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 New Theology and the Old. 
 
 BY / 
 
 ALEXANDER BEATTIE. 
 
 PRIVATELY PRINTED. 
 
 KIRKCALDY: 
 
 PRINTED BY THE ALLEN LITHOGRAPHIC COY., Limited. 
 
 1910. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Alexander Beattie, author of the following pages, was bom 
 in Kirkcaldy, on January 27th, 1825, thus his age while engaged 
 writing this book was 84. 
 
 He early made a stand for righteousness and truth. When 
 but a lad of fourteen, he made known his intentions of doing 
 what he could to help his fellowmen, and all along he has kept 
 to this resolve. His work has been chiefly in connection with 
 Total Abstinence, and he is known in his native town as the 
 u Grand Old Man of Temperance.” In the execution of this self- 
 imposed task, it may be deemed by some fastidious reader that 
 he has written too confidently, but, when it is known that he 
 has made the Bible his study for at least 70 years, we may be sure 
 that the Rev. R. J. Campbell’s attack on the fundamental truths 
 contained in it went to the author’s heart. He makes no apology 
 to critics or the public with respect to the execution of this work 
 as a literary performance : the book is not like a novel, penned to 
 please, but to convince, or, at least, induce the serious and 
 meditative public to consider. The book, therefore, is to be 
 viewed from this standpoint, as an earnest argument, addressed 
 to thoughtful people, on a subject of practical and pressing 
 moment. It is a picture of the subject sketched out as it 
 appears to the author’s own mind, affecting and convincing him. 
 He hopes it will also convince his many friends who will give it 
 their careful study, not for his sake, but for our national welfare, 
 by keeping pure our religion as it was handed down by our 
 forefathers. 
 
 S. H. B. 
 
 1 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In the summer of 1909, the following letter appeared in the 
 newspapers, and was one of a series discussing the “New 
 Theology.” I felt, after closing that discussion, I had still many 
 things to write; amongst others my personal experience of the 
 relation of God to man, and thus I was led on to write “The 
 New Theology and the Old.” 
 
 THE OLD THEOLOGY. 
 
 Sir,—M r. Jones, in your last issue, says, “When Mr. Beattie turns to forty, 
 as I have done, and has a few grey hairs in his head, he will doubtless come 
 to have a more genial opinion of the New Theology.” Many a man 
 has tried to measure Beattie, but never one missed the mark like Jones. 
 As I may honour my Redeemer here, I may indulge a bit in the liberty in 
 which the “Fife Free Press” holds me free. “He (Beattie) is perhaps a 
 young man,” Jones says. It is seventy years since I first stood by the Cross 
 of Calvary, and as you know during the greater part of that period I have, on 
 the platform and the press, upheld the salvation wrought out for me and for all 
 mankind by the Son of God, and to-day, having seen eighty summers and winters 
 —and four years to that number—with hand as steady and brain as clear as ever 
 it was, I hold to this declaration : “We were not redeemed with such things 
 as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Therefore, 
 being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, by whom also we have access by faith in this grace, wherein we stand 
 and rejoice in the glory of God.” 
 
 Now, there never was a Campbell, nor any of his clan in the New 
 Theology, who could touch the glory, the everlasting wealth of the Old 
 Theology now before us. It is the honour of Him who is the resurrection 
 and the life for which I shall stand up. It is to expose the sham and the 
 shallowness of the New Theology that I stand up. A week ago I preached 
 from these words, “ The sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.” 
 Observe this, the Old Theology held the attention of the servants—of the 
 apostles of our Lord—of the angels of the Most High. We are bound in faith 
 to hold on. “ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, 
 according to His abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope 
 by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incor¬ 
 ruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you 
 who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be 
 revealed in the last time.” The New Theology never had and never shall 
 have an outlook so glorious and so sure and so wonderful as the Old holds in 
 hope, in possession, in fact. 
 
 We see, and we see plainly, had I been a young man, Mr. Jones would, 
 have ridden off with some show on the back of the New Theology by sending 
 me to Jericho till my beard grew. Forty years ago my hair was as black as 
 
11 . 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the raven ; to-day there is not a whiter head in the county of Fife than mine, 
 and man and boy I have fought under the flag. 
 
 It should be no offence to indulge still further. When Mr. Campbell, of the 
 City Temple, first presented himself before the public in the New Theology, I 
 had the honour of laying before the public five long letters on his New 
 Theology. If what it holds to-day is the same as it was at that time I could 
 only hold it up for disapproval and for condemnation. At the time referred 
 to, Mr. Campbell and his friends met. The subject of discussion was the 
 New Theology. There was no creed agreed to, but there was a declaration 
 made. The right to do this no man will dispute ; but when the position taken 
 goes right against the faith of our fathers, against our own faith, and against 
 the power and privilege and purity of the gospel, and delivered to the 
 churches, it is time when men who hold and love the truth should be heard 
 and seen at their post. Well, what was that declaration ? No. 4 of the lot 
 ran according to what I now write, namely :—“ The story of the fall is a 
 romance of the early age used for the ethical instruction of man.” I held then, 
 and I hold to-day, that the fall was no romance. It was a fact. It was the 
 greatest fact ever accomplished in the history of the human family. Every 
 soul that lives, and every soul that is dead, carries the mark, carries the curse 
 of the fall, and such shall be borne till it is removed by the presence of the 
 Restorer of all things. This is according to the counsel of heaven—to the 
 will and purpose of God. The fall was not a romance, and 
 although it had been it was not the Lord’s way of teaching morals. His way 
 is to reveal Himself. The moral life of a man or of a nation is after and 
 according to this fashion or fact. The grace of God which bringeth salvation 
 to all men hath appeared, teaching us that denying all ungodliness and 
 worldly lusts, we should live soberly, godly, and righteously, in this present 
 world. Look, pray for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great 
 God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us that He might 
 redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous 
 of good works. Here we have the motive power for an ethical life, not in 
 romance, not in fiction, but in fact. 
 
 I could not feel that I had done my duty were I to allow the following to pass 
 unnoticed. Mr. Jones says they prefer their own way of looking to our way. 
 “The old sanctimonious traditions which substitute well-worn phrases about 
 salvation, atonement, election, and the robe of righteousness, which are echoes 
 of echoes, and of which Mr. Beattie’s writings are repeated echoes.” Notice 
 the atonement. Well, now, I remark I never met a New Theology advocate 
 but the atonement was his grief. It stands ever before him. It is his rock 
 ahead, and his craft cannot escape. No pilot can steer clear of complete wreck, 
 and the chief offence is, the rock is not hidden. On the chart it stands, boldly 
 outlined, yet that same rock—the atonement—will be their grief and final 
 overthrow. All such men know that salvation is presented to them, and the 
 knowledge of the rejection is the rock ahead, which by no power can they 
 escape. 
 
 Again, my writings, Mr. Jones says, are but an echo. Be it so, and may it 
 ever be true to the original. The voice is the voice of the Son of Man, and 
 now, with all my heart, I say let the echo fly.—I am, etc., 
 
 ALEX. BEATTIE. 
 
 Tune 13, 1909. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chap. 
 
 Page. 
 
 I. The First and the Last, as in the Book “New 
 
 Theology,”. 
 
 II. God and the Universe, ------ 
 
 III. Man in Relation to God, and Religion in Relation 
 
 to the Universe,. 
 
 IV. The Nature of Evil,. 
 
 V. Jesus, the Divine Man, '. 
 
 VI. The Eternal Christ,. 
 
 VII. The Incarnation of the Son of God, 
 
 VIII. and IX. The Atonement, -. 
 
 X. Do., ( continued ), ------ 
 
 XI. The Authority of Scriptures, - 
 
 XII. Nature and Scope of Salvation—Resurrection and 
 Ascension—Heaven and Hell, - 
 
 XIII. The Church and the Kingdom of God, 
 
 14 
 
 32 
 
 54 
 
 84 
 
 101 
 
 109 
 
 121 
 
 135 
 
 144 
 
 158 
 
 203 
 
THE 
 
 New Theology and the Old. 
 
 Rev. R. J. Campbell’s “New Theology” Considered. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The First and the Last, as in the Book “New Theology.” 
 
 First .—“ Religion is one thing, theology is another, but religion is never 
 found apart from theology of some kind, for theology is the intellectual 
 articulation of religious experience. 
 
 Second .—My interest in theology is only secondary ; my chief interest is 
 mankind.”—Rev. R. J. Campbell. 
 
 It appears to me that these announcements, neither jointly or 
 separately, are correct, fair, or full representations of their several 
 subjects. Theology is a science of God and things divine, and 
 is not, as asserted by Mr. Campbell, “the intellectual articulation 
 of religious experience.” Take one hundred men from one 
 church, or from different churches, and you will find the 
 religious experience of every one to differ the one from the 
 other. We find even the experience of one man, at one period 
 of his life, to be as greatly different from what it is at another 
 period, as it is likely or possible for him to differ from any 
 other man; this diversity is the result or fruits of mental force, 
 education, position in the world, religious friends and associa¬ 
 tions. These for ever at work produce sadness and gladness, 
 doubt and hope, standing at rest and going ahead, leaving 
 some with faith and feeling expressed. I will be pleased if I 
 barely get into or within the gate of heaven : while another 
 holds out the determination to get a good place and the best 
 company. In all this intellectual experience, there is no voice 
 silently, gently, or loudly calling, “ Be still, and know that I am 
 God; I will be exalted among the heathen; I shall be exalted 
 
 l 
 
2 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 in the earth.” It is here, it is in this passage, where the science, 
 the power, the glory, the dominion, the wisdom, the love, 
 the mercy, of God’s revealed character come in. It is here 
 where theology is found revealing itself. It is here where 
 theology ends. It is a knowledge of God which bounds the 
 whole business. We can easily select two popular London 
 preachers, Spurgeon and Campbell. Spurgeon always brought 
 his man a sinner to Jesus Christ, lost and undone—he found the 
 direct road to the Cross of Calvary, and brought man as a sinner 
 in this to look on the sacrifice, on the blood shed as the price 
 paid for redemption, for eternal life. Campbell found his man 
 low down • as one in earnest, he took the needy by the hand, 
 and found his life-work to be his greatest, his only, mission to 
 raise and help the wronged and the oppressed. His object and 
 method was to call forth love from within the down-trodden, to 
 make heart and soul to be well furnished until there was little or 
 no room for selfishness. Those who believe and follow the one 
 preacher noticed, will have a very different religious experience 
 from the religious experience of the other. These two preachers 
 may be taken as examples, and the religious experience for 
 their followers may justly be taken as a correct specimen of all 
 the rest. Now, stamp them with authority as you like, you will 
 never be able to leave the impression, “ This is theology.” 
 Religious experience is one thing, theology is another. As our 
 author is faithful to his first declaration, seen all the way 
 throughtout his book, in his assertion, his inferences, and his 
 historic readings, I shall therefore, on religious experience, 
 linger a little time, taking two ancient preachers as I have 
 taken the two modern preachers. 
 
 Origen and Augustine .—Origen could not endure the 
 doctrine, the dogma of eternal torment, and, being a man of 
 wonderful ability, his genius cast up the doctrine of universal 
 restoration of all men. After a season of refinement and 
 preparation in another state of existence, the worst characters 
 are fitted for enjoying glory at the right hand of God. After 
 him, two hundred years, came Augustine. He stands strong. 
 He crushes out of the church, on the one side, the truth of God, 
 and on the other side, the falsehood of Origen; and there he 
 stands to-day. To-day he moulds creeds, frames theology, 
 reads sermons, puts out of the Bible one of the most important 
 doctrines of the book, and darkens the love, honour, and justice 
 of the Divine Being. 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 3 
 
 The followers of Augustine, and up to very lately, held the 
 fort, believed and taught that there was and is a place where 
 many millions of men, women, and children shall be tormented 
 to all eternity with an amazing torment, from which miserable 
 condition there was no possibility of escape. The followers of 
 these preachers must have experience very different, and 
 however earnest they may be, their faith is false, and cannot be 
 of any value. I know that, when young, when the mind was 
 susceptible of impressions, church-going was no good, no 
 pleasure, and no satisfaction. It was Calvinism and eternal 
 torment mixed up in long sermons earnestly delivered, when 
 the minister, with or without feeling, sent the greater portion of 
 mankind to hell. 
 
 All this is being changed, but you never can make out, from 
 the religious impressions coming therefrom, anything leaving 
 the stamp of true and sound and to be accepted theology which 
 will hold in all weathers. No man was ever taught as the 
 Jewish lawyer was taught; there you find the mind and purpose 
 of God, the relation of the Creator to the creature man. 
 Through Him we come to the centre truth : “ God so loved the 
 world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever 
 believeth in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.’ 7 
 The light and revelations of theology make sure the passage now 
 quoted is the thing in all its fulness which Mr. Campbell’s New 
 Theology needs. However pack and compact his bundle is tied 
 up, it is open and loose at the ends. For an exposition and 
 solution of the question before us, I know nothing like the 
 apostle of the Gentiles’ deliverance at Athens, delivered to the 
 philosophers and idolators of that great cultured city. Paul 
 had been elected to unfold the mysteries and wonders of the 
 Christian system, specially to reveal the relations of the All-wise 
 and the Almighty to man—to man as he stands in the present 
 and passing age, as also in the next and abiding age. His 
 discourse is concise, comprehensive, and simple. Here you 
 find the creative power of God. To-day, in all sections of the 
 world, and of the church, there is much talk of the brotherhood 
 of man. In the New Theology Church, it is the star of the first 
 magnitude, and yet for all the polish, and wealth, and wisdom 
 of to-day, and there is here much to admire, yet you will search 
 far and near till you find anything equal to this—the old style. 
 He giveth to ail life, and breath, and all things, and hath made 
 
4 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of 
 the earth ; for in Him we live, and move, and have our being; 
 we are all His offspring. The pride of class distinction is thus 
 rubbed out. 
 
 I have laid down my writing, and taken up the morning paper, 
 Sept. 6th, 1909. I find the following. No tribute paid Burns in 
 recent times can equal that of Morley’s, speaking to the 
 Colonial Press delegates —“ Would anybody deny that these 
 known half-dozen lines of Burns’ have had more effect upon 
 political thought and action than all the millions of leading 
 articles that have ever been written ? 
 
 ‘ Ye know, and all proclaim 
 The royalty of man ; 
 
 The rank is but the guinea stamp, 
 
 The man’s the goud for a’ that ; 
 
 When man to man, the world o’er, 
 
 Shall brithers be for a’ that.’ ” 
 
 Taking up the spirit and manner of this writer, I put the 
 question, Is there anything in the combined writing, in poetry 
 and prose, of any relation to our God and Creator and Father 
 in heaven, and also our relation to one another, equal to the 
 deliverance of Paul on Mars Hill ? It has affected, it has 
 moulded the political, the moral, and the religious faith and 
 hope of generations gone, of generations which now are, and will 
 of generations yet to come. 
 
 Then comes idolatry—on all sides the idol of gold and silver 
 and stone, graven by art and man’s device—and the times 
 of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth 
 all men everywhere to repent. Here you have refinement, 
 wealth, opportunity, and time at command. Yet all com¬ 
 bined did not rise above idolatry. As then, so now, you 
 have idols in gold and silver and stone. This has lessons 
 for us, for all. And further, for this reason : “ Because He 
 hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world, 
 in righteousness, by that Man whom He hath ordained, where¬ 
 by He hath given assurance unto all men in that He hath 
 raised Him from the dead.” We may take the words and apply 
 them in fullest form. God hath not left Himself without a 
 witness, and by clearest evidence the science of theology is on 
 the side ot Divinity, not on the side of man and his religious 
 experience. Assuredly we gain the prize, the goal, the land- 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 5 
 
 mark; the final purpose is reached when we bow the head, and 
 give God all the glory. Now, this is the winning post: “ God 
 commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet 
 sinners, Christ died for us; much more, being justified by His 
 blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” 
 
 Mr. Campbell, having given his views on religion and 
 theology, and their relation the one to the other, proceeds with 
 his work. Before he proceeds far, he tells us what is wanted. We 
 give it in his own words :—“ What is wanted, therefore, is a 
 restatement of the essential truth of the Christian religion in 
 terms of the modern mind.” Proceeding with this subject, the 
 first point to consider is, What is the modern mind. Well, this 
 may be seen any day in “ the mad race for earthly gain and 
 good.” All the world and all the church are agreed that the 
 modern mind is gold, and get it. Get it honestly if you can, but 
 if it cannot thus be got just try the other plan. It is, therefore, 
 evident that to restate or mould the essential truth of the 
 Christian religion in this work-shop, is to come down—yes, 
 down very low. To restate the essential truth of the Christian 
 religion on this plain, and plan, is a wrong done to our religion, 
 as well as to the advocacy and to the advocates of it. Observe 
 there was no room nor reason for restatement here. The 
 standard is as of old, but it carries the Royal Stamp, and no other 
 coin should go in any age as the current coin of heaven. Look 
 above the modern mind, and you may, you shall, find it. 
 “ Whosoever, therefore, will be the friend of the world is the 
 enemy of God.” Modern mind has no claim, right, nor 
 privilege. The New Theology may hook it on; it is framed in 
 a corrupt age, and is out of place on the same broad and sure 
 table-land of Divine construction and recommendation. 
 Separation from the world, and not according to the world, is 
 the unchanging and unchangeable rule of Christian life and 
 character. “ Be not conformed to this world, but be ye trans¬ 
 formed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what 
 is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” Still 
 hold on, Christ gave Himself for our sins, that He might 
 deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of 
 God and our Father. 
 
 As a man, I shall speak to, and of, man. We are not to be 
 influenced, guided by modern mind, but by the will of God. 
 He is our refuge and our strength, a present help in time of 
 
6 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 need. This help can be trusted: it changes not. I will not say 
 it is weakness, or presumption, or what it is which leads a 
 Christian teacher, even leader of men, to shape his religious 
 faith and doctrines by modern mind. Still it is so, and all we 
 can do is to bring it to the light. In so doing I know, as one 
 redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ and will of heaven, I 
 am simply doing my duty. Modern mind—we take the words 
 of another—we witness on every hand indications of the last 
 days, when perilous times shall come; when many in the 
 Church shall be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, 
 having a form of Godliness, but denying the power thereof, and 
 when Christendom, with its proud boast that it is rich and 
 increased with goods, and has need of nothing, yet is ready to 
 be spewed out of the mouth of our insulted Lord. 
 
 The New Theology .—“ I hope it will be understood by 
 readers of these pages, that in any references I may make to 
 dogmatic theology, I am passing no reflection upon the 
 scientific theologian, whose work is being done in the field of 
 historical criticism or archaeology, or any of the departments of 
 scientific research into the subject matter of religion/’ We 
 may remark, where things of antiquity or of history come in, 
 Mr. Campbell has not given a good example in the way of 
 handling such. This is especially the case where Moses, as 
 the servant of God, is the historian. 
 
 Simply to deny history, thus conveyed to us, may be a 
 remarkably easy method, yet it leaves us free to say it is very 
 unsatisfactory. Some time ago Mr. Campbell, with his friends 
 and followers, met; the object before them was the New 
 Theology. The occasion was noteworthy. There was no creed 
 tabled, but there was a declaration made. The right to do so 
 cannot be questioned, but when the lines of thought go against 
 the faith of our fathers, and against our own faith and hope, it 
 is time to stand on the defensive, it is time to stand up in all 
 our might in opposition to the New Theology. This new move 
 is against our greatest treasure the gift of God, against the 
 light and the life of the world. What I have now stated may 
 be gathered, asserted, and proved from one of the subjects 
 before the meeting. In the list No. 4 runs : “The story of the 
 fall is the romance of the early age, used for the ethical 
 instruction of man.” Tome, this statement seems to be beyond 
 the conception of men gifted with common sense; not to speak 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 7 
 
 ot men with a knowledge of Scripture. To assert, as is here 
 done, that God took a romance, a fable, a lie, and employed it 
 for the instruction of men, or His own children, may be the 
 leading string for blinded men, but it has no place in the 
 economy of grace, in the plan and purpose of the Most High. 
 The fall of man is no romance, it is a fact accomplished, and 
 no fact in the history of the human family is supported with 
 anything like the same amount of evidence which it has. The 
 New Theology fold may say the fall is a romance, and hold on 
 to this assertion, but it shall be to everyone of them a life and 
 death question, a reality, a fact. As long as “the wages of sin 
 is death, and the gift of God is eternal life”, the fact of the fall 
 shall have first place. The fall, as a fact, is woven into all 
 problems belonging to the Lord’s dealings with man, and with 
 man in every age. In the epistle to the Romans this is well 
 reasoned and clearly established. Thus, by one man’s dis¬ 
 obedience, many were made sinners, and by the obedience of 
 one shall many be made righteous. No faith could be more accu¬ 
 rately stated than the fall of man is here. You here find its 
 real character and connection. The disobedience of Adam 
 opened the flood-gates of sin and suffering, and that flood 
 sweeps the whole of mankind to-day. From this same point, 
 and in the same prominence, is seen and felt the love of God. 
 “ God so loved the world that He gave His only, well-beloved 
 Son, that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but 
 have eternal life.” Were we to dwell for a moment on this all- 
 important subject, we would find that the Old Theology 
 abounded in proof. Paul says : “ Moreover, brethren, I declare 
 unto you the gospel which I have preached unto you, and which 
 also ye have received, and wherein ye stand ; by which also ye 
 are saved if ye keep in memory what I have preached unto you, 
 unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, 
 first of all, that which I received, how that Christ died for our 
 sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and 
 that He rose again according to the Scriptures.” Such is the 
 record version of things relating to the fall and to salvation, as 
 also the relation of the one to the other. This relation may find 
 no place in the New Theology. All the same there is life in a 
 look. Behold, the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of 
 the world. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. 
 The sacrifice thus given may be denied by the New Theology 
 
 B 
 
8 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 as is the fall of man. The denial of the one involves the denial 
 of the other. Yet our salvation, as the wisdom and power of 
 God, runs openly through the whole. We may proceed with 
 the first division of their published declaration : “ The 
 common interpretation of the atonement, that Christ bore the 
 sins committed and to be committed, is wrong, but the truth is 
 hereby expressed that the sacrifice of Christ, repeated in human 
 hearts, is the only power to lift man up. Every sin involves 
 suffering which cannot be remitted by any bargain with God.” 
 In reference to what is here stated, we look for guidance to the 
 law and to the testimony, to that authority which is pure and 
 unchangeable : the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin; 
 and there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. 
 On the same authority, it may be held that Christ on the Cross 
 is the uplifting agency to raise humanity, and this is His method 
 of saving the low, the lost, the fallen. No man has ever 
 discovered, in the human heart, any such power. The idea of 
 sacrificing Jesus in the human heart is a vain conception : it is 
 a romance, it is a fable. There is no repetition of Christ’s 
 sacrifice: that sacrifice was once for all, and that sacrifice was 
 accepted—therefore, the risen Saviour. Heaven and earth 
 are interested here, and the empty tomb tells of a glorious 
 resurrection, of which Christ, being raised, is the first fruits—a 
 harvest of glory to God the Father, and to the Son our Saviour, 
 and of life eternal to the believing people. In this elevating, 
 saving process, objection is taken to bargain-making. It is 
 worth while noticing that the lowest condition of Church life 
 is associated with buying and selling. The reading runs well, 
 and we give it:—“ Thou sayest I am rich and increased with 
 goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art 
 wretched, and miserable, and poor, and naked, and blind. I 
 counsel thee to buy of Me, gold tried in the fire, that thou 
 mayest be rich, and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, 
 and the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine 
 eyes with eye-salve that thou mayest see.” I may say here, 
 the path of wisdom lies in the way of bargain-making. Thus 
 buy the truth and sell it not, or sell everything to get the truth 
 —the treasure; or, “ behold, I stand at the door and knock, if any 
 man open I will come in and sup with him and he with Me.” 
 The entire question is one of conditional agreement. The 
 conditions are recorded in heaven, and the record given on each 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 9 
 
 of the children of men. “ And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all 
 men unto Me.” The greatest bargain ever made was made in 
 Eden, carrying, as it did, the word and will of the Creator on 
 the one hand, and the conditions of man on the other. There 
 are two other divisions in the document drawn up, and spoken of 
 at the meeting held at Bodmin. The first of these was a rejection 
 of the Scriptural account of the birth of Jesus Christ; the second 
 was the rejection of the scriptural account of His power, nature, 
 and relation to God. The whole document is defective in all 
 which brings light, life, liberty to the mind of men, and has no 
 tribute of glory to the Father nor to the Son, and, so far, the 
 men of the meeting can only stand attired in coats of their 
 own cutting and fashion in the present exhibitions. 
 
 My Chief Interest is Mankind. 
 
 “ My interest in Theology is only secondary ; my chief interest is in Mankind.” 
 
 —Rev. R. J. Campbell. 
 
 What follows is in support of the choice made. To quote the 
 words of Mr. Gladstone, “I think of Jesus as the central hope of 
 the poor, wayward race,” our author having introduced Mr. 
 Gladstone as in agreement with himself on the particular intro¬ 
 duced. I may, without offence in fair writing, remark that Mr. 
 Gladstone did not sail in the same boat with Mr. Campbell in 
 one of his chief dogmas. The statesman’s landing is, “ I have 
 no sympathy with the belief in natural immortality.” That belief, 
 he contended, was upheld only by Plato and a few philosophers 
 in Pagan times. It is nowhere to be found in the Bible, and 
 Origen was, he believed, the earliest Christian writer who 
 adopted it. Afterwards it became so widespread, if not 
 universal, that great men everywhere were found in its defence. 
 At once, then, we remark, we will not object to our author’s 
 choice coming from theology to mankind, coming from the study 
 of God to man. There is still before him a big field of observa¬ 
 tion. Doubtless, like our National Poet, he will find mankind 
 a kittle squad. We can gather that his leaning is to the Labour 
 Party, and one or two of the leaders of this portion of the 
 people are his chief, his model men. The statement, coming out 
 where and when it did, was remarkable. He put out a book on 
 Theology. On every page thereof you have, in large letters, 
 
IO 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 New Theology, and the finish is, my interest is in mankind. It 
 would be out of place in me, an old Chartist, to object to any man 
 becoming, or in being, a friend of publicans and sinners. For 
 many years I was a keen politician, but I left this study and 
 platform for the consideration of the great questions of Bible 
 revelations. My attention, for forty years, was engaged so, 
 during which time I found the creeds and confessions of the 
 churches to be unsound, and I found, all the time and way, 
 the Bible to be the true record of God’s plan and purpose. It 
 is still the sure word of prophecy. Now, as a politician, I 
 would say, “ Go-a-head ! ” Take a morning and an evening 
 paper for a week, and you will never require another text¬ 
 book; you will find, year in and year out, that man¬ 
 kind, rich and poor, are a wayward race. To make an 
 efficient agent or advocate, we have many a question to 
 read up. One of the first to be looked into should be 
 capital and labour ; then the wages question : how to earn 
 wages and how to spend them. The labouring classes 
 and their masters doubtless will have justice done by such a 
 teacher. But Mr. Campbell must not, in his chosen sphere, for¬ 
 get the upper classes. Selfishness is strong here and evident. 
 Love in action may be called up at once. For consideration 
 and for practical purposes, he should ground himself on the 
 unemployed problem, keeping to the front the way and extent 
 to which sheep and game have been put in possession of the 
 land. Thus driving honest, industrious men and their families 
 to the towns, to swell the ranks of men crying for work; and 
 thus showing that landowners are more interested in sheep and 
 game than they are in their country and in working men. 
 Flere let him cut out, for frequent use, that page of British life 
 and character now being printed in the House of Commons— 
 February 1910. Let him mark the meanness and selfishness 
 of the rich and the great. No brotherly love, or any 
 other kind of love. Here is a fine field for his in¬ 
 tellectual power, and for his moral worth, and the call for 
 him to work is loud. Another subject worth attention: 
 Slavery, as it at present holds in Africa, with all its dark and 
 cruel operations—fetters, and empty rum bottles lying about, 
 the living and the dead speaking man’s inhumanity to 
 man. As well as the slavery, which begins in the City Temple 
 pulpit, noticed by its occupant, and ending somewhere and 
 somehow in Scotland. These subjects in the hands of Mr. 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. II 
 
 Campbell would secure for him an inviting field, and a success¬ 
 ful platform, success and popularity such as the pulpit has given 
 him, and I am sure the human race will welcome such a friend. 
 
 We may table a question suggested here, “Jesus, as the centre 
 hope of the poor, wayward race : how is Jesus the hope of the 
 race?” In answering this question we are led on to religious, 
 to Christian, to scripture grounds. It is a theological argument. 
 We thus read: “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace 
 with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” In this way we have, 
 in spirit, in character and degree, the answer to the question. 
 Christ is the peace-maker, the peace-giver, by whom also we have 
 access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in 
 hope of the glory of God. According as the work is begun by 
 Jesus in the individual case, so it shall be carried on in the race, 
 and as in the peace and hope in possession through Jesus in the 
 individual y so peace and hope shall be realized in the race. 
 We stand to-day by grace; here we rejoice in the hope of the 
 glory of God. Without this grace the greatest, the richest, the 
 most powerful and most successful races, that ever shone in this 
 world, failed, come down to nothing. We, as people, may think 
 ourselves high up and supreme over all. Note, and note well, 
 without grace we will end in failure, come down to our fate. 
 There shall be no new law brought out for our special benefit, 
 and, as Lord Rosebery said on Friday last, September ioth, 
 1909: “If we are not socialist, we are on the road. Asa 
 nation, we are in the way which ends in failure and fall, and 
 national ruin.” I shall be met by this, our source of strength is 
 in a Liberal Government. I grant no Government ever took 
 office with all its influence and hopefulness, full of voting power, 
 the people in all ranks backing up with pen, platform and pulpit; 
 working men were sure of a good time and masters of a good 
 return; plenty of work and high wages. Yet where are we, in 
 fact and reality, during the term of this Liberal Parliament? The 
 unemployed list has seldom, if ever, stood so high as it has 
 lately done, in the history of the nation. Then the nation itself 
 is over head and ears in debt. Money is ill to get: we are living 
 on our capital. The labouring population know how to earn 
 wages, but they do not know how to spend them. Public 
 spirited men cry for peace, and they propose to reach that end 
 by making great ships of war to increase their strength and 
 number. Other men would be kind to the poor. And to find 
 money for this end, difficulty is felt, and has led to political 
 
12 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 warfare which has tested head and heart, and which is likely to 
 bring this same powerful Parliament to an end at an early day. 
 Our young men are before us, and a fine sight it is to see these 
 noble fellows—clean, bright, healthy, and true, but they are 
 without the grace of God : wherever they stand it is not in the 
 grace of God : they have no hold of Jesus, the centre hope of 
 the race. Now, if the young men are the hope of our country, 
 and, if they are far from the hope which rejoices in the glory of 
 God, the road to national weakness and overthrow is very evident. 
 I am hopeful—full of hope—I meet no man so much so; yet I 
 cannot shut my eyes to the things which now are, and which 
 shall come in before my hopes can be realised, but I know when 
 the Conqueror comes He shall make them willing in the day of 
 His power. At that time, money, the sinews of war, shall not 
 be so employed. The song sung by heavenly agents at the 
 birth of the Prince of Peace shall sound from glen to mountain 
 peak, and from mountain peak through the new heaven : “Glory 
 to God in the highest, on earth peace, and goodwill to 
 men.” I may be reminded, at this stage, that we are 
 improving. Well, this may be said in truth of many things ; it 
 looks as if we were going on, and that there was no end to our 
 inventive genius, and progressive developments, and wonders 
 are daily cropping up, speaking the power of man. All this 
 may be true; still the main point in a nation’s existence, in its 
 life and standing, may be left out. It is righteousness which 
 exalteth a nation. If so, how do we stand ? Let the landed 
 proprietors be heard in the current speeches as they defend them¬ 
 selves against the action of the Government, asking a share 
 in taxation for the protection of life and property. These men 
 whose life is made sweet, and whose property is made sure by 
 the constitution under which they live. These men stand 
 obligated to the State in a manner that no other class of men 
 stand, yet such men would have no objection to find any, or all, 
 below them severely taxed ; but when a moderate and fair claim 
 is made on their own heavy purses, it is robbery, it is confis¬ 
 cation. The parts of right and justice they know not. 
 Righteousness, which exalteth a nation, they know not this 
 lesson. 
 
 The land and the landowners are before the people. It is 
 the moral and the natural wealth and good of the nation that 
 is the question. Then we have at once an open field. Up till 
 now, the owners of land have all connected therein very 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 IS 
 
 much their own way, and their way has been very much 
 at variance with general or public good. The man who makes 
 a blade of grass grow where there was none before is a bene¬ 
 factor. It follows that a man who forces a family out from a 
 home and patch of land, and puts in its place the sportsman, 
 cannot, on sound principles of action, be called a benefactor. 
 The value of land in a nation’s strength and standing is first. 
 The cry has gone forth clear and loud, back to the land : and 
 the other day men were sent out to view the land, to find its 
 capabilities, and report Well, this company of inspectors were 
 taken by the hand and so led, they were taken to the bleak, hard, 
 rocky parts of bonnie Scotland, where food for man and beast 
 could not grow, while the plains where in former years families 
 lived—families, healthy, happy, holy, and representing in 
 industry all which makes in hope and in accomplished fact, the 
 hope and glory of a people. Where are these families? Where 
 are their homes ? This takes their place. In one district, three 
 shepherds and six game-keepers, where formerly there were three 
 hundred farmers living contented, and raising men to 
 defend their country; men, strong in limb, and honest and 
 true to purpose. Why was the deputation not taken to look 
 on this and such districts ? Because it did not answer the faith 
 and practice of the landlord. 
 
 If we hold to the right, it will be no difficult task for Mr. 
 Campbell to find the landowners, the chief in waywardness, 
 among his poor and wayward race. Once I walked the road with 
 a farmer’s son. We came to a finely situated farm-steading, 
 the land lay well: all seemed favourable to good crops, and 
 remark was made to that effect. The young man replied: 
 “The situation is good and so is the soil, but the fruit crops are 
 only moderate. The farmer has no energy: horses and 
 men are like their master—no energy: and the outcome is 
 accordingly evident. It is different with us; we put 
 work, and skill, and money into the soil, and we have 
 always early and good returns. The result is, whenever there 
 is an opportunity to raise the rent on us, the rent is raised, and 
 if we do not pay the increase we have just to leave. Our 
 neighbour’s rent is always the same; he sits still. This is 
 unjust and hard to bear, but it is the way, and thus favours the 
 landlord, and we must submit.” 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 God and the Universe. 
 
 For Mr. Campbell, the Universe has a strange, has a capti¬ 
 vating influence. The great pillar in his theology is the 
 universe. “Thus, when I say God, I mean the mysterious power 
 which is present in every tiny atom of the universe—the 
 wondrous whole. I find that the power of the one reality I 
 cannot get away from, for, whatever else it may be, it is myself.” 
 Allowing this passage to stand for the writer’s New Theology 
 scheme, it can, in the first instance, be best met by a few 
 scriptural expressions. Well then, when I say God, I mean, in 
 scriptural language, “God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him, 
 must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” “The heavens declare 
 the glory of God and the firmament sheweth His handiwork; 
 day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth 
 knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice 
 is not heard.” Yet in no part of the world is a sound heard 
 which makes the glory of things created more than the 
 Creator. You never think of saying, I love the universe because 
 the universe first loved us. We cannot, with creation before us, 
 and the revealed and known character of God, be brought to 
 believe Mr. Campbell’s assertion : “Whatever else it may be it is 
 myself.” Who can understand his error ? No one can say to the 
 universe, Cleanse thou me from secret faults; keep back thy 
 servant from presumptuous sins. This is the proper road and 
 the right run. “ Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation 
 of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength 
 and Redeemer.” It is well to keep in mind the strongest among 
 men; even the “I myself” of Mr. Campbell, among the marvel¬ 
 lous, is like the grass, and his glory like the flower of the grass, the 
 wind passeth over it and it is gone. The “I myself” of the new 
 
 14 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 15 
 
 school stands in both books, the Universe and the Bible, his 
 breath in his nostrils. If God takes away his hand, he would be 
 troubled ; were He to take away his breath, he would die and 
 return to the dust. What we have here, then, may not be much 
 of the mysterious. Yet it is true, and for practical purposes, it 
 is of value. Let man, created, stand as a creature; as the un¬ 
 converted, let him stand a sinner, and as such without God and 
 without God in the world. As the redeemed, if he is redeemed, 
 he stands the Son of God in the family and in the household of 
 faith. As long as Mr. Campbell writes of the universe with the 
 evident admiration he is doing, and has so little to say of 
 Jesus Christ in connection with theology, it shall be my pleasure 
 and duty to look it up. “ But we ought to understand clearly 
 that to disbelieve in God is an impossibility.” The point here 
 introduced is worth looking into, not because it is true, but it 
 stands as Mr. Campbell’s faith states it, and has certain 
 additions as proof. We at once say the greatest crisis that ever 
 befell this world was the direct result of unbelief. Jude has it : 
 “I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew 
 this how that the Lord saved His people out of Egypt, afterwards 
 destroyed them that believed not.’ 7 I like the bit, “ He appeared 
 unto them as they sat at meat, and upbraided them of their un¬ 
 belief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them who 
 had seen Him after He was risen. And He said unto them : “ Go 
 ye into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature ; he that 
 believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth 
 not shall be damned.” In Bible folds the standard is, “ If thou 
 believest thou mayest.” In all civilized societies as well as 
 Christian Associations, it is belief or unbelief which makes 
 one man to differ, the one from the other. Faith and 
 character make the man. Jesus saith, “but what sayestthou?” 
 Answer : “ Thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God ; Thou 
 art rock, and on this rock will I build my Church, and the gates 
 of hell will not prevail against it.” Therefore it is character, true 
 and sound, founded in faith, the faith in God and in God’s word, 
 which makes the man; and while this is so, at every turn you 
 find others, besides infidels, denying the faith. We now submit 
 the proof given us : “The blankest Materialist that ever lived, 
 wherever he may have been, must have affirmed God even in 
 the act of denying Him.” Professor Haeckel declared his belief 
 in God in every page of his “Riddle of the Universe”—the 
 
16 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 famous book in which he says that “ God, freedom, and 
 immortality are the three great buttresses of superstition which 
 science must make her business to destroy.” When such evidence 
 is brought forward, and certainly when science is brought into 
 service to destroy God, freedom, and immortality, this mission 
 should rather be condemned than upheld as proof. I have simply 
 to say the truth of God, in a thousand forms, in nature and grace, 
 are offered for our inspection and reception. Men can do this or 
 not; truth is presented, and what then? Denial is death; 
 reception is life. Now the facts here cannot be changed nor 
 thrown out. 
 
 Mr. Campbell, finding the “ marvellous power ” God, then 
 he finds his own place. The order as given runs : “ I find that 
 this power is one reality I cannot get away from, for, whatever 
 it may be, it is myself.” Our friend has climbed to an eminence, 
 which, by his own showing, stands out of the common. 
 “ Theologians,” he says, “ will tell me that I have taken a 
 prodigious leap in this saying, but I cannot help it.” We may 
 say this will scarcely do ; it is not good enough. Mr. Campbell 
 would stand better a man among men, than he is likely to be 
 and do among the gods. Simply a preacher among preachers; 
 gifted above many, but yet only a man, and simply a preacher. 
 His justification is more than shaky and windy. “ How,” he 
 asks, “ can there be anything in the universe outside of God ? ” 
 This question may be answered by putting another one, “ How 
 can there be anything in the universe inside of God ? ” The 
 Creator-God said, and it was done, He commanded, and it stood 
 fast. Going on, the book reads : “ Whatever distinctions of 
 being there may be within the universe, it is surely clear that 
 they must all be transcended and comprehended in the Infinity?” 
 We must know why the word God stands in the former passage, 
 and has to give way now to the word Infinity ? Keep to the 
 word God; there cannot be two Gods, nor can there be a God and 
 also an infinite God beyond it. Had he been true to the word 
 God, it would have brought him to his proper position, a man. 
 Among the wondrous powers—the universe, the infinities, and 
 the finite—he can throw himself in: he can classify the “ it is 
 myself.” Keep the word God as it must be, to make a clear, 
 a logical argument; then God stands alone the Ruler and 
 Creator of the earth and sky, of all things, and Mr. Campbell 
 the work of His hand. 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 17 
 
 After finding Professor Huxley to agree with him about the 
 universe, and the all-comprehending unity therein, he proceeds 
 to talk of how ordinary church-going Christians talk about God. 
 They, as though He were (practically) a finite being, stationed 
 somewhere above and beyond the universe, watching and 
 moving over other and lesser beings, to wit ourselves. Well, 
 now, I am an ordinary Christian, and having met Christians in 
 every part of Scotland, I say the likeness just given is not 
 correct; it is a very great departure from fact. God—our God 
 —is not above the universe any more than He is part of the 
 universe. We know and preach that He is near to all that 
 call upon Him. He is a strong tower to all such. 
 
 For eighty-four summers I have seen the sun in the sky 
 gladden all creation, and here a thousand times and ten I have 
 felt happy in the presence of God; and for seventy years I 
 have stood by the Cross of Calvary. The light of the Sun of 
 Righteousness has been my life and joy. Along with my 
 fellow-men, I have gone to the Fountain of Living Water, and 
 amid it all, we hold a full cup, calling on our Heavenly Father; 
 and as a Father He has pleasure in the health and happiness 
 of His family. So we can stand a part in the economy of 
 grace and redemption, rejoicing in, and calling upon, our God 
 in love; and viewing our religious position, and the Author 
 thereof, in a different sphere and frame of mind from that 
 entertained by Mr. Campbell, as our mode of sustaining 
 Christian existence. 
 
 Willing to look at things Christian as they really are, I have 
 no hesitation in saying the following is right neither in the 
 sight of God nor man. According to this, the received 
 phraseology, “this God is greatly bothered and thwarted by 
 what men have been doing through the few millenniums of 
 human existences.” This, in sight of the rule and fact, “ He, 
 God, doeth whatever He will in the armies of heaven, and 
 among the inhabitants of the earth,” looks very small, indeed, 
 and most surely very much out of place. Still on the same 
 line : “ In getting humanity into line again; to this end He 
 has adopted several expedients, the chief of which was the 
 sending of His only begotten Son to suffer and die, in order 
 that He might be free to forgive the trouble we had caused 
 Him.” With all confidence, I ask, is this the language of a 
 cultured man ? Is this the position of a disciple and servant to 
 
18 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 Jesus Christ? Is this the standing of one redeemed by the 
 blood of Jesus? Is this the faith of one who shall stand before 
 the throne of God and give his own account, and hear the 
 Judge give the sentence ? It is not any, not one of these. It 
 is simply the filling up of a faith which is at variance with the 
 gospel revealed to man for his salvation. It is to-day as when 
 Christ walked the earth. “ Ye will not come unto Me that ye 
 might have life.” 
 
 Mr. Campbell is well up; we may look at his number. 
 Materalists may tell me that the universe does not know what 
 it is doing; that it goes on banging and clanging, age after age, 
 without aim or end; but I shall continue to feel compelled, that 
 the power which produced Jesus must, at least, be equal to 
 Jesus. On the subject here introduced, most undoubtedly, the 
 Materialist has the best of the fight. The universe neither bangs 
 nor clangs; it does its work summer and winter; it serves the 
 purpose, does the will of God. Having no will of its own, it at no 
 time gives a bad answer; age after age it works the will of God, 
 the only working power,and neither Materialist norNewTheology 
 advocate can produce another order of things. At no time, by 
 the will and power of God, or by any other will or power, has the 
 universe known what was going on. But Mr. Campbell has a 
 purpose to serve in what he is about. But I shall continue to 
 believe that that which produced Jesus must be equal to Jesus. 
 Just so, but the power which produced Jesus was not the 
 universe ! That being so, the bottom is out of his bucket. 
 There is no foundation in his building!! Well, another part of the 
 play. “ So Jesus becomes my gateway to the innermost God.” 
 Well, again I confidently state there is only one way to 
 God, and there is no side-way, no new way. It is old fashioned; 
 it is true, all the same. Now, Mr. Campbell condemns that way, 
 and holds up for condemnation the men who go by the only 
 heaven-given and heaven-approved road. In page 16 of “ New 
 Theology ” it stands, “ To this end, God has adopted several 
 expedients, the chief of which was the sending of His only 
 begotten Son to suffer and to die, in order that He might be free 
 to forgive the trouble we have caused him.” To see the low- 
 cast and unworthiness of this passage, contrast it with the free, 
 the true, and the everlasting, and from Jesus Christ, who is the 
 faithful witness, and the first begotton of the dead, and the 
 Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 19 
 
 washed us in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests 
 unto God and His Father, to Him be glory and dominion for 
 ever and ever. Amen. With God it was and shall ever be, so 
 far as revelation has made known, and that the only way is life 
 in death. The expedients have no place in the way of life, and 
 it so happens that Mr. Campbell has no favour for this one way. 
 Our friend has been gathering up; moving on, he comes to the 
 point for which he has been driving. “When I look at Him 
 (Jesus), I say to myself, God is that, and if I can get down to 
 the truth about myself, I shall find that I am that too.” Observe 
 just here, the “ that too ” is God. This, I hold, to be a very 
 vain, a presumptive assertion. Christ was brought into the 
 world as none other of God's creatures ever were, and for Mr. 
 Campbell to say, or think, he shall reach the same height as 
 Jesus has done, is self-deception; and for him to say his sphere 
 is so reached, is to deceive others. He may say to him¬ 
 self, Christ is God. All the same he may search himself, and 
 when he reaches the facts in and about himself, he will find that 
 he is only a man. To-day, he can go to the city pulpit: some 
 morning, like other men, he may try as he likes, but he has to 
 give in: it may be against his wishes, still, if he goes to the very 
 bottom, down to the truth in himself, the mind fails, the breath 
 of life draws hard. Another morning he falls off the spar to 
 the bottom of his cage—life gone, and all the way is past, and 
 he has never found Jesus to be the gateway to the innermost 
 God. There is only one way, and I repeat our friend would 
 have and prefers what he thinks another way, new and fresh, 
 where men of thought love to go. We are next told, the ordinary 
 church-goer’s God is no God at all. I shall here ask, What use is 
 it to talk of professed unbelievers and the ordinary church-goers ? 
 Why dwell for ever on the chaff and worthless, and no notice of 
 those in the army of Zion, who lived and died for the Lord and 
 His Christ, whose life was for humanity? Did not God send 
 the prophets, and give them their mission ? Little or no notice is 
 taken of the Son of God and of His work and mission; how 
 He did His Father’s will; how that will was the salvation of 
 man through the sacrifice of Jesus, the innocent and the pure, 
 the just for the unjust. We have to hear in the new theology, 
 which has neither life nor freedom, and this for ever before us in 
 a time of growing indifference and sin. We long to hear the 
 sound, “This is My beloved Son, hear Him.” Our countrymen 
 
20 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 may not be in gospel faith, and gospel joy, and gospel hope, as 
 our fathers were, yet if ever we are, as a people, to stand on the 
 same eminence as of old, the same gospel which made Scotsmen 
 at one time will do it now, and our want is the gospel; new 
 growths may entertain and captivate many. God saves, redeems 
 His people in His old appointed way. It never failed and 
 never will. 
 
 We are next introduced to the cripple child, and the white¬ 
 faced matchbox maker. This question is put in reference thereto: 
 surely some sort of claim upon God apart from being miserable 
 sinners who must account themselves fortunate to be forgiven for 
 Christ’s sake. Then Mr. Campbell writes this over against the 
 foregoing: “ Faugh ! it is all so unreal and so stupid.” The 
 thoughtful and scientific among men may say this is a heavy 
 blow to gospel truth. Let us see : the point is vital and the 
 ground is sacred. Note the crippled child and the white-faced 
 matchbox maker, in the revealed plan of salvation, stands in 
 the sight of God, on the same platform as the minister of the 
 City Temple, or as any other minister. “ Miserable sinners,” 
 every one of them. The gospel can only take effect, can only 
 be operative where men feel their lost and sinful state. 
 Thoughtful men, men of action, who stand by self-reformation 
 and noble deeds, would have it otherwise, but peculiar 
 preference is not for the sinner, however noble he may be in 
 his own eyes or in the sight of his fellowmen. In the sight 
 of God, a Saviour is needed, and for all men the Saviour is 
 offered, without money and without price. In that priceless 
 message and gift you find the wisdom of God and the power. 
 The climax is reached. “This kind of God is no God at all. 
 The theologians may call Him infinite, but in practice He is 
 finite. He may call Him a God of love, but in practice He is 
 spiteful and silly.” There are things which appear better in 
 their true character, frizziling in their own gravy, than can be 
 reached by any addition. I shall, however, point out, in no 
 country in the world are the crippled, and the poor in general, 
 better cared for than in the land of our birth, and here God’s 
 people stand hand in hand in the manifestion of God’s love and 
 mercy to the unfortunate. Here is the work done, and here 
 are the men who do it. The poor, the needy, never had a friend 
 like the one they had in the Son of Man—the Son of God. The 
 Spirit of God was on Him for a purpose—that He might increase 
 the weight of the bags of the rich and the fortunate?—Never ! 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 2 1 
 
 Jesus said, “the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath 
 anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me 
 to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, 
 to recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that 
 are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 
 
 In the page before me, Mr. Campbell brings up several and 
 varied subjects, in relation to which he tables the following : 
 “To put it in homely, every-day phraseology, God is achieving 
 something, and we must help Him. We must be His eyes, 
 His hands and feet; we must be labourers together with Him. 
 This fits in with what science has to say about the very 
 constitution of the universe : it is all of a piece, there are no 
 gaps anywhere ; it is a divine experiment without risk of failure, 
 and we must interpret it in terms of our own highest.” I hold 
 that Mr. Campbell is not high-class on the subjects before us— 
 The Constitution of the Universe. There is only one account 
 of this and the things connected with it. It is from the pen of 
 one fitted and chosen for the work. The account is not much 
 esteemed; in fact, it is not believed. Now, this unbelief unfits 
 such an one from giving a true and enlightened deliverance, 
 and the relations of science of the same subject do not serve 
 any good and authentic account or purpose. Besides, it sounds 
 funny: a man presents himself to help God, with eyes, hands, 
 and feet in His service. The way all this is put, just as if the 
 Lord was in that state in which He needed help. We may now 
 look at the scriptural account of the same thing—that is, of the 
 heavens and the earth, and all that is therein. Unto the Son 
 he saith : “ Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre 
 of righteous is a sceptre of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved 
 righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, even Thy God, 
 hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows. 
 And, thou Lord, in the beginning, hast laid the foundations of 
 the earth ; and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They 
 shall perish, but Thou remainest,and they shall wax old as doth a 
 garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they 
 shall be changed; but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall 
 not fail.” So we may conclude, when the universe gets a brush 
 up, an extension, or is being put past, the Son of God will 
 not require to call in the aid of man, nor of science to help Him. 
 It will get a push some day, but there will not be a man’s hand 
 seen at the operation. A short time ago, there was a meeting 
 
22 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 of intellectual men at Oxford. Chief among them was Mr, 
 Campbell. The subject of consideration was—“The Necessity 
 for a Restatement of the Fundamentals of the Christian Religion, 
 and various questions in the Sphere of Social Regeneration." 
 The longer I study this question, the more am I convinced that 
 there is no need for a restatement of the fundamentals of the 
 Christian religion. The great men, the noble of the age, would 
 like, in plain language and fact, to have their hand in 
 the pie. Something new, and winning, and learned, and 
 scientific, and thus big words are used; the bay holds its 
 connection with the ocean, and the ocean looks out on the bay; 
 that is, man in the universe, and the universe in man. Let 
 me point to the fundamentals of the Christian religion. These 
 are well stated, and they are so situated that any man can walk 
 round them and find the value in the firmness and everlasting 
 nature of the truth advanced, fitted for all time, so complete, 
 that no statement by man can compare with it. What follows 
 is given to saints and faithful brethren in Christ. But, thus it 
 stands, “ Giving thanks unto the Father, who has made us meet, 
 to be partakers of the saints in light. Who hath delivered us 
 from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the 
 kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through 
 His blood, even the forgiveness of sins; who is the image of 
 the invisible God, the first born of every creature. For in Him 
 were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, 
 visible and invisible, whether thrones, dominions, principalities 
 or powers. All things were created by Him and for Him, and 
 He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." Such 
 are the fundamentals of our blessed religion. I like the 
 language, or phraseology, in which it is couched. The matter 
 founded embodies so much, and it has done so well that new 
 attempts will never be like unto it. To the willing and the 
 obedient there is found inspiration and life, and the relation thus 
 secured is Father and Son, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus 
 Christ—freemen in the Beloved. The power and the security 
 herein presented are the portion of those who accept offered 
 grace. Soul, body, and spirit, as purchased possession, standing 
 in the grace of God—accepted in the Beloved. Were men only 
 to accept the statement here, they would discover the wayward 
 nature of seeking another. 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 23 
 
 How It Operates. 
 
 In frankness and openness, Mr. Campbell has given his 
 Theology. He afterwards, like an earnest, honest man, proceeds 
 to present how it looks in operation. In some respects it is like 
 the discovery of the North Pole by Cook and Peary—cold, and 
 for practical purposes it presents nothing—ice all round. A 
 considerable amount of hard work, and peril, and privation to 
 reach the poll, and when it is reached, little or nothing but ice. 
 At the Poll, a considerable amount of clothing is necessary 
 before the discoverer can feel anything like comfortable. 
 Nothing but ice is the feeling and the fact; and so stands the new 
 discovery—the North Pole in the religious as in the new creation. 
 Let us look at the thing in its own likeness as drawn by the 
 author. “The New Theology holds that we know nothing, 
 and can know nothing of the infinite cause whence all things 
 proceed, except we read Him in His universe and in our own 
 soul.” Should anyone stamp these lines as a mistake simply, 
 then we must come up and say, it is a mistake committed in 
 opposition to the experience of thousands redeemed—redeemed 
 not by the universe, but by the record of God’s favour, love, 
 mercy, goodness, and power, as recorded in the Bible. Many a 
 soul that never was far from his own door-step, whose knowledge 
 of the universe was very limited, could tell of a Father’s love 
 and mercy, and of God with a joy and a freedom, the like of 
 which no vision or knowledge of the universe, or of the soul, 
 can buy and claim. We know, and all Christians in every age 
 know, that the universe has a language of its own ; that it 
 pointed to a wonder-working hand ; it never ceases to lead from 
 itself up to God. Our poet Burns saw the “ infinite cause ” in 
 the Daisy , in the Mouse, and in a hundred forms of creative 
 power. He knew there was another lesson-book given for the 
 light and the life. He presented that book on the father’s knee 
 in The Cotter’s Sahirday Night, in sweetest, holiest, happiest 
 strains, telling of the worth and force of Scottish mind in days 
 that are gone; telling in a way of truthfulness, force, and beauty, 
 which a knowledge of the universe, separated from gospel in¬ 
 spiration, cannot touch. The universe never hails the birth of 
 the Redeemer—never! nor points to the Lamb of God that takes 
 away the sin of the world. It has no notice of the decease 
 which Jesus accomplished at Jerusalem. The universe has 
 
24 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 nothing in common with the resurrection nor of the second coming. 
 The universe never shows, it cannot, the creation reconciling 
 man—fallen, lost, wayward man—to the Lord. On this account, 
 the universe is very limited in its knowledge of the first, the 
 greatest, questions which go for the health, happiness, and life 
 of man. It must be remembered, also, that the men who spend 
 time, money, and their whole existence, in gathering and giving 
 knowledge of and about the universe—the professors, the 
 eaders here—are the men found who have very little relish 
 for things divine. In fact, they are found to professedly be on 
 the other side. Whatever such men generally believe in, or get 
 and give, their admiration of the Creator is not pronounced. 
 Such men may gather glory for their own name, and for the 
 names of their friends. The glory of God does not seem to be 
 in their textbook. We must hold on if we are to have a correct 
 knowledge of the infinite cause. We must go to where that 
 knowledge is revealed. We must go where it is. Here reason 
 and wisdom agree in the method now before us. Well, stand 
 fast. Let it be declared that neither the universe, nor the New 
 Theology, has the gospel to preach. You may search as you 
 like, and with any instrument you like, but you will never find 
 the gospel in the universe nor in the New Theology. The gospel 
 is to be found, to be known and felt, but not in the places 
 indicated. We give it in full. “ Moreover, brethren, I declare 
 unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, and which also 
 ye have received, and wherein ye stand. By which also 
 ye are saved if ye keep in memory what I have preached 
 unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I declared 
 unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ 
 died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that He was 
 buried, and that He rose again according to the scriptures.”— 
 The Apostle Paul . That we may grip the argument, place side 
 by side Mr. Campbell’s declaration —“ The New Theology 
 holds, that we know nothing of the infinite cause whence all things 
 proceed except we read Him in His universe and in our own 
 souls.” Looking at what is now before us, we find the distance 
 between the Old Theology and the New, and we also discover 
 the mistake into which Mr. Campbell has fallen—God cannot be 
 known but through the universe and in his own soul. We may be 
 certain the power of God and the wisdom of God in salvation 
 are supreme, and may stand alone, and often do so, where the 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 2 5 
 
 knowledge of the universe may not be possessed. Further, it 
 may be held—“ The New Theology in an untrammelled return 
 to the Christian sources in the light of modern thought.” This 
 we will not dispute, but we shall show a more excellent way. 
 Modern thought has a strong grip of the New Theology. New 
 Theology, the genius thereof, must be credited with the formation 
 and with the prevalence of modern thought to a considerable 
 extent; and thus the likeness is harmonious. Modern thought 
 is frequently found to be at variance, in constant action 
 against the Bible and against ancient thought. Modern 
 thought should not be trusted, however untrammelled it may 
 seem to the admired and favoured. 
 
 The old style is in every way preferable. We live to-day as 
 of old, by standing fast in the Lord. The end in view—that our 
 hearts may be unblamable before God, even our Father, at 
 the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. In 
 the Old Theology there is no call, no room for modern thought. 
 It is rich enough for all mans’ wants, needs, and for the great¬ 
 ness of our Father’s will. As an example we have the follow¬ 
 ing :—“ We are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, 
 brethren, beloved in the Lord, because God hath from the 
 beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the 
 Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you by our 
 gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which ye 
 have been taught, whether by word or epistle. Now, our Lord 
 Jesus Christ Himself and God, even our Father, who hath loved 
 us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope 
 through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every 
 good word and work.” 
 
 We are surely in a position to find the nature and character 
 of Mr. Campbell’s two forward positions : First —“ We know 
 nothing, and can know nothing of God but through the universe.” 
 Second —“ We hold the New Theology has returned Christian 
 sources through modern thought.” To these statements we say, 
 there is another book; that book speaks where things seen and 
 temporal are silent. The unseen and eternal are there. That 
 book tells us that, as the builder of the house is superior 
 to the building, so the Creator stands above all creation. He 
 is the God of the Old Theology, and He tells of His own 
 love for fallen man in His plan of salvation through His own 
 
26 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 Son; and He said on memorable occasions, “ This is My Son, 
 hear Him. He that hath the Son hath life.” Seek creation 
 round till you come to Yosemite Valley, the richest in all the 
 world in all its rocky grandeur. You may listen, but is has no 
 tongue to tell of the redeemed, of redemption, nor of the 
 Redeemer; still, we have the knowledge that our Father is well 
 pleased in the Son and with His believeing people for His Son’s 
 sake. This knowledge of saving grace written as in the Rock of 
 Ages—sure and eternal in its wealth and its beauty. Here we 
 find the force and value of parables of the lost sheep, the lost 
 piece of money, and the prodigal’s return. It is here, also, we 
 see the blunder—the bankruptcy of the New Theology. The 
 new get-up claims the wide, wide world—the universe—as 
 their field of operation. Through this sphere, the foremost in 
 the exhibition hobble along. Their crutches may be polished, 
 but they are only crutches after all. The return is through 
 “ modern thought,” which medium or road never leads to peace 
 and pardon; it never seeks the Cross of Calvary, nor finds 
 forgiveness in the death of Jesus Christ. Modern thought is 
 at variance, at discord with the plan and purpose of God. 
 The world, the universe—what is it worth ? If the soul (the 
 life) is lost, where is the profit ? To-day the railway king is 
 dead. A thousand newspapers record the day of his birth, and 
 the day of his death, and also of his marvellous success. Is 
 that all ? If so, where is the profit ? To-day, the beggar is 
 as rich, and powerful, and holds as much of the universe as 
 the railway king does. “ Modern thought! ” we should not 
 forget, we must never forget, that modern thought and heavenly 
 treasure are seldom, or never, found as stock in the same bank¬ 
 book, or under the same management of kingly authority and 
 responsibility. 
 
 The Starting Point. 
 
 In page No. 4 of the New Theology book, we have the 
 following:—“Its starting point is a re-emphasis of the Christian 
 belief in the divine immanence in the universe and in man¬ 
 kind.” We certainly would have liked the starting point to 
 have been given in scriptural language. Divine immanence 
 and universe may be up to-date, and according to New 
 Theology inspiration, but it has not the ring nor the assurance 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 27 
 
 of old-fashioned modes of expression. “The Lord is our God.” 
 From this we may go out any length. “ The Lord is our 
 Shepherd; we will not want.” “The heavens and the earth are 
 the works of His hand.” Then His immanence is established, 
 as the man who made the house stands superior to the house* 
 So our God stands above what He has made, wonderfully great 
 and grand; and good and great and wonderful although they 
 are now, they have not the excellence they had as they came 
 from the hand of God. They are under the curse; yet there 
 are flowers in beauty, and crops in abundance for man and 
 beast. In Him—in our God—we live, and move, and have 
 our being. While this is so, and in all ages and countries the 
 same, we may call up the admiration, the heartfelt regard the 
 New Theology has for the universe. We are here reminded 
 of pagans and their faith; with such, God is in the universe, 
 and the universe is in God, and the universe is God. The 
 starting point marked off runs through the whole of the book. 
 “ The immanence divine stands out close to the universe, a 
 medium of knowledge; that we know nothing of the Infinite 
 Cause, except we read Him in the universe and in our own 
 soul.” From this we turn, and in another version of things, we 
 claim the inspiration drawn from this motto, held over a door 
 in Edinburgh : “ Hae God, hae a’; know Him, and His grace 
 is sure; trust Him, and you are never ashamed.” Javies : “ To 
 keep himself unspotted from the world ; the friendship of the 
 world is enmity with God.” John says, “ Love not the world; 
 the world passeth away and the lusts thereof.” 
 
