Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-05-25

confession is altogether inadequate in
Its doctrine Of the reason. As l said
some years ago, the reason, the conscience
and the religious feeling. all of which have
arisen during these discussions of the last CEN
tury, into ligh. and vigor unknown and un-
anticipated at the reformation. should not be
antagonlzed the one with the other, or with the
Spirit Of God
ERRORS IN THE SCRIPTURES.
'The only errors have found or ever recog-
nized in Holy Scriptures have been beyond the
range of faith and practice and therefore they do
not impair the infallibility Of Holy Scripture as
a rule Of faith and practice.
But it is claimed that recognize errors in
matters beyond the range of faith and practice.
l excite suspicion to the infallibility OF Holy
Scripture within the range OF faith
and practice. You are entitled to
that opinion for yourselves, but you
have no right to force your opinion upon me.
The confession does not say rule of all things
but 1.-The rule of faith and practice" You
must Judge by the confession, not by
your fears, or your impressions, or by
the conclusions you have made. But
is 1t true that fallibilty in the Bible in matters
beyond the scope of the divine revelation i'm
pairs the infaliibility in matters within
the scope OF divine revelation? We
claim that it does not. The sacred
writings were not composed in heaven by
the Holy Spirit, they we're not sent down
from heaven by angel hands, they we're not
committed to the care Of perfect men, they
we're not kept by succession of perfect
priests from that moment until the
present time. If these had been the facts
in the case, We might have had Bible infal-
lible in every particular. But none of these
things are true God gave His Holy Word to
men in an entirely different way. He
used the human reason and all the
faculties of imperfect human nature.
He used the voice and hands of imperfect
men. He allowed the sacred writings to be
edited and re-edited. arranged and re-
feet scribes. 1t is improbable that such
imperfect instrumentalities should attain
perfect results. 1t was improbable that falli-
BILE men should produce a series of writings
infallible In every respect. 1t was sufficient
that divine inspiration and the guidance of
the Holy Spirit should make their writ
ings an infalible rule OF faith and
practice, and that the divine energy should
push the human and the fallible into the ex-
ternal forms. into the unessential and unneces-
sary matters, into the human setting Of the
divine ideals.
HIGHER CRITICISM.
ut is q ludicrous feature Of the present situa-
ton that biblical scholars are defending the
TRANSACTIONS Of which they have no need and
experts on textual criticism are acknowledging
that they find no inerrant manuscripts, the
higher critics are searching the Hebrew and
Greek Scriptures through and through to learn
the exact truth and facts about the origin and
character of the Bible; while men who can
hardly spell cut their Hebrew and Greek Bibles,
who are as innocent Of textual criticism
as child unborn, and who show
by their speech and writing that
they know not the meaning of the words higher
criticism-that such men prating about the
Infalllbility of original autographs and the in
viola bility of traditional theories. We NAV safely
say that divine authority is not stereotyped in
original autographs SO hidden from the eyes of
men that they can less easily be discovered than
the north pole or the Garden of Eden. The
fountain Of authority Is in the great heart of the
gospel, the message of redemption which the
Bible tells in every language into which it may
be translated. and which the Holy Spirit ever
accompanies with His quickening presence.
"A study of the confession makesit clear that
it knows nothing OF the modern doctrine Of
the inerrancy of the original autographs
Of Holy Scripture. When the general
assembly assumed to say by ma
the inspired Word as it came from God is with
out error" they said what is not true in fact
at the present time unless their own majority
vote determines what our church holds;
and they said what has never been
true in fact in the history of the
l.
cumstances seem to indicate that they meant,
to affirm that the original autographs were
without error.
PROGRESSIVE sANCTIFICATIoS AFTER DEATH.
1.-The doctrine of progressive specification
is in accordance with the laws that God has es-
tablished in the ethical constitution Of man.
The conscience speaks the categorical imper-
alive in the first dawn of the moral conscious
ness. and it pronounces its decision in the light
of the training that men receive in their sue
cessive stages OF advancement in morals.
1.-The church and the Bible give their potent
aid to the conscience in the ethical elevation Of
humanity. 1t is always, everywhere and IN
every variety of form and educa-
ton training Shall all this ethi-
varied stages Of progressin the different periods
of life, of culture, of racial and national
advancement, be reduced to common
level and made Of none effect, by
mighty transformation that will deal with
the race, father and child, mother
and babe. master and scholar. self sacrificing
missionary and pagan convert. the devoted
evangelist ard the thief and murderer
turning in his last hour to Christ from
the shadow Of the gallows-all one
undistinguishable mass? Such a doctrine
strikes a deadly blow at the moral nature of
man. the ethical constitution of society, the
historic training Of our race and the moral
government of God,
1.-The doctrine of progressive sanctification
after death harmoniZes Christian faith with
Christian ethics, and both of these with the
ethics of humanity and the ethics
of God. 1t enables US to comprehend
the whole life OF man, the whole his
tory Of our from its first creation until the
day of doom. and all the acts of God in creation
and providence. under one grand conception,
the divine specification of man."
THE CASE OPENED.