The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-01-16

Interesting Sermons Initiated.
DR.. Paden of the First Presbyterian
church is preaching series of highly
interesting sermons on Old Testament
morality Last night he spoke of the wars
OF determination, and on next Sunday
evening he will speak on polygany as
practiced in ancient ages.
DR.. Paden took for his text last night
the words:
''Of the allies of these people which the
Lord thy God doth give thee for an m
heritance, thou shalt save alive nothlnS
that breatheth; but thou shalt utterly de-
stroy them. Deuteronomy Xxx, To- me
Son OF Man is not come to destroy men, $
lives, but to save them Luke TX, 90.
we are not going to judge the morality
of the Bible by either the conduct or the
code of Moses, Joshua or David. AS
Canon MoZely wisely suggests, the moral
ity of the Bible is the morality OF the
Bible as a. whole; and the whole is tested
by the end, and not by the beginning. Inc
laws of the Bible are progressive. ana as
they rise from one stage 10 another, Iney
blot out the commands of an inferior
standard and substitute the commands OF
a higher standard. The standard OF Moses
is revised and corrected by Christ, ana
the spirit of Elijah gives way to the
spirit Of Christ AS MoZely says: The
morality of the author of the dispense
ton is the true morality of the dlspensa-
ton. The final morals are the true NOR
ais; the temporary are but the Sca1Iolu-
ias. The true morals are contained IN
the end and in the whole. Inc
morality of the Scripture is the moraIlty
of the end Of the Scripture; it is the last
standard reached and what every thing
else led up to. The upshot OF the dispen-
sation is It's test, and no one wlIi say
that the intention of the author of the
old diSpenSation as revealed in its ten
dency and finally set forth in the New
Testament, was that wars of extermina-
ton should have permanent sanction. one
is not therefore Obliged to defend the
morals or the methods of the Old Testa-
ment as worthy OF all accepJatlon every
where and always. Polygamy, slavery
and wars of determination belong IN
spirit to pre-Christian era OF progress,
or are un-Christian SurvivalS of this lower
moral and religious stage Of Development:
War itself, which is always cruel. Will
one day be placed in the same category.
But as we are not TO find our moral
standard in the book of Judges, we have
no right to expect Gideon and Deborah TO
live up to the standard laid down in the
gospel of Luke. And, as we are not TO
fashion our conduct according to the
standard which prevailed during the days
OF Joshua, Samson and David. we have
no right 10 expect these StrugglerS in the
night TO live according to the light Of the
first or the nineteenth century. We must
have some regard Tor historical perSpect-
i've; we must take into consideration the
se1ni-savage conditions and the crude
moral perceptions of these ancient people.
This is peculiarly true of their way of
dealing with, their enemies. for We our
selves. with all our superior light are
not without blame in this matter. After
800 years of the influence OF Jesus, war
is still cruel and often quite indiscrim-
mate in its consequences: the innocent
Stfl suffer with the guilty and the pas
sion for justice still not lnfreQuenty
thrashes Itself into a passion without
justice.
Try for a moment to understand the
conditions under which Joshua made his
Put yourselves in his place and
you will be less ready, perhaps, TO criti-
else his conduct. First, you will find that
in those days war meant, If needs be, the
of the people conquered.
In less civilized communities the doom OF
the defeated tribe was not even mitigated
by slavery. The black flag of no quar-
tel" was flung out over every battlefield.
Ii JoShua's expedition had been defeated
it would have been annihilated under
such conditions. Warning clans must
either eXterminate or be eXterminated.
War with the Canaanites meant war to
the death. They would have given no
quarter and expected none.
Moreover, the conditions OF the ISraelit-
ish invaders made the Imprisonment of
impossible. Iney had enough TO do to
watch the unconquered Canaantes, who
plotted for their destruction, without
weakening their position by filling their
enemies. They could not parole Them |
such q thing as setting an enemy free on
his word of honor tnat he would not |
a gain take up arms against his captors, |
was unheard of in those days. Such enc
mics as the Caraanites have no word of
honor. Indeed. il is hard to imagine how |
joshua could have safely dealt with the
Canaanites otherwise than he did He |
could not parole them, and, as for alb |
sorbing or assimilating them, that meant |
moral suicide.
.,-,i+
avs Their relision was VIGOROUSLY I'M !
moral. both in vOiuptuOuSneSS and cruel |
". Children were burned alive in sacri- |
ice to MolOch. In the ceremonies OF |
rhammuz great mourning was followed |
~ monstrous orgies. AS LenOrmant says, |
The Guarantees were remarkable for the |
cruelty that stamped ali the ceremonies |
If their worship and the precepts OF their |
religion. No other people ever rivaled |
hem in the mixture of blood and de- !
1aueheTy with which they thought TO |
honor dety."
Men charge Joshua with cruelty who
you'd lynch their neighbOrS for Canaan |
fish immortality and inhumanity. For |
he Canaanitisn cities ware as Sodom and |
iomorrah; they were so many nests of |
'attlerS and ViperS SodomiteS and saw
igeS. There IS truth in the declaration !
sometimes made that the destruction of
heSe people by the sword was as much !
visitation OF deserved penalty as the
destruction Of the cities of the plain by
ire from heaven, or the burial of Pom
lCll D6iledlu oil dNdlullSIC OI Java anu not
lSheS.
AS 1 declared a while ago that 1 did
lot see how under the circumstances the
sraelites could have done better than to
Utterly destroy the Canaanites, now [ am
eady to say / do not see how under the
his people being such as
hey were and their enemies such as they
we're. l do not see how God could have
ounseled any better course. On the 9TH
y hand. | am just as sure that in our
tage of intellectual moral and spiritual
development, ana under the conditions
which hold in the world today, we can
ind no sanction in these obsolete out
-rown laws for similar wars of extermi-
ation. nor would such laws have any
rip on our moral consciousness, though |
announced from heaven. As
here was a day when the moral sense of
fod's chosen people could receive no
igher law the day has now come when
he moral sense Of Gods children must re-
sIdiate such laws as belonging to a stage
( development which the followers of
esus have long since passed by We are
ot followers of Moses or Joshua, but
blowers of Christ
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