St. Paul daily globe., 1889-02-18
CLEANED IN SALTWATER.
; --- s.-
EIsmere's Ghost Still Haunfs the 0rtho-
: dox Pulpit.
! CHARACTERS PORTRAYED.
Rev. M. H. Allbright's Sermon at the
First Presbyterian Church---Gen-
eral News.

.
Robert Eismere and His Analysis of the
2 Characters Portrayed" Rev. W. II. ALL
bright spoke last evening at the First
Presbyterian church regarding the doc
/ trines. sought to be lnculcated in Mrs.
/ Wards book, the theological coloring of
. which he SAID is explained by the
authors contact with German denial
and English doubt-a rehash of the
stale arguments of ,rati0naiism twenty
years after the real contest has sub
sided. the credit belonging to the author
being that of presenting exploded theU-
ries against the Bible in such forms as
to command popular attention MIR.
Albright Said:.
Mrs. Wards book assaiis four im-
portaut strongh0lds of orthodox religion
the credibility of the scriptures. the
divinity of Jesus, miracles and the res
direction of Christ. Other subjects
are involved, as that Of prophecy
and the true understanding of sin.
Of the writings of the New Testament
well has one argued that bad men
could not have written such books, and
good men would not have So deceived"
That insidiOuS word Testimony" so
often mentioned in Mr.. Wards books,
affects the character more than the
/ capability of the writers. The question
is: Did they tell honestly what they
knew and believed? Like he who is to
be believed the writer's of the New les
| lament do not shrink from telling their
own faults and the faults of those they
love. had rather trust Matthew, Mark
and John, who to some extent wrote of
things they heard and saw, and wrote
tial agreement; l had rather trust Pc
ter and James. who were three years in
the service of Jesus. than all the intel
lectual philosophers and theological
speculators of the Nineteenth century;
[ had rather trust Paul, ostracized, ship
wrecked, beaten, imprisoned. dying for
Christ. than all the German scholastics.
brilliant women or Robert ElsmereS who
who clamor for reconceived Christ
and pose as ambitious founders of a
new religion. 1t may be said by some
one that the real point of objection to
this matter of testimony is not that
these fishermen, or even Paul, were not
dishonest in intent but were deceived,
that their testimony is inyalidated by
| the well known superstitiOnS of that
| day. The arguments against the; mira
| cles of. the New Testament cannot be
conducted on any such basis of unfair,
ness and misrepresentation. 1t is a
| Door way to set the miracles aside by
Disgusting the way they came in. They
begin with Jesus. The gospels begin
with John, the fOre-runner of Christ,
and he drew all Judea out to hear him,
and to whose greatness Jesus testified,
yet in that age, SAID to be SO predis-
| posed to the supernatural beliefs, why
were not miracles ascribed to him.? 1t
is distinctly stated: "JOhn did no mira
ele.'' Eliminate the miracles and there
must follow the rejection OF Christ's
divinity, not because they are the only
pEpof of his divine nature and mis-
sion, but because the scriptures
sent any conception of the Christ which
human philosophy may desire. The
writers of scripture do not argue for
miracles more than men argue for sun
shine. They simply state what they
saw, heard and believed.
YSOmewhere in Mrs. Ward book Prof.
Gray is made to say: 'The resurrection
is not proved" As if it were the mis-
| sion of Christian apologetics to prove
What others deny! Let those who doubt
and deny disprove. We stand by the
scriptures, which are satisfactory to us.
If they are not so to others it devolyes
upon them 10 SNOW cduSts L ne WFitcIS
who tell of Christ's life tell the story OF
his resurrection. If they were deceived
or false in the one case, why not in an
other. Did Thomas conc0et the story
of the resurrection when he said: Eek
eept shall see in his hands the print
of the nails, and put my finger
in the print OF the nails,
and thrust my hand into his
side 1 will not believe" Were
the thousands to whom Peter said
ON the day of Pentecost. .'This Jesus
hath God raised up, whereof we all arc
Witnesses humbugged by this preach
er? Alas, for fair dealing with the rec
ords of history. Caesar and Napoleon
may, with. equal treatment, be lost to
history. and the modern cryptogram
change a Shakespeare into a Bacon.
ssThe Universalist resembles in the
dominant features the Unitarian church.
1t, also, is about 100 years old, ITS rise