 By scriptural measurement, the New Theology starting point 
 is a mistake. When “ Christian belief” shakes hands with the 
 world, when it lifts its hat to such, it is on the wane. By so 
 doing, heart and head become touched, and never for good. 
 Theology, like every other thing, must come under this law. 
 “ Whatever is born (begotten) of God overcometh the world ; 
 and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our 
 faith.” He who heard, and saw, and handled the Word of 
 Life, went to the centre of the world’s argument, “ Who is he 
 that overcometh the world, but he who believeth that Jesus is 
 the Son of God.” The same witness has it, “ We know that 
 we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.” The 
 best and the surest method of examining Christian truth or 
 belief is by comparing scripture with scripture ; they will not, 
 
28 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 they cannot, clash; and this method stands high in recom¬ 
 mendation. “Now, ye have not received the spirit of the 
 world, but the spirit which is of God, that ye might know the 
 things that are freely given to us of God : which things also we 
 speak, not in the words which men’s wisdom teacheth, but 
 which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with 
 spiritual.” The writer comes close up, and hits heavy ; but 
 “ the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, 
 for they are foolishness to him, neither can he know them, 
 because they are spiritually discerned.” It matters not the 
 weight of the emphasis put on the starting point; it is a mistake 
 all the time and all the way. Note the following case:—The 
 Apostle Paul and his men were at work; their success in things 
 divine made public progress. We are told the Word of God 
 grew and prevailed. Here the universe and mankind come in. 
 Demetrius, a silversmith, his craft was in danger; his 
 bread and butter were in question. He made shrines for 
 Diana. He called a meeting of those interested ; they got 
 up a row, and raised the shout, “ Great is Diana of the 
 Ephesians.” Worldly wisdom was in operation : “ Our craft 
 is in danger.” Here we have the universe and mankind 
 judging Christian belief on things divine. Now, we have here 
 a fair exhibition of how the things are still treated, when truth 
 and justice are the problems. 
 
 Take all the speeches, or any one of them, which have been 
 given by the landowners, or the chief among the liquor business, 
 in connection with the Budget, September, 1909. The longest 
 and the loudest outburst given, when translated to fact, is 
 but the wail of the silversmith, “ By this we have our wealth ; 
 great is Diana of the Ephesians.” And before these gods, 
 under the power of these gods, the claims of justice, truth, and 
 humanity have gone down, and are down to-day. I hold it is 
 the Diana move and spirit which rules at the present time, and 
 is a poor medium to examine, to value the highest points of 
 our common faith. Truth cannot be seen through a whisky 
 bottle, nor through the greedy gains drawn by the pampered, 
 the privileged land-holders. How little is known of the active 
 power of Christianity; yet it holds its place in the record 
 divine. “ The Sent of the Lord had the spirit given that He 
 might set the prisoners free, and that the poor might have the 
 gospel preached to them. Look high enough at this revelation, 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 2 9 
 
 and you will find the immanence of the Lord of the Old 
 Theology. We may talk of immanence as chief in power ; the 
 chief among the gods of the people are the land and the liquor. 
 Day after day, and every hour of the day, sacrifice in life, in 
 money, is made, and given willingly, in extent and value sur¬ 
 passing the offerings of any other god. The priesthood are 
 rich; their gold is the life-blood of the nation. The thousands 
 at this shrine are bent and broken; in a short time, after an 
 existence of misery, are put into the pit; and, in a short time, 
 the grave will open its mouth for thousands more, and it is so, 
 on and on, for ever. 
 
 The land again tells, in the present agitation, of the weight 
 of gold in their purses, and of the poverty of their mind. It 
 tells of brains, and how miserably they are furnished. Then 
 we have to look on the common people, dispossessed of their 
 rights, wasting what little they have, and the song of the shirt 
 unsung, but known and felt in the empty press and hopeless 
 life. We are not standing alone in the declaration we have 
 made. Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue 
 for ever, and their dwelling-places to all generations. They 
 call their lands by their own names. Nevertheless, man being 
 in honour abideth not; he is like the beasts which perish. 
 Here we have the universe and mankind; here we are far 
 down. We are hard up if we take such as the starting point 
 of our religion. Water rises no higher than its source, and 
 the New Theology rises no higher than its starting point. 
 
 On this same page, the fourth of the book New Theology, we 
 find this announcement, “ It is the immanent God with whom 
 we have to do, and if this obvious fact is once firmly grasped it 
 will simplify all our religious conceptions, and give us a working 
 faith.” Observe, there is no fresh discovery here, there is no 
 New Theology—none. The truth embodied is as old as the 
 day our first parents were put out of Eden, and kept out of 
 Eden. They disobeyed, and God showed his immanence in 
 guarding the tree of life. This being so, the bird, New Theology, 
 is decked in borrowed feathers, and where the necessity for a 
 new name or order comes in it is not easy to say. Just note the 
 working faith, as given us by the Apostle Peter, and his religious 
 conceptions thereon. If it is a working faith that is needed, we 
 may have it here. The writer finds man as a citizen, as a 
 servant, as a member of a family, as one of the brotherhood, 
 
30 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 and relation to the King. To all he addresses words in manli¬ 
 ness and in duty. The passage stands suggestive and instructive 
 as is not to be found again in language sacred or secular. 
 “ Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, 
 abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Having 
 your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that, whereas 
 they speak against you as evil-doers, they may, by your good 
 works, glorify God in the day of visitation. Submit yourselves 
 to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether it be to 
 the King as supreme, or unto governors, as unto them that are 
 sent by Him for the punishment of evil-doers and for the praise 
 of them that do well. For, so is the will of God, that with well¬ 
 doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. As 
 free and not using your liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, but 
 as the servants of God, honour all men, love the brotherhood, 
 fear God, honour the King, Servants, be subject to your masters 
 with all fear, not only to the good and gentle but also to the 
 froward. For this is thank-worthy if a man for conscience’sake 
 toward God suffer wrongfully, for what glory is it if, when 
 we are buffeted for our faults, we shall take it patiently; but if, 
 when we do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently—this is 
 acceptable with God.” As a working faith now given—God is 
 supreme; and in the service of all His servants, this supremacy 
 is seen in all their works. 
 
 While that is so, and while the Old Theology shall ever rank 
 first, we are, in and around us, where there are a thousand calls 
 for help, calls which will not ask what working faith is in opera¬ 
 tion. The grand point is-—is it working ? Whatever the faith 
 may be, the faith is dead if alone. The working faith is a thing 
 of beauty all over. Blessing the giver and the receiver, the Son 
 of Man did glorious work besides declaring that He was the 
 Resurrection and the Life. The hundreds hungry on the hill-side, 
 and the blind man on the road side, by the work of Jesus had 
 their wants supplied. The possessed of the devil, and the women 
 before whom her accusers went away as if condemned—each 
 and every one had blessing according to their needs, from the 
 hand of Him who though rich became poor, that we through 
 His poverty might become rich. All the time He unfolded the 
 mysteries of the kingdom, His life was one of wmrk. He went 
 about doing good continually. His experience was remarkable. 
 “ Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 3 1 
 
 Son of Man hath not where to lay his head.” From this point 
 we can readily come on another high-class working faith; that 
 is, a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work. In my young days, 
 in all our labour wars, it was work done and wage accordingly. 
 This law was right. The labour party travels on different lines 
 at the present time. Now, one uniform wage is demanded, and 
 has been and is given. This may sound like sympathy and 
 brotherhood, yet it violates the conditions of sound business. 
 A man should have wage as his work is. Heavenly rule is 
 wage according to work accomplished. Whatever this rule goes 
 for, it stands to right and justice. The wage held out for faith 
 and obedience is an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, along 
 with immortality—eternal life. The whole view here presents 
 the disagreement of the faith and practice of humanity of 
 mankind, and the will and the purpose of God. While there 
 is life in a look, work must follow. Christ’s work brought many 
 sons to glory; and the example given to us must be followed, 
 and followed now—“Work while it is day; the night cometh 
 when no man can work.” 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Man in Relation to God. 
 
 (OPENING PASSAGE.) 
 
 So far, we have seen that the universe, including ourselves, 
 is one instrument or vehicle of the self-expression of God. God 
 is all; He is the universe, and infinitely more ; but it is only 
 as we read Him in the universe that we can know anything 
 about Him. We have seen, too, that it is by means of the 
 universe, and His self-limitation therein, that He expresses Him¬ 
 self to Himself/ This passage may be remarkable for a 
 number of things, but it is altogether without anything for 
 which the book “ New Theology ” was said to be given to the 
 public. The book was given, or said to be given, “ for the 
 necessity for a restatement of the fundamentals of the Christian 
 religion.” We know a few of these fundamentals, and we 
 affirm that there is little or no connection of these with the 
 opening passage of the third chapter of New Theology. If it 
 is the fundamentals that are the question, let us have them. 
 In language, and in the facts with which we have been familiar 
 from the time we knelt at our mother’s knee, “ He hath not 
 dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our 
 iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so 
 great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As far as the 
 east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions 
 from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord 
 pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame, He 
 remembereth we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass; 
 as the flower of the field, so he flourisheth; for the wind 
 passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place, thereof, shall 
 know it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting 
 to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness 
 
 3 2 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 33 
 
 unto children’s children, to them that obey His covenant to do 
 them. The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens, and 
 His kingdom ruleth over all.” I shall ask my readers to look 
 at the fundamentals now before us. In relation to the same, 
 there is no need for a restatement. The setting is holy, is 
 heavenly, and in language simple and pure. 
 
 Then the question before us, which stands at the head of 
 the article, is, “ Man in relation to God.” We see it in forms 
 wonderful and true and genuine, in the portions I have given. 
 The New Theology does not, and cannot, tell man’s relation 
 to God. This can only be done by seeing man a sinner lost, 
 and by seeing man in mercy, in the arms of Jesus, saved in an 
 everlasting salvation. This doctrine or truth is fundamental; 
 it is the chief pillar in our building; it is printed in every 
 language on the earth. “ For God so loved the world that He 
 gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him 
 might not perish, but have everlasting life.” “ This is the will 
 of Him that sent Me, that everyone that seeth the Son and 
 believeth on Him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise 
 him up at the last day.” Mr. Campbell is well pleased with 
 the universe, drawn thereto with an unaccountable regard. 
 As a fundamental of the New Theology, it is well up. Now, 
 what will it do for a man’s salvation in the present age, and 
 for honour and glory and eternal life? What can it do? Were 
 he to pay the same attention to the Redeemer that he does to 
 the universe, he would be a power in the lifting up of his 
 fellow men, that neither he nor any man will reach by the New 
 Theology. The uplifting power is union to Jesus Christ, and 
 not union to the universe, which is so earnestly contended for, 
 and with which, we are told, the hearers of the City Temple 
 are familiar. 
 
 We may take another look at this newly-constructed universe? 
 of which Mr. Campbell is the author and the finisher. Men 
 may quarrel about who was the first to reach the North Pole, 
 but there can be no dispute about the New Theology. There 
 may be evidence of scattered parts before this, but these and 
 other parts are only now in shape ; and this is it: “ So far, we 
 have seen that the universe, including ourselves, is one instru¬ 
 ment or vehicle of the self-expression of God. God is all. 
 He is the universe, and infinitely more, but it is only as we 
 read Him in the universe, that we can know anything 
 
34 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 about Him.” God is the universe, and this universe, 
 
 including ourselves, is the only source of knowledge. 
 
 Out of paganism, so far as I know, no man was 
 
 ever found, but Mr. Campbell, to assert that the universe 
 was God, and God was the universe. 
 
 He may satisfy himself with the position he holds ; but he 
 cannot satisfy himself with the conclusion that the universe is 
 the only book which reveals God, and where knowledge of God 
 can be got. Did not our Heavenly Father say of His Beloved, 
 “ This is My Son ; hear ye Him.” Here you find the lesson- 
 book and the Teacher ; and here, and here only, the relation of 
 man to God, and of God to man, is to be known, seen, and 
 felt. The universe cannot and never attempts to give know¬ 
 ledge of any state beyond the present. It has no connecting- 
 link of an inheritance yet to be revealed. Union with God, 
 through Jesus Christ, makes sure an inheritance, the like of 
 which, the greatest portion of the universe’s gifts are made to 
 look small. This secured inheritance is for all God-believing 
 people, and we are kept for it. This is another fundamental 
 truth of our holy faith, and it is another of the lights which 
 makes clear the relation of man to God. We are told where 
 we are in the epistle of the Thessalonians : “ I would not have 
 you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them who are asleep, 
 that ye sorrow not as those who have no hope; for, if ye 
 believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also who 
 sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say, 
 by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain, 
 shall not prevent them who are asleep, for the Lord Himself 
 shall descend from heaven with a shout, with voice of the 
 archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ 
 shall rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall be 
 caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord 
 in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Before all 
 this, with the hope and joy and giving of thanks to the Lord, 
 the New Theology flourish does not come to much.” 
 
 Man in relation to God—a case in poi?it. An example given 
 generally goes a good way in settling a dispute. Well, here it 
 goes. No mistake in the show? No mistake! “ For from 
 you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia 
 and Achia, but also in every place your faith to Godward is 
 spread abroad, so that we need not speak anything, for they 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 35 
 
 of themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had 
 unto you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve the 
 living and the true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, 
 whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us 
 from the wrath to come.” The order or arrangement of things 
 stands the divine word and law. I will not say it makes the 
 New Theology a farce, but, most truly, makes it a failure—a 
 failure, hopeless and heartless—“ Therefore, kiss the Son, else 
 you may perish in the way.” 
 
 Man in relation to God .—Here was Mr. Campbell’s opportunity; 
 here was work to be done, and Mr. Campbell was the man who 
 could have done it. The churches were, the churches are, 
 dead to the second coming of Jesus Christ. Had he stood up 
 here for the glorious hope, for the second coming of the Lord, 
 how he would have reached head and heart of man ; how false 
 faith and creed would have melted away, and how the law and 
 testimony of the Most High would have gained. This was not 
 done; but the opposite was promoted. False positions were 
 taken, and equally false conclusions were come to. In a word, 
 rotten straw was thrashed; time and talent were scattered, and 
 thrown to the wind. 
 
 No promise of God to man is so full of joyful tidings as the 
 second coming is. No other question is so often referred to as 
 this subject is, and every time it is a revelation of man’s 
 relation to God. 
 
 On this subject—the relation of man to God—Mr. Campbell 
 writes much, but says very little on the subject. He dwells at 
 some length on consciousness, and on the surface self and the 
 other self. According to what is given us, the one self has 
 little knowledge of the other. He is of opinion that the higher 
 knows the lower, and the lower, he thinks, knows the higher, 
 but he could not prove it. Next, he comes to the main point: 
 “ What I want to insist upon here is that we are greater than 
 we seem, and that we have a higher self, and that our limited 
 consciousness does not involve a separate individuality.” 
 
 Higher or lower self .—The man who has a high opinion of 
 himself, is never by God or man considered to be of first account. 
 Two men went up to the temple : the one gave an account of 
 himself, and, standing his full size, told the Lord how respectable 
 and good he was; the other felt the need of mercy, and he asked 
 it from the Lord—he went away more and better served than the 
 
36 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 other. The lowly in the plan of salvation gets it. The high- 
 minded one is left to stand in his own boots. Then we have the 
 case of the man who fell among thieves : he was left in a sad 
 state : two high men in the church came that way, and looked 
 on but passed by; another Man with no profession of greatness 
 nor of goodness drew near, made the distress His own: He took 
 the sufferer to the inn, and told the innkeeper that He would pay 
 the expense. The higher self stands for nothing when it passes 
 by on the other side. And this is where the glory and the 
 excellency of the Father come in; when there was no help, 
 when help was so needed, He sent His Son to minister help, 
 to save the lost. The best account we have of the relation of 
 man to God, we have in the letter to the Romans, “ For by 
 one man’s offence death reigned by one, much more they who 
 received abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness 
 shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the 
 offence of one, judgment came on all men to condemnation, 
 even so, by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all 
 men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience 
 many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many 
 be made righteous; moreover, the law entered that the offence 
 might abound. But where sin abounded grace did much more 
 abound. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might 
 grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus 
 Christ our Lord.” Still, our relation to God, “As a father pitieth 
 his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him; for He 
 knoweth our frame, He remembereth that we are dust.” If this 
 is true, then the New Theology is scarcely sound in the faith. 
 
 Individuality .—We have a very considerable amount of writing 
 on points differing from each other. As common sense says, or 
 assumes, that I and thou are eternally distinct. The New Theology 
 argues that they both will run into one. I stand by common 
 sense. “ A man’s a man for a’ that ”—one at birth and one 
 all the way, and one at death and one after death, and no other. 
 Then, as now, I shall stand for myself and not for another—one 
 and the same in one is my reward. I shall give to no one my 
 reward. Individually, I have earned. Then I have kept, I have 
 run, and the Judge who knows all—according to reason and 
 revelation and common sense—says, The price therefore is mine. 
 The universe may be mixed with man, and when the mixture is 
 sufficiently tossed together, the mixture is made to represent 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 37 
 
 God, and God is made to represent the universe; and now, to 
 complete the absurdity, man’s personality comes under the 
 hammer. Individuality only has meaning in relation to the 
 whole; so we are told. I assert that individuality has a meaning 
 with or without the whole. He may be a lazy or a hard-working 
 man; he may be a saint or a sinner, a new school or an old 
 light—a man all the same and all the time. We are not going to 
 throw up our manhood, we are not going to sink our person¬ 
 ality. When I fought for the ballot vote I also fought for 
 manhood suffrage, and why, because I am a man, and the rights 
 of a man presents a man free at the ballot box ? Here we are 
 introduced to remarkable writing. “The true being is conscious¬ 
 ness; the universe, visible and invisible, is consciousness. The 
 higher self of the individual man enfolds more of the conscious¬ 
 ness of God than the lower, but higher and lower are the same 
 thing.” All I know, and all I will say, is—higher or lower self, 
 no man has ever risen an inch above this law: “ Dust thou art, 
 and unto dust thou shalt return.” This law stands to-day as it 
 stood in the history and experience of the first pages of the 
 history of the race. It has never been broken, and nothing has 
 been put in its place. It therefore follows that for the hope or 
 possession of life everlasting man is dependent on another. The 
 business and power of life thus stands before us. Life or death 
 is the choice. Death is in our own up-make. Whatever cup 
 we may drink its measure is death, and this is the standard 
 measure in all nations, and all men of all nations. The New 
 Theology is far at sea on the question before us—on the question 
 of life and death. 
 
 We may walk the ground as we like, as we like we may 
 take our choice, but this truth we cannot dodge: “ He that 
 hath the Son hath life.” For this purpose God sent His Son 
 into the world. We cannot play false and gain with this. “ He 
 that hath not the Son shall not see life.” What is now before 
 us may not be put up dressed in man’s fashion nor taste, but it 
 stands the wisdom of God. In the field before us, we can sow 
 any grain we like, but, in the selection, it is well to think of the 
 harvest-time; the ingathering is the weight of the business. I 
 have been the more particular on the question here, because it 
 is the chief between the Old Theology and the New. In fact, 
 we are brought face to face with it at every turn. This makes 
 our duty clear, from which I shall not shrink. 
 
38 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 Again : “ Individuality only has meaning in relation to the 
 whole.” I am told it has a remarkable meaning in London. 
 A man may find the heart of London the lonliest spot in the 
 universe; so individuality has various meanings. I find that 
 in politics and in theology, Individualism is on its trial. There 
 is an inclination in both to rule out the man, and his personality, 
 by sliding him into the whole. Such a process neither increases 
 his value or worth, nor increases his inclination or oppor¬ 
 tunities for fresh values. However much this may have a 
 blessing from the New Theology men, I shall claim the right 
 to stand on the other side. In the first year of the greatest 
 movement of the age, I sat a boy of fourteen years, and heard 
 total abstinence from alcoholic drinks advocated as a Christian 
 duty. My personality asserted itself; that night I signed the 
 pledge. I have found that I had put into my hand a great 
 instrument for good being and good doing. Individualism 
 strikes out for duty, and does it, not because others are on the 
 turf; and my experience to-day, when my life-clock is just 
 pealing out my 85th year, stands readable, “ I am a life-long 
 abstainer.” As a boy, I have found the pledge safe and sound; 
 as a young man, it has kept me from snares, before which, men, 
 happy and hopeful, have been ruined—lost for ever; as an old 
 man, I have honoured the pledge, and the pledge has honoured 
 me. To fit you for a useful and prosperous life, to build up 
 a noble character, and in old age to possess a true and manly 
 independence, this is my advice—Sign the pledge. Here I 
 frequently put this question—Where is the Church ? Here I 
 put this question—Where is the New Theology. 
 
 Individualism has little need for crutches; its pins are made 
 strong by healthy exercise ; and for the arms, when the one 
 gets weary, the other gives relief. There is little or no piling. 
 Rock is generally at hand, and the structure is soon up. It 
 fosters the spirit of independence, and brings up the means; 
 it envies not the capital of the capitalist; in the battle of life it 
 does its best; in the workshop, for man and for master, it does 
 its best; and what is good for the present age, will stand high 
 in the age to come. 
 
 Freedom of will .—New Theology : “ What I want to point 
 out is that there is not, and never has been, an act of the 
 will, in which a man, without bias in either direction, has 
 deliberately chosen evil in the presence of good.” It falls on 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 39 
 
 me to say, if what is here so deliberately asserted could, by 
 any law or mode of reasoning, be made good or proved, Mr. 
 Campbell's denial of the fall of man in Eden has ground to 
 rest on. The first deliberate choice of evil in the presence of 
 good, is that recorded by Moses. This case may be taken as 
 representative. Adam and Eve had everything pleasant and 
 good. That which was good was of continuance by simple 
 obedience. All their surroundings were for their health and 
 happiness and life. The good was boundless, in the midst of 
 which there was a deliberate choice of evil, the proof of 
 which stands with us to-day; and to-day the same deliberate 
 choice of evil has the go, has the approval of man, has the 
 action of man—still the deliberate choice of evil in the 
 presence of good. Take the case of the greatest good, life— 
 eternal life—a life with perfect health, joy, and a thousand 
 heavenly blessings; these all offered without money and 
 without price. Yet on they go; in deliberate choice, they take 
 the other side. The evil is taken in the midst of good. They 
 crowd the broad way, paying as they go. There they count on 
 the pleasures of sin—they get these—the fruit, thereof, is death. 
 Go out to the world, and tell the people of the love of God; 
 tell of the blood, of the burden-bearer, of how sin is forgiven, 
 and reconciliation with God is secured, and they reject the 
 whole as an idle tale. By deliberate choice they run their race. 
 The determination is to be free, to be independent men; and 
 if the prize is worth winning, they will call up the higher and 
 the lower self, and through this they hope to win the day. 
 
 On the question of free-will and deliberate choice, there is 
 another class. This class has no will, but just to follow the 
 popular side. The popular move in faith, or want of faith, will 
 find this class with them. This class holds all the careless and 
 the indifferent among men. There is a going with the current, 
 and they can show how the current is going. Such live and 
 die, as a rule, without God and without hope in the world. 
 There is no profession made, and their number is great. They 
 are always found on the wrong side. There they are, their 
 higher and lower self, never asserting for the right; and if they 
 are better than they seem to be, the better in their nature never 
 rises above eat and drink, to-morrow we die. 
 
 There is another class—smart, well-got-up. They are good 
 talkers; found at all public meetings, and giving their help. 
 
 D 
 
40 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 Such men are free, and they work with a will. Good men they 
 are, and useful; for any good measure they are ready. All 
 this well-defined, and it is well to have this pointed. Here is 
 propriety and necessity to divide the word. Well then, there 
 are lives, men we meet, who are good workers in all depart¬ 
 ments of the passing life, in the Church and out of the Church, 
 who never lay hold of their Saviour; who never point to, nor 
 apply to the blood which cleanseth from all sin. The im¬ 
 portance of noticing this is incalculable; and it is here we 
 find the difference between the Old Theology and the New. 
 The Old Theology holds that everything depends on the 
 finished work of the Saviour; this is where the redemption of 
 man begins and ends. The New Theology has little or no 
 faith as a working, saving power on this, the gospel, ground. 
 They rather hold up the old way of life to ridicule, and as un¬ 
 worthy the acceptance of free, intelligent, noble-minded men. 
 Let it be known, also, that I have taken, and that I retain my 
 standing, and that I throw out the old flag with its many marks 
 of battles fought and won. I do this in all the freedom where¬ 
 with the gospel makes one free. Here, also, we find Mr. 
 Campbell’s argument thrown out of the ring, and this is what 
 I want to point out, that there is not, and never has been, one 
 act of the will in which a man, without bias in either direction, 
 has deliberately chosen evil in the presence of good. Let me, 
 in a word, say, the sin of age is intensified by the fact that the 
 evil is chosen, the evil is done in the presence of good. 
 
 Free-Will. 
 
 “ It is no heroism in me to avoid getting drunk, but it may 
 mean tremendous assertion of the moral reserves in some poor 
 fellow who knows the power of the drink craving.”— R. J 
 Campbell ,. On the question of free-will, his argument and the 
 construction of it are poor and sadly lame. He takes a free 
 man and a slave. The greatest slave on earth is the man who 
 has sold himself, and in the bargain of drinking. Free-will is, 
 by the law of his being, bound up. He may hate the drink; 
 he may hate himself for drinking, but he drinks on still. He 
 not only sells himself, but all his friends go also. The craving 
 craves—demands. The whole man and free-will, the chief 
 power and blessing of his being, is drowned in the cup. Before 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 41 
 
 that craving is formed, the victim has, by free-will, violated 
 the laws of this being a thousand times; but when 
 formed, it is the most despotic known. When the 
 drunkard took the drink, for years he was in possession of 
 free-will, and because he chose the evil thing, the evil thing 
 now rules. Once the process went on, soft as the touch of 
 velvet, but now the grip is hard and cruel. We cannot but 
 think of the awful results by the exercise of free-will to-day. 
 Men, the body of men, with the bottle as an innocent, as a 
 sacred, treasure—for all they see, and feel, and know, of the 
 hourly evil-doings of the use of drink giving and taking as a 
 gift of God — these free to-day, by free-will, will fill a 
 drunkard’s grave, at a date not far distant ; and all this going 
 on in a free country. Here men grow rich by trading on the 
 lives of their countrymen. If it is an example of heroism that 
 is asked for, then we shall have it. It is by the exercise of 
 free-will. Then, let us go out with head, heart, and hands; 
 go out to the world, and to the Church, and tell all the lot 
 that, by free-will, we stand to this—Whatever others do, as for 
 me and mine, we will serve the Lord, we will abstain ; and 
 also, in this resolution, go out to save the perishing. The 
 heroic part for Mr. Campbell is to throw out the life-line; it is 
 to save the perishing. 
 
 “ My weak points are not my neighbour’s, and his are not 
 mine.”— Mr. Campbell. It is as well that it is so. The secret 
 here, if revealed, might find men and women in a false position. 
 It might discover the choice of evil in the midst of good. This 
 done, Mr. Campbell’s major contention in his book, would be 
 thrown out. On the question of free will, it is individual 
 weakness and individual power that bring out man’s responsi¬ 
 bility. The gifts of pardon and eternal life are offered. The 
 possession is the result of choice; men are free, each man for 
 himself. Thus, we find three classes : One section of society 
 moving along, indifferent to their best interests ; a second class 
 took to the work of their own hands, satisfying themselves, and 
 trying to satisfy God ; another class looks to the work of Jesus 
 Christ. The freedom is clear, and the weakness of the one 
 does not interfere with the other. Choose ye, is the example 
 given and the duty presented. Thus, our lot now is made 
 ours, and our portion for eternity is decided, and is made sure 
 by choice. 
 
42 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 Look further, “ Free-will, in the sense of unlimited freedom of 
 choice, does not exist.” It is just as well that it is so. It is 
 an old saying, “ If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.” 
 But we go on : “ The only freedom we possess is like that of 
 the bird in a cage; we can choose between the higher and the 
 lower standing-ground ; a choice called for by the very fact 
 that we are in prison, but we cannot choose where the cage 
 shall go.” As I am neither like a cage-bird nor a prisoner— 
 but a free man—I will not, I cannot, subscribe to this declara¬ 
 tion. If Mr. Campbell chooses to make such known as his 
 mind, it is well he only speaks for himself. In our times and 
 in our fatherland we are free to commit our case to the Lord; 
 we can hand our eternal interests to His keeping ; or, if we 
 choose, we can sink, with our every interest, hopelessly into a 
 dishonoured grave. That is where we are in the present dis¬ 
 pensation. Therefore we hold to be a prisoner, and, like a bird 
 in a cage, is to enlarge on the leading doctrine of Robert 
 Owen : “ Man is a creature of circumstances.” Robert was a 
 noble soul; great sums of money to change the surroundings 
 of men he gave; these still stand at Lanark, but the scheme 
 failed. There was no Saviour, no Deliverer, no Redeemer 
 offered; and so will every scheme fail which has not the 
 trumpet-sound of the gospel peace and pardon and salvation, 
 in the God-appointed way. 
 
 Consciousness. 
 
 “The New Theology regards all mankind as being of one 
 substance with the Father. Our consciousness of that being is 
 our own. I frankly admit this, while maintaining that there 
 is no substance but consciousness.”— R. J. Campbell . In this 
 passage let it be fixed that there is neither fact nor fancy. 
 What is it then? It is confusion confounded. It is a rich 
 intellect gone astray. New Theology regards all mankind as 
 being of one substance with the Father. This cannot be made 
 good by scripture testimony, nor by physical science. We 
 read, God is a Spirit, and the worship of the Father goes on 
 this line. Mankind have flesh and bones. The substance here 
 may accomplish what is good or bad—the one or the other in 
 large or small portions—but it is done on their own hook, and 
 it is a false assertion to make this substance one with the 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 43 
 
 Father. The Father demands the service, the obedience of 
 His children; He seeks the honour of His name. In this 
 connection, man, in every land and in every dispensation, has 
 been a fraud, has been a failure; and the displeasure of the 
 Father-God has been seen and felt in all people, and may be 
 read in all history. In the works of God, and the excellency 
 thereof, man—a substance—a creature of a day in his own full 
 measure, is very small indeed. Yet it is remarkable that the 
 New Theology, after making so much of the substance in man 
 and the Father, turns round to us, saying that there is no such 
 thing as substance—but consciousness. This statement proves 
 that the New Theology is against evidence drawn from the 
 various functions brought to action every hour of the day. 
 From the stomach to the brain substance is at work, and 
 instead of consciousness swallowing up all substance, it is 
 dependent for all sensation on the brain, and on the various 
 roads which run into the brain. If these are in healthy action 
 the sensation, or consciousness, will be pleasant and whole¬ 
 hearted. What follows is according to scientific revelation. 
 “ For our consciousness, as a whole, we depend on the in¬ 
 formation we obtain when these portions of the brain, which 
 record sensation, are in a normal state of activity, and it is of 
 the utmost importance that this normal activity should be 
 maintained in the highest degree of efficiency, when we are 
 awake and at work. Every part of the brain is definitely 
 mapped out into different areas, each with a special duty to 
 perform.” For example, take the phrenological chart; go to 
 number sixteen, and in consciousness, well developed, you have 
 the skull raised and the head shaped. This organ, supported 
 with the moral sentiments in healthy action, sets the owner, 
 and keeps him at that point of moral excellence, which runs : 
 “ Love mercy, do justly, and walk humbly with God.” The 
 substance of this organ, in bulk, your wife could place in her 
 tea-cup, yet it makes the man—the man honourable in every 
 relation of life, and faithful and true to God. From this centre 
 of action you have the man at home, happy; and his life-w r ork 
 making others happy. As a centre of action in the workshop, 
 the man is dutiful to his master and helpful to his fellow- 
 workman ; in the street, he has the “ Good morning ” to those he 
 meets; in politics, he has made up his mind, and in all truth¬ 
 fulness he gives his vote. Such is man, at his best, the child 
 
44 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 of God; but all the same, only a man. In the greatness and 
 grandeur of his manhood, only a man. We therefore say, let 
 the New Theology blow up its bag; the bulk attained is only 
 wind, and sooner or later it shall fall flat. Heaven is our 
 Father’s throne, the earth is His footstool. Come and see the 
 works of God ; He is terrible in all His doings towards the 
 children of men. Try if you can to link in the New Theology. 
 It stands out in the vanity, and in the presumption of this 
 writing. It regards “ all mankind as being of one substance 
 with the Father.” One word we put in : “ He ruleth in His 
 power for ever; His eyes behold the nations; let not the 
 rebellious exalt themselves.” 
 
 The climax is reached in the close of the third chapter. 
 New Theology': “The being of God is a complex unity con¬ 
 taining within itself and harmonising every form of self-con¬ 
 sciousness that can possibly exist. No one need be afraid that, 
 in believing this, he is assenting to the final obliteration of his 
 personality; if such obliteration were possible, our present 
 personality could possess no permanent value even for God. 
 No form of self-consciousness can ever perish. It completes 
 itself in becoming infinite, but it cannot be destroyed.” I 
 shall, in duty and in justice, tell Mr. Campbell, that on every 
 inch of his substance, which he has ranked so high, and on the 
 boldest and strongest part of his personality, he may in 
 truth write—as on the fish car—“perishable.” He may stand 
 out bold in life, but the day comes when he must mingle with 
 the dead; then his grave-stone will tell the day he was born, 
 and the day of his death. There his personality is obliterated, 
 and will remain rubbed out for ever, unless he has part in the 
 resurrection. 
 
 Yes, facts and figures go to show the dead know not any¬ 
 thing. That question put by the Saviour goes upon the 
 assumption that man, like fish, is perishable : “ What is a man 
 profited though he gain the whole world and lose his own soul” 
 (own life), “ or what will a man give in exchange for his life? 
 For the Son of Man shall come, in the glory of His Father, 
 with His angels, and then He shall reward every man according 
 to his works.” I do wish men would look to this passage. 
 They would see where they are and what they are. There is 
 a losing and a saving of life. For thus saith the Christ: 
 “ Whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; and whosoever 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 45 
 
 shall lose his life, for My sake, shall find it.” How precious 
 is the subject before us—one God and Father, one Son and 
 Saviour; then comes the personal sinner and the personal 
 salvation. One individuality now, and the same in the age to 
 come : “ For our conversation is in heaven ; from whence also 
 we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; Who shall 
 change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His 
 glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able 
 even to subdue all things unto Himself.” All this is marvel¬ 
 lous, yet it is true; held individually in promise. We cannot 
 tell the time when it will be ours. The part for us to play is 
 to watch, to wait for; this exercise is elevating and comforting, 
 and even here and now, how pleasant it is to linger a while. 
 It is the Father’s flower garden. The look-out is blessed and 
 full of hope. 
 
 “ There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the 
 moon, and another glory of the stars; for every one star 
 differeth from another star in glory, so also in the resurrection 
 of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in in¬ 
 corruption ; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is 
 sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural 
 body, it is raised a spiritual body.” Let us hold fast here ; let 
 no man take our crown. Let us know and feel that what we 
 have committed to His care is in safe keeping. Therefore, 
 the wind of the New Theology may blow loud and long, but 
 we stand unmoved thereby. What follows is rather windy. 
 Mr. Campbell says: “ No form of self-consciousness can ever 
 perish. It completes itself in becoming infinite, but it cannot 
 be destroyed.” Like the wind, this shall blow past for ever. 
 The word of God only endureth; for evermore it stands. 
 
 Religion and the Universe. 
 
 “Religion is man’s response to the call of the universe; it 
 is the soul turning to its source and its goal .”—New Theology. 
 Years ago I was told, apologetically, that I was old, and it was 
 not to be expected that I could write as in my younger years. 
 Well, well—here I sit to-day, weak, it may be, but strong in 
 my Redeemer, and in holding to the truth I say, if I could 
 not make a better religion than the one placed before us (the 
 ideal of Mr. Campbell) I would never lift the pen again. But 
 
46 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 we hail the blessing which no man can make nor give—we hold 
 to the Christian system, which is founded on the love, wisdom, 
 and power of God. The writing stands—we love it, we recom¬ 
 mend it— 11 1 beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of 
 God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and 
 acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service; and be 
 not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the re¬ 
 newing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, 
 and acceptable and perfect will of God.” In these two verses 
 we have the soul of man and the universe put in their place, 
 while the will of God is seen to stand as the sum of vital, un¬ 
 failing Christianity. We may back this up by the response of 
 another critical writer: “ Pure religion and undefiled before 
 God and the Father is this: to visit the widow and the father¬ 
 less in their affliction, and to keep Himself unspotted from the 
 world. Here, and without effort, we have the song of life— 
 beautiful, full, and free—before which if you place the New 
 Theology religion, “ man responding to the call of the universe,” 
 you have nothing but an empty sound, and good talent and 
 opportunity thrown away. In religion the universe has no call, 
 and therefore man can give no response. Here the New and 
 the Old Theologian can meet on the same ground, and both 
 shall find the same result. The sunshine and the shower fall 
 on the bad and the good alike. The action to produce a good 
 result will be as effective in the one case as in the other. The 
 bad is seen in the same way and for the same reason. The 
 whole and all is silent as the grave on the great or small 
 questions pertaining to salvation — to life eternal. In the 
 cultivation of his fields—saint or sinner—the man who does 
 most for his fields they will do most for him. 
 
 In addition to what we have now said, let it be known, seen, 
 and felt that although it were possible for man to respond to 
 the call of the universe, the soul, by so doing, is neither to its 
 “ source nor to its goal.” Such action, were it run to its 
 highest point, could simply be giving place and character to 
 the thing created, instead of giving these to the Creator to 
 whom only these are due. God made of one blood all men on 
 the face of the earth, and here he is the most favoured or 
 blessed in the universe—but man can never reach his source 
 and goal by his responding to the universe. The starting-post 
 for every man, as well as his source, is God—the Pure and the 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 47 
 
 Just. Accepting Him in faith and loving obedience, we reach 
 the source, and at the goal secure the prize, with the “ Well 
 done good and faithful”; and at this prize-winning we shall be 
 made possessors of treasures, under the favour of Him who is 
 Judge of the living and the dead. Mr. Campbell stands by 
 this: “ What is wanted is a message charged with spiritual 
 power.” To secure this he must change his Derby, his race 
 course, and the training of his riders before this want will be 
 supplied. The universe, on a dull, showery day, will affect him 
 as other people—his whole being will be dull. On a bright, 
 sunshiney day he will get up his spirits again. Is that all ? 
 Let us see: a loss in business—the fall in stock, and everything 
 of this kind—and man goes down also. Again, if he has made 
 a high and heavy stroke in business, the electricity in his body 
 finds room for play. The universe over these conditions holds. 
 Spiritual power it has none to give. Its friends will never have 
 a message charged with spiritual power—it is not there. 
 Where is it? “ My son was lost, and is found ; he was dead, 
 and is alive again; it was meet that we should make merry.” 
 There is a spiritual power here. It tells of a Father’s love, of 
 a Father’s heart, of a Father’s table where the prodigal was 
 welcome, and the spark spiritual reaches heaven, over which 
 there is joy. The elder brother may resist this message; still 
 it is there, and there for him, charged with spiritual power. 
 Our friends say where there is no vision the people perish. To 
 have life, then, and a continuance of it, we say go to the Life- 
 giver, go to our God, through the Son, Jesus Christ. Leave 
 the universe to its manifold and proper purposes. Dream not 
 of responding to the calls of the universe in religion. In no 
 condition go in for such ideals. 
 
 What It Is. 
 
 “The New Theology is but the articulation of the social 
 movement.” Again,“the NewTheologyis the religion of science.” 
 “The New Theology is spiritual socialism.”— Mr. Campbell. 
 These three statements give, or suggest, little space for the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. In the present dispensation, Christ and 
 Him crucified, forms the foundation of all Christian religion. It 
 is from this standpoint we look in all our notes on the above 
 headings. The City Temple must be a place—a hive of 
 
4 8 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 industry—and great progress in all that is good in family, social, 
 and church life, should prevail. The machinery at work there 
 is the foremost of the age—socialism, science, and social move¬ 
 ment. While this is so, they may be taken up and good work 
 done by them without the question, What saith the Lord. The 
 circulars thrown out are giving depressing accounts of the 
 Church, in her members and influence, not holding its own; 
 Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches are losing in numbers. 
 The reason of going down is, intellectual men will not go in for 
 certain dogmatic beliefs about the fall, the scriptural basis of 
 revelation, the atonement, the meaning of salvation, the punish¬ 
 ment, heaven and hell. This list may not please the 
 intellectual, yet the belief of them graced and governed our 
 fathers, raised a class of men, raised a nation the like of which, 
 for moral power, intellectual standing, and Christian efficiency 
 and worthiness, was never seen. Intellectual men should 
 remember the work done and the men who did it. And further, 
 we state, have your own way, throughout the dogmas’ notice, 
 and what have you to put in their place? In here we have the 
 faults and the failings of these intellectual men. They can 
 pull down, but they cannot build up. Heaven and hell they 
 may dislike, yet, in the plan of redemption, they are heaven- 
 appointed. Along with the pronouncement of the sad state of 
 the Churches, there is a repeated flourish of trumpets telling of 
 the success and hopes of the new school of thinkers, and 
 especially of the New Theology. We tell all such as are 
 concerned, it will be long in the day before they bring as much 
 glory to God and houour to Jesus Christ as the men and the 
 objects of their faith have done, done in lively hope and blessed 
 assurance. 
 
 Spiritual Socialism .—This is, most surely, one of the pillars of 
 the new religion. It has no part nor position in the Christian 
 system. The offers of grace now, and of glory hereafter, are 
 altogether individual. In the last day, that day of the feast, 
 Jesus stood and cried, saying : “ If any man thirst, let him come 
 unto Me and drink.” Jesus said, “ I am the Bread of Life; he 
 that cometh unto Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth 
 in Me shall never thirst.” We have here, not spiritual social¬ 
 ism, but the voice of the Life-giver—personally dealing with the 
 personal sinner. Spiritual Socalism is a get up, and as a 
 religious condition of things it is not good enough. Still, it is on 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 49 
 
 the move, and although there is no life-giving, healing, happy 
 influence, it is gaining ground. Socialism runs fast, all kinds 
 of it. Three years ago, the Prime Minister told his constituents 
 in Fife, that Socialism was not a strong force in the House of 
 Commons; two years ago he told the same people, Socialism 
 would kill Liberalism; and this year, Mr. Balfour, at every meet¬ 
 ing, holds forth Socialism is his best card against the Liberal 
 Government: there will be plenty of Socialism both in Church 
 and State. Are we not nearing that period when men will 
 neither buy nor sell unless they have the mark ? 
 
 Religious Articulation .—Some time ago, the Rev. Mr. 
 Campbell, of the City Temple, delivered an address at Bodmin, 
 which is before the public. It is therefore open to public or 
 private criticism. In that address, a strange, unwarrantable and 
 unjustifiable assertion is made as a starting-point. It reads as 
 follows : “ Theology was the intellectual articulation of religious 
 experience.” We hold it is not theology as we know it. This is not 
 theology as our fathers knew it. This is not theology as God knew 
 it, and as He revealed it to the children of men. What is religious 
 experience? Religious experience depends on the size of a 
 man’s brain and the quality of it, on his early teaching, on the 
 Church he attends, and on the books he reads. For example, 
 Mr. Brown, who preached a few weeks ago in the City Temple, 
 has a very different experience from Mr. Campbell himself. Mr. 
 Brown believes in the sacrifical work of Christ; Mr. Campbell, 
 again, at his best, is away in the open fields finding God in the 
 various forms of nature. The universe opens its door and he walks 
 in, and invites all men to follow. The experience of the Protestant 
 is different from the Roman Catholic. The religious experience 
 of the man who believes in believer-immersion is different from 
 the man who conforms to infant sprinkling. Yet to articulate 
 intelligently all or any of these experiences in words, framed in 
 skill and uttered in eloquent tones of gifted men, yet here you will 
 find no foundation for theology, of God’s relation to man, nor of 
 rest, peace, and hope, through Jesus Christ. 
 
 Further on in this address he tells us, “The New Theology 
 was not primarily Theology at all.” Our response is here. Let 
 Mr. Campbell stand on this ground—let him abide by this con¬ 
 clusion—by his own declaration, and the subject before the 
 people puts on a different face. He further tells us, incidentally, 
 it was theological, but it was primarily a moral and spiritual 
 
5° 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 movement which would send civilisation back to God. We 
 say this object may be noble, but the way is ignoble, even 
 for a philosophical venture, device, or contrivance. The 
 religious experience of the age is not good enough as a basis. 
 If civilisation is to go forward—or back to God, the royal road— 
 the King’s high-way must be traversed. To-day, as it has ever 
 been, narrow is the way which leadeth to life, and few there be 
 who find it. The mission and promise of the gospel age is too 
 select to gather out a people for His name, the name of the 
 Lord. 
 
 The meeting at Bodmin was told that Mr. Campbell was going 
 to bring out a book, and he gave a passage from the same. I 
 may here give a passage from the old book, which is trustworthy, 
 which is a direct message of love and mercy. Wisdom lies on 
 the part of men who give this book a place in their heart and 
 life. “ In whom we have redemption in His blood, even the 
 forgiveness of sins, Who is the image of the invisible God, the 
 first-born of every creature, for by Him were all things created 
 that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones 
 or dominions, or principalities or powers. All things were 
 created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and by 
 Him all things consist. And He is the Head of the body the 
 Church, who is the beginning and the first born from the dead: 
 that in all things He might have the pre-eminence.” I wish 
 the readers of the lines to fix their minds on this passage, that 
 they might find the absurdity, if not worse, of bringing in Mr. Keir 
 Hardie, in the House of Commons, as an agent in the atonement. 
 “ Let the truth be told, the work was finished once for all on 
 the Cross of Calvary, the Redeemer said it is finished,” and Mr. 
 Hardie is a poor tinker to be nibbling at this finished work. 
 Let justice be done to Mr. Keir Hardie. This gentleman has 
 been at many a job, but as a theologian he never made a pro¬ 
 fession, and it must have been a surprise when Mr. Campbell 
 placed him first as worker in the atonement. We are told, 
 further, “the atonement was the offering of help for the whole.” 
 We firmly and frankly deny this statement. Were the statement 
 true, then the power, the life-giving power of the Son of God on 
 the Cross, is gone, is lost, is annihilated. Now observe, the 
 Father of old would not give His glory to another, nor His 
 praise to graven images; neither will the Son divide the merit, 
 the glory of the atonement. He trod the wine-press of the wrath 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 5 1 
 
 of God alone. The dregs of the cup he drank to the bottom. 
 We cannot allow the fruit of all this to pass unnoticed. Jesus 
 Christ, who is the faithful and true witness, the first begotten 
 of the dead and the Prince of the kings of the earth. “ Unto 
 Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own 
 blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and the 
 Father—His Father—to Him be glory and dominion for ever 
 and ever, Amen. Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every 
 eye shall see Him, and they also who pierced Him, and all 
 kindreds of the earth shall wail/’ but hold on, “Neither is there 
 salvation in any other, for there is no other name under Heaven 
 given among men whereby we must be saved.” He commanded 
 us to preach to the people, and to testify “that it was He 
 who was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. 
 To Him gave all the prophets witness that through His name 
 that whosoever believeth in His name shall receive the remission 
 of sins.” With firm step and with intelligent grip let us face 
 what follows. “ The real God was the God expressed in the 
 universe, which was the highest reach of love, and the fullest 
 manifestation of love.” The doctrine here expressed is foreign to 
 that for which our fathers in bonnie Scotland suffered and died. 
 It has no place in the profession and practice of the Christian 
 men of our day, who carry and are covered with the banner of 
 the Cross. Let it be clearly seen and felt that the men, the sons 
 of God in the present dispensation, do not make distinction nor 
 selection in the works of His own hand ; and as He stands re¬ 
 vealed in the gospel, it is one and the same Almighty—the 
 living, loving, the faithful and the true. We take both, we 
 stand on the holy hill of mercy, which never fails, and has given 
 us this song to sing—“ The heavens declare the glory of God, 
 and the firmament showeth His handiwork; the Sun as a 
 bridegroom cometh out of His chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong 
 man to run a race; His going forth is from the end of heaven, 
 and His circuit unto the ends of it, and there is nothing hid from 
 the heat of it.” Amid the grandeur of all this, there is no 
 converting power, there is no salvation, there is no eternal life. 
 The universe has no price to give, redemption is complete, 
 finished in the hand of God : the price is the current coin of 
 heaven. “Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible 
 things, such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of 
 Jesus.” What can the universe do? What portion has it for 
 
5 2 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 the weary and the heavy laden? I press the question, “What 
 is a man profited though he gain the whole world and lose his 
 own soul?” Again, the universe—the world—is under the curse. 
 “ We know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in 
 pain until now, and not only they but ourselves also, who have the 
 first fruits of the spirit; even we ourselves, from within ourselves, 
 waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” 
 
 We thus find that Mr. Campbell’s universe may afford him much 
 that is interesting, and for scientific and philosophical thought 
 and discussion he may travel far afield, and all the way he may 
 gather as he goes, but in his research, as now before the public, 
 there is no proof, or claim of theological accuracy, or truthfulness. 
 It certainly would be wrong on our part were we to omit facts. 
 There are many whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of 
 Life, and who are heirs of the incorruptible and everlasting 
 kingdom, who have little or no knowledge of the universe. On 
 the other hand, there be many who are at the front, and are 
 well acquainted with the wonders of the universe, who have no 
 interest in those things pointing towards the glories of the 
 coming kingdom. Further, Mr. Campbell told his hearers that 
 the Church had lost hold of the people. There need be no 
 doubt on this point. Dr. Farrer stated that only three percent, 
 of the working classes are being influenced by the gospel of 
 Jesus Christ; the Bishop of London, that only one per cent, 
 of the male population of East London ever attended a place of 
 worship. We remark, here, the Bible student need be in no 
 difficulty here, no misgiving on his subject. Nineteen hundred 
 years ago it was written by an accurate hand—no mistakes— 
 that in the last days perilous times would be. Faith would be 
 a scarce possession. Natural affection would be violated, and 
 the love of pleasure would prevail instead of the love of God. 
 All this is enacted day after day, and every hour of the 
 day. Night and day the actors are on the stage. The curtain 
 never falls. All the time we find religious teachers well pleased, 
 congratulating themselves on their success. Only a little more 
 money and they will go in and possess the land. A little more 
 fiddling music is the thing. All this, with short sermons, the 
 day shall be won; the streets will be cleared of idlers; the 
 men will be brought round; they will be interested. The 
 power and the wisdom of God, in the popular methods, are to 
 be got in edge ways. To all this, if you add the devolution 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 53 
 
 of the New Theology, and the work and mission of the higher 
 critics, you have a ditch which neither we nor our children will 
 be able to cross. Still, we may hear the sound—“He that over¬ 
 comes shall inherit all things.” 
 
 We are now at the last page of the first chapter of the book, 
 “NewTheology. 55 There we are told, “Science is supplying the 
 facts which the New Theology is weaving into the texture of 
 religious experience. 55 The weaver at this job will have much 
 and difficult work to produce anything like passable cloth 
 theologically considered. Science is a fickle queen. Its 
 changing modes are so manifest, and so frequent, and so un¬ 
 trustworthy, that the facts given as warp to the weaver to-day 
 may be sent to the waste-bag to-morrow. Then there is a 
 a friend in court—Socialism. Socialism seeks to change every¬ 
 thing. The rich it would reduce, pull down the well-to-do, and 
 by this process would lift up the poor. Take the money out of 
 the one pocket and put it into the pocket of the other; fill up 
 the gulf, now existing between the rich and the poor; equality 
 thus secured, there would follow peace and prosperity. Next 
 there is the Social Movement. It is represented to be in a good 
 way, bringing religious and moral revival all round. Mr. 
 Campbell, looking at this his own gathering in warp and woof, 
 says it is a misnomer to call this Theology. As Mr. Campbell 
 rightly and truly remarks, it is wrong named. We agree with 
 him here; it is not Theology. There is no exposition, no 
 telling, no pointing out of the relation of God to man, nor of 
 man to his Maker, as that is seen and known in the only 
 book given for that purpose—the Bible. We say with Mr. 
 Campbell, his child has got the wrong name. This we admit all 
 round, and do express the hope that when he names his late 
 born he will give it a proper and consistent name. If Christian 
 experience is the thing aimed it, then we say at once, modern 
 science cannot furnish facts which the theological weaver can 
 ever weave into the texture of Christian experience. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Nature of Evil. 
 
 After considerable labour, we are told “We do not gauge the 
 weather by adding together the figures of all the storm-glasses 
 in the world ; the rise and fall of the^nercury in any one of them, 
 especially the best one among them, comprehends the whole. Here 
 isthe problem of pain in a nutshell.” Notsofast; careful study leads 
 to a different conclusion. The storm-glasses answer the purpose 
 for which they are made. But they never tell the nature of evil, 
 nor the problem of pain, nor, as an illustration, have they any 
 value. Storms would rage although there was no storm-glass, 
 and they would rage the same although their numbers were 
 increased by thousands. A weather storm-glass may tell the 
 weather in the Firth of Forth, but there are other waters and 
 lands and there the weather may be the very opposite from what 
 the glass here indicates. The conclusion arrived at is not 
 trustworthy, which is, “The whole appalling tale of cosmic suffer¬ 
 ing can be compressed within the limits of the individual 
 consciousness which has endured the most.” Note, if suffering 
 is great and widespread, there will be thousands in pain. 
 The suffering will be varied, measured by the strength of 
 endurance, and the mode of infliction, and by the helps to 
 relieve the suffering. Therefore, to say that individual 
 conscience limits the whole, is to say individual experience 
 cannot support the truth. Individual consiousness should 
 never try to crow beyond its own farmyard. A girl in the fever- 
 ward will have a very different experience from her father, in 
 another ward, with a broken leg. Thus, the limits of conscious¬ 
 ness is very limited, and cannot be run into the whole, nor 
 measure the whole. 
 
 The next step is the fall of man. Mr. Campbell may deny 
 the fall as he has done, yet he must be told the fall of man has 
 
 54 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 55 
 
 given colour to his religious life. It gives shape and tone to 
 every argument he uses. He cannot get over it, and he never 
 will. He knows that by one man sin entered the world, and 
 death as a consequence. Let us hold on. He says : 
 “ Theologians may tell us that we should never have known 
 anything about it ”—about what ? about the problem of pain ?— 
 “but for man’s disobedience.” What theologians say on the point 
 before may be of little consequence. The question is, What 
 saith the Lord, and how does history verify that saying ? Such 
 is the ground we stand upon. This is the ground which has 
 never been touched by the New Theology. Disobedience and 
 suffering have ever been in the hand of God, and here, and here 
 alone, can the problem be solved. What might have been, no 
 man can tell. We know what is. Disobedience began in Adam; 
 with the sin came suffering. The current thus begun, runs on 
 still, and the stream ends in death. Death is the wage of sin. 
 There is no escape. Only in the will, purpose, and power of 
 God, can deliverance from the sentence of death, and its execution, 
 be found. He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of 
 God; for God giveth not His Spirit by measure unto Him. 
 The Father loveth the Son, and has given all things unto Him. 
 “ He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that 
 believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God 
 abideth on him.” We have this question, “What is the nature of 
 God ? ” Answer —“ According to Christian religion, it is love. 
 And what is love? Here is another slippery word.” Here we 
 are bound to say, the Word of God, the love of God, is not 
 slippery by any means, nor to any extent. The love of God 
 shed abroad in the heart, life, and experience of His people is 
 for ever, and as such has a blessed experience. Any man who 
 is in doubt on the question before us may turn in for a little. 
 “ We believed and know the love that God hath towards us. 
 God is Love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God. 
 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in 
 the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in the world.” 
 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear. He 
 that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love Him, because 
 He first loved us; and this is His commandment, “ He that 
 loveth God, loveth his brother also.” We thus say, in the way 
 and wisdom and love of God, there is nothing slippery. A 
 maid of seventeen may change, or find love slip in her case and 
 
 E 
 
56 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 connection, or the man of twenty-seven may give the slip, but 
 the love of God is an abiding portion. Thus we call out— 
 
 “ Behold ! what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us 
 that we should be called the sons of God.” 
 
 Sin .—The next introduced is sin, and strange are the notions 
 expressed here. “ As sin is always a blunder, sin is actually a 
 quest for life, but a quest which is pursued in the wrong way.” 
 Let us see. Let us stand by the record—“ Sin is any want of 
 conformity to, or transgression of, the law.” Sin entered into 
 the world by the disobedience of Adam. Nothing is gained by 
 denying this fact. But there is more in it than this. The 
 denial of the fall of man leads directly to the rejection, to the 
 denial of the work of human redemption by Jesus Christ. Now, 
 it is to be observed, that the New Theology, denying the fall of 
 man, and the Saviour’s sacrificial work, places men in a state of 
 rebellion against God ; where the choice is made of darkness in 
 place of light, and this choice is made in circumstances which 
 aggravate, increase the evil of their doing. Here, there is no 
 covering for sin. It may be manly; it may even be heroic, in 
 the religious world, to work his way, to work out his own 
 salvation, and present himself before God with clean hands, and 
 to hold on and to hold up before the Judge a clean sheet. I 
 say all this looks fine, and may have the approval of the 
 trained, of the advanced, and of the new and progressing. 
 And more even that this it answers. It harmonizies with 
 human nature at its best, and many thousands in the higher 
 circles of society, with splendid records among men, will be found 
 to call out, that is the thing—-just the thing ! But the sixpence 
 has another side well worth looking at. This witness must, shall 
 stand, “ even the righteousness of God, which is by faith in Jesus 
 Christ, unto all and upon all them who believe; for there is no 
 difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of 
 God. Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption 
 that is in Jesus Christ, whom God hath set forth to be a pro¬ 
 pitiation through faith in His blood ; to declare His righteous¬ 
 ness for the remission of sins that are past; through the 
 forbearance of God to declare, I say at this time, His righteous¬ 
 ness, that He might be just, and the justifier of him who 
 believeth in Jesus.” Such is the gospel light, life, and liberty, 
 which is the hope and possession of the believer, and such 
 stands, and will stand, the honour and glory of our Father’s 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 57 
 
 name and nature. And both these conditions secured, the 
 foundation and the frame-work of the New Theology finds no 
 element, no argument, claiming stability. 
 
 Such is the love of our Father as seen in its operation; and 
 to distrust it, or to say that it is slippery, would be our sin, 
 would be our condemnation. But in this we will hold on : we 
 will hold fast the form of sound words which are for our life. 
 All at once, again, the fall is to the front. The New Theology 
 champion cannot get free from the fall. Whatever way he 
 turns, he is face to face with it. He starts in all his strength 
 and measurement. “Thus the theological muddle is largely 
 caused by the inability of many people to free themselves from 
 archaic notions which have nothing to do with Christianity, 
 although they have been imported into it. The principle of 
 these, in relation to the question of sin, is the doctrine of the 
 fall.” At the outset, here, we contend sin as being introduced at 
 and by the fall of man, is no muddle. As to the starting point, it 
 is clearly set before us, and as to its effects, they are well-known 
 through the world; felt by all men, rich and poor, white and 
 black, and no polish nor device of man can change the run of 
 the stream which began in Eden. Sin began in our first 
 parents, and death began there also—the punishment; and 
 to-day, amid all the beauty, grandeur, and power of our state 
 and surroundings, muddle or slippery ways cannot find a place 
 to change death as the wage of sin. This order rules, dominates 
 in the mud cottage of the uncivilized, and the richest palace of 
 the great. You can stand at the bedside of your nearest and 
 dearest, and you can watch the breath of life become feeble and 
 still more feeble, and the last comes; here you can only look on, all 
 is over. There may be a muddle somewhere, but it is not here; 
 and as the law of death is fixed and unchangeble, so the law of 
 life stands the same. “ The gift of God is eternal life,” and 
 this life is in His Son. If any man introduces slippery ways or 
 muddles, he imparts that which has no connection with the 
 case. We may state, if muddles and slippery ways are the 
 point, go to the New Theology book, see man and his 
 substance mixed up with the universe; and this mixture, the finite 
 unites with the infinite, and then God and the universe are 
 joined as one. Such is how the land lies. 
 
 Mr. Campbell once more hits the ball with all his might. “In 
 connection with sin, it has played a mischievous part, an outline 
 
58 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 is given. Man was created originally innocent and pure, for 
 what reason is not quite clear, but it is said to be for the glory of 
 God. - ’ In this arrangement I cannot find anything objectionable 
 or mischievous. It is according to the writings of Moses, a 
 writer who had the favour and notice in approval of the Son of 
 God, and of His followers in their speech and written matter, the 
 value of which no other scribe nor public speaker could claim. 
 “Further, but by an act of disobedience to the divine command 
 he fell from his high estate, and in his fall dragged down the 
 whole creation and blighted posterity.” Things, in the opinion 
 of some men, might have been otherwise fixed up, and for the 
 better; such men may be dissatisfied with the creation of man 
 and his surroundings, but they should remember it is the work 
 of God, and if things are wrong, who is to blame? That is the 
 point. Thrash it out, who is to blame? The curse is not yet 
 removed ; there it blights and blasts, and bites, and who is to 
 blame? The Creator pronounced His works good, and man was 
 made in His own image; grace, and glory, blessing and beauty 
 crowned the day, but everything was changed. There was 
 transgression, and the transgression was punished, and the 
 punishment was according to the bargain; and the curse stands 
 fixed to-day, and fixed it shall remain till the day when the Lord 
 comes. The Creator has so arranged it. The New Theology 
 had better look at things as they really stand, accept the same, 
 and go a head in the lines of reason and revelation. But the 
 fact is, they are so far and so completely off the rail that it will 
 take more ingenuity, skill, and strength to set them right, than 
 is granted to common mortals. 
 
