The Portland daily press., 1900-10-17
THE HIGHER CRITICISM.
Sermon by Bishop Goldman at st. Luke's
Cathedral.

Last Sunday morning Bishop Goldman
preached from the words found in Mat
thew, chapter p; verse 40; ION these
two Commandments hang all the Law
and the Prophets. > He spoke as follows:
God s commands have been revealed in
TWO forms. In the negative form they
are proclaimed from Mt. Sinai, Our
Lord prefers to state them in the positive
form. 'IhOu shalt love the LORD thy
God'' is the positive form stated by
Christ. ''IhOu shalt have no other gods
before me'' is the negative form pro-
claimed from Mt. Sinai, "phou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself," says cur
Lord. "Thou shalt not kill, commit
adultery, steal or bear false witness, !"
cries the voice from the holy mountain,
The su distance is the same, the revela-
tiOn the same in each, only the form is
different, and that revelation is the love
OF God, God IS love, and therefore we
1hust love him. That Is the positive side
Of the revelation. God is love and there
fore He will not allow any other God
before him, any other rival IN his alice
ton, any craven image for our worship.
God is love, and therefore we must love
one another as so many Images OF God.
That is the positive side OF the revelation.
But God is love, and He will not allow
US to steal, to Kill, to bear false witness
or cOYet one another. The form is differ
ent, but th9 revelation is the same, and
that revelation is the revelation Of the
love Of God. Thus when our Lord says
tha. on these commandments hang all
the law and the prophets, he means that
the love Of God is the sum and substance
OF scripture revelation. He means that
7 when Moses wrote the Pentateuch, or
when David composed the Psalms, or
when the prophets proclaimed their mes
sage, the end and the aim and the object
of all is the revelation Of the love Of God,
and when we say that all holy scripture
is inspired we mean that it Is inspired
with the glorious revelation, the love Of
God. The words Of holy scripture, the
stories Of holy scripture, the history re-
corded in holy scripture, the poetry Of
holy scripture, the wonderful dramas of
holy scripture, the prophetic messages
ana lamentations, what were they?
They are simply the mediums, some
good, some bad, some false and some
true, but still nothing but mediums
which God has deigned to use and to in
spire with His mighty revelation. His
love, what 1t is, what 1t Graves, and what
it has done and Will do for men, On this
revelation hangs all the law and the
prophets.
age in reference to holy scripture. One
is the neglect of scripture study by the
rank and lie Of those who call them
selves Christians. The other is the pro-
I gress OF higher criticism or the critical
study of holy scripture by recognized
/ scholars of the age. 1 cannot help feeling
that the hand of God is in this remarka-
/ bic combination. The rank and file of
! those who call themselves Christians GER
fo5 fbo CTR Of FOlv7
scripture, How many persons here pres
ent eau honestly say that they study
their Bible9 How many must acknowl-
edge that though they say their prayers
at night perhaps, and hear the Bible read
In church, yet they seldom open the
sacred volume to read it, and much less
to study it as the inspired word Of God.
How many take the troubls to attend a
Bible class? Perhaps at sore time in
your life, an unusual enthusiasm seized
you, and Tor that time you did take an
Interest in scripture study But the en-
thusiasm passed away. Or you may re-
member the scripture stories as you re-
member the fairy tales learnt in child
hood. Perhaps little Of your Sunday
school instruction remains in your mind,
bHt beyond this you actually know
nothing Of the Bible, The holy book is
often found on the sitt1ng-roOm table,
Z
mother rouses herself from time TO time
to read it to the little ones. a Sunday
school teacher opens it for reference. But
in many, aye, in most cases, that is all,
and the written word is as though it
never had been inspired, 1t is sad, this
neglect Of the study of holy scripture.
Our Puritan ancestors did better. Many
Of them loved the holy book, learned large
parts Of it by heart, tre~ the teach.
f~0 nd hoT Of
Bible was in real sense their teacher,
though their Interpretation may have
been crude, materialistic or Inconsistent
But today men are making up religions
like so many inventions They do not
pretend or even care what the Bible says
They rely simply on their uneduoated
common sense and naturally their devo-
tion to Christ, their regard for God,
their trusS IN prayer is half-hearted and
Indifferent, If they have any at all
Then comes higher criticism. Schol-
ars Of the day with vast labor and hard
study are bringing upon ths holy scrip
ture the light and principles OF modern
criticism, The results have been enor-
nous. Like a tidal wave, criticism has
swept over christendoLa, met and over
powered fierce and stubborn resistance,
and has won over to its cause devout and
earnest minds of the highest learning and
ern criticism has startled the Christian
world by declaring that there are errors
in holy scripture, errors in science, errors
In history and errors In morals. The
unbeliever has rejoiced, and sneers at the
believers faith. The old-fashioned believ-
er olings to the truth, OF holy scripture,
explains away the errors or condemns
the critical school as the work Of the
devil. But the tide Of criticism grows
stronger. 1t wins disciples every day
and 1t is making able Bible students who
are learning to love their Bibles, to be-
IieYe in its inspiration and to find in it
the revelation OF their God. There can
be no doubt that the Bible interpretations
Of many Of these critics, their published
books and essays are fascinatingly inter-
esting, opening up new thoughts, new
ideas, new expressions of Gods love.
Those who have cast aside their Bibles as
dry and uninteTesting are taking them
up again with new interest and enthu-
siasm.
Who is to say that Gods hand is not in
this critical movement? We have been
negleoting the study Of His written word
which He has SO generously placed in our
hands for our study. We have been keep
irg tee Bible on our shelves, seen but
not known. In that holy book God Is
speaking TO Us. and we WOuld DOt hael,