The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-05-10

DR.. Br,sr. Contradict. the Bible.

To THE EDITOR OF THE SUN-Sir. Will you
kindly permit me to thank you for the Just and
noble stand you have taken In the so-called
Briggs controversy 1t would be a dire
calamity, not only to the Protestant Episcopal
Church. but to Christianity in general. to have
him ordained to the priesthood. Many good
people pity him and sympathize with the man.
because they do not know how dangerous an
enemy to Christianity he is. ] have never met
him. know nothing OF his personal character.
and am therefore unprejudiced and able to
Judge the man simply from his writings. These
represent him-I say IL deliberately-as one OF
the bitterest enemies OF tho Bible. and thus OF
God and His Church.
To enlighten kind and unsuspectinR people
as to the true aim and work OF DIR. Briggs the
best way would be to apply the deadly
parallel" simply stating what the Bible says.
and then placing by the side OF that what DIR.
Briggs says. That would open the eyes OF
most people wide. Here is one OF these
parallels.
The Bible in the second chapter OF the Acts
OF the Apostles gives the following account
" And they we're all filled with the Holy Ghost.
and began to speak with other tongues. as the
Spirit gave them utterance. Now when this was
noised abroad. the multitude came together
and were COMPOUNDED. because that every man
heard them speak In his own language. And
they were all amazed and marvelled. saying
ono to another, Behold. are not all these
which speak Galileans. and how hear we
every man In his own tongue wherein we we're
born ?"
DR.. Briggs says: Tho great Importance OF
this phase Of historical criticism justines an
other illustration taken from the Book OF Acts.
namely. the story OF the speaking with tongues
at Pentecost. I shall first quote McGiffert:
From various passages in the New Testament we
learn that . peculiar gift. known as the Gift Of
Tongues was very widely exercised in the Apostolic
Church. and in the fourteenth chapter of Paul's First
Epistle to the Corinthians he makes the general ma.
ture of the gift sufficiently plain. 1t was evidently
the frenzied or ecstatio utterance Of sounds ordi.
narily unintelligible both to speakers and TO hearers.
except such as might be endowed by the Holy Ghost
with a special gift OF Interpretation. 1t was evi.
IDENTIFY apparently this GIFT Of Tongues with which
the disciples were endowed at Pentecost, and they
spoke. therefore. not in foreign Languages, but in the
%ecstatic. frenLied. unintelliRible. spiritual speech OF
which Paul tells us In his First Epistle to the Cor
inthians.''
Then DR.. Briggs tries to clinch the argument
by saying:
The speaking with tongues in the form, both Of
unintelligible speech and of its Interpretation, 10
sustained by many illusions in tho New Testament
as entirely historical, and is psychologically and
physically probable. But the speaking In many diff.
ferent languages unknown before is not only psycho-
logically and physically incredible. but It has little
historic support in the later and unsupported in
depreciation Of the ancient by the author
Of our Book OF Acts.
The Bible. as plainly as human language can
express It. says one thing. but DR.. Briggs
knows better. and gives the Bible the lie. II
that Is not heresy I do not know what Is.
AUG. ULMANN. Rector Trinity School.
New YORK. May 8,