Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1855-01-18
fFor the GaIlipolis Journal. /

server, DcCduSc ~ pAdCco buC DlDic aQC
human reason in their true position with
regard to each other. Is the Bible truei
is a legitimate Inquiry. But the testoi
its truthfulness is not our reason, buI
the suitableness Of this holy volume to
our wants, and the vast amount Of histo.
rical evidence bearing on the point.
1t is the province of reason not to give,
but to receive and understand instruc-
ton; and it should therefore take the
place Of learner. and not of precep-
tor by whose maxims even the word OF
God is to be tested. Men sometimes
reject the Bible because things are con-
tanned there, which they cannot under
stand. The school boy might as well
reject the 44th proposition Of Euclid or
Comic sections because he cannot under
stand them. W. T.
THE ONLY 1NFALLIBLE RULE.
The word of God which is contained
in the Scriptures of the Old and New
Testaments, is the only rule to direct US
how we may glorify and enjoy him.
We repeat this familiar answer to one
of the questions in the Catechism, as it
expresses more tersely and clearly than
any other language can, the views, we
would teach, in opposition to those in
culeated in the passage we recently
copied from the Congrsg0tiOndlist Of
Boston, and made the theme of remark.
The reverend editors of that paper
complain that we have not fairly and
fully stated their position. We shall
satisfy them on that head. The more
clearly we get their doctrine before our
readers, the more odious and unscrip-
tural it must appear. We understand
them to teach that if the Bible approves
of system of things which the editors
of the Congregationslist believes to be
the sum of all denominations, then, in
their opinion, the Bible sanctions a sys-
tenn of manifest outrage and wrong. III
this is not fair statement of their posi-
ton, we despair of making one. To
say that "the Bible cannot sanction
wrong" is simply saying "whst IS good
cannot be bad" This the editors do
not propose to say. But having deter
mined what is wrong by their own moral
Judgment, they proceed to try the Bible
by their standard and pronounce SEN
tence upon it.
This is the modern heresy which is
underlying all the discoveries in theo-
logical science. We take Just the op-
posite view of the subject. We first
ascertain what the Word Of God teaches,
and condemn or approve accordingly
To take ones own child and slay it and
burn il, seems to us, on its face, to be
murder, and our moral sense revolts at
it. But if we should find an order in
the Word of God, as plain as that which
Abraham received from heaven, we
should say sit is right to do as God
commands. +" The Congregationalist
would say, "the Bible has sanctioned a
manifest outrage and wrong"
1t is obvious that this view will be
taken according to the standpoint from
which we contemplate the subject. The
modern heresy is the fruit of the ra-
tionalizing process now going on in
some of our theological seminaries, and |
in many of our pulpits, where the prin-
ciples and precepts of the Bible are sub
jected to the test of human reasen, be-
fore they are approved. Faith in Gods
word receives and loves and obeys,
when it cannot understand why God ap- |
points what the Bible plainly teaches US
to be his will. -..
The Congregationalist belongs to a
school in theology which exalts the hu-
man reason above the divine revelation.
This is the source of all their errors
Here lies their fatal mistake. No man
can lay his hand upon any one great
moral reform that was ever achieved |
under the lead of men embracing this
mistake. Error has no reformatory
power in it. You cannot build moral
reformation on a lie. But this great lie
has been wrought into the teaching Of
large class of men who are the noisiest
and sometimes the most popular advo-
Gates of reform. The temperance cause
was well nigh wrecked on this shoal.--
And now there are men in the temper
ance movement who, if they could have
their own way, would kick the Bible of
the platform, and fight the evils Of in
by appeals to the moral
sense. - r-..--.,.s-
The BIBLE, the Bible only, is the
guide Of the true reformer. Let God
be true though every man liar We
are daily more thoroughly convinced
that the great error of the times is in
departure from first principles, from the
simple principles of the Bible. Mod
ern science has had much to do with de-
stroying reverence for the Bible, and
now modern theology has lent itself to
the same destructive work. II this
were the last time we were to write,
and this the last paper we were to issue,
as i. is the last for this year, we would
record our solemn protest against this
pestilent beresy, and with our last
breath cry out, the Bible, the whole
Bible, and nothing but the Bible.
gOur dragoman at Constantinople
has sent TO the Patent Office for the
public good one hundred bushels of SUI
3erior flint wheat from the vicinity of
Mount Olympus, which viii be distri-
3uted this winter and spring for expert