The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1878-04-20
Reply 10 Bishop Kahn on the Last
supper.

I NOAA CO lbk4AA'AANG " AAAt AZ bAHNSAs
Good morning, Bishop. We under
stand you TO say that when you speak Of
".he divine ordinances" "the time of
figures has gone;" and then you attempt
to throw the burden of proof to the
contrary on your opponents. Now this
is remarkably sstute for protessed
"logician" TO assert an affirmative prOpo.
sitlon entirely beyond the ordinary
range of evidence, and then csll upon
the other side to prove a negative.
But we do not propose to waste our
time on logical niceties. Our object is to
find the truth in the most direct way
possible. In doing so, we would call the
attention Of the Bishop to the general
tact that nearly al OF the Inspired
wrlters-perhaps sll-abound in dg-
urative language and to the ad-
ditonal TACT that as we
20 back toward the infancy OF tho world,
this is almost universally true. Our So
yior, ir some instances, designedly used
this form of speech, that they ltbe hard
ened jews, "seeing, might not see," &c.
We can see no reason, therefore, for IN
ssting on the literal meaning in the case
of the Lords Supper, except it be to sup
port foregone conclusion-s false theO-
~ which contessedly does not rest upon
any basis OF sound reasoning, but to have
even the semblance Of rational support
is compelled to ignore the testimony OF
the senses and thu reasoning faculty, and
TO set at defiance the long established
u 4 1..,, .T
probation. Denying the right of the
Bishop, therefore, to apply different
rule of Interpretation to the
passages relating to the Lords
Supper from that which is applied to
other parts OF the Scriptures, we proceed
at once TO show the absurdity of the
position IN which he is placed.
The Lord is a rock--a fortress-a
strong tower-a sun-s shields he all
these things in material, or literal
sense? and is be AL those things At one
and the same timer j. he limited ut
one and the same time, by different forms
of matter, and does he still remain the
universal God? Christ is spoken OF as
q door a viae, 3 lamb, n iion-is he all
these in literal sense, and at one and
the same timer Ishmacl and Isaac
were 'Ihe two covenants" Were they
really covenants. or did they merely rep
resent them. agar" lHsgarJ "is Mount
Sinai in Arabia" Was she really
Mount Sinai? A pretty large woman
one would suppose. But how easy TO
get rid of all these difficulties if We will
only accept the Scriptures IN their OBJ
vious import, substituting the word "rep-
resent as an equivalent FOR the different
forms of the "verb TO be-" in the several
places where they occur IN this cOuneC.
ton. For instance: "This Agar (Hs-
gar is, or represents Mount Sinai" or
the law: "Chrlst our passover was sac
riGced for US" Was be really the Pas
chsl lamb, or its snLetype? These are
common sense questions which any young
Timothy ought to be able TO answer.
The path of error Is devious, while that
Of truth is straight forward.
Applying the same course Of reasoning
we have IN the different passages where
the Lord's Supper is referred to, such eI-
pressions as these: This is my body"
"this is my blood Reasoning from
analogy, what is more natural than to
say, "This lbrosd) represents my body;
this (wine) represents by blood" This
is the most obvious Interpretation, as a
literal construction WOuld-as it does -
shock the common sense Of mankind.
1t not only shocks, but it insults; it not
only insults, but It disgusts men, demand
ing of them-as II dOes--an unqualified
surrender to an arrogant and preteniious
priesthood, of al that constitutes true
manhood and Just espOnsIbllIty. The
system which would demand such
surrender is certainly one Of the
most sMllfully ccnlrIved schemes
for enslsving the souls Of men
that could possibly be conceived by hu-
man device or ingenuity. And the
skillfulness of the scheme is only eI-
ceeded by It's absurdity. Just 70 think
q piece Of bread, by few magic words
on the part Of one having DO kind Of
Divine authority for such pretension,
turned into sctusI fsshi or cup OF wine
turned into actual blood, and the change
of such a character ss cannot J5 sppre
cIsted either by reason or the senses, but
resting upon kind OF metaphysical jar
goD, too nigh for the comprehension Of
ordinary men, and, | had like TO hSve
said, too low for the contempt O! angels;
snd all this, and much more that is
equally sbsurd, to be believed under pain
OF endless dsmnsGOn.
In speaking thus plainly, we have in.
tended no uukInd reference 10 individuals
whose rights Of conscience We respect
SIS much IS any one-bul to 8 system, or
theory, which history mss proved 70 be
not only !sse and Ie niciou: in itself, but
poisonous and fruitful o! deadly evils 10
the human race. LATIMER.