The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-11-13
LARGE AUDIENCE ATTENTIVE
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DR.. Richard G. Moulton delivered the
first of a series of six lectures on wis
dom Literature, or the Philosophy of the
Bible" in the university extension course
at the First Unitarian church, Minneap-
oils, yesterday afternoon. DR.. Moulton
gave to the subject his usual scholarly
treatment, subjecting the Old Testament,
Books Of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes to a
most critical and interesting analysis.
In doing so he revealed what he regarded
as the true and innermost meaning Of
passages which are constant source of
contention among those who insist on a
literal Interpretation and who consequent
ly, in his view, have not given the utter
ance of Sacred Writ profound considera-
ton.
The lecture commanded the closest at
tention of the audience throughout its de-
i, cry, and when Dr. Moulton concluded
he was greeted with enthusiastic ap-
plause.
In beginning he said that he did not
wish to be understood as believing that
wisdom is no part of Christian revelation.
In the canons of sacred writing and in
the divine revelations of Scripture 1t be-
came necessary to differentiate what ap-
pertained to the eccIesiastic from the
prophetic. The point which he wished to
lay down was that observation is the soul
of wisdom literature. In it there was no
suggestion of the Messianic creed or Of
the kingdom of God. Only once did it
have to do with temple service, or the
divine lawn the allusion in the Book
OF Job to Israel as being a child OF the
anointed.
He questioned if the Book Of Job did
not belong to the wisdom literature. 1t
was sharply defined and distinct from the
other books of the Bible. The book sane
titled observatiot and described wisdom
literature as sanctified common sense
By progression it united the different
parts, but not by the progression of time
There was a distinction to be made 1t
was progression which had to do sim
ply with a literal study and higher criti-
cism of the Bible with regard to dates
and authors.
Wisdom literature" he said, takes
into consideration the age to which it
belongs and reflects the sentiment of
that age. 1t does not deal with historical
progression, but in the order Of form
1t stands rather for a logical progression
of thOught-for the observation of the
separate parts of the universe and life as
whole. Let US glance outside of the
kind. We must bear in mind this import
ant TACT, which is the whole distinction
between ancient and modern thought.
Ancient thought considered the whole
first, then the parts. Modern thought
considers first the parts in their relation
to the whole. Philosophy succeeded to
the old idea of personality.
Water was first taken as the e1.pIana-
ton Of the universe, which was held to
be demonstrated in its various manifesto
lions as liquid, VapOr or ice that idea
being extended ad infinitum Everything
was to be had from water from spirit
and mind to rock, iron and bone Anoth-
er school held that air was responsible
Tor everything. These premises were ar
nounced first as a whole and then worked
out In elaborate systems of detail.
In the middle ages authority settled
all really important questions or wholes
Philosophy was simply privileged to wan
der about from detail to detail to discuss
how many angels could dance on the
point of needle Modern thought pro-
ceeds from the detail around US. through
the intermediate stages to the whole.
Menta al progt es- ion in ancient scripture
was the order of modern progress The
Prove1bs ere isolated observations of life.
although they do not entirely leave ont
consideration of the whole. The Book of
hccleslastes deals with isolated cases of
life and conduct, but in a wider sense
before the true observation, observation
on the whole, Ecclesiastical philosophy
breaks down in despair. Instead of wis
dom, nothing is left but vanity. Then for
the first time the universe is enlarged b,-
the thought of Immortality. ecclasias i.a1
thought having been bounded bv death
The whole is looked upon as the ordered
scheme of Providence"