 But we go on, “God is a God of righteousness! and, therefore, 
 in a future world He will torment every human being who dies 
 without availing himself of a certain plan of salvation designed 
 to give him a chance of escape.” 
 
 Mr. Campbell has an excellent opportunity of getting a hit 
 at the theologians, but he has no occasion to come down on the 
 characters or ways of God. God never tormented man in 
 this world nor the next. He punished transgression; and the 
 punishment of sin is death. There is no torture in death; the 
 grave covers the dead, and there is perfect rest. The slave and 
 his master have no quarrel. They side by side lie in the ground 
 in peace. It is not torture which God inflicted as the punish¬ 
 ment of broken law; it was death. Now death is complete 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 59 
 
 freedom from pain. God is a God of righteousness ! and as such 
 He keeps His word. It will not—it cannot—be broken. 
 Well, as the righteous God, and full of love and mercy, He 
 sends deliverance, even to the chief of sinners; and sadly 
 let it be told Mr. Campbell is as ill-pleased with salvation 
 provided as he is with creation in general, and with man in 
 particular; nevertheless, both creation and redemption stand 
 out prominently: the power of God and the wisdon of God. 
 “Things have been wrong ever since, and God has been angry, 
 not only with the original transgressor, but with all his 
 decendants.” I shall say it is the joy and the glory of the 
 Christian system to make known that the Lord is angry with 
 sin, while it is one of His chief attributes. Sin is condemned, 
 but the sinner is the object of His love ; proof -—“ God so loved 
 the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever 
 believeth in Him might not perish but have everlasting life.” 
 
 Next follows a very interesting and fair account of the plan 
 of salvation from Mr. Campbell’s pen. He tells of God sending 
 His Son in His mission ; He was faithful, and on the Cross of 
 Calvary He died a cruel death. In consideration of this death, 
 God undertakes to forgive erring children who could not help 
 being sinners. In this way, and finding, no fault with the 
 summary from such a pen, I would say, as was said to the damsel 
 who was chosen for the wife of Isaac, “ Will you go with this 
 man ? ” 
 
 Decision is of first importance. Out of or beyond the counsel- 
 command and saving power there is no heritage nor hope. Our 
 Saviour was sent for a purpose. It was to seek and to save the 
 lost; and He was equal to everything His Father gave Him to 
 do. It was on the Cross He said, “ It is finished”; and in the 
 resurrection, power, and glory, we have proof of the acceptance 
 of this finished work, and for the believer there is a welcome. 
 We may repeat the question—Will you go with this man ? 
 Readers, will you go? It is here the Old Theology comes out 
 well. It is look and live, believe, and salvation is made sure. 
 This is God’s plan of salvation, and there is no other way of 
 life. Let it be repeated, there is no other way of life, neither 
 old nor new; no other will meet the case but the name 
 of Jesus. Objection may be taken to this, now is the time— 
 accepted time—now is the day of salvation. Say as the 
 damsel said, “I will go with this Man”; some of the family 
 
6o 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 would put off a day or two; her resolve was, and at once, I will go. 
 We have indulged a little by way of sermonizing, but it is so seldom 
 that we get off so clearly on the back of the New Theology, 
 that we thought it well just to take the road. Well, what is 
 next? The plan of salvation consists of sending His Son—a 
 Son who has existed eternally, which the rest of us have not. 
 His Son—a Son who did His Father’s will; and that is what some 
 of us have not done. This Son was about His Father’s business; 
 some of us are about our own. The Son who, by suffering and 
 death, brought salvation to our door cheap—without money and 
 without price. Some of us say no, we will not have that, we 
 have a way of our own—a new way; it may entail some trouble 
 to get in, but the old way—God’s way—is not to our mind; so 
 our own flag goes up, and it shall float in all weathers. Our 
 pole is strong, and the City Temple is a prominent place. 
 We have at hand a side-stroke : we are erring children who 
 could not help being sinners. We may repeat this—“ could not 
 help being sinners”; neither could a bean, put in into the 
 ground at springtime, help coming up a bean; as like the 
 parent as it is possible to be, and there is never any mistake 
 in the process. You can count upon your crop. And so a 
 black man just comes up a black man; if he has boys, they are 
 black, if he has girls, they are black also. If it is a white man, 
 he comes up white, and his children the same. If it is a sinner, 
 he comes up a sinner, and the whole crop are sinners. You 
 can count on this crop the same as the other crops. It is the 
 rule of the road, like brings up like, and if the sinner is left to 
 himself, he just goes down, as the growths go, to their parent 
 elements, which form some other thing when springtime comes 
 round again. Well, then, we are on the way to the grave— 
 each and all of us. Some of us will be raised to life, and some 
 of us to confusion and shame. There are two ways here, the 
 Lord’s way and our own way. We are at liberty to take the 
 one or the other. The one way secures life; the other 
 does not. In our wonderful ways and work, we can bring to 
 pass remarkable results, but we cannot change the laws of God; 
 nor can we escape the result of neglecting or in breaking these 
 laws. Blame or not blame, we must stand the full blast of being 
 sinners, or find the shelter of the Great Rock in a weary land,. 
 I know these words, “ Flee from the wrath to come,” have no 
 favour with the New Theology; still, I uphold the wisdom of 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 6 1 
 
 immediate action: Repent ! turn round and live. The fall, 
 again, we are told theologians think that by giving up belief in 
 some kind of a fall of the race, they would have to give up a 
 great deal more; without the fall, they do not know what to 
 say about sin, salvation, the atonement, etc. Manfully, and in 
 the highest spirits, and with clearest head, and soundest heart, 
 we accept, without difficulty, the two questions put before us. 
 We have said, all the way, the fall, recorded by Moses, is fact, 
 and as such is made good by every day experience. This 
 record has affected, has taken possession of, Mr. Campbell’s 
 mind ; he cannot free himself of it, and never will. 
 
 Wherever he mounts the New Theology horse, he fixes as 
 his spurs, the fall of the race. This is the deepest ditch he ever 
 crossed, and how little he finds for his toil; he says we are 
 mistaken. In reply, we hold this : there is nothing everlasting 
 but the word of God, and the New Theology has no right nor 
 claim here; but the Old Theology stands by its Author, and 
 the Author stands by it; there is no condemnation to them 
 that are in Christ Jesus. He says : “ What I now wish to insist 
 upon is, that it is absolutely impossible for any intelligent man 
 to continue to believe in the fall as it is literally understood and 
 taught.” There may not be so many on our side as is desirable, 
 and those who are may not be gifted with special brain force ; 
 still, the redeemed, who have their names in the Lamb’s Book 
 of Life, and who do the Father’s will, even to-day, may stand 
 in numbers so great that the crowd thereof could not be much 
 increased although all the City Temple followers were crushed 
 in; the sum would not be greatly increased. We are not going 
 to allow the king of the new order to go away with the notion 
 that they monopolize all the mind of the country. The big folk, 
 I know, are prone to run after anything new. They are just as 
 interested here as any gay, light, happy, fashionable girl is 
 about her hat in spring time. I may now say, it is possible 
 for an intelligent man to believe in the fall, and such 
 intelligence puts this question—What can man get by the denial ? 
 Is his material wealth increased? Is his moral and intellectual 
 power improved ? Does he become, thereby, more the servant 
 of God and the benefactor to his brother? We must, in all 
 our calculation, include the fact that we are down, so low, so 
 far beyond personal effort, that to be lifted up, we need divine 
 aid. Observe that help is offered, and the depth to which man 
 
62 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 is sunk is, he spurns offered grace. There is one step lower— 
 a mind which condemns those who have accepted pardon and 
 life in God’s appointed way. One thought: we cannot mend 
 the fall. Our business is with the present time, and here we 
 have plenty of work before us. 
 
 We cannot help our Father; we can shape our own course, 
 and for this power we are responsible. To help us here, there 
 is a testimony, a proof, a witness-bearing between God and 
 His believing people, which no man knows but those who 
 have the spiritual decernment. For a working power, this 
 stands first, which the All-powerful One gives to His willing 
 people. Look up, take courage, hold fast, be strong. Was 
 not the Spirit given to the Son that He might preach the 
 gospel to the poor, the giving of sight to the blind, and to set 
 prisoners free, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord? 
 Has not God chosen the poor of this world—rich in faith, and 
 heirs of the kingdom? Well, now, we are on the right road, 
 and the invitation we give is the welcome of our God. 
 
 We hold on to the fall still further; the ground is selected 
 for us. “It is popularly supposed that the doctrine is derived 
 from the book of Genesis, but that is hardly the case. No 
 doubt, the Genesis myth, about Adam and Eve in the garden of 
 Eden, forms the background of it, but it is not consistent with 
 the doctrine itself.’’ It comes to this, the Bible account of the 
 fall is a myth by New Theology, wisdom, or finding. The 
 people of our day can bolt good big lumps, but the piece here 
 offered will not go down. It is not a fable ; it is not a myth ; 
 nor an explanation of fables. Then, what is it? It is a record 
 of the Lord’s goodness, power, and justice. In accordance 
 with this, man had a good place; the command given he dis¬ 
 obeyed—death, the punishment of disobedience, was the portion ; 
 and it is the portion of the sinner to-day. It was no myth to 
 Adam; it is no myth to us. The fall was the most important 
 fact ever recorded, and the facts which meet us at every turn, 
 night and day, tell the extent of damage done; all which had 
 a beginning, and the Bible tells us where and how; and our best 
 and safest course is, to accept the testimony. The Genesis 
 narrative says nothing about the ruined creation, of the curse 
 upon posterity ; this is brought in as an objection to the fall. 
 Observe, if there was nothing said of the ruin and the curse, at 
 the time of the fall, creation has had a sad enough and long 
 enough sum ever since. 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 63 
 
 Ruin and Curse .—Had Mr. Campbell been a farmer in one 
 of the low lying districts in Fife this year, 1909, his crops stand¬ 
 ing in his fields—damp, black, rotten—he would have said, 
 whatever was Adam’s experience, his own was bad enough. 
 Crops rotting, and no money with which to pay rent, and the 
 landlord a hard fellow. All the same Adam had experience 
 brought from a first-class gentleman to be a common labourer. 
 His clothes, third rate, with no knowledge where he was to find 
 the next suit; put out of his garden never to get in again, and 
 not one of his descendants could get in either. The displeasure 
 was strongly marked, and the tale of woe is still told—nation 
 against nation, man against man, capital against labour and 
 labour against capital, the creature against himself, and all 
 against the Lord; living and dying in open and secret rebellion 
 against the love and mercy, against the grace, the favour of the 
 Giver of all good. We are told, still further, “ there is no hint 
 of immortality—not one word.” This point was settled—“ In 
 the day thou eatest thou shalt surely die.” This declaration, this 
 law, was disregarded ; but, mark you, it was guarded all round. 
 Adam was driven from the garden, and now, lest he put forth 
 his hand and take also of the Tree of Life, and eat, and live 
 for ever, the Lord sent him forth from the Garden of 
 
 • 
 
 Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he 
 drove out the man, and He placed at the east of the Garden of 
 Eden cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way 
 to keep the way of life. Let our friend say what he may, there 
 is more than a hint given. The question was settled, the 
 problem of immortality was fixed, fixed with a will and a power 
 which man has never seen changed, and never could. If 
 Adam was immortal by nature, he lost it before he left the 
 garden ; and God stood alone immortal; and to-day, God only 
 hath immortality. The whole question of immortality, as given 
 to us, is plain enough and full of light. 
 
 “ Much less than a hint of heaven and hell in the Eden 
 account of things!” Were we to look at this historically, w r e say, 
 the Eden account is a statement of events for a limited period, 
 and they do not and could not take in things which another 
 time in history brings out; and because the Eden account does 
 not record the things of another era, it is not to be considered 
 false, or in any sense unworthy of acceptance. We may have 
 a very full, and in every way correct, account of the present 
 
6 4 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 Parliament with all its ups and downs, while there is no notice 
 of what the next Government may be, but the lack of this 
 after-history is no proof of weakness or inefficiency in the 
 present administration. So Mr. CamphelPs finding fault with 
 the fall of Adam, because there is nothing about heaven and 
 hell in the narrative, is grounded on false reasoning, and any 
 conclusion drawn therefrom must be false also. Had Moses 
 told of other times he would have gone from the region of 
 history into prophecy. It therefore follows that the number of 
 big words and great subjects which Mr. Campbell here introduces 
 as argument are without value. The words, no Christ, no cross, 
 no future judgment, no vicarious atonement, make a remarkable 
 show in print, but that is all. We are told there is no Christ in 
 the primitive story of the fall of the race. Who was to bruise 
 the head of the serpent ? Christ, yes ; and while He trod the 
 wine-press alone He bore our grief, the burden He carried. In 
 His agony in the Garden, how deep was the wound : “ My God, 
 my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? ” Have these words no 
 meaning ? If it be possible let this cup pass : nevertheless, not 
 my will but Thine be done. Thus the innocent and the pure 
 One drank the cup, and to-day, in the light of scripture, Old 
 Testament and the New, our Redeemer stands out the Chief 
 One in human history and in divine operations ; and few of 
 these works and ways can be separated from the fall. We have 
 our cup of blessing at this time, because the Redeemer drank 
 the cup given Him by the Father. His suffering and endurance 
 filled our cup ; joy and freedom is our portion. 
 
 “ The Genesis story of the fall exercises no influence upon 
 Old Testament, religion .”—New Theology\ We are certainly 
 come to that stage in our examination of the New Theology 
 when we may ask, What is the influence which Mr. Campbell 
 is exercising on the faith and standing of his countrymen by 
 his public and persistent aversion of the Mosaic account of the 
 fall? For the interests on our religious life in the Church and 
 State, will the aged be confirmed in their scriptural knowledge 
 of divine things, or will the young be more decidedly drawn 
 into the fold, or will the truth itself have a readier access to 
 the head and heart of the people ? Then by the devotion of 
 Mr. Campbell will the honour of our God be promoted ? 
 
 Any person will grant at once the importance of the above 
 questions. I would remark, at the outset, our author’s success 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 65 
 
 is like the merchant man, in the market place, who depends 
 more on the weight of his tongue than on the quality of his 
 goods. The gifts here are many and rich. With the power 
 and eloquence at his command in the press and on the 
 platform, he can draw men and keep men. The show is 
 admirable; the personality is sharp and winning. He cer¬ 
 tainly falls short in argumentative force. His logical ability 
 is not remarkable. The most of his illustration, and the matter 
 brought together as conclusive argument, have not the touch 
 of a master mind. The flower-beds on which he draws do 
 much to reduce the extent of useful grain fields. We allow 
 him all the honour of a popular, and hope a happy life. 
 
 The influence is powerful in all sections of society, but not 
 to gladden the heart, nor to give light to the head. By 
 inclination, by action, and by profession, there be many men 
 who are fault-finders with the old gospel plan : to such the 
 New Theology is a grand arrival. As well-cooked food, it 
 goes down without effort. The new-comer is hailed with 
 pleasure. This fault finding takes shape. The chapel is 
 deserted, and these men, who have a first-rate record of a good 
 life, go down to the new school. This change brings no 
 intellectual power, no moral gain, and the depth of faith in God, 
 as the Author of salvation, is not sustained. In this procedure 
 the heart of the old believer of the gospel is not enlarged nor 
 made glad. 
 
 With the fall—not in Eden, but in bonnie Scotland—of the 
 gospel, and of the grace connected with it, wide and sweeping 
 in days gone past, is a loss for our beloved land, and the 
 sadness in this is intensified all round by the influence of the 
 City Temple. With this fall our Sabbath scholars and Sabbath 
 school teachers will go down, and the sweets of Sabbath 
 recreation come in first, and all this band, when young men 
 and women, will have swelled the ranks of fine, brave, manly 
 citizens ; but the gospel glory is not in their count, and the 
 New Theology substance will not—cannot—make up this loss. 
 The gospel fall, in press, platform, school, or home, will sink 
 our manhood, will dim the lustre of our sister’s grace, and will 
 reduce the number of men who shall be found waving the old 
 flag on Zion’s hill, and bearing their arm in defence of the living 
 and life-giving truth. This fall, however far, calls on us for 
 duty done—let us do it! Then look to the truth itself. If the 
 
66 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 narrative of the fall, as given by the prophet Moses—a 
 narrative which upholds and makes known the ways of God, 
 and also the ways of men—should be taken and turned into a 
 fable, and employed as such, this will have far reaching in¬ 
 fluences. This is sure to be the fact. If the account of the 
 fall be fabulous, then what security have we against some 
 other part of the Bible not being a myth also ? It comes to 
 this—under such treatment, the force of the scriptures, as a 
 true and faithful book, is gone. This is one of the evil results 
 of turning truth into fable. The right hand of the publisher of 
 truth is knocked to his side. Then the Father’s name. The 
 Lord of Glory has His name to establish. Then that name is 
 bound up in the fall, and the business connected therewith, 
 as it is done in no other thing. The attributes of His name 
 and nature are brought out; His power and glory, His truth¬ 
 fulness and His justice all meet in the creation and fall of 
 man, and whatever may be the number and wealth of the 
 Church, who have rejected the narrative, they must find the 
 beginning of things with the author’s name and nature stamped 
 thereon. Honesty demands acceptance of the narrative, or 
 another in its place. If we throw out the one, we must replace 
 it with one more likely, and it must be one which finds glory 
 to God in the highest 
 
 The Lord’s Work Examined. 
 
 If we were so baffled and horror-stricken by the results, He, 
 God, never was baffled nor horror-stricken. His works from 
 beginning to finish were perfect in form, and in adoption 
 complete; and certainly we have learned little if we have not 
 picked up this truth. When men advance, what is so indecent 
 as their faith, or wish, against the handiwork or hand of heaven ? 
 That is the time and occasion when the child of God should 
 speak out. God made the earth and the fulness thereof, and 
 amid the grandeur, man stood first. He stood high; his 
 position he did not keep ; he broke the law ; he resisted the 
 conditions of God’s favour. There came a change, and in the 
 change, justice was done. It stands to-day—the bargain of 
 life was broken, death was brought into his lot; and in this age 
 every man and thing which has life must break up and return 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 67 
 
 to dust; neither Adam nor all his offspring can change or 
 escape this. Thus, there is no deception, no going round the 
 corner. A combination, however strong, cannot baffle the 
 Lord. Baffle the Lord ! He shall have a people for His name. 
 For this purpose He sent to this sin-cursed world Jesus the 
 Christ; paradise lost shall be restored. Reader, let us know, 
 and let others know, that the everlasting joy and glory of that 
 coming happy time will not be secured by earnestly labouring to 
 find the All-wise and the All-good baffled and horror-stricken 
 by the works of His own hands. My fellows, let us keep our 
 own slate clean, and let us accept redemption at the hands of 
 the Redeemer. If we have lost life through Adam, let us gain 
 life once again through Jesus. It will never make a man a 
 sixpence richer—in heart and soul he shall not become 
 thoroughly furnished—by finding fault with the account of the 
 fall of Moses. It is as poor, low, and ill-paid a job as ever man 
 set his face and hand to. The narrative stands the record of 
 divine truth, and the wisdom of the wise is to accept it as such. 
 This would save some great men a great deal of toil, and the 
 change here might be objected to by other great men ; but in 
 the light of reason, and also of revelation, we say very good. 
 We would do well to remember that they who honour the Lord, 
 the Lord will honour. 
 
 You will observe the road before us, on the present occasion, 
 is not the King’s high-way, and this may account for the way 
 it is kept. It is not altogether safe. Mr. Campbell, one way 
 and another, finds God and man to be one material—one 
 substance. From this conclusion he has no difficulty in tabling 
 these words—“Surely, if God knew beforehand that the world 
 would go wrong, the blame for the catastrophe was not all 
 man’s; He ought to have been more careful about the way He 
 did His work at the beginning ; a world which went wrong so 
 early, and so easily was anything but ‘ very good,’ although He 
 pronounced it so.” I shall not try to find the spirit of this out¬ 
 burst, neither its nature nor its operation. In the simplicity of 
 my being, one morning, in a pastoral district in Berwickshire, 
 I got up early. The sun was bursting through the trees ; the 
 sheep in the shade shaking the dew from their fleece, and the 
 lambs beginning to gamble; the green grass, and the air so 
 balmy, called forth the expression—it is a beautiful world 
 after all. No one heard this but God, yet, like a song of praise, 
 
68 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 these words came back to my own heart; I was the better by 
 the morning offering. Admiration and gratitude becomes every 
 one who names the name of God. Discontent and fault-finding, 
 although they should be framed in the golden frame of superior 
 eloquence, never look well. For thousands of years this old 
 earth holds its place and power, and to-day, for the thousand 
 purposes of millions of people, the earth opens its lap and 
 abundantly supplies all their wants; and the greatest among 
 men, who need the most and get the most, are the men who 
 have the least gratitude to give. The handiwork is admirable. 
 For thousands of years it has declared the glory of God, and if 
 anything is at fault now, the wrong and the wrong-doer is man, 
 to-day, as it was when Adam was turned out of the Garden of 
 Eden. All the way along man—blessed, pri vileged, favoured—is 
 ever the centre power of all ill. The same holds good in 
 redemption as in creation; the Deliverer stands at the door and 
 knocks, but man—proud, noble man, man of vast resources— 
 will not open the door. He is no beggar, and he will not 
 submit to beggar’s manner nor to a beggar’s portion. Some 
 are even worse than that: the world is wrong, and God surely 
 knew beforehand; the blame for the catastrophe was not all 
 man’s. Let men say what they may, the whole creation had 
 written on it 1 very good,’ but man’s part was very bad ; the bad 
 was man’s own. 
 
 “ He ought to have been more careful with His work.” Why 
 this persistent grudge—this determined opposition to the 
 Creator and to His work ? There must be more in it than 
 the echo—why ? Is not the whole of the New Theology 
 encased here? The fall necessitates—demands—a substitute. 
 The New Theology has no such necessity. They are free men, 
 and as such they prefer to work their way right on to 
 the end. But this comes to nothing on the score of 
 life. Life was lost — lost beyond the power of man’s 
 reclamation ! A Life-Giver is found, that Substitute dies the 
 death—the punishment of sin. That law, “ Dust thou art, and 
 unto dust thou shalt return,” is as full in force as ever it was, 
 and in hope and confidence only can we be in possession of 
 life. Yet there it is, by the word of the Lord, and by the work 
 and offer of His Son—a gift free ! Every argument in the 
 New Theology is founded and finished on the points before 
 us. Get rid of the fall, and Mr. Campbell’s doctrine of spiritual 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 69 
 
 destiny may somewhere find wind for its ship’s sail, but in 
 the light of scripture he and his followers are at sea, and their 
 chart—the chief part of it—is dissatisfaction with God, His 
 work, and His way. 
 
 The subject under discussion is the nature of evil. Well, I 
 have pleasure in telling all interested that Mr. Campbell has 
 not succeeded in finding the Creator guilty. No, he has not 
 been at any turn and any attempt successful. With the Lord our 
 God there never was first or last, any turning expediency 
 in any of His doings. True is the Lord in His word and in 
 His work, and this truthfulness is not to be shaded with fault, 
 nor with feebleness, nor with shadow of turning. The word of 
 the Lord standeth for ever, and all generations have and are 
 the outflow therefrom. To try to hook on, in any way, the true 
 and the merciful with evil, in any shape or form, reminds us of 
 these words, “ Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to 
 do ”; but it is the diligent, it is the worker, who has this job 
 in hand in our day, and the power and influence is therefore 
 wide and great. Still, if the people of Scotland accept Mr. 
 Campbell’s definition of the nature of evil, then the fall in this 
 will be after the fall of Eden, in nature and departure from 
 heaven’s counsel, and from the religious faith of our fatherland, 
 and altogether from scriptural teaching. 
 
CHAPTER IV. (continued). 
 
 The Nature of Evil. 
 
 If the host of great men at the City Temple are to do well 
 with this subject, they will require to take another road than 
 the one they are travelling. They may sit in judgment to 
 bring home blame on the Lord, and on His anointed, for the 
 evils of creation, and the account of creation, but success will 
 not crown their efforts. “ The Lord reigneth ; He is clothed 
 with majesty; the Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith He 
 hath girded Himself; the world also is established that it 
 cannot be moved.” 
 
 If the New Theology company are to deal with evil, there 
 are a hundred things waiting for them, not in the Creator and 
 His works, but in the creature and his doings. Go to the 
 strength, and to the strength of a nation, go to the home of 
 the people, see the sin and shame there; read there the sin, 
 the shame, the unfaithfulness of men and women. Take the 
 divorce courts—there you will find the pink and beauty, the 
 hope and fashion of civilization, expose the robes blood-stained, 
 kick from the halls of the elegant the workers of iniquity. . 
 Take a turn at the religious life of this land—read the Name to 
 live, while the nature of evil is ever showing itself—priest and 
 people are in need of considerable repairs. Walk the street, 
 there you find the youth of the land—careless, indifferent to all 
 that is good, prone to what is evil: what a field here for 
 Christian endeavour. Take up the consideration of the Land 
 Laws ; listen to the Licence Laws—the call here is loud and long 
 —what corruption is seen in the dealers, and what misery, 
 what sin and suffering in the victims ; the war in the labour 
 market, and the strife in the political world. In all these 
 departments, what evil, and its nature corrupt—rotten as the 
 grave; while they live and move their flesh and bones are 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 71 
 
 withered up. Doubtless, in the City Temple, there are men 
 who are at their post in some departments of Christian work— 
 let such sound the bottom of evil, and its nature will reveal its 
 author. Who is to blame ? 
 
 Right through Christian history the tendency has run to look 
 upon the world as the ruin of the divine plan, marred by man’s 
 perversity and self-will. I have no intention of holding up 
 Christianity as having a clean slate; still, it may be affirmed, 
 the state of the world here noted is near the mark. The ruin 
 may be complete ; still it is ruin, when seen through God’s plan 
 and purpose, that man’s perversity and self-will was the cause 
 of. Great labour may be expended to bring out a better 
 state of things, or to make out that such is not the case; 
 yet all the same they have been and still are as described. The 
 garden and its worth and beauty is gone; the intercourse between 
 man and his Maker is marred; and sorrow and tears are seen 
 and felt morning, noon, and night. The strong man becomes 
 weak as in infancy, and needs someone to lift him, to turn him 
 in his bed, and weary and cross he ends his days; and as he comes 
 down his wealth on sea may be swallowed in the storm ; or if on 
 land, his crops looking well the one day, on another these crops 
 stand black and lost in rain and wind—the lot of any man—his 
 family is ruined. In the end, he and all go down, sink in 
 the ruin. The beggar and the millionaire go the same 
 way, and the one has as much space given him as the other. 
 “ We are now told it is time to get off this, for it has a blighting, 
 deadening influence upon hopeful endeavour for the good of 
 men.” I will not accept this conclusion. A man drowning 
 gives scope for the swimming power of an onlooker; it does not 
 cut off the swimmer’s sympathy, nor paralyse his limbs, he 
 dashes on and brings the sinking to land and life : so in the 
 world, save the perishing is the cry; throw out the life-line is 
 the duty; graceful women and noble-minded men respond to 
 the call. After this we are told, “ The fall is not integral to 
 Christianity, for Jesus never said a word about it, and did not 
 even allude to it.” We are free, and are called on to say no 
 being ever came under the fall as Jesus did. See in the Christian 
 system, the whole—the integral—embraces two names, Adam 
 the first brought sin and death into the world, and Jesus the 
 second brought life and immortality to light. These two stand 
 out; they cannot be separated without violence being done to 
 
 F 
 
72 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 gospel glory, to the salvation of men, and to the wisdom and 
 goodness of our God. 
 
 “ He came unto His own, but His own received Him not; to 
 as many as received Him to them gave He power to become 
 the sons of God, even to them who believe, in His name.” To 
 secure this He had a life of suffering, of insult, of wrong in many 
 ways and forms, and every one of them the direct result of the 
 fall. “The innocent, the pure, the loving, the merciful, the Son 
 of God suffered the just for the unjust to bring us to God.”’ 
 There are many men who object to this order of ways and 
 means, and have ways of their own; yet the most direct road, 
 and the greatest number of journeying mercies all the way, is to 
 accept the fall, the account of which is given us for our instruction, 
 and next to take the offer of salvation from the hands of the 
 Saviour Jesus. At the same time, at every station on the way 
 “ the nature of evil ” may be seen and measured in the prefer¬ 
 ence of man choosing and holding to his own will in preference 
 to the will of God. Such was the nature of evil as it exposed 
 itself in Eden, and such also is the turn and shape the nature 
 of evil takes to-day. Let it be remarked this selection may be 
 agreeable to human nature, but it involves in the end tremendous 
 loss. 
 
 Closing up the charge, this is the finish: “Sufficient has been 
 said to demonstrate that the fact of the fall is an absurdity from 
 the point of ethical consistency and common sense.” I question 
 very much if a real—a royal—demonstration, that the fall is an 
 absurdity, even by the low court at which the question is brought. 
 Moral consistency and common sense are risky and rather 
 unworthy to try the Lord, His word, and His servant. To throw 
 out the word of the Lord and to give place to common sense 
 and moral consistency may seem brave, but all the same it is 
 unreasonable, irreligious, and altogether absurd. The case 
 presented may answer the most or many of the problems which 
 occupy the thoughts of men, but there must be a high bar to 
 which we go when we bring up the Lord to be judged. Few 
 things God has done and made such known to men, but the 
 keen edge of common sense that is here the exalted rule and 
 approved, would find the Lord’s work rejected and condemned 
 and thrown out. Take this case—the flood. The will of the 
 Lord is once more invaded; wickedness is to be punished. The 
 servant of the Most High proceeds with his ship to meet the 
 
 v 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 73 
 
 case; then common sense and moral consistency lift their voice. 
 Look here, they say, is this not a very silly-like undertaking, a 
 man making a big ship and no water at hand to set it afloat. 
 This may give work to folk, but it is not like a man whose head 
 is all right. Still the ship goes ahead, and at the day when all 
 is ready, Noah and his family, with all ordered living creatures, 
 there is a good flood, the ship is lifted up and every living thing 
 is drowned, and the purpose of God is served. 
 
 Take now the great salvation—the salvation wrought out for 
 the children of men — wrought out, completed. In its 
 completed, free, condition it is offered. Instead of acceptance, 
 the moral consistency and common sense men come up in a 
 refined, modern, scientific way; they step out in the press and 
 on the platform; they hold out refusing, resisting offered mercy, 
 and in this resistance justify themselves by schemes of 
 development, powerful and effectual, seen in all creation; life 
 rising from its lowest to its highest. Just let it alone, and it 
 will work its own way, and its own purpose secure. The 
 advancement made is proof of the unscientific proposals and 
 methods proposed for man’s salvation, and for the moral 
 consistency and force of things to mend themselves. Resistance 
 goes further: objection is taken to God’s way of saving men, 
 and men’s way takes the field. Daniel in the critics den, Dean 
 Farrar’s estimate of the bible. Professor Diver, that oracle has 
 spoken with power—the first among men, the highest with 
 the critics. These and many an anxious soul have come out 
 against the Lord and His anointed, condemning the bread and 
 the water of life; themselves standing like good crops in 
 an autumn storm—lost in the damp and in the blast of 
 their own creation. These great men, and others whose 
 weight of intellect make and mark the history of unbelief, 
 have not the power in the ranks of their company for evil 
 as the Rev. Mr. Campbell possesses. He gets to the people, 
 the people hear him—moral consistency and common sense 
 form the platform on which the mass of people like to be 
 harangued—the discontented, the unhappy, the progressive, the 
 up-to-date. The dog has a nasty bark which is not found 
 welcomed here. Then comes in clubs, unions, and co-operative 
 bodies, and every company who wish to mend themselves and 
 improve others—all move on with morality and common sense. 
 Herein and herewith is Mr. Campbell’s immeasurable power—his 
 
74 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 influence is unmeasurable. His printed sermons and his printed 
 prayers, who, man or woman, could resist them ? From 
 his platform he stumps round and round the faith of his fathers 
 and throws out the gospel of our salvation. From this, he goes 
 out 3000 years and denies the word of creation as recorded in 
 Genesis. From his platform he strung these words together 
 in argument, holiness, righteousness, justice, mercy, love, but 
 no argument in the show. From this platform he finds great 
 satisfaction with himself. Sufficient has been said to demon¬ 
 strate the fact that the doctrine of the fall is an absurdity from 
 the point of ethical consistency and common sense. In this 
 way, he stands in the robes of his office invading the Bible, and 
 selecting those portions which seem to suit his purpose, and 
 giving the example which others may follow. Thus, the anchor¬ 
 line is cut, and drifting follows on apace. 
 
 The denial of the fall of the human race forces up another; 
 that other is evolution. Just so, starting on evolution, I always 
 fall back on my own experience and knowledge. In all my 
 experience, and wherever I have been, a cat always involves a 
 cat, an ass an ass, and a man a man. The same in all creation 
 round, and in all time of which we have any knowledge ; as a 
 rule, too, it works well. Evolution starts from a very low level. 
 A something works up and finds an affinity with another some¬ 
 thing, and this union carries on until a monkey is made. The 
 monkey holds the field for a time, and then man grows from 
 the monkey. This process is much thought of, beside which, 
 the creation of God is considered a second-rate business. We 
 are here to-day, and the handiwork of God holds the field ; and 
 the genius of monkey has never been found to improve on itself. 
 Darwin and Campbell may unite, but they will never surpass 
 this : God made man—male and female made He them—and 
 no gospel of dirt in the process. 
 
 But, once more, we are told “ history has no trace of the 
 business ; on the contrary, it asserts that there has been a 
 gradual and unmistakable rise. The law of evolution governs 
 human affairs, just as it does every other part of the cosmic 
 process.” 
 
 In approaching this point, we must remark, while men read 
 history and disagree in their conclusions, history itself stands 
 very much the same. As I read it, this is the reading—men 
 and families and peoples grow up, and after a time they grow 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 75 
 
 down. The richest, the strongest are, and have been, under 
 this rule. The glory of Babylon, and the history of its power, 
 tell the tale; it rose and it came low. According to Gibbon, 
 the historian wrote: Rome rose and fell—the height of such 
 peoples and their greatness and grandeur was magnificent, 
 and the fall was sad to think of or look on. But both the rise 
 and the fall demonstrated that the world was made and upheld 
 by the wisdom and power of God, and not in any age nor in 
 any people made or upheld by evolution. Then it is no vain 
 thought nor saying: while the land we love has risen very high 
 among nations, Briton has all the elements of self-destruction, 
 not in useless lumber gathered, but in daily action and approved 
 motion. It follows, when we reach our height, the coming 
 down will come—why ? Because evolution is an imperfect 
 instrument to work with—why ? Because the Lord is God, and 
 His law perfect. Try the nations by evolution—it may be 
 found both the power and weakness of man. Try also by the 
 power and the wisdom of the Lord this point. Nations rise by the 
 industry, frugality, and economy of the people. Through this 
 comes wealth and glory, but the head of the son by and by is 
 bigger than the head of the father. The love of pleasure is 
 daily on the increase; the money is thrown away ; the man and 
 his means become less and less; the interests in the state 
 become less and less; the candle burns at both ends; the 
 wealthy become poor; the man with brain-power becomes rare; 
 the strength of the nation is gone, and fall is certain. They eat 
 and drink their substance ; the lust, the pleasure of life poison 
 their life’s blood, and they are gone, and the historian tells the 
 tale. 
 
 The state of the people generally, at different periods of the 
 world’s history, is next dwelt on—Plato and his times are 
 noticed. In Plato’s case, there was not to be found a shade of 
 evolution. His character and influence sprang up on us in a 
 day, which character and influence, in the religious world, holds 
 the field all round, shaping the creeds and crowning the faith of 
 our people. This on the front—always lor evil but never for 
 good. No power in our country is so great at the present time 
 as the power of Plato. It had been well for the world had 
 Plato never lived. The glory of a king fades ; the shine on the 
 sword grows dim ; and the strength of the strongest arm comes 
 to weakness and is removed, but the weight of Plato’s religious 
 faith lives on forever—unchanged, it rules supreme. 
 
7 6 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 After the notice of Plato, civilization gets a lift; yet the dark 
 spots must shut up. “Again, while it is only too sadly true 
 the modern civilization contains plenty of callous selfishness, 
 gross injustice, and abominable cruelty, it can hardly be denied 
 that these relics of our brute ancestry are universally deplored, 
 and that society recognises them to be inimical to its well-being.” 
 
 So it would seem the face of civilization gets many a clean, 
 but it has many dirty spots after all. Look at this town of 
 Kirkcaldy! There are thirty policemen and about thirty 
 ministers at work, at least on pay, to make and keep us right; 
 and the police report stands a high figure, and the ministers’ pay 
 and the Church books could all be inproved. The opportunities 
 of good and of grace have not given a good return. The youth 
 are growing up without God, and without hope in the world. 
 To show the value of civilization, the fact that the New Theology 
 has pastures green, that the cause is in clover, is proof of solid 
 advancement. We are told that, had they lived in other times, 
 instead of having to stand a throw in the newspapers, the heretic 
 would have been condemned to be flayed alive or hung over a 
 slow fire. Perhaps they would not have been safe in the days 
 when witches were and when they were thrown to the fire. Now, 
 any cause and any calling can make a noise. In door and out, 
 the man who can shout the loudest and the longest has the 
 best chance. 
 
 What political battles are raging at the present moment? 
 The greatest nation in the world has not risen above whisky 
 and beer. All the time whisky and beer is killing 80,000 of 
 her people and wasting ^165,000,000 of her money every 
 year, the New Theology is always talking about selfishness. 
 The most selfish concern in the world is whisky and beer. 
 Here New Theology men have work before them. Why not 
 operate here? Will they ? 
 
 Whisky and beer in civilization—that is in our twentieth 
 century civilization—means personal interest, personal grati¬ 
 fication ; and more whisky and beer represents fashionable life 
 at its most fashionable display. Whisky and beer represent 
 the down-grade in the moral and physical measurement of the 
 people, and so far as I know the new school, as like the old, 
 there is no back-bone in them to do their duty. There is wind 
 in their bag, but the reeds in their drones are out of order, and 
 silent and wicked men and righteous men become a jolly 
 company, sending round the drink, and enjoying themselves. 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 77 
 
 Still on the same road, “ The Nature of Evil.” Civilization: 
 u The average man to-day is certainly not nobler than the 
 Apostle Paul, nor does he see more deeply into the true 
 meaning of life than John the Divine, but the general level is 
 higher.” I shall say if Mr. Campbell’s intellectual decern- 
 ment, and moral and religious finding as herein revealed, is a 
 fair representation of his mental capacity, and of his power of 
 comparison, his countrymen are most surely awarding honours 
 where praise is not truly due. Note the average man and the 
 Apostle Paul. The apostle king among men—men of any age, 
 king—a hero in the fight. A revealer of his mission as the 
 special—the chosen—servant of God. A revealer of the 
 way of salvation—one who crowned in victory triumphantly 
 his life-work. “ I am ready to be offered, and the time of my 
 departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have 
 finished my course, I have kept the faith : henceforth there is 
 laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the 
 righteous Judge, shall give me in that day, and not to me only, 
 but unto all them also who love His appearing.” Such is the 
 man, and these are his words, that the average man is called upon 
 to look in the face, and compare himself with. At this I would 
 say bring up the noble, the learned, the good, the devoted 
 among the men; the famed, the eloquent, the justly great among 
 men, and, if justice is done, they sink beneath the character 
 and renoun of the Apostle of the Gentiles. His life and 
 teaching has cheered and gladdened the hearts and souls of 
 thousands on the way to their reward. The doctrines he 
 taught have fixed the anchor sure and steadfast of many a time- 
 tossed sailor in the gospel ship. 
 
 And now, what of John the Divine? John was at home 
 where flowed the Water of Life; John could hand out the 
 Bread of Life; he could and did lead up to the Life-giver ; he 
 told of the love of God, and also of things coming out of the 
 new heavens and the new earth, wherein shall dwell righteous¬ 
 ness, and of the New Jerusalem coming from God out of 
 heaven. Well, and what of the average man ? The average 
 man can find fault with the plans and the purposes of God; 
 and if he cannot find fault, he can turn his back and walk off. 
 It stands to fact, Mr. Campbell may stroke the back, and clap 
 the head of the average man above water. Place such a man 
 on the same ground with Paul and John, of salvation fame, and 
 
78 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 he will be found a specimen of small merit. I have more 
 reasons than one for inserting the following from the Acts of 
 Apostles. It puts Paul in his position in Church history ; next, 
 it proves, without a doubt, that God is in redemption as He is 
 in creation. “ Then Ananias answered, Lord, I heard of many 
 of this man, how much evil he hath done to the saints at 
 Jerusalem, and here he hath got authority from the chief priests 
 to bind all that call on Thy name. But the Lord said unto 
 him, Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto Me to bear 
 My name before the gentiles, and kings, and the children of 
 Israel, for I will show him how great things he must suffer for 
 My sake.” I will, in reference to these lines, ask, Is it not 
 vanity or folly in an author, in endeavouring to establish 
 evolution in creation and civilization, to present, as he has 
 done, the height and glory of the average man ? After all, 
 the Lord is God. There was no evolution in Adam’s case; 
 the Creator was his maker, and he had life by divine action. 
 “ And the Lord formed man of the dust of the ground, and 
 breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became 
 a living soul.” This is the only account of man’s being, as he 
 at first came from the hand of his Maker, that has the least 
 claim for acceptance by honest men. Again, I do not accept 
 the assertion, so to speak, that “ the doctrine of the fall got in 
 by the back door.” Strictly speaking, the fall of the race is 
 not a doctrine—it is a fact done—it is a historic fact, and 
 instead of getting in at the back door, it stands to-day the most 
 pronounced, the most prominent fact which touches us. 
 
 “ Besides, we do not want him to exist.” Just so, if wishes 
 were horses, beggars would ride. In spite of your wants, we 
 hold the field, and for some time we hope to do so. The 
 dogmatic theologian is the man who stands by the record—by 
 the Bible—the Word of God—and this testimony standeth sure. 
 But, even if alone, a man might stand with the old record in his 
 hand ; he might look up, and by himself he might say and sing: 
 We shall gain the victory, we shall possess all things. The 
 new r thing has neither body nor soul to win the day; and 
 regarding the old chap who buys at the cheapest market and 
 sells at the dearest, he can, at all times, give a good account of 
 himself. His commercial—all his business transactions—come 
 in here. At this he stands, with clean face and honest hands, to 
 represent our fatherland—the greatest, the richest, and the most 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 79 
 
 prosperous place in the universe. Without making a false 
 entry, I say, if Mr. Campbell has a dozen of eggs to sell, he 
 sends them to the dearest market; and if he is in need of an 
 overcoat, he will buy at the warehouse which sells the cheapest. 
 The New Theology may in theory condemn, but in practice it 
 is held up. His way of doing business. Another want—he 
 wants to get rid of the fall. I have told before this that he will 
 not, that he cannot, get away from the fall. There may be 
 hard labour to get it out of the way, but, there it remains and 
 will do so till the redeemed shall say : “Jesus Christ, who is the 
 faithful and true witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and 
 the Prince of the kings of the earth, unto Him who loved us 
 and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made 
 us kings and priests unto God and the Father; to Him be 
 glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 Another throw. “ The fall theory is not only impossible 
 in the finding of modern science, it is a real hindrance to 
 religion.” 
 
 The Fall .—Modern science has never found anything in 
 connection with the fall on the one side or on the other, neither 
 for nor against. The fall is beyond the range of vision. 
 Modern science has no measuring line of any use here. Wisdom, 
 on the part of man, can only be seen in accepting the fall from 
 the one authority that can say anything on the great fact. 
 While that is so, the fall is a real hindrance to religion ; to that 
 shape of religion known as the New Theology. The fall and 
 that form of religion cannot live, nor move, nor have a being 
 in one and the same heart or home. There is a mountain range 
 of divine truth standing between the two. The Old Theology 
 finds in the fall, man lost; and in the gift of God, finds man 
 found, saved, redeemed, brought back. All this may not be a 
 rational exhibition of things—it may be beyond the vision of 
 reason—but for all that, it is the wisdom and the power of God 
 unto all who believe. 
 
 We are still on the road. “ It has been already stated that 
 the starting point of the New Theology is a recognition of the 
 truth that God is expressing Himself through the world.” That 
 is correct. No one can have read the book without coming to 
 this knowledge. The only grief is, that the author has struck 
 so low ; and the greater grief is, there is no rise from the starting 
 point. It is good to stand here— “ the heavens declare the 
 
8 o 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 glory of God and the firmament sheweth His handiwork ”— 
 but there is a higher and a closer connection to be found, a 
 higher standard of lesson book to be read. Read the truth— 
 find God expressing Himself in His world—but do not stand 
 still at this. The Saviour says to-day : “ Come unto Me; ” and 
 the Father says: “This is My Son, hear ye Him.” Now, 
 recognise the truth on the question of personal redemption. 
 Believe in His finished and offered work on the Cross. 
 
 The Universe. 
 
 It is truly remarkable the hold the universe has on Mr. 
 Campbell. It does not matter the point he may be examining, 
 he finds a place for the universe in his deliberations. “ The 
 Nature of Evil ” is the subject before him; on this subject he 
 again and again puts the universe to the front, as, “ If science 
 had never existed, it, God’s world, would still remain the only 
 reasonable ground for an adequate explanation of the relation 
 of man to the universe.” Man’s relation to the universe in 
 many ways differs very much. Some men have a fine time of it 
 all the way; the gold ring and the heavy purse may be con¬ 
 sidered a good relation. Other men have a bad time; gold, 
 in half-a-sovereign, is hard to get, and it is not long in 
 possession, and the man with the hard lot, measured by any 
 manly, virtuous, or religious rule, is found to be head and 
 shoulders above the man with the heavy purse ; and he has no 
 relation to the universe of a friendly or favoured sort. While 
 he is able to secure his bread by his toil, the universe will find 
 him a place, but when he is unable to work—when his hair is 
 grey and his eyesight is weak—the universe gives him notice to 
 leave, and his experience goes on the same lines. The only 
 relation he has formed with the universe is. he has given a 
 penny a week to a friendly society ; he knows this is sure, and 
 it will go to put him in his grave. 
 
 There are men who have hundreds of acres of land, and 
 they rule as kings in the universe ; there are others who have 
 not a yard, and if they scrape as much as build a cottage, he 
 has to pay a heavy price for a bit, and it is only for a bit on 
 the surface; the owner claims all below this relation to the 
 universe, as established by law. It is established for ever. 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 8 I 
 
 The universe is as hard a nut to crack as is known, and when 
 the shell is open the thing is strange and not worth much, and 
 often unexplainable. Wild fires burn within, and fierce winds 
 and water storm without, and the most unaccountable of all 
 the strange things observable is, Mr. Campbell holds it up as 
 God, as his God ! and as such recommends it to his fellowmen. 
 For an explanation of this, “ God-world ” gives none. The 
 world may be of use as our servant, but as our master or as 
 our God, it then becomes our greatest enemy. This I say in 
 the face of what he further affirms, “There is not a single one 
 of the whole vast range of human interests which it (the 
 universe) does not cover.” Let me say, in the experience of 
 eighty-five years, the universe covers nothing of the claims and 
 purposes of man’s being and destiny; it covers nothing in our 
 relation to God, nor to His Son, Jesus Christ, and these are the 
 points, when covered, which bring rest and peace now, and a 
 sure hope for a coming age. As long as a man is strong and 
 healthy, with youth on his side, he may dance to any tune, and 
 his legs carry him to any purpose. He gathers a home where 
 family and friends meet, and no marriage bell has a sweeter 
 sound than the ring and music of his home. The day comes 
 when one after another leaves to feather a nest of their own, 
 and the few who are left, one after another, are carried to the 
 grave, and he is left alone; then the winter becomes long, and 
 the nights dark. Where, I ask, is the universe in this case ? 
 When none is near but God, we can look through the darkness 
 to the morning—'the resurrection morning—when we shall 
 stand clothed in immortality, made like the Saviour, by that 
 power by which He is able to subdue all things unto Himself. 
 The worthiness of the Lamb slain covers all. Then we shall 
 fight our battles over again, and so we shall be ever with the 
 Lord. 
 
 We are now at the close of that chapter which goes in for 
 “The Nature of Evil.” 
 
 The field of battle is taken up mainly with the fall of the 
 human race. We cannot say justice has been an active agent 
 in the contention. One of the last positions taken is : “ But 
 never yet has a particular doctrine or mode of teaching truth 
 held its own for any length of time in human history, unless 
 there was some genuine truth beneath it, and the doctrine of the 
 fall is no exception.” To toil earnestly and with all the force it 
 
82 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 was possible to bring forward to show that there was no fall, 
 and reach a point where the doctrine of the fall contained 
 genuine truth beneath it, is certainly like the New Theology as 
 a whole: it is a novelty and nothing more. The question of the 
 fall, whatever the doctrine thereof may reach, it is not with the 
 doctrine that contention rests, but with the fact itself, and that 
 fact as a very great and important historic fact. Mr. Campbell 
 can sound a horn well; all the same a fact is one thing, a 
 doctrine is another. It will be seen, therefore, that our friend is 
 away in the wrong car, in trading and travelling on the doctrine 
 of the fall, when it is the fall itself that is the station booked. 
 The genuine truth lies beneath the fact of the fall, on the top 
 and all around; and another truth is, an argument is conclusive 
 and acceptable according as the finding is true to the conditions 
 of starting. 
 
 We are next introduced to a few verses from the Epistle to 
 the Romans. The verses cannot be turned so as to be made 
 proof that there was no fall; but by fair play, by honest 
 treatment, they stand by our side. Look here, “ For we know 
 that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain to¬ 
 gether until now.” Why this pain ? Because sin abounds 
 to-day through the fall of man 3000 years ago. But creation 
 will be delivered from the pain : “ The creation itself shall be 
 delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious 
 liberty of the children of God.” This is another genuine truth, 
 and given us by Paul in the eighth of Romans, and as such the 
 New Theology will not touch it. There is a use made of 
 creation in pain. Thus: “ Passages like this make it impossible to 
 believe that Paul was ever really tied down to the literal 
 rabinical view of Adam’s transgression and its consequences; 
 and these words are a clear statement that the imperfections of 
 the finite creation are not man’s fault, but God’s will, and is a 
 means towards a great end.” We will use our rights on the 
 points before us. Paul was a free man, in the liberty where¬ 
 with Christ makes His people free. He was well posted up on 
 sin and death ; he knew and unfolded the beginning of both. 
 With him it was not a question of bondage, but of freedom and 
 truth in the service of his Master. He thus wrote to the Church 
 at Rome—and now it shines with all the light of heaven’s 
 approval—“ Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over 
 them who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s trans- 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 83 
 
 gression, who is the figure of Him to come. . . . For by 
 
 one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more, they who 
 receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, shall 
 reign in life by One, Jesus Christ.” After this effusion, this 
 light of gospel liberty, how can a man say Paul did not believe 
 in the Mosaic account of the fall. And again : “ The faults 
 of creation, and the imperfections thereof, are turned over on 
 God, and man is set free.” Our friend has been working hard, 
 and at some length, to show us “ The Nature of Evil.” He 
 makes very little of his theme till he reaches the closing lines 
 of his chapter. There he charges the perfect, the all-powerful, 
 the all and ever-present One with fault and with imperfection. 
 We find here the worm of the dust bringing his Maker to 
 judgment. If this is not the nature of evil in operation in open 
 show, then I must leave my readers to say what it is. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Jesus the Divine Man. 
 
 Mr. Campbell has in this chapter come to the “ ultimate 
 question,” which is the place occupied by the Founder of 
 Christian religion. There are at once three questions put. In 
 the consideration of the questions and their answers, and that 
 we may know where we are in relation to the author, we just 
 place the questions, and by divine authority answer them. 
 Who or which was Jesus? Answer —Jesus saith : “ I am the 
 Resurrection and the Life, he that believeth in Me though he 
 were dead, yet shall he live.” 
 
 How much can we know about Him ? Answer —“ I am the 
 Way, the Truth, and the Life. 
 
 What value does He possess for the religious consciousness 
 to-day. Answer —“ In whom we have redemption in His 
 blood, even the forgiveness of sins; who is the image of the 
 invisible God, the first-born of every creature. For, by Him 
 were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, 
 visible and invisible; whether they are thrones, or principalities, 
 or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him ; and 
 He is before all things, and by Him all things consist; and He 
 is the head of the body—the Church ; who is the beginning, 
 the first-born from the dead, that in all things He might have 
 the pre-eminence.” 
 
 Such are the questions and such the answers on divine 
 authority. If we hold these in view in the discussion, we will, 
 without any trouble, find the resting place of truth, and also 
 we will see where error, blunder, and unbelief come in. 
 
 We read : “ Christianity draws its sustenance from the belief 
 that Jesus is still alive and impacting Himself upon the world 
 through His followers.” In reference to this, it is the highest of 
 all honours for Christian men to show whose they are, and whom 
 
 84 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 85 
 
 they serve ; and this highest of honours brings home the greatest 
 responsibility. All the same you may press Christ to His 
 people ever so closely, the inpact may be ever so close and 
 pronounced, but it is not the source from which Christianity 
 draws it sustenance. This union is between the perfect and the 
 imperfect. The sustenance of Christianity in every age has been 
 drawn from the Saviour, and not from the saved. Whatever 
 is the power of God unto salvation is the Christian life and 
 standing and hope. Christ’s followers are weak and often at 
 fault, and, for sustaining power to the cause of Christianity, it 
 can only come from a fountain purer and more life-giving than 
 is possessed in God’s people; and Jesus, as we shall see, is 
 alive in a sense, grander and more pronounced than what is to 
 be found in His followers. Life and sustaining life-power are 
 in Jesus, and is possessed by any follower by and through Him. 
 Then we read on, “ Other great religions trace their origin to 
 the teaching and example of some exceptional teacher.” Just 
 so, but none of them have their origin as Christianity has. Our 
 origin is in the death, the burial, and the resurrection of the 
 Founder. Here, in the history of the race, we stand alone. In 
 the chief part—in the great, the saving truth—our position 
 stands out different from all others. Jesus was the Teacher 
 sent from God, and that teaching has enlightened the nations ; 
 but in no part of God’s revealed word is the teaching of Jesus 
 held up as redemptive power; that power is to be known and 
 felt in the work—the work on Calvary, the finished work of 
 Jesus on the Cross. On this point is found the difference 
 between the New and the Old Theology—between the methods 
 of man and plan of God in man’s salvation. Now, my work 
 in these lines is to point out wherein this difference lies. Pro¬ 
 ceeding : “ Christianity teaches by example of exceptional 
 persons as other religions do, but with the added conviction 
 that Jesus is as much in the world as ever.” I shall point out 
 that no man need be in doubt on this assertion. The evidence 
 is so clear and so manifold in proof of the opposite that we can 
 think of intelligent men holding that which involved in the 
 assertion, and the assertion itself is difficult if conception, yet 
 there it is, and must be met—Jesus is not in this world as He 
 was formerly. 
 
 Once on a time the personality of Jesus stood out among men, 
 and in the concerns of men. This began when a boy. Among the 
 
S6 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 doctors and among His friends, He employed Himself in His 
 Father’s business. This brought Him in contact with the rich 
 and the poor; with friends and foes ; with the various religions 
 of His day; among all classes His goodness and His wisdom 
 and His power were a marvel. Wherever He was He stood 
 a man—a man with a mission. He went about doing good, 
 and at the close of a life of unceasing toil, He, as in all His 
 ways, stood a man, and as a man He was nailed to the Cross; 
 from the Cross He was taken a man—still a man—dead; as 
 such, He was put in the grave, and a man He rose from the 
 grave, and then, after a living testimony, a clear announce¬ 
 ment was given, and we have great pleasure in producing 
 it: “ When, therefore, they were come together, they asked of 
 Him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore the Kingdom 
 to Israel? and He said unto them, It is not for you to know 
 the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His 
 own power; but ye shall receive power after that the Holy 
 Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto Me, 
 both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to 
 the uttermost parts of the earth ; and while He had thus spoken 
 these things, while they beheld, He was taken up, and a cloud 
 received Him out of their sight; and while they looked stead¬ 
 fastly toward heaven, as He went up, behold, two men stood 
 by them in white apparel, who also said, Ye men of Galilee, 
 why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, who is 
 taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner 
 as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” I shall say, in all this 
 personal history and appearance, there is no ground given for 
 mystical conceptions or faith, and Jesus is not in the world as 
 He once was. To hold the fort here, in the midst of an 
 advancement of new and of foreign exhibitions, is the privilege 
 of all believers. Again : “ If Jesus is in the world the same as 
 ever, the fact is of the utmost importance.” In answer, we 
 give it is not a fact, it is a fallacy. The only record we have 
 on the subject we have just given, and this record is supported 
 by the approval and the authority of God’s word. If it were a 
 fact that Jesus is in the world as ever, then the New Theology 
 has found a foundation — otherwise it is built on sand. 
 Theology or not Theology, the whole testimony, all the 
 scripture revelation given of the wisdom and power of God, as 
 also of the salvation of men, rests on this—Jesus was in person 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 87 
 
 in the world, He is in heaven in person now, and in person He 
 shall again be in the world. These are the facts, and no “ ifs ” in 
 the question, and what Jesus will do when He comes to the 
 world again may have our attention further on. We will only 
 say at this time, all the prophecy which refers to the coming a 
 second time of Jesus to this world will, in reality, be fulfilled 
 without a break, as all that was revealed beforehand of the 
 first coming. 
 
 The next question brought out is “ what the civilized world 
 is saying.” The opinion of the civilized world in many things 
 may be of value : not so in the question before us. The world 
 never favoured Jesus: it has rather been opposed to Jesus and 
 to His work all the way. The opinion, the love of the world 
 never has been the line which leads up to correct views of 
 Jesus. The name of Jesus is the highest in the world ; yet the 
 world has no aspiration after the glory thereof, nor the moral 
 worth which ever centres in that name, Jesus. The love of the 
 world comes in everywhere : we are led to think of its influence, 
 and are warned to guard against its power. We find three 
 powerful enemies—the world, the devil, and the flesh—and to 
 set all or any of these to sit in judgment on Jesus, is to take 
 a course which ends neither in light, nor liberty, nor love. 
 After telling us that Jesus is as much in the world as ever, we 
 are presented with this statement: “ If, as I readily admit, the 
 great question for religion in the immediate future is that of 
 the person of Jesus, the sooner we address ourselves to it the 
 better.” Well, well, if there is a cure at hand—if the person 
 of Jesus is to be subjected to severe tests—in the name of God 
 we shall make it known; we are ready, we are furnished for the 
 fight. The Captain of our salvation is Jesus the Christ, and 
 His sayings ring right through the ages. 
 
 In the most trying time in the life of Jesus, when the Greeks 
 and other men came round desirous to see Jesus, at that time 
 the judgment of this world was in full force, and the prince of this 
 world was cast out. There and then Jesus made this declaration: 
 “ I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.” 
 We know the power of Jesus’ name. It stands for more than 
 a model of moral beauty and excellence. Although nothing 
 in the world has ever come near to Jesus in moral grandeur, 
 yet this is not the first, the chief place Jesus holds. This was 
 made sure in His conversation with the Ruler of the Jews. 
 
 G 
 
88 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 After bringing out the chief points in the kingdom of God, this 
 declaration is made : “ As Moses lifted up the serpent in the 
 wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that 
 whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have ever¬ 
 lasting life.” Thus we find—it is not simply an ideal figure of 
 superior moral stature and structure—it is a life and death 
 question. It was so then, it is so still. In the wilderness the 
 serpent’s bite was deadly, but there was life in a look. Just 
 so, the sting of sin is deadly, and life has never been found by 
 looking at moral worth and efficiency, but it is to be found full 
 and free by faith in Jesus as the atonement; whose blood 
 cleanseth from all sin. This is the standing glory and admira¬ 
 tion and crown of the Christian system. No crisis, near or far 
 \ 
 
 away, can change this—the fountain and the river of redeeming 
 love. 
 
 Ring up the curtain—draw it to the top—let the foot-lights 
 shine with all the brilliancy of new lights; let the stage be lit 
 up with all the grandeur of modern civilization, and let the 
 actors crown the act with all that is attractive in love, in reform ; 
 let the New Theology stand out its best and ask, what is, has been, 
 seen ? The richest and the rarest which has been brought up 
 lasts only for a day, and before the curtain falls, any man may 
 see that there is no redemption piece in the play, from start to 
 finish. It is without the conditions of salvation. 
 
 We are told the great question in religion, in the immediate 
 future, will be the “ person of Jesus.” To me this looks a droll 
 question. While it speaks of great changes in the religious 
 world, it reveals great discontent among men at the present 
 time. It tells also of a remarkable outlook of a meeting of the 
 great ones of the world who are dissatified with the way of God, 
 and who hope to introduce their own way, and to be able to 
 set up the person of Jesus in a way which will be agreeable to 
 them and more agreeable to the claims of the universe. The 
 contrivance—we are not far wrong when we say the plot—is 
 earth against heaven ; it is man against his Maker. See in the 
 device men sitting in judgment on the person of Jesus, while 
 every point in the name and person of Jesus has been settled in 
 the councils of heaven, long, long ago; and what a monument of 
 greatness and of goodness—it stands unchangeable for ever. In 
 the mercy of God, we are called on to look at it this day 
 “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 89 
 
 may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the 
 knowledge of Him : that the eyes of your understanding be 
 enlightened that ye might know what is the hope of His 
 calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance 
 in His saints; and what is the exceeding greatness of His 
 power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from 
 the dead and set Him on His own right hand in the heavenly 
 places, far above all principality and power and might and 
 dominion and every name that is named, not only in this 
 world but also that which is to come; and hath put all things under 
 His feet, and given Him to be head over all things to the 
 Church which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in 
 all.” There are other deliverances as full and grand as the one 
 now before us, but enough to show the other side that they 
 will be altogether unfit to produce a picture so magnificent as 
 the one now before us, as the one produced by the apostles of 
 Gentiles. To accept it—and set it at His feet like Mary of old, 
 and at His feet to hear His word—would indicate wisdom and 
 the better part which no one can take from them. Whatever 
 way, we desire Mr. Campbell and his men to rest assured we 
 are not going to surrender our Saviour’s gifts and our Saviour’s 
 honours. “Well done, good and faithful servant,” lies directly in 
 the way of all who accept the gospel, of all who take the name 
 and work of Jesus; and the present brush in business will send 
 us nearer to Him who is the light of the world and the life of 
 His people. 
 
