The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-12-21
TIFF SEATTLE Observation-Disclosures,

toms, but never received His encourage
ment or Endorsement. While the passover
feast might be tolerated among the Jews as
sort of emancipation celcbrationa fes-
tiyity-it could properly have no place in
any Christian ceremony. Here is a char
acteristic quotation:
When the divine aspiration in man be-
gan to reach out into worship by offerings,
into worship by slaughter of beasts, We do
not know 1t was not III the Garden of
Eden. 1t did not appear outside OF Eden
till after process OF time" Possibly
the story of Cain and Abel epitomizes the
first institution of animal sacrifice, the de-
parture from the peaceful and harmless
fruit-offering of the elder brother, or the
earlier race. Cain, to the bloody and vio-
lent beast-offering of the younger brother,
or the later race. Abel. 1t is true that the
representative of fruit-otfcring has Jared
badly at the hands of the world, but 1t
must be remembered that he was on the
losing side The observation-disclosures pre-
vailed. The beast-worshipers told the
story and had it all their own way. We
have not yet heard Gains side.
Never" says the author in another
place, sis human sacrifice even assumed to
be ordained of God in the Bible after the
one sacrifice of Isaac, and that is a sacri-
flee forbidden"
And thus the New Testament is APP
preached, the author asserting as she pro-
ceeds that ssthe attitude of Christ and the
apostles toward all the Mosaic institutes,
wherein the ordinance of sacrifice is inn
hedded was one of liberal conservatism,
occasionally of cordial indignation, gen.
orally of moderation and charity. They
seldom denounced, but they always sup
planted
Thus the argument proceeds until the
Last Supper, in the shadow of the final
tragedy, is reached The writer says:
The same night in which He was be-
trayed, in the same spirit of aecommoda-
ton and aspiration, our Lord took the
feast of the passover, eliminated from it
every possible relic of cruelty and error,
turned it into farewell feast to his disciples
made it the tenderest memorial to himself
and an emancipation celebration for all
the ELECTROMAGNETIC from the old
covenant of blood to the new covenant OF
purity. The old passover was a meal for
strengthening the body; the Lords fare
well supper was chiefly for the consolation
and sustenanee of the soul. 1t was a sad
festival, for the man Christ Jesus was part
ing from his friends, and the shadow of his
troubled spirit fell upon their loving.
anxious, ignorant hearts. The passover
had been a hurried feast, but the
last supper was a long love feast,
with time enough not only to
satisfy hunger, but enough for rash, head
long, but real love to protest against the
Masters object lesson in humility; time
enough for the curious but not overcon-
hdent disciples TO urge the conndent love
of John upon an anxious question which
was answered and not rebuked; time
enough for the avarice of Judas, attending
under the disguise of affection to see itself
dot tod and a M ha 81, nf
crime, to the eternal punishment OF re-
morse and human infamy; time enough
for a conversation whose fragmentary re-
port is our most dear and cherished legacy
of the human heart of Christ. 1t was a
glorious supper, for in its gentle and
solemn friendliness was symbolized and
signalized the redemption of the world
from the old domain of blood and beasts TO
the new domain of love and light
The world has been long in learning the
lesson which is yet but partially learned.
The very disciples for whose companions
ship at this feast their Master passionately
longed, knew so little of His spirit and His
mission that they lifted their tips from the
cup of His blessing to bicker about prece-
dence. We have not gone so far beyond
them that we can afford to scott We
harden His words into coarse liberalism;
We reject His tender, pure and sacred SYM
bols, and insist upon revolving and i'm
lures we strive to veil under the thin dis
guise of miracle. With the moan of
thousand generations in His ears, the
moan of hapless beasts massacred in vain
expiations the sinless son of God held up
the bread that gives but not surrenders
life, and made it the parting token of His
willing sacrifice, leading all martyrdoms
for the truth, This is my body" To the
innocent blood of sacrincial slaughter cry
ing unto Him from the ground of the
| whole wide earth He listened and made
answer: He took the cup and said unto
| them: This is ma blood of the New Tesla
ment." What is it? Not blood at all, but
What was it? Not flesh at all, but the
fruit of the ground, a real nutriment.
"How can this man give us His flesh to
eat?" asked the heavy-browed Jews. II
| am the living bread" answered Jesus. 81
am that bread of life. He that belieyeth
on me hath everlasting life" But, more
blind than the bIindest scribe and more
stolid than the stolidest Pharisee, without
| the excuse of a long-established custom of
| atonement by beast and of expiation by
| blood, without the excuse of the natural
| hostility to innovation, there are thous-
ands among us today who turn away from
| Christ's purincation and capitalization
| of worship, and when asked, ''How can
this man give us His flesh to eat?" reply,
| "By a mlracle!" We are so determined to
| worship with blood and sacrihce, we are
so resolved to go back to the beggarly ele-
ments of this pagan world from which
| Christ came to free us, that we summon
the Lord from His spiritual heavens into
! a loaf of bread in order that there may be
| something to sacrificed
This is not an improvement on the Jew
| ish ritual; it is Il retrogrcssion to the pagan
| ritual. If there must be sacrifice, it is
| better to sacrifice an animal than man.
| If that man is the prince of life, the Son of
| God, then to sacrifice Him is q crime with
| out a name. If there must be priest TO
| sustain religion, better that it should he n
| Jew Staying a bullock upon an altar than
/ God crucifying His beloved Son upon the
| cross, because that is a proclamation of the
| heavens.
| 1t is difficult to speak of this with the
| respect due to thought and sincerity 1t is
| in direct and degrading opposition to the
| teaching and trend of our Lord. II il
| could be true, it would be shocking beyond
| expression. 1t would substitute for the
| tenderest rite of Christianity, the grossest
| rite, the most horrible appetite of heath
| cndom.
Paul's rhetoric in stating the doctrine of
| Christ's "sacrihcial" and ''expiatorv" work
| in behalf Of sinners, is declared to have
| been necessitated by the fact that he was
| preaching to a people still bound in the
| thongs of the Mosaic law and still within
| sight of the cross. What was q wise, prac-
| teal form of sound words in Paul's DAYS"
| adds Miss Hamilton, lis but historical,
| not practical, form of sound words for
/ US. ="
Nearly every phrase which is here cited