Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-24
A NEW THEOLOGY.
PROF. BURNHAM's ADVANCED IDEAS
WAKE UP THE OLD SCHOOL.

Chatauaunus Entertained By n Lively and
Progressive Paper ON the Theology OF
To.Day-The Colored Races Folk Lore
Mrs. Wilson Continues Her Talk on
Foreign Countries.
| ESPECIAL EELEGKAM TO THE DTsPArcH.,
AXE CHAUTAUoUA, July 23.-This is truly
a theological week. The fair, tickle Chau-
tauqua girl has for moment forgotten her
| literature and her tennis and is turning her at
| tention to the lectures on biblical theories and
| points by Profs Weidner and Burnham. The
talks are SO decidedly biblical that DIR. Harper,
the famous Hebrew scholar, introduces the
speakers. These three gentlemen, Drs. Har-
per, Weidner and Burnham. are all peers and
have no equals in the line of scientific theol-
ogy. They are original and fearless in their
thoughts, and for this reason, if for no other.
| interesting.
= This afternoon Prof. Burnham spoke on
"a New Theology Prof. Burnham is very
advanced in all of his thoughts, but declares
himself to be an orthodox Calvinistic Baptist
He believes that the soul should be perfectly
open to new convictions and conclusions.
Christ was a man; he ate, drank and slept just
as other men do Progressive knowledge is
necessarily limited knowledge. The only way
we are to tell what Jesus was is t0 take the tes-
timony and facts of the Bible Because he had
h1m from being the divine teacher and leader
of the men? Will the theology of the future
be like the the ology of to-dayf 1t cannot be.
1t has not been what it is now, and will not be
what 1t is now. There can not be new Bible,
Ior thls one is complete in Its revelations. For
the period of eighteen hundred years there has
Deen no new book added. 1t will always be
what it is now. But theology is not the Bible.
Ii 1t were. all theologies would be alike.
s#s
One Bible and Many Theolocies.
THEOLOGY is our knowledge of the nature,
the life and the ways of God, especially the
life of Jesus Christ as we know and under
stand. If there is anything in the universe of
God or nature where the IA ther has shown his
heart to his children, theology should take all
there is oat of 1t. Theology for the present
uses it practically. circumstantially true. There
would be no theology If we did not have facts.
But these facts are not facts of observation, as
IN any other sciences. We can not study God
IN t6is way, for God is not here. We can only
by whom were these books of the Bible writ
zen Ihe only way we find it is by the in
terpretatlon OF the language of the docu-
scientific process 1t is nothing. Any
change in the science Of interpreta-
tlon must change the basis of theology
We classify isolated facts and from these class
lncations We gain our industries. Whenever
you build tnductions on facts we are acting In
the light of science. Theology is q showing of
facts by accounting for their causes and thus
ence and philosophy can not remain the same.
Science could never be fixed until everything is
known, so long as there is single fact to be
known in the universe of God, SO long are these
new theories to be inducred. One fact may
outweigh whole ton of theory. When that
TACT comes where will the science of to-day go?
livion. Thank God that there is in the universe
things unknown. Thank God that there is
such chance for man to grow better. There
IS no advance in one line of philosophic thought
q fha ino
The Effect of Scientific Discoveries.
ONE new discovery has made a revolution in
the whole domain of science, who dares
to stand up and say that there is no chance for
improvements? That we are to stop here in
the progress of philosophy 1 am thankful
that Gods light is bright enough to shine for
all The theology of the nineteenth century
does not make theology Of the twenty-fifth GEN.
tury. We are not sorry that theology of the
third century is not theology of to-day. We
should be thankful that the future can better
understand God and be more familiar with His
truth. The eternal verities of God will al
ways remain. 1t may be that He can lead us
on to the better and higher by our desire to
know God has made us to love. to know and
We will follow out His divine thought within
US. The aim and desire of man in all times
should be to find himself and find his God.
At the close of the lecture DR.. Burnham was
ready to answer all questions which any per-
sons in the audience desired to ask concerning
the views which he set forth. Several gentle
men of ministerial persuasion, among them DIR. |
T. L. Flood, editor of the ChGusauQudn, sent |
query and argument at HIM hot and heavy. but |
he was ready for any and all that came. They |
could not trip the scholarly professor, however,
who, leaning his long form over the pulpit, his
eyes sparkling and his bland face wreaLhed
with smiles of satisfaction, answered them with
all the suavity and decision of manner that
Tom Reed meets fiery Democratic Congress
man from Missouri. His advanced ideas made
some of the old school thinkers writhe, but
they could not get around his studied and we'll
guarded position. In one discussion Mr.. Burn
ham made the statement that some Christians
were better than others, when the disputant
said that he could not say that they were.
les, but are we as good as the Apostle PaulT'
I'm spots, perhaps"
Next in interest to pointed legal discussion
is an argument between men of different reig-
ious beliefs, in which the thoughts fly back and
forth like. Lightning, and the air gets fairly
blue.
Southern Folk Lore and Legends.
EVERY one has heard the stories of "Uncle
Remus" telling of the legend of the col
ored people of the South and the many pecu-
liar tales, funny because of their absurdity,
which the black seers of the plantation have
carried down from generation to generation.
These stories, with personal "reminiscences of |
the negroes upon his fathers great plantation |
in "Ole Vi-ginny," where he spent his child |
hood days, were the subject, or rather subjects,
of the discourse Of DR.. John A. Broadus this |
afternoon. DR.. Broadus is an old entertainer, |
is never monotonous, always sensible and at |
times humorous. u am to speak OF my per- |
sonal recollectiOns of the people in Culpepper |
county. Virginia. Henry and George. two col |
ored boys, were my childhood companions. We |
played and went barefoot together. l very |
much envied them for they could tote water
very long ways upon their heads and could
not. There are number of different races OF
guish at least The brown negroes are superior.
Many time on the plantation have beard
negro girl say that 'sne want gwine to marry |
no black nlgger.' Then there are a class of
black negroes who come from the inland who |
are also superior. These are very few, as they
were of the more intelligent and more capable
of defending themselves from the slave
traders. The negroes on the larger plantations
are now not far from barbarism. l remember
this among some of the homely stories have
told.
One morning asked motheriwhy the negroes
could not black my boots as the neighbors'
servants did for their boys. When mother re-
plied: Son. learn to wait on yourself, because
some day you may not have any negroes to wait
on you she was prophet. There was black
remarkable strength and was also something of
a wit. He had riddle, You amt got 1t. amt
going to have it. and don't want it; and when
YOU gets it, you wouldn't take the world for IT.
The answer was: "A bald head
Some Negro Peculiarifles.
THE negroes used to take great liking to
valentines, and would often come to me to
write out some of their rhymes. such as:
The roses are red,
/