The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-12-31

| OF this impossible hero Into the Semitic Hercu
great deeds and striking events as they we're
in the merry makings of the Palestine villages.
%,h an eyer nimbTs Of the asyS
be compelled to accept them uncritcally or
reject the Bible Altogether Perhapss Elishas
prepared to believe almost anything after our
spiirituaistic. modume and their exposers.
whit shrS Eso my shoulders '1 and road on n
cannot e., make out The historical inct which was
n nor 'ns 90 basis ca Of th d S me-
or my other Old Testament miracle. III II felt
Obliged to accept literally these stories or to
through thc men, of the Bible 1 should care
greatly Those who can believe, the story Of
and both alike should rcvercntly read their
the 81 III small voice of the eternal spirit sound
ing through holy lives and holier aspirations
until lie came, whose life was the Word OF God.
1t is a wrong use of tho Bible to consult 1t
as heather oracle for the. determining Of our
The pagans. even such grand old pagans as the
Romans. before undertaking any important
Men with reason given them Of God would
stand anHiously around the stcaming entrails
OF bird to i IND out whether the fates were
erals would open or delay u campaign accord
ing to the intestinal revelations OF a goose.
Intelligent people use the Bible in some such
way. When mt n loss how TO proceed instead OF
calmly consulting their own judgments and the
ing like reasonable beings. men and women will
open their Bibles and at random let their eyes
rest on the first verse. which arrests their at
the question in hand az tho voice of God. The
journals of John Wesley. and other eminent
men contain examples of this abuse of the
The, Bible to the level Of heathcn, oracle.
contraste1 the true and the false comnunica-
tions Of the Divine will b.. the test Of the rea-
prophet heard the Voice Of God not so much n hin in
dreams and visions AZ in. the calm and sober
w working ling, of rh his min mind iIluRpned from
ss mi EsHnS TnS Ts's s FL"
prophet represented the Intelligent reasoning
ths % Of gst5s at at thu"
the Spirit Of man ' The word ~ f Of IV God With
comes to man is the Divin, Reason. Of which
each human reason is n ray. TO train and u.e
ing up to the Eternal Reason To lot his light in
us he pure and clear. is the way to have the
re consult, the reason of tho holy mon of old
on themes ,whoreon they wore quail fed to speak
MrMs Sn" n nn@ 1 se Of whsa Of s
meaning we are to guess. as the ancient Greeks
puzzled over the message of the Delnhic shrine
is to revive Paganism in Christianity No
prophecy was written centuries ago with refer
ence to your private affairs. All that is there
written concerned men and affairs of those
you now if you viii take the trouble to search
fashions.
1t is a wrong use Of the Bible to go to it, as the
heather went to their oracle. for divinations of
the future. The inspiration of an oracle was
proven by the success of its predictions. In the
same way men have turned to tho Bible as a
sort of sacred weather bureau. u book which. il
we could only interpret its mystic utterances.
would tell as what things were going TO happen
ago an eloquent Irish divine who came to this
sounry On great misSs IS, 'n His first sermon
this was the age of science, and such mar
vellous science could not have escaped the
vision Of the prophet The mystic srea-
whose appearance was like burning GOALS of
fire. which turned not as it went, and so on
occur and some sage will write book show
ing how Daniel had foretold just this issue of
Jews To Palestine, and the Church Of Rome
especial! ~ inspire these crazy conjectures. This
mad "Rd m mad use Of What rightly resd
misunderstanding OF what are the functions Of
Hebrew prophecy:
between f9reteing and forthtelling but there
and ~
Busy in predicting the things which should
come to pass in the far future. The success Of
strat strait 1n Of their being charged with miraea-
lous powers. The prophecies constituted the
Sh ,hs b 9r s %b ni D
tho mind OF the Church, predictyc character
Hebrews, the eloquent orations Of their
great statesmen; the pious longings, Of their
Of everything in the heavens above or the earth
beneath. But Hebrew prophecy never was the
synonymc for prediction. The prophets were
a. -
rored the supreme laws OF earth, the moral
laws. whose intuitions made applieations of
abled them to divine the issues OF the stirring
events among which they lived, Their glory
empires the might Of right. and dared TO vision
its triumph. and that history has verified their
earth, the horizon bounded by Very near
future. In these predictions they were often
the right We never henr Of these unfulnlled
prophecies, but they are in your Bibles They
hard 70 teach their own countrymen that the
essential distinction q the true prophet Vas
scornfuy left 70 the false prophets, the oraces
OF the pagan Jews. but that they foretold the
inner mind and VIII M God MSh 6n9w
fairly snid to point to any event beyond tho
near future the writer Only in so far as
tories. did they launch out upon the far future,
But you say. DO they not surely point on to
literal prediction of the events and incidents of
His life | know none. The many passages
that have been made to read like predictions
of His miraculous birth. II is sale for thirty pieces
of silver. and so on refer To Passages and ey
periences in the time of the writers. Isaiah
expressly says about the Nirgin-that is, the
young bride who was to conceive and bear Il
son Before he should be able to distinguish
right from wrong the relief Of Jehovah to Israel
would come. True il ia that the Gospel called
that Of St, Matthew goes through the life OF
Jesus making such use of Old Testament
words: but this was evidently done by some
pious jew who regarded tho Old Testament as
our good people still do. and. after the fashion
of preachers, made application TO Christ OF
words never meant for Him: This use OF the
Old Testament is pushed TO absurdity in books
over which ! have toled which gave one the
" Gospel of Lcyiticus' or Christ in the
Psalms" fitting every word Of every Psalm into
the lips Of the dear Lord. and showing the re-
lationS Of Christ and the Church in the charm
ing love idyl of some ancient Hebrew. known to
US as the Song of Songs.
There was. however II real pointing on to-
ward Christ but it was ethical and spiritual
The nations hope OF restoration gradually
shaped tn" form of an idea! king: the natl ON =
conscience gradually shaped the form Of an
ideal character. whiic the two expectations
blended historically in II i'm who lived the hu;
man ideal yisoned hy holy men If old, and
throned Himself in the hearts Of men H. Lord,
though not alone Of Jcwry The whole history
Of the people is n growth Of the religion Of
| Christ, aud that is n" wpnder Of H. Iut the