The sun., 1891-06-16
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The Rev. Professor BRraos and other up
holders OF the higher criticism" In theology,
who arc assallinG several Of the established
tenets Of orthodox Professionalism. have thus
far steered clear OF tho Devil. That is to
say. they have not yet set about the work Of
undermining the old belief In his existence
and his personality. For some reason or
!otber they have refrained from taking up
his cass and applying their modern exegesis
-. 20 the grea. and awful questions relating to
bis nature and history.
The higher Biblical students Of Germany.
whose methods our progressive theologians
profess to follow, got rid OF the Devil, or
: Thought they got rid OF him, long ago. They
have shown that he is not referred to In the
Apostles creed, and have striven to provo
that they arc able to give now meaning to
the illusions to him In the Scriptures. Why
have the American progressives kept quiet
on this question So far as we have noticed,
only one Of them has taken 1t UP. and 1t Is
his opinion that he has been successful In
sbollshing the Devil.
or course tho Rev. DR.. TALMAaE Of Brook
lyn believes In tho Devil. He had much to
say about him In hi. sermon Of last Sunday
morning. He argued that It is Satan who Is
stirring up the present anarchy In the Prot
estant churches. He maintained that, until
recently. Sntan had been having "dull
times" In hell on account Of the spread
OF religion, through which many souls were
saved: "nnd so." cried TALMAaE, "Satan
rose upon his throne one day and said. Ye
powers OF darkness hearw Thereupon. &C.
cording to TALMAoE, these powers hastened
to Andover. and to the Union Theological
Seminary In New York. and to the Presby-
terian General Assembly, and to that old
Episcopal Church. and to that old Methodist
Church, and got up squabbles and raised
storms In them. whereby tho influences Of
religion are destroyed. So that Satan can
now ngain rejoice In getting his full quota
oi victims.
About business Devil Of this kind. with q
horde o, imps at his command, there can be
no Misunderstanding. II the Rev. DR.. TALL
MAGE Inns not seen him in hell, 1t. is hard to
tell how no could give such q vivid and ter
rorizng description Of him and his work as
he gave In tho Brooklyn Tabernacle last
Sunday.
But the higher critics OF these times, es-
pecially those OF Germany. disbelieve in q
Devil OF the kind described by TALMAaE. 1t
is safat to say that among the unbelievers In
him in this country are such men as the
Rev. Profee sor BRIGas. tho Rev. PHILLIPS
. BROOKS. tho Rev. DR.. RA1NsFoRD, the Rev.
HEBER NEWTON, the Rev. HOWARD MAC
QuEARY. and others. For reasons known to
themselves however. they have not come
out against the Devil.
They will very soon be compelled to de-
clare their opinions on the Devil question
under the higher criticism which they up
hold. They will be forced to make answer
10 Il number OF questions that are of pro-
found interest to all mankind. Is there
ersonal Devil? Do the Scriptures Of the
Old or the New Testament really teach that
there is such being? Are those passages
from which his hypostatic existence has
been inferred. to DO taken literally. or are
they to be understood as alluding merely to
principle OF evil by which the human race
is perpetually tempted?
These arc grave questions for the higher
critics In the United States and elsewhere.
The thcolpGans who are wasting time In
wrapcling about impenetrable mysteries.
cannot be permitted to dodge the Devil In
this practical age.