| Show CHRISTIAN ITYS TONE at the recent english church congress hold held at norwich prot prof bonney canon of manchester made a bold and honorable attempt to cast a millstone off the neck of christianity by frankly re renouncing unclip belief in the historical character of the earlier books ot of the bible ile io said I 1 cannot deny that the of iknou knowledge ledge has bas deprived pic parts arts of 0 the earli books of the tha bible of tile ills value v lue which aich was genral Iv attributed to them by our fore forefathers flithers the story of the creation in genesis Genes uniti wo play 1 y I 1 fiat t and loose either cither wibb with words worda or r with 1 1 t h W inco cannot bo be brought into harmony v w fill what wo we have learned from geology lid itu statements are arc im imperfect p affect if not sometimes inaccurate th tho e loriet hoe of the flood anil and of the 00 tower acab of babel label tire arft incredible in ili their present form some hintor historical leal element may underlie many of the traditions in the first eleven chapters cha of that book but this wo we cannot hope to recover with the historical character of the chapters relating to the creation canon honney bonney must resign his belief in the fall of adam with his belief in tile the tall fall of adam ho he must surrender the doctrine of the atonement as coil connected necked with that event and thus rel love conscience of the strain put upon it in struggling to reconcile vicarious punishment with our sense of justice he will also have to lay jay aside his belief in the serpent of the temptation and in the primeval personality of evil the history of every nation begins begin with myth A primeval tribe keeps no record and a nation in its maturity has no more recollection of what wha t happened in its infancy than in a roan man of what happened to him in n his cradle when the ape age ot of reflection 0 arrives and the nation begins to sp speculate c on its origin it gives itself a mythical founder a theseus a romulus or an abraham and ascribes to him its ancestral institutions or customs the figure of the patriarchal abraham a typical sheikh as well as the father of israel Is exceptionally vivid and his history Is exceptionally dramatic but to regard abraham as a real founder not only of a nation but of a church and as the chosen medium of communication between god and man sound criticism will no longer allow us ui and nd sound criticism like genuine science Is the voice of the spirit of truth W why by should we force ourselves to believe that the being who nils fills eternity and Intini ty became tho the guest of it a hebrew sheikh entered into a covenant with tile sheikhs sheik hs tribe to the exclusion of the rest of the human race and as the seal of the covenant ordained the perpetuation petua tion of a barbarous tribal rite every tribe I 1 Is the chosen people of its own god of tho the history of the other patriarchs the texture I 1 Is 3 a apparently the the same as that ot of the history of abraham they are mythical founders of a race of the poetic character of the story of joaeph with its miraculous dreams and their interpretations there surely can be no doubt the old testament Is altogether geocentric and not merely in the phen phenomenal ome sense tho the sun and moon are made for lights in th the firmament of the heaven to give light 3 on the earth and with them Is coupled tho the creation of the stars the writer of the book of joshua cites the book of basher as evidence dence of the miracle the stopping of the sun and moon was the book of basher inspired could an inspired writer need or rest on the evidence of ono one who was uninspired of the appearance pe arance of hebrew forms on egyptian monuments egyptian conquest would appear to give it A sufficient explanation wo we are then in no way bound to believe that god so identified himself with it favored tribe as to t 0 license il it to invade a number of 0 ther other tribes which had done it no wrong to them and take possession of their land such examples have it Js Is needless to say had cc a deplorable effect in forming the ha harsher and 1 darker arker parts of the character which calls it stif arlt christian they are responsible in no small degree for murderous perse cautions cut ions lons and for the extirpation or oppression of heathen races tho the daik side of tho the puritan character in p particular a r Is if traceable to their in influence flu 0 nee the books of the old testament ond and notably the his historical torlea I 1 books are for tho the most part by urano w n authors and of unknown dates no nor r do dc they put forward themselves a any ny claim in inspiration where they cite elder authorities thor ties ldes such oa as the bo book 0 it of basher they in effect declare t themselves he amse ives indebted to human records and therefore uninspired driml primitive fl lawgivers speak by divine command in no way apparently la in inspiration on claimed C by the authors of the old testa testament benl jesus came to substitute a religion ot of conscience tor for that of law a religion of humanity for or that of 0 the tribe an worship or in spirit and in truth tor for worship in the temple his preaching was a reaction against the judaism then impersonated personated persona ted in the charl pharisee see afterwards developed in the talmud a and now fully represented in the talmud talmudic to lc jew but he was not a revolutionist lilke