Christianity Is Not Sinking from A Conviction to A Curiosity!

Radio Record, Volume X, Issue 7, 28 August 1936, Page 7

Christianity Is Not Sinking from A Conviction to A Curiosity!

HE religious faculty is a part of human nature. Man, it is often said, is a praying animal. Barbarous or civilised, all people believe in an unseen world and in unseen beings, and it would .seem that the idea of sacrifice and marriage belong to the whole human race and are furniture for the human mind everywhere. All this is called natural religion. If anyone thinks that this natural religion will ever be eliminated from human nature, he speculates so daringly that he.

may be called fatuous. We believe the future of natural religion is as secure as that of human nature. a But revealed religion, Christianity?’ What of that? Now, St. John taught and Christians believe that Judaism, Bhuddism and the others have all some of "the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into-the world," but that Christianity alone in the complete sense is revealed religion. Our question, then, is what in face of the many changes in the modern world is likely to be the future. of Christianity? One evening at an Oxford College function, Walter Pater took into dinner a young girl. who Was afterward Mrs. Humphrey Ward. Wishing to ingratiate herself with- the famous don she said, "I suppose, Mr, Pater, that in three or four generations no intellectual people will call themselves Christians." Turning to her, he said gravely, "Well. you see. there

gte those words, ‘Come until Me,.all that are weary ani laden, and I will give you rest.’ They have to be "explained, you know. They always will have to be eaplained." ‘Was He who said those words a monomaniac or God manifest in the flesh? The effect He has had upon the world, an effect which srows with the centuries,. is all against the theory of mono- : mania ) a ae

PAA OAL EARERG RRA 6 6SDCUSBVUISTOLL) Him, a constant use of the first personal pronoun, ‘a ‘self assertion far removed . from saintliness. If He is only a man, He is not a good one. .Christians accept the other alternative, The future of Christianity, in short, depends on ‘the fortunes of the doctrine of the Incarnation, that Jesus is God visiting and redeeming His world. And when I see the ° amazing. victories of Christianity, in spite of opposition. of . all sorts, in .India ang China and Africa to-day as well as its tremendous influence all over Europe’ and America, I cannot think this doctrine of the Incarnation is losing -its hold on the world.

Kt does not seem to me that the war and: the’: economic * depression have made much difference ‘ * to this. It is possible to exaggerate the effect: of: external circumstances in the lives of ‘souls. : Lord Mosley had opinions on the future of It is discouraging to notice the bitterness in the- words of so noble a man. "We will

not attack you,": he says. to Christians, "we. will explain you. History will place .you and your ‘dogma’ in its: class above or below a hundred:cenpeting dogmas exactly : as the naturalist classifies -his: species. i From being a,conviction,; it’ Wili sink toa curiosity,’ from; being a guide .to. millions. of; human life, it will dwindle -to'a.chap-. ter in a book."’ ‘That? is just the sort: of- sentiment + that, the early Christians had ‘to’ Jisten | to as may. ‘be seen: in, ;the ‘controversy between : Oregar iand Celsus, just the sort’ of \oppo‘sition that is to be.found in the large amount of -ubbeliéf which flourished: underground ' in the so-called Ages of: Faith. John Mosley merely repeats the (Continued on.next-page.), .

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prognostications of Yoltaire, who in his day, too, thought Christianity dying, though a. hundred years after his day, the Bible Society made his house a depdt for the sale of its literature,. . No: Christianity is not sinking from a conviction a curiosity. It is ‘to-day, and I think will always: remain, 2 conviction to the millions who accept it, a conviee tion robust, affeeting mightily human lives and histories as it ever has done. Lord Mosley aiso foretells.the rise of study of Comparative Religion; that is useful. It has taken place; Christianity is now seen alongside other religions, but the unique character of Christianity is all: the more apparent, One more name-Arnold Bennett says, "In my opinion at this.time of day it is absolutely impossible for 2 young .man with a. first-class intellectnal apparatus to accept any form of dogma, and I am therefore forced to the conclusion that Mr. Chesterton has not.a first-class. intellectual apparatus." That.is frank, anyhow. It is the most dogmatie denial of dogma: I have ever seen or expect to see. Now who do Mrs. Humphrey Ward, Lord Mosley: and Arnold Bennett and, I may add, Aldous Huxley, Bertrand Russell and H. G. Wells speak for? Themselves alone. ° All unbelievers do. They have no society to represent, no strength which comes from cooperation to back them up. They do ein

not agree in this ‘unbelief, some have more, some less. They are at sixes and sevens, complete individuals. Against them all, all the time, all down the ages, there is a society which believes that it was created by God, and is organised by God for the purpose of. propagating His truth. for ever. The Church! What visible living thing in this world is more august? To me unbelief has never had-a chance. This highly organised society has one origin which is the day of Pentecost; one form of government by bishops, priests, deacons, one body of truth enshrined in creed, one set of sacraments conveying life from the head to the members. There may be family quarrels, but it remains the family of God from the. beginning till the present day. I see no sign that it is perishing in any of the continents it overspreads. I have not here discussed the effect of the war and the depression and the changes in the world on the attendances at churches, or the length of sermons, or the amount of ceremonial there should be in worship, or the supply of candidates for Holy Orders, or .ecclesiastical finance, but only the continued existence of Christianity. Of that continued existence Christians are convinced because it has been so organised by its Founder that "the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. They are convinced of the permanence of this religion also because it answer certain questions which otherwise would be left unanswered. Why am I here? What is the meaning of human life? Why should I do right? "Where am I _ going? Christians do not find that the best minds are content to leave individual

human life without significnnce, without a context, without. an ultimate aim. They find and always will find the answer to many fundamental problems in Jesus Christ and His Church,