 After refreshing ourselves at the Fountain of Living Water, 
 we may go on. Mr. Campbell says : “ I am not trying to 
 prove the impossible, namely, that Christianity is the only true 
 religion, and the rest are all false. We shall go better when 
 that kind of nonsense ceases to be spoken.” For a liberal man, 
 as our friend professes to be in this place, he labours with all 
 his might, and with every instrument within his reach, to prove 
 that the Old Theology is false and that his own New Theology is 
 true, and all his efforts go to show that the one stands to be 
 condemned and rejected, the other to be upheld and accepted. 
 That is the go which obtains, not simply in the street, but in 
 the pulpit and press of our country. Wherever such weakness 
 and inconsistency come out, we are bound to expose it. I 
 shall therefore say there is only one Jesus, only one. There is 
 one salvation, only one, and that salvation is only possessed 
 
90 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 by the sacrifice of Jesus. There is no other way and no other 
 name under heaven but the name of Jesus which honours God 
 and brings salvation to the door of all men. Mr. Campbell 
 calls this nonsense. It may answer his purpose, and he may 
 focus all the religious ideals of which he is capable of gathering 
 to a point; yet Christ and Him crucified is the saving truth. 
 Let us make a point and enforce it. The matter of dispute is 
 not the moral side nor influence of the name of Jesus; it is 
 Christ, the Saviour of man, and that He is the only 
 Saviour of man, and that man by moral action can¬ 
 not save his neighbour, cannot save himself. We stand by 
 this and ask men to measure the distance which lies between 
 the New Theology and the Old on this the question of dispute. 
 The moral side of our Saviour’s work, and the influence of the 
 same, is seen and felt in all the world, from the rising of the 
 sun to the going down of the sun; and our position to-day is, 
 had the Son of Righteousness, when on earth as a teacher sent 
 by God, sent from God, given the holiness, the beauty, the 
 elevating power and sweetness of His moral life and teaching 
 and this only, our admiration and reverence would have been 
 cast at His feet. It was so pure, so lovely, so disinterested, so 
 unlike any other thing known then or since. 
 
 “ O how He loves.” Every great man finds his sphere 
 among great men. Jesus went with the labourer and the poor. 
 In this, the moral force of Jesus’ name is not held in monopoly 
 by the City Temple, and superior and everyway more important 
 on the question of salvation and life is the person of 
 Jesus. I shall insist that it is this distinction which becomes 
 so evident on close study, which finds the New Theology so 
 far below the Old Theology when viewed in relation to man’s 
 nature and his opportunities, and when viewed also in relation 
 to the purpose of God. Well then, we have little further to say 
 on other religions. These may be wonderful and influential, 
 but they have no Redeemer and no redemption price; 
 therefore, in fair argument, common sense, and scripture proof, 
 we are lifted to the position where we say that position is true, 
 and other positions are false. The knowledge of the 
 moral side of Jesus, and of His, the only one, who, as Redeemer, 
 presents Himself the possessor of both, cannot detract from the 
 possessor the ability to know an argument and to find an 
 argument. To call a spade a spade is the right, and to tell a 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 91 
 
 man that he is in a false position by pointing to the sand on 
 which his building is raised, is as far from nonsense as anything 
 can get. 
 
 In what is now before us, let us keep in mind that we are 
 not reducing our estate nor our county line : we only wish it 
 noticed that there may be as much harm done by stepping 
 over the line as there can be done by keeping well 
 within defined land-marks. Narrow-mindedness, we do not 
 approve of, it is not popular. It can never appeal to the gallery, 
 but the hearty, the free, the man who treats every man as a 
 brother, who has few faults to find with other forms of religion, 
 a real jolly good fellow, one who is everybody’s body, and when 
 sin is up it is sin in general, in particular, not so looked at. It 
 is in this wood, where the growth blocks the way, that there is 
 danger. Let us, in all fairness, in all heartiness, rise to the 
 highest platform we can reach, and from such an eminence 
 tell friends and foes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of 
 God; that He is the Saviour of men, and that He is 
 the only Saviour. Here also, from the power thus 
 attained, warn those out of the way, confess His name before 
 men and He will confess us before His Father and His holy 
 angels. Even now, religion can lift a man—a nation it sets up 
 on the highest points of power and influence in the business of 
 of the world—and religion can sink a nation robbed of all 
 political influence, power, and splendour. Victor Hugo did 
 well when he pointed to Italy and Spain as proof of what we 
 have now advanced. The New Theology may say such state¬ 
 ments are nonsense—“ facts are cheils that winna ding.” 
 Further, it is the place of the preacher, on the vital points of 
 his profession and of his faith, to clear his own standing, while 
 his courage and truthfulness finds him free to expose the faults 
 and failings of all opposing forces. In this division of the 
 subject, “Jesus the Divine Man,” our author lands among 
 the creeds. In this field there is found lots of game to kill. 
 His bag is well filled, and his gun is used successfully. He 
 has a shot at the Shorter Catechism. “ There are three persons 
 in one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory, 
 and Jesus is the second of the three. This kind of statement 
 cannot be but confusing to the ordinary mind of to-day. After 
 this, we have to consider the universe, the consciousness thereof, 
 Jesus, and man, all as one. This device, this constructure, this 
 
9 2 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 manner of construction leaves the ordinary mind in a confused 
 state, and the longer we remain in this region the more confused, 
 confounded, we become.” On this subject, “Jesus the Divine 
 Man,” He Himself is the only authority, and that backed up by 
 the Father’s testimony; and neither the Westminster creed- 
 makers nor the orator of the City Temple have any com¬ 
 mission, right, or warrant to interpose between Jesus and 
 man, saved or not. 
 
 God-making is one of the arts where the construction has 
 never left good impressions. There never is anything standing 
 over which we are able to say well done. Take the work of 
 God-making in the case of the minister of the City Temple, in 
 the case of the learned gentlemen of Westminister in their creed. 
 Take the case ot the God-makers as recorded in the Acts of 
 the Apostles: listen to their cry, “Great is Diana of the 
 Ephesians.” Our craft is in danger to be set at nought: but 
 also that the Temple of the great Goddess Diana should be 
 despised. Go to, listen to the word of God in far back times : 
 “ I will utter My judgments against them, touching all their 
 wickedness who have forsaken Me and have burnt incense unto 
 other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.” 
 The art of god-making never dies; it is always crude, uncalled 
 for, and confusing. The New Theology, among other new things, 
 required a new God. The chief difficulty the author has had to 
 face is the construction of this personality. In every division 
 of his work, this God-formation is carried on. The subject, “Jesus 
 the Divine Man: we find His job well up; thus, humanity 
 is divinity viewed from below; divinity is humanity viewed 
 from above.” The result is given : “Jesus lived in terms of the 
 whole. What are we to call it except divine ? In this same 
 divinity, a crocodile and General Booth are fixed. The 
 crocodile is not so much an expression of God; General Booth 
 is divine because his life was a loving, self-denying life, and for 
 the same reason we are told that Jesus was divine, simply and 
 solely because His life was never governed by any other 
 principle.” The crocodile, General Booth, and Jesus are a 
 remarkable combine formed to arrive at the nature and 
 character and place of the Saviour of men. All that is made 
 of the effort—Jesus is made to stand “the man” among men— 
 a part of the whole. By just a little holding up of the truth in 
 contrast, we will be able to see the nature of the New 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 93 
 
 Theology—“ Jesus, because He continueth ever, hath an un¬ 
 changeable priesthood: wherefore, He is able also to save them 
 to the uttermost that come to God through Him, seeing He 
 ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such a High 
 Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate 
 from sinners, and made higher than the heavens ; who needed 
 not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for His 
 own sins, and then for the people’s. For this He did once when 
 He offered up Himself: for the law maketh men high priests 
 who have infirmity, but the word of the oath, which since then has 
 been the law, maketh the Son who is consecrated for ever more.” 
 
 Let us deal fair with the truth—with God, with Jesus Christ, 
 and with humanity; say now, and right out, whether the 
 sayings of the author of the New Theology, on the passage 
 from the scriptures which we have just given, is worthy of our } 
 of any man’s, acceptance. Both cannot be true ; find out the 
 truth—and although it should be as old as the heather hills of 
 Scotland, grip it, hold it fast, honour it, and Christ being the 
 judge He shall honour you. “ When the Son of Man shall 
 come in His glory, and all His holy angels with Him, then 
 shall He sit on the throne of His glory, and before Him shall 
 be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them one from 
 the other as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats.” 
 Mr. Campbell can try his standard here. He says : “Jesus is 
 the unique standard, and we must reach it to fulfil our destiny.” 
 Observe what is advanced as proof belongs to a coming age or 
 dispensation : Beloved! now are we the sons of God. Who are the 
 sons of God ? Those who have been cleansed in the blood of 
 Jesus—“the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanseth 
 us from all sin.” Rub this in ever so earnestly, you cannot 
 reach thereby the New Theology, but, still hold on, there is 
 something coming—“ and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, 
 but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, we 
 shall see Him as He is,” not now, but after. We may say 
 frankly, the founder of the new system of theology has no right 
 to the glory of a coming age for proof and support in an objection¬ 
 able and contested assertion. It is to be observed that the second 
 and glorious appearing of Jesus Christ is as distant, as faraway 
 from the New Theology as the blood-cleansing power of the 
 blood of Jesus Christ is. We must hold on to both these, the 
 chief pillars of the Christian system. Here, and here only, can 
 
94 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 we successfully run the race and have the prize—the crown of 
 life and eternal glory. It matters to us nothing although the 
 chief among men or the influential in the Church say it is 
 nonsense; it is the hope we have secured by the sure word of 
 prophecy, and whatever storms rage in the religious world, our 
 refuge stands secure. 
 
 We are brought to the “ further question of Deity.” The 
 previous question was Divinity. There we had in a row a 
 crocodile, General Booth, and Jesus Christ. This remark was 
 made, “ The crocodile had not so much expression of God as 
 General Booth, and the difference between General Booth and 
 Jesus Christ is, the General’s love is not so full and strong as the 
 love in Jesus Christ.” This is how the land lies. Deity! “ If 
 the Deity in Jesus is meant that they possess the all-controlling 
 consciousness of the universe, then assuredly He was not the 
 Deity, for He was possessed of that consciousness.” The 
 Deity—or Mr. Campbell’s God—you remember, is a wonderful 
 article. “The universe is God, and God is the universe, and 
 the proof why Jesus is not the Deity is, He did not possess the 
 consciousness of the universe; and He prayed to His Father. 
 He was in agony and dread; He wandered, wept, and suffered ; 
 He confessed His ignorance of some things. All this is given 
 to show His standing in relation to God and man.” In turning 
 from this, I present the following, which I like, open to all— 
 “Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not 
 robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, 
 and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in 
 the likeness of man; and being found in fashion as a man, He 
 humbled Himself and became obedient unto death—even the 
 death of the Cross; wherefore, God also hath highly exalted 
 Him and given Him a name which is above every name, that 
 at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in 
 heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth; and 
 that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to 
 the glory of God the Father.” What more? Just this point: 
 the quotation now before us, in front of the New Theology 
 Book and its death sentence, is boldly affirmed, but, because 
 Jesus prayed, the consciousness of the Universe was not His - T 
 so we are told. Well, Lazarus was dead four days, Jesus stood 
 by the grave, He prayed; that prayer showed the union He had 
 with the Father. Jesus lifted up His voice; the call was—- 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 95 
 
 “ Lazarus, come forth,” and to the call he came forth. Here, 
 there was a power at work, a power over death which man 
 never had, and has not even now with all our attainment and 
 power. Before death, the strongest among men are weak— 
 helpless as a child. Just another prayer—“My God, My God, 
 why hast Thou forsaken Me? If it is possible, let this cup 
 pass.” The salvation of man—the punishment of sin was 
 to be—must be paid, therefore, the cup was not put passed; 
 therefore, the face of God was against the sin-bearer, and in the 
 darkest hour He cried, “It is finished!” The finish was the 
 wisdom and power of God wrought out in the salvation of men. 
 Again, Mr. Campbell—“ If there is one thing which becomes 
 indisputable from the reading of the gospel narratives it is that 
 Jesus possessed a true human consciousness limited like our 
 own, subject to the ordinary ills of life.” We admit the 
 humanity of Jesus in all points; He was tempted as we are, yet 
 without sin. He was weary, but in His weariness He never 
 forgot His mission nor His power. We easily find Him at the 
 well weary ; a woman comes to draw water. The narrative is 
 known; we may hear His voice again. Jesus saith unto her: 
 “ If thou knewest the gift of God and Who it is that saith to 
 thee, give Me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of Him, and 
 and He would have given thee living water. The water that I 
 shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into 
 everlasting life.” The marvel is how any man can believe, or 
 say, or write of the four Gospels, and with all this, fail to 
 give all which Jesus claims and has a right to, and which 
 contented, intelligent, and honest men have given Him for 
 hundreds of years. The denial of the gospel narratives is up ; 
 still, the accounts of His birth, of His life, of His death, all 
 speak of a divine power self-possessed—open to the vision and 
 the understanding of faithful minds. The wind and the waves 
 obey Him, and He gave power to His followers, in the exercise 
 of which miracles were wrought and devils cast out. You will 
 shake hands with many a man before you feel the grip of 
 divinity, which was well possessed by Jesus Christ, and in a 
 word we say, no man is honoured in withholding or taking 
 from Jesus what is His due. 
 
 “ He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant,” etc. 
 Quite so, but see where this statement leads. I have no 
 hesitation in saying, there is no road, ancient or modern, known 
 
96 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 which this statement leads or could lead to New Theology, and 
 no engineering skill could make it lead to New Theology. 
 Then to what does it lead ? It belongs to that which brings 
 out the nature and mission of Jesus. It is part of an argument 
 and evidence on this very point. It is truly worth attention 
 and insertion : “Jesus Christ, being in the form of God, thought 
 it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no 
 reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was 
 made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a 
 man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, 
 even the death of the Cross, wherefore God hath highly 
 exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every 
 name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of 
 things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the 
 earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ 
 is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Ask again to what 
 it leads, and our answer is : “ It leads to Jesus, who is the 
 Way, the Truth, and the Life.” In Him you find answer to 
 all that prophets spake of Him ; of all He did as a servant. 
 Begin at the time, when a boy, He said, “ Wist ye not that I 
 must be about My Father’s business,” to the time He finished 
 His labours on the Cross, and He answers and fulfils His 
 claims as the Sent of God, to pay the redemption price, and 
 to give hope of eternal life and blessedness through the perfect¬ 
 ness of His atoning blood. Ask again to what it leads, and 
 the answer is blessed : “ Forasmuch as ye know that ye were 
 not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, from 
 your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, 
 but with the precious blood of Christ, as a Lamb without 
 blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before 
 the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last 
 times for you, who, by Him, do believe in God, who raised 
 Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory, that your faith 
 and hope might be in God.” You may ask once again to 
 what it leads. The road is finished ; the rules of the road are 
 also complete—at every turn or condition may be read in bold 
 letters—“ Without money and without price.” This has not 
 been changed, and, so far as is revealed, never will be changed. 
 For this reason, the man with go, with a full purse and a 
 willing hand, has no admittance nor encouragement. There¬ 
 fore, it never leads to the New Theology. 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 97 
 
 The next question is : “Then are we to understand that this 
 self-limitation of Jesus meant that the Eternal Son or Second 
 Person of the Trinity, the word by whom the worlds were made, 
 quitted the throne of glory and lived for thirty-three years a Jewish 
 peasant.” Mr. Campbell has found out a New Theology, and 
 in that finding he has found a new God, and therefore, he 
 understands, after his own personal methods or consciousness. 
 In this he reminds us of a Dutch demonstrator : this gentleman 
 said he accepted only what reason understood and what reason 
 demonstrates as truth. A neighbour invited him to breakfast. 
 After the morning meal he was taken into a field. The Dutch¬ 
 man said, “ My wife attends to these geese; they are eating 
 grass as if it were the thing for them; you observe they are 
 covered with feathers. We also keep a few sheep, they are 
 eating grass; there is not a feather on one them, they are 
 covered with wool. To carry our produce to the market we 
 need a horse, it is busy at the grass also—there are no feathers 
 nor wool on the horse—he is covered with hair. There they 
 are, geese, sheep, and horse, clothing themselves by eating 
 grass. Can you understand this? Last night you said you 
 would accept nothing unless you understood and saw it demon¬ 
 strated. This morning you have the facts. Summer and 
 winter the facts stand true to themselves-—to one another—and 
 to the creative power of God which your understanding and 
 demonstration cannot reach.” So it is, there are a hundred 
 things we meet every day both in the works of God and in the 
 works of man which we cannot understand, yet the works stand 
 before us—facts accomplished; yet we must accept them as they 
 stand, and wisdom and worth are shown in said acceptance. At 
 the same time, every man is at liberty to accept or to doubt While 
 this is so, simple faith in the Word of God is the greatest treasure 
 a man can possess. Unbelief is the hardest taskmaster any 
 man can serve. The next question is: “Was the full conscious¬ 
 ness of the Eternal Word present in the babe of Bethlehem, for 
 instance ?” Well now, in answer, do we say the consciousness 
 of the babe of Bethlehem was equal to consciousness in the 
 Word. We do not, and no such conception ever entered the 
 friends with faith in the Old Theology. What follows is 
 the truth and the whole truth: “The child grew and waxed 
 strong in spirit, and was filled with wisdom, and the grace of 
 God was upon Him.” How gentle and tender and true are the 
 
9 8 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 words which tell the state of the babe. As they stand 
 they clean the board of all the uncommon, big-worded, and 
 confounding questions of the New Theology. At twelve years 
 of age, He was found in the temple in the midst of the doctors 
 hearing them and asking them questions ; and Jesus increased in 
 wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. 
 
 The height reached on the subject “Jesus the Divine Man.” 
 All honour to those who have called us back to the real Jesus 
 of Galilee and Jerusalem ; the Jesus with the prophets’ fire ; the 
 Jesus who was so gentle to little children and erring women, 
 and yet before whom canting hypocrites and turbulent 
 ecclesiastics slank away abashed. 
 
 This may be very nice, but it is a little stool on which to set 
 “Jesus the Divine Man,” where you can only see Him a speck 
 in the grandeur of the present age, and in the glory of the 
 future age. Without attempting to make gods or men, we are 
 bound to present the body and being of Jesus which is of old 
 and sterling value. This formation stands the harassing and 
 distressing influences of ail former things, and the flimsy get-up 
 of the articles—New Theology—claiming public attention and 
 sympathy will have little effect on the Rock of Ages. The 
 prophet Isaiah has His measure, and we give it : “ Unto us a 
 Child is born, unto us as Son is given, and the goverment shall 
 be on His shoulders; and His name shall be called Wonderful, 
 Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, Prince of 
 Peace. Of the increase of this government and peace there 
 shall be no end—upon the throne of David and upon his 
 kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and with 
 justice, from henceforth even forever more. The zeal of the 
 Lord of Hosts will perform this.” 
 
 We may, with all propriety, place Mr. Campbell’s full-grown 
 “Jesus the Divine Man” between Isaiah and the Angel on a 
 mission from the Lord. “ He shall be great, and shall be 
 called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give 
 unto Him the throne of His Father David, and He shall reign 
 over the House of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there 
 shall be no end.” 
 
 In view of what is now before us, we may confidently state 
 that the preacher of the City Temple has come out worse on 
 “ Jesus the Divine Man ” than he has done in any of his under¬ 
 takings. It comes up, it comes on—“These things saith He 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 99 
 
 that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, 
 He that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no 
 man openeth.” It is an old saying, give the devil his due. 
 The City Temple has failed to give Jesus, the Redeemer 
 of men, the King of Glory, His rights and claims. 
 
 “ Jesus came to show what we potentially are.” We hold 
 Jesus came for no such purpose. He came to show how weak 
 we are, and in that weak state we are without God and without 
 hope in the world, and then to make out for weak mortals the 
 way of life and power. This is the reading, and it is the truth, 
 “ When we were without strength, in due time Christ died for 
 the ungodly.” Go on : “ For scarcely for a righteous man 
 will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even 
 dare to die; but God commendeth His love toward us, in that, 
 while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us; much more then, 
 being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath 
 through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were 
 reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being 
 reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” This is the hope 
 which maketh not ashamed ; by this the love of God is shed 
 abroad in our hearts. It is here that our power is seen, known, 
 and felt; and Jesus came to work it out, and to bring it home 
 to us. It was a personal knowledge of this which led the 
 servant of God to say: “ I am not ashamed of the gospel of 
 Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one 
 who believeth.” This was what Christ came to show; by 
 scriptural evidence He so came, and to show the potency of 
 weak, erring, sinful, sin-condemned man, was at no time the 
 work of Jesus, and He never showed that every individual 
 would be God manifest in the flesh—partially manifested in 
 the flesh—but later on this manifestation in Jesus would be as 
 fully and truly manifested by every soul, as in Christ Himself. 
 Such a thing has no place in reason, in experience, nor in the 
 Word of God. 
 
 “ Jesus came to show us what we potentially are.” Had this 
 been so, it would have been a very poor show indeed. We 
 are—all the human race in the past have been—a failure, and 
 so far as potentiality and purity of the exhibition goes, the 
 show has few prizes even to-day. It is sin and shame, weak¬ 
 ness, waywardness, and wickedness, which shows in all market¬ 
 places, “ Jesus Christ came to seek and to save the lost.” This 
 
IOO 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 is the greatest and best known truth in the record—in the 
 testimony, the Word of God—and yet the New Theology has 
 not yet seen it. 
 
 At the close of the article, “Jesus the Divine Man,” it 
 cannot be said the light has been given and justice done to 
 the subject. We can only reach sound conclusions and true, 
 by a reference to revealed prophetic statements, and by 
 accomplished fact; we cannot reach the fair point on this or 
 any such subject, unless we can back it up by “thus saith the 
 Lord.” It is not, What saith Unitarians, Trinitarians, Roman 
 Catholics, or the New Theology men? You should throw 
 round your subject, “thus saith the Lord”; push this to the 
 front; let it have full wind and full weight. This done, you 
 can look at it bearing the stamp of the All-Powerful. This 
 ticket will carry you anywhere, and bring you satisfaction 
 personally, after you have honoured the Lord. Such nonsense 
 as “Jesus came to show what we potentially are” is enough to 
 shake and sink even a well-written and logically reasoned 
 article. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Eternal Christ. 
 
 This chapter is short. There is a considerable amount of 
 underground work—piling prevails—rock foundation is ill to 
 reach. Coming to the above ground, we find the following : 
 “Thinkers have always been compelled to construe the universe 
 in terms of the highest known in man, namely, his own moral 
 nature.” It must be observed there was no necessity for 
 thinkers reducing themselves, in the construction of the universe, 
 to the moral nature of man. This standard of measurement 
 is inefficient, and it is self-chosen. They could give no proper 
 reason for falling forward on man’s moral nature. They had 
 all freedom to the wisdom and power of the creation, which 
 they might employ for any and every honest purpose. This 
 chapter forms a fine landing where may be seen a collection of 
 fine works, first-class words, strong and expressive words, which 
 tell of natural ability and acquired. Doubtless, it was the sight 
 of such collections which led men in position to defend Mr. 
 Campbell. It was, they said, his uncommon talent, his power 
 of speech, his influence over a meeting, and on the question of 
 theology, much could be said on both sides; but there never 
 was a soul who said of Mr. Campbell, he was led by reason, 
 revelation, or by logical force. It is true, he took you to the 
 forest, but you were left to admire the waving pines, and when 
 you had done all the other trees and growths, you might grope 
 your way out the best way you could make possible. The 
 moral nature of man is a low basis on which to construct any 
 of the subjects Mr. Campbell brings up in his book. The 
 moral nature of man has never been seen in our day, as it now 
 is in the politics of Britain. The Unionists are against the 
 Budget, and the Budget is against the broad acres. In taxation 
 more money is needed, and it can only be got where the 
 
 IOI 
 
102 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 money in bulk is. It becomes a life and death question. 
 On the one side there is a go at it for personal interest and 
 power; on the other side, it is public interest and public power. 
 In the battle of progress the prospect here and now is some¬ 
 what hopeful. Man’s moral nature is many sided. In a 
 hundred forms it is brought out in the highest court in the 
 world. There it is, beautiful and free as the sun, and in the 
 same house it is dark and selfish as night. If you want to 
 find the character of human nature—the ideal of this article— 
 measure the breadth of Mr. Balfour’s shoulders, and then, in 
 inches, have the measurement of Mr. Asquith’s. They are great 
 men, yet their greatness rests on the moral ideal of thousands 
 of other men, which ideal wavers and changes as the wind. 
 Theologians and thinkers are compelled always to construe 
 the universe in terms of the highest known to man, namely, 
 his own moral nature. It is a false position, and sooner 
 or later must come down. To see the full force of what is here 
 advanced, to see the moral ideal (the strongest in man’s nature), 
 give the broad acres and the heavy money accounts of the 
 Unionists into the hands of the Liberal on the lowest seats, up 
 to the men on the front seat in the House of Commons. Let 
 this be done, and you will see the ideal of the moral of man. 
 Were this done the moral weakness would be seen, the political 
 possession would be changed, and the point would be proved, 
 namely, that thinkers work below their right claims and 
 privileges in being always compelled to construe the universe 
 in terms of the highest known to man, namely, his own moral 
 nature. This foundation sinks—leave it. Ascend the hill of 
 God. Nobody will compel you; the whole of this is left to 
 individual choice, but when the choice is made, it is blessed in 
 possession, it is glorious in prospect. Here you have in 
 possession the love of God, the mercy of God, the wisdom and 
 the power of God. This being so, consider the ideal, the 
 moral nature of man. As accountable agents, let thinkers 
 think of the madness of standing on the wreck of ages, when 
 the hand of God offers salvation for ever more. 
 
 “The infinite being of God is utterly incomprehensible to the 
 finite mind, and in regard to the devoted saint is as much an 
 agnostic as the most convinced materialist.” Mr. Campbell is 
 on a field he should know something about. He has had three 
 gods in his day under his thumb. You remember how dis- 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 103 
 
 satisfied he was with God and works and ways in the Garden 
 of Eden. He found nothing there to his mind; neither God nor 
 man to him were on proper lines. He reached the point; the 
 whole thing noticed by Moses as real, visible, true, was only a 
 fable got up for the purpose of training the young mind; the 
 second god, home-made, a good size for almost any purpose. 
 It still stands out in memory and in point, “the Universe is 
 God and God is the Universe;” and the third god we have, 
 also home-made, noticed on the 79th page of the book, “New 
 Theology ”—“ But we are justified in holding that, whatever else 
 He may be, God is essentially man; that is, He is the fount of 
 humanity.” Well, here and at once, we are not going to fall 
 down before this God. We have made our choice—the 
 God of life and promise, the Lord is our God—the God of 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob one God, and for ever the same; 
 the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we have 
 pardon and peace ; who is constituted Judge of the living and 
 the dead. Beside this, Mr. Campbell’s makes are very small 
 indeed, and if he and his followers find refuge here, they are 
 surely pleased with small mercies. Whichever they say, for 
 eternal life, they are on short allowance, and although they 
 think the reckoning day a great way off, it is coming, and it 
 may be soon. The whole truth here must be told. The most 
 devout saint, and the agnostic as the most convinced materialist, 
 as is being done, is in an arrangement which cannot be accepted. 
 On the same ground they cannot stand. The agnostic, from 
 things material, may have a hundred blessings, and see a 
 thousand beauties, and altogether may have treasures rich and 
 many which the saint cannot bring within his reach, yet, this 
 difference carefully drawn, there stands the fact, the saint can 
 hold fellowship and friendship, and hold firmly, relations with 
 God which is his own part and portion. He has a family 
 connection thus : “ Behold what manner of love the Father 
 hath bestowed on us that we should be called the sons of God.” 
 Observe the difference here, and look it full in the face, and you 
 discover the difference between the New Theology and the Old, 
 Our friend is lost in the complexity of the infinite; in his God, 
 humanity is contained eternally. This is a big sounding praise, 
 but you might strike this stone with perfect skill and purest 
 steel, you never will strike light nor heat from it. No flight of 
 the scientific can do anything. The thing, the only things which 
 
104 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 meet the case is, “ God in His Son Jesus Christ reconciling men 
 unto Himself. God so loved the world that He gave His only 
 beloved Son, that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish 
 but have everlasting life; ” and although thinkers have not yet 
 reached the crowing point, this is “ The Eternal Christ.” 
 
 In what is now before us, Mr. Campbell is like the agnostic; 
 he is the same as the materialist. He lives, and he is at perfect 
 liberty to live in a world of beauty. He has opportunities for 
 good doing, good to his fellow-men; and his hands are made 
 strong and his heart glad at his work ; the love he has for his 
 people and the same love sent back to him ; the unfailing 
 pleasure he has in pulpit work. These and many other 
 fountains of blessedness he enjoys as few men can enjoy ; still, 
 we must say, he has never spoken of “ the Eternal Christ ” as 
 the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. It is 
 remarkable how in all his deliverances the blood of the Redeemer 
 is kept out. I have boldness and satisfaction in affirming that 
 the author of the passage, “ The Eternal Christ,” has not and 
 never can do justice to the subject from the standpoint he takes. 
 Throw out the main factor in any case and the efficiency of 
 truth and justice dies. Shake off—throw out or cover this: 
 “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin;” and that 
 there is no other name which secures life—life eternal—but the 
 Son of God. I say, if you throw out this you throw out the 
 work of the Eternal Christ, and go in opposition to the purpose 
 of God who sent His Son to seek and to save that which was 
 lost. 
 
 This question is put: “ What God have we to do with 
 except the God who is eternally man?” Mr. Campbell is 
 strong in gods. He is not very particular in the construction 
 of his lot. The foremost at this moment before us he finds in 
 Babylon. Babylon is not renowned for much good. It is 
 more associated with evil than with good. Here among the 
 gods there is a choice. The one before us stands out to our 
 view ; it looks like pulling down God a bit, and it gives man 
 an advantage. “ God who is eternally man ”—this is certainly 
 a new device. So far as history and fact show anything, this 
 is always brought out and seen and felt. God and man are 
 generally on different errands. You may rise early or sit late; 
 wherever you find the two, what the one says the other offers 
 objection. Where the one stands for worship, God you find on 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 105 
 
 the one side and man in the mass on the other. It is a funny 
 ticket is man to make the world, and to keep it in working 
 order. Poor fellow, three score and ten years measure the 
 strength of his arm; at best, an east wind makes him shake, 
 and he finds in the coal formation the goodness and greatness 
 of God, and is nothing here but a weak, dependent formation— 
 out of dust he was made, and at the end he just goes to dust 
 again. No, no, keep man where he placed himself—under the 
 sentence of death; that is where he is by nature, and by his 
 own will and way. Make him a god and he will accept the 
 position, and lay down his terms, and throw out the grace of 
 God in the gift of His Son. We are told we live in wonderful 
 times, and the doctrine of that God is eternally man, offered 
 for acceptance and finding adherents, is one of the most re¬ 
 markable proofs of the degeneracy of the age, and, to me, one 
 of the strongest proofs we have that the last days are with us, 
 in “the God who is eternally man.” Whatever we do, let us 
 leave man where he has put himself, “ without God and without 
 hope in the world.” Thus left, he may seek and find a 
 Saviour. 
 
 “ God who is eternally man.” Was there ever folly so foolish, 
 or pride so presumptive as we have here ? God has not left 
 Himself without a witness, neither has man. Just let us see 
 the distinctive nature and place. “ The Lord hath prepared 
 His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all. 
 Like as a father pitieth His children, so the Lord pitieth them 
 that fear Him. He knoweth our frame, He remembereth we 
 are dust. As for man, his days are as grass ; as the flower of 
 the field so he flourisheth, for the wind passeth over it, and it 
 is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more.” After 
 this we may say Mr. Campbell has no honour in his last-made 
 god! and the following has no foundation in fact: “Funda¬ 
 mentally our being is already one with that of the eternal 
 Christ, and faith in Jesus is faith in Him.” If we go to the 
 root of this business we must go to the old paths, and if the 
 blessing is expected we must walk therein. By all authority 
 gathered from these good old ways, we have it: our foundation 
 is in the dust, and if we are to rise higher we must find the 
 help of another—that is the fundamental of the Christian 
 system. Christ, the Sent of God, is the helper, and there is 
 none beside—no other name, no other foundation. It is true, 
 
106 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 when a man sets to get up a New Theology he has a lot of 
 difficult work on hand. Gods must be furnished, and men 
 must be put in new spheres; doctrines must be framed, old 
 established truths and facts have to be set aside. Yet, for all 
 this, “ the word of God standeth sure.” “ Jesus Christ, who 
 is the faithful and true witness, and the first-begotten of the 
 dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth, who loved us, 
 and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made 
 us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be 
 glory and dominion for ever and for ever.” “ How much more 
 shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered 
 Himself without spot to God, purge your consciences from dead 
 works, to serve the living God ! ” We may now say the whole 
 record harmonizes with what is here advanced. Again we find 
 a side stroke : it is laid—the goal of moral effort—Christ. 
 Well then, is it not a fact that, for all the moral effort in the 
 new school, there is nothing reached or seen in the distance 
 which secures eternal life—nothing ? 
 
 We now reach a number of excellent texts in the book, 
 the first of which is : “ For the life was manifested, and we 
 have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal 
 life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.” 
 When these texts are all put in battle array, the author makes 
 a rush, and in the happiness of his heart, he gives out, “This is 
 the New Theology with a vengeance.” We would not be 
 found reducing happiness in the lot of any man; at the same 
 time, we must say Mr. Campbell appears in all his glory, like 
 the blackbird in borrowed feathers. Everyone of them is from 
 the Old Theology book. For moral or religious sentiment the 
 Bible is the book. All the time I was on the road as a 
 temperance lecturer, I never got any argument so powerful as 
 this: “ He, who was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we 
 through His poverty might become rich.” The moral of 
 Christianity rises a hill, fresh and beautiful, on all sides; but 
 there is one higher measure, on the top nor sides of which the 
 New Theology or its friends are never seen. Let us rise, and 
 while we hail the crown, we shall all the way point out the 
 difference in theology—the New from the Old. “This is a 
 faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus 
 came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. 
 Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 107 
 
 Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them 
 who should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting.” Here 
 is our position—life from the dead, salvation in the Saviour; 
 and regarding moral grandeur and worth, we shall ever hold on 
 to the statement, faith without works. The one, by gospel 
 rule, runs into the other, but the one without the other is dead, 
 and this is how they run the one into the other. “ The grace 
 of God, which bringeth salvation to all men, hath appeared, 
 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we 
 should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present 
 world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing 
 of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Him¬ 
 self for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and 
 purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. 
 Such is the moral power and purpose of the work of Jesus 
 Christ in the redemption of the lost, and on the redeemed. 
 We are now told that the Apostle Paul had a high place in the 
 New Theology. This is what is advanced : “ Paul always 
 thought of Jesus, and truly as the Lord who came down from 
 heaven; but he does not draw a sharp line of distinction 
 between Him and the rest of humanity.” I must say that a 
 greater mistake was never uttered in the religious world than 
 what we have here, and none more fatal to the Christian 
 system. The distinction drawn was never so clear and truth¬ 
 fully done as that drawn by Paul: he recorded himself the 
 chief of sinners, but Jesus Christ was the only Saviour of men. 
 As a sinner, he had no help in himself; but, as Deliverer, Jesus 
 had all power. What was the distinction between Paul and 
 the trembling jailor. He cried out, “ What must I do to be 
 saved?” Paul and Silas said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Paul knew both sides of the 
 sixpence, and, as a preacher, there never was any difficulty in 
 tracing with distinctness the lines he drew. He stood, full 
 sized, redeemed in the Saviour: “ But we believe that through 
 the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved.” Draw 
 the line—distinctly draw it—and Paul stands on one side and 
 man on the other. It was so at that time—it is so to-day— 
 Paul stands in Jesus. The New Theology puts a burden on 
 the back which neither the founder of the system nor any of 
 his followers can carry to the glory of God nor to the salvation 
 of man. We know the reason why Mr. Campbell is always 
 so intent on withdrawing differences. 
 
I08 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 Paul’s declaration of the gospel, which he received by special 
 gift and blessing from the Master and Lord—get that removed 
 or darkened or thrown into doubt, and the New Theology 
 correspondingly goes ahead. Paul and his Saviour stood, and 
 now stands, on one side of the line which he distinctly drew 
 sharp, and the New Theology labours hard to show the other 
 side, as the side for thoughtful men, for scientific men, for men 
 of progress. 
 
 Perhaps we should have kept out the concluding part of the 
 article, “ The Eternal Christ,” but thus it stands : “ Paul 
 brought this conception of the eternal Christ into Christianity 
 from pre-Christian thought, saw it ideally revealed in Jesus, 
 and then bade mankind respond to it, and realise to be the 
 true explanation of our own being.” 
 
 It may be said Paul was very pronounced in regard to his 
 source of gospel truth. Revelation is very full on the subject. 
 His deliverance before Agrippa serves him where pre-Christian 
 thought would have been of no value. This is his testimony : 
 “ Having, therefore, obtained help of God, I continue unto this 
 day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other 
 things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should 
 come : that Christ should suffer, and that He should be the 
 first who should rise from the dead, and should show light to 
 the people, and to the gentiles.” This is where Paul found 
 the truth, and where the truth found him. In no instance does 
 he seem to be in any way dependent on ancient thought; and 
 regarding the explanation of our own nature or being, there is 
 no saving power from head to foot in age or youth. Any other 
 explanation has no foot-hold in saving truth. But how far can 
 we go on our own hook ? “ Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, 
 
 and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Incarnation of the Son of God. 
 
 “ The practical dualism which regards Jesus as coming into 
 humanity from something that beforehand was not humanity, we 
 declare to be misleading. ”-Afr Campbell. This introduces us to an 
 old question nineteen hundred years old. It was sharply debated, 
 and on both sides it, in argument, was well done. A company 
 of unbelievers gathered round Jesus. Jesus told these objections 
 well on in the debate—“ Ye have not known Him, but I have 
 known Him ; and if I should say, I know Him not, I shall be a 
 liar like unto you ; but I know Him and keep His sayings. 
 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and He saw it 
 and was glad. Then said the Jews unto Him : Thou art not 
 yet fifty years old and hast Thou seen Abraham ? Jesus said 
 unto them : Verily, verily I say unto you, before Abraham was 
 I am. Then took they up stones to cast at Him.” 
 
 Such is the way Jesus and His enemies went at the question, 
 and before it pile up all the New Theology of to-day, and of 
 nineteen hundred years ago. Pile them up and make them big, 
 and their measurement shall stand out before the King of kings— 
 thus, “ before Abraham was I am.” And further, by the same 
 authority, “ I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the 
 ending,” saith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to 
 come—the Amighty. 
 
 The point before us is vital, and here we shall exercise our 
 rights, our priviliges, and claims. 
 
 To look into the perfect law of liberty as that law is revealed 
 unto the children of men in the sure word of prophecy, is to 
 possess one of the greatest privileges any one can enjoy. As a 
 sweet flower, it is fresh, fragrant, and abiding. Many years 
 before Jesus Christ was nailed to the Cross as the Saviour of 
 men, the following was written of Him : “ He was wounded for 
 
 109 
 
I IO 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the 
 chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes 
 we are healed. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our 
 sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and 
 afflicted. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned 
 every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the 
 iniquity of us all.” The Jewish statesman reading this portion, 
 put the question to the appointed teacher, Of whom speaketh 
 the prophet this—of Himself, or of some other man ? Then 
 Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and 
 preached unto him Jesus. Next to the sure word of prophecy 
 is the fact accomplished, which gives the blessed assurance, and 
 the joy, and rejoicing, right on—and to the end right on. 
 Before Peter’s mind is Christ duly. This is enforced by the 
 doings of Jesus, who did no sin, neither was there any guile in 
 His mouth; who, when He was reviled, reviled not again ; 
 when He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself 
 to Him that judges righteously ; who His own self bore our 
 sins, in His own body, on the tree, that we being dead to sin 
 should live unto righteousnesss, by whose stripes we are healed. 
 We were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto 
 the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls ; still, the fact is accom¬ 
 plished, and Jesus said, “ It is finished ! ” and He bowed His 
 head and gave up the ghost. Observe all these ! “ Giving 
 
 thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers 
 of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath redeemed us 
 from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the 
 kingdom of His dear Son : in whom we have redemption 
 through His blood—even the forgiveness of sin ; who is the 
 image of the invisible God—-the first-born of every creature. 
 For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that 
 are in earth—visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or 
 dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created 
 by Him and for Him, and He was before all things ; and by 
 Him all things consist.” 
 
 The man, the preacher, who can pass over this wonderful, 
 magnificent deliverance, and stamps his own where it ought to 
 be, cannot bring home at night his copy with mark of merit— 
 right, well done. Another crack of the same whip : “ The hour 
 is come, glorify Thy Son that Thy Son may also glorify Thee. 
 As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh that He should 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 Ill 
 
 give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him—and this 
 is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and 
 Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent,” Mr. Campbell says, “Our 
 view on the subject does not belittle Jesus, but it exalts human 
 nature.” To exalt human nature is one of the chief subjects of 
 the book “ New Theology” ; a poor hand at this, a very poor 
 hand indeed. What a trumpet call we hear ringing down the 
 ages : “ This is eternal life, that they might know Thee, the 
 only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.” 
 
 “Jesus expressed fully and completely, in as far as finite 
 consciousness ever could, that aspect of the nature of God which 
 we have called the Eternal Son, or Christ, or Ideal Man, who is 
 the soul of the universe and the light that lighteth every man 
 that cometh into the world. We are expressions of the same 
 primordial being. Fundamentally we are all one in this Eternal 
 Christ.” 
 
 After all this on-going, after all this effort to cast light on the 
 subject, we are tempted to put the question—What is Man ?— 
 Man is a human being. What is he like?—He is like the grass. 
 What is he religiously and morally?—He is a sinner. What is 
 he made of?—Man is made of dust. To what does he return? 
 —To dust. Is man God or a part of God?—There is only one 
 God. Is God likely to share His honours?—He will not give 
 H is glory to another. What is God?—God is a Spirit. -Who 
 is Jesus Christ ?—Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Have we 
 any proof that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?—The Father 
 said, “This is My Beloved Son.” As Redeemer and Son, what 
 was the nature of His work ?—His blood cleanseth from all sin. 
 
 It is the nature and character of these questions, with the 
 answers, which makes it difficult for the western mind to accept 
 or even understand any of the crude, complex out-pourings 
 about the incarnation of the Son of God. It so happens that 
 Mr. Campbell has not made his points clear. They are neither, 
 in their conclusions, scriptural nor logical. They are not accord¬ 
 ing to the purpose of God nor the redemption of man. What 
 are they then ? They are the New Theology. Even at that 
 they are simply words; big words, it is true, but only words, and 
 none of them lead a man to the Cross of Calvary—not one. 
 This page leads me to bring the statement of another: “ Most 
 people hold cheaply whatever they understand, and bow down 
 only before the inexplicable.” Men would like to be gods. 
 
I 12 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 The limited earthly consciousness of Jesus did not prevent 
 Him from being really and truly God. Why should we not 
 speak in a similar way about any other human consciousness ? 
 It is observable how often and how much weight the New 
 Theology puts on human consciousness. Regarding its power— 
 to lift the most knowing and strong among us up to be truly 
 God is a feat, is a performance which has never seen the light. 
 The question put is, Why? Answer —The relation of Jesus to 
 God is in every way different from the relation of man to God. 
 To lose sight of this distinction is to sink the whole question. 
 Note, Jesus came to save the lost. The lost were the human 
 family. For this reason Jesus might claim, and had a right to 
 claim, relation with the Lord of Glory—with God, while man 
 like a beggar, like a wanderer, can only, as such, partake of the 
 blessing which Jesus offers. Now, that is one reason why man 
 will not, cannot be God. A man may live to be a hundred, 
 but he is just a man all the time, and the longer he lives the 
 more unlike God he becomes ; forced to get help if he is to be 
 turned in his bed, and if he gets up, no child is more in need of 
 help than he ; he is weak, sickly, helpless. Such are your 
 gods and New Theology, and a better kind you never brought 
 to face the storm. By obeying the will of God you may 
 become kings and priests—that is the highest any mortal man 
 can reach, and it is only obtainable by gift—only conditional— 
 by being washed in the blood of the Lamb. Remember that 
 Jesus is not honoured by vain attempts on the part of man to 
 reach a false position. Jesus Christ in all appeals to humanity 
 advised lowliness, humility, reverence. Equality with God is 
 one of men’s airships, and after a few hours’ trial it is sure to 
 come to dust. “ He that humbleth himself shall be exalted, 
 and he who exalteth himself shall be brought low.” Christ’s 
 birth and life and death and ascension were altogether, and in 
 parts unique, stand alone; and the man does well who sits at 
 His feet and learns His ways. 
 
 “The virgin birth not demonstrable from scripture.” “It 
 seems strange that the belief in the virgin birth of Jesus should 
 ever have been held to be cardinal article of the Christian faith, 
 but, it is so, even to-day.” Mr. Campbell tells that reputable 
 theologians have given it up, and as for himself, he does not 
 think it worth combating. I do not think there is anything strange 
 in the notice paid to the birth of Jesus; there might have been 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 113 
 
 more said. All the same it was noticed, and this notice draws 
 the mind of children in every age, and the heart of the 
 theologian and philosopher; and that birth was noticed in 
 heaven. No birth on earth had so many grand and attractive, 
 so many winning and precious points wonderfully clustered 
 around it, as the birth of Jesus had. The birth of Jesus may at 
 no time have broken the heart of the rebellious and the 
 unbelieving, yet it has lifted the heart and the soul of the will¬ 
 ing and the true—making the song of the joyful to sound loud 
 and long and true and sweet. I shall say the birth of Jesus is the 
 best gathering-ground on earth. Here, with Mary, our soul can 
 magnify the Lord; with her, our spirit may rejoice in God our 
 Saviour. 
 
 Reputable theologians may give up the scriptural account of 
 the birth of Jesus. Well, let us see. These theologians are not 
 over-careful in their conclusions and contentions. That class of 
 men can cast off the account Moses gave of the creation of man 
 —his surroundings. This class of men can turn the truth of God 
 into fables, and with such can play their tune, in the performance 
 of which they come out big men, and we find them able to 
 bring the Buddhist and Jesus in their birth to be very much 
 alike—and the inference these big men would have us to come 
 to is, there is no need to make much of Christ’s birth. I am 
 neither a big nor wise man, but I have a grip of our Lord and 
 Saviour Jesus. I know His birth, His life, and His death 
 stand out in the life of men as no other thing has done. 
 
 At Christmas time, in all parts of the world the wonders 
 of divine and human love are seen and felt. The truth of 
 Jesus stands a holy beacon, guiding rich and poor to deeds 
 of mercy, grace, and love ; and hands, which are never seen on 
 errands of kindness, to benevolence and generosity. Like the 
 star of Bethlehem they tell of the manger, the cradle of the 
 babe, the promised of the fathers, the Sent of God, and the 
 Saviour of men. 
 
 It may be asked—-Why this attempt to belittle the birth of 
 Jesus ? The answer may be found here : Get rid of the Adam 
 of the Old Testament, and the birth of Jesus, of the New Testa¬ 
 ment, and the battle is done—the New Theology is fully master 
 of the situation. Such may be held a great victory. Well, but 
 it is got gained at a tremendous price, and besides, with Adam 
 and Jesus put into New Theology bounds, men can the more 
 
114 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 easily be turned into gods, and with this new field they can the 
 better play their games; and for the atonement there will be 
 secured ways to replace it by manly acts. 
 
 Then, we hold on to Jesus ! In the beginning, and right on 
 to the end of His life, we look up and hold on. “ For unto you 
 is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour which is Christ 
 the Lord.” Search deep enough and you will find here rocks 
 ahead. This is the cause of the fight—A Saviour who is Christ 
 the Lord. “ We are men, and under the law of progress we are 
 bound to become stronger, and on the question of salvation we 
 will show what we can do. If it is to be got by merit, and if 
 ever a ‘ Well done’ is to be awarded to honest, manly effort, to 
 work accomplished, then we will stand our full size, we will show 
 our own hand. In salvation, we will tell what we can do and 
 what reward is just.” There is a more excellent way, and it is 
 found at the birth of Jesus. I admire the address of Simeon of 
 Jerusalem. It was revealed to him that he should not see 
 death before he should see the Lord Jesus Christ. He came 
 by the spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in 
 the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law% then 
 took he Him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “ Lord, 
 now lettest Thou thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy 
 word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast 
 prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the 
 gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel.” Here is the 
 point, “ Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.” On this subject 
 I like the part played by the old Prophetess. She gave thanks 
 unto the Lord, and spake of Him to all them who looked for 
 redemption in Jerusalem. As testimony of the importance of 
 the birth of Jesus, we must note the angels’ song : “ Glory to 
 God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill among 
 men,” clearly stands the heavenly host praising God ; and, once 
 more, note the shepherds: “The glory of the Lord shone round 
 about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angels said 
 unto them, Fear not, for behold I bring unto you good tidings 
 of great joy, for unto you is born this day a Saviour, in the 
 City of David, who is Christ the Lord.” 
 
 I may ask now: Was there ever, under the whole heavens, 
 anything like the birth of Jesus ? “ And the shepherds came 
 
 and found Mary and Joseph ; and the babe lying in a manger.” 
 We may be told that the gods of the heathen are as grand, 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. I 15 
 
 wonderful, and imposing in their birth as Jesus was, and it is 
 very likely the heathen will be as faithful to their gods as some 
 of us are to Jesus “ the Son of God.” Search and see, that is 
 the lesson, that is the practical. “ And shall call His name 
 Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the 
 Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of 
 His father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob 
 for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” Such is 
 the birth of Jesus. Heathen men abroad and men at home 
 may be brought into competition with Jesus, and their measure¬ 
 ment may be taken by experts of the newest fashion : such may 
 be lifted up a bit, yet after a little they just come down again. 
 
 “ The incarnation of the Son of God.” The article on this 
 subject cannot be said to bring honour on the author’s head. 
 He has a number of points which he brings in of which he is 
 very fond. It may be said he is at his best in this passage: 
 “ If now we can turn our thoughts for a moment from the in¬ 
 dividual to the race, and think of humanity as one being, or the 
 expression of one being, we shall read the truth on a larger 
 scale.” The great effort here, and through the book, is to lift 
 humanity up to the divine. The process is awkward and un¬ 
 business like; it is new, but it is false and every way unreal, 
 as, “ All human history expresses the incarnation or manifesta¬ 
 tion of the eternal Son or Christ of God. The incarnation 
 cannot be limited to the one life only.” His subject is only one 
 —yes, one life only—and that life or incarnation has never 
 been seen clothed in flesh under the light and power of the 
 New Theology—never. The incarnation of the Son of God, 
 as a subject in the hands of a worthy and able man, has a 
 blessed effect on the believing and the obedient. Let us have 
 something fresh, true, and pure, and no axe to grind. Well 
 then, we have it: “ Forasmuch, then, as the children are par¬ 
 takers of flesh and blood, He also likewise took part of the 
 same; that through death He might destroy him that had the 
 power of death, that is the devil; and deliver them who, 
 through fear of death, were all their life-time subject to bond¬ 
 age. For verily, He took not on Him the nature of angels, 
 but He took on Him the seed of Abraham; wherefore, in 
 all things, it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, 
 and that He might be a merciful and faithful High-Priest in 
 things partaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of 
 
II6 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 the people.” Such is the relation of Jesus to God, to man, 
 and, if the word is liked better, to humanity. Mr. Campbell 
 remarks: “ We can rise towards Him by trusting, loving, and 
 serving Him, and by so doing we shall demonstrate that we, 
 too, are Christ, the eternal Son.” Anything more unreasonable, 
 anything more nonsensical than what we have embodied in 
 the words here, it would be difficult to place before the British 
 public. 
 
 Our Lord and Nicodemus. 
 
 For New Theology faith and doctrine Mr. Campbell calls up 
 our Lord and Nicodemus. He never was further off his road 
 than he is found at this interview. He says : “ The spiritual 
 birth described in the conversation between our Lord and 
 Nicodemus, as given in the third of John, is, properly speaking, 
 a virgin birth.” We may speak plainly. Well, in all teaching 
 of this chapter in John, there is no “virgin birth” noticed; 
 neither is there anything about the incarnation of Jesus. The 
 subject is the kingdom of God, who shall enter that kingdom, 
 and the power such shall possess, . . . things material shall 
 be under them, shall be at their will. “ Marvel not that I said 
 unto you, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where 
 it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell 
 whence it cometh and whether it goeth; so is every one that is 
 born of the Spirit.” Now where is the propriety of speech in 
 saying this is a virgin birth ? Look again : “ Except a man 
 be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom 
 of God.” It is no virgin birth; it is the kingdom, and how to 
 get into it; it is the kingdom, and the nature of those who 
 enter into it. To moralise in this place, and call it proper 
 speaking, is scarcely good enough. The New Theology car 
 has a long way to travel before it comes in sight of the king¬ 
 dom of God. All the same, the King has been here in power 
 and authority. He was right royal; He was born for this 
 office. “ He came unto His own, and His own received Him 
 not; but as many as received Him, to them gave He power 
 to become the sons of God.” He is gone to heaven ; He is 
 coming back again, and His people will be with Him. The 
 resurrection life will be immortal and incorruptible. I would 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 117 
 
 like to look on this the being born again, also of the glory of 
 the kingdom of God. 
 
 Regarding the present dispensation, our Lord is strong in 
 His deliverance. In this He finds His own place, and also the 
 place of man by birth, by nature, and by grace. The field in 
 this place is very rich in fruit and favour. We are told, “Jesus 
 is incarnate in the race in order that by means of limitation 
 He may manifest the innermost of God, the life and love eternal.” 
 In the third of John we have not only the confusion and the 
 errors of the passage just before us exposed, but we have the 
 relation of Jesus to God and to man simply and clearly stated. 
 Here there is a start taken which no man in the race will make 
 up to: “No man hath ascended up to heaven but He that 
 came down from heaven, even the Son of Man, who is in 
 heaven.” You have thus at once the nail struck on the head. 
 There is no part God and part man; no part Jesus, God, and 
 man in one person; neither is there any limitation. Let every 
 man stand on his own limbs now; he will have so to stand at 
 last. The next gospel truth : “ And as Moses lifted up the 
 serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of Man be 
 lifted up; that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish 
 but have eternal life.” The serpent’s bite in the wilderness was 
 deadly; the look of the bitten was life. So sin’s bite is deadly, 
 and there is only one cure. This is the remedy : “ Whosoever 
 believeth in Jesus shall not perish, but have eternal life.” In 
 the proof and plan before us there is no demonstration on our 
 part that we are Christ the eternal Son, as asserted by the New 
 Theology. The next verse in John’s gospel is : “ For God so 
 loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that 
 whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have ever¬ 
 lasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to 
 condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be 
 saved.” The saving power ! where is it? Look and see : “ He 
 that believeth on Him is not condemned; but he that believeth 
 not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the 
 name of the only begotten Son of God. The Father loveth the 
 Son, and hath given all things into His hands. He that 
 believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth 
 not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on 
 him.” Such is the gospel nest, and in relation to it this fact 
 may be read any day: there is no device, no scheme, no 
 
Il8 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 strength in the hands of the New Theology experts to harry 
 the nest. Let men, with the breath of life in their nostrils, look 
 
 the number of times the Son of God is in the third of John ; 
 
 there is life in a look. 
 
 We are come to the close of the article, “ The Incarnation 
 of the Son of God.” Somewhat like a flourish of trumpets we 
 find the following : “ And when all things shall be subdued 
 unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto 
 Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in 
 all.” As this passage stands it has no religious value, and it 
 has no connection with the subject. It stands part of the most 
 important question with which we have to do, and to take it 
 out of its connections and place it in another argument is 
 
 neither wise nor good. Let us look at it in its surrounding. 
 
 In the chapter where the quotation is found are the following 
 readings: “ Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel 
 which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and 
 wherein ye stand ; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in 
 memory what I have preached unto you, unless ye have 
 believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that 
 which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, 
 according to the scriptures.” The writer next refers how God 
 dealt with him; how, in his madness, he persecuted Christians; 
 how grace met him; and how he toiled in preaching the gospel. 
 The argument here is : “ If Christ be not raised, your faith is 
 vain; ye are yet in your sins.” The Christ is the first fruit. 
 Then, “ For in Adam all died, even so in Christ shall all be 
 made alive. Every man in his own order: Christ the first 
 fruits, afterwards they that are Christ’s at His coming. Then 
 cometh the end, when He shall deliver up the kingdom to God. 
 He shall reign till he hath put all enemies under His feet. The 
 last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” Then the 
 passage : “ And when all things shall be subdued,” etc., comes 
 in. This fifteenth chapter of first Corinthians is a wonderful 
 display of grace and glory, and it would be better if the City 
 Temple had more to do with it in its native beauty. 
 
 We are asked to “Look round the world; look back upon the 
 slow upward progress of humanity to its home in God, and you 
 will read the story of the incarnation of the eternal Son.” Look 
 as far back, and take as large a field of vision as possible, and 
 you will never find humanity with its home in God, nor God in 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. I19 
 
 humanity. The first man, Adam, had a really good home, and 
 very near to God; but he believed a lie when he was under 
 the sweets of truth, and in his offspring humanity has wandered 
 and rebelled ever since. Adam, in innocence, was not in God 
 as his home. Adam was one thing, God is another, and his 
 home is a third. I cannot endure the practice of the New 
 Theology preacher, for ever running into one another things 
 which differ. If the story of the incarnation of the Son of God 
 is to be read, we must go to the Son Himself. Not even there 
 in a part only, but as He stands the Representative of His 
 Father and God. Not simply as one going about doing good, 
 as one possessed of finest, noblest spirit: not as a hero dying 
 for his cause and country. Here there are fine lessons; here 
 there is opportunity for talent and the exposition of principle, 
 love, and character; and here the City Temple pastor will show 
 his power excellent, and his friends in every section of society 
 would be proud to shake hands with him, and so would I. 
 But where is he on the question for which the Son of God 
 became incarnate ? Where is he on the point, Redeemed, 
 brought back, by the blood of Jesus? Where is he? It is for 
 the priesthood of the Son of God that we contend : “ He offered 
 Himself once for all for our sins, and through His offering we 
 are made of the household of faith, sons and heirs of glory.” 
 
 The slow upward progress of humanity. Humanity is deep in 
 debt to Mr. Campbell. Humanity never had a friend closer 
 and truer, more eloquent and strong, than it has in the pastor 
 of the City Temple. He has humanity in high positions, with 
 very bright prospects. He is at home when he flashes out his 
 own mind and hopes in their behalf. In this, as his work, he 
 never fails, and in all this, and more, he is the man to be 
 admired, and his admirers are the polished and refined of his 
 day. Still, it must be told the preacher forgets that humanity 
 is under the sentence of death; that humanity has no means 
 of deliverance in itself, and if deliverance is to be had it can 
 only be found in the sacrifice of Jesus, the Christ. These 
 forgotten things, forgotten or shaded or denied, speak in holy 
 accents the riches, the glory, and the assurance of the Old 
 Theology. 
 
 Coming for a little to the slow progress noticed above. In 
 ancient times humanity got wood; with part of it man made his 
 god, and with the other part of the wood the same man made 
 
 I 
 
 f 
 
I 20 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 his fire and warmed himself. Coming on, the chosen people 
 of God are brought up. In relation to such, the question is 
 put: “ Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But 
 ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee ? In tithes and 
 offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed Me, 
 even this whole nation.” Then again, let us look to one of the 
 finest cities in all the world, where men did nothing but look 
 at and for new things. There power and progress had not 
 risen higher than idolatry. When the Apostle of the Gentiles 
 visited that city, his heart was stirred within him when he saw 
 the city wholly given to idolatry; and to-day, if Mr. Campbell 
 looks around on London, the first city in the world, and asks 
 the question : Who has the best of the fight—God or devil ? 
 Let him be still till the treasures of the one is told, and the 
 weight of the money in the bags of the other is weighed. He 
 should look at things as they really are. 
 
 Again, regarding the slow progress of humanity, Mr. 
 Campbell has omitted the sure word of prophecy. It speaks 
 distinctly, and without it, man—even the happiest, the surest, 
 and the brightest—is very much out of the know. “ This 
 know also, that in the last days perilous times will come; for 
 men shall be lovers of their own selves; covetous, boasters, 
 proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 
 without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, high 
 minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.” Such is 
 the material working up all round the City Temple, and the 
 growth thereof shall become stronger and stronger, defying 
 the power and wisdom of all reformers of humanity—defying 
 them all, every one—but He who became incarnate, He who 
 took our nature. He shall come to restore all things; He shall 
 come to be glorified in His people, and the poor of this world, 
 rich in faith and heirs of the promises, will be put in possession: 
 to-day only promise—in possession in hope. To-day the gale 
 may be against us—right in our face—but we shall reach the 
 harbour of rest, or the rest will reach us, or come to us. In 
 Methodist manner, let us call out, “ Praise the Lord.” 
 