socrates ho he accepted established institutions including tho the natt national 0 nal ritual anil and in that sense fulfilled all al I 1 righteousness ile he accepted tho the sacred books among tho the rest andia and in addressing an audience which believed in them he cited them and appealed to their au all in the usual way ile he cites the book ot of jonah find and in terms which seem to show that ho he regards it as a real history on 0 o that a literalist like the late dr liddon took ire fire at being told that the book was on an apologue considering this an impeachment of the veracity of jesus yet few even of the most orthodox coull now profess to b believe i that jonah sojourned sojourn ed in the belly of a fish st paul in like manner I 1 treats the narrative of the fall of 0 adam in genesis gent slit as historical and connects a doctrine with it though the mythical character of the narrative Is admitted a we have seen been even by a dignitary of the church the Evangel evangelists lats slin lm plo minded find in the sacred books of their nation prognostications ot of the character and mission ot of josua jesus no lie real and specific prediction of tie the advent of jesus or of any ally event in his hill life can be produced from the tha books of the old testament what la in the old testament it Is the entire body of hebrew literature theology philosophy history hl atory fiction and poetry including the poetry of love as well as that of rell religion gion we have bound it all up altogether nis as a singe book and bound up th that t book with tho the new testament as mt though hough the religion of 0 tho the two were the same and the slaughter ot of the or the massacre of the dot eliy Y of put puila ira were a step towards christi Chrls cl ui brotherhood and the sermon on 1 the mount of it a belief to in the immortality of the sul no evidence can be found it in ill tho old shogi it is mort merely 17 like the lia bialor los of the tha odyssa Ody Odys tay sy it a shadow of ur for the th dead the rewords rewards and punishments of the old ti are tempo temporal at and mat elal rewards are eulth one an its punishments ure re beggary and the only immortality of which Is any idea in it is the perpetuation of a mans family in hla his tribe hebrew law la primitive and the idea of reliving ag it conceived by some of the puritans Purl tana wa was absurd but it tit in an improvement in primitive law not victory in war hut but peace Is the normal blev the american slave owner could appeal to tho the tid old testament as a a warrant for lila ills institution slavery there was everywhere in primitive times but the hebrew slave law Is 19 more merciful than that either of greece or rome home from tile the social point of view perhaps the most notable passages of the old teo lament are those rebuking king the iiri nih n anns mm of wealth anil and the oppress oppression lon of the poor in the prophetic writings and tile tho psalms which have hane supplied weapons for or the of 0 social justice there Is scarcely anything like these in greek or roman literature religion in tho the primitive state Is completely identified with nationality to the importation import port por atlon tation of this feature of an obsolete tribalism into christianity christendom in part at least owes the fatal identification of the church with the state tile the extermination of tho the albl albi genres the religious wars ware tho the inquisition the burning of 0 servetus that which Is not a supernatural revelation may still so far its as it Is good be a manifestation of 0 the divi divine no As a manifestation of the divine the hebrew books teaching righteousness and purity may have th their C ir place in ou our r love and admiration forever taut but the time has surely come when as aa a a supernatural per natural revelation they should be frankly though reverently laid aside and no more allowed to cloud the of free inquiry or to cast the shadow of primeval religion and law over our modern life as they do when bat debars us from innocent recreation on our day of rest for it Is the jewish sabbath that Is really before the Sabbat arians mind an inspiration which errs which contradicts itself which dictates manifest bili ties such as the th stopping slopping of the run eun balsams Bala ams speaking ass asa elishwa El lihas avenging bears or the transformation of la Is no inspiration at all we do but tamper with ith our 0 own wn understanding and consciences by such attempts at once to hold on oil and let go to retain the shadow of a belief w lien ili 11 ill the substance has passed anav the believers bel levera in verbal inspiration ot of whom some still remain desperate as are the difficulties with which they have to contend stand comparatively on n firm ar ground u nd verbal inspiration I 1 Is at all events a consecrated tradition acre semi inspiration Is it a subterfuge and nothing more these are troublous times the lei Is everywhere in politics in the social system in religion but the storm center seems to bo be in the region of religion the fundamental fundament aj beliefs on which our social system has haa hitherto rested are giving way to replace them before the edifice falls and at the a same a me time to civo us such knowledge knowla as may be attainable of mans estate and destiny thought must be entirely tree free boldn goldwin in smith D C 1 LL D in the december coith th amer I in review condensed tor for public opinion |
