The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1881-08-23

sermon, delivered by Rev. 4. ii. Stephens,
at the Cumberland Presbyterian church
Yesterday morning. The sermon is an in
,eresting one and will amply repay perus-
al
THE SERMON.
"The Alleged Discrepancies OF the Bible
Their Origien."
Search the scriptures" John 5:39.
That there are mysteries in both the
word and works of God, no scientist or
sheologian will deny What is an appar-
ent discrepancy to the casual or superficial
student is beautiful harmony to him
who passes beneath the surface.
The winds and ocean currents were once
regarded a. masses of confusion, hut science
are governed, and now men speak Of the
current of the gulf stream with As much
accuracy As they speak Of the stream itself.
What to the scientist was the climax OF
iorgon has given way to the harmony OF
the spheres under the benign hand of faith
ful study.
So with Gods word, what at first NAV
seem discord becomes harmony beneath
the untiring investigations OF
FAITHFUL SCHOLARSHIP
Many Of the so-called discrepancies may
be attributed to differences in dates. At
one time God said that everything He had
made was very good, and At another, that
it repented Him that he had made man.
At first this may seem strange, but the
straneeness all vanishes when we consider
the fact that period of fifteen years had
elapsed between the two epOchs. Man had
fallen, sin had come into the world, and
God is never pleased with sin.
In questions of morals, every man
must be Judged BY the ethical standard of
childhood Of the race, God endured some
Never were the responsibilities SO great
as upon the people of the nineteenth CEN
tury because of the increase of light. In
science men are judged by the scientific
standard of their age. When Calico was
persccuted for
MAINTAINING THE THEORY
Of the revolution of the earth. it was be-
canse he was in advance of his age by a
few hundred years. His famous express
sion And still it moves" was only pre-
Jude to what coming years would develop.
Another thing to be considered is differ
ence of authorship. In the Bible We have
the words Of God and of angels, OF the
devil and of demons, as in the temptation
in the garden. Then there is the differ
ent forms of expression, the individuality
of writer's, the giving of ideas rather than
words, . departure, now and then from the
beaten path. Inspiration need not always
follow the same track. How many and
contradictory are the histories of the late
war. Scott, in his history of Napoleon,
would make him bloody tyrant, while
Abbott would make him the hero of pa
triotism, yet they are both histories of the
same man, and
BOTH, IN PART, TRUE.
Truth is many sided, it's countless facets
reflect rays of different hues, and men
must see the whole before they criticise a
part, Sc, then, difference of standpoint
must be taken into account. 1t is correct
to say that man is mortal, and it is equally
correct to say that he 10 immortal. Paul
is right in insisting upon faith, and
james in insisting upon works. 1t re-
quires both to constitute the perfect SYM
metry that God designs.
The writer's Of the Bible were not phi
losophers or partisaDs with q pet theory
to advance or q hobby to ride. They
simply recorded facts, they hewed to the
line and let chips fall where they would.
They make no apology for the weakness of
Gods servants. When David and Solo
mon sinned they said 50; when Peter de-
MED Christ the fact was spoken right out.
Then, don't make the Bible responsible for
all the meanness it tells us Of. Just As
we'll make Mscaulsy responsible for all
the outlawry in England,
BECAUSE HE GIVES rs
q faithful history of it.
No, the re is a vast difference between
narration and Endorsement; don't lose
sight of that fact. Again, there are differ
ent methods of arrangement, different
methods Of computing time, difference in
the oriental and accidental idiom, different
names meaning the same person or people,
and the same word with different signiica-
lions. There were some errors of manu-
script, and a great many in the imagina-
ton of critics. So then don't make for the
writer's of the Bible Procrustian bedstead
upon which to lay them all, and If one is
too short, stretch him, and If he is too
long; chop him off, he Just as honest with
the same square and compass that you ap-
ply to others, but do not bring it before
tribunal Of criticism that you know is
dishonest, whose verdict il rendered before
the evidence is heard. The Bible has I'M
dergone severer tests than any other book.
Every
ARROW FROM THE CULVER
of the opposition is pointed in this direc-
ton. Around this fortress, this high
tower, this magma charta to the human
race, may be seen the bristling arms Of the
enemy, but still it stanGs, stands rs it has
always stood-frm as the Rock of Gibral-
tar. Upon this word every man may
predic.te his faith, only remember the
words Of Jesus himself: Search the
scriptures; for in them ye think ye have
eternal life; and they are they which tes-
tify of me-"