Treading Hallowed Ground
It is well-nigh impossible to compress into words the inspiring, awesome feelings that surge through the soul as one studies from the original source documents themselves, here in old Europe, the Reformation background of this last-day, world-wide advent movement that the readers of this journal love so much, and to the consummation of which their lives are pledged.
To search through the giant libraries of these lands where God's worthies of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries first fought their way out from darkness to light by the sword of the inspired, prophetic Word, to hold in one's hands and to read, in the quaint, difficult diction of the times, the very documents that overturned mighty ecclesiastical strongholds and put their robed armies to flight, makes an impression that can never be forgotten.
The animated movements of spiritual forces, divine and malign, pass in panorama before the mind. The great controversy is reenacted, not as a dead record of things long past, but as a living spectacle of things that never die, that are more real than many of the things that crowd the Jives of men today. Yes, it is a moving thing, stirring the truth lover to the very depths of his soul. It is hallowed ground.
There were indeed "giants in those days"—giants in courage and conviction, giants in skill and strength, and in cutting their way through thick darkness and tenacious error. They were giants intellectually, who rediscovered the forgotten trail, well-nigh obliterated by the concealing undergrowth and tragic debris of the Dark Ages. They were God's worthies, used in the hour of humanity's dire need and of divine Providence. They did a marvelous work, deserving of and receiving our profoundest admiration.
Not only did they bring certain evangelical principles to light from dark obscurity and gross perversion, but, beginning then to find their place on God's great prophetic calendar, they laid to an amazing degree the foundations of sound, historic, prophetic interpretation, the unassailable principles and facts of which have been cherished and buttressed by the succeeding generations, and which are the cherished heritage and prized possession of the advent movement today. Our debt to the Reformers can never be paid. We can only pledge to carry on to completion the work they so nobly began. And this we do, by the grace of God.
L. E. F.
Old World Evangelism
It is highly desirable that we understand the Old World problem of evangelism as affected by the union of church and state. This presents a situation unknown and impossible, for instance in a land like America. Here—across the Atlantic, where this is written—the church is not simply a spiritual organization. Rather, it is a national institution, supported by the state, and rooted back in the centuries. The state church is the largest private property owner in the realm, second only to the crown; and this property is all controlled by the ecclesiastical commissioners. The great historical Abbey and Cathedral, for example, are not simply churches for worship. They are the tangible embodiment of the nation's life and historic achievement. These are the places where kings are crowned and the mighty of the realm are buried. They are national shrines for perpetuating the spirit and essence of art, letters, statesmanship, and martial exploit. So the illustrious dead lie buried here, and stately likenesses, chiseled in marble, adorn the ornate halls.
These impressive churchly structures are symbols of the national life and greatness. Justly famous national institutions, they represent not only a historic continuity, but a splendor of ritual that gratifies the senses, and that could not obtain in the simple, spiritual world. This not only ministers to national pride, but it gives an instinctive feeling of stability and security, of pedigree and seemingly tangible connection with the authentic and authoritative in the spiritual realm.
All others are sects, outside the pale of the recognized. They are simply tolerated. They exist, but have no recognized part in national life and movement. Even the Wesleyans, with their heritage spanning two centuries, scarcely enter this inner national picture where the state church is supreme.
Consequently, a small unrecognized sect, with an unpopular truth, and commissioned to lay bare the futility of the very things that minister to this national pride and security, and having no historic shrines to offer and no great state connections to give a sense of antiquity, permanence, or visible power and security, has an inherent handicap in approach that must be recognized and reckoned with. The press and radio are, of course, influenced by such considerations. So the handicaps are pronounced and far-reaching.
But over against all this, as a mighty adjunct to the gospel herald, is that divinely implanted dissatisfaction of the human heart with mere form and ritual, and that longing for a truly spiritual life and satisfaction that is to be found only in the simplicity of a humble church having a living connection with Christ and ministering adequately to the spiritual needs of men. Therefore, to strip away the one and not provide the other creates a futile and disappointing situation. Ours must be a message of power, one that brings deliverance from sin. Any other approach is hollow, inadequate, and disappointing.
And deep in the heart of multitudes lies a sincere passion for truth, which recognizes and follows truth that is clearly and winsomely presented in its divinely appointed, spiritual setting. There is an innate consciousness that something is wrong, that the alluring authority of antiquity does not necessarily imply divine wisdom, truth, and power, and that ornate splendor is incomparable to the simplicity of the apostolic form in worship.
Sincere truth lovers in every age have broken with mere historic connections to follow light and to obey the call of conscience. And such are doing so today, and will continue to do so. With a divine commission behind us, and with a divine objective before us, with a message from God burning within us, and with prophetic fulfillment enforcing our public presentation with ever-increasing witnesses, our work and witness should take on a force, a power, and an effectiveness commensurate with this time of the outpouring of the latter rain. As divine power is added to the human effort of faith, nothing can stay its results. So it is well for us to know our problem, and courageously to prosecute our task.
L. E. F.
