No Substitute for the Gospel.—Let it not be supposed, however, that music, poetry, painting, sculpture, science, or any other thing, can take the place of the great uplifting Plan whereby the world, already redeemed, is yet to be glorified. No gift can vie with the Giver, no creature usurp the functions of the Creator. He will use everything true and good and beautiful to melt the hearts of men and prepare them to be saved; but salvation itself comes only by one route—the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the great Ideal, and it must be honored and maintained as such. In dealing with it, no Procrustean process is permissible. It must not be chopped off because men think it too long, nor stretched out because they deem it too short. It did not come into the world to be mutilated. Revelation cannot bow down to tradition. Truth is the standard—truth as Heaven reveals it—and the opinions and theories of men must give way. The Gospel's accessories are no substitute for the Gospel.
Footnotes
[1]. Lessons in Life, by Timothy Titcomb (J. G. Holland)—Lesson 22, "The Poetic Test."
[2]. As a Man Thinketh, "Visions and Ideals."
[3]. "Love and the Light," p. 68.
[4]. Moses 6:63.
[5]. Matt. 6:28, 29; Luke 12:27.
[6]. Sartor Resartus, 3, "Symbols."
[7]. Moses 6:63.