21. "HUMANISM" OUR GREATEST WORD

(Rom. iii. 14-17); that all, even the regenerate, were once "living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another" (Titus iii. 3); being "alienated and enemies in their minds by wicked works" (Col. i. 21). And the Lord Jesus summed up the "essential nature" of the world in three words, "Me it hateth" (John vii. 7).

Or, if the essential nature of men of these times is love, it is in the sense stated in 2 Tim. iii. 2-4, namely, that men are lovers of their own selves, lovers of money, and lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.

The statement that "Humanism is our greatest word," and that "the phenomenal world of man" is "the greatest fact that we know," exalts man and his world to the highest place. God has magnified His word above all His Name (Ps. cxxxviii. 2); but man has now a greater word in "Humanism"; and the work of God in creation, and the mediatorial work of Christ Jesus in Redemption and Reconciliation by the Blood of His Cross, must now (if these be facts at all) take a subordinate place to that which is "the greatest fact we know," namely, the "world of man." But against this there are some who, though they be persons accounted of no importance in the "world of man," can yet say "the phenomenal world of man" is not the greatest fact that we know. 'We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may KNOW HIM THAT IS TRUE" (1 John v. 20).

The "world of man," then, comes into the central place of the New Theology of New England. That world of gigantic industrial projects and achievements, which awe the imagination of Man, its creator, and impel him to the worship of himself as divine; that world which is the enemy of God and the hater and murderer of Christ, becomes the centre of a religious system, supported and extolled by the preachers it so liberally patronizes. We thus find ourselves again at the confluence of the two great currents of Business and Religion, and see all things preparing for that prodigy which is to result from this fusion of abominations. And Dr. Gordon fittingly concludes his article in these notable words:

"Let us, so says Humanism, hold to the reality and worth of man's world, and use it as our surest instrument in our endeavour to ascertain the character of the Eternal."

Not so spoke the New England Theology of bygone days. Knowledge of the Father, according to that teaching, was to be had only through the Son. The words of the Lord Jesus Christ were taken to be conclusive as to that. "I am the Way. No man cometh unto the Father, BUT BY ME." "He that hath seen Me

WHOSE VOICE IS THIS?

hath seen the Father." "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me" (John xiv. 6, 9, 11). "Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him" (Matt. xi. 27). And concerning "the world of man" to which the New Theology refers us for knowledge of God, Christ said, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you" (John xv, 18, 19). But the New Theology sets aside the revelation which God has given of Himself in the Incarnate Word and in the Written Word, and proclaims that the surest instrument we have for ascertaining His character is "man's world." It calls upon men to hold fast to that which God has judged, and which He will utterly destroy. Those who follow this voice are not the sheep of the Good Shepherd; "for they know His voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers" (John x. 4, 5). Whose voice then is it? They who truly know God through believing His Word will instantly recognize in this exhortation that other voice to which the mother of human kind hearkened, and by means of which man was lured into the path of destruction. With what infinite subtlety has this masterpiece of deception been prepared! Surely we have here the very "depths of Satan" (Rev. ii. 24). For we must admit that the character of the workman may be, to some extent at least, ascertained from the study of his work; and God Himself tells us that His invisible things, even His eternal power and Godhead, are to be clearly seen from the creation of the world, being understood by the things that are made (Rom. i. 20). The "phenomenal world of man" may, therefore, be indeed scrutinized for the purpose of ascertaining the character of the power that is back of it; but the power back of it is not the eternal power and Godhead of the Almighty God, but that of the prince of the power of the air, who is spoken of in Ephesians ii. 2, where we read that we all in time past walked "according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the Spirit that now works in the children of disobedience." But unhappily the people have not been taught the important truth that Satan is the prince (ἄρχων, i.e. ruler or governor) of this world, and the god of this age. On the contrary, they have been generally taught that God is the instigator of the "career of humanity," and that He is aiding and admiring the progress of man's wonderful civilization. Thus, in their ignorance of the truth which the Bible so clearly states, they are exposed to the danger of heeding and following such an exhortation as that quoted above. Those who follow that exhortation A RELIGIOUS UPHEAVAL would indeed be led to the god of this world; and it has been the design of that mighty being since the creation of man to attach the latter to himself.

