The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-03-08

no sign be given to it but the sign of the
prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three
days and three nights in the whales
belly, so shall the Son of man be three
days and nights in the heart of the
EARTH
There has been, the preacher said, a
great conflict upon this speech of Christ.
1t has been particularly a bone of con-
tention because, as a matter of fact,
Christ did not remain in the earth three
days and three nights, but two nights
and a day. Mr.. Cadman said that he
had settled the matter in his own mind,
by saying that he was willing to suffer
the disease of suspended judgment so
long as he knew that Christ did arise.
1t would always be impossible to rec
oncile the facts of Christ's burial with
the facts of his alleged statement, and
it would be forever useless to discuss
whether he had ever said what Mat
thew attributed to him, or whether he
had lain as St. Matthew quoted Christ
as saying he would lie. But this should
never deter Christian men from believ-
ing in the Christ and in His life.
When Luther separated his followers
from papacy he had turned from priests
and priestly interpretations of the BIZ
BILE to the Book itself He had placed
the Bible before mankind as the source
and authority for inspiration. Mr.. Cad
man said he regretted that these early
fathers of Professionalism had not gone
further and urged as the highest source
of inspiration Christ himself.
The speaker said that the trend of
thought in the Methodist church during
the last so years had been toward a
better knowledge and a nearer view of
Christ himself, rather than of the BIZ
BILE. He said that there had been a vast
increase in the number of Lives of
Christ in the last decade; that the en-
ergy and force of Christ as the incarna-
ton of God was becoming better I'M
derstOOd every day. He regarded as
inevitable a restatement and rejudg-
ment of the church upon the infallibil-
ity and inherency of the Bible.
The Bible itself gave authority for a
belief that God was in the ocean, in the
armament, in the rocks. Sciences con-
tributiOn to the knowledge of mankind
was hand in hand with a belief in God.
BY this statement he did not mean to
agree with those philosophers who had
used the word of God as a being on
which to hang their vagaries, but, new
ertheless, he believed in the demon
stration of God in the seas,in the noun
tains, in the various forms of life on
this planet.
There were the means of salvation
outside of and beyond and before the
Bible. God had saved souls before the
Bible was written. That must be con-
coded by everyone. The Bible was an
agency; the church was an agency; the
THEOLOGY INSTEAD OF RELIGION
The church, he said, had dabbled too
much in the distant streams of theOlO-
gy. 1t had examined the streams, but
The streams had been polluted by con-
fict and dissension. The ministry had
taken up too much time in unraveling
knots of theology to the neglect of God
himself
The leading authorities of the church
had discussed the questions involved in
the parallels of Christ. 1t had been
urged that even if the events named in
the illustrations the Lord had used were
not of actual fact, that did not destroy
their value as a moral lesson. So, also
it had been urged that II the story of
Jonah and the whale had been an al
legory like Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Pro-
gress,'' it nevertheless had force and
effect, for the prophet Jonah, without
doubt, stood on very high spiritual
ground.
But whatever position the church took
whether it held that the Bible must
be accepted as it stands, as the reveal
ed truth as the word of God, as COM
pelling faith because 1t was the word
of God; or a historical document,
valua BILE and ineffably valuable because
of it's real substence-the decision would
never affect the faith of Christian men
in the Holy Trinity-in God the Father,
the Son and the Holy Ghost.
When we come to know God. he con-
cluded, it is no longer necessary to
know him through any book; but the
book then will become all the more
precious for having been the means of |
our knowing God.
When Mr. Cadman was half way
through-the time of these addresses
were limited-it was necessary to pass
a motion suspending the rules in order
that he might proceed His auditors |
were so deeply interested in him that |
they readily voted that he finish When |
he sat down the preachers loudly ap-
plauded the discourse.
There were many of the older mem |
bers of the New York conference pres |
ent. many of them with hair of pure |
white and with eyes grown dim read |