CONFESSION AND THE CHURCH

But what about the Church in all this moral confusion? More and more active, more and more prosperous, without having much effect upon the situation! What has become of that note of authority with which it formerly controlled in so great a measure the conduct of men? Well, it turns out to be a sort of spiritual bluff the Church put up, now no longer effective because men have learned how to think.

This is a dangerous discovery in view of the fact that we do not know enough or fear enough to think righteously. But less than at any time for the last two thousand years are we listening to the voice of the preachers. It is they who have their ear to the ground listening to the rumbling demands of the world. They are cats fighting over modernism.

I do not know what a modernist is, but my impression is that it is an element in the ministry of some churches anxious to accommodate its members and keep them cordial by yielding to their demands for less piety and more diversion. One pastor has introduced the ‘sacred dance’ about his church altar and quotes David’s example as his justification. David was a great singer, but not a good man. This preacher might take another man’s wife as David took Uriah’s and be quite as plausible in his contention.

The Methodist Church has just lifted the ban on worldly amusements for its members. And we are just now getting the news of a fine old bishop about to be tried for heresy who strode into the court of bishops accompanied by his radical lawyer. He looks as queer and out of drawing as Socrates must have appeared going off with that young rascal Alcibiades to make a night of it!

What I mean is that the Church is losing its dignity and authority as a holy institution. The debacle was inevitable, because its oppressive methods over the minds and imaginations of men were at variance with the wisdom of God. His Word was split into doctrines and creeds. No one denomination of us could use the whole of it. The plan of salvation varied according to the Church to which you belonged, and the doctrines by which we were to be damned varied even more. A good deal was taught concerning deliverance from sin, and nothing much was proved concerning freedom in Christ, which is the whole thing.

Jesus was of all men the mildest and tenderest in his relation to men, but the prelates, dignitaries, and princes of all the churches with which I am familiar have been overbearing either in their own personal character or in their interpretation of the will of God. This was their method during the Church’s period of power to frighten men into the Kingdom of Heaven, as now during its decline we find the disposition to coax people into the Church by offering indulgences.

There is no warrant in the Scriptures for such practices. They contain the laws of righteousness, the rules of living set down plain enough for a wayfaring man to understand. We are left free to enjoy the rewards of our virtues and to suffer the consequences of our transgression. The rest is silence. This is where the Church made its mistake--too much preaching and terrorizing, not enough teaching of just the Word. Now we have the reaction.