The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-04-04
In RELIGIONS REALM
Expressions From Various Religious
Newspapers.
The Religious Thought of the Day
as Expressed in the Sec
tartan Press.

| I6Tldn Press.
1T is the duty of the church to re-
apply eternal principles to each new
age" remarks the New York Church
man P. Ed. THE churches of the An
ghcan communion stand peculiarly free
to do this, because of their shyness of
! legislation. Some persons hold, and it
is doubtless valid complaint, that the
lack of discipline in the American
| church is to be deplored. 1t may be
that the church would gain by wisely
| framed laws of a disciplinary charac-
ter. but We feel with Montaigne that it
| would be better even to have NO laws
than to have them in prodigious num-
| bers. This is nothing more than say
| ing that grandmotherly legislation is
harmful. However that may be, at
present the church proceeds in most
cautious way. She applies the princ1-
pies to which she is irrevocably pledged
hot SO much by statutory enactment
as by the living voice of her authorized
teachers-who in turn guard the free
| dom of the Individual while rousing his
sense of responsibility and claiming his
i obedience. Diversity of individuality,
| winch must always obtain, demands
that this application of principles to an
age should be generous enough to leave
ample scope for adaptation by each
person concerned The Importance of
this call for the exercise of inner pow
ers of discrimination is as inestimable
as it is obvious"
| THE questions which are now agitat-
| ing the religious world are neither the
theological nor the interpretative," says
the New York Outlook" They are
neither the question whether the Bible
is inspired, nor the question how the
Bible shall be interpreted. All evangel-
ical scholars, too. agree in deducing
from the Bible certain great funda-
mental doctrines, such as the PERSONAL
ity of God, the lay Of Righteousness, the
divinity of Jesus Christ, the forgive
ness of sins through his sacrifice. This
belief in the inspiration of the Scrip
ture on the one hand, and in it's Gospel
teaching on the other, is entertained as
Strenuously by DR.. Driver as by Prin-
cipal Cave, by Dr. Briggs as by DR..
Green. The questions at issue between
these two schools are questions respect
| illS illlC Odle, dIlQ IICci oil y
character Of the various books, chiefly
of the Old Testament. They are i'm
portant questions, and they will I'M
doubtedly throw light on the theologi-
cal problem What is the nature of in
spiration? and on the interpretative
problem, What conclusions respecting
truth and life are to be drawn from
the Bible? But only indirectly do they
affect these questions. To believe that
| Moses did not write the Pentateuch
is not to throw doubt upon the Ten
| Commandments. To believe that David
did not write the 1O3d Psalm is not to
throw doubt upon the truth that God
| forgives the iniquity of His children.
To believe that the fifty-third chapter
| of Isaiah was written by an unknown
prophet about century after the life
time of the author of the first chapter
| of Isaiah is not to throw doubt upon
the truth that God confers life upon His
children through the sacrifice of suf-
fering Messiah"
ct is undoubtedly true" says the
"Watchman' CBapt) of Boston, that
the real conflict between Christianity
and unbelief is at the point of the recog-
milton of the supernatural. The mo-
ment you obliterate the supernatural
| factor from Christianity you have not
only placed it upon the plane of the
ethnic faiths, but you have emptied it
Of it's unique power and authority. And
yet nothing is gained by magnifying
the supernatural element beyond the
necessities of the case. Certain de-
| Of ho fait i'm
making the most Jealous stand for a
recognition of the supernatural at pre-
cisely those points where their claim is
weakest, and neglecting to avail them
selves of the really impregnable posi-
tions. They feel that if you abandon
| the recognition of the supernatural at
one point you abandon it at ALL and they
view with dsmay any concessions what
| ever to the scientific temper. Just now
nothing is more imperatively needed for
a wise defense of Christianity than
strategic survey Of the field which shall
appraise the relative Importance of GER
tain traditional positions. When Chris
| tan ministers are so unwise as to de-
clare that change of view as to some
minor detail of Old Testament history
| involves a denial of the great doctrines
of the New Testament, we may sympa
| thiZe with their zeal but it takes some
| charity to give large credit to their pow
] ers of discrimination or their capacity
| for historical or philosophical perspec-
| tive"
"As the statement has been repeated
during the last week by one of the prom
] ipout apOStlpS of the destructive Higher
Criticism, that the Babylonian dola-
trous legend of the creation is much
more ancient than the clear, dignified
and rational record of the first chapter
of Genesis it is worth while" says the
! New York Christian Intelligencer"
| (Ref), ito state the actual facts. Only
one Babylonian record has been discov
cred 1t consists of series of tablets
in fragmentary condition. On the col
ophon of the fifth tablet it is written
that the account was prepared for Ash
urbanipal, who lived and ruled about
$50 years before Christ. That was
many centuries after Moses. Jensen's
argument that because the names and
conflicts of the deities mentioned in
the legend are found in much older in
scriptions, therefore the legend of the
creation was in existence at least 5000
years before Christ, is simply one of
| the gross assumptions. absolutely I'M
| supported by evidence, in which German
| critics have been wont to indulge. Jen-
| sens plea is about as worthless as it
| can well be. 1t consists of a series of
| baseless conjectures. assertions and as
sumptions that are not worthy to be