PERSONAL RELIGION BY CHARLES HERBERT RUST MINISTER AT THE SECOND BAPTIST FOREWORD THA HAT we are passing through a transition period in Christian thinking is well known to every thoughtful person. Broader ideas of religion are general, spiritual authority in religion is being recognized, new conceptions of the Bible are in vogue, the immanence of God is emphasized, the ethical side of religion is made prominent, religious experience from the standpoint of psychology, is being studied, and the social or Kingdom aspects of Jesus' message and ideal are constantly before us. The presence of such books as Clark's "Theology" and "The Ideal of Jesus" and "Sixty years with the Bible"; Matthew's "The Church and the Changing Order"; Stevens' "The Psychology of the Christian Soul"; Anderson's "The Man of Nazareth"; and numerous other books of similar view point, makes real the situation. Our Colleges and Seminaries are sending out men well versed in philosophy, psychology, science and the results of historical investigation. They are expected to adjust their Gospel Message to the modern view point. Many of them wonder where they are and what they have lost or gained in the transition. The place of "Personal Religion" in this universal social propaganda is not clear to some of them. Their teachers have not failed. It simply takes time to get adjusted. Then there are many of our pastors who feel they cannot have the same idea of the Bible or of Jesus' religion that they once did who have 375127 not found a positive Gospel message from the modern standpoint, and there are numbers of our loyal laymen and Sunday School workers who are not clear in their vision of the truth as Jesus taught it. In addition to these, there is a company of Evangelists who do not accept any of these modern conceptions but antagonize them believing them to be of the very devil. They hold tenaciously to the old because they must be conservative, not realizing that the progressive scholar is the true conservative for he separates the external from the internal, the material from the spiritual, and the superficial from the vital. They do not know that modern man is honestly seeking to be true to Jesus and to save that which is religiously and ethically essential. It is to help these perplexed ones and to call the church to the truth of Jesus' fundamental message to the world, that this book is written. The author believes most sincerely that there is a very vital Gospel message in the modern conception. The progressive man simply must be intensely evangelistic. He must get men individually into vital touch with the Spirit of God through Jesus Christ, he must secure in man a definite life ideal, a positive alinement to Jesus' principles and purposes and a real experience of the spiritual power of Jesus, or man cannot be saved and the Kingdom cannot come. He must emphasize personal religion. Therefore we are to believe that there is a virile evangelism for the church today, and the acceptation of true progressive thought, with its new understanding of the human personality, its scientific investigation, and its social emphasis, not only does not abrogate this evangelism, but when deeply considered, demands it. This work has been done in the rush of a busy pastorate and the demands of the larger Kingdom service which have been pressing upon him, but it has been a labor of love for The Father, for Jesus, for Humanity and for the Kingdom. Gladly do I acknowledge my special indebtedness to Drs. Orchard, Phillips, Clifford, Williams, Wilberforce, Tennant, Stevens, Campbell, Clow, Harnack, Eucken and others across the sea, and to Drs. Rauschenbusch, Matthews, Clark, Anderson, Buckham, Gladden, Patten, Bowne, Hyde, and others in America. The last word on the subject has not been spoken but perhaps some little contribution to truth and Kingdom advancement has been made in this humble volume. Rochester, N. Y. C. H. R. |