Sacramento daily record-union., 1890-04-05


cannot comprehend him The agnosticsm OF
Paul al Areopagus is the agnosticism OF Herbert
Spencer off his guard. very great man once
my heart am Christian" All that he needed
to do was to drop the Technology OF philosophy
and utter the simple language of the heart.
A few words more. Notice the statement tina.
'we are Christians by inheritance and tradi.
tion, with botanical illustration thrown n to
witness for the whole materialistic trend of this
thought. Being Christians by inheritance and
denying Christ savors very much of tressuring
the spices cast away by Mary when she rscog-
opizsd her risen Lord. The second generation
will not be religious by inheritance and the
sanctity of the past. That is the veriest non
sense That is putting out the sun and Lighting
your houses with bottled moonshine. You may
deceive yourself for 4 time, but the illusion viii
vanish when the first gas bill arrives. When the
sun is gone, celestial light is gone; the gas meter
is come, and you must make the best OF 1t.
Being Christians by inheritanceis is apretty thing
TO say, but when the flowers have been blighted
you will ere long discover something very sus-
picious about the perfume Blot our Christ as
revelation Of the Father, and philosophy will
make quick work OF the Fatherhood. Men
may may not set out on INES o. thop1gnt Iib1i{1
shroud the grave in the b'ackness of despair,
and then dodge the issue by taking reiuge in
The sacred memories OF their ancestors and the
holy associations of the past.
The speaker then went on to show the logical
development of Germanllines of thought-how
the Tuebipgen school of Bauer, the most de-
SlruCllVe SCHOOL with WHICH nSu 10
contend. has abandoned its extreme position,
and exists IL the moderate liberal interpreta-
ton OF Ritschl, Harnack and the like. He
quoted the words of Ritschl, showing that the
most powerfully destructive OF all the schools
of German criticism still adhere to revealed re-
ligion: God gave His approval to the work of
Christ oy raising him from the dead. The love
of Gcd is known only as mediated by Christ"
He quoted the words of Harnack, the new Pro-
fessor at Berlin, acknowledged since the death
of Ritschl to be the greatest interpreter of
the Tuebingen school, and the greatest living
church historian: Let US seek for truth. What
is best is found in the Gospel. Not in what
philosophy has made of this Gospel, but
in the Gospel as the word of the
faith were no longer the basis of modern con-
viction. But look deeper and you will find it
so.'' These are the words with which he
opened his first lecture in the greatest univer-
sity on earth. They are both men whom the
author of '.Aobert tlsmere" cites as advanced
criticism"
He next alluded othe distinguished Professor
Weiss, of Berlin, in these words: "Of the 800
students in theology many are drawn to the
great university by his scholarship alone. At
the opening of his lectures on the Life of
Jesus, a year ago, he said: First of all. hearty
greetings The supposltion that the church of
by means of dogmatic formulas must
be abandoned in this age of fact. Our
tial fact is that the love of God was mani
tested in Jesus Christ, and that through his
death he redeemed the world. Your faith CAN
not rest in human wisdom; it must rest on
facts-chletiy on the one great fact that in
Christ we have peace, power and salvation
In the same lecture, in answer to an objec-
tion from the works of Strauss ne said: Men
would have US believe that, in order to save the
moral doctrines of Christ, His disciples stole
His body and then proclaimed that ne had
risen from the dead. Here is the glaring con-
tradiction of robbing the disciples of morality
and then sending them forth as the promoters
of morality. Gentlemen, a moral force is re-
quired to reform the world" He would agree
with the great liberal, DeWette: Although
the manner and the means of the resurrection
of Christ is involved in impenetrable mystery.