Two voices out of the realm of the unseen speak to humanity. One voice says, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away and the lust thereof" (1 John ii. 15-17). The other voice says,

"Let us hold to the reality and worth of man's world, and use it as our surest instrument in our endeavour to ascertain the character of the Eternal."

We need only put these sayings side by side in order to make it clear to all who are not hopelessly deceived, that if one saying is the voice of God, the other is that of Satan.

In dwelling at this length upon Dr. Gordon's discourse, we have not attached undue importance to it;

for its significance does not proceed wholly from the prominence of its author, or the prominence of the pulpit occupied by him, but mainly from the fact that it affords a good indication of the profound change which has taken place in the religious thought, not of

New England merely, but of a much wider area, and an indication also of the complacency with which that change is viewed by the religious multitude, and by those from whom the latter take their opinions. It shows, moreover, that the new theological system, which has already, to a great extent, replaced the old New England Theology, corresponds in its essential features with the Ecclesiastical Commercialism described in prophecy as the culmination of the unrestrained (i.e. democratic) activities of mankind.

With all that Dr. Gordon says touching the nature and extent of the change that has taken place, the present writer is in substantial accord. Dr. Gordon has not overstated the magnitude of the event. But the writer takes issue with Dr. Gordon as to the character and result of the change. Dr. Gordon calls it "progress." The writer calls it "apostasy."

"LOOKING FOR THE GENIUS"

But the great system, religious industrialism, or "Humanism," of which Dr. Gordon is one of the heralds, will require a leader capable of grasping its huge and complicated affairs; and so it is quite fitting that another article, in the same periodical from which we have so extensively quoted, should voice the general expectancy which exists in many quarters, of the coming of the great genius, the "Superman." We should not forget that the world has its hope as the Christian has his. And the world's hope is well founded, for Christ not only said, "I will come again," LOOKING FOR THE GENIUS but He also said, "Another shall come in his own name."

We quote the concluding words of this second article, as follows:—

"And we still wait for THE GENIUS who shall state our fundamental faith in accordance with that insight which the modern man has gained."

And they who are waiting for the genius shall not wait in vain. The genius will surely come, and his statement of faith will be one to which all that dwell upon the earth will give heed whose names are not written in the book of life of the slain Lamb.

"Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of Man."

"MODERNISM" OR ADVANCED THEOLOGY IN THE CHURCH OF ROME

Already we have seen phenomena which, if their significance were fully grasped, would be startling. We have seen ancient systems, which seemed to have settled down to a condition of permanent lethargy and stagnation, suddenly stirring themselves and exchanging the condition of rest for one of motion. Beholding these strange events, a judicious and competent observer (Dr. Broda) declared that "never before in the history of mankind have the forces of religion suffered so great a convulsion"; and he speaks of this general uprising as "the religious crisis through which all the civilized races are now passing."

But not only is this general stirring a new and unprecedented thing; but, stranger still, we have seen that the moving bodies (so far as we have examined them) are actuated by a common impulse, impelled by common ideals, and are advancing towards a common destination.

Let us look now in quite another section of the great religious field; namely, to the large and important domain occupied by Roman Catholicism.

Those who pay any attention at all to current events (and the number of these is not great) have become fairly familiar with the headway which Rationalism ("the leaven of the Sadducees," who were the rationalists of Christ's day¹) has made in the various Protestant denominations, and as the result of which a large number of the theological seminaries have come into the hands of those who deny the essentials of the Christian faith. But the affairs of the Church of Rome are managed more discreetly, insomuch that its dissensions and other domestic troubles are in large measure guarded from outsiders, and such heretical movements as may spring up within it do not come prominently, if at all, into public notice. But there is at the present time a movement in

¹ Acts xxiii. 8.

