19. THE DISCARDED DOCTRINES

unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits; get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us" (Is. xxx. 9-11).

Here, then, is Dr. Gordon's description of the theology of the old New England preachers which, he says, has collapsed:—

"These thinkers without exception held the Sovereignty of God, whether construed as including or not including the fall; they held to the innate depravity of mankind; they traced this universal condition of the race to the sin of the first man; . . . they were agreed that without atonement there was no forgiveness of sin, and that this necessary atonement had been made by Jesus Christ; they were united in the belief that the Holy Spirit is essential to the conversion and regeneration of man, that till the Spirit's influence descends upon him man is helpless in the presence of his moral obligation; that when the divine grace comes it is irresistible; . . . and they were unanimous in their conviction that true believers in Jesus Christ will persevere to the end and be saved with an everlasting salvation."

While Dr. Gordon's definitions here given could be improved upon, it is nevertheless perfectly clear that he is attempting to describe the essential doctrines of the Bible, and that in saying that the theology whereof the above doctrines were the substance has collapsed, he is, in effect, saying that the teaching of the Bible has collapsed. In fact, one count in his indictment of the old New England preachers of Christ is that they were in bondage to a book.

He thus describes the attitude of these preachers of the old doctrines:—

"The attitude of indiscriminating reverence towards the Bible was, on the part of the New England divines, the inheritance of faith. They were in bondage to a book; and while it was the supreme book to which they were in bondage, the fact that here, in this greatest sphere of the free intellect, they had no dream of the function of the intellect, is another reason why their domain has passed away."

"Their ideal of the sphere of reason was a meagre and restricted ideal."

While the language used by Dr. Gordon is more guarded than that of Mr. Campbell, and while the former is more cautious than the latter in advancing his propositions, it is quite clear that their meaning is in substance the same. In the sentences just quoted we have the very clear statement that one of the mistakes of the old New England preachers was that they subordinated the human intellect to the Bible, instead of subordinating the Bible to the human intellect.

It will be observed that one of the prominent

THE BIBLE REPUDIATED characteristics of all these movements of the day is a determined effort to discredit the Bible, and to set aside its claim of authority over mankind. Democracy implies a state of freedom from all authority except that which is self-imposed. But this exception is really not an exception at all, since authority that is self-imposed is authority in name only. Mankind has so far carried into practice the theory of "self-government" (so called) that there is now, in the progressive countries of the world, no claim of authority to be reckoned with except that of the Bible. The voice of this troublesome book cannot apparently be silenced. Even in this progressive day its unwelcome demands sound in the ears of men. Its claim of absolute authority over the acts, and words, and even thoughts, of men is still heard, and its demand that they shall render to it implicit obedience as the unchangeable Word of the living God, has not yet been disposed of. Although men conduct theological seminaries equipped with learned professors, and employ the most gifted minds to teach and preach "the freedom of the human intellect," and to proclaim the end of the old order of submission to the Bible, nevertheless the voice of the latter has not yet been wholly stifled. This voice is now the chief, if not the only, remaining obstacle in the way of pure Democracy; and hence the tremendous efforts which have been, and yet are being, put forth to get rid of it. "That which restrains" must be first taken out of the way, and then shall that Lawless One be revealed (2 Thess. ii. 7, 8).

Moreover, the description which the Bible gives of the present era of confederation, of the great system in which it is to culminate, and particularly of the Superman who is to be its head, is so full and circumstantial, that these characters would be recognized by those who know the Scriptures the moment they appear upon the scene.

It is therefore essential to the success of Satan's last and greatest undertaking, that the way for it should be prepared by discrediting the Bible. This, doubtless, is the mission of the Higher Criticism, which, notwithstanding that the emptiness of its pretensions and worthlessness of its "results" have been thoroughly exposed, has nevertheless succeeded in spreading among the masses of church-goers and others the idea that the doctrine of an inspired and authoritative Bible has been discarded by all competent scholars; and that the few who cling to that antiquated notion are either ignorant, feeble-minded, or fanatical. It is for this purpose that we see arrayed against the authority of Scripture the imposing names of Science, Progress, Freedom of Intellect, Scholarship, and the like. These be the names of the modern Philistines which defy the armies of the living God.

