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2<)2 THE PRESBYTERIA
CHRISTIANITY AND THE SOCIAL CRISIS.*
By Rev. E. C. Gordon, D. D.
Much that Professor Rauschenbusch has to say about
the social impetus of primitive Christianity, chapter III,
about the failure of the Church to reconstruct human
society, chapter IV, is true and well worth the consideration
of God's people now. That alien forces have
impeded the exercise of the moral and spiritual forces
inherent in Christianity will not be denied by any intelligent
Church historian. None too ?nnn can tla? rii..r,-i.
shake itself loose from these alien forces. But our
author is woefully mistaken when he asserts "that all
the causes which have hitherto neutralized the social
efficiency of Christianity have strangely disappeared or
weakened in modern life", p. 201. According to his own
account, these causes were a hostile civil government, a
hostile idolatrous civilization, a millennial hope, a belief
that demon powers ruled society, asceticism and
innnacfio pntlmciocm ?- i ^1 ?^*.1 .? 1
^ ^..wiuoiujiu, uuiai supciMinuii, a dogmatic
bent acquired from Greek intellectualism, union of
Church and State, the lack of political rights and interests
among the masses of the people, the disappearance
of the original democratic spirit in Church organization,
the lack of a scientific comprehension of society. See
p. 199.
In the United States and France the union of Church
and State has been formally abolished; some, a few, of
these other causes have been to some extent, weakened.
Nowhere 011 earth have all these cause been weakened
to any considerable extent. Nowhere on earth, except
as to the formal union of Church and State in the
United States and in France, has any one of them
...U~ 11? A'. ? T .... -
wmmy uisappearea. in most countries all of these
forces, except a millennial hope, are as powerful as they
were in the first four Christian centuries. Nearly everywhere,
in one form or another, these alien forces have
to be met and overcome by the Church, if by its own
organic development it is to reconstruct the whole of
human life. Our author, with evident reference to our
own highly favored country, asserts that, "the industrial
and commercial life today is dcyninated by principles
antagonistic to the fundamental principles of Christianity,
and it is so difficult to live a Christian life in the
midst of it that few men even try," pp. 340, 341. Was it
any worse than this in primitive Christian times?
There is little calling for criticism in chapter V, on
"The Present Crisis." The chief facts are clearly and
luitciuuy siaiea. 1 lie alternative now presented to the
Church, our author tells us, is "either a revival of social
religion or the deluge," p. 286; that "the only hope is in
the moral forces that can be summoned to the rescue.
If there are statesmen, prophets, and apostles who set
truth and justice above selfish advancement; if their
call finds a response in the great body of the people; if
a new tide of religious faith and moral enthusiasm
creates new standards of duty and a new capacity for
self-sacrifice?then the entrenchments of vested wrong
will melt away * * * and a regenerate nation will look
with the eyes of youth across the fields of the future,"
p. 285.
Doubtless; but the "if" is a huge one. Another may
be found on p. 341. Some of us, sustained, as we earn
estly believe, by the revealed will of God, have no faith
in the fulfilment of these mighty conditions save by
<iivinc interpositions outside the organic development
fl ' I
N OF THE SOUTH. March 9, 1910.
of society. Take away our hope of some divine interpositions,
and we arc constrained to accept our author's
other alternative, the deluge.
In chapter VI, we have a discussion of "The Stake
of the Church in the Social Movement." It is a labored
arpument to show that. "If societv continues to disinte
grate and decay, the Church will be carried down with
it," p. 341. The mistake of our author is that he regards
the Church only as "a great social institution, deeply
rooted in the common life of humanity," p. 287; whereas
it is in fact also a supernatural institution deeply rooted
in the regenerated life of God's people. The Church, he
argues, holds property, needs income, employs men.
Therefore, whatever affects property and employment
will affect the Church. This is true; but it does not
follow that, if human society, as it is now organized,
as it is now developing, perishes, the Church will also
perish. Our Lord has told us, that "the gates of Hades
shall not prevail against it." We believe Him. Our
author tells us, "there are only two possibilities. Tlje
C hurch must condemn the world and seek to change it,
or tolerate it and conform to it," p. 342. There is a
third possibility, which will be actualized. It may fulfil
it? 1 1 *
IUI331UU ami iet l^nrist condemn tlie Jr
world and change it when He comes.
In answer to his question, "What to Do," chapter
VII, Professor Rauschenbusch tells us that it will be /
fruitless to return to former industrial conditions; to /
adopt Mosaic institutions; to look forward to a millent"
nium; to found communistic societies; to have tlvl*
Church undertake the management of social machinery.
To all this his present critic gives a very hearty assent.
He also tells us that, "we must repent of theVsins of
existing society, cast off the spell of the lies protte^tmg
our social wrongs, have faith in a higher social orcfoy^. _
and realize in ourselves a new type of Christian manhood
which seeks to overcome the evil in this present
% *
world, not by withdrawing from the world, but by revolutionizing
it," p. 412.
Waiving the questions as to the ability of individuals
to repent of society's sins; and of the ability of the
penitents, after they have realized that new type of
Christian manhood, not to withdraw from the world
when the powerful hand of death is laid upon them, we
may again assent to all that the author says must needs
be done with respect to repentance, and the realization
of a new type of Christian manhood that will revolutionize
the world. The great question is: How, by
means of what forces and agencies, are these most desirable
things to be secured? Professor Rauschenbusch
rmnhasirpc rru~ ?*
r 1'ic puipit, naving acquired adequate
information must discuss questions of public morality;
must refrain from imposing on individuals the guilt
which belongs rather to society at large ; must side with
the lost impartially; must abstain from political partisanship
and deal with moral questions before they become
political issues. See pages 412, 413. The pulpit must
also urge the supremacy of life over property; must promote
a PhrictJor. * ?
- ociimiient tnat can and will protect
good customs and institutions from ruthless greed;
must show that society rests largely on the stewardship
of delegated powers; must expose the wickedness
of converting stewardship into ownership; must call
recreant stewards back to their duty, Ibid.
This is a pretty big job. If all, or even a large major