"New" Gospel

There is a Gospel present in many quarters and in favour in many places . It is commonly called the negative theology , a theology , as its name indicates , with a great many noes in it . It teaches that human nature , the patient , is not so radically diseased as the popular creed represents it to be ; the cure does not demand so much power and wisdom as we have been taught to suppose ; the sacrifice of Christ was not required as a satisfaction to Divine justice , and his death on the cross had not so deep a meaning as is commonly assigned to it ; the scriptures are not all , or at least not all equally , the inspired Word of God , and the harsher portions of it must not be explained too strictly ; God is not a stern Judge , but a Father , and fatherliness means fondness , softness. Thus by introducing a string of negatives into the Gospel , they contrive to rub its sharpest corners off , and leave a figure more like a dim , beautiful outline of the changeful clouds , on whose edges you might fall without being hurt , than the stern summits of the everlasting hills , whereon , if a man fall , he will be broken to pieces . By taking the gospel of the Scriptures , eliminating fron it everything that offended their taste , they have constructed a gospel which seems beautiful in their eyes , and is smooth and agreeable to the touch ; but it is not the gospel of Christ . It is not coarse and loathsome , like the idols of the heathen or of Rome ; it is not made of gold or silver , wood or stone --- its matter and its mould are more refined and spiritual ; nevertheless it is an idol ; the workman made it , therefore it is not God . Granted that this gospel is soft and seemly ; what then ? it will not sustain a sinner in the hour of his extremity . When you fall , and its arms are opened to receive you , you will sink through them , as through a shadow . It will not in the least degree break the fall of the lost sinner in the day of wrath.   W. Arnot