PREFATORY NOTES.

1. Thus far in the Evolution of Mankind the credulous has prevailed, to the repression and almost universal exclusion of the critical; especially so with reference to all subjects relating to Religion. By the "critical" is not meant ignorant rejection or unbelief, much less the scoffing spirit of Infidelity or the scorning spirit of Agnosticism: but a tendency to look into things, a spirit and habit of inspection. This was the original meaning of those shining words of the Bible -Prophet, Apostle, Bishop; they were names for those who were supposed to be inspectors or lookers-into-things.

This of course refers to the generic meaning of the words. Their original significance was true to their derivation so long as Bible Religion was “pure and undefiled." Every recognized Prophet of the Old Testament, Apostle of the New, and Bishop of the first century was a Skeptic" in such a pronounced sense of that word (in its generic meaning) as to be a "heretic," an "infidel" even, to the popular or "orthodox" party of his generation. When Christianity began to degenerate there were no more Prophets (except "false Prophets "), no more Apostles, and the word Bishop grew to mean a mere overseer or an official director of dogmatic and ecclesiastical affairs.

This critical spirit can only exist in highly evolved individuals, and can only prevail widely in highly evolved periods. Such individuals have been all those true Prophets, Apostles, and Bishops who (in all the Past and in every form of Religion) have "turned the world upside down" in its superstitions, stupidities, and sins; and have striven to inaugurate the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth through the agency of their Protestantisms, Revolutions, and Reforms. Thus far in History there has been no period so highly evolved as to enable this critical spirit to prevail widely. Most nearly approximating it were the first and second centuries and the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries of the Christian Era. (The periods of the Buddhistic, Socratic, Islamistic, and of the more ancient Confucian and Zoroastrian Reforms were approximations also; but limited in aspirations and local in attempts.)

But now, all the signs of the times indicate that the Evolution of Mankind has reached such an elevated stage as to render it possible to inaugurate a Protestantism of the devoutly and reverently Critical that shall so widely prevail over the ignorantly and degradingly Credulous as to virtually establish that Kingdom of Heaven upon Earth which John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Apostles introduced and which the Protestant Reforms of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries re-introduced. This conviction has so taken possession of the author as to be the compelling motive of every sermon preached, article written, and word of instruction spoken during the entire thirty years of his unceasing service as Minister of the Gospel of Jesus the Christ. He has ever tried to be a true Skeptic, that is, a devout and reverent looker-into-things. Moreover, he has increasingly believed that, in a new and wider sense than ever before, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. This belief finally suggested (as a possible forward-helping) this volume and dictated its contents-" Renascent Christianity, A Forecast of the Twentieth Century."

Renascent means reviving, renewing, or newly springing up. Renascent Christianity, therefore, means Original Christianity (i. e., Christianity as taught by Jesus and his Apostles), reviving, renewing or springing up anew.

Explanatory of the general title is the additional one, A Forecast of the Twentieth Century. Forecast implies foresight and foresight means power to foretell or to prophesy. In this sense this volume is a prophecy of the kind of Christianity that will prevail (or begin to prevail) in the Twentieth Century.

After the entire body of this volume was in permanent type, and these Prefatory Notes were in the printer's hands, the following met the author's eye for the first time ("Our Heredity from God.")

"There is in human evolution also a great deal of what may be termed periodicity. Ideas and lines of thought run their courses in given periods. Religions have from the outset had a period of about five hundred years. Brahminism, itself a reformation of an antecedent faith, burst out simultaneously over Asia about 2000 B.C. The law-giving by Manu in Southern Asia, by Tschow in Eastern Asia, and by Moses in Western Asia, was spontaneous

and simultaneous about 1400 and 1500 B.C. The song and psalm era of David and Homer was about 1000 B.C. Buddha in India, Confucius in China, Socrates in Greece, flashed forth about 500 B.C. Five hundred years later, Jesus, concentering all lines of evolution, symbolized the cosmopolitan unity of all future development. 500 to 600 A.D. the papacy was established, and Mohammed began his crusade of monotheism. 1000 A.D. the completed hierarchy was established by Hildebrand; 1500 A.D. the Reformation by Luther was kindled. As we near 2000, it seems certain that we are approaching the culmination and establishment of the age of Reason as the basis of Faith. . . . Through all these revolutions has there been evolution; and all religions have moved on The King's Highway to higher hopes and purer purposes."

