The record-union., 1894-12-22


scepticism. How man who does not be-
lleve IN the supernatural, and considers
lnal IL is lmposslbl to maintain that the
Blble is a heaven-descended revelation
from God,' can be said to be an exponent
OF anything Christian, the reviewer does
not profess to explain. There is no such
thing as Christian rationaIism,' in the
sense OF utterly excluding the supernat-
ural, Tor there is not word in the Bible
that is not based on the assumption of a
supernatural reVelaton-itS fact, its ne
cessity, Its reality, its consequent au-
tborlJy. The man who denies these or
dlSDeIleVes them is. nationalist pure and
simple. AS for the spirit OF such writer
being essentially religious and devout'
1t cannot be either in the sense in which
those words are applied to believers in
supernatural, though he may stand awe
struck before the mystery OF the uni
verse"
"And now we are told that the tons of
new inscribed clay tablets, in process of
eXhumatlon at Mfr, near Babylon, and
the lettered cylinders, seals, bowls, arms
and adornments are going TO make a
finish of the book of Genesis. We have a
recollection of having heard something
of the same kind BEFORE" remarks the
Interior tPres.) of Chicago. "Copernicus
ruined the Bible! so also did Sir Isaac
Newton, and Charles Lyell, and Charles
Darwin, and George Smith-the latter in
the same archaeological field that is now
said to be threatening. This reminds us
of an eminent Methodist Bishop, who
said tha. Calvinism was an iron ring that
would break any hammer that was used
upon il. 1t is not claiming more than
the plain facts of religious and literary
history to say that every new science
proves to be a new weapon of Christi
anity. Each one is against it only as
the buttress is against the building.
We were amused by the effect produced
upon an antitheistic evolutionist when
he was playfully told that Moses wrote
out the evolutionary process 1900 years
ago. First: And the Lord God formed
man Of the dust OF the ground Second:
And breathed into his nostrilS the breath
of life.' Third: And man became liv-
ing SOUL Form, life, soul; three pro-
cesses OF creative development, namely,
physical form, animal life and intelli-
gence, immortal spirit. This much is
certain, that man did not spring forth
full armed, like Minerva from the brain
OF Jove, but he passed through creative
processes. We refer to this not to say
that Moses was an eYolutionist, but TO
say that the popularity of the Bible is
that 1t provides room Tor Science-that
science can establish no basis upon which
to contradict it.p
The New York ChlTcLad1a (P. E.) says:
The Outlook charges the Protestant
episcopal CHURCH with narrowness and
eXcluslveneSS in the matter of 'hierarch-
Ical succession The editor of that Jour
nal Is, however, just as strenuous about
such succession as any one else. He is
congregational minister, but we believe
that he is presbyterially ordained, and he
not lnfrequently takes part in the laying
ing on OF hands in presbyterial ordina-
n R-yNl lal L.
say that many excellent men in Ply
mouth Church, over which he now pre-
sides most acceptably, are not ordained,
and be does not for a moment charge
himself with narrOwness or exclusive
ness in thus holding them unordained.
his hndlng that they are unordained is
simply the finding of q historical fact,
lie hnds that they have not received the
laying-on of hands of the presbyterate.
Neither should he charge the Episcopal
Church with narfowneSS and exclusive
ness Ii she examines men as to the his
torlcal fact OF ordination and tests them
by that fact. Her presbyters disclaim
their own right to ordain, and she would
not recognize ordination at their hands
The presbyterial minister arrogates to
himself the right to ordain; the episco-
pally ordained presbyter disclaims it.
The arrogance is, therefore, charge
able elsewhere than to the Episcopal
Church,"
ut has been complaint Of spiritualists,
not without foundation, that scientific
men have not not investigated spiritual
ism as thoroughly, candidly, and sympa-
thetlcally as they should" says the
Christian Register (Unit.) OF Boston. 'It
is true, in this as in other matters, that a
sympathetic interest in the subject of
study helps greatly in opening ones eyes,
just as certainly as an unquestioning
credulity may close them. But if scien-
titic men have not studied spiritualism
from a scientific standpoint, spiritualists
are largely responsible. They have in
sisted on accepting as conclusive evil
dence manifestations reeking with hum
bug and fraud. They have asked investi-
CATION to be conducted under conditions
which make all scientific methods impos-
slble. The organization of a society for
psychical research in England, and also
in this country, is an evidence that scien-
titic men Of unquestioned repute consider
psychic phenomena worthy of earnest
and prolonged study. The results OBJ
tained by these societies are we'll worth
the labor expended on them. They
show, at least, that there is wide realm
of phenomena which we have hardly
begun to explore, and whose full
meaning we cannot yet understand.
But it is a standing reproach to
the spiritualists of this country that the
American Psychical Society has had to
suspend It's work because it has not had
money enough to carry 1t on. a small
fraction Of the money that is spent every
year by spiritualiSts in supporting the
charlatans and humbugs who pass under
the name of mediums would furnish the
Psychical Society with more money than
il could possibly use."