Article February 25, 1905 Issue

From our Exchanges

with contributions from Lyman Abbott, Josiah Strong

Doubtless there are Christians who are lacking in spirituality, and the defect is a grave one. "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." The very gravity of the deficiency should make us slow to bring the charge. It is one of the many cases where we do well to remember the words of our Lord Jesus, how he said, "Judge not." Especially should we be slow to bring an accusation of such seriousness against a fellow Christian because he differs from us in his views of doctrine. Nothing is more common than this. A man has a decided opinion concerning inspiration, and believes, as he has a perfect right to do, that his theory of inspiration is the only true one. Is it true that no one can be truly spiritual who refuses to accept this theory? As Baptists we believe certain things with reference to the proper mode and subjects of baptism. Is the man who differs from us at this point necessarily an unspiritual man? Probably some would answer these questions in the affirmative, but such an answer is in direct contradiction of the facts. Pleasing as it might be to some, could we, as a denomination, furnish indubitable evidence that we have a monopoly of spiritual religion, the proof is lacking. Members of Presbyterian, Congregational, and Methodist churches; men and women whom we believe to be mistaken as to the matter of baptism, furnish ample evidence of their love for God and that they are led by His spirit in doing His work. Men who hold to a theory of inspiration differing sharply from our own may, and often do, give full proof that they have the mind of Christ. The fact is that we decide between the verbal and dynamic theories of inspiration, between immersion and sprinkling, according to apparent evidence; that is, with the intellect. A man may be mistaken and yet be not only honest, but profoundly spiritual. Is it not about time that professing Christians should stop indicting those who differ from them doctrinally as lacking in spirituality?

The Standard.

The old pagans put an image of God in the center of their church; Judaism took the image down and put the Bible in its place. To-day God's providence is taking the Bible out, as it took the old idol out, and is saying to us, You must go back of the image to the living faith, back of the Book to the experiences which the Book interprets. You must learn through the voice of Moses and David and Isaiah and Paul to come yourselves into the same presence of God into which they came, and listen to the same voice of God which they heard, and because of which they spoke. Lyman Abbott.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

From our Exchanges

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access