2. The Author would classify himself as to Ecclesiasticism, Ritual, and Dogmatic Theology among the broadest of "Broad Churchmen." Episcopal Order of Government, so long as it does not degenerate into a tyranny of dictation or of control; Liturgical Worship, so long as it is intellectually sincere and spiritually elevating; Historic Theology, so long as it neither adds to nor takes from the simple teachings of Jesus the Christ, are all heartily accepted. Though much disliking (on account of their bigoted and persecuting associations) the words Churchmanship, Orthodoxy, and Trinitarianism, their truths (so far as they are clearly those enunciated by Jesus the Christ) are eagerly retained, while their errors are as eagerly rejected. The well-known Rector of Grace Church, New York City, has recently defined the position tersely and well-" Such unclassifiable thinkers are by no means so numerous within our ecclesiastical borders as might be wished. They come under the same sort of suspicion as that which overshadows the 'independent voter' in politics. Nevertheless their abiding in the ship inures to the benefit of the voyage. We are stronger and richer with them than we could be without them."

Among the last written words of the late Professor Henry Drummond were the following:

"The characteristics of Christianity are that it deals with the roots of things, with the heart and life; that it holds sacred the aspiration and the wants of man and man himself; that it recognizes above all social distinctions the universal brotherhood of the race, and over all legislation the one Golden Rule of Christ. While claiming no monopoly

of this high spirit for Christian Liberalism, is it unfair to point out that the interests of Conservatism hitherto have been more centred on institutions than on men? Is it untrue to say that it has sought its sanctions in tradition rather than in the sense of justice and the educated intelligence of the people?"

Among the latest public utterances of Dr. John Watson are the following:

"When a preacher offers the beautiful verities of Christ and His salvation as the hereditary treasure of our race, then is the soul captivated and made eager for their acceptance. What it has long been seeking for, as in a mist, has now been revealed; what it has bitterly cried out for, as in a dry and thirsty land, is now within reach. When a preacher gathers together various elements of the Christian faith and demands that one should accept them all and at once with an alternative of punishment, then the kindly evangel is held as a pistol to the head and human nature is apt to rebel.

"The Gospel is never negative-an embodied threat'refuse if you dare'; the Gospel is ever positive—a living promise, 'Come and be blessed.'

"Beyond all question and by the consent of all men the Bible has a voice of peculiar and irresistible majesty. Like the deep, mellow sound of a bell floating out from a cathedral tower on the violet sky of Italy and arresting for a brief moment at least the confused babel of the carnival below, so does the bell note of this book fall on the restless questions and fretful anxieties of the soul. Hearers are of a sudden hushed into reverence and are graciously inclined to submission, not by the ipse dixit of a fallible preacher, but because the mouth of the Lord has spoken it."

In a sermon recently preached by a scholarly "Trinitarian" clergyman in Columbus, Ohio, occurs the following: "The truth is that whatever extravagance may be charged against the Higher Criticism, it has made it impossible for any intelligent Biblical scholar to hold the view of the Bible that was taught to me when I was studying for the ministry and that is held by a great majority of our church members

to-day. That view is simply not true. The Bible is not the kind of a book that we once believed it to be. It is a better book, a diviner book as I believe; and the people of our churches have a right to know just what kind of a book it is."

A distinguished clergyman of the "Trinitarian" Faith, in a recent sermon preached in the city of New York, said:

"We are approaching an hour in the history of religious faith that may be called the hour before a revolution. All writers, speakers and thinkers are dealing with the subject.

"The day is at hand when the world must have a better interpretation of the Bible. The popular education of the people has been such that a revolution of faith is inevitable.

"New theology means the sum total of the aggressive thinking of centuries. This revolution in religion will make men better Christians in the broader sense of the word, and do away with ignorance and bigotry."

From various recent "orthodox" magazines and other periodicals have been gathered the following:

"Until we can put away from the minds of men the common error that the current Christianity of the Church is true Christianity, we can make but little progress in converting the world."

"It is generally acknowledged that there needs to be a waking up and a reformation in the Church at large. Christians need to be called back to the simple teachings of Jesus and to a Pentecostal sense of their mission for souls and for the world."

"The greatest necessity of our times is the Christianization of Christianity. Back to Christ, back to genuine Christianity!—this is the John the Baptist cry of the coming age and ages."

"It is my firm belief that the Church of Christ is on the eve of a mighty spiritual and moral upheaval, the incoming of a power that will make it truly Christian and sweep the world forward toward the Millennial dawn. For this the whole Church should pray, and in expectation of it move forward to the speedy conquest of the world for Christ."