I think it
is, in the main, quite on the level with any ordinarily intelligent
mind. Of course, it involves some deep problems; but these can be
postponed for the present; it is the main question that claims paramount
attention.
Some preachers delicately approach the idea with hints and inuendos and
mild threatenings, which are really worse than utter silence. I heard a
preacher speaking lately of men as "utter failures, going out into the
darkness." Now what did he mean, or did he mean anything? Again;
preachers speak of "eternal death," which might mean eternal extinction
or eternal fire. And yet that vague phrase is actually proposed as one
of the bases of union of the churches.
A short time ago I wrote _The Toronto Star_ somewhat along these lines.
The editor wrote a most responsive article, concluding with these
strong words:
"This question and all that hangs upon it must be faced. A man has a
right to know what his church teaches. The man in the pew--the man even
who is not in the pew but who might be--has a right to expect that the
man in the pulpit not only believes what he preaches, but preaches what
he believes. A religion made up of hidden folds and mental reservations,
a creed marked by evasions and ambiguities, cannot reach and warm the
heart of the world."
There is hardly a more vital truth known to us than the one I have tried
to commend.
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