A SENSATIONAL MOVEMENT progress within the domain of the Church of Rome, a movement solely of Romanists who have no thought whatever of separating from their Church, and which is so formidable, so portentous, so radical in its aims, and is gathering strength and boldness at so prodigious a rate, that its existence cannot be concealed. The movement, indeed, is one of the sensations of the times, there having been, in all the long and varied career of that great ecclesiasticism, nothing in the faintest degree resembling it. This movement is such as to have shaken to its very centre the system in which it is taking place. It seems not to be possible to expel from the fold those who are participating in it; but the movement has called forth the thunders of the Vatican in the form of an Encyclical letter, for which it would be difficult to find an equal in length, in weightiness of subject-matter, and in the vehemence and extremity of the denunciatory language employed in it. Yet the movement is so strong, self-confident, and defiant, that its leaders dare to publish the Pope's Encyclical as an "appendix" to a volume in which they set forth their own principles and purposes. This movement is called "Modernism," and the name is an indication of its character. If the movement were wholly detached and entirely unrelated to any other of the current movements, it would still be of great interest and importance. But what lends it interest of a surpassing character is the fact that its essential principles and avowed purposes are identical in substance with those of the other great movements of the day, with which it has no apparent connection, and that it is hence a movement designed to carry the Church of Rome bodily in the direction of that very commercial ecclesiasticism which is the subject of our present investigation.

Nor would this result be so difficult of accomplishment as might at first sight appear. The aim of the Church of Rome has always been temporal power and authority. It is already a political ecclesiasticism, aspiring to primacy in all the affairs, — secular, domestic, and religious—of all mankind. It has, moreover, a head to whom unique authority and power are ascribed. In fact, the form and machinery for the great Consolidation of the end-times are already in existence. What stand chiefly in the way of applying these externals to the fulfilment of the dream of “the modern man,” are certain doctrines—remnants or distortions of the faith once delivered unto the saints—which are still insisted upon as essential features of the creed of Romanism. These must be removed before the Church of Rome is ready for a part in the formation of the great Religious Syndicate; and it is precisely for this, that is to say, for the removal of the obstructing doctrines, that the movement called “Modernism” has been inaugurated. This is not a matter of inference on our part, for the Modernists plainly and definitely THE ANCIENT SYSTEM SHAKEN state their purpose, as we shall presently see. They could, of course, go outside the Church of Rome and be entirely free to hold and preach their doctrines—that is, the doctrines of “the modern man.” But that would not accomplish their avowed purpose, for which it is absolutely necessary that they should remain in “the Church”; so in the Church they propose to remain.

There is, therefore, nothing transpiring at the present day which is more significant of the drift of the times, or which speaks more solemnly and clearly of the approaching convulsion which is to remove all the things that can be shaken (Heb. xii. 27), than this extraordinary movement within the bosom of the Church of Rome. It is startling indeed to find in that quarter the new ideas of Democracy, the Supremacy of Human Reason, the Solidarity of Mankind (embracing those without “the Church” as well as those within); to find the authority of “Science” exalted above the Word of God; and to find this group of ideas gathering force to an extent that threatens to sweep that ancient system (i.e. Romanism) away from the seemingly secure moorings which have attached it for so many centuries to scholasticism and the old traditions. The book from which we will quote in order to show the nature and purposes of this movement, is entitled The Programme of Modernism, written originally in Italian, and translated into English by “Father”

Tyrrell, an English priest, and one of the prominent leaders of the movement.

The authors refer at the outset (p. 5) to "the ideals which govern the activity of THE WORLD to-day, and which are Christian in substance." The Modernists, therefore, start with a "world" whose controlling ideals are in substance "Christian." It would seem that no greater abuse of the word "Christian" were possible than to apply it to the ideals which govern the activity of the world to-day, which activity finds its outlet almost exclusively in the pursuit of wealth and pleasure. But the significance of this statement lies in its association of religion and business, which are to be harmonized and unified in the coming Consolidation of human interests. Concerning the old foundations of the Christian faith the Modernists are very explicit, saying:—

"The pretended bases of faith have proved themselves rotten beyond cure."

The meaning of this admits of no doubt; and, coming from Romanists, it is equivalent to saying that the Bible and Church tradition (these being the bases of the faith of Rome) have proved themselves rotten beyond cure.

The reader will recall that this is the starting-point of the New Theology, namely, the discovery that the old foundations are unable to sustain an edifice of faith adapted to the needs of "the modern man,"