"Things as they are " is the greatest enemy of " things as they ought to be."
Remember, one may keep the feet on the path, and never reach the goal.
Reformation without renewal is but a substitutionary expedient, a pseudo-movement.
Do we want quantity or quality?— a large popular church, or a smaller spiritual one? The distinction is fundamental.
As the gospel is infolded in the Old Testament and unfolded in the New, therefore, wherever our text, we are to preach the everlasting gospel.
Christ always related truth to life. His teachings were never simply academic or scholastic. They provided a way of living as well as constituting a way of truth.
What is the test of leadership nowadays? Is it spiritual power or managerial ability? business acumen or soul winning? generalship or piety? These are not opposites, but they are by no means synonyms. Let us not confuse them.
Education is not a matter of academic degrees, but of a trained mind. There are college-trained men who have little to commend them, save a degree. There are likewise many men without degrees who are highly educated. Never does one reach a saturation point in the matter of scholastic attainment.
The cleansing of the sanctuary in heaven must be paralleled by the individual work of cleansing God's people on earth.
No one's Christian experience will continue just on momentum, not even a worker's. There must be daily a fresh renewal of fellowship with the living Lord.
Jesus lived in the time of Jewish apostasy with its warring sects. But He held Himself to the constructive. Progress is the product of affirmation, not of negation.
Secularizing encroachments upon our Christian education are among the most ominous blights that can possibly smite the church. Let us resist every such deadly inroad.
Musicians are familiar with " grace notes." Let us as ministers not forget the grace notes in presenting the major themes of God's law, the judgment, coming retribution for sinners, and the like.
Beware of the old covenant pledge, " I promise to do thus and so." Rather, let our tests be, " I believe in," or, " I accept thus and so." This is basic in consideration of church covenants and tests of fellowship. The new covenant basis is the platform of this movement.
No man nor any body of men, however constituted, has the right to decide for another in a matter involving personal conscience. God still speaks to individuals. He still calls particular persons to particular responsibilities. Nothing must be permitted to break down this individual accountability.
L. E. F.
