The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-04-03
ANSWERS Ed HOWE
Rev. Bruce Griffith breaches
First Sermon of a Series.
BIG CROWD ATTENDS
HoWe's First Sermon Only
One of Serious importance.

| published in the To- eka Journal The
Church was crowded Sunday AMI the ser
mon is model of logic and sound
thought. The interest was intense Rev.
| Griffith Will preach the second sermon
of the series next Sunday morning.
In his sermon Sunday, Rev. Griffith
said, in part:
by his own confession Mr.. Howe is an
avowed Observation-Disclosures not only
no revelation but no God, no irst great
force. He says: Tom Paine decial ed
| that he believed in God, and a future ex-
istence and happiness after dean. Tom
Paine's dostrine is as baseless ana alb
surd as that of the Christians lis at
| tack is made first on religion in general
and second on Christianity in particular.
mo careful student of history has
failed to learn that religion is not oHiy
a fundamental factor, but has always
been the deepest and mightiest force in
the current of the race. That man s Ie-
ligious by instinct is as true as that he
is by instinct a seeker for food for TIE
body, breath for the lungs or knowledge
for the mind. The universal fact Of vor-
ship in all ages and among all classes,
from the most ancient Zoroastrians or
fire worshippers of Persia, through the
long line of nations of ancient civiliZa-
ton extending from earliest Egypt to
the Roman Empire, and from the most
cultured peoples to the rudest and most
barbarous tribes, is proof of this. The
God instinct is deep planted and will find
expression according to the intelligence
and circumstances of man. Man did not
have to be very intelligent before he
reasoned back and saw that before there
could be a creation or a creature there
had to be a greater intelligence a Gre
ator, superior to the best human intelli-
gence. For him that was God.
Natural religion is heather and Idol
atrous, growing wild in the soil of human
nature, producing imperfect fruits. The
corrupt and ignorant man gropes for the
truth, and the natural religions repre-
sent men striving to know and to serve
some God. There are many truths in nat
ural religions, but they are the truths
of the mere human Intelligence Brahm-
inism, Buddhims and Confucianism are
the best examples of natural religions.
Revealed religions are Jewish and
Christian. With all his earnest seeking
for God, men cannot rise from the finite
sphere to the infinite sphere to apprehend
God. But God being unlimited, can come
into the finite realm and reveal himself
in forms that are able to be comprehend
ed by man This he did through inspired
men. All truth is revealed through man.
Thus God only chose the natural chan
mel. The Jewish religion was a long
course of preparation for the perfect
revelation of truth in the Perfect Man
the Man of Galilee, the Goldman. Not
only did the Jewish religion prepare for
the coming of the perfect revelation Of
the Goldman, but the entire ancient world
eliminating in the sublime philosophy
and language of Greece, and the organi-
cation and government of Rome, place
themselves in the proper season at the
disposal of Christion truth and became
the language and the channel for carry
ing the revelation of Christ into practi-
cal effect.
''Mr. Howe naturally follows the jour
nalistic or descriptive method of treating
his subject, has no topical outline or an
alysis. and is therefore difficult to dis
cuss. The chief charge which we wish
to refute in his first sermon, and the
only one of serious consequence is that
no man knows what message Jesus
brought to the world, If he brought any.
He says: The best authorities admit that
Christ's alleged teachings were not writ
ten until some time in the fourth cen
tury.' The best authorities admit no such
thing The theory of Strauss in the early
part of this century suggested that
Strauss admitted Jesus existence, but at
tributed his miracles to myths. Renan,
later, accepted much the same theory.
But neither of these men were long able
to hold their theories. The best critics.
Tholuek, Da Costa Tischendorf, Norton,
WeStcott, Gregory, LANCE. Ewald. Driver
and Scrivener and a host Of other and
perhaps equally able. the best European
and American critics. give universal tes-
timony to the genuineness Of the Gospel
dating to the first century.
ut IS true. we have no copies Of the
Gospel written before the fourth century,
or about 325. The reason is that ali, ex-
cept the most important government doc
uments, were written on papyrus, a ma
terial readily perishable when in use. We
have no manuscripts Of any kind dating
to the first century except some frag-
ments taken from tomhs, and these were
in such condition that the first touch
caused them TO crumble TO dust We
have ample evidence OF the existence Of
the Gospels in the great number OF quo
tations from them by the Church Fathers
and other writers Of that period. which
quotations agree with our present Cos
pels
I'VE have 10 other ancient writings
from any classic author, Roman or
Greek. that are nearly rs old as the COP
les we possess OF the Gospels. with the
ecepGons OF few little fragments. We
read the classic writings q Greece and
Rome, study ancient history and never
question whether Caesar or Alexander.
Cicero or De-nosthenes. lived And yet
the manuscripts that we posses giving
their writings date from many later cen-
tur1es than the earliest Gospel ScViyerze-
says: IT K memorials that written cop
les o. the Scripture far exceed n age and
number those q AL other classic wit
sngs OF antiquity put toEethe-- Homer
may he supposed 70 have lived So years
before Christ yet vve have N complete
copy q hts tao great pens p-bo- 20 the
thirteenth century
Like every other writing n common
Use, the GOSPELS were written on papyr1s