The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1884-02-20

WE ARE a little surprised to note that
our usually cautious and conservative
contemporary of the Southern Church.
man should see little" to cause "anx-
iety" in the work of Professor Laid on
"The Doctrine of the Sacred Scrip
lures" Our friend has not, we sus-
pect, examined that work Prof. Ladd
teaches this: that there are Tor may
bel errors in the Bible in history, sci
ence, ethics, and religion. For our
part, we must regard any biblical criti-
cism which speaks to this effect as ex-
ceedingly dangerous. And yet the
Churchman finds nothing to condemn
in Prof. Ladd's book but, on the con-
trary, contrasts it with what the
ChurctmaR calls "presuming, irrever-
ent, and unscholarly" criticism. 1t
seems to apprehend no mischief from
the admission that the Mosaic account
of creation or the imprecatory Psalms
are not inspired, but tinged with hui
man infrmity.
Professor Ladd teaches in this book
that the first twelve chapters of Gene
sis are not historical, but only tradi-
tional"; that any attempt to reconcile
the Mosaic cosmogony with geology is
"by no means probable, or even posi-
ble" that the Biblical account of the
Flood is mere Hebrew tradition that
the history of Samson is largely made
up of traditions and legends; that some
of the maXims of the Book of Proverbs
are "below the average of an Oriental
wise saying, while others show so much
more Of shrewdness as scarcely to es-
cape the charge of being immoral !;
that the gospel of John corrects certain
historical errors in the other gospels
that the historical character of the first
six chapters of the Book of Daniel does
not admit "of by any means complete
vindication"; that the Book of Jonah
is San allegorico- didactic composition
on certain basis of fact" that the
prophets of the Old Testament were
not free in their conceptions and pro-
phecies "trom certain imperfections'
even with regard to moral and religious
truth; that eve cannot affirm, without
making distinctions, the infallibility of
all the ethical and religious teachings
Of sacred Scripture"
Surely this is dangerous book, and
these are novel doctrines for old-fash-
toned eople.
To be sure that we do not do our
contemporary any injustice, we repro
duce below its article entne:
1t is contended in certain quarters that free
criticism OF the Bible is the only way TO save it..
That depends on the character Of the criticism
INDUCED IN. If II Is presuming, ire weren't, anu
1nscholarly, it cannot fail to bring contempt on
the Bible at the hands of people who cannot
see through presumption irreverence, and lack
of scholarship. That criticism, on the other
hand, which Is worthy of the Bible and which
1t really invites to, will only strengthen faith in
1t. This, at least, is what Professor Laid, of
| Yale College, contends for&n his recent book on
The Doctrine of the Sacred Scriptures" He
says it is better to claim for the Bible too little
rather than too much, and that it would be sub
JeCIlnB IL 10 tremendous strain to say, was
said three hundred years ago, that it was in
spired in every expression and perfect in every
detail. Professor Ladd brings to his task album
dant learning and research, and finds nothing
IN the account of creation, even though the
writer supposes it to have been the work of six
literal days, or in the composition of the Penta-
touch, or in the imprecatory Psalms, or in any
other criticism which at all discredlts the char
acter of the Bible as a supernatural revelation
On the contrary, its true criticism, criticism
based on facts, is made more certain than ever.
| With his conclusions Prof Fisher would agree
that if criticism should wholly exclude certain
books, such as Solomon's Song and the Epistle
OF Jude, the Bible would remain unchanged and
untouched in every essential teaching. When
the most reverent and careful scholarship of the
time arrives at such conclusions, the results of
biblical criticism need give little anxiety. 1t is
incompetent, pseudo.critcism that we have to
fear, but even that only for the time.
The Interior is very much exercised
about " organic union, and undertakes