THE FALSE RELIGIONS

Apologies for Christianity.-No compromise.-Marks of true religion. It is of God. It saves men.-It makes for righteousness. It is universal.

Apologies for Christianity.-I make no apology for speaking of "the false religions" or of phrasing my subject that way. I am tired of hearing eulogiums on Islam and Buddhism and Confucianism and half-hearted apologies for Christianity, sometimes from men who are in covenant vows to preach and "maintain and defend" the religion of Christ.

I am tired also of hearing it repeated over, over and over with great emphasis that "there are good things in all religions." Why say a simple and self-evident thing in such a solemn way? Of course there are good things in all religious systems, as there is an element of goodness in almost everything of this world of ours. There is gold not only in quartz but in granite, in old red sandstone, in blue clay, in sand and sea water; but the question is whether it is there in paying quantities

or not.

A lot of fine things could easily be said about

Dagon; who was really intended to be a shadowing forth of the true God. He was the national idol of the Philistines; the patron of arts and commerce and agriculture; the center of innumerable hopes and fears. Nevertheless, the sanctuary of the Philistines was not large enough to contain him and the Ark of the Covenant at the same time. I Samuel 5 1-4.

This is another way of saying that the true religion is exclusive. There is only one God; and there is not room in the universe for more than one. There is only one religion, one Book of ultimate authority as to spiritual things, one Christ and one Cross, one Way of everlasting life.

No compromise.-It follows that there can be no compromise. Our religion is not one among religions, nor the best among them: it is the only one. It was so preached by our Lord Jesus Christ, as when he said, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not, the wrath of God abideth on him"; and, inasmuch as the servant is not greater than his Lord, it must be so preached by those who truly follow him.

In the Calendar of the Roman Church there are two saints canonized for their missionary work. One of them is St. Francis Xavier, who went to Japan in the middle of the sixteenth century to preach the gospel. He found the people so wedded to their idols that his efforts were wholly unavailing. Then he resorted to a compromise, persuad

ing them to combine their worship of a certain goddess with that of the virgin mother of Christ. What was the result? Now, after the expiration of more than three hundred years, there is said to be a colony of the Japanese people who worship, with all idolatrous rites and ceremonies, an idol whom they call "the goddess Mary."

The other of these missionaries was St. Boniface, who went to Germany on a like errand. He, however, recognized the fact that there can be no compromise between truth and error. On finding it impossible to propagate the gospel without a final and complete severance of the people from their idolatry, he bravely felled the sacred oak of Thor, at peril of his life. What was the result in this case? The people came over to Christ like doves flocking to their windows, and Germany is a Christian nation to-day.

This was in pursuance of the method divinely prescribed for us as it is written, "What fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as he hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God; and they shall be my people. Wherefore come ye out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; and I will receive you."

Marks of true religion.-The true religion is set apart from the false religions by certain marks: by which great chasms, infinite and unbridgeable, are opened up between them.

It is of God. Our religion is of God; while all others are of man. It comes to us by revelation. There are truths which are generic and intuitive, such as the being of God and the doctrine of immortality; but there are others which could never be clearly known or duly authenticated except by a direct message from God; as, for example, the Atonement, which is the great underlying truth of the religion of Christ. For this, and for an authoritative statement of our religious intuitions also, we are indebted to that direct revelation which is contained in the Bible as the inspired Word of God.

On this point we rest our faith in the great verities. Our last appeal in the settlement of all spiritual problems is not to the Church, nor to our inner consciousness, but to a "Thus saith the Lord." His word is, for us, an end of controversy. "Here I stand; I cannot otherwise; God help me!"

But are there not other so-called sacred books that claim to have come from God? Yes, the Koran, for example. But they cannot and do not seriously undertake to vindicate that claim. The Koran is said to have fallen down out of heaven; but that claim is effectively disposed of by the fact

that the Koran rests on three frightful pillars, to wit: War, Polygamy and Concubinage.

We hear a great deal, in some quarters, about the excellency of the Vedas. Can the Vedas vindicate their claim? Let Max Müller answer, who, as a great Orientalist, should be competent to speak in these premises. When he was translating the literature of the false religions he apologized for expurgating the Vedas, saying that a literal version would have exposed him to indictment under the English law against the circulation of obscene literature!

The Bible, on the contrary, stands prepared to vindicate itself. It challenges criticism and fearlessly affirms its inspiration. And it offers its own definition of inspiration, in the word theopnustia, which means "breathed of God." It affirms that it was written by men who "spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit."

It saves men.-The second of the great, unbridgeable chasms by which Christianity is separated from the false religions is the fact that it proposes to save men. It does this by the atonement of the Cross.

In all the other religions and philosophies of the world there is no hint or suggestion of any plan by which the record of the mislived past can be blotted out. And herein lies the supreme argument for the exclusiveness of Christianity as the one true religion. The word means "to bind