The Portland daily press., 1896-11-16
THE HIGHER CRITICISM.
Rev. j. Bartell Shepherds Third Lecture
at st. Paul's.


at St. Paul's.
A large and deeply interested congrega-
ton listened to the third discourse on Il =
Higher Criticism as given by the recto
of St PauPs. He took for text verse
was an answer to the question: "What
have the critics done with the Biblep"
Mr.. Shepherd said every book in the
Bible has been criticized. For lack of
time few books may be considered and
from these we may judge of the effect
CT this school of criticism on the whole
Bible.
Beginning with Genesis. the critics
startled the world by the statement that
Moses was not its author. 1t related a
great hubbub. They argued that Moses
used pre-existing materials, that 1t was
the work of at least two unknown au-
thors who used separate and different
names for God, Elohine and Jetorah.
1t ls important to notice that at first
there was no attempt to deny the inspi-
ration of Gene sis. Later Oh to get lid
Of the authority Of the book, its inspira-
ton was denied. AS matter of fact the
question of the authorship is Of mino
Importance waen compared to inspira
tion. The book stands as containing
the correct account of creation and ao-
cepted by the church, not because Moses
wrote it, but because God inspired him,
or some one else to write it.
The science of Genesis was considered
next as faulty. Certain theologians
helped the critics because they asserted
that the Bible was scientific text
book. You might as well say the sane
of the magma charter of England or the
Constitution of the United States.
Science and revelation are totally unlike.
Science 10 the result of human inves-
tigation. Revelation ia God revealing to
man. what he could not find out In any
other way. The monks Of the middle
ages who forced Gallileo to say that the
earth was the centre of the universe,
knew nothing about science. They went
to the Bible with their pre-conceived
notions and attempted to interpret it by
them. man might study the Bible
until doom's day, but it would never tell
him how many moons Jupiter has. Its
theme ID the love of God as seen in Jesus
Christ
The Book of Psalms also have been the
subject of criticism. Good men supposed
that David was the author of them. As
a matter of fact he wrote very few. So
these men were put at disadvantage.
The truth has waged fercely around
the book of Jonah. Volumes have been
written about the whale. You will not
find the whale mentioned In Jonah.
'The Lord prepared great fish," is
was no man knows. 1 doubt II Jonah
himself knew. He was SO glad to find
himself once more on dry land that he
made a Decline for Ninevah and never
gave the genus of the fish a Thought.
The main battle ground is the New
Testament. One fact Is certainly very
clear. After the critics have done their
theory put forth concerning the author
ship of athe. Gospels Is called the borrow
ing theory. The Evangelists borrowed
from each other. Then came the tradit-
ional theory which claimed that all the
wri tiers got their ideas from primitive
traditions. Then came the controversy
as to which Of the eyangelists we're near
est this tradition. Then came Strauss
who boldly asserted that theI original
tradition was mere legends.
lie was followed by the Tubengen
School who argued that the Gospel was
founded On oe rtain theological tenden-
cies This theory was soon given up by
it's own advocates. The wise man says In
a multitude of oounsellors there is wis
dom. We would be more inclined to ao-
eept the wisdom of the Higher Critics If
they would only agree. There are plen-
ty of them, but they contradict each 9th
er.
What shall we do with the Biblep In
a court of justice a man is innocent until
he Is proved guilty. The house Of criti-
cism has fallen because it is divided
against itself. We propose to stand by
the Bible until some one proves that it
is not tho book 1t claims to be. 1t may
be asked In the light of the text, ID It
an iniquitious proceeding to criticize
the Bible? That oil depends upon the
motive. To criticize for the sake OF
truth is well. To criticize for the sake
of weakening the faith of people who
have not the time or sraining to investi-
gate for themselves, is crime.
The church gave the Bible to the world
by translating 1t into modern tongues
She welcomes any light scholars may
throw upon it. She does not propose to
step down from the position God has
placed her III. The is 1.-THE pillar and
ground Of the TRUTH As she has given
the Bible to the world she proposes to
defend 1t from all enemies. espec tally
those having denied every fundamental
doctrine of the Catholic faith, now pro-
pose to destroy the book from which
that faith was taken.
Ill D