MODKKXISM AND T K'A 1 ) I'll ( >N A L C II IMSTI AN ITY. 



87 



Discussion. 



The Rev. MARTIN ANSTEY rose to propose a hearty vote of 

 thanks to Canon McClure for the masterly review he had given 

 them of a very wide subject. There was only one word in the title 

 of the lecture to which he took exception. For the word "tradi- 

 tional" he would substitute the word "historical" Christianity. 

 The word " traditional " was associated with the Romish view of 

 Christianity as based on Holy Scripture and tradition, whereas in 

 truth it rested on the written Word of God, and was in danger of 

 being corrupted by the traditions of men. 



Christianity was one complete, coherent, consistent whole, domi- 

 nated by one central principle, springing from one supreme Person, 

 and embedded in actual facts of past history. It was not a system 

 of theories or a scheme of thought. Its relation to Holy Scripture 

 was intimate, intrinsic, vital. It involved belief in (1) certain 

 fundamental facts, (2) certain definite interpretations of those facts, 

 and (3) certain duties or laws of conduct enjoined as arising out of 

 the Christian interpretation of the fundamental Christian facts. 

 These facts were contained in the four Gospels, and the Book of 

 Acts. The interpretations were contained in the first part of the 

 Epistles, and the duties in the latter part of the Epistles. The 

 Christian Creeds were not metaphysical theories, but statements of 

 fact. " I believe in Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary, 

 suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried ; the 

 third day He rose again from the dead . . — these were the 

 fundamental facts upon which, and not upon any philosophical 

 theory, Christianity was based. 



Modernism was an attempt to adapt Christianity to an anti- 

 Christian system of philosophy. In the eighteenth century an 

 attempt was made to adapt Christianity to the prevailing anti- 

 Christian philosophy of Deism. In the nineteenth century a similar 

 attempt was made to adapt it to the prevailing philosophy of 

 Pantheism. Modernism was an attempt to adapt it to the prevailing 

 monistic philosophy of the twentieth century. Modernism did not 

 base its theories upon the facts of history, but endeavoured to adapt 

 the facts to its theories. Hence it rejected the fact of the Virgin 

 Birth, and substituted for the Fall a doctrine of the rise of man. 

 But facts were not to be set aside in this manner. When duly 