CHAPTERS VIII and IX. 
 
 The Atonement. 
 
 We have reached the keystone in the Christian system : the 
 stone tried and precious : the stone which locks, binds, and 
 secures the safety, the life, and liberty of every redeemed 
 servant and child of God. This safety, life, and liberty, as 
 thus bound, “The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin,” and 
 “There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” 
 For discussion the subject is blessed, comforting, and assuring. 
 Mr. Campbell, in starting, notices the magnitude of the 
 question, and then remarks, “ The Christian doctrine, as we 
 shall call it.” This is taking low grounds for that which was 
 planned in eternity, and which was executed, in the purpose of 
 God, as the redeeming power in the salvation of lost men. 
 Let it be told, the name stands in the counsel of heaven, and 
 in the revelations of God to man on earth. We are at once told, 
 “ There is no subject upon which modern Christian thought is 
 less coherent than on this.” If that is so, then the next 
 question is : Who or what is to blame for this lack of 
 coherency ? Is it this modern thought, or is it the atonement 
 itself? That is the point here. Modern thought is like the 
 ladies’ fashion sheet—it must present something new. For a 
 season it creates interest ; when it is past, it is worth nothing. 
 Well, go on: we are constantly hearing the statement that a 
 rational theory of the atonement is badly wanted. Be it 
 noticed, the atonement stands at a higher bar than “ rational 
 theory,” and if the demand is for reason in preference to 
 revelation, those who make this demand shall sit at their own 
 table, and sup from their own dish, and partake of a poor food. 
 Is that all? Yes, and it is individual choice. It may have a 
 fine cover, but the food beneath is poor. We give to the wind 
 
 X3I 
 
122 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 for a time, reason—and hail the fresh provision of revelation 
 on the atonement. 
 
 “ We all, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned 
 every one to his own way, and the Lord laid on Him the 
 iniquity of us all.” To begin with, this is most certainly a keen 
 cut, and deep, to the men of modern-thought stamp. We—« 
 yes, we—like sheep, have gone astray. All the lot gone astray,, 
 every one in his own way. The same wandering creatures 
 would set up shop, would institute an advanced school to 
 educate, and to demand a new order of things on the atone¬ 
 ment. The we, in their wanderings, may bleat like sheep, but 
 when the storm comes on, they perish—lost—unless the 
 Shepherd finds them, and brings them to the fold. Lost— 
 “ and the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” This is a 
 most wonderful display of mercy—tender. The men of modern 
 thought will not accept it. Yet this is made clear enough, like 
 sheep, they have wandered—gone astray—“ and on Him the 
 Lord has laid their iniquity.” So there is seen to be room in 
 the care and provision of and by the Good Shepherd— u the 
 Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep.” Again: “Thus it is 
 written, and thus it behoved Christ to have suffered, and to rise 
 from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission 
 of sins should be preached in His name, beginning at Jerusalem.” 
 In poetic language, we have this inquiry made: “ What more 
 could I do for My vineyard that I have not done.” The gospel 
 of the grace of God is grand, full, and free; and the sadness in 
 the scene is: “Men love the darkness rather than the light,” 
 and this is where the nature of punishment comes in. “ God 
 is not mocked, whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also 
 reap.” Once more: “ The Son of Man came not to be 
 ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom 
 for many.” Such is the current coin of heaven, and althongh 
 it should never ring on the counter of the New Theology, nor 
 find favour from the men of modern thought, yet it stands, and 
 stands for every age, and for every people, “the wisdom and 
 the power of God unto salvation to every one who believes.” 
 
 The atonement is the hill of God in the landscape of 
 redeeming grace. There the glory, the love, and the mercy of 
 the Father are in full view. It is “ the hill from which cometh 
 our aid.” It is not everyone who climbs this hill. There is a 
 peculiarity in this. Jesus said: “ I thank Thee, O Father, 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. I 23 
 
 Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things 
 from the wise and the prudent, and hast revealed them unto 
 babes; even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight.” 
 
 On the atonement, Mr. Campbell has wrought himself into 
 a corner. He gives preference, and the selection is all his own. 
 “ In the question, I do not feel called upon to take the doctrine 
 of the atonement for granted, and then proceed to try and find 
 a place for it in Christian experience. On the contrary, I prefer 
 to take human nature for granted, and inquire whether it needs 
 anything like a doctrine of atonement.” This choice, or pre¬ 
 ference, cannot be recommended. From first to last, in this 
 question—in ancient times and at the present time—human 
 nature has always been the rogue, the cause of every row, the 
 enemy, the sinner. If there is anything wrong, human nature 
 is at the bottom of it. To select the criminal, lift him from the 
 box, and place him as judge in his own case, is fatal; and with 
 business conditions, opposed on the atonement before God and 
 man, human nature needs reconciliation, needs a constraining 
 power superior to, and different from, its own : otherwise, it is 
 out, it is away—gone, lost, and that for ever. One of the 
 clearest, the most blessed deliverances we have on any subject, 
 we get from Paul, written to the Romans on this very subject: 
 ** God commended His love to us, in that, while we were yet 
 sinners, Christ died for us; much more, now being justified by 
 His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For 
 if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God, by the 
 death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be 
 saved by His life; and not only so, but we also joy in God, 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received 
 the atonement.” Well, in this stage, this is my preference, and 
 I will recommend it. Again, look to 2nd Corinthians v., and 
 the same truth will be found, and how it operates : “ Therefore, 
 if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature ; old things have 
 passed away, behold, all things have become new ; and all 
 things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus 
 Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to 
 wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, 
 not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed 
 unto us the word of reconciliation.” Just consider for a 
 moment how clean our sheet is in the Sent, in the Beloved. 
 The believer is made in Him, and through Him. Only one 
 
124 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 word more here: “ Who gave Himself for us, that He might 
 redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar 
 people zealous of good works. 
 
 Another point: We are told history on the question has little 
 interest for the mind of to-day. The psychological should take 
 presidence of the historical. We cannot accept this arrange¬ 
 ment. Psychology, the doctrine of soul or mind, is an 
 indifferent foundation on which to build such an edifice as the 
 atonement. History, again, is of importance, and on the 
 question of the atonement, it holds first place. This is so if 
 we look at prophecy. The servants of God told of a coming 
 One, and everything about Him—His nature, His work, and 
 the manner of His reception among the people, His coming, 
 and the life He led, and the death He died—pointed to the 
 Rock, and gave entreaty for men to build thereon. History in 
 the birth of Jesus, and in the angels’ song, as also in the 
 interest of the ruler in Jesus as a king, and regarding history 
 foretold of His coming the second time, all this and more 
 gathers round the atonement, and gives assurance and hope to 
 all believers, which psychology, or soul, or mind, cannot give 
 nor look at. 
 
 “The doctrine of the atonement, as popularly held, is not 
 only not true, but ought not to be true ; it is a serious hindrance 
 to spiritual religion.” A prophet has arisen in Israel, and for 
 the first time in the history of churches, and in the history of 
 the world, is the atonement as taught not true, and ought not 
 to be true. The same instructor falls back on the ordinary 
 man in the pew as well as the man in the street—on thoughtful 
 men, and the good men who are puzzled about it. Well, we 
 have seen with open mind, and honest, that the atonement is 
 the highest, most important, and most direct truth given by the 
 Lord our God, through His Son, Jesus Christ, to the children 
 of men. Were we to appeal to men, to the first men of any 
 age or any country, we find such men true, and they laboured, 
 lived, and died in and for the atonement; and he mistakes 
 the faith and character of the noble on earth at the present 
 time if he thinks they are not able and prepared to give a 
 reason for their standing and their hope. The most successful 
 ministers, evangelists, and lay-preachers, and teachers hold on 
 to Jesus Christ as their Redeemer, and for those such as labour 
 among the lost, this same Jesus the Christ is held up as their 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 I2 5 
 
 Saviour, willing and waiting to save. And, therefore, we again 
 tell the tale, and our Christian experience in the atonement is 
 now of utmost value, and has ever been so, and to the end of 
 the age it will be, for God is love, and the atonement is the 
 way He manifests His love; so we are safe enough, sure 
 enough in the arms of Jesus, and the men who stand by the 
 denial of the atonement have no case. 
 
 “ The atonement is not only not true, but ought not to be 
 true.” Has our country no history ? Did not the honourable 
 of the earth face the foe ? Did such not give up everything— 
 home, family, and their own blood and life—in covenant for 
 their Saviour and their God ? Everywhere is the hill and glen 
 in bonnie Scotland having men and women who gave their life 
 for liberty, for the gospel, for the atonement. 
 
 In our own day the finest, grandest religious movement 
 was the Evangelical Union, under Morrison and his men, and 
 the Free Church, under men whose faith and talent stand out 
 to-day an honour to the men, and a proof of the weight and 
 wisdom of the gospel, of the power and truth of the atonement. 
 Men of the street, the common men, the men of modern thought, 
 and all the men, common or uncommon, on which Mr. Campbell 
 leans, counts, and puts his trust, have nothing to show. A 
 denial of the truth comes to nothing now, and, good service for 
 time to come, it can do nothing. Off a leader of a New 
 Theology more is expected than to have the boldness to say 
 it is a lie and ought not to be true. 
 
 Another point worth noticing: “ The typical theologian 
 never seems to think of looking at the death of Jesus from the 
 purely human point of view, and yet surely this is the only 
 legitimate thing to do when trying to get to the heart of the 
 subject.” Now then, observe this is a failing which the author 
 has never fallen into. Whatever is his subject he looks at it 
 from and through and to the human point. Thus, when an 
 important question is up, it is invariably referred to the man 
 of the street, to ordinary men, to men of modern thought, to 
 scientific men. This is a never varying host to which all his 
 business is subjected, and the verdict is in his own hands, as 
 in the present case: “ The atonement is not only not true, but 
 ought not to be true.” Such a looking and such a finding as 
 is here was never witnessed before, and never was before 
 responded to by any respectable, responsible body of people. 
 
126 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 One very sad part is the response given by men waiting to 
 respond to such a conclusion. 
 
 Mr. Campbell has a strange manner in giving his subjects a 
 twist, and then turning them upside down, and when so 
 operated on he asks attention to his production. This is specially 
 true on the death of Christ and on the atonement. “ Thus, when 
 an adherent of the so-called orthodox view of the doctrine of 
 the atonement is pressed what he just supposses the death of 
 Jesus to have effected on the mind of God so as to free 
 humanity from the curse, he usually takes refuge in phrases 
 about the mystery of the Cross, and so on.” We have no 
 supposition on the question. We do not believe the mind of 
 God was affected by the death of Jesus, and we seek no refuge in 
 mystery; and neither do we seek something new. Our faith 
 is in the open and easily understood Word of God. It makes 
 wise, and saves the obedient. Observe, that is our position; 
 and our place, power and purpose, in all our efforts, is to show 
 and make this good. From this path we have never in any 
 case gone away. In the present instance this is the proof: 
 “ God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were 
 yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Does the Cross precede the 
 love of God ? It does not. Whatever the Cross is or does, it 
 is the outcome of the love of God. “ Much more then, being 
 justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through 
 Him.” What is the procuring cause ? Observe, once more, the 
 love of God is the first and only cause of salvation : “ For, if 
 when we were yet enemies, we were reconciled to God by the 
 death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be 
 saved by His life.” Thus the believer’s assurance is in and from 
 the love of God—the never-failing. “ And not only so, but we 
 also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we 
 receive the atonement.” This is our flag, and no other 
 pole can carry the sheet on which salvation can be printed. It 
 is a desperate venture to say it is not true, and that it ought not 
 to be true. 
 
 At this stage it may be stated that the rejection of this truth 
 is in no place of the Word of God said to bring eternal torments 
 on the head of the unbeliever. Such a punishment stands in 
 the creeds, in the faith, and in the teaching of men, and we 
 would say Mr. Campbell does well when he exposes the sin and 
 shame of placing such on the name and character of the Lord 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 127 
 
 our God. God’s punishment for sin—all sin, any sin—is death. 
 The sinner may live a long and happy and free life, but it just 
 comes to this, he drops into the grave and soon dust mixes with 
 dust. Is that all ? That is all. This is and must be, as the 
 character of the true, the great, and the unchangeable may 
 stand good. “ The soul that sinneth shall die.” Death is the 
 utmost; but death stands in the will and government of heaven. 
 This can be objected to, and yet the objector has his choice— 
 death. In this God never interferes, but to the obedient and 
 believing is delivered the question of life eternal. But the law 
 of death is not removed : the death of the Son of God is offered, 
 sin is punished, the believer is free, his substitute has died, and 
 the Judge in justice gives a full and free discharge. “ His 
 blood cleanseth from all sin.” In this we have done for us 
 what we could not do for ourselves. The gift of God is eternal 
 life, and this life is in His Son. The great bargain is life or 
 death, but in both cases it is death ; by our own death or life 
 in the death of Jesus by grace. If ye had been asked to do some 
 great thing would you not have done it? How much more 
 believe and live? 
 
 In full we put the two following questions : “ Why in the 
 world should God require such a sacrifice before feeling Himself 
 free to forgive His erring children ? ” and “ Why should it be 
 regarded as, in any real sense, a substitute for what is due 
 from us, or any equivalent, for what we should otherwise have 
 to bear?” Few men could answer these questions better than 
 Mr. Campbell. He has a knowledge of the plan of redemption. 
 On divine authority, he could have answered these questions 
 accurately. Instead, he falls back on the man in the street, 
 and the ordinary man of the pew. I shall here note, he shall 
 find both questions answered under very different conditions 
 from now. This may be said to be keen cutting. Be it so : 
 has not Mr. Campbell said the atonement is not true, and has 
 no claim to be considered true ? 
 
 We go on: “ If the death of Jesus took place under similar 
 conditions to-day, we should be in no doubt as to what to call 
 it.” The supposition here is beyond the possible. Many 
 years before the appearance of Jesus, the servants of the Most 
 High told the character and work of the coming One. This 
 never will be repeated. “ Jesus died once for all.” “ He 
 finished the work the Father gave Him to do.” That finished 
 
128 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 work the Father accepted. Proof: Jesus was raised from the 
 grave; He was received up to heaven till the time when all 
 enemies will be put under, and His own and His people’s glory 
 shall be felt from the rising till the setting of the sun. Just one 
 thought here: If God received this finished work on man’s 
 account, for man’s salvation, surely man, on his own account, 
 for his own salvation, might accept it. We are asked for no 
 more. “ He that believeth hath life.” We are next introduced 
 to Jesus and His labours and His thoughts. He is said to have 
 thought that the kingdom would, without great difficulty, have 
 been established on earth by the spirit of love in the human 
 heart. The King had the knowledge that His kingdom was 
 not of this age, and He said so. 
 
 If the New Theology divine sonship and the spirit of love 
 in the human heart is to form the foundation of the kingdom of 
 the Lord, we need not look in our time for a reduction of the 
 taxes. Poverty and misery still prevail, and preparation for 
 war never was on such a great scale. The kingdom will never 
 come till the King, the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, the King 
 of Kings, comes in power and great glory; till the story told 
 shall be realised, in fact accomplished : “ Glory to God in the 
 highest, and on earth peace and good-will to men.” And 
 regarding His popularity, it was, in some of its aspects, not 
 because they saw His miracles, but because they got of His 
 bread and bounty. Regarding His popularity, His experience 
 was, “ Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but 
 the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.” For a life 
 of good doing, the passionate rage and cry was, “ Crucify Him, 
 crucify Him,” and they nailed Him to the Cross, and He was put 
 between two criminals to make Him look the greater deserving 
 punishment. 
 
 Perhaps the finest part of the book, “ New Theology,” is 
 that which takes up the life of Jesus, as that seen in the 
 treatment He receives from the great men of Jerusalem. After 
 this portion, so beautifully stated, comes five questions. These 
 may be held to be our part, pleasure, and duty to look at: 
 “ Where does God come in ? Why was a crime of this sort 
 permitted ? Why has the memory of it actually become a 
 religious dogma ? Other people have suffered as cruel as Jesus, 
 why should Jesus be so singled out? In some way, as the 
 scripture has it, ‘ by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 129 
 
 of God,’ was it really so ? ” If we answer the first question 
 scripturally, or according to the mind and purpose of God, the 
 others can easily be gone through. In the life of Jesus, where 
 does God come in ? The connection is so close in scripture, 
 is so close in nature, aim, and object, that where and whenever 
 we get the Son, we find the Father near at hand. 
 
 When Christ fulfilled righteousness at the beginning of the 
 Christian dispensation, at His baptism when He came out of 
 the water, God, His Father, said : “ This is My beloved Son.” 
 Here God is found. Next, at the glimpse given at the next 
 dispensation in the shining grandeur and glory thereof, God 
 says: “This is My beloved Son.” Thus, from beginning to 
 end of that marvellous life, find the Son, and ye reach the 
 Father; and in words and in measure you get this admonition: 
 “ Hear ye Him.” Find the presence of Jesus and the presence 
 of God may be seen and felt. “ All things that the Father 
 hath are mine; therefore, said I, that He shall take of mine and 
 show it unto you. A little while and ye shall not see Me, and 
 again a little while and ye shall see Me, because I go to My 
 Father.” Then and there and now He is seated on His 
 Father’s throne. In the good time coming of which the 
 prophets have spoken, He shall sit on His own throne, when 
 He shall institute a reign of righteousness and peace on the 
 earth, and we shall ever be with the Lord. We can see 
 through this glory and this plan and purpose which is after the 
 the will and mind of God, where, in the suffering and death of 
 His Son, we have the answer to the question—“Where does God 
 come in?” We who were lost are found. We, who had no 
 hope and without God in the world, were, through the atone¬ 
 ment, according to the purpose of God, redeemed, purchased, 
 brought back, restored, reconciled to God, made one with Him ; 
 and all the way, and right on, we are what we are by the grace 
 and by the presence of our F'ather, and God. I hold this to be 
 the keystone in the gospel bridge. “ He died for us that He 
 might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a 
 peculiar people zealous of good works.” Let it be observed, 
 He who is judge of living and dead will not accept any 
 manoeuvre, however polished. He stands in the love and 
 obedience of His people, and His people stand in Him. 
 
 We are led next to consider the moral worth of the life and 
 death of Jesus as seen connected with the atonement. Here 
 
130 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 we have a number of “ifs and suppositions” which never had a 
 being. “No man can estimate the moral worth of Christ’s life 
 and death unless he looks directly through the eye and mind of 
 the prophet.” This ever stands the stumbling-block in the New 
 Theology plan : “It pleased the Lord to bruise Him ; He hath 
 put Him to grief; thou shalt make His life an offering 
 for sin ; He shall see His seed ; He shall prolong His days, and 
 the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.” This is 
 the medium through the moral worth of the work of Jesus which 
 can be seen. In the mind of man there may be other remark¬ 
 able and fine touches of human contrivance and plausable 
 objection in getting life in God’s way. All the same, He poured 
 out His soul unto death, and the purposes of that death can 
 only be seen in the purpose of God, accomplished in the 
 salvation of His believing and obedient children of men. In 
 the material world the rule is life in death—in our finest 
 feasts, is made mainly on and by death. We lick our lips all 
 the time, and our estimate is, it is nice, and we take a full 
 supply—a little more, if you please. In the spiritual world 
 there is no exception. The Lord’s Supper stands, and shall 
 stand, evidence. “ I have received of the Lord that which also 
 I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in 
 which He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given 
 thanks, He break it and said, Take eat, this is My body 
 broken for you : this do in remembrance of Me. After the same 
 manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, 
 This cup is the New Testament in My blood : this do ye, as 
 often as ye drink, in remembrance of Me.” Hold fast, there 
 are no “ifs” here—no suppositions. It is life in death direct. In 
 this, by faith, by partaking, we have the gift of God—eternal 
 life. 
 
 Let me remark that, while Mr. Campbell measures the moral 
 worth and character of the atonement, his measuring line is 
 considerably shorter than the one on the other side. Mark, 
 the Lord has given His word : “ Surely He has borne our griefs 
 and carried our sorrows.” To deny this, and make a fine show 
 of the moral beauty of the life of Jesus, is the place and power 
 of the New Theology, and there are some fine and interesting 
 exhibitions here, but it does not—cannot—touch the mission 
 of the Sent of God. In the work before us there is a good deal 
 about modern thought and modern thinkers. The following 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. I3I 
 
 passage is up-to-date in this direction: “ The life and death were 
 together a perfect self sacrifice, the offering of the unit to the 
 whole, the individual to the race, the Son to the Father, and, 
 therefore, the greatest manifestation of the innermost of God 
 that has ever been made to the world.” Sixty years ago, in 
 our Chartist movement, we had the same principle, and in 
 better rendering : it was, “ Each for all and all for each.” The 
 New Theology has not advanced an inch for thirty, for sixty 
 years, and the language, notwithstanding all their modern 
 thought, has neither the power nor the pungency of the working 
 men long, long ago. Take these words : “ The greatest mani¬ 
 festation of the innermost of God.” What do these words 
 mean? In the light of a passage in another chapter of New 
 Theology : “ The universe is God and God is the universe, and 
 the Son of God is a unit in and among the rest.” Nineteen 
 hundred years ago there was a keen debate on who and what 
 this unit now before us was. This question was put: “ Art 
 Thou greater than our father Abraham, who is dead, and the 
 prophets are dead; Whom makest Thou Thyself? Jesus said 
 unto them, Before Abraham was, I am. They took up stones 
 to cast at Him.” I do not know the length our unit men 
 would go, but it is our part and purpose to hold up Jesus as 
 the Christ the Son of the living God. 
 
 Here is another snap-shot from the picture gallery of the New 
 Theology : “ It makes the sacrifice unreal to speak of it as 
 though Jesus knew the end from the beginning, and fore¬ 
 saw every stage of the programme before He came to it.” 
 I shall say at once, the sacrifice of Jesus was real, and He 
 knew the nature and extent of it before it came unto Him and 
 upon Him. As proof, let the following appear: “ He hath 
 delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated 
 us into the kingdom of His dear Son : in whom we have 
 redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 
 who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every 
 creature; for by Him were all things created, that are in 
 heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether 
 they be thrones or dominions, or principalities or powers, all 
 things were created by Him and for Him; and He is before all 
 things, and by Him all things consist; and He is the Head of 
 the Body, the Church, who is the beginning, the first-born from 
 the dead, that in all things He might have the pre-eminence; 
 
132 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 for it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell.” 
 I shall repeat: His sacrifice was real, and He knew it before¬ 
 hand, and He wrought it out and bore it according to that 
 knowledge. In the darkest hour, He said : “ My God, My 
 God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ? ” In this same hour of 
 darkness His prayer was : “ If it be possible, let this cup pass; 
 nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done.” Ah, yes, Christ 
 had to make an atonement. The law of God stood then— 
 it stands to-day—“ The soul that sinneth, it shall die,” and 
 here Christ’s work comes in, and tells the reason why Jesus 
 Christ, “ Who is the faithful and true Witness, the first-begotten 
 of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth, unto Him 
 who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 
 and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, 
 to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever.—Amen.” 
 
 The next step in the atonement is the way people think and 
 act in relation to it. We are told “ An immense amount of 
 pious nonsense has been spoken on the suffering of Christ.” 
 This is a true statement. There is a class springing up who go 
 to the other side. They exercise their talents in endeavouring 
 to gather the sufferings of Christ into as narrow a compass as 
 possible. In this effort it follows that the Sufferer is lost sight 
 of, and the extent and nature of the suffering, as also of 
 purpose to be served by the suffering. The Sufferer stands 
 alone in the history of the race. He is the Prophet, Priest, 
 and King of His people. In His suffering He offered Himself 
 an offering unto God, for the redemption of His people. This 
 offering made the sun hide its shining, this offering caused the 
 rocks to rend, this offering broke up the temple service, this 
 offering engaged the attention of angels, this offering brought 
 the blood like sweat to the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, this 
 offering finished the work given Jesus to do. Round the Cross 
 you find the suffering of Christ. Look for a short time and 
 you have the glory to follow. With a clear eye and a willing 
 heart, look; and look till you hear the voice of heavenly 
 wisdom, the voice of Him, “ Who had no sin, neither was guile 
 found in His mouth.” It is here, it is within reach : “ Who 
 His own self bear our sins in His own body on the tree, that 
 we, being dead to sin, should live to righteousness, by whose 
 stripes we are healed; for we were as sheep going astray, but 
 are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls.” 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 133 
 
 Closing this chapter on the atonement, we have these words : 
 “ Theological word-spinning only serves to obscure its true 
 significance.” I shall observe, this is one art of which Mr. 
 Campbell excels in New Theology. He says, “ Show to the 
 world the real Jesus.” Let us try neither to spin nor split 
 words : “ Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on 
 Me, hath everlasting life. I am that Bread of Life; I am the 
 Living Bread which came down from heaven : if any man eat 
 of this Bread he shall live for ever, and the bread which I shall 
 give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. As 
 the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father, so 
 he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me. My flesh is meat 
 indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. No man can come to 
 Me, except the Father, who sent Me, draw Him, and I will 
 raise Him up at the last day.” Without spinning a word, or 
 splitting a word, with what is now before us, I say New 
 Theology has not struck water : their boring rod is still vain. 
 
 In their land of liberty they may reach many weeds, rank 
 and wild ; all the time they will grip and taste and smell many 
 bonnie flowers, coming from the field and foliage and mercy of 
 God; yet—unless they grip the hand of the Son of God as the 
 only Redeemer, as their only Saviour—they have little part in 
 the atonement, and have not qualified themselves for the work 
 of the Lord. There is a class of men who are to be raised by 
 Jesus at the last day, and who are promised everlasting life in 
 blessedness : for this the Saviour died and for this the sinners 
 dead shall live. The real Jesus can be shown as “the Lamb 
 of God who taketh away the sin of the world,” and yet He is 
 passed by, and they are left in their sins. When questions are so 
 vast, and the needs of humanity so great, let us throw out the 
 life-line; let us live by faith, and honour the Name by which 
 we are called; let us throw both arms round the atonement: 
 of all prizes, great or small, it is the chief. 
 
 In summing up the atonement article in New Theology, the 
 following question is put: “ But then, what has the death of 
 Jesus affected in the unseen, so as to make it possible for God 
 to forgive us ? ” 
 
 In answer to this, I say God never at any time showed any 
 difficulty to forgive sin. As far as I can read the record, the 
 difficulty is getting man to be reconciled to God. The recon¬ 
 ciliation question finds God waiting to be gracious, but the 
 
134 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 Lord must be Master of the situation—His word must be law. 
 That on the Lord’s side : on our side it must be obedience. 
 Well, we go to the camp, to the workshop, and to the pulpit. 
 Now, what do we find ? We find sinners, all sinners, only and 
 always sinners. Then, what is the condition of all ? Death— 
 death is written deep in the brain, the heart, and the blood of 
 every man. It was so from Adam to Moses, and also from 
 Moses to the men of our own day. A way of escape : Jesus, 
 the holy, the pure, was sent to seek and to save the man in the 
 camp, in the workshop, and in the pulpit. The door is open : 
 the difficulty is to induce men to walk in. Life eternal is the 
 gift offered. Mark, all the way it is justice, love, and mercy. 
 Under these conditions, men of thought, men of advanced 
 mind, meet, and they agree that it is time to have a change— 
 something new. The atonement and its connections must be 
 overhauled, and a good opinion of themselves secured. All 
 the ways they go they uphold themselves. This is well attended 
 to in closing the atonement article. Faith in our own Christ- 
 hood is held up. This means the up-rising of the true life, 
 eternal life, within our own souls: like Christ, we become 
 saviours of the race. At this station we may draw up—at this 
 counter we may ring the change—here we shall find the false 
 and the true. The Old Theology has ever held, and holds to¬ 
 day. There is a Saviour—but only one. On Him we are 
 dependent for every blessing. On the atonement we are made 
 one in Jesus now, and for eternal life. We have His own 
 words: He will raise us up at the last day. The New 
 Theology is a big kite and big men fly round it, but they 
 neither give nor get the promise of eternal life. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 the atonement ( continued .) 
 
 The Doctrine in Christian History and Experience. 
 
 The doctrine of the atonement is not only the thing which 
 tickles Mr. Campbell’s fancy, but, as it has been said, every¬ 
 body has a something which troubles him, so the atonement is 
 Mr. Campbell’s something, and is ever with him; and as we 
 have said and seen, he ever seeks to do battle, and, as he is a 
 man of strong mental descernment, he cannot be satisfied with 
 the result. A little while ago he rallied his forces when he called 
 the roll: he finds the Christhood-—then a company—who, by 
 casting out selfishness and making love rule, makes life eternal, 
 life springing up from their own inward parts ; and then there 
 is the forward move—a move to save the race. The sum up is: 
 “ Atonement is the assertion of the individual. Unity of all 
 existence, the unity of the individual with the race and the race 
 with God.” Such is the atonement in the New Theology, 
 creed, or in the hands of the sons of men, sinners, helpless, 
 dying-men. We are impelled to set forth the same question in 
 the hands of God and His people as revealed for our faith, 
 obedience, and conformity: “ God commendeth His love 
 toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us; 
 and much more then, being justified by His blood, we shall be 
 saved from wrath through Him. For, if when enemies we were 
 reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being 
 reconciled we shall be saved by His life; and not only so, but 
 we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have 
 now received the atonement.” Let me remark, the atonement, 
 under heavenly arrangement, takes the whole thing out of the 
 hands of man and places it in the hand of God. The New 
 Theology, as any man may see, is a manoeuvre, a device, a 
 
136 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 scheme of a man of uncommon talents, in or about the 
 beginning of the twentieth century. The Old Theology is, 
 according to the purpose of God, as seen in the atonement, in 
 the gifts and graces given to the race running throughout their 
 history, from the first dawn of history till now. 
 
 In this division we are told again, selfishness is sin, and that 
 selfishness does not pay. Well, if we take history, past and 
 present, we will find selfishness in the race of life—selfishness 
 is the first horse and its owner gains the prize; and if there is 
 honour and praise to be got, he gets it. Take the politics of 
 days just gone by—or if you like, the landowners and the 
 distillers and brewers of to-day—selfishness is the procuring 
 factor of their place and power. Miserable homes—in the 
 street, weary men and in want—that is nothing, selfishness sits 
 enthroned in the powerful, in the political life, high and 
 social life, and well up in Church life. In a sermon, a 
 man may call out selfishness is sin to the most fashionable and 
 the richest company that might be gathered, and not to one of 
 them is a moral or intellectual result or expression made; but 
 figure out some particular sinner or class of sinners and you 
 raise a row immediately, as in the case of political warfare. 
 Tell the House of Lords that they are taking liberties, foreign 
 to constitutional justice and rights, or tell the “trade” that bad 
 ways are to be changed and their death-dealing action reduced, 
 and there is such a rage—such a war as has not been seen in 
 our day. 
 
 There follows an account to good and great men in different 
 ages and countries, after which is a summary. “ In all these 
 theories it is evident that, in the minds of their framers, the 
 death of Jesus is closely connected with the forgiveness of sin, 
 and that the forgiveness of sin is the vital element in the atone¬ 
 ment. Since that is so, the battle is won. Our contention 
 takes the field and holds it. In support of this we can take the 
 foremost preachers of our day. Look at Spurgeon; he was 
 London’s greatest preacher, and the Cross of Calvary was his 
 theme—to him and to his students it was their power and their 
 Lord and Master’s glory. Then the men, who in missionary 
 labours have left their mark, are those who have pointed to the 
 Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world. It follows, 
 then, that when we add to Mr. Campbell’s summary the facts 
 with which we are familiar, he is bound, by fair argument, to 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 137 
 
 fall in with the testimony he gives, and which we go for; but 
 no, he immediately falls back on what before he had spun out 
 at considerable length, namely: selfishness is sin and sin is 
 selfishness, and cast out selfishness by the operation of love 
 in the human heart. That is held out as the individual saving 
 power, as the saving power of all mankind. By this process 
 salvation is wrought out, man thus becomes like Jesus; thus, 
 there is no need of any other Saviour. For this jobbery our 
 author will find plenty of work. He has this not in the slums 
 simply, but go to the highest in our churches, the bishops and 
 clergy, look at them, they say they follow Him who said: 
 “ Whosoever follows must deny himself.” “ Foxes have holes 
 and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not 
 where to lay His head.” I say, look to such men, number their 
 shares in public-houses, distilleries, and breweries. This 
 connection is with the vilest, most cursed business in the world. 
 Is that connection for the good of others ? No, it is not. It is 
 selfishness adding to their already overpaid work, overpaid 
 wages. These are the sinners. 
 
 I shall repeat the summary of the history and experience of 
 Christian men and Christian faith in different ages on atone¬ 
 ment. “ In these theories it is evident that, in the minds of the 
 framers, the death of Jesus is closely connected with the 
 forgiveness of sin, and that the forgiveness of sin is the vitfl.1 
 element in the atonement.” A better declaration of the case 
 could not be given. The death of Christ is well put in the very 
 heart of the divine plan, in the centre of sin forgiven, and as 
 the crown and settlement of the atonement. The place given 
 to the death of Jesus is admirable and true, declaring as it does 
 the love, the wisdom, and the power and purpose of God ; 
 while it meets, on all sides, the needs of man to the full. It is 
 the death of Christ which shall hold us for a little. Death ! 
 what is it? It is not an eternity of torment. It is cessation of 
 life; it is God’s punishment of sin. “ Thou shalt die,” was the 
 doom pronounced on the first transgressor. From Adam till 
 now this is the only punishment. “ Wherefore, as by one man, 
 sin entered into the world and death by sin, even so death 
 passed upon all men for that all have sinned.” The only 
 conclusion which we can draw from this is that life, however 
 long and blessed and happy it may be, by divine law it ends in 
 death. Any other conclusion, however upheld, is forced, is un- 
 
J 3 8 
 
 THF, NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 warrantable. To give life, Christ came to save and give life. 
 This He did by His own death, and as death passed on all, for 
 all have sinned, so life passes on every one who accepts 
 His death as their own. This, by the law of God, stands, and this 
 other law is asserted : “ There is no condemnation to those who 
 are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the 
 Spirit.” Christ’s death meets every case, and it is after the call 
 and counsel of the Life-giver. “ He that hath the Son hath 
 life.” No man can change this condition or order of things. 
 “ He that hath the Son hath life.” These truths are as old as 
 God’s revelations to men, and they breath in the experience and 
 history of mankind. 
 
 Then death is not eternal misery ? It is still so in the creeds 
 of our Churches, and what makes the case of Christian men the 
 more desperate was the doctrine of predestination to eternal 
 damnation. It is seventy years since I first took my stand in 
 argument with the minister on the points before us. I was 
 told I was only in search of truth, but the minister had found 
 the truth. The stories told about the sufferings of Christ I 
 could never entertain, neither could I accept the methods pro¬ 
 pounded by men in their efforts for personal salvation ; but the 
 men here in this field were great and good and exemplary. 
 Some of the best characters in this country and in America are 
 first in manliness and patriotism and philanthrophy. These 
 men, by their action and devotion to purpose, have richly 
 enjoyed their reward. Conscience tells of the right and the good 
 they had done. When none is near they breathe the free air of 
 a holy life. At home they are happy in the sweets of virtuous 
 living. In the street they meet men who would enjoy the nod 
 of such benefactors more than they would the nod of the king. 
 In the Church there is a thankful people who thank God for 
 light and liberty, and who are pleased to walk, with best front, 
 the path of moral dignity and beauty. All this and more gives 
 unbounded satisfaction in blessed desire. Such men do ascend 
 to the positions of social and political life and responsibility, to 
 the highest possible, and give results the grandest attainable 
 among men. The praises of such are on the lips of their 
 fellowmen, and elevated in Church-life we find the 
 presence of such men. Our country at the present time is 
 favoured with many such, and any country so blessed shall hold 
 its own, and may and shall go ahead. We are thankful for 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 139 
 
 our great men and true; their hearts are in their work, and may 
 success crown their efforts. Well now, what of sin and 
 salvation ? What of Christ and His finished work. What of 
 sin-bearing and the sin-bearer? What of justice and eternal 
 life ? These all come under another division of men and things 
 and God. 
 
 Mr. Campbell has now and again endeavoured to expose the 
 faults and the failings of the Old Theology. A very likely 
 question is, where do we find him as author and finisher of the 
 New Theology faith? His position reminds us of a manu¬ 
 facturer who used a considerable quantity of water. Close 
 to his works flowed a fine, free, and full spring, so he 
 thought by boring he would find all he needed. The process 
 of drilling was begun with high hopes and first-class 
 boring machinery and men. He went at it for weeks to 
 months, and months ran into years, but yet he never struck 
 water—never—all labour was lost. His men and agents at 
 work were the best, yet never touched water. Now, observe in 
 the search for the water of life, this new effort is the best in 
 men and material that can be set to work, and there is a fine, 
 full, and free flow—a spring open to ail without money and 
 without price. This is not appreciated, and drilling at selfish¬ 
 ness is sin and sin is selfishness. The race is to be set right 
 by love taking possession of individuals, and from individuals 
 to the whole. Good men and learned men are drilling away: 
 sin is selfishness. Night and morning we find boring going on, 
 but these workers have neither for themselves nor for others 
 struck water. Rod of iron after rod of iron may be added to 
 the drill, but at the lowest strata sin and selfishness will be 
 found, cold and hard as flint. But we must observe love works 
 the machine. Grant it. Suppose it gains the victory, every 
 soul in our town delivered from selfishness and love holding the 
 fort; still, every man is a sinner, and the labourers who are 
 putting selfishness out, and are filling all hearts with love, 
 are like other men, sinners, and as such are death-bound; and 
 if saved, it must be by another than themselves. That is the 
 bit, that is the point which is first and chief in gospel truth. 
 
 We are come to consider the death of Jesus as it stands in 
 relation to the forgiveness of sin. We are told, “ In order to 
 understand the truth about this, let us return to what has 
 already been said on the subject of sin.” The returning here 
 
140 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 has no value. You only come to selfishness is sin, and put 
 selfishness out of the heart of men, and salvation of all such as 
 do this is secured. Let it be observed that the New Theology 
 cannot lead any man under any condition to understand the 
 death of Jesus in relation to forgiveness of sin—I repeat, it 
 cannot. The New Theology deals only with the guilty party— 
 with the sinner. Here it brings up a finer face and polish, and 
 in this the selfish must give place to the loving. I hold that 
 in the highest building Mr. Campbell has built—has finished— 
 he furnishes in every division of his construction—he finds 
 selfishness. His work is to find another tenant, and the 
 motive power on all hands is selfishness. A wise man, 
 and one who would show his wisdom in leading men 
 to understand the truth about Christ’s death and the forgiveness 
 of sin, would and should have brought up, not the improve¬ 
 ment of the sinner, but God the offended One. It is the One 
 sinned against who should be consulted. “Thus saith the 
 Lord ” was an old and safe and in every way proper rule, and 
 to understand the truth about the death of Christ in relation to 
 forgiveness of sin, we hold it is “ Thus saith the Lord ” on this 
 the first question in human life and God’s honour. Without 
 favour and without prejudice let it be noted Mr. Campbell is 
 instituting an order of things directly opposite to rule of every 
 law court or court of justice in this or any land. He puts the 
 guilty on the seat of the just Judge, and the just Judge he 
 puts in the place where he can simply look on and hear his 
 wisdom and power—the scheme of salvation—questioned on 
 all hands. 
 
 From this we affirm that Mr. Campbell has taken from him¬ 
 self the place and power of giving instruction or understanding 
 on the forgiveness of sin. Mr. Campbell knows the plan of 
 salvation as well as the best of us, but until he accepts it 
 
 and calls it his own, he has no claims to be able to give 
 
 instruction on the great question. It is a New Theology he is 
 getting up. He is self-selected as the chief. We are asked to 
 consider his talents. The talents are not his own : they are a 
 gift, and he is responsible for the use he makes of them, and 
 
 we again have to do with the use made. Well then, we will 
 
 not return to selfishness is sin, but to what saith the Lord. 
 Here we have sin wiped out: all sin forgiven. Then, what 
 saith the Lord ? Thus saith the Lord : “ The soul that sinneth 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 141 
 
 shall die.” This is a clean job, and sure; and no sin and no 
 sinner shall be found to escape this—“shall die.” No class of 
 sinners shall escape. The sinner of the slum and the sinner in 
 the pulpit shall all go. “ Death hath passed on all men, for all 
 have sinned.” Well, to meet this—and if life is to be got, it 
 must be met—“ God so loved the world, that He gave His 
 only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should 
 not perish, but have everlasting life.” “ The blood of Christ 
 cleanseth from all sin.” “There is no condemnation to those 
 who are in Christ Jesus.” “ The gift of God is eternal life, and 
 this life is in His Son.” The declaration of the Son is : “I am 
 the Resurrection and the Life.” As Mr. Campbell waves 
 another and altogether different flag, he is bound to surrender, 
 and in every sense give up his claim to be a teacher of the way 
 of salvation. There is no other name under heaven, but the 
 name Jesus, which can save the sinner. We read, two men 
 went up to the temple: the first was a high-class man. He 
 told the Lord his full size in inch by inch measurement: a good 
 character he gave. The other man cried for mercy. Now, 
 it was the last man who got the blessing. The same need 
 exists, and it is the same process which secures the same good. 
 We have just been told that the people in the slums have as 
 good a claim and call on them to get up missionary societies 
 and send out their workers with their literature, to go from 
 door to door among the rich and well-to-do, as the well-to-do 
 and the rich have to send their agents to the low places of the 
 city. On the same lines, it would be one of the best sights to 
 see the City Temple worshippers bowing their heads, and 
 calling out, “ God be merciful to us sinners.” 
 
 It is remarkable the unbelief and feeling Mr. Campbell has 
 against salvation through the Crucified One. We thus read : 
 “ But to speak of one as bearing another’s punishment, is 
 untrue; such a thing cannot be. In the American War a 
 man was drawn to serve; he objected, but paid for another to 
 take his place. In the battle his substitute was shot—he was 
 a dead man. After the death, the gentleman who paid for his 
 substitute was asked again to stand and go to the battlefield; 
 he said no, I am dead in my substitute, and no just claim can 
 be made against me. In right and in justice the claim was 
 withdrawn. Here we have one man to the death standing for 
 another, and the other was free in the possession of life.” 
 
142 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 Observe, this was all right and true. It really stands a truth 
 for ever, and a thing of beauty. On the part of man in law it 
 is an admirable thing, but in the New Theology, when God 
 provides a substitute, it is an offence and a lie—a thing which 
 cannot be. All the same we stand to this. The New Theology 
 may give the Crucified One the go by, and many hold on to 
 their own way. It is our joy and crown—“ To Him that loved 
 us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath 
 made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him 
 be glory and dominion for ever and ever.” Amen. 
 
 In finishing up the question, the inquiry is made—“ What 
 other atonement is needed than this ? ” In answer, a wild 
 storm comes in endangering life and property. In the wildest 
 blast willing hands are found to fight the storm. We are told 
 a child can understand this, and this is the atonement. This 
 may pass in New Theology faith, but not in the light of 
 the gospel exposition of God’s relation to man in His purpose 
 to bring man to Himself, and who by so doing, through the 
 Redeemer, made the atonement. The lifeboat may be manned 
 a hundred times, and every time it is launched it may save the 
 sinking, bringing gladness to heart and home and honour to the 
 British name. In this name we are glad and proud, and this 
 same spirit prevailed in the life of Jesus. He went about doing 
 good, and wonderful in all His works does He stand out; yet, 
 He may feed the hungry on the hill-side; He may raise from 
 the dead the widow’s son, and all the way you find His works 
 and labours of love, and yet, like the storm incident before us, 
 there is no redeeming power spoken or thought of, and therefore 
 no redeeming result produced. 
 
 You may find and finish a thousand noble deeds and say 
 “ Well done,” but you cannot say this man was saved unless he 
 knows the name of Jesus and has accepted the finished, the 
 work finished on Calvary. That is the Old Theology, perfect 
 and unfailing, answering all men, all ages, all countries. This 
 is the wisdom of God and the power of every one who believes. 
 It excludes all new inventions for the great purpose, and for a 
 gifted man to pick, nip away at selfishness is sin, and only speaks 
 of labour lost, and the power and honour of man miserably 
 applied. We are told a child can understand the story of the 
 storm introduced. Yes, that is so, but when the writer of the 
 story makes a religious use of it, when it is made the atonement, 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 143 
 
 neither child nor man can understand. The inference drawn— 
 child and man understand an argument, and this is where Mr. 
 Campbell fails. However bright he may be in general, his 
 logical powers for ever are at fault in particular. 
 
 At last he comes to shift himself down, and this is how he 
 does it, “ It is time we had done with unreal talk about sin.” 
 Well, I am sure to the day of his death, our friend will 
 remember the excessive toil-pinching away with all his force, 
 as one in distress and difficulty to get us to understand that 
 selfishness is sin, and that by putting selfishness out and love 
 taking its place, this he believes and assents is the atonement. 
 I take the language : “ It is time we had done with all unreal 
 talk about sin, for in all he leaves the sinner in his sin, and he 
 robs the Redeemer of His reward and His glory.” 
 
 He made known his resolution to show the doctrine of the 
 atonement in the history and experience of men. 
 
 This he has not done, this he cannot do, no man can give this 
 history and experience, unless he goes back to Isaiah, and right 
 on till now. The whole thing is blood royal of the household 
 of faith and heirs of glory. The claims are verified by grace 
 We owe nothing to the New Theology, and whatsoever in the 
 New Theology is lovely and of good repose, is taken from us or 
 ours. The prophet says: “All we like sheep have gone astray : 
 we have turned every one of us to his own way, and the Lord 
 hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and 
 afflicted, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him: He hath put 
 Him to grief, when thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, 
 He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days; and the 
 pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.” Coming to the 
 gospel age, Mary at the feet of Jesus has the resurrection and the 
 life brought home to her, and Jesus in power said, “ Lazarus, come 
 forth.” Go to the 15th of 1st Corinthians and you will find the 
 history and experience of the atonement, and finishing here, 
 “ O death where is thy sting, O grave where is thy victory; 
 the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.” 
 But thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The Authority of Scripture. 
 
 Here we bid Mr. Campbell good cheer and welcome. It is 
 very remarkable, in his outset he shows his disagreement with 
 the authority of scripture, and at once mounts his old horse. 
 The rider simply puts on a coat worn at all the races, but has 
 only given it a new name. Thus, and at once, instead of 
 facing “ The Authority of Scripture,” he says, “ The true seat 
 of authority is within, not without, the human soul.” To 
 expect justice done beneath such a sky would be vain, would 
 be of no use, and the heading of this chapter should be, not 
 “ The Authority of Scripture,” but, “ The Authority of the 
 Human Soul.” 
 
 The opening touch runs : “ I am convinced that the New 
 Testament language of St. Paul about the atonement has been, 
 and still is, the prolific source of most of the mischievous 
 misinterpretations which exists in the religious mind.” The 
 conception here is remarkable, and under no condition of things 
 can it be justified. I hold, no writer ever wrote with a firmer 
 hand, with a clearer and truer conception of his subject than 
 the Apostle Paul, and, therefore, we have from him the richest 
 and happiest deliverances on record. So it may be confidently 
 asserted if any man has mischievous possessions in moral or 
 religious life, Paul is not to blame for this. His finish is : “ I 
 have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith,” and in the 
 battle of life, it will be well if we can say and be the same. 
 On the subjects of grace, of redemption, of the atonement, and 
 of the resurrection, he has no equal. Even his manner of 
 writing and witness-bearing are well worth the study of those 
 who would take the pulpit or the platform. His training 
 favoured a rare possession of logical gifts. On any of the 
 religious questions of the day, we may take him first and last. 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 145 
 
 We may give a specimen, and as men in earnest, and as 
 responsible men, may we call it our own: “ But God com- 
 mendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, 
 Christ died for us; much more then, being now justified by 
 His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him; for if, 
 when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death 
 of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by 
 His life; and not only so, but we also joy in God, through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have also received the atone¬ 
 ment.” Let my readers measure Mr. Campbell’s faith and 
 pronouncement: “ The true seat of authority is within, not 
 without, the human soul.” Put these two together. The first, 
 a settlement of one of the greatest questions ever put before 
 men, and every one of them is settled, answered, without a 
 doubt on the mind of the reasonable and honest inquirer, and 
 these are all answered by agents and agencies out of and 
 beyond the human soul—not from within but from without. 
 The New Theology, on the other hand, says, “ The true seat 
 of authority is the human soul.” No greater difference or 
 distance could be found on any system of right and wrong than 
 we find here. The servant of God, James, travelled on the 
 same lines as Paul: “ But if you have bitter envying and 
 strife in your hearts, glory not, and be not against the truth ; 
 this wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, 
 devilish; but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then 
 peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, without partiality, 
 and without hypocrisy. The Teacher sent from God binds 
 Peter and James in one: “ If I had not done among them the 
 works which none other man did, they had not had sin; but 
 now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father. This 
 cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written 
 in the Law, They hated Me without a cause.” These 
 quotations show the divine and the human, and the more they 
 are studied, the more we discover the enormity of the choice 
 made by Mr. Campbell in selecting the human as his manner 
 and mode of action. 
 
 It is well worth our attention, the selection which the author 
 of the New Theology has selected as the foundation of his 
 structure: “The true seat of authority is within, not without, 
 the human soul.” It will be seen the founder of this faith is in 
 difficulty. His task is a difficult one—he has the most difficult 
 
146 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 job ever man attempted. To construct a God and show the 
 relation of that figure to other lesser figures was a tremendous 
 undertaking; and the most wonderful part of the undertaking, 
 of the composition is the foundation on which it is supposed to 
 rest. This stone or foundation is neither tried nor precious, 
 and at once we say it differs from that laid in Zion by the Lord 
 our God, and this difference speaks its value or its want of 
 value. The true seat of authority is within, not without, the 
 human soul. Well, now, let the preacher of the City Temple 
 take his congregation, numbering say a thousand; every face 
 in that company is different, the one from all the rest. Every 
 brain has a peculiarity of its own. These brains are affected 
 by home life, city life, and country life; by food and by drink. 
 Of the thousand and one there is only one who can fill the 
 pulpit, only one who can preach; educate any number for the 
 pulpit, but not one out of the thousand has an eye like Mr. 
 Campbell, and, therefore, in preaching other aspirants must be 
 content with lesser positions. While there cannot be found 
 another preacher, nor the making of one in the thousand, you 
 may find a score of men—men who can reason—and that by 
 the surest rule of logical accuracy, before whom the preacher 
 could not stand in advance a trial. Whatever view' may be 
 taken of the human soul, we must turn to the brain for motive 
 power. Night or day, young or old, all find the centre force in 
 the brain taking the wTole as it stands, and the sum is deceitful 
 and wicked, or a kittle squad, or “ man’s inhumanity to man, 
 makes countless thousands mourn.” 
 
 We may ask here, Is the true seat of authority within, or 
 without, the human soul? Look here, the authority which Mr. 
 Campbell has set himself to put right is one record authority; 
 that authority God will not give to another. Justice and judg¬ 
 ment are the habitations of His throne, and we must all appear 
 at that throne, and it would be well for men to remember that 
 no man will be condemned for being selfish, but for rejecting 
 offered grace, redemption, and for rejecting eternal life, and I 
 wish this to be well laid to heart, both by hearers in the City 
 Temple and the readers of these lines. It therefore follows that, 
 if selfishness is treated by divine authority, the book “ New 
 Theology” falls flat. 
 
 We are next directed to the power of the Church. This pow^er 
 we can only discover by standing apart, and there seeing if it 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 147 
 
 rings to reason and moral sense. A case is brought up, 
 “ Suppose the Christian Church enjoined or permitted rape and 
 murder, would the devout Catholic believe and obey?” He 
 continues, “ But it is inconceivable that the Church would do 
 that.” In the construction of his argument one would have 
 thought the parts were to be true and conceivable, and in the 
 working of this truth would have been reached as the prime 
 object, whether it was received by, or awakened in, the soul or 
 not. Next—Now, we are told, the greatest stumbling-block 
 in the way of many devout and intellegent minds to-day is that 
 of the supposed binding authority of the letter of scripture. 
 When a good man hears some inspiring or common-sense state¬ 
 ment of truth—for instance, that of universal salvation—he often 
 replies in such way as the following:—Yes, I know, it seems 
 very plausable, and my heart desires to believe it, but then we 
 know it says in the scripture, “ These shall go away into ever¬ 
 lasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.” “ I 
 cannot get beyond that.” Looking at this writing, we may say 
 it is fitted to do two things : 1st, to gather to and improve the 
 prospects of the New Theology; 2nd, the regard of men for 
 the scriptures reduced. There need be no stumbling-block in 
 what is placed before us in this case. Regarding universal 
 salvation, the scripture knows nothing on this subject: it is 
 silent, and nothing inspiring nor common-sense can change this. 
 Salvation is not universal. It is offered to all, but only a few 
 take the offer. And it is equally plain and clearly put down 
 that the unbelieving and disobedient shall on scriptural authority 
 go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into 
 life eternal. No truth concerning the life or condition of man 
 can be found more interesting than what we have here, and no 
 truth is more forcibly taught in scripture, so if there is stum¬ 
 bling, the truth and the true stumble not. 
 
 In the supposed case here, passage after passage is strong, 
 reaching this one: “The soul that sinneth it shall die.” The 
 good man so acting tries to believe in the doctrine of universal 
 salvation, but the scriptural revelations of sin and death are ever 
 before him. These cannot agree. Sin and death are written 
 deep in history, in human nature, and in scripture; and “the 
 soul that sinneth it shall die,” stands. Mr. Campbell, in reference 
 to Ezekiel, who used the sentence, says, “Whatever he originally 
 meant by that saying, and it is well worth examination, he was 
 
148 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 not thinking of a revival meeting.” That may be met by this, 
 neither was he thinking of the New Theology. Whatever he was 
 thinking about, he wrote after the counsel of God, and according 
 to every day experience; and up and down Ezekiel vindicates 
 “ the authority of scripture,” and that is the question. 
 
 We shall note in this place that “The Authority of theScripture” 
 is the subject. Well, we are told, “belief in the infallable book 
 is impossible.” Mr. Campbell is at liberty to express his own 
 mind on this subject; but he has no right to express this mind 
 as the mind of other men. He has no belief in the account of 
 the introduction of sin and its punishment; and in the next 
 place he has no belief in the deliverance from sin and its con¬ 
 sequences, as these are recorded in the book. Now, no man 
 will deny that these two subjects are the greatest, most im¬ 
 portant and clearly taught in the book for our instruction and 
 liberty and salvation; and the man who can deliberately deny 
 the truths now before us, will have no difficulty in denying any 
 other part of divine record, and then to stand before his country¬ 
 men and tell them belief in the infallable book is impossible. 
 
 Every man to his post: the haven of rest full in 
 view. Let the Captain of salvation speak—from the bridge, 
 let His voice be heard—“ Search the scriptures, for in them ye 
 think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of 
 Me; and ye will not come unto Me that ye may have life. I 
 receive not honour of men, but I know you that ye have not 
 the love of Cod in you. There is one who accuseth you, even 
 Moses, in whom ye trust; for had ye believed Moses, ye would 
 have believed Me, for he wrote of Me, but if ye believe not his 
 warnings, how can ye believe My words.” This stroke lands 
 some parties on their back. To the law and to the testimony, 
 if they speak not according to this word it is because there is 
 no light in them. “ They have Moses and the prophets: let 
 them hear them. If they hear not Moses and the prophets, 
 neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.” 
 God’s nobility: “ These were more noble than those of 
 Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness 
 of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things 
 were so.” “ For I testify to every man who heareth the words of 
 the prophecy of this book, if any man add unto these things, God 
 shall add to him the plagues that are written in this book, and 
 if any man shall take away from the words of the prophecy of 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 149 
 
 this book, 'God shall take away his part out of the book of life, 
 and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written 
 in the book.” Now, with these things before us, we may state, 
 the book, the record, the scriptures, the word of God, the bible 
 is possible, and worthy of belief. 
 
 Mr. Campbell says his authority was that of the Spirit of 
 God speaking within his own soul—the only authority which 
 has mattered in the history of religions. Observe, this speaking 
 may be esteemed of highest importance to himself: the subject, 
 however, is “ The Authority of Scripture.” Now, in relation to 
 that authority, he puts it: he did not deny the authority of 
 scripture, but he claimed to be able to see when it ran true to 
 his own inner experience, and when it did not. With this 
 frame of mind, it was easy to see in him the necessity for a 
 New Theology. 
 
 It is on this platform also we find Paul, the Apostle, intro¬ 
 duced. The manner of introduction is as follows : “ Paul's 
 thought-forms were supplied by the Old Testament and 
 Pharisaic education, just as the forms in which we ordinarily 
 express our thoughts to-day belong to the mental atmosphere 
 of our time. Most of the leading articles in the Times , for 
 example, would be lost upon the English reader five hundred 
 years hence, unless they were carefully explained.” It would 
 not be right to allow the Apostle Paul to be pushed round in 
 this fashion. The Church, the world, owes everything almost 
 to Paul, and his doings and sayings will last as long as the 
 present dispensation stands, and longer still; and he was 
 particularly careful to show from what and from whom his 
 thought-forms came. His witness-bearing stands : “ More¬ 
 over, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, which I preached 
 unto you, and which also ye received, and wherein ye stand; 
 by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I 
 preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I 
 declared unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how 
 that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and 
 that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, 
 according to the scriptures.” Such is Paul’s life-giving power, 
 and the source from which it came. And again : “ Do I seek 
 to please men, for if I yet please men, I should not be the 
 servant of Christ. But I certify to you, brethren, that the gospel 
 which was preached of me was not after men, for I neither 
 
150 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation 
 of Jesus Christ.” Here, after he tells his life, and how by the 
 grace of God he was brought in, how the Son of God was 
 revealed to him, that he might preach Jesus among the 
 heathen—“ Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.” 
 He thus set to his work, and this work and way finds Mr. 
 Campbell’s declaration of Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, to 
 be a very poor daub. Had he consulted the authority of 
 scripture, he would not have scribbled such thin and artless 
 matter as he has given. 
 
 In this connection the death of Christ is brought in. “ But 
 there was a difference—-His death and all other deaths—in that 
 being sinless death could not hold Him, and so He rose again 
 from the tomb triumphant over it. His triumph then becomes 
 potentially the triumph of humanity.” At first sight this looks 
 like a sound argument, but on a second look we find it has no 
 claim for such. By sound reason, inference, and fact—if Christ 
 rose from the dead because He was without sin—it follows men 
 sinners are left in the grave or state of the dead, and Christ’s 
 triumph did not therefore become the triumph of humanity. 
 Such an idea only exists in the mind of the writer—only there. 
 Let us find the way, the truth, and the life as it is brought to 
 us in the life and death of Jesus the Christ after rising from the 
 dead. “ Then opened He their understanding that they 
 might understand the scriptures, and said unto them : Thus it 
 is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from 
 the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of 
 sins should be preached in His name among all nations, 
 beginning at Jerusalem. 
 
 Another testimony—“ And when they saw Him they 
 worshipped Him; but some doubted, and Jesus came and 
 spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in 
 heaven and in earth : go ye therefore and teach all nations, 
 baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the 
 Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I 
 have commanded you ; and lo I am with you alway, even unto 
 the end of the world.” If there is triumph by the risen Lord it 
 is on the part of divine favour. There is now a gospel free and 
 full, and the followers of Jesus are commissioned to preach that 
 gospel, and they did it. At Jerusalem, the first effort was 
 made. The speaker charged home on his hearers the murder 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 151 
 
 of the sinless One: it touched their hearts and they cried out, 
 “ What must we do to be saved ? ” The answer comes— 
 Believe and be baptized. The response was the most success¬ 
 ful ever reached in preaching. I may now reply to this : “ His 
 triumph then became potentially the triumph of humanity. I 
 say, in the religious field, humanity never triumphed. The 
 finish of every effort, the close of every dispensation on the part 
 humanity, is failure; and the present dispensation is and shall 
 be failure. There is nothing more clearly written in the 
 purpose of God than this : “ This age will close in secret and 
 open rebellion, man against man and man against God.” On 
 this, if men are in darkness here, it is not because the authority 
 of scripture has not spoken distinctly enough : it is there plain 
 enough. It is when faith is rare and when sin holds the fort; 
 it is at that time and point, when the Son of God shall come 
 again in glory and in power to remove by destruction all 
 iniquity and the workers of iniquity, and be glorified in that 
 kingdom where His people will reign in holiness, beauty, and 
 peace. 
 
 Once again, “Christ being sinless death could not hold Him, 
 and so He rose again from the tomb triumphing over it.” By 
 scripture authority it follows, that all the redeemed, purified, 
 saved, pardoned for and in Christ, shall rise from the dead; 
 all such being reconciled to God. “ There is no condemnation 
 to such as are in Christ Jesus;” all such are without sin. 
 “ Christ was made to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we 
 might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Observe, it 
 is here the line is drawn. On sea or land, on the other side of the 
 line, is poaching—to fight under any other flag, whoever carries 
 it, is fighting under false colours. Such is the argument drawn 
 from the resurrection, drawn from the authority of scripture, 
 and therefore we urge once again the gospel as the wisdom of 
 God and the power of God to every one who believes. In 
 leaving this point, it is to be noticed Mr. Campbell never for 
 once directs his own mind, nor the minds of those to whom he 
 writes, to the nature of the work as revealed in the sacrificial 
 and saving power of the blood of the Saviour as God’s appointed 
 way of redemption. All the same, it stands and shall stand 
 for ever—“ Ye were not redeemed with silver and gold, but 
 with the precious blood of Jesus.” 
 
 K 
 
1 5 2 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 Still the Atonement. 
 
