National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1879-01-27
PULPIT PARAGRAPHS.
Sermons and Services in Different
Churches.
Discourse Of Rev. James Freeman Clarke
ID. D., ut All Souls Church The Unita-
rian View OF the Bible-Hcason
nnd Roiigion-seryiccs ut the
Church of tho Redeemer
New Congregation.
Tho unltn,Inn Wow of tn, nible.

Tho Unitarian Wow of the Bible.
Rev James Freeman Clarke, y. D., Of Bos.
ton, occupied tho pulpit Of All Souls Church
yesterday morning aud preached the second of
the series of special sermons on "Unitarian
Animation The church was crowded to It's
utmost capacity, aud many were turned away.
1t ia estimated that not less than i,2oo were
present Dr. Clarke selected for his subject
" The Unitarian View of tho Bible; or, Com.
pori3on Of the Old and the New View Of the
Bible" As a basis for lis remarks hc took
the view present cd in II. Corinthians ill.,. g.
= Vino also had made US able ministers Of the
New Testament; not Of the letter, but Of the
'pirt-lor the letter kiloth, but the spirit
givcth lilc.'
1t would perhaps, said he, DO n little bold
for ministers Of the present. day to Use such
words as these If Paul had not used them al.
ready. In contrasting aud describing the old
aud the new views of the Bible all scholars
agree on these iHcts. That il Is not one book,
written at one tine, by any one author, or on
any one subject. Who the real writers were
! has long been doubtful The books up 10 the
| fifteenth century were all copied by hand and
many new sentences and many errors crept In.
| Second. That tho collection of jewish and
| Christian works called tho Bible stands at the
| head Of tho religious literature OF the world.
| IL is second to no book. The prophetic litera-
! ture of tho Bible stands above all others. DR..
Clarke in powerful, simple, and convincing
| language, then pictured TO his hearers the
| teachings aud the life which Is set forth in the
different books of the Bible. There are two
views Of the Bible that are now accepted.
One is the old view, the other tho ncw view.
The old view says that the Bible is the Word
of God. aud proceeds as q revelation directly
from God himself; that thoro are no errors or
mistakes ia it; that it is sound in every prin-
Ciplc, aud must be and is iniallble and that the
jewish portions and tho other portions are
consistent Tho writers of the Bible thom-
selves lay no such claim TO infallible declara.
tiOns rs these. They don't even say that they
wrote under Divine inspiration, but wrote be-
! cause others were writing history OF Christ.
The old view puts forward as evidence that
holy men of old spoke as they were moved to
speak by the Holy Spirit; yet that does not
make their doctrines inhllible, nor do they
profess to DO infallible The whole Scripture
is given by inspiration, and Is profitable They
teach an inspiration which he respected
The true doctrine of tho new view Is not
limited to a few men or to o small space. He
dwelt at some length upon the reasoning power
! of man, and said that in order to believe 10
Jesus Christ il Is not necessary to believe In
. Jonah and the whale story, or in Joshua aud
the story about tho san. No one can tell how
much misery has been created in the minds of
thousands and tens OF thousands of persons on
account Of this doctrine Of infallibility. How
many suporstitions havo been sanctihed2 How
many thousands havo been burned alive as
witches, aud how much blood has been shed
( on account of these supersAtiOus beliefs
B. Slavery has been defended by the use of pas
, sages from the Bible. From morn till evening
in tho times of Jesus the walls in front oil
= Jerusalem ran with blood on account OF jew
i 5h sacrifices TO God. Long ago that supersti'
G Lious form Of religion was abolished; yet its
q influence lasts TO the present day.
Is God so constituted that he will not for
l. give unless blood be she'd by the peuitentt The
l. belief that one was not Christian until he
n had read the Bible through, whether he under
r. stood 1t or not, was another form Of supersti-
;, ton. Every scholar knows that there are
/ many errors In the Bible. Some men who de-
i nouuce the Bible have emotional action against
a it; others are filled with critical action. The
!. new view Of the Bible rises above all these
o feelings. |. regards tho book as inspired but
p not infllliblc. 1t believes In tho authority Of
, the Bible, and does not care when the book
y were written, by whom or when compiled. IL,
To- believed that If the Biblo were moro loved
4. and honored it would prove a source of mort
/. faith aud hope than ever before and MAKE
!. Christ more infinite than it has. II we wer'
Il given the Holy Bible we were also given holy
If reason and if we neglect to our reason theI
d shall we be hidden in gloom. If God is t.
y call us to account we have only to use ou
n power humbly.
t Separate more freely the chat from tn,
Al wheat and its beauty and power becomes man
# iCest. The chief objection to this inlallibl
b. doctrine of the Bible Is that 1t is chained I,
"a the letter. The New Testament teaches tn,
p resurrection of the soul aud body, which mean
ia ascent infinite variety of life and joy, plent!
a to do and TO love. That is the life, th,
ar heavenly doctrine taught by the spirit of thu
y new letter. Not 10 with the old. The new
r. does not teach that trumpet will sound on
,s certain day--tho day Of judgment-and tn
"a whole world will be brought into the .presenc
4. of God that he will set on one side the GOO
q; and righteous and cast the bad and disobeyin!
into an everlasting Are, called holl, there I
suffer for ever and ever that tho Almight
has no power TO rule hell, but only to sit Of
q. the outside and feed Ii with victims. Is tina
the Supreme Sovereign Of the Universe?
What we want is union love, aud peace
but it is taught by the old view that rebelliO
a., by the devil eau be maintained. Is this lik
81 tire Just, the mercifu the loving, the tru
VI God2 In conclusion, Dr. Clark said that W
IN have not dono all wheu we have only iouu
T. our own religious nature we must do some
=. thing to lot the light shine upon others. w
r can all begin now TO love aud serve God. I
"A serve God is to do good to our fcllOw.nal
~ God has made us aud Ho must have put some
49, thing good into rs, He is always ready
IL help us to comfort us in sorrow, and to io
give our sins. II Is moral death TO live as
,c no God were In tho world.