Christian profession to-day is sharply divided into two hostile parties; Orthodoxy and Modernism. The latter is an old enemy, infidelity, under a new name.

Modernism would fain make one believe that it is in no wise antagonistic to all that is good and essential in Christianity; but it is the old cry:"Master, Master," accompanied by the kiss of the traitor. The blessed Son of God is wounded afresh in the house of His (professed) friends.

Some time ago, Dr. Samuel Chadwick, Principal of Cliff College, one of the leading Methodist Colleges of Great Britain, told of a young candidate for the ministry, a whole-hearted believer and earnest worker, who, upon application for his credentials at the close of his course, was greatly perplexed by the treatment he received from the Board. He knew his marks were good. He was not ignorant of his spiritual equipment as compared with those accepted. He was sure of his call by God. So he wrote to ask if he might be informed why he was refused.

A courteous reply was received, in which he was told the reason of his failure. It stated that he was rejected because he had kept himself too remote from the life and thought of the present day -world. He was not modern enough in his views!

Four examples were given:

(1) The Bible was not to be read as the inspired Word of God, but as a book of literature!

(2) Man was not created in the image of God as recorded in the Bible. He came from the lower animals by slow stages of evolution! There was no jail; it was a rise upward!

(3) There is grave doubt about the story of the virgin birth!

(4) There is no eternal punishment. The wicked will be given a second chance.

Thus is the Word of God flouted, and man becomes supreme judge of what is-and what is not-TRUTH.

Man, thus shut up to the dictates of his own evil heart, necessarily flounders in a morass of infidelity. Of such Jude wrote, "Clouds without water… raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame, wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever" (Jude 12,13).

Faithfulness to Christ demands whole-souled separation from those who thus dishonor His holy Person; there can surely be no neutrality when the fundamentals of the Christian faith are assailed. We would be traitors to Christ if we lightly treated the destructive tenets of Modernism. Every true heart must rejoice that there are still those who unswervingly defend fundamental truths, and are prepared, at all costs, to wage a warfare against subversive teaching, "earnestly contending for the truth once delivered to the saints." We surely honor the men who to-day will consent to no compromise, but fearlessly maintain the fundamentals of the Christian faith, and we follow with our prayers the ministry of those who seek to combat the evil effects of Modernism.
But is Fundamentalism enough? May we not, in our zeal for orthodoxy, overlook the characteristic truth of this dispensation? Paul's ministry was a double one, and while he rejoiced in the gospel and was used mightily by God in the conversion of sinners and the establishment of souls in the fundamentals of our faith, there was another revelation given to him, which he valued above all else and for which he willingly suffered. Writing to the Colossians, he speaks (in chap. 1:24-26) of the mystery which had been hid from ages and from generations, but NOW is made manifest unto His Saints. Rom. 16:25-27; Eph. 3:3-6, 9-11; 5:32 all speak of this special ministry, and it was the preaching of this truth that stirred up the anger of the Jews, for it removed the "middle wall of partition," and put them on the same level as the despised Gentiles. Hence Paul in writing to a Gentile company, Ephesians, styles himself "prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles," and of himself as "the prisoner of the Lord" (chap. 4:1). He shows that the Gentiles were "joint-heirs," of the same Body, and (joint) partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel (Eph. 3:6). It was for this truth he suffered (Col. 1:24), and only thus did he "fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ for His Body's sake, which is the Church." To them also he wrote, "For I would that ye knew what conflict I have for you… and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God" (Col. 2:1,2). The verse should end without the added words, "of the Father and of Christ," for the mystery is the same mystery he has already referred to, and not the mystery of the Godhead, as many suppose. It is the mystery of Christ and the assembly, the Head in heaven and the Body here on earth. In this mystery is hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Then also Paul speaks of this ministry as completing the Word of God (Col. 1:-25). This truth of Christ and the assembly (His Body) completed the whole cycle of revealed truth; there was nothing more to be made known. Of what importance, then, in the eyes of God must this truth be, and how dear to the heart of the One who "died to gather together in one!" And shall we who love Him treat lightly this precious revelation and count it, as many do, non-essential? Why non-essential? Are we so -selfish that we deem only essential that which teaches our soul's salvation and deliverance from the consequences of our guilt? Can we remain indifferent to that which He loved and for which He gave Himself, that which still occupies His thoughts? For He carries on the "washing of water by the Word," in view of that coming day, when "He will present her all glorious, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing" (Eph. 5:26, 27). Do we say that these things are "too deep?" Too deep for one who has the Holy Spirit and of whom it is said:"All things are yours?" Nay, rather let us (if such be our thoughts) own that it is lack of appreciation rather than lack of understanding! "The Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God," and all we need is subjection to the Word and the desire to do His will.

It may cost a little to take up these truths in a practical way, but happiness lies in obedience, and while a stand for fundamentalism is most praiseworthy, we must not stop short of the "whole counsel of God."

May every heart be encouraged in these lukewarm days to more fervently seek the path of God's will, and thus come into "all the riches of the full assurance of understanding,'" and the full knowledge of "the mystery of God." J. W. H. Nichols