the fact itself can no more be questioned
than the murder OF Cesar" The speaker
then demanded: How can a Weiss
and Harnack thus lndorse the miracle
of Christs resurrection and yet hum
dreds of hard-headed Germans who have
had nine years in the German gymnasium
equal to our best University. do not shous su-
perstition" and Ignorance l will tell you
why. Because when We proclaim that miracle
is impossible we deny the miracles of the crea-
ton of matter of life and of moral conscious
ness; We roo ourselves OF loving Providence
and take refuge in philosophy whose logical
conclusion is possible and probable annihilaton
Thete thousands OF German students, BY far
conservative instead of the liberal lee
ture-rooms of the German Universities, are
quite accustomed TO "asseil the resson,"
but they are not accustomed to set out
with premises which end logically in Athe 'sm
or at best in Delsm. and then try to keep in
track with Christianity by dressing up iu the
old clothes of their Christian ancestors. They
are not so Illogical as TO consign their children
and their pet animals to the same dreary tomb,
and yet read over them with breaking hearts
and flowing tears, II am the resurrection and
the life" Whenever any man tells US that re-
vealed religion has diminished following in
Germany to-day, and that these questions are
practically settled in favor of a barren natural
ism, he is either speaking out of his own ignor-
he nrpSuminp liberal.
ism, wherever 1t has made gain, has made it
by conceding its radical positions and admit
ting the greater facts OF revealed religion.
The ultra position of denying all miracles has
comparatively meager following among the
great scholars of the day. They know too we'll
the conclusions that are involved. And be sure
the conservative and moderate.liberal men
who draw the cool-bloode1 / students OF ofGermany
into their lecture-rooms by hundreds do not
sustain themselves in their seats of power with
out appeal TO reason and to The hand intellect
ual realities OF life. There Is only one hope for
liberal Christianity in the future, and that is
Christianity; when its followers tuIn their
swords upon Christianity they are committing
suicide.
In speaking of the miraculous in Christ's
temptation, the speaker said: OF course if
there is no personal God, tn re is no personal
devil. But If We admit a principle of goodness
with which we seek harmony. we must also
admit a principle of evil with which we are at
warfare. The fact rem ms. it matters little
how we represent it. Th, Iaet Of evil / reeog
~
me? Am | beset by a devil. or am devil? ?
To me the more reasonable assumption is that
there is power that works for unrighteousness,
not ourselves as surely as there Is "a something
not ourselves that works for righteousness"
This it is which was miraculous in the tempta-
tion of our Lord. He was not spirited away by
the conventional fend with hoofs and horns
and pinlols TO some mountain top, from which
he could see all the kingdoms of the earth; the
figure is so intense that its iguratiye character
is evident. But Christ was sin!ess; he had not
T0QrN Ia
spiritual presence of evil wholly outside of self
and thus was differentiated from natural
temptation, which has always some conditions
in a human sinfulness.
In speaking again of miracle, he said Sci
ence does not to-day claim miracle impossible
so says Prof. IyndAl. Science simply refuses
to incorporate miracle into its system. Science
70 be systematic must deal with natural law
and must stand on continuity of force Miracle
is break in this continuity. In the creation
of matter and OF life science is com pelled to
admit two sucn breaks and hence does not say
that miracle is impossible. To explain these
miracles away is atheism. La Place did not
say, There is no God:' he said, 81 cannot find
him with my telescope, and SO have no use for
him in my system.
In closing, the speaker said: When our great
poet, Bryant, was in his siXty-fourth year rs
he sat in the sick room in Italy, watching by the
bedside of one desrer than SELF he renounced
forever the cold faith of natural religion He
sent for a Clergyman friend and told him
his wishes, ''and. says his biographer, ION one
heavenly S&Oudlu udN company OF seven
persons, in his own quiet room, celebrated to-
gether the supper of our Lord Previous TO the
breaking of bread William Cullen Bryant was
baptised. With snow-white head aud flowing
beard he stood Ike a Prophet OF old and per.
haps never since the days OF the Apostles has a
trner disciple professed allegiance TO the Di-
vine Master"
Francis Bowen, for a quarter OF century
Professor OF Philosophy and of Natural Religion
in Harvard University, said before his death
81 have studied faithfully most of what the
philoSopy of these modern times a.d the sci
ence of our own day assume to teach. and am
now more firmly convinced than ever
that what has been justly called the dirt philos-
ophy' of materialism and fatalism is baseless
and false. accept with unhesitating eonvic.
ton and belief the doctrine OF the being Of our
personal God, the Creator and Governor OF the
world and one, Lord Jesus Christ in whom
dwelleth all the fullness OF the Godhead odily
Not being a Clergyman am not exposed TO the
cruel imputation which unbelievers have too
long been permitted to fling against the clergy