Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-20
THINGS IN GENERAL.

We are fond of looking in. 1t is interesting to
note this self-examning spirit in the literature
of the day. We cast about for adjectives which
shall describe the generation in which We live.
We have that intellectual discretion which
commonly accompanies old age. We try to
sum things up. to understand the general
trend and to make out the supreme meaning of
our life.
Prof. Totten's elaborate mathematical cal
culations may be right The end may be get
ting near. Anyhow we think like men who
approach an end. though it may be only the
end Of the century 1t is not likely that any
generation ever made keener analyses of its
characteristics. This is the age of unbelief,
some say, of establishment, or of discomfort.
There is no lack of names.
Mark Twain is not an authority to whom one
would naturally go for profound philosophy.
Yet IL seems to me that Mark Twain has given
the age one of its best-ftting names. He has
called it the generation of intellectual hospi-
tality. He finds one of the widest differences
between this century and any of its predeces-
sors to consist in its hospitality to new truth.
Before they adored the past. If doctrine was
old, it was therefore probably true. We have
changed all that
The Changes of Half Century.
If Galen or Hippocrates, he says. could have
entered sick room half a century ago in the
absence of the family physician, they would
have felt themselves at once at home They
would have recognized the old, old medicines
of the old, OLD days. They would not have
missed single nauseous taste nor single hor-
rible smell And if the family physician could
have come in and discovered these shades of
the past by the bedside of his patient, he would
have fallen down in awe and worshiped them,
because they were SO old.
But to-day Galen, Hippocrates and Escula-
Plus would be at loss. indeed And they might
put their three wise pates together and rub
their six wise eyes in vain.. They would find
nothing in the sick room to which they had
been used in the old days. If they attempted
to administer any of their ancient poisons in
their ancient hOrse-doctor doses the trained
nurse would call for the police And If the
family physician should come in and find these
old-time worthless, and be verify assured that
they were indeed the men who belonged to the
great names on their visiting cards, actually
Hippocrates and Esculapius and Galen, the
family physician would be interested IN them
chiefly from the point of view of psychical re-
search. As medical authorities, he would not
value their opinion at the small fee of two
straws.
Ready to Receive New Truths.
We care little for the past Age is no longer
recommendation. We are receptive. We
have a welcome for new truth. All the ages
through, up to the memory of men still
living. every new idea had to undergo the
apprenticeship of persecution. The man
with new truth was accounted trouble
some intruder. He was a. hereto, q rebel.
revolutionist, q disciple of anarchy. danger
ous character. Life was made miserable for
him. That is history. To-day, all that is diff
ferent. We hold out our hands to the man
who comes with a uew truth. We have hos
pitable greeting even for him who only imagines
that he has found a new truth. / cannot think
of aLy characteristic which SO remotely dis.
tances Us from the days gone by, from the
position of our grandfathers, as this fne hospi-
tality to new truth.
There will, however. be conservatives always.
Unhappy for US if their tribe should perish! |
We would be forever going off at tangents. We |
would be mstaking error for truth Let us |
welcome truth, but not falsehoOd. And to |
that end. let US test all professed truths care
fully and impartially and make sure that they |
are truths before we take them in. That is |
what conservatism. advises and the advice is |
good. So long as conservatism can keep from |
falling into Its besetting vice Of bigorry, long |
live conservatism All that we ask is that truth |
have chance TO be heard and the certainty Of
fair play Progressive conservatismis is the ideal |
attitude of the ideal student.
That Address by DR.. Briggs
I am glad to see that this temper marks for |
the most part the utterances Of Presbyteries |
and parsons about the inaugural address of DR..
Briggs That address having caused some fut-
tering of heart among the brethren, and some
question as to the advisability of retaining the |
author Of it.as teacher IN great school, it is
right that there should be an inquiry made
about it, and the question brought to reason
able settlement. 1t is pleasant thing to see
that the presbyteries are not proceeding on the
which seems to hold IN the present
Italian Government They are not disposed to
decide upon the verdict first, and then to try
DR.. Briggs afterward. There is fair and
temperate tone prevailing in the whole discus
sion which indicates that difference, of which
was just now speaking. between US and our
Fifty years ago the religious
papers would have gone wild. They would
have broken all the Christian commandments.
They would have called down fre from heaven.
To-day we have learned better what spirit we
are of. To-day we are able 10 ask, in reason
able temper: Is this true?
1t is worth while, accordingly, to inquire ex-
actly what it IS that DIR. Briggs has said. 1t is
always good plan in an argument TO under
stand precisely the position of the party on the
other side, What utterance is this which has
awakened the parsons and alarmed the breth-
rens
1t was some time in January, 1 believe that
DR.. Charles A. Briggs took his place as Pro-
fessor of Biblical Theology at Union Theologi-
cal Seminary in the city of New York. The
position was especially made for him. under
stand, and the chair endowed with the provis-
ion that he should first occupy it. The rule of
the Presbyterian Church is that the General
Assem- bly, shall approve those who are to hold
positions as official teachers But it is not the
custom in ordinary cases to wait for the ap-
prevail 1t is commonly taken for granted. 1t
has been SO taken for granted more than once
in Allegheny. There the more reason for
going confidently ahead in this case, since DR..
Briggs had been for many years already in
structor in the seminary. He was accordingly
indicted into his new appointment. And upon
that occasion he made the address which made
the trouble.
The Most Significant Part.
The subject of DR.. Briggs address was 'The
of the Bible" but the most signif-
can't part of it related to barriers against
right understanding of the Bible. The differ
snce of opinion is chiefly about the pulling
1own of these barriers. 1t makes good deal
Of difference whether a wall is regarded as a
barrier or as a defense-whether the purpose
Of it IS taken to be to keep out friends or to
keep out enemies DR.. Briggs began by saying
that there are three great channels of divine
Bible, the Church. and the
Reason. All three valid sources of author
ty. We ought not to depreciate the Church;
we ought not to deprecate The use OF the
reason. Churchmen and rationaists have
alike good standng-ground. The reason why
the Church is deprecated is because the
Church and its institutions have enveloped
themselves with human conceits and follles-
have encased the divine authority in the
authority of pOpes and councils, prelates, |
Driest Is and thenlogians. and these mediators of
redemption have oDtruded themselves in the |
way of devout seekers after God" The reason
why the use of the Reason is deprecated
s because rarlonalists have sighted the means
Of grace and lessened the authority of re-
Vealed truth.
The Bible. like the Church and the Reason,
has those who set it at nought. And here, too,
he reason is to be found in barriers set up by the
zen who value the Bible. 1t is our duty to get |
,hese barriers out of the way.
No one of these three paths to truth has been |
10 obstrueted, says DR.. Briggs, as the Bible.
The ancient Jews made fence about the
aw and Inclosed it with circle upon circle of
traditional lnternretatiOn. The Christian |