Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-05-17

write the Psalter, but only few of the
| Psalms Solomon did not write the Song
| of Songs or Ecclesiastics, but only pol-
| ton of the proverbs; Isaiah did not write
| half the book that bears his name. The
\ great mass of the Old Testament was
| written by authors whose names or connec
| ton with their writing are lost in oblivion
| If this is destroying the Bible, the Bible is
| destroyed already. But who tells us that
| these traditional names were the authors of
| the Biblel The Bible ITSELF The creeds
! of the church? Any reliable historical
testimony None OF these! Pure,
conjectural, tradition! Nothing more'
| The fourth barrier is ''the dogma of the
inerrancy of Scripture" He sees in the
Scriptures errors that no one has been able
| to explain away, land the theory that they
are not in the original text is sheer assump-
ton, upon which no mind can rest with GER
| tainty The Bible itself nowhere makes
this claim. The creeds of the church
nowhere sanction it. It IS ghost
Of modern evangelicalisIn to brighten chill
| dren."
The fifth obstruction to the Bible, has
| been thrown up, he says, in front OF mod
| ern science. And he treats miracles in
this fashion. ''If it were possible to re-
| solve all the miracles of the Old Testament
into extraordinary acts of Divine provi-
| dence, using the forces and forms of nature
| if we could explain all the miracles of Jesus
| His unique authority over man and over
| nature-from His use of mind cure, or
| hypnOtiSm, or any other occult power, still
| claim that nothing essential would be lost
| from the miracles of the Bible; they would
| still remain the most wonderful exhibition
| of loving purpose and redemptive acts OF
| God and of the tenderness and grace of the
| hessiah'S heart ?"
s'Predictive Prophecy is his sixth bar
rier. and then he takes up the theology of
| the Bible for the third general head. This
] includes its religion, its faith. its ethics,
and its Messiah One quotation regarding
sanctiication mus suffice: There is no
authority in the Scriptures, or il the creeds
Of Christendom, for the doctrine of immedi
ate sanctification at death. The only sane
tificatiOn known to experience, to Christian
orthodoxy, and to the Bible, is progressive
sanctifcation. Progressive sanctifcation
after death is the doctrine of the Bible and
the church, and it is of vast Importance in
our times that we should understand it and
live in accordance with it. The bugbear of
Judgment Immediately after death and
the illusion OF magical transformation in
the dying hour should be banished from the
world
The last general division is 1.-THE Har-
mony OF tie Sources of Divine Authority
That is, the Bible, the church and the
reason. This, he thinks, will be found in
time. The author closes with quotation
from Isaiah's prophecy, preceded by these
stirring sentences:
Criticism is at work with knife and
fire Let US cut down everything that is
dead and harmful, every kind of dead
orthodoxy, every species of effete ecclesi-
asticism, all merely formal morality, all
those dry and brittle defenses that consti-
tute denominationalisn, and are the bar
riers of church unity Let us burn up
every form of false doctrine, false religion
and false practice. Let US remove every
incumbrance out of the way for a new life;
the life of God is moving throughout
Christendom, and the springtime of new
age Is about to come upon u.s.
NEXT TO THE BRIGGS QUESTION
will be that of the revision of the confession
of faith. a committee was appointed last
year at the conclusion of the great debate
at Saratoga to revise the standards. Their
report has not been made public, but the
secretary has given a slight idea of what
has been accomplished. The changes, elini-
nations or additions are chiefly in chapter
l., 5; chapter iii, 8, 4, 5, q; chapter iv., L;
chapter vi, 4; chapter vii, SO; chapter x,
"a; chapter XII, Is; chapter xiv, 1
chapter xvi, z; chapter xxi, 4; chapter
xiii, g.; chapter XIV, s.; chapter XIV, g.;
chapter xxx, 2, and chapter xxx, 2.
The general desire expressed by the pres
byteries in their answer to the overture