The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-10-12

unity in the midst of apparent contradic
ton. Illustrations are numerous. TIL,
year constitutes self consistent whole
But Gan anything be more dissi m liar il
form than spring and autumn Yet NJ
one thinks Of finding a want of harmony
between the fragrant blossoms of the
former aud the ripened fruit of tn,
latter. The path to the harvest liei
through the blossom. So God in his reve
lation Of himself and his will to mer
chose diversity, particularly in the out
ward form and progress OF those revela.
tions, yet with a complete underly ing
plan of unity. He who gave the first
knew all that was to follow. Hear is one
of the seals of its genuineness.
The progress of divine truth may be
l1kened to the source and progress of q
mighty river towards the great sea,
whose fountain head Is in the bosom of a
lowering mountain upon whose shoulders
rests the clouds of heaven yelling it's
snow crowned heights. So the fountain
head of Divine truth, springs from the
bosom of the father, flowing through
Eden's garden, where God first oommu-
nioated with man.
Onward flows the stream from Adam
to Abraham, gathering strength with
the ages, through the Mosaic dispensation
1t gives life to lsraeps hosts, pressing
ever forward, sometimes calm and peace
full, then rushing swiftly past man g in
constituencies and sins, now falling with
numbering power, majestic and sublime,
yet even onward from tho old into the
now, 1t is watered by the tears of a
weeping Christ, broadening out in
Apostolic communications it rolls into
the great ocean of thei infinite love, seek
ingto lave all shores and bless all olimes.
The scriptures open with "In the be-
ginning God created" and close with
/" II any man take away from the words
of the book Of the prophecy of this book
God shall take away his part out of the
book of life, and out of the holy city and
from the things which are written In
this BOOK"
Destroy the historic foundation of the
scriptures, at least SO far as they contain
supernatural manifestations of God to
men, thus robbing them OF their divine
authority, and they are reduced to a
system of human doctrines like the
teachings of Socrates, Plato, Confueius
which men are ut liberty to receive or re-
jecU us they in their scholarly wisdom
think best. Such modern critics after
doing all In their power to make the
divine record mass OF "cunningly de-
vised fables" of human origin, expatiate
on the majesty and beauty of the
Saviour's character, the excellence of
his moral precepts and the benign in
fuence of his religion. Like Judas they
kiss the Son Of Man to betray him. To
make the scriptures human is to annihi-
lats them ana with them the hope Of the
world. PROFESSIONALLY the Bible il
from beginning to end the record of a
supernatural revelation made By God to
man, 1t embraces not only supernatural
teachings but supernatural facts. These
teachings rest on such facts that they
must stand or fall together. Eliminate
from the Bible the miraculous and you
leave but the dry historic facts over
giving of the law on Mount Sinai,
Elijah's prayer answered by fire, Daniels
deliverance, the Messiahs birth heralded
by angels Of light, Christ's life, miracles
death and resurrection, the day of Penta-
COST acts of the Apostles inslnuate a
doubt here, q uayil there and inslnuntion
yonder, q difficulty with this state lnent,
an objection to that discrepancy, an in.
terpnlatien, misplaced article. a
narrownoss, bjgotry and the critic will
soon plunge himself into the mire of un-
belief while the faith of many with re-
gard TO the integrity of the scriptures
and their divine authority will be de.
atruyed.
We are told that Genesis is Chaldean
myth in its account of creation. No
the leaves of Coos great book
of cosmos and from the primitive
GRANTEES and feldspars of the. old
Lsurentian period; from the plastic mass
OF volcanic material gathered from the
mighty forces which sprang from the
creative fiat: Let there be light when
all was dark and see this earth then
potentially upon the bosom of the great
abyss without form and void. That can
with scientific exaotness gather the
heated atoms of hydrogen and oxygen
bind them together by chemical affinity
and kprecipitate the waters of heaven
without which dry land would never have
appeared as times corroding. fingers dis
integrated primitive rocks by their
AGENCY from which soil, sprang '.arass
the herb, and the fruit tree whose seed is
in ITSELF
No Chaldean myth that can look with
the microscopic eye Of a biologists, a
zoologist into the aoons of the past and
tell rs how that the waters brought
forth the swarmers 1.-THE sheretz) that
swarmed the ancient waters, also speak
Ing of the appearance OF land, animals
beasts of the earth after their kind.
Is it Chaldean my Tia that speaks of
the origin and Introduction of man that
SAc"eAAe ~ III SlcosNio5 OuO dpEA III
creation made In the image of God re-
fecting the introspsction thought and
reason, likeness to the Divine. Who in
his common sense would want the
SSoator to give man in the infancy of the
race. geological, a biological, a ZOO
logical treatise Of the earth's formation,
the Introduction and developments of life,
animal ana vegetable, bv complete
scientific compendiu 70 of all that trans
pired since creation.
God speaks to man In the language
and thought of ordinary life, not Id
earned scientific verbage, accommodates
himself to human modes of thinking and
speaking.
Compare the Genesis account of
creation with many oriental myths.
Hindoc mythology for instance then in
the name of common sense put your
myths where they properly belong,5 but
do not bring them within the realm of
revealed truths.
The God of the Old Testament not in
harmony with the New. The seamless
garment of divine perfection is rent in
two parts. Justice and goodness contra
diotory terms. The Old Testament dod
infinitely holy and infiexibly just. The
old Testament God meroiful and
gracious, long suffering and abundant in
goodness and truth, keeping mercy for
thousands. forgiving iniquity and trans
RreSs1on and sin as desert bed by his SER