The power of God, manifested in all creation, is the power in which the Gospel is to go as a witness to all people. This was the encouragement with which Christ sent forth His disciples. "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore, and teach all nations." (Matthew 28:18-19)
It was in this confidence that the early church bore its testimony. When opposed by earthly rulers their only appeal was to God, "which has made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is." (Acts 4:24)
Paul so taught and labored that the faith of his converts "should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." (1 Corinthians 2:5)
As the churches have failed to rely to the full on the strong arm of God for efficiency, weakness has come in, but instead of returning to the Lord, recourse has too often been had to the world. Protection and favor are sought from earthly governments, but these, while ministering to carnal pride and the desire for worldly standing, are found poor substitutes for "the exceeding greatness of God's power" (Ephesians 1:19)
Dr. Fairbairn is about to visit India for the purpose of delivering a series of lectures on the Christian religion, for the Haskell Trust. The duty of the trust is to provide distinguished men to discuss with representatives of the leading religions their different forms of faith, to show the points in which they agreed and differed, and to enable those who followed each, better to understand the feelings of the other.
Dr. Fairbairn is considered to be pre-eminently fitted for such work, and his approaching visit to India was made the occasion of a complimentary dinner at the Holborn Restaurant.
After the company had drunk to the success of his mission, Dr. Fairbairn, in replying, expressed himself as feeling the responsibility rather than the pleasure associated with his undertaking. It would have been easy to go to learn, but the puzzle was how to go to teach. Religion in a sense was but an incident in the life of our people. We were an imperious race, if not imperial. It was very difficult for a religion of peace to be carried out by a people of dominion; it was very difficult for the people who were ruled to receive the religion of the rulers as a religion that was a religion of peace and humility. Christianity would have a far better chance in India if it came in its own right, to speak in its own name in absolute dissociation from the imperial power.
These words are true. Christ's kingdom "is not of this world." (John 18:36)
Its sole concern with the world is to save out of it all that will be saved, and "imperial power," connected with its work, is only a source of weakness. Those who plead that the church is helped by the money and influence of the world should remember what God said to Amaziah, when he hired a hundred thousand mighty men of valor out of Israel for a hundred talents of silver.
"There came a man of God to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with you; for the Lord is not with Israel. ... And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? and the man of God answered, The Lord is able to give you much more than this." (2 Chronicles 25:7,9)--Present Truth, October 13, 1898.