction, if it exists, is of no real importance. The quotations given below will show how thoroughly Mr. Campbell identifies God with man, and man with God, leaving between them