The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-04-09
rEssAos OF THg BlBIE
DE-. Abbott ON spiritual History Of th'
Scriptures.

De Abbott on Spiritual ltl1toEy o. tAo
Scriptures.
New York Times: The Rev. Dr. Ly-
man Abbott. Of Plymouth Church, spoke
again last night on THE Spiritual HIS
tory OF the Bible" and the next Sunday
he viii deliver the last OF his present
series. taking foT dis subject, The b.
bic ana Christ"
In his sermon last night, Or. Abbott
said that the message Of the Bible was
that OF pure. simple religion. with one
God who was righteous nnd who de-
mlnded OF his children, Righteousness
and nothing else, He outlined the his
tory OF the Old Testament, and referred
to q time I'm Palestine when the true
understanding OF the book and It's
message had given place 90 formal
traditiOnalism. Dr. Abbott said In part;
Then It was that a prophet arose
who REQUIRED TO the simple fundamen-
tai principles Of the old Testament
Wherever the message OF this book was
taken there spEang up new. strange
light, new and strange 70 that people
and that age, In four centuries the
priesthood, the temples and the philos-
OpheTs OF Paganlsm had gone down be-
fore the simple message OF this simple
book.
Twelve centuries passed away. Ira
lition again had taken control. Then
II was that monk discovered In n
monastery copy OF this old book, aud
took Its message 10 HIS heart, and be-
gan 10 consider how he could reconcile
Its message. with the traditions by
which he was surrounded and enslayed,
He could not reconcile them. In half o
century the message OF this book had
spreRd over half OF Europe.
'gThe eighteenth century dawled up
on England. Again tradition had woven
It's cobweb over this book and over the
light which this book had enkindled
Revealed religion had died out OF Eng
land almost entirely, and what fnen are
pleased TO call natural religion had Ia
ken It's place. Then Il was that one de-
won't high churchmau IN oxford began
10 study this book, Because OF what THIS
book stirred In him and his friends OF
earnestness and sObriety they resolved
10 adopt some method In their work.
Their fellow-students nicknamed them
Methodlsts, and the nickname stuck and
became a badge OF honor. Wherever
they went they carried the mesSAEe OF
this book. and England answered to
that message as the world has always
answered TO that message when II has
been given undlIuted, not hampered by
tradition.
''Tlne falls TO speak Of preachers OF
Righteousness since the days OF Wesley
and Whitfield. But every preacher,
think, whether he has been Protestant
or Roman Catholic, whether he has been
orthodox or heretic1l. whether he has
been cultivated or uncuitivated, every
preacher who has produced a strong.
permanent spiritual force In his age OF
generation has been 4 man who has
gone back OF the tradition, back Of the
eccleslastlcism. back OF the commenta.
ries, to the book. and gathered his
message therefrom.
More than we have gained from all
other literature we have gained from
this. One testimony stands out from
all the writer's OF this book-thSt God Is
one and a righteous God, and love binds
US to Him and love binds US 10 one an
other. That Is the message that has
FevoIutianized the world. II Is because
Germany and England have accepted
that message that they march toward
the future, II Is because Italy ana
Spain have turned deaf ears TO that
message that they have remained In the
civilization and Intellectual activity OF
the Middle Ages"