Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-05-22

of the Old Testament, while an event of |
less Importance in the literary and relig |
ious world than the issue of the revised |
version of the New Testament is neve r |
less fact of great significance and inter |
est to the Christian world. While the |
great doctrines upon which our religious
faith is based are all comprised in the Cos
pels, and abundantly set forth and ex
planned in the epistles, so that, were the
Old Testament entirely lost, Christianity
as a system of religion would suffer com
paratively little, yet the narratives, the
prophecies and the inspired utterances of
the Old Testament writer's, leading up as
they do, to the advent OF the Christ, and
explaining the relation of ancient history
to this supreme event, give n unity, a
completeness, n breadth and symmetry to
the one true religion which would other
wise be lacking. The Old Testament
bears the same relation to the New which
the dawn bears to the day. 1t gradually
Weakened the sleeping consciousness of the
race to the fact of the coming Messiah
it made plain the path before Him by
symbol and prophecy and type, it flooded
the whole horizon of human thought with
an expectation which ripened into realiza-
ton with the coming of the Divine Man.
Without the Old Testament, there would
be an abruptness, Il too sudden and UNI
tempered brightness about the central
event of all history which might blind
and confuse the human soul But with
the story of the dawn before us, the eye
of faith gradually becomes accustom-
ed to the growing light of Gods revela-
ton of his unspeakable love and mercy,
and when the full light of his marvellous
sacrifice bursts upon the soul, there is no
shrinking and establishment, but graft
tude, alteration and Joy
Familiar as the world now is with the
history of the Old Testament, it probably
does not realize what an immense gap
would be left in the conception of Chris
tianity as a harmonious and naturally de-
veloped religion, were the story of its
dawn, and the darkness before the dawn,
to be left out of the Book of books alto
gether. There is, in these times. Il dispo-
sitiOn to undervalue the Old Testament,
because it contains nothing which is alb
solutely vital to faith, and so much which
is ineXplicable to the mind even of the be
lever. But if the Old Testament, with
]
teachings, and all its familiarity to relig-
ious thought, could be blotted out of eX-
| istence, and buried in oblivion, the world
would speedily realize that it had suffered
a great loss There would be an incom-
pleteness about the new Bible-the new
! Testament Bible-which would fail to
completely satisfy the soul of the believer.
And the loss would not be felt alone in
the historical relation of the Old Testa-
ment to the New. 1t would affect even
more deeply the heritage of the believer.
What, for instance, would a man give in
exchange for the Psalms, if they had been
utterly lost out of the Bible? How could
we spare the sublime rhapsodies of Isaiah ?
And what would the worlds lawmakers
do without that wonderful code of the
Ten Commandments
The preservation of the Old Testament
then, is most vital to Christianity
and it should, of course be preserved in
its best form. The studies of the distin-
guished Hebraists who have presented
the world with the Revised Old Tesla
ment. are of more Importance than the
councils of kings or of statesmen. And
of their labors should excite
the widest and profoundest interest
throughout the Christian world. Especi
ally, should not the devout mind be in
terested to know whether the researches
of these learned men have not removed
some of the apparent Inconsistencies in
the Old Testament Exact and literal
translation of the New Testament was
found to cut the gordian knot of some
theological problems which had puzzled
the eXpositors for centuries and may we
not expect that more correct and careful
translation of the Old Testament will &C
complish the same thing for some of its
problems?
The world will wait for the verdict OF
the learned and the devout. upon this and
other questions connected with the revis
ion of the Old Testament, With the high
est interest and reverence. There will be
an interval of silence and expectation, a,
the new version passes through the cruel
BILE of the devout study and prayerful eX
animation of Christian scholars Doubt
less, there will be premature expressions
of opinion, but for the ultimate decision
we must be content to wait until the ties
timony has all been considered