WHAT CAUSED THE "COLLAPSE"

This work of the Higher Criticism and its allies has created an atmosphere in which it is possible for the apostles of the new theologies to proclaim the emancipation of the human intellect from "bondage to a book," and boldly to say to those in quest of the truth, "Never mind what the Bible says about this or that," thus cutting them off from the only deposit of Truth to which human beings have access.

In commenting upon the progress of the principles of Democracy among the nations of the world, it is worthy of mention that, since the writer began to put these notes into shape for publication, two events of great importance have taken place, by which those principles have been vastly extended. One of these is the curtailment of the autocratic power of the German Emperor, and the other is the establishment of popular government in Turkey.

II. THE EXPLANATION OF THE "COLLAPSE"

Having ascertained what the system is which, according to Dr. Gordon, has collapsed, we now look for the reasons advanced by him in explanation of that collapse. At first we would ask, Where has the change occurred which is responsible for the collapse? Not in the doctrine, of course, for that is changeless. It must be, then, that the people of the present generation are different, in radical respects, from those who accepted the old New England Theology. Yes, the change is in the people. The children are not as were their forefathers; and from what Dr. Gordon says about the freedom of the intellect in these advanced days, it is evident that the great change which accounts for the collapse of the New England Theology is one of an intellectual sort.

How, then, have the people changed intellectually—for the better or for the worse? Is it improvement, or deterioration? Let Dr. Gordon answer that question. He says:—

"This age is characterized by a strong aversion to severe thinking. Immediacy has become a habit, perhaps a disease."

That is to say, the people of the present time are impatient, restless, excitable, demanding instant results, shunning all processes of intellectual labour, requiring that even the news of the day be conveyed to them in large headlines, which can be taken in at a single glance of the eye. No one has time to think or to do anything that requires deliberation. Everybody is in a hurry to catch a train; and when they reach their destination the next question is, "Where shall we go?"

This is what Mr. Gordon means by "immediacy"; and he emphatically declares the intellectual state of the modern man to be such that immediacy is "a habit," and "perhaps a disease."

INTELLECTUAL DEGENERACY

He further says on this point:—

"There was in those days eagerness to attack and master a difficult subject, a keen interest in a matter that, in order to be understood, had to be read a score of times."

"To-day, whatever cannot be understood in the twinkling of an eye is generally regarded with aversion. The supreme heresy in thinking is the call to intellectual toil."

Such being the mental characteristics of this generation, it might be safely left to any honest and unbiassed mind to say whether we have not here a full and satisfactory explanation of the "collapse" of the New England Theology. Surely, in this shallowness, superficiality, and intellectual sloth which characterize the present day, and in the feverish pursuit of money and pleasure which absorbs its energies, is to be found an explanation fully adequate to account for the rapid development of that apostasy which Dr. Gordon regards as progress in religious thought.

Yet Dr. Gordon is so illogical, and so blind to conclusions which follow inevitably from his own premises, as to attribute the "collapse" of the New England Theology to its defective character when tested by the present-day standards of knowledge and morality. He says:—

"The chief cause of collapse must be found in the character of the ancient creed."

" It fell from power because it was found beneath the best religious consciousness of the time. It was found to be outgrown in two fundamental ways,—it was outgrown in knowledge and in ethical conceptions."

These are very weighty statements, and we will do well to grasp fully their import. The discarded doctrines, says Dr. Gordon,—which, be it remembered, are the essential Christian verities proclaimed by the Bible,—have been found to be beneath the best religious consciousness of the present time. This generation, having come to a knowledge of itself, has found that the "ancient creed" had been outgrown in two ways, both of them "fundamental," namely, (1) in knowledge and (2) in conceptions of righteousness. More simply stated, this generation is too learned and too good for the ancient creed. Therefore they have discarded it, and are demanding something nearer to their own high level. The Bible is outgrown by the modern man: in knowledge and in righteousness! Who says so? The modern man himself says so, and who is there to gainsay it?

This explanation demands a careful examination; and when examined it will be found to be saturated with the concentrated essence of the religion of Humanism. It involves two important assumptions—namely, first, that the popular taste is the final test of doctrine; and second, that man himself is his own saviour