 “ Anyone who reads Paul’s words without dogmatic prejudice, 
 will see that is not the present day orthodox doctrine of the 
 atonement.” Here there is no room for dispute. A consider¬ 
 able outcome of our every Sabbath effusions are simply scraps, 
 crumbs of moral pickings from the record, the word. They 
 manage the atonement by letting it alone, by giving it a wide 
 berth. Mr. Campbell cannot so perform. The atonement is 
 with him night and day. Whatever road he takes he finds the 
 atonement on both sides. To shake it off, with him it is an 
 impossibility. He has set himself to make a New Theology, 
 and this atonement is the mountain of the Lord ; he is forced 
 to climb it or stumble, and this work is difficult and trying, and 
 here he falls forward on “modern thought.” “Modern 
 thought ”—this is a poor market to which to drive his own 
 flock, or any other flock. Whatever price is got or paid it 
 does not bear the stamp of royalty. “ Modern thought ” at 
 the best is only a gilded sixpence. It has none of the real, 
 the true, and the lasting. It has nothing of vital authority. 
 It has no claim to “Thus saith the Lord.” 
 
 In our day “modern thought” held man was immortal; 
 that, as a sinner, he would be tormented in hell fire, and that 
 for the glory of the Lord. He had ordained all this, and under 
 “ modern thought ” all this is being changed. But “modern 
 thought,” big and strong as men would have it to be, has not 
 brain power to put anything in the place of the dying faith. 
 The profession of religion is like the medical profession. Here, 
 I remember when a man was ill, the doctor called, drew blood— 
 thus the lancet was the chief agent employed. Now the faculty 
 believe that the blood is the life, and they have laid aside the 
 knife. Thus we see “ modern thought,” as a foundation, is 
 unable to bear the salvation of men and the glory of our God. 
 We hold it is a most unwarrantable departure from the 
 ministerial profession, to leave the word of God, and to take up 
 “ modern thought ” as his own guide, and to offer this “ modern 
 thought ” to his people. In the present age the cloud is heavy 
 enough, the darkness is dense enough, without the teacher 
 adding weight and fog to the scene. We say further, rally 
 your men; with the Bible in hand, stand forth, and say, 
 “ Salvation,” and hope for men is here. “ Modern thought,” 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 153 
 
 whatever it may be, let it go—for go it shall and go it must— 
 but with Bible in hand, shout out with all the heart, “ The word 
 of God shall stand for ever,” and this the said word : “ He died 
 for our sins, according to the scriptures.” Here in the scriptures 
 you have the doctrine of the atonement, fixed more than nine¬ 
 teen hundred years ago, fixed by hands divine, fixed to last for 
 ever, and so fixed that, if life is desired, it is to be found, and 
 found free and independent of “ modern thought.” 
 
 The next shot fired off is : “ It takes for granted certain 
 ideas which were current among the Jews of Paul’s day, but 
 which have sunk into the background of Christian thought or 
 been abandoned altogether.” As a man, Paul’s up-make was 
 true as steel. When he was on the wrong side, when he served 
 the devil, he was to the front, brave as a lion. When Stephen 
 was murdered, he was there. His own declaration was : “ I 
 did it ignorantly, and in unbelief.” But whatever side he was 
 on, he was not the man who “took it for granted.” As a 
 reasoner he stands unsurpassed, and his deliverances are the 
 admiration of every man whose esteem is worth counting on. 
 They stand to-day, and they shall stand the tear and wear of 
 the wreckage of the last days of the closing age ; and, in 
 reference to Jewish influence, was not this his standing : “ Yea, 
 doubtless, and I count all things loss for the excellency of the 
 knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered 
 the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may 
 win Christ, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteous¬ 
 ness, which is of the law, but which is through the faith of 
 Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith ? ” Such is 
 the Apostle of the Gentiles. We like Paul: no man ever stood 
 nearer to the Cross of Calvary: no man ever had clearer and 
 stronger faith and love for his Saviour than Paul had, and here 
 we find the reason why Mr. Campbell tries to bring him down. 
 All the same, he stands the chosen servant of God, the chief 
 of sinners, begotten of the Lord of heaven and earth. Christ 
 in Him, the hope of glory. And his best picture is : If I have 
 found grace unto salvation, who was such a sinner, any man, 
 however low, might be lifted up, and the crust of sin, however 
 thick and hard, may be pardoned, made clean, by and for the 
 Saviour’s sake. We say, let justice be done to Paul, even in 
 the City Temple, and the New Theology will there and then 
 wither up. Paul stood a sinner, and Jesus stood the Saviour. 
 
*54 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 Let any New Theology convert take the same ground, and he 
 breaks the backbone of the new contrivance. 
 
 But further, may we not fight Mr. Campbell on his own 
 ground? Is not this the best crop he has yet raised and 
 brought to the market: selfishness cast out of a man, and love 
 made to take its place? Many a fine flourish he has had 
 there. Well, from this stand-point, look at Paul and his 
 Master. There you will find all that is noble and great and 
 heroic. There you find self-devotion and self-sacrifice, such as is 
 not to be found again the world over, and let that be honestly 
 looked at and handled, and the necessity of a New Theology 
 will be ill to make good. So far as the operation of love 
 running into self-surrender is concerned, the leading men on 
 their main point in the New Theology are out, and the leading 
 men of the gospel are in. Is not the New Theology book the 
 work of a popular preacher? A small and unnecessary pro¬ 
 duction when put alongside of the revelation of God for our 
 life; and, as seen in the exhibition of the men specially sent to 
 proclaim this redemption, the new book is not a big business, 
 and it “does not make the author big.” 
 
 The Authority of Scripture. 
 
 On this subject it is asked : “I do not suppose there is a 
 single man who reads these words, who would make light of 
 the religious opinions of a pious mother, but would he allow 
 them to fetter him in the exercise of his own natural judgment?” 
 In the appeal to home life here I feel at home. Few men have 
 ever lived who have been more blessed with pious mother and 
 pious wife than I have been. Instead of fetters in our con¬ 
 nection, we always stood in the liberty wherewith Christ makes 
 His people free, and after long experience with the one, and 
 sixty years’ happy life with the other, I am free to say, had 
 they lived to-day, they would have given the author of the 
 New Theology a tip or two in the intellectual, moral, and 
 religious. In the exercise of their freedom, they would have 
 told him that he is seeking for liberty, and has not found it. 
 And so long as he is looking for such in his own soul—or in 
 the soul of any other who goes by the judgments and opinions 
 of men—he will always be in fetters. Those at home had 
 never much to do with their own soul, or with the souls of any 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 1 55 
 
 one else, and the idea of God speaking to them as He spake to 
 Isaiah and the Prophets, or as He spake to Jesus and His 
 disciples, never for a moment entered their head or heart— 
 never—and yet they held and taught the whole council of God. 
 But they looked diligently to the Bible worthies, and were well 
 posted up through them, whose light and liberty show the folly of 
 seeking other revelation. The cannon of inspiration was closed, 
 and God shall never speak again to men, till He speaks by His Son 
 in the reign of righteousness, peace, and plenty. For this age it is 
 immovably fixed: “They have Moses and the Prophets, if they hear 
 not them, neither would they believe though one rose from the 
 dead,” and “This is My beloved Son, hear ye Him.” Again, 
 in this place, I have a question to put: If God speaks now, 
 as He did of old, why is it that the teachers of to-day say one 
 thing and the teachers of old say another ? God is not the 
 God of confusion : His words and principles cannot clash. 
 Well, the Old Theology is one thing and the New Theology is 
 another. They are not, they cannot both be true; they 
 cannot both be from God. The men of old spake as they were 
 moved by the Spirit of God. If Mr. Campbell believes that he 
 is so moved in his production, he is deceiving himself, and 
 leading other people on to the wrong road. The preacher’s 
 duty and privilege is to go to the Bible, and there to seek the 
 treasure, and in his might to sit like the noble men of heaven 
 and of earth to see if these things were so. To see what is 
 there—not to see in his own soul, nor in the soul of other men— 
 go right up to the record, to the word, to the testimony, to the 
 book of Revelation. I know Mr. Campbell is in a very bad 
 position to be so exercised himself, or to lead other men to be 
 so impressed. He rejects the writings of Moses on the two 
 most valuable points, which are the entrance of sin by Adam, 
 and the recovery and deliverance from sin and its fruits 
 by Jesus Christ. A religious teacher, without these two 
 points in his creed and council and character, lames himself, 
 and can only live to make crutches for the lame. This is 
 one of them : “ But surely your own mother stands as near to 
 you as men who wrote centuries before she was born. If God 
 spoke to the hearts of men centuries ago, He can and does 
 speak to them now. If He spake to Isaiah, He can and does 
 speak to you. If your mother’s way of stating truth is not 
 necessarily yours, no more is Paul’s.” This is so much of the 
 
156 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 country showman’s style, as makes it, in sight of argument, a 
 blow even to the writing which is introduced into the book 
 “New Theology.” The New Theology or the Authority of Scrip¬ 
 ture? We say, have done with trifling. We shall have our 
 own; we shall march in the royal ranks; we know the kingly 
 step. “ God, who at sundry times and in divers manners 
 spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in 
 these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath 
 appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the 
 worlds; who being the brightness of His glory, and the express 
 image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of 
 His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down 
 on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” 
 
 This is scriptural authority, and men would do well to hold 
 on to the wealth and worthiness. Let the treasures of the soul 
 which some men can find, and all the wealth which is to be 
 found in the New Theology, written or spoken, rest for a day; 
 be still and know that God is the speaker. The authority is 
 here: “ Unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever 
 and ever: asceptreof righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom.” 
 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things 
 which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. 
 For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every 
 transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of 
 reward, “ How shall we escape if we neglect the great salvation, 
 which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and 
 unto us by them who heard Him, God bearing them 
 witness, both with signs and wonders and with divers 
 miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own 
 will.” “Thou crownedst Him with glory and honour, and didst 
 set Him over the works of His hands.” Observe, this is the 
 Old Theology, and to-day, as ever, it is life and hope—the liberty 
 and the song of the redeemed of the Lord. The New Theology 
 has not a shaving, a scraping, a right nor a claim to those 
 things in salvation which come from God the Father, and are 
 made sure to us through the Son, Jesus Christ. Only one spark 
 more from the New Theology anvil. God inspires men, not 
 books, and He will go on inspiring to the end of time, whether 
 they write books or not. If that is so, Mr. Campbell and his 
 productions will be ill to link in. 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 1 57 
 
 I cannot forget the words of Paul the Apostle, “ Not of men 
 neither by men, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father who 
 raised Him from the dead. I certify you, brethren, that the 
 gospel which was preached of me is not after men. For I 
 neither received of men, nor was taught it of men, but by the 
 revelations of Jesus Christ. As I said before, so say I again, 
 if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that I have 
 preached unto you, let him be accursed.” 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 In the twelfth chapter of the book “New Theology,” we have 
 an interesting and suggestive group of subjects: Salvation, 
 Judgment, and the Life to Come. Around this heading we 
 have the nature and scope of salvation, resurrection, and 
 ascension; death, judgment, heaven, and hell. The handling 
 of the subject seems to give the author satisfaction, and of his 
 success he is happy and hopeful. In starting here, I shall 
 remind Mr. Campbell that success is not always the proof of 
 goodness nor of grace. Success may hold where there is 
 neither truth nor argument. The gospel has often to take a 
 back seat, while folly and fashion pay for the front. We shall 
 be at home for a little here. In the New Theology the name 
 of Augustine is known as a leader of public thought. No man 
 was ever so successful. In our time, his influence was in every 
 creed and in every pulpit of our land. Eternal torment never 
 had much power in the world until he (Augustine) gave it 
 force; and now, to-day, Mr. Campbell's best argument, by a 
 long way, is in refuting this dreadful doctrine, eternal torment. 
 He points out: “The sin of the sinner is limited, and committed 
 in narrow compass. The strength given the sinner and the 
 time of commission of sin is so much within bounds, that it 
 would be unjust to condemn the guilty to eternal misery and 
 torment.” Thus the success of to-day is gained by meeting, 
 by overthrowing, the success of the past. The argument before 
 us is worth holding up. The greatest enemy of the age is the 
 most successful. Alcohol kills more than “ war, pestilence, 
 and famine,” yet it holds the favour, it holds the fort. We like 
 it, we give more money for it. In a word, alcohol is king. It 
 is victor in slum life, and it is uppermost in fashionable life. 
 We may now go on. This question is put : “ But what is the 
 punishment of sin, and who administers it ? ” Observe, the 
 
 158 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 159 
 
 question is as important as it is direct. As such, it demands 
 a direct answer. Well, this is it even out, clear, above board, 
 and in language scriptural: “ The punishment of sin is death.” 
 In speaking or writing, we may, by getting into a mist, find 
 another answer; but in the sunlight and brightness of heavenly 
 revelation, there is only one true answer. The punishment of 
 sin is death—accept the written word—“ The wages of sin is 
 death.” The acceptance of this truth delivers from many a 
 difficulty, and leads to liberty and life. The gift of God is 
 eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 
 
 At this stage, it may interest my readers to know that forty 
 years ago and on, many noble men and true wrought well on 
 the eternal torment question, which the New Theology has 
 adopted, and will do good service. Here are some of the 
 names of such :—Samuel Minton, Dr. Lesk (editor of “ The 
 Rainbow”), Dr. Dale (of Birmingham), Dr. Petvale, William 
 Laing, Henry Constable (prebendary of Cork), Mr. Kelloway 
 (editor of “ Bible Echo ”). This list might be extended. We 
 may now note their methods:—1. “The scriptures nowhere 
 affirm of the wicked that they shall live for ever.” 2. “ The 
 scriptures nowhere speak of eternal life, except in connection 
 with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and as being dependent 
 upon personal relation to Him.” “ He that believeth hath 
 everlasting life.” “ Because I live, ye shall live also.” The 
 word frequently speaks of mortal man, and represents immor¬ 
 tality as belonging to God only. So, it argues out, the wicked 
 not having eternal life, they cannot endure eternal punishment. 
 
 The next part of the question is : “ Who administers the 
 punishment?” The answer is: “Death.” “Dust thou art 
 and unto dust thou shalt return.” This is the law. We may 
 push—or think we can push—God out at the back door, but 
 here we have met our match. By the word of God, “ death 
 hath passed on all men, for all have sinned.” The wisdom and 
 the goodness of God, through His Son, as found now, gathered 
 a people for His name, and the law of death by sin will rule 
 till the last sheep is gathered into the fold. Mr. Campbell does 
 well in noticing the change brought about in late years. 
 Formerly, the chief part of a minister’s work was to send every 
 Sunday a very large part of mankind to hell. They have been 
 delivered from this nasty job. Hell—hot, burning, and eternal 
 —is nearly out of the business. Seventy years ago, my first 
 
i6o 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 battle was fought on this ground. I told the minister I did not 
 believe what he had said from the pulpit. He justified the 
 burning and the duration of it by the creeds. I replied, “ Try 
 the word of God.” The answer was: “Young man, I have 
 found the truth, you are only in search of it, and it cannot 
 be supposed that you can argue with me.” I have to say, may 
 the New Theology ship go full steam up against the doctrine 
 of eternal torment, and the time is now spoken of by Dr. Dale : 
 u Where will you get a preacher to preach eternal torment, and 
 where will you find a congregation that would listen to such 
 preaching ? ” 
 
 The next question put is : “ What is the judgment, and when 
 does it take effect?” For answer, we are altogether dependent 
 on the scriptures. The judgment now before us differs on 
 many points from the judgment of men. You go into a work¬ 
 shop : you find a thousand men. There is a difference in the 
 productive power of those men : one man is worth much more 
 to his master than another; and reason would say, Men 
 should be paid according to work accomplished. Such is not 
 the rule of the road. We are told to-day, that every man at 
 the pay table should have the same wage. In the question 
 now before us, it shall be just, and it shall be righteous judg¬ 
 ment. Every man shall be judged according to his works, and 
 his pay will be on the same conditions. The judgment of the 
 Lord is true and clear as the summer sun. “We must all 
 appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every man may 
 receive the things done in his body, according to what he hath 
 done, whether it be good or bad.” This is surrounded in the 
 Apostle’s mind by weighty considerations : “ For the love of 
 God constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if Christ 
 died for all, then were all dead ; and that He died for all, that 
 they who live, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but 
 to Him who died for them, and rose again. Therefore, if any 
 man be in Christ, he is a new creature ; old things have passed 
 away, behold, all things are become new.” From this court 
 and decision there is no appeal. “The Father hath committed 
 all judgment to the Son.” The books shall be opened, and the 
 judgment shall be set. The wise, who are prepared, who are 
 watching, with oil in their lamps, get in : the others find the 
 door shut. Such is the judgment, and when it will take effect, 
 and nothing can change nor come between the other to inter¬ 
 rupt or render unoperative. 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. l6l 
 
 Another question in the group : “ How does salvation stand 
 related to punishment and judgment ? ” I like these questions. 
 They stand like the fortifications of a great people. They are 
 put up for self-defence and self-protection. It is well to go 
 round these fortifications. In this way, the weak points are 
 discovered as well as the strong. In our call, the process is 
 right and safe. We violate no law of common life, and we 
 break no code in the Christian system. Coming at once to the 
 question, the relation of husband and wife, father and mother, 
 parent and child is very lovely, very strong, and very tender. 
 It carries us on to the grave, but there it ends. Now observe, 
 in the programme of eternal values, the relation of salvation 
 and punishment and judgment stands out—runs on for ever. 
 Thus we catch the glorious sound from “Jesus Christ, who is 
 the faithful witness, and the first-begotten from the dead, and 
 the Prince of the kings of the earth : unto Him that loved us 
 and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made 
 us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory 
 and dominion for ever and ever.—Amen.” Such is the con¬ 
 nection of salvation and punishment in the old paths and in 
 the goodness and purpose of God. Now, let it be said, Mr. 
 Campbell, in his book, has tried frequently to show his readers 
 what the atonement is. He has taken different illustrations, 
 but every effort has proved a failure. Yet the frequent state¬ 
 ment comes up: “That is the atonement.” No man will ever 
 reach the atonement until he can say : “ He hath washed us 
 from our sins in His own blood, and made us kings and priests 
 unto God”—in language of the City Temple—this is the 
 atonement. There may be a thousand good things in the 
 world, and we may take pleasure, real enjoyment, in the use of 
 the same, yet there is only one way of connection, of relation¬ 
 ship, with salvation, and that is through the Cross of Calvary. 
 He carried our griefs, bare our sins, set us free, put us into the 
 household—the family—of God. “ Behold, what manner of 
 love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be 
 called the sons of God. Beloved, it doth not yet appear what 
 we shall be, but we know, when He who is our life shall appear, 
 we shall appear with Him in glory.” 
 
 The next question is, “ What hath death to do with the 
 matter ? ” Dr. Cairns once received a present, and, in acknow¬ 
 ledging the same, he gave out the hymn, “ There’s more and 
 
162 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 more to follow.” So, on the New Theology question, 
 there’s more and more to follow. Well now, the question, 
 “ What hath death to do with salvation ? ” Much every way : 
 the death of Jesus Christ secured salvation for fallen, sinful 
 men. This is given and made clear and sure by scriptural 
 authority. God, on two special occasions, said, “ This is My 
 beloved Son : hear Him.” What has the Son said? “ Verily, 
 verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son ot 
 Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso 
 eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood hath eternal life, and 
 I will raise him up at the last day; for My flesh is meat, indeed, 
 and My blood is drink, indeed.” Such is the fact of the record 
 of the word : our life, our salvation rests here. The connection 
 between death and salvation is close and fixed, and cannot be 
 broken. Again, the death Christ died paid in full the penalty 
 of sin. What was that penalty ? It was death. That was all: 
 the extreme was death, and Christ died for us, according to 
 the scriptures. In honour and in justice, neither God nor man 
 seek second payment for one account. In the American war, 
 
 Mr. A-was called on to enlist. He was not inclined to go to 
 
 the battlefield, but he would find a substitute. The substitute 
 was found; he went to the field of battle, and was shot dead. 
 
 Mr. A-was called on again to enlist. He refused—he said 
 
 he would not—and maintained that he was dead in his sub¬ 
 stitute. Now, so are we in the Saviour: in Him we are dead. 
 He died for us, and further claim there is none. He will raise 
 us up at the last day. He is the resurrection and the life. 
 
 By the way, some years ago the “ Dundee Advertiser ” 
 said: “Mr. Constable’s work, ‘The Nature and Duration of 
 Future Punishment,’ must be admitted to be able, learned, 
 eloquent, condensed. Nothing we have ever read impugns 
 the Augustinian doctrine with more stringent and terrible power. 
 The defence of his own belief is buttressed by a vast amount 
 of scriptural and classical law. His daring is no more remark¬ 
 able than his talent. He ventures to deny the natural im¬ 
 mortality of the soul: thereby going in the face of Plato, 
 Socrates, and most of the pagan philosophers, as well as 
 Christian divines. He holds, with most of his party, that 
 eternal life is the gift of God, bestowed by and through Jesus 
 Christ, and that man, by nature, is subject to death.” 
 
 We have now come to the last question of the group: “What 
 are we to understand by heaven and hell, and what is the 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 163 
 
 bearing of either on salvation and judgment ? ” In answering 
 this question, Mr. Campbell, at the outset, does well in exposing 
 the fallacies of “ popular every-day theology.” We are told, 
 “ Sin will be punished in the future life, by the committal of 
 the impenitent soul to everlasting torment. It is a truth here 
 the theological historic page is printed very black. Mr. 
 Spurgeon, the most popular and successful preacher of our day, 
 was a keen advocate. This passage from his lips may be 
 given : “ Suffice it for me to close up by saying that the hell of 
 hells will be to the poor sinner, the thought that it is for ever. 
 Thou wilt then look up on the throne of God, and it shall be 
 written, ‘For ever’; when the damned jingle the burning 
 irons of their torment, they shall say, ‘ For ever 5 ; when they 
 howl, the echo cries, ‘ For ever.’ ” 
 
 For ever is written on their racks, 
 
 For ever on their chains ; 
 
 For ever burning in the fire, 
 
 For ever ever reigns. 
 
 It is good when a man of such talents, eloquence, and 
 influence as Mr. Campbell turns his head and heart 
 against this dreadful dogma. It is a dogma, which, while it 
 has a first place in the creed, has not a corner in the Bible. 
 Endless woe, eternal torments, everlasting misery, are ex¬ 
 pressions which are never found in the sacred text, in reference 
 to man or any other living creature. 
 
 Again, the question “Judgment is the grand assize which 
 shall be when the material world comes to an end.” According 
 to this arrangement, the souls of the righteous shall come down 
 from their bodies, and the souls of the wicked will come up 
 from their bodies to appear at this meeting to receive good or 
 evil according to their rank. It is evident that there is a want 
 of business manners in all this which sets it down as very un¬ 
 likely. The right arrangement is to be found in Paul’s 
 deliverance to Timothy : “ I charge thee, before God and the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead at 
 His appearing, preach the Word, be instant in season and out 
 of season, reprove, rebuke with all long-suffering and doctrine, 
 for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, 
 but, after their own lusts, shall they heap teachers having 
 itching ears, and men shall be turned from the truth to fables; 
 for we shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that 
 
164 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 every one may receive the things done in the body according to 
 what he hath done, whether good or bad.’ 5 From this the wisdom 
 of the Thessalonian believers comes out: “They turned to God 
 from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His 
 Son from heaven.” I have seen nothing of this blessed, holy, 
 heavenly order of things in the New Theology. In the sermons 
 published, and the declared faith of the City Temple, there is 
 no notice taken of these truths whether as an accomplished 
 fact, or as a prophetic prospect. In this connection, the follow¬ 
 ing stands out: How much more unthinkable it becomes if the 
 punishment is to be everlasting, fiendish torment? Let me 
 impress on all the fact that the punishment is eternal, but the 
 fiendish torment is not. What is the punishment of sin? It is 
 death, not fiendish torment! In the judgment of the nations 
 recorded in the 25 th of Matthew this passage occurs : “And 
 these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the 
 righteous unto life eternal.” The one is everlasting death, the 
 other is everlasting life. In duration of time there is not the 
 difference of an hour in the punishment of the wicked and in 
 the life of the righteous. If men would lay hold on this im¬ 
 portant truth before us, if they would accept it as their own, 
 and have their faith and works shaped thereby, many a difficult 
 question would be solved, and freedom of happy and holy lives 
 would follow. The justice of the great questions in theology, 
 in the relation of God to man, would be seen and felt with 
 gladness of heart, were men to grasp this truth, “ The sentence 
 on the sinner is death.” It follows, Christ died the death, and 
 thus life eternal is handed over to the guilty one, for the 
 Saviour’s sake. This is the Old Theology, and how I do wish 
 the New Theology would take it up. “ Worthy is the Lamb 
 who was slain ! ” 
 
 In the year 1876, or about that time, the subject before us 
 was up. It was more closely and ardently looked at than 
 perhaps it is to-day. To-day, it may be moving on more 
 successfully, although quietly. Then it was before the mind 
 in England, in America, in Germany, and even in France. 
 One or two French writers were particularly pronounced, as 
 witness the following: Dr. Petavel, on his work, “Struggle 
 for Eternal Life.” The point is the essential character of all 
 punishment. He says if we carefully consider it, all punish¬ 
 ment implies more or less of deprivation and loss. A fine 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 165 
 
 consists in loss of money ; imprisonment, the loss of liberty ; 
 death, the loss of life. The parable of the vine and the 
 branches is introduced. Jesus said, “ I am the vine, and My 
 Father is the Husbandman : every branch in Me that beareth 
 not fruit, He taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit, 
 He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. ... If 
 a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is 
 withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and 
 they are burned.” The wicked are pruned away from the 
 trunk of humanity to be consumed, and their destruction shall 
 be complete and final. Such is everlasting punishment. 
 
 According to the Bible, life is a sacred trust which God with¬ 
 draws from those who abuse it. The Creator forces no one to 
 remain seated at the banquet of life. He grants immortality to 
 the righteous, but those who seek to alter the conditions of 
 being, exclude themselves from its possession. We will now 
 turn to our own countrymen, “ The wages of sin : what is it? ” 
 by Mr. Hobes. Man’s answer: “ An endless hell of the most 
 awful torment the living and the true God can inflict or tell 
 about! ” (“ British Evangelist ”), and not only the “ British 
 Evangelist,” but all Chrisendom, with few exceptions, give 
 similar answer to the question. Yet, strange to say, the 
 answer given is, that “ the wages of sin is death.” From 
 Genesis to Revelation this is taught as plainly as words can 
 put it. 
 
 The case of Rev. David Macrae comes up. The brethren and 
 fathers of the U.P. Presbytery deliberated for hours on the 
 denial of eternal torment by David Macrae. Their finding was 
 that Mr. Macrae stood condemned by the rules of the Church, 
 and that he be removed from his church, and so be excluded 
 from any church in the connection. I have pleasure to-day 
 in knowing that the persecuted for truth’s sake called me his 
 friend. His letter runs :— 
 
 Ashton Manse, 
 
 Gourock, 3 rd October , 1875. 
 
 Dear Mr. Beattie, 
 
 Excuse me not replying sooner to your note. I have been 
 incessantly occupied and overwhelmed with work, and many kind letters 
 like your own remain, I regret to say, unanswered. I know that, under the 
 circumstances, you will forgive me. I read your letter in the Free Press 
 with great interest, and should like exceedingly to see the others, or any¬ 
 thing else you may write on the subject. When Christian people have been 
 
i66 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 brought to think on the subject, and look this profound belief full in the face, 
 the doom of the Westminster dogma will cease, and Scotland will be 
 delivered from a dark and revolting superstition. 
 
 If you have suffered in the cause you will never regret it. It is the rule 
 now, as of old, someone must suffer for the people, but truth is bound to 
 triumph. Ever your friend, 
 
 DAVID MACRAE. 
 
 It is to be noticed that Mr. Campbell, in the battle, comes 
 in at the end. On the eternal torment battle-field the prize 
 was gained years ago, yet he, by virtue of talents, influence, 
 and culture, may claim and get the honours. All the same, 
 the occupant of the City Temple pulpit is only true to his nature 
 when he is throwing light on the darkness of this unholy 
 dogma. 
 
 After this we are led on to consider the popular views of 
 the punishment of sin, as exposed by Mr. Campbell. I think 
 it right and just first to see what the scriptures say. Well, the 
 Apostle records, in the first part of the epistle to the Romans, 
 how matters stand. It clearly shows up the nature of the fall, 
 and also recovery from it. How by the death of Christ we are 
 saved from the curse of sin, and by the nature of the death 
 endured by Christ as the sinner’s substitute, we have it plainly 
 revealed what the character of the death is in which all are 
 involved. Admit this—and who will have the hardihood to 
 deny it ?—and all controversy must be at an end. The death 
 of Christ, in the hands of the Apostle, is no mere condition of 
 life of sorrow or suffering, no moral or spiritual condition before 
 God, no state of soul suffering after the body is dead. The 
 atonement that justifies is alone made by the shedding of 
 blood, by physical death in the most literal and absolute sense. 
 This may not be after the mind of Mr. Campbell, but most 
 surely prepares us to do justice to what is advanced. Heaven 
 and hell come in for a good deal of attention. The work here 
 is needed, and is true and faithful. One view has been that 
 the deceased saint lies sleeping in the grave until the arch¬ 
 angel’s trump shall sound, and bid all men awake to the great 
 assize. Another view, in contradiction of the former, has come 
 down to us, namely, that immediately after death the soul 
 goes to heaven or hell without waiting for the archangel’s 
 trump and the grand assize. Mr. Campbell does well in 
 placing this contrast and disagreement. We are reminded of 
 that great American preacher, Dr. Talmage. He was ever 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 167 
 
 able, at a moment’s notice, to lift even the most infirm saint to 
 glory. A few minutes did the job. The gates of heaven were 
 thrown open, and friends were all on the outlook for the arrival. 
 It all came according to expectation. Some short time 
 ago, a rich lady died, and at the funeral service all was 
 done which could be done. A popular preacher had the 
 service. The dead lady, he said, might be present on the 
 occasion, and have joy in looking on them all. This is very 
 far from the facts of the case. The truth is when a man is 
 dead he is dead. The dead know not anything. Mr. Campbell 
 thinks more of the Catholic Purgatory than of the Protestant 
 way ot doing business, and from this we are brought on to 
 the Judgment Day and the physical resurrection. The first 
 remark on this is : “ What is the good of tormenting a soul in 
 hell for ages, and then whirling it back to the body, in order to 
 rise again and receive a solemn public condemnation?” There 
 is only one way we can get relief from the contradictions and 
 absurdities so well exposed by Mr. Campbell. We can only 
 find comfort and satisfaction in one way, and that is by turning 
 to the Bible. There we find it in language clear and in¬ 
 structive : “ But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, 
 concerning them who are asleep, that you sorrow not as those 
 who have no hope : for, if we believe that Jesus died and rose 
 again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring 
 with Him. For this we say unto you, by the word of the 
 Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the 
 Lord shall not prevent them who are asleep : for the Lord 
 Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice 
 of the archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead in 
 Christ shall rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall 
 be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the 
 air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Such is the Old 
 Theology—it is the oldest known—and this, too, while it is the 
 word and gives assurance, is founded on the atonement. All 
 this has the preference to any aspect of the new device. When 
 the new stands out, we find a bold attempt, and illustration 
 after illustration is brought into the service. The spirit and 
 power of love takes the place of selfishness, and that there may 
 be no mistake, we are told this is the atonement. The 
 perishing on the sea finds willing, sympathetic helpers : that is 
 the atonement. Miners, who are entombed in the pit, find men 
 
 L 
 
168 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 giving their own lives to save them : that is the atonement. 
 The Salvation Army lassie goes to the slums, and there works 
 hard : that is the atonement. In that work the New Theology 
 brings this mode of advocacy as one of its chief efforts, and as 
 we look at them, as we think of them, we are reminded of the 
 artist who took the likeness of a cow ; when finished, he 
 thought its identification would be better seen by writing in 
 plain English : “ This is the Cow.” The New Theology appeals 
 to and stands in the wisdom and power of man; the old holds 
 on to the wisdom and power of God. 
 
 Ring it out—let the light come in—“ If ye believe that Jesus 
 died and rose again, even so, them also who sleep in Jesus will 
 God bring with Him : for God hath not appointed us to wrath, 
 but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for 
 us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with 
 Him.” And if it is moral character that is the question, we 
 will hold on to the record: “ And the very God of peace 
 sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and 
 soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ.” As nobody can tell where the seed of the 
 word may take root and bear fruit to the glory of the Saviour, 
 I will venture another testimony : “ To you who are troubled, 
 rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, 
 with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on 
 them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting 
 destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory 
 of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, 
 and to be admired in all them that believe.” In all this, we 
 may have anticipated the question, “ What becomes of the 
 whole fabric of popular Protestant theology concerning the 
 plan of salvation, the Judgment Day, and the atoning merits of 
 the Redeemer ? ” I am very pleased to let the answer stand 
 as it is, and many blessings crown the same. 
 
 This is a strange position advanced in the New Theology : 
 “ Neither do we choose our friends on account of their chances 
 of heaven or hell.” All the same, there might be much 
 dependent on a selection. In the way to heaven, the narrow 
 way, there are few travellers : few that find it. Yet, in all ages, 
 it is there that the noble and true have been found. The 
 honest and the friendly are there, the workers of the right and 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 169 
 
 those who have been full of hope are there, the children of the 
 Father are there, and one who is of the house of faith is in a 
 false place where he gives no preference to the cloud of 
 witnesses. Then, regarding the broad road, there are plenty of 
 passengers : many find it, and although there be many honest 
 men on this road, there are an overwhelming number anything 
 but right and pure and safe, and in choosing friends from 
 this lot there is neither wisdom nor prudence; besides, the 
 position taken lowers the flags. No preference given to the 
 narrow way, increases buoyancy and dash of the broad way; 
 and more, heaven and hell is no chance business; the one or 
 the other is deliberate choice. In making choice of a wife, I 
 was blest. The selection was from four girls coming from a 
 prayer meeting, and that lassie was my holy and happy and 
 enlightened friend and companion for sixty years, and to-day I 
 am comforted in looking at the history of that choice. Things 
 for time and for eternity depend on the selection of our friends. 
 At Wooler, a father once said to me, “ My son has just left for 
 Newcastle, and I am much concerned about the friends he 
 makes: his companions will decide the history of his life.” 
 Another man may choose a bar-maid as a friend and wife, 
 and find an angel, yet I would not advise any young man to 
 try to fish in such a pool. The whole concern may be set 
 down as a pig in a poke. All the same, it is wise to look 
 ahead in the choice. 
 
 In page 174 we are run up once more to the dogma device— 
 stronghold defence of the new order of things, thus—“ In the 
 first place, if sin is selfishness, salvation must consist in ceasing 
 to be selfish—that is, it represents the victory of love in 
 the human heart.” Observe, this is not good enough. Love 
 may gain the victory in “ the human heart,” and yet the victor 
 may at no time, when none is near but God, bend the knee, 
 and there and then ask the forgiveness of his sins. The victor 
 may never have thought of salvation or of the Saviour: that 
 he needs a Saviour may never have crossed his mind. He is 
 fixed, not in the power and goodness of the Saviour in bringing 
 the gospel of mercy to his door, without money and without 
 price, but in the possession of love in the heart, and selfishness 
 shut out. The victor we thus see is building his house on 
 sand, and in the storm which shall come, he shall find the 
 nature of his foundation. A cheque, with the name of a sound 
 
170 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 man on it, may be cashed in any bank of the realm, but a 
 cheque from the “ New House,” in any bank or agency in the 
 kingdom of heaven, would not be accepted : it would be 
 returned dishonoured, whatever name it carried. It takes no 
 adorning to make the victor with love in his heart, and in 
 action, a noble man worthy of honour. As a member 
 of society, he is the strength : his presence there 
 helps to make life worth living. We say, honour to 
 whom honour is due, but draw the line between the citizen 
 of this age and the heir of the next dispensation. A man 
 may fight well in the one case, and find its reward, but in the 
 other, this fight has no claim in the kingdom where the meek 
 shall rule, and the poor in this age, rich in faith, shall go to 
 and fro. 
 
 There is liberty in the New Theology taken to show what is 
 “ the true salvation.” Mr. Campbell is a liberal-minded 
 gentleman: he would give another the same freedom he enjoys 
 himself. He is not known as a stand-off, starchy customer. 
 Well, we may proceed with our work. The true salvation 
 comes to us through and by the despised Jew. “ The Son of 
 Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost.” Here, 
 the gospel advocate, the preacher of righteousness, finds this 
 difficulty, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray;” and to bring 
 home to the noble, the moral, and the far-seeing among men, 
 that they are wandering, lost, is the work of divine agency, and 
 all leaders in the field should employ it. It is old, but it is 
 true: “ The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” 
 In prosecuting this mission a little further, go to the 
 Liberal Club, bring out the most popular man there, and tell 
 him that he is lost; that, if he is to be saved, he must commit 
 himself into the hands of the Son of Man. This may be droll 
 —far from classical. It is not up-to-date, yet it is with him as 
 with all men, if he is to be saved, he must find the Saviour; if 
 he is to find his way home to eternal rest and peace, he must 
 •come under the leading of the Son of Man. 
 
 The Son quickeneth whom He will: “Verily, verily, I say 
 unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that 
 sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into con¬ 
 demnation, but is passed from death unto life.” Clearer 
 language, and more important, could not reach us, than we 
 have here. Salvation is within reach : the Son of Man, its 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 171 
 
 author, has brought it very near, and our acceptance secures 
 possession. We thus see it is not the giving a free hold of 
 our heart to love, and casting out of possession, selfishness, that 
 is salvation. The same new cock may crow ever so loudly, 
 but it wakes no dead, and gives no salvation. It is the Son of 
 Man, and He alone, who delivers us from condemnation, and 
 so gifts salvation. “ God so loved the world, that He 
 gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him 
 might not perish, but have everlasting life.” “The Bread of 
 Life is He who cometh down from heaven, and giveth life 
 unto the world.” “Jesus said unto them, I am the Bread of 
 Life, the Living Bread which came down from heaven; if any 
 man eat of this, he shall live for ever. Verily, verily, I say 
 unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink 
 His blood, ye have no life in you.” “ Simon Peter answered 
 Him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of 
 eternal life.” The Son of Man told Mary, on the occasion of 
 the raising of her brother from the dead, “ I am the Resurrection 
 and the Life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, 
 yet shall He live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me, 
 shall never die : because I live, ye shall live also.” I may say, 
 I have not unduly burdened this page : it was necessary that 
 these glorious and saving truths should stand out boldly. This 
 is so on account of their own beauty, and adaptability to the 
 case of fallen man; and also, on this account, their place and 
 power is dying out of the faith and preaching of to-day. 
 
 We are brought now to consider “ Conversion.” It is con¬ 
 sidered an important subject, and in this light we look at it. 
 We read : “ In the history of mankind, the change from selfish¬ 
 ness to love, from darkness to light, from death to life, has 
 often meant something much more pronounced than this. A 
 man may have been living a bad life, and become suddenly 
 changed, by some appeal to his better nature, made in the name 
 of God. He may have felt humiliated and distressed by his 
 new-found consciousness of sin. He may have prayed earnestly 
 and felt that forgiveness had come, and that the peace of God 
 had entered and taken possession of his soul. He has 
 deliberately and solemnly consecrated his life to Jesus, and 
 feels that henceforth he is, as it were, in a new world. This 
 change is rightly termed conversion: a turning round and 
 doing right.” I shall say, to differ from this verdict is the 
 
172 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 right of any man who sits in judgment thereon. In the case 
 before us, conversion is said to be very much the result of man 
 operating on himself: “A change from selfishness to love.” 
 This is a good and a great change, but most certainly it is not 
 conversion. Conversion, to all intents and purposes, is God 
 operating on man, and not man on himself. The grand book 
 to give one a correct view of what conversion really is, is the 
 Acts of the Apostles. The first there noticed was the result of 
 the most remarkable discourse ever delivered, and the converts 
 the largest in number ever gained. The multitude were charged 
 with the murder of Jesus Christ. They were told He rose from 
 the dead, that He ascended to heaven, and that He is coming 
 down from heaven again. This declaration cut the hearers to 
 the quick. “ They cried out, What shall we do ? Then 
 Peter said unto them : Repent, and be baptised, everyone of 
 you.” This is the old-fashioned way of conversion. The 
 whole weight of conversion rests on the death and resurrection 
 of the Son of God, the Substitute and Saviour of the fallen, of 
 the lost. Take another case : the Ethiopian eunuch. The 
 place of the scriptures which he read was this, “He was led as a 
 sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before his shearers, 
 so opened He not His mouth; in His humiliation His judgment 
 was taken away, and who shall declare His generation, for His 
 life is taken from the earth.” Philip preached Jesus. “ The 
 eunuch said, Here is water, what doth hinder me from being 
 baptised ? If thou believest with all thy heart thou mayest; 
 and he answered, and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the 
 Son of God. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into 
 the water, and he baptised him.” This arrangement may not 
 suit the mind of the age, but it carries the gospel stamp, and 
 also the approval of the Author of our salvation. Any other 
 force, however attractive and held up by public advocacy and 
 approbation, counts for little. We cannot but look, though 
 only for a moment, at the conversion of the Apostle Paul. The 
 Most High took the matter into His own hand. While on the 
 mission of deepest determination to punish the advocates of the 
 gospel, he was arrested in his mad career: he was brought to 
 the truth divine, of which he became the foremost advocate 
 in the history of the gospel age ; and for his Redeemer, no 
 man ever suffered as the Apostle to the Gentiles did. In his 
 labours, he gives a summary of Gospel truth : “ Moreover, 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 173 
 
 brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, which I have preached 
 unto you, which ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by 
 which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I have 
 preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I 
 declared unto you, first of all, that which I also received : how 
 that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and 
 that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, 
 according to the scriptures.” Such was conversion in old days. 
 Its cause, nature, and results cannot change, cannot be im¬ 
 proved, and their virtue in saving or converting power holds 
 the field. We cannot close this point without giving God all 
 the glory. 
 
 Scarcely is one question examined until another is out on 
 the board. The one now before us is punishment: “ But how 
 does this kind of salvation do away with the penal consequences 
 of past sin ? If not, what is its relation to them ? To 
 answer these questions we must look a little more closely into 
 the nature of such penal consequences. Perhaps it would 
 help to clear up the subject, if I were to say frankly, before 
 going any further, that there is no such thing as punishment, 
 no far off Judgment Day, and no Great White Throne, and no 
 Judge external to ourselves.” Before proceeding further, I 
 would say this is a very poor and unsatisfactory way of 
 answering the question. It is in harmony with all history that 
 there is punishment for the past at a judgment day in the 
 future. The position taken is irreconcilable with experience 
 and with revelation. The first and the last in the history of 
 our race is punishment for disobedience. The first is : “ Dust 
 thou are, and unto dust shalt thou return.” This punishment 
 is running its course to-day. “ Death passed on all men, for 
 all have sinned.” Now the last: “ Another book was opened, 
 which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of 
 those things written in the books, according to their works, and 
 death and hell were cast into the lake of fire—which is the 
 second death—and whosesoever name was not found written in 
 the book of life was cast into the fire.” To deny this, serves no 
 good purpose, and solves no question. The question before 
 us is of the first importance, and the word has an open door 
 and a big window, and a free light, and we do well to seek the 
 light. The example and revelation here is worth dwelling on 
 and closely following : “ Brethren, be ye followers together of 
 
174 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 me, and mark them who walk so as ye have us for an example. 
 For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell 
 you, even weeping, that they are the enemies of the Cross of 
 Christ; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, 
 whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. But 
 our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the 
 Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, 
 that it may be fashioned like unto His own glorious body, 
 according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue 
 all things unto Himself.” Before us, we have now the out¬ 
 standing points in the government of the human family. There 
 are two lots : the portion of the one is destruction, the other 
 has given unto him an immortal body like unto the Saviour’s 
 body. Observe, there are things which can be blotted out and 
 there are things which can be changed, but the things now 
 before us cannot be blotted out, neither can they be changed. 
 Here the New Theology shows its weakness and its will. All 
 the same, destruction to the one, and life to the other, is the 
 same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. “ The wages of sin is 
 death ”—the greatest punishment in the judgment, human or 
 divine—“ but the gift of God is eternal life ”—how I love to 
 sound His praise—“through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Mr. 
 Campbell frankly states his position, and I may be forgiven for 
 frankly stating my own. 
 
 “ Be still, and know that I am God,” is an advice given for 
 wise purposes. So, when Mr. Campbell lets himself go, with 
 his confession of faith, there is a loud call to stand and look at 
 the “get up.” The whole article is worth repeating : “Perhaps 
 it would help to clear up the subject if I were to say frankly, 
 before going any further, that there is no such thing as punish¬ 
 ment, no far off Judgment Day, no Great White Throne, and 
 no Judge external to ourselves.” We are called here, and here 
 we are left to ask what remains ? There are merchants who, 
 while they have little inside their premises, always manage to 
 keep a good show in the window, and have it clean and 
 well-dressed. In the case now before us, the window is small 
 and the show is poor. The cock crows well in the morning— 
 you admire his put on—but in this declaration of faith, which 
 is put for theological purposes, there is no theology. Theology 
 is a showing of the relation of God to man, and of man to God. 
 You will search long and closely in the case before us and not 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 *75 
 
 find this relation. Take away punishment, the Judgment Day, 
 and the throne of the eternal—the white throne—and you 
 harry the nest, and the damage done is irreparable. 
 
 I have no intention of going abroad, yet I like to hear how 
 men who have gone to a new country are getting on : always 
 pleased with their success. I admire their window when well 
 dressed, but when we look on the New Theology window, it is 
 poorly put up : the show is anything but fascinating. It is 
 remarkable how bees find the way to the honey flower, but man 
 —noble man—will seek out and be satisfied with that which 
 has no sweetness. The world over, men prefer the water of 
 death to the water of life, by which preference they shorten 
 their lives, and put seventy thousand souls in their graves 
 every year. I do violence to no man when I say our 
 Christianity is leaving the good old paths, the paths of salvation 
 and of life. We come round now to our own confession of 
 faith. I believe that the disobedient will be punished, that 
 there is a Great White Throne, that Jesus, the Son of God, will 
 be Judge in that day, and that there is no condemnation to 
 those who are in Jesus Christ. The living and the dead will 
 by Him be judged, and the judgment will be righteous. 
 
 I am sure and safe in my standing. Here there is rest for 
 the weary, hope and heart for the worker, assurance for the 
 Christian endeavourer, a rock for the bold and self-denying, and 
 for love in action, it is like showers on the thirsty ground. 
 This 4th of July, 1909, is before us. I have seen the 4th of 
 July eighty-five times, and for seventy years I have stood by 
 the Cross of Calvary and the hope of glory, and the grace of 
 our heavenly Father has all the way sustained me. And, if 
 my testimony is worth anything, it is given with clearest vision 
 and strongest heart; with living hope, and happy in the love 
 and counsel of heaven. Thus, I am set free, and equipped in 
 my Master’s work. I call the sinner to repentance, saying there 
 is time and room for him, and forgiveness in the name of the 
 Saviour, who shines in the window for him. And then, to our 
 companions in battle, we say, Work to-day, work now, for the 
 night cometh when no man can work. Work now, for as our 
 work is, so shall our reward be when pay-day comes. Should 
 the timorous ask, What can I do ? Reply, Do the right; do 
 what you can, and no man can do more. This action secures 
 a prize. 
 
176 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 Such privilege, honour, and glory, which are our rightful 
 possession, stand far beyond the boundary lines of the New 
 Theology. All these are like immortality—conditional— 
 cannot be changed nor farmed out. They are all yea and 
 amen in the Beloved. This fourth day of July a gentleman 
 made a remark to me : “ This beautiful weather makes one feel 
 as if life was worth living.” So, with the possession and living 
 hope of the Old Theology, one feels that life is a joy, and 
 that all the way we shall sing— 
 
 Jesus, my Lord, I know His name ; 
 
 His name is all my boast; 
 
 Nor will He put my soul to shame, 
 
 Nor let my hope be lost. 
 
 In considering and explaining “ Salvation and Penalty,” the 
 real judge is brought out for observation. “ And, pray, who is 
 the judge ? Who but yourself—the deeper self—the self who is 
 eternally with God. The pain caused by sin arises from the 
 fact that the soul is potentially infinite and cannot have its true 
 nature denied. If you go and live over a sewer you will be ill.” 
 Before proceeding to consider this quotation, I cannot but remark 
 that there is a touch of wantonness, coupled with an absence 
 of reason, of practical methods, and of logical decernment, all of 
 which should not be seen in anything like the great question of 
 “Who is judge?” To place the guilty party on the bench, and to 
 make him sole judge in his own case, is a manner of procedure 
 which would bring to an end all law and all justice. The guilty 
 one is permitted to go into the witness box, but he is never 
 allowed to hold the seat of the judge. We will take up the New 
 Theology creed and see how it works. The murderer from 
 India who murdered Sir Curzon Wyllie, a worthy citizen and 
 first-clsss servant of the crown, and over which men in all 
 climes lament—set the murderer down as his own judge in his 
 own case, and wire this off as a fact to India, and in twelve 
 months India is out of hands. 
 
 The New Theology enfeebles men’s minds, and in practice 
 would overthrow the strongest nation. We will be told Mr. 
 Campbell would not set a murderer as judge. I know he would 
 not—in practice he would not, but in theory he would. The 
 theory stands before us on the authority of Mr. Campbell, 
 “ Who is judge but yourself? ” This is addressed to the guilty, 
 to sinners. Well, sinners are under the sentence of death. 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 177 
 
 This may be denied. In all time it stands the law of heaven. 
 We are asked to tell Jesus, the pure, the just, the holy One, to 
 leave His throne and give His place to the guilty, the sinner, 
 This scheme may catch on, but in the law and council 
 of the eternal it is vain, futile, and unworkable. The Indian 
 murderer has as good a right to sit his own judge in his own 
 case in the court at London, as the sinner has to sit his own 
 judge in his own case in the court of heaven. 
 
 Turn now to the man ill living over a sewer. The illness 
 will depend on the state of the drain, and is altogether uncon¬ 
 nected with the state of his mind, and for a cure he does not 
 tell the afflicted to appeal to his better self to let love take 
 possession of him. No, he sends for the mason and the 
 plumber. They set things right, and purity of air follows and 
 the illness is gone. But there is an application made of man 
 and his illness by the sewer. Here it is—“ We cannot continue 
 to live apart from the whole, for the ‘ real you’ is the whole.” 
 This is certainly new, but it is not theology. I repeat and hold 
 fast to this, it is not theology. There is no relation of God to 
 man—none. Take away this by whatever means and our hope 
 and standing are gone. “ The ‘real you’ is the whole.” Note, 
 this “real you” has his breath in his nostrils, and were God to 
 withdraw his breath he would return to the dust. Here we 
 have the nut opened and the contents revealed. The “real you ’’ 
 is like the grass, and his glory like the flower of the grass. A 
 south-easter will make him button his coat, but the cough 
 comes, and where is he? This “real you,” the idol of the new 
 school, we are told we cannot live apart from it. Note, this 
 doctrine will never bring butter to any man’s bread, and regard¬ 
 ing salvation, we can live and be happy far, far away from this 
 “you.” In fact, if life and liberty, pardon and peace, hope 
 and joy are to be our portion, give this “you” a wide birth. “Do 
 not err, my beloved ; every good and perfect gift is from above, 
 and cometh from the Father of Lights, with whom is no variable¬ 
 ness, no shadow of turning; of His own will begat He us by 
 the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of His 
 creatures.” 
 
 The next subject tabled is “ The Spiritual Resurrection.” 
 On this we read : “ It follows from this that the true resurrection 
 is spiritual, not material; and this is the sense the word is most 
 frequently employed in the New Testament. In the four 
 
i 7 8 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 gospels Jesus is represented saying: “ I am the resurrection 
 and the life; he that believeth in Me though he were dead, yet 
 shall he live; and he that believeth in Me shall never die.” 
 These quotations, to be any proof, Jesus must have said that 
 the resurrection, that His own resurrection was spiritual, not 
 material. This He has never done; but on several occasions 
 He has done the very opposite, and done it too in language 
 easily understood. What follows is written for our instruction : 
 “The Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon 
 And as they spake Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them 
 and said, Peace be unto you ; but they were terrified and 
 affrighted and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And He 
 said unto them, Why are ye troubled, and why do thoughts 
 arise in your hearts ? Behold My hands and My feet, that it 
 is I Myself; handle Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and 
 bones as ye see Me have.” In face of all opposition, we have 
 to defend the great and glorious fact that the resurrected body of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ was material, not spiritual. “And when 
 He had thus spoken, He showed them His hands and His feet.” 
 This demonstration gives no support to the assertion that 
 Christ’s resurrection was spiritual. “ And while they yet 
 believed not for joy and wondered, He said unto them, Have ye 
 any meat ? And they gave unto Him a piece of broiled fish 
 and of a honeycomb, and He took it and did eat before them.” 
 We may say, Where is the real, the spiritual resurrection ? It 
 has no place here, nor in any other part of the holy record. 
 In the resurrected body you find the real, the seen, the material: 
 the spiritual is not to be admitted. 
 
 Here and now we hail the resurrection of the redeemed as 
 clear and full of hope. It is so. We will be like Him, we 
 will see Him as He is. Our body will be changed and made 
 like to His own—glorious—by that power whereby He is able 
 to subdue all things unto Himself. “ So also is the resurrection 
 of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. 
 It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in 
 weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it 
 is raised a spiritual body. And so it is written, the first man 
 Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a 
 quickening spirit. In this we have the processes and the 
 result—a spiritual body, but flesh and bones all the way—all 
 the way a material body. This mortal must put on immortality 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 179 
 
 and this corruption incorruption, and, the crown and joy of it all, 
 death is swallowed up in victory.” Notice, the New Theology 
 germ—from which we are told we cannot live—is not seen, nor 
 felt, nor heard amid the glory of the good time coming. Christ 
 is the resurrection and the life—not a spirit, but a man; and in 
 triumphs of the coming kingdom, He shall reign a man among 
 men. 
 
 Our author gives considerable space and attention to 
 “ Theories of Resurrection.” On a bit in the discussion he 
 remarks, “ It is fairly clear that the early Christians were 
 convinced that the body of Jesus, after the resurrection, was the 
 body of Jesus as they knew it before.” There conviction was 
 the result of truth demonstrated, of fact standing before them. 
 With that same body they walked, they spoke, they felt, they 
 reasoned, they took counsel. Jesus stood before them no 
 ghost, no spirit—a real material body—a body the same after 
 the resurrection that it was before the resurrection. It was the 
 same body that was taken up to heaven, and when He appears 
 on earth the second time to complete the purpose of God, in 
 the same body, will be king ; and that man will make the 
 people willing in the day of His power. But we have to do 
 with the author’s view—his own device, his own conviction. 
 Having denied the fall of man as recorded in the scriptures, we 
 are prepared to see strange revelations of the important business 
 of restoration once again in favour of God, and the place He is 
 destined to hold in the plan of salvation. 
 
 We are told this is the way things are : “ The philosophy 
 underlying the New Theology, as I understand, is monistic 
 idealism, and monistic idealism recognises no fundamental 
 distinction between matter and spirit. The fundamental reality 
 is consciousness. The so-called material world is the product 
 of consciousness exercising itself along a certain limited line.” 
 This is a very wonderful deliverance. The miller who puts his 
 hand into his customer’s corn sack, to find corn for his pigs, is 
 said to have no conscience. There are such things as a good 
 and a bad conscience, and in these two there is a vast variety 
 —soft and hard, clear and dark, free and bound—a kind which 
 holds on to self, and a kind which turns from self to the service 
 of the living and true God. There is another kind—it is new, 
 of course—which is raised to the throne of universal dominion, 
 and made to account for all things, by the author and designer. 
 
l8o THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 Before this image we are expected to bow ourselves. Further, 
 the author here is not sure whether all his own followers, on 
 some of the points, will agree with him or not; but, for himself, 
 he holds the fort. It is truly remarkable that merchants^ 
 business men, clerks, ministers, and working men, should 
 simply, in passing, lift their hats to such an image. For a 
 moment still: “ This new world is no more and no less material 
 than the present : it is all a question of consciousness.” The 
 dividing line between the Old Theology and the New may be 
 seen and measured in this division. Let the scrutiny and weight 
 of sense take and hold the field. There is no safety, no help, 
 in the one, and there is the helper in the other. “ The shadow 
 of a great rock in a weary land.” I like the old paths, the old 
 faith, the old hope. “ The grace of God which hath appeared for 
 all men.” “ Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear 
 Him, upon them that hope in His mercy; to deliver their soul 
 from death and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waiteth 
 for the Lord : He is our help and shield. For our heart shall 
 rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name.” 
 Like honest men, let us put the question : Which is which 
 and who is who ? 
 
 “ No theory of the resurrection of Jesus is absolutely indis¬ 
 pensable, or of first-class importance.” If ever I felt a desire 
 to stand my full height, under the blessing of God, in meeting 
 an assertion, it is now. The theory of the resurrection, as 
 given to us by the sacred penmen, is absolutely indispensable, 
 and of first-rate importance, and thus it became the source and 
 centre of all that is true and saving and honourable in the 
 salvation and eternal life of man. To that salvation, the 
 resurrection of Jesus from the dead was indispensable. Had 
 He been left in the grave, our hope, our joy, our crown of 
 righteousness would never have reached us. By the grace and 
 power of the Lord herein displayed, we stand free men, and 
 heirs of the kingdom. By the resurrection of Jesus, we are in 
 Him blessed now : our outlook is glorious, and our rights to 
 possession cannot be disputed. The resurrection of Jesus is 
 indispensable in securing and realising the height and depth 
 of the love of the Father which passeth knowledge, and is also 
 indispensable for our own resurrection. We have pleasure on 
 this spot or ground to throw out the flag : “ If thou shalt con¬ 
 fess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and shalt believe in 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. l8l 
 
 thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou 
 shalt be saved.” Let the echo fly : “ Jesus, being delivered by 
 the determinate council and foreknowledge of God, ye have 
 taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain; whom 
 God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because 
 it was not possible that He should be holden of it.” For the 
 head and front of the Christian system, the resurrection of 
 Jesus was indispensable. 
 
 In this connection we have presented for acceptance “ The 
 main thing to be agreed upon, that Christianity started with the 
 belief that the founder had risen from the dead, in order to 
 demonstrate that death has no power to destroy anything 
 worthy of God.” It must be stated, in opposition, Christianity 
 had no such start as is here indicated. The power of death 
 was felt thousands of years ago in the destruction of the finest 
 forms that ever the sun shone on. Worthy the power, the 
 purpose, and the wisdom of God at that time, and right on, 
 and now, death holds the field, and there is nothing living but 
 comes under its power and ends in destruction. The innocence 
 and beauty of baby life : that smile on the cheek which is 
 ample pay for a mother’s care. In the midst of this tenderness y 
 love, and sweetness, the destroyer, Death, comes in and all is 
 gone. The strength and power of man, with everything 
 favourable in his surroundings, has to send for the doctor. 
 Man and doctor are weak and powerless. The highest wall is 
 scaled. The destroyer enters, destruction is begun, and the 
 worm is the power; and the form, noble, great, good or bad, is 
 reduced to dust. Here science, history, experience, and 
 scripture all unite—all agree that death destroys every living 
 thing, and everything that has lived—and here comes in the 
 merits of the Old Theology : the last enemy, Death, will be 
 destroyed, and this triumphant victory will be life forever more. 
 It is truth, at the closing of the present age the curse will be 
 taken away; the whole creation, which is still groaning and 
 waiting for the liberty of the Son of God, will be set free in our 
 liberty. Here, for once, is equality—for once all men are 
 equal—the servant and the master, the millionaire and the 
 beggar, the orator and the dumb, the free and the bond. 
 Whatever road these may take they end in death—they are 
 destroyed. No theory, no desire can change this order of 
 things, and whatever agreement there may be otherwise, death 
 
182 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 holds the fort. But, this is the winning side—Jesus is the 
 resurrection and the life. 
 
 Our attention is directed to another plank in the New 
 Theology: “ For after all that body (the body of Jesus Christ) 
 was but a thought-form, a kind of language, a mode of com¬ 
 munication between mind and mind. It was no more and no 
 less a thought form than an apparition would have been.” What 
 an idea ! The resurrected body of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer 
 of men, the Son of God, put out, taken away, and a “thought- 
 form ” put in the place of it. In this construction, for the 
 sinner or saint, there is neither help nor hope. It is otherwise 
 in the councils of heaven. He finished the work given Him to 
 do, not in thought form; He was put into the grave, not in 
 thought form ; He rose from the grave, not in thought form but 
 in reality and in truth. He saw no corruption. The “physical 
 body ” was raised, and all the divisional lines in the thought 
 form of the New Theology cannot make it other than real, true, 
 and tangible—He, the man Jesus, risen from the dead. 
 
 In this division of the subject we are told that Paul wrote 
 favourably of the new school. This is remarkable. We have 
 always considered Paul co be our best, and most clear and most 
 dogmatical upholder of the Old Theology. With him, Paul, 
 it is said, as with the writer of the fourth gospel, “ the spiritual 
 resurrection was the uprising, going forward, issuing forth of 
 Christ or divine man within the soul. When He speaks in this 
 way He allows the thought of a physical resurrection to drop 
 out of sight.” We say all proof is against this asser¬ 
 tion. “ If we have been planted in the likeness of His 
 death, we shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.” Let us 
 consider this dropping out of the physical resurrection. The 
 passage before us is addressed to believers, and is the record : 
 “ Know ye not that as many as were baptised unto Jesus Christ 
 were baptised unto His death ; therefore ye are buried with 
 Him by baptism unto death ; and like as Christ was raised from 
 the dead, by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in 
 newness of life. For, if we have been planted in the likness of 
 His death, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection.” 
 This is the full account, and where it is given there are no signs 
 of dropping out the physical body. Everything in the passage 
 is clear, tangible, material and true, and instead of favouring 
 the New Theology, it is struck down in heart, head, and heel. 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 183 
 
 With Paul there was no dropping out of the resurrection. 
 In the epistles, the resurrection of Jesus is the source of peace, 
 the star of hope, the ground of pardon and reconciliation. In 
 the gospel plan, the standing of Jew and Gentile in the same 
 ground is by the Cross, and by the mighty power of God, 
 which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the 
 dead, and set Him on His own right hand in the heavenly 
 places. 
 
