Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-07-27
aoUNTAINLAKE PARK.


| MOUNTAIN LAKE PARK. +.
Openiss OF the Exercises DE-. Abbott's
Address.
Special Dispatch TO the Register.
MOUNTAIN LAKE PARK, July 26.-As there
is but one mail day from Mountain Lake
Park. and the telegraph Office is accessible
! only as Especial favor, it will take both the
mail and The telegraph to give you a full
report 6Sthe first days interesting exer-
| cises.
| begin the report by telegraph and l
will send you further detailed report OF
| the after part Of the days proceedings by
| mail but, il the train is late, your readers
will have 10 wait for the mail budget until
Fridays issue.
DE-. Lyman Abbott
| The editor of the Christian Union, deliver
| ed the opening lecture of the season, and
| his effort was looked forward to as the
| event of the day. need not say that the
| audience were satisfied and the expectations
| more than fulfilled. When DR.. Abbott
] speaks all men can afford 10 listen. They
are in no danger OF a Niagara OF words and
| a riyulet of ideas, "but the reverse. His de.
|
| only the test of close attention to the de-
livery, but thorough digestion and after
thought.
His subject on this occasion was "How
to study the Bible" can give only a
brief outline of the lecture, which to the
thoughtful reader will make at least a
skeleton upon which he may build
an imaginary structure that may compare
with the design of the original architect.
DR.. Abbott said:
| The Bible appears to be book, but ex-
animation shows it to be in reality libra.
| ry. 1t is composed Of sixty.six different
books, written by between forty and fifty
| different writer's, being centuries apart;
men of different epochs, civilizations, tenn
| peraments, characters; poets, statesmen,
| historians, preachers; writing without CO.
operation, often without knowledge OF each
others writings, and without any
idea that their writings were to he
permanent addition TO the worlds litera-
ture. In Interpreting the Bible this fact
must be borne in mind; and the same rules
must be applied in ascertaining the meaning
of the writer's which would be applied in
the study of any other collection Of litera-
ture. We must consider who is the writer
of any particular passage For the value
and character of the utterance depends up
on the speaker.
A number OF years ago Judge OF the ou-
preme Court in Me. said in legal decision: ::
We have the, best authority for saying:
Yea, all that man hath will he give
for his life. The real meaning, the New
York Herald remarked, was that it was the
devil who said it. The speaker gave sew
eral other illustrations of the errors into
which men fall from quoting texts out OF
the Bible without stopping to consider the
writer OF the text. In the second place the
student must consider the temperament of
tie writer. A man of poetic temperament
ought not to be interpreted like man OF
cold, phlegmatic temperament. David was
a poet, and we cannot build up theologic
theories on single expressions from
his poems as though they were the
careful definitions of a professor OF theology.
Jesus Christ taught us fact with~many
figures and metaphor. Teaching in that way
he emphasized the truth that piety con:
sists in depending onand being with God
by saying, if ye eat not OF his flesh
and drink not his blood, ye nave
no life in you. But the church OF Rome
had ignored Christs poetic nature, and
based the doctrine of transsubstatiation
on this figure of speech. The
student must consider, also the age
"a epoch in which the writer lived
For we are all creatures of our cir
cumstances; and our views Of truth and oul
methods of expressing them depend upon
the age in which we live. The speaker dis
avowed belief in verbal inspiration. He said
the writers were not like strict liberal
writer's who wrote down the words which
God dictated to them, without realizing
their significance; they were like children
in whom a father inspired noble feelings
and great thoughts which they then wrote
down in their own words. The wri
ter applied this principle in ex
planning the imprecatory Psalms
He said these were not the expression,
of Christian experience; for that we mus'
look to the hour in the Mount; they were
the expression of the highest experience
which godly man could be expected to
attain in that age. The Bible tells us t.
follow Christ, not David. We must also
consider the circumstances under which
the writer wrote or spoke. This often gav'
new meaning to the words. David says
,, 81 laid me down in peace and slept" 1t u
not always an evidence of piety to go z
sleep, in church, for example. But DAVID
wrote that when he was fleeing
for life from his son, whc
had risen in rebellion agains
him to 20 to sleep in such an hour ola
ETY. was an evidence OF trust in God. In,
student must also consider the genera
scope of the book he was studying. Eact
mart is is interpreted by an understanding
of the whole. The speaker referred, IL
illustration, to the book of Job, which
| referred to hot debate between Jol
and his three friends. They could not al
/ be right; but men quoted from the book
texts taken indiscriminately without con
| sidering that God selected all the disput
; ants. In the second part Of his lecture Mr.
Abbott spoke of the unity OF tn,
Bible. Its various writers anc
: speakers, though men of widel!
. different morals and circumstances, agreed
very different ways, the same substantial
truths The Bible was like other litera
ture, in its form, but it differed from othe
literature ia essential points. Its writer
were but cropping after the truth. The!
declared il as God showed it to them; theI
spake with authority. And they were Il
be studied in a spirit OF faith. The studen
to get the benefit of the Bible must beliey,
that there is truth, and that 1t can be ascer
tained, and he must be in earnest y
get at the truth. The spirit of scofi
ing or careless skepticism can neye
get the truth out of the Bible. II is pecu
.. liar in its object. This is declared by Pau
who also says it is given that the Cody
!, men may be thoroughly finished unto al
|, good works, and il must be studied for tha
purpose; and Ii Is peculiar in its effect j
, Is addressed:to the spiritual experiences o
men. and it is only by spiritual experieRc.
that it can be understood. The little girl II
the infant class thinks she has learned tn
text, God is love and repeats it easily an'
glibly, but ii means q great deal more t
the same person when she has lived ant
, suffered and loved and so learned in tn
school of life, what love means and by he
own experience what Gods love is to tn
| sonl which trusts in Him
Oakland.
OAKLAND, Mp., July 26.-Arrivals a
Glsdes HOTEL W Hall Iowa