 We find Paul equally faithful in his defences of himself and 
 of his mission, to the place the resurrection holds in the gospel 
 scheme. In the synagogue at Antioch, we see him by the 
 Cross, and by the resurrection, asserting how God, by this, 
 fulfilled His purpose: “ And though they found no cause of 
 death in Him, yet desired they Pilate that He should be slain, 
 and when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, they 
 took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a sepulchre, and 
 God raised Him from the dead.” Notice is given of those who 
 were witnesses, then the Apostle continues, *• We declare unto 
 you glad tidings, how the promise was made unto the fathers, 
 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He 
 hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second 
 Psalm, Thou art My Son: this day have I begotten Thee.” It 
 is further noticed, David saw corruption, but He whom God 
 raised again saw no corruption. These points are to be 
 observed : the resurrection of Jesus was no ghost or thought 
 form used to suit the state of the people’s mind for the time 
 being. The thing itself and the things connected with it were 
 real facts, and in no circumstances did the Apostle show signs 
 of giving in. With him, the greater the occasion the greater 
 the reason of upholding God’s acceptance of the sacrifice, and 
 therein is man’s salvation and safety. The redeemed He hath 
 purchased with His blood. 
 
 Perhaps the finest defence anywhere to be met with, is that 
 of Paul before Agrippa. We read, “The Jews caught me in 
 the temple, and went about to kill me. Having, therefore, 
 obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both 
 to small and great, saying none other things than those which 
 the prophets and Moses did say should come: that Christ 
 should suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise 
 from the dead, and should show light unto the people and to 
 the Gentiles. We may now observe selfishness overcome, and 
 
 M 
 
184 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 love taking possession of the heart, which is a blessed attain¬ 
 ment, and, wherever seen, a thing of beauty. But this beautiful 
 thing has no cross, therefore it has no crown, and no resurrection 
 of the body of Jesus, and no life-giving power. 
 
 In direct opposition, Mr. Campbell writes, “ The only 
 salvation we need trouble about is the change from selfishness 
 to love.” This may be the best that man can produce. Here 
 man may try the strength of his own arm, but it is only his own 
 arm, and, on the question of salvation, will not count for much. 
 Whatever salvation is, it involves the wisdom, power, and 
 purpose of God : without these, salvation is unattainable. A 
 loving soul once said, “ I know in whom I have believed, and 
 I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have 
 committed unto Him against that day.” Commit what you 
 may to an unselfish, loving man, and you have not gained 
 much; as you are—so is he—a sinner, unpardoned and without 
 hope, and without strength. He has no offering for his own 
 self; he cannot pay his own debts, and these must be paid, 
 either by self or by a substitute, in the current coin of the royal 
 bank. Death must be so looked at, and can only be so dis¬ 
 charged. Therefore, the only salvation we need trouble our¬ 
 selves about is finished for us, and presented to us as the gift 
 of God through His Son and our Saviour. 
 
 “ Like a landscape, as we advance, new and wonderful 
 subjects are presented to view, and to look at such is the work 
 of the interested and the intelligent. Look here, it follows 
 from what has now been said, that all these familiar terms imply 
 each other, and that death, judgment, heaven, and hell cannot 
 be properly regarded as the ‘ last thing ’: they are all here now 
 within the soul.” Well, we have at this landing, the four 
 greatest and most important subjects in creation, in prophecy, 
 and in fact. These are said to be “ all here within the soul.” 
 Let us hold to truth : in doing so, we say that not one of the 
 four is here in any soul, rich or poor, enlightened or ignorant. 
 Let death touch any soul, under any condition, and the 
 moment this touch is made, life is gone. Death is not to be 
 dodged; it cannot be affected by the faith, the creed, or the 
 teaching of men. Death is not shaped by the desire and hope 
 of the soul. Teachers may call it a blessing; or, as Mr. 
 Campbell has just said, “ Death is only a bend in the road.” 
 Death is but the punishment of sin and nothing else,. 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 185 
 
 You may put the dead in the grave, or allow them to rot 
 in the sun, but both are subject to the same law, and both are 
 reduced to dust. The moment death enters the soul, life is 
 gone, and life will never be resumed, but at the last day, when 
 Christ raises him from the dead. Whatever theologians may 
 say, there is no light like that which comes from heaven. Our 
 freedom here is the right of every man redeemed. Through 
 the darkest cloud which sin and death can gather, we can look 
 for triumphant victory. This age will close in victory over 
 death, and the Victor shall be the Lord Jesus Christ: “ When 
 this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal 
 shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass 
 the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory; 
 thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord 
 Jesus Christ.” 
 
 The next article is the Judgment, and it is said to be within 
 the soul. The soul has for a long time been the store-room for 
 many a strange conception. What we have here is one of 
 them. Observe, judgment now is not within the soul, nor 
 within any other place or thing. This I confirm by my 
 morning’s paper reading. Take home life, where we have 
 crime in its vilest, blackest, and deadliest forms. Take 
 political life, and you find selfishness dominant in the best 
 educated and highest and richest of the land, as exposed by 
 the oration of that statesman, Churchill, in Glasgow, on 
 Saturday, 17th July, 1909. Here the possessors of wealth are 
 held up with their broad acres, whose riches were—every 
 shilling—toiled for by the poor and the oppressed. The 
 enterprising and the successful—those privileged ones—hold 
 their property with as iron a grip as ever despot held. Here 
 and now we have loss of life on sea and land, and misery, sin, 
 and shame on all sides. Judgment is not now, for when the 
 Judge shall sit, the meek shall inherit the earth, and there 
 shall be nothing to hurt nor to destroy in all God’s holy 
 mountain. Then debates in the parliament of our own land, 
 and the parliaments of other lands, will be things of the past, 
 and warships, big and small, will stand monuments of man’s 
 folly, ignorance, and weakness. 
 
 Judgment is not here and now, in the soul, nor anywhere 
 else, but the power of men governing men, judging from the 
 exposures and facts of everyday life, stands much in need of 
 improvement. 
 
i86 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 The Judgment was brought as near to us at the opening of the 
 Gentile age to the gospel rights and privileges as it has ever 
 been since. Peter’s testimony runs, “We are witnesses of 
 these things, chosen of God, in the land of the Jews and in 
 Jerusalem, whom they slew, and hanged on a tree; how God 
 raised Him up the third day, and showed Him openly, and He 
 commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it 
 was He who was ordained of God to be the Judge of the quick 
 and the dead.” 
 
 More and more we are led to love the “ old paths ”—there is 
 peace and rest in the same—“ Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye 
 in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the 
 good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your 
 souls.” The Judgment is not now, but that day will come, and 
 that Judgment shall be righteous and true. The subject of 
 Paul’s discourse, to the learned and the privileged at Athens, 
 was “The Unknown God.” “The times of this ignorance 
 God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to 
 repent, because He hath appointed a day in the which He will 
 judge the world, in righteousness, by that Man whom He hath 
 ordained, whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in 
 that He hath raised Him from the dead.” We thus find that 
 the highest authority holds the Judgment to be real, evident, 
 and demonstrated by accomplished facts. While on everything 
 on our part it shall also be real, evident, and demonstrated 
 by accomplished facts, good or bad, the result will be according 
 to the goodness or to the badness. There is such a thing as 
 the wise and the foolish virgins : to the one the door is open, to 
 the other the door is shut. From such a reflection comes the 
 importance of making ready when we can. The Son of God 
 may stand at the door at the last moment, and cry, “ If any 
 open I will come in and sup with him and he with Me ”—the 
 mercy of the Most High never fails. All the same, it is awful 
 folly to stand unmoved by the open and shut door at the 
 marriage supper of the Lamb. If we wish a good seat for 
 a banquet of the season, we secure our ticket in time, so if 
 we hope to have a good seat, and the Master’s approval, on 
 the coming Great Day, we should now make sure that we 
 have the provided wedding garment! If we expect to. be 
 honoured branches of the True Vine, let us, in the present, be 
 found bearing fruit. On our part, in face of Judgment, the 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 187 
 
 blessings and the privileges will be according to work accom¬ 
 plished. 
 
 On the question of salvation, Mr. Campbell says, “ Perhaps 
 it would help to clear up the subject if I were to say frankly, 
 before going any further, that there is no such thing as punish¬ 
 ment, no far off Judgment Day, no Great White Throne, and 
 no Judge external to ourselves. I say there is no punishment 
 of sin, in the sense in which the word * punishment ’ is usually 
 employed.” With the Word of God in my hand, I cannot 
 find how this frank confession can make clear the question of 
 salvation. It is a frank confession of denial of the main 
 doctrines, life, and hope of the Christian standard. One thing 
 it most truly lays out, is the gulf fixed between the New 
 Theology and the Old. That which has been preached as the 
 mind and purpose of God, in the everlasting salvation of His 
 people, is cast out: thrown to the wind. And what is left ? 
 We must hold that punishment for sin committed is inwrought 
 in every page of history, sacred and secular. In the experience 
 of every age and of every sinner, any meaning may be given to 
 the word punishment. There it stands, as the purpose of 
 God to show His displeasure of sin, telling even to the life of 
 future generations; there it stands, as correctives and warnings 
 to sinners: finger-posts planted not by the sinner, but by the 
 Judge, who loveth the life and health and joy of His creatures. 
 “No punishment” may be a leading doctrine in the book, 
 “ New Theology,” but in the same there is neither grace nor 
 truth nor hope. Life is the greatest good, or blessing, a man 
 can enjoy; on the other hand, the greatest punishment is 
 death. Death is the punishment for disobedience: it was 
 the condition of the first man, and it is the condition of the 
 latest bom. The sum of the whole matter stands here : “ And 
 this is the deposition, that God hath given to us eternal life, 
 and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life, 
 and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” Lay hold 
 on eternal life, which God promised. 
 
 On the mode of action recommended, “No Judge external 
 of ourselves,” we can bestow no favour. This sets ourselves 
 on the seat of judgment. It brings up our own case, and sits 
 on it. Instead of this, wisdom, sound policy, justice, and a 
 verdict of right demands another mode of administration. I 
 hold, and we only declare the truth when we say, there is 
 
i88 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 another Judge, external, beyond, and above ourselves. The 
 Father has given the judgment to His Son; in view of this, 
 we affirm justice will be done. Like the criminal in the hand 
 of the police, we will be brought to the bar, and life or death 
 and all that these represent shall be the sentence given. On 
 the one hand, there is “ Come,” and life; on the other, 
 “ Depart, ye cursed,” and destruction. “ He that soweth to 
 the flesh, shall reap rottenness and corruption, but he that 
 soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” 
 The two forces in the world are flesh and spirit, and their 
 products are death and life. The one cannot run into the 
 other. The hand that keeps them separate and distinct, is the 
 ruling hand of the just Judge. Therefore, in spite of all 
 opposition to the far-off Judgment Day and the frank denial 
 of the Great White Throne, the day will come, and we shall 
 see and stand before the Throne, and before the Judge. For 
 these reasons the Old Theology should hold the fort. It may 
 not: the last times may be upon us, and in these last times 
 the faith will not be strong, nor held by many, yet he that 
 overcometh shall inherit all things; praise and power and 
 glory be unto His great and holy name. 
 
 We may now look closely at the nature and spirit of this 
 question: “And who, pray, is the Judge?” Somewhat 
 arrogantly, the answer is at hand, “ Who, but yourself.” 
 Well, well: and who are you? A man—a sinner—whose life 
 and whole being are as the grass, and his glory as the flower of 
 the grass, whose crown and kingdom shall fall before the 
 unconquerable law of the worm ; the All —the sinning all—the 
 infinite, the whole word. The Judge? Who, but yourself, 
 under the sentence of death. Let it be said, and let us uphold 
 the saying, Such a claimant has no authority for the office by 
 his own merits, self-gained or self-inherited by nature. Pre¬ 
 sumption, however, must show itself: “ The deeper self is the 
 Judge, the self who is eternally one with God.” We ask, in all 
 composure, Where do we find such a being ? In the holy 
 beauty, and the searching scrutiny of your own home, answer 
 where and when there is none near but God, and let the answer 
 be according to outstanding truth. “ The heart is deceitful 
 above all things and very wicked.” The creature of a day, 
 the creature who robbed himself of life, the creature whose 
 portion is death, and over whose being death will hold its 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 189 
 
 claims, if eternal life is not accepted, as a free gift, from the 
 Lord, through His Son Jesus Christ. I may now press the 
 question, “Who is Judge?” Our answer shall be embedded 
 in the plan and purpose of the Almighty : “ And the angel said 
 unto her, Fear not, Mary, thou hast found favour with God, 
 and, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth 
 a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and 
 shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall 
 give unto Him the throne of His father David, and He shall 
 reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom 
 there shall be no end.” And to the same key-note, let the 
 song still be sung : “ And the angel said unto the shepherds, 
 Fear not, for, behold, I bring you tiding of great joy, which 
 shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the 
 City of David, a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord,” and the 
 testimony went round, “ Glory to God in the Highest, and on 
 earth peace and goodwill toward men.” We must know who 
 has the claim, the right to be Judge. “The high priest asked 
 Him, Art Thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed ? And Jesus 
 said, I am, and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right 
 hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” “ The 
 powers of heaven shall be shaken, and then shall appear the 
 signs of the Son of Man, and then shall all the tribes of the 
 earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the 
 clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall 
 send His angels with the sound of a trumpet, and they shall 
 gather together the elect from the four winds, from one end of 
 heaven to the other.” With the evidence now submitted, along 
 with the name and character of the authority, we are most 
 surely able to say, the appointed of the Lord is Judge. Jesus 
 the Christ, the Redeemer of men, shall have every knee to bow 
 unto Him, to confess that He is Judge to the glory of God the 
 Father, and to the joy of the redeemed among men. 
 
 Mr. Campbell, in one passage, makes a strange statement: 
 “ Heaven and hell are within the soul.” In another place he 
 says, “ Heaven and hell are states of the soul.” From the 
 above statements, the writer puts himself into a position which 
 cannot be depended upon by reason nor by revelation. We have 
 here three distinct things which are so different that they cannot 
 be run into one another. Whatever views of heaven we may 
 entertain, that place stands out the throne of God, the place 
 
igo 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 of unbroken purity, peace, joy, and glory for ever. Hell, on 
 the other hand, whether we view it simply as the grave, or as 
 a place of burning and woe, darkness and destruction, is the 
 regular order. Again, the soul or life of a man may be a prize or 
 a failure. The capacity of the soul has wide boundary lines, 
 but heaven or hell have no place there. I asked a poor 
 wanderer one day where he lodged the previous night. At the 
 model, was the answer. The model is a perfect hell; while 
 this is so, the building itself had no place within the wretched 
 man’s heart or soul. To-night, the wanderer may die by the 
 way-side, but the model stands the following morning as it has 
 stood for years, and so heaven and hell stand, although the 
 weary wanderer drops off the spar to-night. The glory of 
 heaven is not affected thereby, neither is the darkness of hell 
 made less or more intense by this change. While this is so, 
 the lowest down in the moral scale may, by the grace of God, 
 be made partakers of that salvation which secures the hope of 
 life everlasting, life purchased, life redeemed by the Son of God. 
 The salvation of the New School, for all its talk, philosophy, 
 and wisdom, centres in an arm of flesh, and is only the work of 
 a man’s love crushing a man’s individual selfishness. It is a 
 remarkable scheme: “ When a guilty soul awakens to the 
 truth, hell begins.” Observe all the awakenings on record 
 begin and end in a different fashion. 
 
 The greatest awakening we know anything about was that 
 recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. There Peter gave a 
 speech on the history of the Jews, and, pointing to the good¬ 
 ness and greatness of God toward them, showed that love 
 and favour were resisted by them, that they murdered the 
 Prince of Life, and that He was raised from the grave and 
 exalted to heaven. “This same Jesus is Lord and Christ.” 
 The truth, and not hell, touched their hearts and souls. The 
 multitude looked to Peter and the rest of the Apostles, saying, 
 “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” The answer came 
 home, “ Repent, and be baptised, every one of you, in the 
 name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall 
 receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” “ They that, gladly 
 received the word were baptised, and the same day there were 
 added unto them about three thousand souls. Peter’s speech, 
 on this occasion, was the most remarkable on record; modern 
 or ancient times cannot match it. For doctrine, for historic 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 191 
 
 truth, for gospel testimony, and for moral power and purity, it 
 stands by itself. The result was the most successful ever 
 numbered ; and hell, which is one of the chief agents used in 
 the New Theology in regard to the awakened, had no part to- 
 play in the three thousand who were awakened and converted 
 on the Day of Pentecost. I have long thought that men give 
 the devil many a job he has got no right or claim to, and to 
 give hell—the devil’s “ kitchen ”—a chief part in the play in 
 the awakening of men, is in opposition to heaven, and is just a 
 stroke of the old hammer, only wielded in another hand. Any 
 system of theology, and any plan of salvation, which leaves 
 out the Saviour, the blood of the Lamb of God, the grace and 
 mercy of the Father, by the free, full gift of eternal life through 
 His Son, cannot be recommended by and in the light of the 
 scriptures. It is this light we love, uphold, and, in the 
 strength given, will keep in memory that by which we are 
 saved. 
 
 The question is primary. The awakening and the conversion 
 of sinners to love and obedience of gospel truth is a question 
 which stands first—chief among the great of any age. We 
 shall therefore hold on, applying to the scriptures only. Then 
 we must at once state that of Saul of Tarsus, Saul was chief 
 among sinners, and in controversy his case holds good. This, 
 as an example, may be taken by the greatest wanderer and the 
 greatest sinner; and such may say, If there is room for Saul I 
 may press in and find salvation. This is the influence which 
 may at once be drawn. Saul was a persecutor of God’s 
 people. On a mission in authority he went to bring to punish¬ 
 ment the believers and advocates of the love and mercy and 
 grace of the gospel. He was arrested. He was brought to 
 a knowledge of the truth, after which he became the first writer 
 on gospel hope and assurance; he became the first defender of 
 himself as one redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. His 
 public appearance is so inspiring and instructive that we are 
 justified in giving a portion of one of his addresses. “ Men and 
 brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever 
 among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation 
 sent. For they who dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers, because 
 they knew Him not nor yet the prophets which are read every 
 Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning Him. 
 And though they found no cause of death in Him, yet they 
 
192 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 desired Pilate that he should slay Him. And when it was ful¬ 
 filled, all that was written of Him, they took Him down from 
 the tree and laid Him in a sepulchre; but God raised Him 
 from the dead. He whom God raised again saw no corruption.” 
 Such was the man Paul and his manners, how he was saved 
 and also the salvation he proclaimed for Jew and Gentile. Let 
 it be closely observed, hell got no jobbing in the case before us, 
 and it is an exact representation of all the awakenings and 
 conversions recorded, having the approval of the author of our 
 salvation. Again we are informed in the New Theology what 
 salvation is. It is said to be the love of a man in a man 
 asserting itself and putting selfishness to the door, and writing 
 over this condition of changed nature and its walk the words— 
 This is salvation. This change may be good, and for the New 
 Theology it may be very good ; but it stops short of pardon, 
 of forgiveness of sin, and of all questions of eternal interest. It 
 is an army of flesh trying a stroke of business which infinite 
 love, mercy, and power only can accomplish. And then, if a 
 high moral, intellectual, and Christian standard is to be reached, 
 we go forward to a life-giving force, and from this force draw 
 the inspiration. “ Thus the grace of God that bringeth 
 salvation to all men, hath appeared, teaching us, that denying 
 worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in 
 this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the 
 glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus 
 Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might deliver us 
 from the iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people 
 zealous of good works.” 
 
 From what is now before us, it follows that death, judgment, 
 heaven, and hell are not within the soul of any man, and that 
 death, the punishment of sin, is the lot of every man, and is 
 more “than only a bend in the road.” The New Theology 
 may glory in the conception—death a bend in the road; yet, 
 there is nothing in it—it has no place in fact, in experience, in 
 history, nor in grace. Death is the end, the limit, the conclusion. 
 The breath gone—that moment the man is gone. There may 
 be long life, but at last, and over the longest life is written, he 
 died. Here comes in, in all the power and glory of the 
 resurrection of the Life-giver, of Him who was dead—no bend 
 in the way, He was dead—but is alive forever more. We need 
 not mistake the ground, we hold to the testimony : “ I am He 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 193 
 
 that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive forever more, 
 Amen; and have the keys of hell (grave) and of death.” One 
 reflection here, if it were only a bend in the road, if He were 
 not dead, we are yet in our sins; and from that position, 
 scripturally established, no man can escape. If it were only a 
 bend, death is our doom. 
 
 Mr. Campbell—“ My own impression is that when we 
 individually pass through this crisis we shall find the change 
 to be very slight.” This impression may be very agreeable 
 to entertain, but we have a more sure word of prophecy, to 
 which we will take heed and exhort others to do the same. 
 After death the judgment. “ In the resurrection of the dead, 
 it is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown 
 in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in meanness, it is 
 raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a 
 spiritual body.” Individually let us hold to the truth. 
 Language could not more clearly nor more strongly describe 
 the change, the honour and glory of the change, from and 
 through death to life. And then relatively, we shall meet the 
 great and the good; we shall meet the redeemed of all ages; 
 we shall meet the Redeemer; we shall see Him as He is; we 
 shall be like Him, as agents in the everlasting kingdom» 
 working out the pleasure and purpose of God the Father, of 
 God our Heavenly Father. Our surroundings will be pure, 
 and to purity inspiring. There shall be new heavens and new 
 earth, wherein shall dwell righteousness and peace for evermore. 
 This wonderful change is not simply my impression, 
 while it carries the Stamp, the Seal, the Signet of the King 
 of Kings and Lord of Lords. It is my simple faith—it is my 
 own—all my own. 
 
 Our author says, “ Salvation and atonement are just as 
 operative on the other side of death as on this.” I may at 
 once state that in all my reading I have never met anything 
 which could warrant or justify this assertion. The wisdom 
 of any age cannot be brought to hold it up, and what remains 
 of the Gospel in our declining age, we have still this to go 
 by, “This is the day of grace, now is the hour of salvation.” 
 And as the tree falls so it lies. No man ever had the truth 
 more fully brought to him, and to us through him, than 
 Nicodemus the Pharisee had. Not only was the truth and 
 ■wonders of the second birth put before him, but the beauty, 
 
194 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 the simplicity, and saving power of the Gospel were revealed in 
 holy and happy terms. “ As Moses lifted up the serpent in 
 the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that 
 whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have 
 everlasting life.” Notice this, the Gospel is proclaimed to every 
 man this side of death. But there is not a word in its connection,, 
 nor a word in any other connection, of this Gospel being for 
 men dead or living beyond the grave. It is now that men 
 make their hay when the sun shines. The Sun of Righteousness 
 in grace and mercy is now in the sky, and the offers of 
 salvation are brought near, very near. But this day of grace 
 does not last for ever, and when it is closed, it is closed. 
 Let me ask, if salvation and atonement are just as operative 
 on the other side of death as on this, Why is it that there is no¬ 
 account of this given to any man now or at a former time? 
 Revelation, history, science are as silent as the grave. No 
 man has any authority for his salvation—now or after—by 
 building up a high, holy character, by his establishment of 
 love in his own soul, and by that love so established crushing 
 out selfishness. Like the everlasting hills, the old Theology 
 stands with the never-failing breath of heaven fanning it. “ God 
 so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that 
 whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have 
 everlasting life.” The gem is precious, and it shines in its- 
 own lustre. “ God sent not His Son into the world to condemn 
 the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” 
 We love to ring the change—it is genuine. “ He that believeth 
 on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is con¬ 
 demned already, because he hath not believed in the name, 
 of the only begotten Son of God.” We have here clear and 
 decisive evidence, and should settle the question of salvation 
 and the atonement in operation beyond death. The prized 
 life eternal is won now or lost for ever, so the Scriptures say.. 
 And now, without much of the spice of preaching, we hold 
 aloft the flag. “ Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away 
 the sin of the world.” 
 
 In the same parcel we have this consignment, “ Belief in 
 the atoning merits and the finished work of the Saviour will 
 not compensate for wasted opportunities and selfish deeds.” 
 Observe, I do not like the construction of these lines, nor the 
 point aimed at. Belief in the atonement makes no com- 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 195 
 
 pensation with neglected duty or with selfish deeds. The 
 finished work of the Saviour condemns sin, and upholds, 
 proves the love for the sinner as no other thing has done 
 or can do. The statement before us brings down the 
 belief in the finished work of the Saviour. That belief never 
 for a moment makes a bargain with nor for sin here : there 
 is no counterbalancing account. We know that “ whosoever 
 believeth in and is begotten of God, sinneth not; but he that 
 is begotten of God keepeth himself, and the wicked one 
 toucheth him not.” And this is ever before us, “The blood of 
 Christ Jesus cleanseth from all sin, and there is no con¬ 
 demnation to them who are in Him.” And once more, “ If 
 a believer sins, his sins on repentance are forgiven for Christ’s 
 sake.” Wasted opportunities and selfish deeds fall before 
 the grandeur of the power of the atoning merits—and the 
 finished work of the Saviour—not of a Saviour, as in the New 
 Theology manner, but of the Saviour. In the Saviour the 
 greatest sinner may return. 
 
 We shall go on: “These latter, wasted opportunities and 
 selfish deeds, will light the fires of retribution as the soul 
 awakens to its true condition.” The believer in the atoning 
 merits of the finished work of the Saviour stands in no need 
 now, nor at any aftertime, of fires to bring him to a true sense 
 of his condition. Retribution is far beyond his line of action. 
 His every account is settled for him, and not by him. His 
 case is in good and sure keeping. No fire of retribution can 
 be brought against the belief in the atoning merits and the 
 finished work of the Saviour. The believer’s true condition is 
 pardon—peace—with living power to bear fruit becoming his 
 high and holy calling. As the redeemed of the Lord, he 
 carries his Saviour’s name and nature, which give him a free 
 pass to all that is blessed now, and a lively hope for all time 
 to come. Fires may break out anywhere, but they cannot 
 reach the believer. He is wide awake to his own interest 
 and to the hononr of his God. Again, we are told these fires 
 of retribution may obtain for Christ His opportunity of dealing 
 with the awakened soul. It is remarkable that one who has 
 exposed so well the nature of eternal hell fire should, in his 
 own deliberation and schemes of theology, fall back on hell 
 and fire. The first question on the point before us is, What 
 is the true condition of an awakened soul? By whatever 
 
196 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 means a man is awakened, he finds himself poor and lost. In 
 that state, a Saviour is needed. He hears the voice of the 
 Saviour. That voice is tender and true, loving and merciful, 
 timely and efficacious. Under all conditions He leads by 
 green pastures and by still waters. Pardon, peace, and hope 
 are brought home through the merits of the finished work of 
 the Saviour. The case of the poor and lost is well met in the 
 cross—fully met here. And the indwelling Christ never finds 
 His way into the heart, home, and soul in any other road, 
 public or private, than by His own finished work. That blessed 
 work bears all burdens and pardons all sins, and gives daily 
 access to the Father and Lord of Glory. Citizenship and son- 
 ship, and all else which they represent by these, are the birth- 
 right, eternal life—an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled—the 
 presence of the Lord ever near. 
 
 Opportunities .—The opportunities of Mr. Campbell’s con¬ 
 struction are very different from those on record as wrought out 
 by the Saviour. In the one, there is neither beauty, love, nor 
 utility; in the other, you have the man, Christ Jesus, in all the 
 truthfulness of His nature and mission, clothed in saving grace, 
 in practical truth, and in upbuilding force. In wealth of 
 Christian friendship and brotherhood, the study of Christ’s 
 opportunities, written for instruction, is one of the most 
 profitable works in which any man can be engaged. For 
 growth in grace, and for heartiness in the divine life, we have 
 instruction and conditions of Christian service which nothing 
 can surpass ; and nothing can show the difference between the 
 New Theology and the Old than Mr. Campbell’s opportunity 
 for the Saviour is, and what the opportunities of the Saviour 
 are, by Himself. Take an example or two. First, the two men 
 on the road to Emmaus. They were discussing the question 
 of the hour—the resurrection of the Saviour—Jesus drew near : 
 His thoughts and sympathy were with the men in a 
 moment. The men told their story, and when this was done, 
 the great Teacher said, “ Ought not Christ to have suffered 
 these things and to enter into glory? And beginning at Moses 
 and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the 
 Scriptures things concerning Himself.” We are bound to mark 
 the difference of the modes of address. Jesus Christ always 
 upheld Moses and his writings. Mr. Campbell’s faith and 
 character rather bent the other way. His inclination led him to 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 197 
 
 deny Moses and to lightly esteem his works and writings. We 
 cannot mistake the fact. This, thrown on the stream in our 
 present state of general unbelief, swells and raises the power 
 of the flowing tide. The hand of young men who would be 
 great—on the cultured, on the scientific, and on the up-to-date 
 company, and even ministers are found to pull up the main 
 sail of their own loved church to contribute something to the 
 outcome of a fine and well-polished mind. Yet not all or any 
 of this host will ever have in their efforts the experience of the 
 two men referred to. The one said to the other, “ Did not our 
 hearts burn within us by the way, and while He opened to us 
 the Scriptures.” 
 
 The New Theology stands by Moses for condemnation. 
 Moses gave an account of the creation of man—his fall—the 
 result of disobedience, and the seed of the woman. These are 
 all rejected by Mr. Campbell and his friends. The rejection of 
 a ransom, of a deliverer, of a sacrifice for sin, all come in or all 
 must follow. This rejection necessitates another Bible or 
 another method of reading or understanding the Bible, which 
 exercises or calls to the front a standing of moral excellence 
 before man and God, which is said, by the new prophet and 
 reformer and deliverer, to be salvation. The New Theology 
 deals very much with human instrumentality, and seldom gives 
 place to the aim and purpose of the Almighty, and never holds 
 on to the Son of God as the sacrifice from sin. The account 
 given us by Moses puts down the necessity of a substitute of a 
 redeemer. The finding of the substitute declares not only the 
 sinfulness and weakness of man, but the love and mercy and 
 majesty of God. “ He gave Himself for us that He might 
 deliver us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar 
 people zealous of good works.” Moses is the authority, approved 
 of Jesus Christ and by all the New Testament writers, and 
 to-day we are safe in holding on to this authority, and to feel 
 the obligation—the duty—to put our faith here right to the 
 front. This is our opportunity, and may the soldiers of the 
 Cross be brave men and true in the Master’s service. How we 
 love this combination. “ It is God who justifieth. Who is he 
 that condemneth? It is Christ who died, yea, rather that is 
 risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also 
 maketh intercession for us.” 
 
 Speaking after the manner of men, we may say the following 
 opportunity of the Saviour after He rose from the dead was 
 
198 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 full of character and tact. The disciples were met in Jerusalem, 
 their minds unsettled, and deeply interested in what had been 
 witnessed and felt by them. They need high, holy council and 
 instruction. His words were, “ Peace be unto you.” They 
 were afraid, thinking they had seen a spirit. He said unto 
 them, “ Why are ye troubled, and why do thoughts arise in 
 your heart ? Behold My hands and My feet that it is I Myself: 
 handle Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye 
 see Me have.” He further declared His identity in relation to 
 all which He said unto them. “ These are the words which I 
 spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must 
 be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the 
 prophets and in the psalms concerning Me.” And further, 
 “ Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to 
 rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and 
 remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations 
 beginning at Jerusalem.” And the mission rolled out, and is 
 still rolling on, bringing salvation to men and glory to God. 
 Men may reject and may resist these things, may endeavour to 
 find something to put in their place. But over all such efforts 
 put in large letters, not the gospel, but failure. 
 
 Immortality .—This is made the last division in the chapter. 
 The heading stands thus, “ Evidence for the immortality of the 
 soul.” A most remarkable mode of procedure is here. 
 Evidence fails or is not at hand. From beginning to end of 
 the article we find no proof. There is none to be found. In 
 reading and in studying the production, there is much to regret. 
 There is nothing for which any intelligent person could be 
 satisfied, enlightened, or assured. Whatever happens to this, 
 the most important question, let evidence be brought forward, 
 let justice be done. The beginning of the deliverance is not 
 to be admired for the necessities of the case—for duty per¬ 
 formed. We read, “ Agnostics indifferent with regard to 
 immortality, and I am not going to argue with them.” It 
 appears to me, with the rolling strong tide of unbelief coming, 
 on, it becomes a reformer’s duty and a leader’s pleasure and 
 life to breast the wave in full force and noblest spirit. And if 
 to such he can prove the immortality of the soul, that which 
 no man has ever done, he is bound to find a road to the heart 
 and soul, which is certain to produce important and lasting 
 results. As the writer stands now, he is before unbelief, weak, 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 199 
 
 poor, and frivolous. The unbeliever is left, and he walks into 
 himself. “ It seems to me, probably before very long, it will 
 be impossible to deny it.” For what may be probable, for 
 what may be denied in the future, we are not responsible. But 
 for what we may reach by fair means, for what is within our 
 grasp, have we to carry account. Well, it is possible to deny 
 the immortality of the soul at the present time; and I do this 
 as my highest honour and my most important duty. As a 
 sinner, I have no right, no claim, to eternal life. Sin and 
 death from the very beginning until now went together, and 
 the connection is as close and strong to-day as ever it was. 
 Man is the creature of a day. His life, his weakness, his 
 sickness, his death all tell his resting-place is the grave. His 
 whole being from boyhood to the breaking up of his heart and 
 brains tell of a short-lived existence. We may be asked, But 
 what of his soul ? yes, what of it. If we want proof, go 
 to the root here also. Well, old-fashioned, yet true and safe 
 proof, is “The soul that sinneth it shall die.” There is no force 
 superior, no law or power more exacting than this sentence. 
 Its demands run as unchanged as they did six thousand years 
 ago. This makes way for one superior to man ; in fact, it 
 necessitates the intervention of a Divine Being before man can 
 be blessed with the hope of immortality—eternal life. There 
 is a necessity for divine help if the blessing is to be held or got. 
 Then and devoutly we have in it word, bright and abiding, 
 “ The gift of God is eternal life.” The record has it, “ This 
 life is in His Son.” On the point, a time may come when it 
 will be even more popular than now to hold the belief of 
 the immortality of the soul. To all which we answer, we have 
 days of darkness and unbelief before us, and it is wisdom to 
 prepare for that time. 
 
 We may move on. “ The mass of evidence for the persistence 
 of individual self-consciousness after death is rapidly increasing, 
 and is being subjected to the strictest scientific investigation.” 
 Well, after all, this sort of evidence has never been very 
 massive. For more than thirty years, men of the first rank 
 have been gathering every crumb which has fallen from the 
 scientific table, and the whole comes within small compass. 
 Mr. Campbell gives none of these, neither does he give any of 
 his prospective soil. Science has done its most and best, and 
 we feel at liberty to give, in relation to what is now before us, 
 
200 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 that which Paul gave to Timothy. “ O ! Timothy, keep that 
 which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain 
 babblings and oppositions of science falsely so called, which 
 some professing have erred concerning the faith.” While this 
 is so, many of the highest, noblest, most independent, and 
 scientific of the age, give no help to the immortal soul theory. 
 Some have told us the Bible has nothing to offer for the 
 immortality of the soul. We confidently affirm the Bible holds 
 to one thing. Death without substitution is the nature portion 
 and pronouncement on the human race. And scientific and 
 popular opinion have no power to change this, the order of the 
 Divine Being. A man may be fully conscious of the best 
 conditions of life to-day—the pulse in full, bold beat, the eye 
 clear, and the step bounding. To-morrow all may be quiet as 
 the grave. The level here, no man can rise above it. The 
 law and the gospel hold man a sinner—both on this are agreed. 
 
 Next Mr. Campbell asserts, “I build my belief in immor¬ 
 tality on the conviction that the fundamental reality of the 
 universe is consciousness, and that no consciousness can ever 
 be extinguished, for it belongs to the whole, and must be 
 fulfilled in the whole.” We might take honourably and 
 intelligently the ground, and hold there never was for time or 
 eternity the same or similar foundation laid by any builder like 
 the one now selected. Whatever price is paid for the site, it 
 cannot turn out well. The foundation is on sand, and the 
 structure does not bespeak much of Scriptural material exact¬ 
 ness. It is new fashioned, it is true, yet the whole thing looks 
 confused and dull. With the light of hope, joy, and of strength, 
 it will be difficult to light up. The last great storm is before it, 
 and if there is not shelter selected, the loss will be great and 
 irreparable. “ The fundamental reality of the universe is 
 conscientiousness.” Very well, it may take its place along with 
 science. They resemble each other in more respects than one. 
 They change with the times. Fickle they are and full of 
 pretention. I wish to be plain here. To attain immortality, 
 there are two methods or ways before the public. First, the 
 way of man, and then the way of God. We have already 
 seen the former. In contrast, we now look at the latter. At 
 once then we throw out our colours. Let the breeze and 
 blessing go along with the exercise. “ God so loved the world 
 that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 201 
 
 on Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.” The 
 moment we grip the force and beauty and feeling and 
 applicability of the passage, we discover a Helper close at hand, 
 who delivers from destruction, and bestows eternal life. The 
 hand which operates here is all-powerful, and the motive 
 power is love. The Son of the Most High gathers into His 
 fold. There He speaks of the safety of His redeemed, of His 
 true and chosen ones, and of His Father’s power and spirit in 
 holding safe all such. This may be reckoned old doctrine and 
 diet. Yet to build on this foundation is to be on the Rock of 
 Ages—-on the chief, on the corner stone—the selected of God 
 and the precious. “ Beloved, now are we the sons of God. It 
 doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know when He 
 who is our life shall appear, we shall appear with Him in glory.” 
 And so we shall ever be with the Lord. Of the two ways, 
 make your choice to-day. 
 
 “ When dubious paths perplex the mind, 
 
 Direction I afford ; 
 
 Life shall be his that follows Me, 
 
 And favour from the Lord.” 
 
 For man to lay down a passage to reach from mortality 
 to immortality was rather a bold stroke. Especially w r as this 
 the case when One there was who had been tried and tested 
 by the noble, great, and good of every age and found safe and 
 sound. The Author secures a full and free entrance to every 
 believer, and gives grace to run the race as well as shape the 
 course. His language of old was, “ I am the way, the truth, 
 and the life.” And right down the ages this truth and glory 
 shines. And on the way now, as well as after, “ There is no 
 condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.” There 
 may be storms on the lake, but at the right time He appears, 
 and His language is, “ Peace, be still,” and there is a calm. 
 Such is the Old Theological building. The Architect says 
 of Himself and of His work, “ I am Alpha and Omega, the 
 Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. Blessed are 
 they who do His commandments that they may have a right 
 to the Tree of Life, and may enter in through the gates into 
 the City. I am the root and offspring of David, and the 
 Bright and Morning Star.” We are inclined to linger here a 
 little. The New Theology holds consciousness to be the 
 fundamental reality of the universe. Well, what is conscious* 
 
202 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 ness ? It is the perception of the mind. There are few things 
 more prone to change than the mind. The mind is formed by 
 a thousand influences. Companionship, Church connection, 
 Sunday concerts, social and trades’ unions, up-to-date associa¬ 
 tions, dress, and home influence, all have a part in the 
 formation of the mind. And the perception of what passes 
 in the mind will be seen to vary as years go on. Scarcely 
 anything could be brought up which shows more ability and 
 inclination to change than the mind and conscience. Not only 
 so, but we are told consciousness cannot be extinguished. 
 The thought is foolish, and its connection can never grace the 
 gentleman and orator who calls it his own. There are things 
 connected with man which may last for a considerable time, 
 but conscientiousness is not one of them. At any date, the 
 hammer is up and the sound or sense may be called going, 
 gone. Such is the rule and fashion in life’s course. Con¬ 
 scientiousness again is personal, and is not fulfilled in the 
 whole. The conscience may be good or bad, educated or dark 
 as night. And regarding the ray of eternal consciousness, 
 no man ever had it, and therefore it could not perish. By 
 faith in God, through His Son the Redeemer, a man may—a 
 man has—hope of life eternal. But this hope is never gained 
 by conscientiousness—never ! The cheeriest bird that ever 
 sang one day met its seed dish without a pick, and another 
 day its song was not heard, and the next day it dropped off the 
 spar. So the strongest and purest orator that ever caught and 
 kept his audience met the day when he was unable to hold 
 forth, and another day he was sick over his morning meal, 
 and the next he fell from the spar—and bird and man went 
 the same road. They were carried to the last resting-place— 
 dust to dust—the bird as great as the man ; and the man will 
 be as silent as the bird for ever unless the last trumpet calls 
 him. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Church and the Kingdom of God. 
 
 The start here is new, strange, and unnacceptable on 
 Christian grounds. We give the launch as it reached the water: 
 11 If we have been right in holding that the terms salvation, 
 judgment, heaven, and hell, such as we have considered, 
 represent states of the soul.” To admit that Mr. Campbell 
 is right in his offset, is to turn out the conviction of 
 seventy years—is to break up the record of Christian faith and 
 hope held by the honourable, the useful, and the true in the 
 land of our fathers—is to accept the word of man by rejecting 
 the Word of God. The first question put is: “ What is the 
 Church ? ” The Church is a body of people, men or women, 
 “ built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets— 
 Jesus Christ Himself, the Chief Corner Stone.” This is an old 
 institution. It stands the strain put on it. It gives grace 
 and strength to the racer, and honour to the Master Builder. 
 The new building has a very great operation to draw the good 
 out of man for action, and in its operations to suppress or put 
 down selfishness. The work of the first Churches was to put 
 the claims and force of the Saviour, without limits, to reach 
 the sinner by love, and induce action, moral life, or goodness 
 on the saved. 
 
 The letters to the Churches, as given in the Scriptures, give 
 little or no foundation to the new faith—the New Theology. 
 The man who sets salvation, judgment, heaven, and hell down 
 to be simply states of the mind, is unfitted thereby to be a 
 theologian. We have here four principal agents in the moral 
 and material government of the world, by the breath and voice 
 of one man, put past—reduced to mental action or states of 
 action. The conception and reception of much mental 
 blemishes is a marvel to sober and candid thought. While 
 
 203 
 
204 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 that is so, and while the word unfolds the way and will of our 
 Father, Guide, and God, we may probably look at Churches 
 and Church work as laid down for our peace, mental improve¬ 
 ment, and growth in grace. One thing observable is the 
 prominent place given to Jesus Christ: our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 the riches of Christ, the eternal purpose which He purposed in 
 Jesus Christ our Lord, blessed be the God and Father of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, adoption of children by Jesus Christ Such 
 is the delightful fashion of one page in the blessed book given 
 to the first Gentile Church. The greatest improvement which 
 could come over the new church would be the coming round 
 to the work and merit of Jesus the Christ the Son of God; and 
 let us hold on to light and liberty flowing from this the only 
 everlasting source. 
 
 It is recorded that a father once trained his son for the 
 ministry. The old man heard his boy deliver one of his first 
 discourses, and at the close asked him, “ Where was your 
 Saviour to-day?” He answered, “My text and subject did 
 not lead me in that direction on the present occasion.” “ Well,” 
 said the old man, “ had it been me, I would have taken some 
 course where I would have got to Him I love.” It is a truth, 
 in all the primitive Churches, all roads led to the Saviour with 
 the most loving inducements to walk therein. I shall submit, 
 here one of the direct roads, and in no part of the way does it 
 run parallel with New Theology : “ Blessed be the God and 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath by His abundant 
 mercy begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection 
 of Jesus from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, un¬ 
 defiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 
 who are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation,, 
 ready to be revealed in the last time.” In this quotation, we 
 find at least two of the subjects which Mr. Campbell wishes to 
 hold simply as states of mind. In reference to this, we have 
 put our hand to the plough, and we are not going to turn back. 
 We have grace now, and in time future glory shall be ours. 
 All this is not simply a mental state, but in reality and in truth 
 an inheritance secured in heaven for us, and we, as God’s 
 believing people, are kept by almighty power, through faith, 
 unto the great salvation. This is a good way more than a 
 mental state, and to find the group four in number. We may 
 fill in, “ As it is appointed to man once to die, so after death 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 205 
 
 the Judgment, and to them that look for Him, to such He shall 
 appear the second time without sin unto salvation.’ 5 And now 
 the fourth of the New Theology—hell: “ And death and hell 
 were cast into the fire, which is the second death, and whoso¬ 
 ever was not found written in the Book of Life were cast into 
 the lake of fire.” 
 
 The Church and the Kingdom. 
 
 The subjects here are of the very highest importance, and 
 in the faith and proclamation of the City Temple they are very 
 suggestive. Before going on, we look at some things brought 
 up by his critics. Doubtless a man of Mr. Campbell’s gifts— 
 culture and position—would expect and court criticism. To 
 some extent he is what he is by the handling he has had. 
 Considering the great distance he has travelled beyond the 
 ground gone over by any other man, or any other body of men, 
 in the region of religion, ancient and modern, the wonder is 
 how easily he has been let off. His mercies here are tender, 
 and, in not a few instances, must have been helpful to him. 
 One would be justified in concluding the clergy of all grades 
 in keeping quiet under the circumstances. Numbers of the 
 cloth—even the moment the New Theology car was advertised 
 and while the steam was being got up—were found to put in a 
 word on behalf of great talent and great attainment: that 
 before this a good deal was to be said on both sides, and that 
 it was time something should be said and done. The show 
 should have been better, the stand more clear, and the fighting 
 power in better form than it has been. A soldier of the Cross 
 should be well furnished, strong, and ready, at any rate, in 
 the presence of the enemy. I use this word enemy simply 
 in as far as the belief and pronouncement of the New Theology 
 goes. 
 
 The Church .—On this subject we are treated to the different 
 kind of Churches, on their construction old and new. It looks 
 strange that the foundation of Christ’s Church was passed over 
 in the article before us. Still it stands out boldly and clearly 
 for instruction and use. The question is put, “ But whom say 
 ye that I am ? ” Simon Peter answered and said, “ Thou art 
 the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered 
 and said unto him, “ Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh 
 and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father who 
 
206 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 is in heaven. And I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and 
 upon this Rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell 
 will not prevail against it.” This is the foundation—Christ 
 the Son of the living God. On this Rock stands all the 
 redeemed of God of all the ages—not on Peter but on Christ 
 the Son of God, and the man or Church that passes by or over 
 it, shall find themselves landed on sand. “ Rock of Ages cleft 
 for me, let me hide myself in Thee.” 
 
 We have seen the first part of the building—the foundation 
 as laid by Christ Himself. Let us now see the first part on 
 man’s side or part. Our author says the membership of the 
 Church was clearly defined—the gateway was baptism. On 
 the ground here advanced we are agreed. Holding to the 
 figure gateway, it stands open to-day, and no other is of use 
 even now. These the author still further brings out: “ Who 
 were baptised in a proper way, even though they were un¬ 
 conscious infants, were members of the Church of Christ, and 
 all others were outside.” Let me say, there is no evidence to 
 be found to support this assertion, and without proof it has no 
 value. Whatever place unconscious infants may have in the 
 favour of God, they have no place in the Church of Christ, so 
 far as doctrine and history can testify. It was hundreds of 
 years after the organisation of the Church before the baptism 
 of infants was acknowledged as a rule of the Church; and, so 
 far as is known, there was only one way of conducting the 
 ordinance, and that was by the believer being immersed in water. 
 Thus the significance of the Apostolic rule : “ Therefore we are 
 buried with Him by baptism unto death, that like as Christ was 
 raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we 
 also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been 
 planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also 
 in the likeness of His resurrection.” We have here the well- 
 defined nature and mode of baptism. The New Theology 
 leads or tends to lead into confusion. 
 
 The baptised were interested in one another, and, becoming 
 one in their Master’s service, met for mutual comfort and 
 upbuilding in their most holy faith. There was mutual interest 
 and mutual effort. There was work to be done, and it was to 
 be mutual: everyone knew his part, and felt the duty in the 
 performance. Personal work, or work for the whole, was not 
 reckoned a drudgery. The noblest workers often received 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 207 
 
 hard blows and little gratitude. The face of the Church is 
 very much changed at the present time. Both leaders and 
 led try to put on a different coat from their fathers. Short 
 time and big wages is the way of the ministry, and the 
 Churches will have it so. Pleasure is much sought : “ Lovers 
 of pleasure more than lovers of God.” The way of peace is 
 not largely sought. Faith and love of God, as Protector and 
 Defender, is dying. The big ship of war and the quick-firing 
 gun, an up-to-date efficiency, is held by all classes in the 
 Church and in the State as the way to keep and make for 
 peace. So evident are things on the surface, and deep beneath, 
 that it might be said, if the word gives any instruction on the 
 things before us, it is in this, the last days are showing signs 
 of near approach. When the Church loses grace and glory, 
 its day is done. 
 
 Now, and all the way, there is to be seen an old tooth in 
 the new harrow, which may do good and useful work. It is 
 the place and power of love in the soul: that love directed 
 against selfishness ; the work found to be finished when the 
 selfish are subdued and love becomes master. For this instru¬ 
 ment we shall ever be thankful. It is the chief agent in all 
 the benevolent and reforming agents of the age. It is this 
 spirit of love of humanity and brotherhood which moves the 
 great temperance reform. One can feel on free and fertile 
 ground when he urges to duty by this greatest of all examples : 
 “ He who was rich for our sakes became poor, that we through 
 His poverty might be made rich.” The power of the bottle 
 falls before the wonders of the Redeemer’s love. This love 
 climbs to and centres in this : “ As the Father loved Me, so 
 have I loved you ”; and the exhortation should be obeyed, 
 “ Continue ye in My love.” The sweetest and strongest 
 motives for subduing selfishness is to be found in the word 
 where the sadvation of the sinner or the return of the prodigal 
 is the theme. “ Then drew unto Him all the publicans and 
 sinners for to hear Him, and the Pharisees and the Scribes 
 murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners and eateth with 
 them.” Observe, Jesus does not deny the charge. It was 
 meant as a set down, as a reflection, making Him unfit for 
 refined society. It is accepted, and three of the best parables 
 we have are given to show the fact that His mission was to 
 receive sinners. While the nature and beauty of the parables 
 
20 8 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 themselves stand out for admiration, they show that His manner 
 of reception was in accordance with approved and universally 
 adopted principles of action, both in business and family life. 
 The Shepherd went out in search of the lost sheep. He 
 found it, brought it home, and rejoicing was the result. The 
 Good Shepherd, as the Agent of heaven, came in search of 
 the lost and the wandering one, and when He finds the lost 
 one there is joy in heaven. Men, Scribes and Pharisees, may 
 think and say this is not up-to-date treatment of men. In the 
 ranks of progress and of civilisation, man has power to find 
 his way, and as a man he is independent. He can put love in 
 his own soul, and the soul thus furnished can throw away 
 selfishness. All this secured and much more attained, yet 
 there is in all this no lost soul found. The Shepherd is not 
 found at work; there is no joy in heaven. Love, and all the 
 powers and graces of which man is capable, may be cultivated, 
 and all or any of them are valuable—precious—yet there is 
 no redeeming power present, no Saviour near, in all polished 
 graces. To the prodigal the Father’s home and heart are 
 kept open, but for the benefit he must come to himself, and 
 accept a Father’s love in His Son, and where and when that 
 love is valued there is life and joy for evermore. 
 
 The Church .—Looking here for a few minutes, we may find 
 the Church the gathering-ground of the Water of Life. Here 
 the chosen of the Lord may be found gathering the fruits and 
 flowers of salvation, and what grandeur and glory, what useful¬ 
 ness and power are to be met with at every turn. Our wonder¬ 
 ful civilisation has its magnitude and life drawn from the 
 Church ; the healthy heart-stroke is drawn from the Church. 
 Here I am not playing to the gallery nor fiddling for the 
 fashionable. Many are the faults which any man of ordinary 
 observation can set down to the Church ; yet the Church—with 
 her Sabbaths, her devotion, her trust in God and love of right, 
 and for what rest and joy and hope are to be found within her 
 borders—ranks high. The Church, in her early days, believed 
 in the kingdom of heaven; this state of mind they could not 
 escape. The Jewish nation—priests and people, judges and 
 governments—were all in the knowledge of the kingdom. The 
 prayer they were taught was, “ Thy kingdom come.” John 
 the Baptist preached in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 
 “ Repent ye, for the kindgom of heaven is at hand.” And 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 209 
 
 Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues 
 and preaching the gospel of the kingdom. The Church of 
 the present time differs very much from the Church of old. 
 On this particular, the Old Theology, in its present shape, is 
 more in harmony with the New Theology, than it is with the 
 ancient Church. The New Theology, as we have seen, puts 
 judgment, salvation, heaven, and hell into the soul. This 
 process is still going forward, and the kingdom of God is 
 dished up into the heart, and set up with the affirmation that 
 Jesus believed in thus furnishing; proof is produced by Mr. 
 Campbell. The Pharisees demanded when the kingdom should 
 come. Answer: “ The kingdom of God cometh not with 
 observation, neither shall they say, lo, here ! or lo, there! for 
 behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” Take notice, the 
 men spoken to were the Pharisees—the last men on earth who 
 would, at that or any other time, entertain a knowledge of the 
 kingdom of God—yet Christ, the King of the coming kingdom 
 of God, was within them. And though He laid claim and 
 proved Himself able and worthy of the office, the Pharisees 
 did not and could not see and own Him King. Yes, the 
 King stood in their midst, and yet they neither saw Him as 
 such, nor believed in Him. 
 
 In availing ourselves of the means of instruction of the 
 kingdom of God, which lie scattered up and down the 
 scriptures open for the faith, hope, and joy of all, we make 
 as our starting-point a part of Paul’s letter to Titus, “ The 
 grace of God, which bringeth salvation to all men, hath 
 appeared, teaching us, that denying ungodliness and worldly 
 lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this 
 present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious 
 appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who 
 gave Himself for us, and that He might redeem us from all 
 iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of 
 good works.” I may give my faith at this stage. When the 
 Saviour comes or appears the second time, the whole nature 
 of the case will be changed. Now the suffering is past, now 
 the glory follows, now His enemies will have to stand aside 
 for ever, now the admiration of the King and His company 
 shall be given. He shall sit on the throne of glory and of 
 universal authority and government. All nations shall be 
 blessed in Him ; all nations will call Him blessed. Paradise 
 
210 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 shall be restored, the curse shall be removed, from the rising 
 to the setting of the sun there shall be one sheep-fold and one 
 Shepherd. The meek shall then possess the earth, and the 
 burdens and anxiety and distrust now prevalent by dread¬ 
 nought building contention and bad and dangerous emulation, 
 shall fall before just and righteous Judgment. 
 
 In the sight of all this, how commendable was the faith and 
 practice of the Thessalonians: “ They turned to God from 
 idols, to serve the living and the true God, and to wait for 
 His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even 
 Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come.” There may 
 be few things more interesting and pronounced than the uses 
 to which the Apostle Paul puts the appearance of Jesus as 
 recorded for the Church before us. For our instruction, help, 
 and hope, let us find their standing. We have it written : 
 “For what is our hope, our joy or crown of rejoicing? Are 
 not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His 
 coming? For ye are our glory and joy.” Than this, nothing 
 could excel the blessedness and the richness of reward for the 
 faithful, honest, and earnest workman. Again, note the 
 influence on the Church members : “ And the Lord make you 
 to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward 
 all men, even as we do toward you, to the end He may establish 
 your hearts unblamable in holiness before God, even our 
 Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His 
 saints.” Note, such a water-mark was never reached by the 
 most experienced in the New Theology scheme. 
 
 The Second Coming. 
 
 The Second Coming of Jesus is a source of comfort. Care¬ 
 ful reading and study assure me that there is no other condition 
 of comfort, in view of eternal interests or of eternal life, but 
 what is brought out in the second and glorious presence of 
 Jesus Christ. The Churches of our land, and of all lands, in 
 handling the death state and its connection, have a very 
 different way of taking and giving comfort. They all agree on 
 this subject with Mr. Campbell: “ Death is only a bend in the 
 road.” No finger-post needed in a bend. The dictum is 
 eternal blessedness through this bend, and is at once realised. 
 In support of the bend business may be got many loads of 
 proof. Go to the book-collections of the learned, and you 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 2 I I 
 
 may have any amount of proof; go to the funeral service of 
 the rich or the poor, and the momentary possession of a home 
 in heaven is upheld. In a few minutes they get more and 
 enjoy more than they did in long life-time : hymns and prayers 
 and sermons all contribute proof in great abundance. Go to 
 the faith and communings of your own heart and soul, and 
 the belief is Campbell is right here at any rate : “ Death is 
 only a bend in the road.” 
 
 This bend in the road is not after the divine law. It solves 
 no question. The extinction of being—death—answers or is 
 after and according to law, and it settles the business of eternal 
 life. Look here—the First and the Last has it—“ I am He 
 that liveth, and was dead.” In the light and grace of this 
 short sentence, we find our own life and our own resurrection. 
 “ He gave Himself for us ”—the clearest solution of the 
 greatest question in which we are concerned, and we are 
 assured that He is coming a second time to make perfect our 
 deliverance from sin and all its consequences. On this point 
 we are not left in doubt, difficulty, nor in darkness. 
 
 In page 201 of the New Theology book, we find these words, 
 “ The Spirit of Christ working in the hearts of men is gradually 
 producing this ideal kingdom in our midst.” The process is 
 slow, and, so far as scripture is concerned, it has no place. 
 The word declares that in the last times the hearts of men, 
 instead of being good, or waiting for the coming kingdom, will, 
 in degrees and signs, go out largely in the opposite direction : 
 vice in place of virtue, the love of pleasure in room of the fear 
 of the Lord. 
 
 The Out-Look. 
 
 “ But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, as 
 others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died 
 and rose again, even so them who sleep in Jesus will God 
 bring with Him. For this we say unto you, by the word of 
 the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain unto the coming 
 of the Lord, shall not prevent them who are asleep. For the 
 Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the 
 voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the 
 dead in Christ shall rise first, then we who are alive and 
 remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, 
 to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we be ever with the 
 
212 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 Lord : wherefore comfort one another with these words.” This 
 quotation is somewhat lengthy, still there is no apology needed 
 for its insertion. It is a chief deliverance of the mind of the 
 Lord on the most important of all important subjects. It is 
 direct in the line of the old paths, and we hold, any spoken 
 or written announcement diverse from this, is worthless, and 
 will be found, in the day of trial, to be deceptive and worthless. 
 We may state, in this connection, the Second Coming of 
 Jesus Christ is being revived in our day, and we hope and 
 trust that it may be the first sound of the Coming One. 
 Behold He cometh, for the glory of the Father, and the freedom 
 and plenty of the coming age: come quickly, even so, come 
 Lord Jesus. 
 
 Two of the chief subjects which engaged the attention of 
 men and of angels were the sufferings of Christ and the glory 
 which follow. All kinds of Christians hold on to a good 
 degree the sufferings, and allow the glory very much to pass 
 away. It is only one believer here and another at a con¬ 
 siderable distance who believe in the glory, who cherish with 
 delight the prospect of reigning upon earth, having a post in 
 the everlasting kingdom, under the personal government of 
 the Son of God; which kingdom, and the blessings surrounding 
 it, is far more brought out in the word than the sufferings. 
 How often have I met good souls, who feel their salvation 
 sure, and yet they stand out opposed to the King establishing 
 His throne in Zion, or sending the law from Jerusalem : yet 
 such shall be. The earth, the place which witnessed the 
 suffering Saviour in His labour of love, shall see the garden 
 of the Lord in bud and blossom, in unfading fruitfulness, and 
 in everlasting grandeur. The look-out is nothing short of the 
 presence of the Redeemer in power. 
 
 The New Theology as I Understand It. 
 
 This heading demands some attention. It reads thus: 
 “The New Theology, as I understand it, is the theology of 
 this movement (the Labour movement) whether the movement 
 knows it or not, for it is essentially the gospel of the kingdom 
 of God.” Well, now we are free, in looking at this revelation, 
 to say this is a low set tune for such a high set subject. The 
 Labour Party are found at home in many a stiff job, but, 
 so far as I know, they never made any profession of direct faith 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 213 
 
 or feeling on any point connected with the kingdom. If the 
 Labour Party gets its own ends secured and advanced, they 
 let the kingdom of God go to other hands. The heading here 
 reminds me of the first notice of anything of the kind. Mr. 
 Keir Hardie, holding forth in the House of Commons, was 
 held up in the New Theology cause by Mr. Campbell, as one 
 of the first and foremost agents in the kingdom of God. We 
 made this statement known in the public press on the occasion 
 referred to. Mr. Keir Hardie had taken in hand many a job 
 -—some wise, some otherwise—but to go in for the kingdom of 
 God, he had never made such a profession. Honour to whom 
 honour is due: this done, Keir Hardie gets no honour from 
 his connection with the kingdom of God; and so stands the 
 Labour movement of the present day, and has done for the last 
 forty years. The kingdom of God is neither in their formulas 
 nor in their faith, neither in their aims or objects. They have 
 one dominating aim, one unfailing effort, which is to bring 
 down capital and advance labour. The methods of the Labour 
 Party are not always according to National or even individual 
 good. Long ago, in the Corn Exchange, Kirkcaldy, I addressed a 
 large meeting of work people. I helped them on as best I could. 
 Their faults and failings I did not hide. I said you might have 
 twenty men in a workshop, in these twenty you had twenty 
 powers of productive will to produce, and an inclination to 
 produce as little as possible, and to make a job spin out. “ Ca 
 canny.” At the pay-table they would have every workman 
 get the same wage. I showed then, and I hold still, that such 
 rules are not in harmony with the rules nor principles of the 
 coming kingdom. In that kingdom, every man will be 
 rewarded—get his wage—according as his work can show. 
 The kingdom’s rule is the right rule. In the Labour Party’s 
 rule there is no justice, and it is a wrong done to the enter¬ 
 prising, and is against the growth of the go-ahead among men. 
 In a word, the sameness between the Labour movement and 
 the kingdom will be difficult to find. 
 
 The Labour Party and the Kingdom of God. 
 
 Not long ago I told the working men all round, that 
 they could work for money, but had yet to learn how to spend 
 it. There is a very large part of the honest money—good 
 money—thrown away—worse than thrown away—on strong 
 
214 THE new theology and the old. 
 
 drink, causing poverty, crime, disease, and death. The claims 
 of humanity, and the success of religious movements all suffer. 
 The Labour Party have no enemy like the drink, and the evil 
 lies here, the people will have it so. In the kingdom of God 
 there will be nothing to hurt nor to destroy in all God’s holy 
 mountain. For the statement of these principles there was 
 little favour shown. The sentiment is : “I earn a good wage, 
 and I can spend it as I like.” This same good wage man 
 would not allow the son of his neighbour—no, not even his 
 own son—to enter the trade. This wage-earner can bring his 
 master under, and it is done; so much so, that, in practice, the 
 master finds the workman is chief. There is no contentment 
 with the wage: the more money handled, the greater the 
 discontent and unrest, and the Labour Party, as the Labour 
 Party, is in no corner of the earth working for the kingdom of 
 God. In one place Mr. Campbell tells us, “ Modern civilisation 
 is cruel and unjust,” and directly invites men to self-seeking. 
 It puts a premium on selfishness. “The weak and unfortunate 
 go to the wall. We talk of freedom, but no man is really free, 
 and the majority of us are slaves.” I hold to this, no man can 
 stand on British ground and be a slave. Such is the law of 
 our land; and then the law of heaven is, “ Where the Spirit of 
 the Lord is there is liberty.” We are in all this led to see the 
 consistency in looking and waiting for the King, the Restorer 
 of all the good—of all the very good—for the new heaven and 
 the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. The following 
 lines are from a discourse delivered to the Church meeting, in 
 Union Hall, Edinburgh, on 5th December, 1875 : “ We gather 
 that God has determined to make for Himself a name and a 
 glory in the earth, and that the earth, which was the scene of 
 sin’s ravages, shall be the place where sin will be destroyed, 
 and that the means through which this will be accomplished, 
 is the establishment of a visible, tangible kingdom of righteous¬ 
 ness, on its surface as at once the means and end; and that in 
 that kingdom shall be the inheritance promised to the believer 
 in Christ: that honour and glory and eternal life which are his 
 through the merits of his Redeemer.” 
 
 For What the Church Exists. 
 
 “ The Church has no meaning unless it exists for the realisa¬ 
 tion of the kingdom of God.”— New Theology . I hold, the 
 Church had another meaning for its existence, in its first days, 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 2I 5 
 
 as revealed in the word. Then the Church built up itself in 
 love. This was done by the brethren, each and all, engaging 
 in mutual edification. Next was the financial business of the 
 Church : one of the objects for which the brethren met was to 
 make a collection for the poor of the flock. And third, and 
 mainly, it was to observe the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper. 
 These three subjects formed the ground or reason for the 
 Church’s existence. Neither at that nor at the present time 
 does the Church exist for the realisation of the kingdom of 
 God. Such a thought simply exists in the mind of the New 
 Theology; it is only a notion, an idea, an opinion. And 
 whatever has been the Church’s faith, it denies, at present, all 
 connection, all belief in the kingdom of God on the earth with 
 Jesus Christ as the ruling power. Yes, under this rule, all 
 iniquity, and all evil workers will be removed—destroyed—and 
 from the rising to the setting of the sun, the hymn of praise 
 will be sung, the text of which was given at the birth of the 
 coming King. Yes, and Jesus, in court, had that question, in 
 awful solemnity, put by the Judge: “I adjure Thee, by the 
 living God, that Thou tell us whether Thou be the Christ the 
 Son of God.” Jesus said unto him, “ Thou hast said : never¬ 
 theless I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man 
 coming in the clouds of heaven.” It is at that time the records 
 of the prophets will be fulfilled. Then all knees shall bow to 
 Him, to the name, praise, and glory of His Father and God, 
 and of our Father and God. Then, but not till then, will the 
 kingdom come, and the Father’s will be done on earth as in 
 heaven. We wish to impress on the mind that the kingdom 
 of God to come—in visible, tangible form, and according to 
 the purpose of God—will not be brought about by human 
 instrumentality. Note this, as given by the New Theology: 
 “ For it must be confessed, as I said at the beginning, that the 
 Churches, to a large extent, are a failure. We cannot but 
 recognise, for one thing, that our modern civilisation, with all 
 its boasted advance in the past, is still un-Christian.” Selfish¬ 
 ness is the go. Just so, and there is no indication of a turn in 
 the road: by what we see and know, the old cock crows, and 
 it is remarkable how soon the young ones learn ; and for all 
 our studied, expensive, and up-to-date education, neither the 
 love of God nor His cause are having a good time of it. And 
 I cannot say that the New Theology points to better times. 
 
216 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 “Where are the Churches to day ?”—New Theology. I have 
 had some experience, and I give the following in answer to the 
 question put: At the age of fifteen I fought my first battle on 
 the theological fighting-ground. It was in connection with 
 the original Seceder Church. Our minister was a good hand 
 for the Confession of Faith. The elect number and hell fire 
 with eternal torment were never far away in his preaching. 
 One day, in his regular visitation, I remarked I did not believe 
 what he preached on Sabbath. He defended his position by 
 the Confession of Faith. Before getting far on, I said he 
 might try the Bible. I knew a little of the Book, but I knew 
 little or nothing about the creeds. The reply given was, 
 Young man, you know I have found the truth, and you are 
 only in search of the truth, and it is not to be thought that you 
 can argue with me. All the same, my lengthened experience 
 has given me the assurance that the faith of my boyhood was 
 right, true, and blessed. I may say the Churches of to-day are 
 much changed for the better and the scriptural on the 
 questions of election and eternal torment. 
 
 The Evangelical Union body did a good deal of good 
 work in the fields before us. It was well that the change has 
 come. Of old it was painful to listen just to everyday sermons. 
 Grace, full and free, at the beginning of the sermon; before 
 the finish, we were treated to the set number elected, and, if 
 you were in this number, nothing could prevent your salvation, 
 but, if you were not found in the number, your fate was set, 
 you were lost. Two things ever led me in right paths here: 
 A sense of justice; and then, the love of God, and the way that 
 love was exercised, ever led me past the creeds. And yet, 
 strange as it may seem, many of the noblest men who graced 
 the history of bonnie Scotland, stood by the creeds. 
 
 Where the Churches are To-Day. 
 
 On the kingdom of God, and on the many important 
 questions which gather around the kingdom, the Churches are 
 far from home, and on this, the King’s highway, they have 
 little business. The Churches can do well enough with the 
 King in heaven, but they will not have Him, in person, on the 
 earth to begin the reign of peace and of glory to God in the 
 highest. In consistency with this position, the Churches are 
 not looking for, waiting for, nor rejoicing in hope of the coming! 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 217 
 
 The mind of the Churches reminds one of the exposures of 
 the last times : “ There shall come in the last times, scoffers, 
 walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the 
 promise of His coming ? For since the fathers fell asleep, all 
 things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 
 But, beloved, the Lord is not slack concerning His promises, 
 as some men count slackness, . . . but the day of the 
 
 Lord will come as a thief in the night.” Observe, this coming 
 is held in the word as the great change in the scene which puts 
 the new and happy face on all things created, and is counted 
 the indispensable necessity to the setting up of the everlasting 
 kingdom—the kingdom of God. It becomes, from this, a 
 great source of comfort and assurance. One verse out of every 
 thirteen in the New Testament refers, with more or less direct¬ 
 ness, to this precious truth, thus showing the frequency with 
 which it is opened up to us. In the epistles alone the pro¬ 
 portion is much greater, being more like one in ten; in first 
 Thessalonians it is fully one in seven, and in the second epistle 
 nearly one in three. While all this, and much more, is the 
 word given for our instruction, we can only wonder why the 
 good and God-fearing of the Churches can possibly pass the 
 glorious promises so openly and so largely given for our best 
 interest. Yet, all the time, we may with joy hold on, keeping 
 in mind the crown of righteousness which the great worker had 
 before him from the hand of the Judge, which crown also was 
 given as the hope and portion and prize of all who love His 
 appearing. 
 
 Other kingdoms there may be with fame and in fashion, but, 
 so far as the word is concerned, there is only one crown of 
 righteousness and only one Judge, and all who love His 
 appearing are sure of this crown. At the same time, let us 
 note the fact that some of our most worthy and successful 
 evangelists, and some of our most honoured preachers, hold up 
 the kingdom of God, with Christ as King in the midst. 
 
 Where are the Churches To-Day ? 
 
 Many and varied are the answers which may be given to 
 this question. We might take notice of what Rev. George P. 
 M‘Kay says. His text was, “ Our Lord’s Return : the Christian 
 Hope.” “ The Lord Himself declared it, ‘ Whether I go ye 
 cannot come. I will come again and receive you unto Myself.’ 
 
2 l8 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 For that day of joyful welcome to His court they had to wait. 
 They did not dream of going to heaven one by one: they 
 would be caught up together to meet the Lord. They could 
 not think of entering His glorious presence until they were 
 presented ; they could not be presented until they were prepared 
 and fitly robed—not in the drab dress of this mortal body, nor 
 in unclothed state, as naked spirits — 1 this corruptible must put 
 on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality. 5 But they 
 believed that when He came, this necessary change in their 
 apparel would be wrought, then should they be brought into 
 the presence of the King, in raiment of needlework and clothing 
 of wrought gold. A glorious Church, not having spot or 
 wrinkle, or any such thing. That would be their time then of 
 triumph and reward. Sometimes, when men die now, their 
 friends affirm that they have gone to their reward ; they have 
 obtained their prize. Not so, said the early Church. They 
 could not, for their Lord had definitely named another time 
 than that of death : ‘ Thou shalt be recompensed, 5 said he, ‘ at 
 the resurrection of the just, in the regeneration, when the Son 
 of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory. 5 ‘ Behold, I come, 
 and My reward is with Me, to give every man (then) according 
 as his work shall be. 5 The Apostle Peter confirms this with 
 the words, ‘ When the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall 
 receive a crown of glory. 5 1 We must all appear before the 
 judgment seat of Christ, 5 before rewards are distributed, and 
 we are distinctly told it is at His appearing that this shall be 
 set up. ‘ Henceforth, 5 said the expiring Paul, £ there is 
 laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the 
 righteous Judge, shall give at that day, and not to me only, 
 but unto all them also who love His appearing. For what is 
 our joy, our hope, our crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye in 
 the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? 5 The 
 coming of the Lord was not denied, nor lost to view, until in 
 later days. Then those of whom we speak—the Christian 
 Church—had lost their zeal, and in sad, wanton ways, were 
 walking with the world. 55 
 
 • 
 
 Where are the Churches To-Day? 
 
 Few men are better able to answer this question than Mr. 
 Campbell is. His opinion is as follows :—“ The word Church 
 has become so hateful to many, because of the admixture of 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 219 
 
 other ideas with this, that I sometimes wish that something 
 could be done, either to get rid of it or change it for another, 
 which should fully and clearly express what Jesus really came 
 to do.” Well now, in looking at the New Theology cause, 
 creed, or church, we may say, in all fairness, that we have 
 another of the same. It has not given us any fresh revelations 
 of the grace of God, nor of the way that grace is brought 
 nearer to man, nor man to the favour, love, and mercy of God. 
 The clear chart of salvation is reconciliation of the sinner to 
 God by sacrifice—a free and full pardon through being made 
 free from condemnation. If the New Theology does anything 
 with these all-important questions, it is to cast doubt on the 
 minds, and to win, by fine speech, to a position where Jesus 
 Christ is often brought up, but where His work is left out. We 
 must come down on the words which we have just quoted: 
 “ What Jesus really came to do.” It is a great source of joy 
 that the greatest problem of the age is solved in and by the 
 wisdom of heaven, and according to the necessities of the case 
 —namely, our needs. Wise men, good men, and learned men 
 may find the answer in the love of men. We prefer the answer 
 to meet all sides of the case, thus showing the love of God: “The 
 Son of Man is come to save that which was lost.” This 
 work we find done—finished—by the only One who could do 
 it. Men, in all ages, have been found to take some other way. 
 The highest touch—the newest device—is the Spirit of Christ 
 in active operation in the soul of men. A great, enlightened 
 mind, through constant action, may bring love to the front, and 
 give not even a back seat to selfishness, yet, for all this 
 endeavour, no man could point out where salvation or pardon 
 for the sinner comes in—it is not here. The sinner must 
 appear—he must stand in his own merits or works, or in 
 the work and merits of the Saviour. “ The Son of Man is 
 come to save the lost.” It, therefore, turns out that some of 
 the Churches of which Mr. Campbell has such a low opinion 
 are certainly nearer the Rock of Ages and the Water and Bread 
 of Life than the New Theology. It is true, and we hold here 
 the truth, that the Churches of the present age are a failure. 
 The kingdom of God is purely of the next age, and it will stand 
 for ever—pure as the King and Lord is pure. 
 
 “ I maintain that the Church has nothing whatever to do 
 with preparing men for the world to come.” Let me say 
 
220 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 the Church knows, or ought to know, that the Good Shepherd 
 is selecting—gathering—a people for the name and honour of 
 the Father; the Church knows, or ought to know, that the 
 battlefield, and the battle which gains the prize, is here and 
 now ; the Church knows, or ought to know, her duty, “ Go into 
 all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature ”; the 
 Church knows, or ought to know, that the wheat and the tares 
 grow together until harvest, and at that time the weeds are 
 destroyed, and the good grain will be taken in hand for the 
 Master’s use; the Church knows, or ought to know, that “ Now 
 is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.” Now is the 
 racing time, and it is that race well run which secures the 
 crown of righteousness. The next sentence given is : “ The 
 best way to prepare a man for the world beyond, is to get him 
 to live well and truly in this one.” Mr. Campbell is generally 
 more accurate than he is here. First, he says the Church has 
 nothing to do in preparation work, and then, in the next 
 sentence, “Get him to live well,” and, with the reformation, 
 this is the best way. Still further, he says, “ The Church exists 
 to make this world a kingdom of God, and to fill it with His 
 love.” Observe, the Church never had any such commission 
 from the Head in command—never. This is like jobs given 
 to the Church by men, but never by the Master. The Church, 
 in my day, fancied that her work was to convert all the world. 
 A little more money, a little more action, a little more right 
 preaching with a full outpouring of the Holy Spirit. A 
 thousand lips every Sabbath cry for another Pentecostal 
 outpouring. This got, and we become nearer the world’s 
 conversion—there is no failure here. This work is not done, 
 and never will be done. This age of ministers, Bibles, 
 Sabbaths, and missions will end in the victory of selfishness, 
 sin, and general unbelief. We are assured of many plain and 
 important things in the word, and what I have now stated is 
 one of them drawn from the record. Once more, “ Look for 
 the Spirit of Jesus, and you have found the Church too.” Our 
 answer is, Look till you find the work of Jesus—the finished 
 work of Jesus—so that you may find your own personal 
 salvation—pardon and peace in believing. And thus furnished, 
 go and do your best in Church and State. “ He gave Himself 
 for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify 
 unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” We 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 221 
 
 hold this in the face of all the best bits of the New Theology 
 yet revealed. 
 
 Modern Industrialism and the Church. 
 
 Mr. Campbell’s notions of the Church, and of the business 
 of the country, are gathering a great support from all classes 
 of men, especially among the working classes. First point is : 
 “ The weak and the unfortunate have to go to the wall.” This 
 point is worth close consideration. I wonder why it is, that a 
 man of such intellectual discernment, moral worth, and 
 political knowledge, sets these evils so prominently before us, 
 and yet finds—nor seeks to find—no remedy. We must have 
 the cause—we must find the remedy. Go to any part of the 
 United Kingdom where there is a gathering of the weak and 
 the unfortunate, and it will be found that the greater part of 
 men and women have brought themselves to want and woe by 
 their own doings. Threefourths of all such are in misery—on 
 the verge of starvation—through the consumption of alcoholic 
 liquor. Every burden they carry is put on their own back by 
 their own hands. This brings ninety thousand of our people 
 to the grave annually, before their time. To secure this death- 
 rate ^160,000,000—sometimes as much as ^180,000,000— 
 are given; to secure this death-rate the food of about the entire 
 population of Scotland is taken, and, so far as food is con¬ 
 cerned, it is lost; and then comes in the damage by disease 
 and waste of brain power, with inability and reduction of 
 productive action, felt among all classes. In all this, we have 
 neither civilisation nor Christianity ; and, for go-ahead reformers 
 to know this and do nothing to remove it, it is a long way from 
 the manly, the true, and the Christ-like. This is so, although 
 you leave out of the count the sacrificial work of Jesus. Jesus 
 the Christ, the Sent of God, went about continually doing 
 good : casting out devils was one of the jobs He enforced. 
 Devils and devils’ work there are plenty, and the Master com¬ 
 missions all ministers to cast them out, and if famous preachers 
 fail here they should at least be told of their shortcoming. It 
 is as clear as any properly-solved question can be made, that, 
 if you let the drink go to the wall, the now weak and un¬ 
 fortunate will rise to strength equal to a happy, prosperous, 
 and Christian life. 
 
 There is no use telling us, as is being done, “ If a man goes 
 under, his acquaintances will pity him for five minutes, and 
 
222 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 then forget all about him.” In this, we say, there is no moral 
 grandeur: no worthy action. It gives a lower representation 
 of the working classes than is their due. The working men of 
 our land, in thousands, would risk their own lives to save the 
 lives of others. To every leader of the people we say, 
 Stand up right between your brother and his death-dealing 
 enemy ; help your neighbour by showing him how he may 
 help himself; make life sweet and strong, then in its battle 
 there will be more victories, and few failures. 
 
 Slums and Unemployed. 
 
 Mr. Campbell, on the business of the country, points out 
 that we should have no slums and no men unemployed. We 
 certainly would be well to be clear of all such; and, without 
 boasting, I put in print: If ministers and men in influential 
 positions had taken my advice and followed my example fifty 
 years ago, there would not have been a slum in the country 
 nor a man willing to work going idle. Leading men, preachers 
 of justice, and reformers in general have yet to learn that the 
 poorest dwelling in any city—the dirtiest, wildest slum—is 
 built on the same foundation as the grandest mansion-house 
 held by the richest brewer in the land, and it takes no great 
 intellectual research nor moral expertness to find how things 
 stand here, and where the balance of responsibility and blame¬ 
 worthiness rests. In the carrying on of the business, the slum- 
 hand puts everything into the bag, for which he and those 
 under him get little but blows. The distiller, in the process, 
 gets his bank account replenished and his name up. The 
 slum is kept out of the Church. The mansion of the distiller 
 is the sweet place, where the evening parties often meet, and 
 grace is said by the minister. The slum is an expensive 
 institution to the country, but the distiller is greater 
 by far. Wipe out the drink, and you wipe out the 
 slum and a hundred other ills at present afflicting society. 
 What an awful delusion the whole thing is: a gill of the best 
 whisky is produced for ijd., and to-day it is sold for 8d. and 
 9d., and in the high places of the trade the price is more. 
 The Church may be brought in here : the slum is out and the 
 trade is in. The old pulpit-hand used to send the drunks to 
 the bad place, and still sounded in favour of the business. 
 “ Let your moderation be known to all men.” These same 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 223 
 
 preachers themselves consume more liquor personally, by their 
 parties, and otherwise, than any slum could do. On this 
 division, a few things from an article, “Is a Parson’s Life 
 worth Living ? ” might be given. 
 
 Parson’s LirE. 
 
 The Rev. A. M. Mitchell, Burtonwood Vicar, has some 
 strong things under this heading. “ It is true,” he says,. 
 “ beyond all question or doubt that not a few of the great 
 army of parsons do live very comfortably, in some cases very 
 luxuriously. Upon some of the frocked, the world has nothing 
 to bestow but kindness. They are its darlings : its pampered 
 pets. These are they among the clergy, and they are no 
 inconsiderable body who enjoy fat and comfortable livings; 
 consort with the gentry, and the gentry only, take things 
 quite easy, do nothing but what is absolutely required of 
 them; keeping a curate to do the rough work, thus leaving 
 themselves free to practise knife and fork Christianity, with 
 entire satisfaction to the stomach, and to the great delight of 
 admiring worldlings. 
 
 “ Good dinners out, sherry and port men; after dinner, 
 smokers, bridge players, whist drives, and in the pulpit all 
 treacle, not a grain of brimstone. They be the parsons, who, 
 as doing well to themselves and their children, are well spoken 
 of and warmly welcomed as being most desirable units at 
 feeding functions. Summer garden parties, winter house 
 dances, and who, further, are considered indispensable butterflies 
 at grand bazaars and fancy fairs. 
 
 “ Let the parson refuse to ignore social unrighteousness, to 
 wink at the cruel enormities of the drink traffic; to hob-nob and 
 be hail-fellow-well-met with brewers, publicans, gamblers, and 
 tricksters; to hold his tongue concerning the corruption and 
 dodgery of officialism, and ignorant blundering and increasing 
 tyranny of the medical profession ; let him refuse to condone 
 sweating, or to support and bolster up traditions and customs 
 which rob the common people of health and wealth, which 
 undermine the national strength, which abnormally develop 
 the power and capital of vested interest; in a word, let him 
 speak out regardless of consequences, let him be true to God, 
 true to man, true to the dumb animals, and, as in a moment, 
 a mighty tempest will be stirred up around him.” 
 
224 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 The Unemployed. 
 
 In the interests of the Church and State, there are more dark 
 spots, more rotten branches than the slum, and the “ Parson’s 
 Life” is one of them, and in remedy measures the pastor’s 
 life will be as difficult to mend as any. The slum life I do 
 understand from top to bottom, the pastor’s life I do not. 
 I know not how a man—who spends ten years of his life and 
 gives lots of money in learning to preach—holding up the love 
 of God and His Son, and also proclaiming, with skill, judgment 
 and peace among men, with resignation of the world—can 
 come to be unfaithful to his obligation, and, in all things, come 
 down and follow the world. Yet friend and foe of the great 
 salvation can give evidence that such is the case. 
 
 We come now to the unemployed problem. To-day the 
 newspapers tell us, from best authority, that there are a great 
 many men seeking work and cannot find it. There are 
 different sorts of men and women on the road. Some are not 
 able to produce a good day’s work, others have little or no 
 inclination to work, and there are those who are able and 
 willing to work but cannot find it. The criminal and lazy 
 sort are the worst to manage. A large part of the question 
 lies with ourselves. Money properly spent produces work. 
 Were we, as a people, to do the right, work would be found 
 for tens of thousands now idle. I will give a simple case. 
 It will be understood by the lowly-minded, and the learned and 
 devoted may consider it: A miner’s wife called at a missionary’s 
 house near to Alloa, and, on being asked to come in, said, “ I 
 am ashamed to come, I want to sign the pledge.” “ This will 
 be a pleasure,” remarked the missionary. A short time after 
 joining she called again. Addressing the missionary, she said, 
 “ I am clean done.” “You are not very old,” was the reply. 
 “It is not age that troubles me; it is this bundle, and that 
 hill I have to climb.” On opening the bundle, she continued, 
 “ This is a pair of drawers for the father ; his boots were well 
 through, so these will replace them; a new shirt for the same 
 back—(it will be my turn next)—stockings for all the children; 
 our blankets were getting thin : here we have a first-class pair 
 for the coming winter. All, you see, is the result of signing 
 the pledge.” To the question now : Let the thousands in all 
 classes of society do as this miner’s wife has done. Let them 
 cease from wasting their means, reducing their health, and 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 225 
 
 creating personal and family discomfort. Let these men simply 
 obey the laws and conditions of a sound mind in a healthy 
 body. Call up the man—the whole man—soul and body. If 
 this was done, the distillery and brewery fires would be put 
 out, and there would be plenty of well-paid work for man and 
 maiden in all divisions of honest toil. Men may smile and 
 pass this by with scant thought; still it shall stand the 
 philosophy of the unemployed problem. 
 
 I wish the question of the unemployed to have fair play. 
 Well then, a friend of mine in the North was a pronounced 
 abstainer. His minister had different faith. One morning, 
 while at the bottom of the garden, the minister came up, and 
 remarked, “ You are always talking about teetotalism: I 
 would like to know what good it has done.” David Robertson 
 knew his man and he knew his measure. “ Look here,” said 
 the plasterer, “ you know me ; you knew what I once was; 
 you see that house and garden—these are mine, all my own— 
 teetotalism gave all to me. Go inside the house, and you will 
 find the kitchen all well furnished with the best. You will find a 
 clean sheet, and teetotalism did the whole. You may look at 
 my wife and family : a healthier, happier company never 
 enjoyed the love and the free air of heaven, and teetotalism 
 gave all you see.” Now, I say, in the face of all schemes— 
 intellectual or moral, work or capital—the life and example 
 of David Robertson may be followed by simple conformity 
 to the law written in our nature. Let this be done, and 
 you have there and then a home trade running on year after 
 year, making the capitalist richer and the workman to have a 
 larger purse and more in it. Property all his own; making 
 good his own lot, and, by proper life, giving employment 
 to those around him. 
 
 This is the best solution to the unemployed question we have 
 yet seen. It is a good which increases itself. All around, 
 men, under its power, rise to a new life—to the full stature of 
 men born free. The responsibility recognised will close the 
 drinking dens, and the same day these death traps are closed 
 the sweating dens will be closed also. These drink dens have 
 been all along, and are to-day, drawing the sweat and life out 
 of our people, in a way, and to an extent, which no other 
 thing has ever done or could do. 
 
 We have before us the game to play, the battle to fight, the 
 sermon to preach, and the ball to kick. We have strength 
 
226 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 and opportunity for action, and there is a loud call for effort. 
 Then it follows, if we turn the deaf ear, we must submit to the 
 want and the woe, the discontent and burdens of a present and 
 floating idle company. 
 
 On the point now before us, the deepest, darkest frown ever 
 cast over me, was when I told working men that they could 
 work for wages, but they had yet to learn how to spend them. 
 Yet this is truth, and it is foundation truth, and rests at the 
 foundation of progress, reform, peace, and plenty. 
 
 Industrialism. 
 
 In entering on this subject, we are reminded that Jesus 
 preached the gospel of “the kingdom of God.” In the Old 
 Testament scriptures, Daniel, Isaiah, and all the prophets 
 preached the gospel of this kingdom ; the New Testament also 
 is full of the same subject. As a subject of thought, belief,, 
 and study, this kingdom goes to the front, giving hope and 
 life with full assurance. Mr. Campbell is like Jesus in this, he 
 has a kingdom also. He seems to have pleasure in preaching 
 and writing on his kingdom, where he is found an expert in 
 exposing the sins and the sorrows of the Church, along with 
 many shortcomings and foolish practices. If any man desires 
 to be posted up on the one, let him take the Bible, and if any 
 man wishes to have correct ideas of the other, let him read 
 The New Theology , by the Rev. R. J. Campbell. Coming now 
 to the business of the country, we see it is placed on very low 
 ground indeed: “Modern industrialism is cruel and unjust; 
 under it, no man is really free, and the great majority of us 
 are slaves to some corporation or capitalist.” Allow me to say 
 this talk directly incites to discontent and disorder. It forms 
 the text and lecture at the street corner. The wildest orator 
 finds himself at home here, with sympathetic audiences 
 responding to every word. This leads men to war one upon 
 another, man against man, business against business, class 
 against class, nation against nation—and I will add—man 
 against God. 
 
 We shall turn to the other side of the ledger, in figures 
 which no man can mistake, or shut out from individual gaze 
 or public inspection. In my day, the average wage in Fife 
 was 9s. per week : masons had 2^d. and 3d. an hour. Some 
 time ago I met a master mason, who said, “When I finished my 
 
 1 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 227 
 
 apprenticeship we got 4d. an hour; to-day I am seeking work¬ 
 men at iod. an hour and cannot find them.” Mill girls 
 wrought from six o’clock in the morning till eight at night, 
 every day but Saturday, when they closed at seven. Holidays 
 were one day at New Year time and the Fast Days. The 
 reason why our women workers now look happy and healthy is 
 because they have machinery to do their work, while they 
 simply look on. One of the finest sights I see is the women 
 and girls marching to and from their work. The men, again, 
 are coming down in step and life. They are smoking and 
 drinking away the strength and joy of their heart. As an old 
 Chartist I can speak on all these points. I publicly upheld the 
 last petition which was rolled into the House of Commons. 
 Then we had no vote. To-day we are masters of the situation: 
 we can return liberal or tory as we like. Our employers, in 
 politics, we can make to take a back seat. We can, in all this, 
 turn the world upside down, and if there is slavery, by our 
 unions we call in our employers, and we can, through this 
 medium, tell them what they should and must do. If there 
 are men “ going under,” the masters share this fate and fortune. 
 For a considerable time there has been a depression in trade, 
 but for many years previous there was a boom in business, 
 with good wages, and many of the best paid men were the 
 first on the rocks: the first to need assistance from their 
 neighbours. It is not so much “ cruelty and injustice ” in 
 business that is inflicting wrongs on the people, as wickedness 
 and the want of a proper way of living and doing. One of 
 old—seeing how the enemy of his country came nearer and 
 nearer—said to his men, “ O friends, be men ! ” So to-day, 
 in the line before us, we would say, “ O ! friends, be men,” 
 for the enemy is before us—close at hand—and if we do not 
 kill it, it will kill us. 
 
 Mr. Campbell puts himself among the slaves. Looking at 
 the clergy, they have not much cause for complaint. In Mr. 
 Gray’s time, the sermon was one hour, and the delivery was 
 everything that could be desired—given off the book, and right 
 on with a dash. To-day, the scene is changed—half-an-hour 
 is the go, and a poor go at that—the sermon is read in a 
 manner such as no school-boy would get off with, and these 
 same pulpit hands are as keen and pronounced on the wage 
 question as any man in any other business. 
 
228 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 Individualism. 
 
 After looking at the evils and sad state of the trade, we 
 come to this passage: “ I do not mean, of course, to make the 
 foolish statement that present - day individualism is unre¬ 
 strainedly individualistic: thank God, it is not that.” The thanks 
 shown in the case before us is for small mercy. Is not the 
 worth of individual thought, action, treasure, and persistency 
 the very foundation of British standing and world-wide 
 influence? What we are as a people is through the upstanding 
 of man as man in all our borders and by all men. If a 
 Church carries and shines in the wisdom of the Most High, 
 and shows its colours, it is in this, every man does his duty 
 personally. A man—any number of men—may tramp to 
 Church and home again, and that is all. The name to live is 
 there, but is there any progress accomplished or happiness 
 made to abound. First of all, individualism makes a man 
 stand his full height: there he is sure to be frank, honest, and 
 free. Such a man, with hands and brain, is sure to find a 
 job, and certain to perform all the requirements thereof. Such 
 a man is no eye servant: he is a man with a knowledge of his 
 work. When work is due, he is at his post. If there is 
 pleasure in work, he, without effort, claims possession. It is 
 this sort of thing which made the land of our birth the first in 
 the wide, wide world, and which finds our sons and daughters 
 for ever at the front—ready, always ready. 
 
 Individualism has no need of stilts : on his own pins he 
 goes ahead. He gathers the fruit of his own toil. Standing 
 by himself, he is likely—when earning his own money and 
 having the gains put into his own hand—to have the very 
 best result. It is according to heavenly rule and authority, 
 and must bring right and success. 
 
 In this field there is little or no need for piling. Somehow 
 rock is always at hand, and building operations are, therefore, 
 not long in being in evidence. Time and means are not 
 wasted in doubt, nor in bringing up difficulty. A man does not 
 fold his arms when his own particular branch may not be in 
 evidence—he does whatever he can do. Once more: A 
 shopkeeper, or merchant, or manufacturer will not lose heart 
 or give up because a big concern is planted close by. There 
 may be that which is not pleasant, hopeful, or remunerative 
 in this, still it is a free country, and one man is as 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 229 
 
 good as his neighbour, and let the best be done by all. 
 Opposition, so much condemned, may not be all blame¬ 
 worthy. Competition may try a man, and if, in the trial, he 
 learns what his opponent is and what he himself can do, he 
 may from that acquire knowledge and arrange his business 
 to make it attractive to all callers, or lead to the spring where 
 water needed might flow—thus is wealth brought home and 
 spread around. The competition may, in any circumstance, 
 leave increased strength for the contest, and the exercise is 
 more certain of success than is the bowling green or the golf 
 course. 
 
 The Thing Needed is Collectivism. 
 
 This very much reminds me of the two kingdoms, or the 
 different get-up of these. The Old Theology, as given us by 
 divine revelation, is the one; the New Theology, as given us 
 by Mr. Campbell, is the other. The business of our land 
 outshines, in everyday life, the lustre wrought out by 
 individualism. The other creative and reforming agency is 
 wrought out by the New Theology. All this is well worth 
 our careful meditation. 
 
 In going on to collectivism, we are told first of all, the 
 appearance of things make it look “ as if we had forgotten 
 our origin.” I am bound to say Mr. Campbell does not shine 
 here. No man has ever made a less justifiable appearance in 
 the origin to the race than he has done, and this is made 
 the more remarkable, as he still holds the Bible in his hand. 
 Our purpose is accomplished by the bare mention of the line. 
 In defence of collectivism, it is stated, “ We wish man to give 
 his best; we want collectivism in the place of competition; 
 we want the kingdom of God.” As we desire fair play all 
 round, then our argument is competition in place of col¬ 
 lectivism. Let the kingdom of God be left out or stand by 
 itself. Neither collectivism nor yet competition will, by any 
 agency, make the kingdom to come. I think it is Ruskin who 
 says, “ All education, for young or old, should lead a man or 
 a boy to do his best.” This is the claim and work of 
 individualism, which mode of action must be kept up, and 
 cannot give place to the world competition, because com¬ 
 petition may put man against man in the struggle of life, as 
 strong in the one case as in the other. 
 
230 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 Collectivism. 
 
 There is no sum of virtues in this manner of running the 
 work of the country, which could give it the preference to 
 individualism. Our stamina and strength are not likely to be 
 increased, or even maintained, if we go over to it. There are 
 weak and dangerous points which will always prove unfriendly. 
 This is where it begins to tell. Some time ago, walking on a 
 country road, I saw a young man in charge of horse and cart. 
 You could not tell whether the horse or man was moving most 
 against his master. In the opposite direction came another 
 man with the same charge, horse and cart. The first-named 
 called out, “You seem as if you were in a hurry. Take it 
 canny, man, it will make the job spin out; there is nothing 
 pushing, and work is no rife.” The last man moved on taking 
 no notice. With the crack of his whip, he went ahead. This 
 “ca’ canny” action has been in evidence for some time, and the 
 system—collectivism—affords opportunities. It does even 
 more than what I have noted. Men who go fully into this 
 grind not only take it easy themselves, but they keep a watchful 
 eye on their neighbours so that they shall not do too much 
 work. The spirit of collectivism leads a man to put his hands 
 in his pockets when he should be doing his master’s work. In this 
 field of battle there is a good deal of manoeuvring, but neither 
 man nor master can ever show victory for the right and the 
 progressive, for the manly, nor for the progressive in business. 
 
 This may simply be the old story of the little foxes which spoilt 
 
 « 
 
 the vines. All the same the grapes are spoiled. And so it is, 
 and shall be, an enemy has done it. With aggravation, it is 
 a fox that does it in the one case; in the other, a paid and 
 hired servant. 
 
 A second accompaniment of collectivism—a hatred and 
 continual contention against capital and against capitalist. 
 This fact has shown itself with ever increasing influence of late 
 years, and is at the bottom of much that is unpleasant and 
 harassing. From this nothing can come but discontent and 
 shortcomings. I furnish all the elements of man against 
 master and master against man. The wage question comes in 
 here with all its strikes and lock-outs, with all the loss of money 
 and business; and the distance of all from each other increased, 
 and then the idea of brotherhood is put beyond the question in 
 any of its bearings; also there comes in the cry, a common 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 231 
 
 wage for all. It does not matter though one man produces 
 good work and plenty of it, and his neighbour produces bad 
 work and little of it, the wage must be the same. The use of 
 the office of the unions is frequenty called in. There the mind 
 and moral power is given up, and a system of slavery hard to 
 be paid for and endured, which under other and sounder dealings 
 and principles would not be endured. I must say I fail to find any¬ 
 thing more in the newer measure than in the old to bring a better 
 day. Remember it is the older rule—it is individualism—which 
 has brought in the past our fatherland to greatness and 
 goodness, wealth and power. It was the same which performed 
 duty, and looked up and gave praise and glory to the Giver 
 of every good, holy, and blessed thing. It was man standing 
 up as man, seeking no shade, seeking no shelter, but was and 
 is prepared for all—that in the love, the mercy, the blood of 
 Jesus Christ. These are the pillars of our State. Firm and 
 strong they stood in the past, they may be trusted to-day; 
 they are trustworthy to the end of the age. To the end of 
 the present dispensation, individual trust and duty performed 
 shall find salvation for all conditions of life. This, all this, and 
 more for the coming age. And now work will be made 
 honourable and pleasant, remunerative and in abundance. We 
 are forced to place on paper that the New Theology— 
 collectivism—is not the thing in the race of life which will 
 carry blessings which the tried and tested individualism of the 
 past has so abundantly and freely given. In every age, the 
 deck must be cleared for battle, the last touch for preparedness 
 must be given. Our best done, we can show our colours. 
 England expects every man to do his duty. Let us put our 
 case into the hands of God. 
 
 The following may be noticed with favour. Long ago Sheriff 
 Barclay delivered a lecture on “ Individualism,” in which he 
 said : It was a noble ensign of battle which floated from the 
 mast-head of the flag ship of Nelson, on the eventful day of 
 Trafalgar, and which perhaps helped not a little to the glorious 
 results which made our little isle mistress of the seas. The 
 word was not that England expects the navy to do her duty, 
 nor the Victory nor the Thunderer , nor this or that ship, 
 nor was it to any branch of the service that England 
 personated. Thus spoke the talisman, with commanding voice, 
 but at once comprehensive and individual: “ England expects 
 
 p 
 
232 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 every man this day to do his duty.” England was not dis¬ 
 appointed. With such a call, each man strained every nerve, 
 and exerted all his energies, and the result showed well how 
 the great Admiral knew the secret key which opened the 
 treasure of patriotic feeling that lay hid in the rough breasts of 
 the crews of his gallant fleet. Just so, “ The man’s the goud 
 for a’ that.” 
 
 Sir Sydney Smith said, “ Men in the mass undoubtedly 
 will do, unblushingly, deeds which individually they would 
 have shunned,” and further—writing from bitter experience 
 —he said, truthfully though not reverently : “ Corporations 
 had neither bodys to be kicked nor souls to be condemned.” 
 We may now remark that if there is anything good and 
 efficient in collectivism, it has to fall back on individualism 
 for it. The man at his post—the man doing his duty—finds 
 one God, one Saviour, and one salvation, and all the agree¬ 
 ment is in a personal sinner, and the echo sounds in every sky, 
 u If thou believest, thou mayest.” 
 
 Mr. Campbell gives praise to collectivism for work done and 
 for work still before it, and after all he comes round to the 
 following : “I do not believe that any form of collectivism, 
 as a mere system superposed from without, can ever really make 
 the world happy : it must be the spirit of brotherhood working 
 from within.” What truth is contained in these words, we 
 accept. At the same time we affirm that the spirit of brother¬ 
 hood working from within will never make the world happy. 
 Mr. Campbell, in all his heavy pulls and great strokes, makes 
 a blunder in saying it comes from within. In a man-fight 
 the fatal stroke is given from the shoulder, and from a well- 
 conditioned heart. It is different in striking a blow for a 
 world’s happiness. 
 
 Happiness. 
 
 Pears, the soap manufacturer, has an advertisement in which 
 a baby figures in a basin, and, in reaching out for the soap, it 
 is stated that “ He won’t be happy till he gets it.” In the 
 world-wide basin and soap, there are faults and failings. The 
 brotherhood from within is not a perfect article. From within 
 the article comes from a source which no man could loudly 
 praise. Long ago, the heart was deceitful above all things 
 and desperately wicked. Out of the heart proceedeth evil 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 233 
 
 thoughts, and many a poor article as well. Still this fountain 
 gives the same water. All the world over, the butter is still 
 sent to one side of the plate : self is a strong factor in all 
 human construction and distribution. In sight of this, brother¬ 
 hood from within is just brotherhood from within, and must 
 therefore be an imperfect operator, acting on customers who 
 are anything but brotherly. 
 
 The happiness of a man—the happiness of the world—will 
 ever be, as it has always been, dependent on the goodness and 
 power of the Most High. We may easily count too much on 
 the brotherhood which comes from within, but no man can 
 reckon too much on that which comes from above. The whole 
 earth will be blessed in the Son of God. Not now, and mark 
 it is not from within. But it will come : “ The wilderness and 
 the solitary place shall rejoice • the desert will be as the rose; 
 an handful of corn on the top of the mountain shall bear 
 abundant crop ; every man under his own vine and fig tree.” 
 Till then, let all true-hearted men “ fight the good fight of 
 faith ”—let the brotherhood act the brother’s part—the servant 
 till the Master’s return. Therefore, I am free to say that my 
 part in the present fight is not against Mr. Campbell as a 
 worker, but because he advocates the New Theology, which is 
 —like the Jedburgh pamphlet on Election-truth and error. 
 
 The Gospel. 
 
 The next point is, “ It is ours to show what the gospel 
 really is and has been from the first.” We see at once the 
 importance, vastness, and greatness of the undertaking. 
 Perhaps there is only one man living who could face it, and 
 although there should be many mistakes, this might be 
 expected. I shall venture this remark, the new measure is not 
 like the old. It looks like the toppers’ beer can : there is a 
 good quantity of froth to fill up, and this should not count. 
 Well now, what is the gospel? Old and new, what is it? 
 Does it come from God or man ? It does not come from man, 
 it does not work from within. It is not the expression of 
 brotherhood, neither is it the realisation of the ideal of 
 universal brotherhood. It is not to show what Jesus really can 
 do, and as His servants we can help Him to do it. It is not 
 that we want the kingdom of God. Considering this point, we 
 are led or forced to say, these are the heights ascended by the 
 
234 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 New Theology plan of salvation. While we have done our 
 best for the brotherhood, the case of man as a lost, undone 
 sinner is not met. Now, that point must be reached or there 
 is no gospel. Unless conditions of acceptance are proposed, 
 there can be no glad tidings. The sinner is out, and he must 
 be brought in ; he is down, and he must be lifted up; he is a 
 criminal by law, and punishment awaits him. The grace of 
 God must reach him. Let it be clearly stated that there is no 
 scheme in the new effort to reach the case. It therefore follows 
 the founder is attempting an impossible and hopeless task in 
 endeavouring to help Jesus to do it. It is done. The founder 
 cannot unfold the gospel, past or present. It is finished. 
 The founder cannot help Jesus to do it. The finished work 
 was accepted. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was raised from 
 the dead. These facts accepted make up the gospel and 
 pardon to the sinner. There is no condemnation to the man 
 who is in Jesus, and there is condemnation to the man who 
 is not in Jesus. A man may clothe himself or be clothed with 
 robes of righteousness fitted by expert hands, but if the 
 righteousness of the Righteous One is not appropriated, the 
 gospel is not there. The wedding garment is provided free. 
 If not accepted, there is no right to the marriage. 
 
 There is life in a look. “ As Moses lifted up the serpent in 
 the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that 
 whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but have 
 everlasting life.” You have here the old and the ever-present 
 gospel. A thousand times the friends and foes of the gospel 
 have sent off heavy and light shot against the standard of 
 Zion. Still it stands “ the shadow of a great rock in a weary 
 land.’" In connection with the gospel, Mr. Campbell holds to 
 the moral output of his Theology. Selfishness is suppressed, 
 and love has possession. We have no objection to all this, 
 none, but it is not the gospel. We may pluck a flower or two 
 from the gospel flower-bed—everlastings these all are. “ He 
 gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity, 
 and purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good 
 works.” This gospel only claims its own when it hails to be 
 the gospel of salvation. The gospel is the power of God unto 
 salvation to every one who believes. It is a revelation of the 
 purpose and grace of God in Jesus Christ, and that purpose is 
 opened up—is manifested—by the appearing of Jesus Christ, 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 235 
 
 who hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to 
 light through the gospel. I would ask men not only to look 
 at the blessedness made known in this gospel and gospel 
 connections, but also place alongside the mighty social move¬ 
 ment in progress and his show of the real gospel of his own 
 construction, as he has given in the book, the “New Theology.” 
 We are now in a position to put the question, Who should 
 rule—who should have our vote—the Old or the New? In 
 what way had our heart and soul found instruction and comfort 
 and rest ? In answering, we may be properly led by these 
 words being before us, “ Be still and know that I am God.” 
 
 Our Business. 
 
 “ Our business is to show that the religion of Jesus is 
 primarily a gospel for this life, and only secondary for the 
 life to come.”— Mr. Campbell. “ My kingdom is not of this 
 world (age).” Proof: “If My kingdom were of this age, then 
 would My servants fight that I should not be delivered unto 
 the Jews, but now is My kingdom not from hence.”— -Jesus 
 Christ . Profit—gain—may be got by dwelling on the points 
 now raised. The authority of the one is much in advance of 
 the other, yet the statements before us are equally plain. The 
 one is new, the other is old. Well then, to go on, it is not 
 every man that the Bible sets down as a fool, yet this is done very 
 plainly. This man is getting on first rate, his store-houses are 
 more than filled with good crops, and greater and bigger ones 
 are built up. His reasoning looks like His circumstances: 
 “ I will say to my soul: Soul, thou has much good laid up for 
 many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But 
 God said unto him : Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be 
 required of thee. Then, whose shall these things be which 
 thou has provided ? So is he that layeth up treasure for 
 himself, and is not rich toward God.” The inference—the 
 reflection—is obvious. The wealth—the treasure of the present 
 age—is short-lived. However high they look and strong, and 
 just like the thing needed, this night may end any of them, or 
 may end ourselves. For this reason, and it is a good one, the 
 gospel of Jesus reaches above and beyond the present age. 
 Treasures on the earth are not recommended as being of first 
 importance. Treasures in heaven are laid up. Everyone 
 understands the meaning of these words laid up. Treasure 
 
236 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 thus secured secures a blessed portion when the treasures—the 
 jewels—are gathered in and given. “ They shall be Mine, 
 saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day, and I will spare them, as 
 a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” All Christ’s 
 teaching—His gospel—takes in and holds up another world, 
 holds it up as chief. It is in the coming age that the meek 
 shall inherit the earth. It is at that time that the peacemakers 
 shall be called the children of God. It is at that time that the 
 persecuted for righteousness sake shall possess the kingdom of 
 heaven. In all this we have the aptness and consistency of 
 Christ’s teaching. He came to lead to the Father, to a Father’s 
 heart and a Father’s home, which heart and home will be 
 opened to the redeemed in the next dispensation, when the 
 sadness and tears, the pains and disappointment of this life 
 cannot come nigh. The Redeemer said to the woman at the 
 well, “If thou hadst known thou wouldst have asked of Me 
 living water, and it would have been thine.” 
 
 This life, the way things go all round, the management of 
 the business of life are not amiss, and many who make the most 
 and best of it never bend a knee nor lift their heart to God. 
 Yet their machinery is the newest and the best, their men in all 
 the divisions of work are the best, and their brain power in all 
 official departments is the best; therefore, results are the 
 best. The very best is made of this life. Here the capitalist 
 is rich, and healthy, and happy, and thousands of working men 
 and families are thereby and therefore healthy and happy also. 
 Every road which leads in any way to success such men find, 
 and there they go-a-head. The other sort are not always so 
 fortunate. They are neither so lucky in purse nor person. At 
 Church and prayer meetings they are ever present and helpful, 
 and their aid is ever freely given. Notwithstanding this, their 
 bank account seems to stick at a low figure. All this is known 
 and felt, and makes good the case. The religion of Jesus 
 Christ—His gospel—is not primarily the gospel of this life. 
 The most prosperous in this life are often the most distant 
 from Christ, His cause, His gospel. And if a man lives over a 
 bad drain he will find a bad time for his own health and for 
 the health of his family all the same whether he be a sinner or 
 saint. You may bring up faith. No use. The remedy is the 
 bricklayer with hands and a knowledge of his business. A 
 gun from a German war-ship is as effective in the killing act as 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 237 
 
 a gun from a British war-ship. Christ and His people have 
 not the best of it to-day, but they are both selecting a people 
 for the Father’s name and the Son’s glory. And the admonition 
 to-day is the same as it was nineteen hundred years ago. “ Enter 
 in at the strait gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way 
 that leadeth to destruction, and many there be who go in 
 thereat; because strait is the gate and narrow is the way that 
 leadeth unto life, and few there be who find it.” Mark, and 
 mark it well, the point, the winning post, the prize, is not, as by 
 the New Theology, this life , but that which leadeth unto life. 
 To this life there is only one way, and “ Jesus is the Way, the 
 Truth, and the Life.” 
 
 Christ’s Gospel. 
 
 This gospel was and is made up in two parts, suffering and 
 glory. The fullness and blessedness thereof in days of old 
 engaged the attention of men and of angels, and unfolded the 
 will and purpose of God. This gospel is only found complete 
 in these two divisions, and in this completeness there is grace 
 with forgiveness, peace, rest, and joy for evermore. All this is 
 in and for the present life, and he has missed the mark who is 
 living outside. All the same, while there might be, and will be, 
 suffering for Christ and His cause, the suffering of Christ is 
 past—gone for ever—and now, and right along, the glory shall 
 follow. That glory began in the resurrection majesty and 
 power of the Saviour, and shall appear in one of its forms. 
 When in the perfect kingly state the saved shall ascribe to 
 Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten 
 from the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth, 
 “Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His 
 own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and 
 to His Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever 
 and ever, Amen. I oftentimes think believers dwell too 
 much on the sufferings of Christ, and neglect to take a 
 proper hold on the glory which follows. Our guide 
 abounds in far richer and fuller accounts of the glory 
 than it does of the suffering Christ. The sufferings of the 
 Redeemer, whatever they were, are closed in death, and never 
 more will they be opened. No, never more. There this 
 suffering ends. The glory may be said to have opened. How 
 I like these outbursts : “ Blessed be the God and Father of 
 
238 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to His abundant mercy, 
 hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection of 
 Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible, 
 undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for 
 you ; who are kept by the power of God through faith unto 
 salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.” We thus 
 find that the gospel of Jesus has many an untold blessing for 
 the present life, but for all that, there is yet a better and more 
 abiding, of which that gospel will usher in in the dawning of 
 the bright day. 
 
 Lift Any Man. 
 
 “ We have to make it clear to the world that the reason why 
 we want to lift any man up and give him a chance of a better 
 and happier life here is because he has an immortal destiny, 
 and must make a beginning somewhere if he is to reach the 
 stature of the perfect man.”—A. J. Campbell. It should be 
 noticed that Mr. Campbell is not the first who has engaged in this 
 high and interesting work. I fear he is not equal to former 
 workmen, and the means he employs are not equal to those 
 employed nineteen hundred years ago. At this point the old 
 story and the new must be told. Our author has worked 
 himself up to a high pitch on the Kingdom of God. In his 
 hands it is a formless, soulless enterprise. The Labour Party 
 the same, whether they know it or not. I do no wrong when I 
 say Mr. Campbell stands in need of light on this same Labour 
 Question and also on the kingdom of God. Follow a clear 
 course and what follows becomes apparent. We gather that 
 God has determined to make for Himself a name and a glory 
 in the earth, that the earth, which has been sin’s ravages, shall 
 be the place where sin shall be destroyed; and that the means 
 through which this shall be accomplished is the establishment 
 of a visible, tangible kingdom of righteousness on its surface, 
 as, at once, the means and the end; and that in that kingdom 
 shall be enjoyed the inheritance promised to the believer in 
 Christ, that honour and glory and eternal life, which are his 
 through the merits of the Redeemer. We will not pass over 
 the fact that the word is richly furnished by the promise of this 
 kingdom and the hope of it. Yet in all the record neither the 
 Labour Party nor the New Theology, as such, shall see the 
 kingdom of God. A new birth is necessary before that 
 kingdom can be seen or entered—bring this Bible declaration 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 239 
 
 home. Although the condition in form may be dogmatical, it 
 is rudimental. It must be held dogmatically. We have not 
 let the fundamental facts go, whatever any New Theology 
 may teach. 
 
 Along with this revelation of truth by the Teacher sent by 
 God, given to the Jewish ruler, we may give a proclamation 
 by Paul to the Romans, which tells in every age the uplifting 
 power employed in the gospel. The light is clear. He says : 
 “ For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ 
 died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will 
 one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even 
 dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, 
 while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, 
 being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from 
 wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were 
 reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being 
 reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, 
 but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by 
 whom we have now received the atonement (or reconciliation).” 
 He closes the argument: “Now being made free from sin, and 
 become the servants of God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, 
 and the end everlasting life.” These truths by faith give an 
 entrance into the Church in the present dispensation, and in 
 the coming dispensation gives a standing in the kingdom yet to 
 come. The beginning is likeable, hopeful, and assuring, 
 ‘‘ He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest, 
 and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His 
 father David, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for 
 ever, and of His kingdom there is no end.” We like the 
 beginning : “ Unto you is bom this day in the city of David a 
 Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.” This Saviour and King, in 
 fulfilling all the prophets said of Him, and all that was 
 historically eventful in His wonderful life, held, “ I, if I be 
 lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.” We find here the 
 constraining, the elevating, the uplifting power—its action, its 
 mode, and spirit of action. This He said signifying what 
 death He should die. In relation thereto, Jesus said, “ The 
 hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified.” Some 
 men, in their inquiry after truth, are best reached by comparison. 
 In the present instance, the lover of contrast has the advantage. 
 Place the best returns of the New Theology along with records 
 
240 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 of the Old, and then think of the low and the lost, the weak 
 and the broken, the blind and the enslaved, the homeless and 
 without hope. Do this, and you may hear through the same 
 the Saviour’s voice and His gracious words, “ Go into all the 
 world and preach the gospel.” Here we find the power which 
 lifts to the household of faith. This Sonship delivers from the 
 power and punishment of sin. It is true—and pity it is true— 
 we cannot induce to the choice of the excellent way, but we 
 can show it, and our heart has comfort in so doing. 
 
 We might indulge a little on the practical, on the question of 
 lifting men up. Right before us it stands. We wish to make 
 it clear to the world the reason why we wish to lift any man up 
 and give him a chance of a better and a happier life. That on 
 that hand, and the following on this hand, we want the world 
 to know that men can and should lift up themselves. For this 
 operation we have the opportunity. We are down—this is 
 admitted—far and foolishly down. The blameworthiness comes 
 in. We have the means of personal elevation. Question what 
 has sunk us so low ? There are three crushing enemies, and 
 while these have proved to the world that they are enemies, we 
 have treated such as friends. Well, what are they ? Clearly 
 they are drink, dirt, and debt. These are the crushers. They 
 are all, and every day, self-imposed. Let the Labour Party, and 
 all other parties, stand clear of drink, dirt, and debt, and from 
 that day their elevation is sure. Without help, petition, or 
 effort, their upward progress will not be hindered—cannot be 
 hindered. Then the world shall have better brain, better work, 
 better men, better homes, and a better country. It follows, 
 preachers’ work is not to tell the world that they wish the world 
 to know that men should be better and happier, but to make 
 all feel that their betterness and happiness is in their own hands, 
 or should be of their own exertion. Simply telling the world 
 may be like playing to the gallery. They should bring home 
 truth and freedom to men in a practical manner. 
 
 Faith and Victory. 
 
 Nearing the end of the book “ New Theology,” we find these 
 words, “ Faith is the victory that overcometh the world.” All 
 right: but the question is up at once, “ What faith?” It is 
 not every faith that holds the power to gain the victory which 
 overcometh the world. According to divine revelation there 
 is only one faith. This fact should have special attention. 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 241 
 
 This one faith of revelation is victor, and no other faith has 
 any virtue. It stands by itself, presented by God, and 
 accepted to the salvation of sinners. As the household of 
 faith, it is of ancient date, and you can find evidence of blood- 
 royal all the way. We may not despise younger upstarts and 
 pretenders; still the right to show titles and rights claiming 
 the connection with the house of David, kingly and clear, our 
 hands by faith are on the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob. The land is ours by faith and promise, and shall 
 be ours in that day the King comes. Life and immortality 
 have been brought to light, and both shall be ours in the 
 morning of the resurrection. 
 
 Any man may now see that the New Theology is out in 
 the cold, and that by choice. We may venture the remark that 
 this selection is neither in harmony with reason nor with 
 revelation. There is only one faith, and it is old as the gospel 
 dispensation. To-day we have to face a new and different 
 faith, which can produce no claim, no right, no connection 
 with those things which hold in hand the faith as the victory 
 that overcometh the world. It is a new and different article, 
 and this difference excludes the victory that overcometh the 
 world. The position we take is made evident by the quotation 
 of the whole passage, “ Whosoever is born (begotten) of God 
 overcometh the world ; this is the victory that overcometh the 
 world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, 
 but he that believeth. And thanks be to God who giveth us 
 the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” There is no 
 victory in the new conception, present nor prospective. He 
 who claims the beginning and the completeness of the New 
 Theology denies the fall of man as given by Moses. This 
 denial makes it impossible of victory. The whole question 
 rests here. It is here the love of God first pointedly operates; 
 it is here the work of the Son of God shows efficiency and 
 power. God commendeth His love towards us. While we 
 were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being 
 now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath 
 through Him. Let us observe, the man is not living who 
 could find salvation in the New Theology—it is not in it. On 
 the question before us, we find a want of proof in Mr. Campbell’s 
 deliverance—no foundation, no pillar to lean on now, no one 
 to guide through the wood, nor to stand by us in that great 
 day. It is the same as his writing on the kingdom of God. 
 
242 
 
 THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 He brings up the words kingdom of God. You look for 
 something real, tangible, and lovable—it is not there. The 
 nearest approach to the thing wanted is Mr. Kier Hardie in 
 the House of Commons, and the Labour Party with its hundred 
 and ten troublesome and harassing points of government. 
 Whenever you are introduced to this kingdom of God, you, 
 with the most honest intentions, find more words than wisdom. 
 Even as a moralist, broader and better ground might be taken 
 and cultivated than what is done by our author. 
 
 Well now, how does the Kingdom of God look in the light 
 of divinely revealed truth ? It will do us good to think of the 
 coming King. “ Thou shalt call His name Jesus.” This 
 name indicates grace and glory—to save His people from their 
 sins. “ He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the 
 Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of 
 H is Father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob 
 tor ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” To 
 be redeemed and to be in family relation here, is to hold class, 
 the very highest attainable. This may not be up-to-date 
 according to the pulpit, at any rate not after the mind of the 
 City Temple; but for all that it is in the records of heaven, 
 strong, and sure, and sound as the everlasting hills. I like 
 this account of the King at His birth, and shall ever look upon 
 it as proof of coming glory and victory: “ Clothed in 
 immortality, and made like Him, by that power whereby He 
 is able to subdue all things unto Himself.” Looking at the 
 order, rule, or government of the kingdom of God, it is 
 altogether different from anything that now is, or ever was, in 
 any part of the earth. It shall be purely monarchical. He 
 shall make the people willing in the day of His power. 
 Jerusalem, the city chosen of the Lord, shall be the seat of the 
 great King. “ He shall judge the poor of the people with 
 righteousness, and thy poor with judgment; He shall judge 
 the poor of the people ; He shall save the children of the needy, 
 and shall break in pieces the oppressor; He shall redeem the 
 soul of the needy from deceit and violence, and precious shall 
 their blood be in His sight: His name shall endure for ever, as 
 long as the sun.” Perhaps that which makes the difference 
 most observable between this kingdom and any that is now in 
 life is to be seen in the place given to the poor. We shall only 
 once more look at the King, as King of Kings and as Lord of 
 Hosts. “The government shall be upon His shoulder, and His 
 
THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD. 
 
 243 
 
 name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, 
 the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of 
 His government and peace there shall be no end.” The 
 leading point in this pronouncement is peace—Prince of Peace— 
 and of His government there shall be no end. All this tells in 
 a way blessed and full of hope of the good time coming. 
 
 Looking at it through the dominions and their work of the 
 passing time—morning, noon, and night—it is not peace, it is 
 war. The demand is longer, louder, and stronger than ever it 
 was in the history of the nations. It is an increasing burden 
 on all people. Bring down governments. The greatest of men 
 are weak before the demand for money for war purposes. The 
 sums gathered or claimed, in all parts, are increased by millions 
 every year. Ships of war and land forces in force have a 
 large sum for their production and upkeep set apart. When 
 all the sums are tabled to-day (1909) they amount to many 
 millions of pounds every year. Our own last popular engage¬ 
 ment was in Africa. The people were not very high in the 
 scale of civilization, yet that people gave us some tips in war, 
 and after a long and bloody contest, the end came, but with 
 the end came no victory. The Boers played their part so well 
 that Britain never stood master all round. In good money we 
 spent ^250,000,000. In men we lost thousands. Some 
 thoughtful men say, much of the commercial distress so 
 prevalent with us of late years can be traced to the Boer war. 
 In full assurance, it may be held that the kingdom of God, 
 embracing the wide, wide world, will be free from all want and 
 woe now so common by war. Every man shall be under his 
 own vine and fig tree. “ A handful of corn on the tops of 
 mountains shall shake and be like Lebanon. From out of Zion 
 shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 
 He shall rule among the nations, and shall rebuke many 
 people, and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, 
 and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not rise 
 up against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” 
 From sun rise to sun set, all the way and right on, it shall be 
 “Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, and good will 
 among men.” 
 
 We now put the question of the two kingdoms of God, the 
 one brought out by the New Theology and the other fixed by 
 the Old Theology. Which of the two are you to call your 
 own hope and portion for ever ? 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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