The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-10-14
AT EPWORTH M. E. CHURCH
"THE BJBLE--HOW 4CCO UNITED
.FORy, SUBJECT OF DISCOURSE.


FIRST Sermon of IL series OH "christian-
ity and the Supernatural" Preached
by the Rev. Fred " insIov Adams Last
Evening-Convincing Arguments Adj
Svanoed.
| Rev. Fred Winslow Adams preached
his first sermon on christianity and
the Supernatural" at Epworth church
last evening. The subject was The
Bible--How Accounted for.' He claim
ed for the Bible that it contained the
historical and literary record OF GODS
! self revealing act. He based his argu-
ment on the dissimiarity of the Bible
! TO all other sacred books, to what man
would naturally look for in a revelatory
book, and on it's striking similarity to
nature, to the way God is seen to work.
This he buttressed with an argument
drawn from the remarkable preserva-
ton of the entire body of Hebrew scrip
! lures, while the authentic memorials OF
| surrounding and contemporary nations
such as Egypt Assyria, Phoenecla'
Babylon, We're fragmentary and incoh-
plete; and on the continual growth ana
power of the Bible, despite the mall
cious attacks of its enemies, stupidltes
of It's friends and researches OF crltl-
cism. The sermon was strikingly Illus
trated from present-da events. Mr.
Adams said, among other things:
ie the words bur the
truth, that is inspired The word is
only the mechanical instrument IN
which the truth is set. 1t Is not the
letter, but the spirit, that maketh alive
vet all other sacred books claim mech
anical inspiration, We have IN the
writer's of the Bible display OF lnul-
viduality in style, description and pof-
trayal of manners and customs as ais
tinctive as the individuality OF GID
hon Froude or Macaulay, but with this
striking difference. Every historian
has read his own opinion and prejudice
! into his work. Not so with the Blpie
writers-they wrote to vindlcate no
body. These Jews record their own
anostacv. The truth was not theirs,
but Cos; they We're brooded over by
| the Holy Spirit
"As the world was not created at
sineIe stroke by the hand of the great
| Artificer, but through long years OF eV-
: olution and development so the Bipie
was not the result of single lnsplra-
| tional moment-not even of an age-puI
| of an evolutionary process covering Low
wears, Man would never have concelN-
| cd such thought for the Bible prior 10
biology. geology and evolution. lie
would naturally have thought that II
| Cod was to reveal Himself to man IL
would have been once and final instead
of at sundry times and in divers man
ners,
| ere vo,1 want to give the world new
religion and impress them that 1t mas
/ coma NV revelation instead of claiming
to have a Bible which has been dropped
down by angel hands to you, IKE the
Koran, or that 1t was all revealed 10
YOU in few days from sunrise 10 sun
/ set. like science and health, with KEY
to the Scriptures, you take l5oo years
to write your book, which was the tlne
If took to complete Gods revelation III
the Bible and maybe you VIII fnd SOME
followers And instead Of having your
revelation full-orbed let 1t grow ana de-
yelop like the truths of the blple
| through the centuries, as the luea VI
! God grows from power in the Old rest
ament TO Fatherhood in the new the
idea of immortality from shadow ana
question to light and glory, from JOBS
Tf man die shall he live AGAIN. 10
orr Lords Because l live We snail I'VE
also fine rule of conduct from law and
restraint and prohibition to grace ana
love end freedom.
"Thp Bible, judged as mere litera-
ture. has no precedent. Take the tWen-
tvthird Psalm, little poem or SIX
sentences, written nearly a thousand
wears before Virgil sang his Aeneln, or
ever the age Of modern poetry was
horn. and yet Homer, Dante snake
speare. Milton, Goethe, Shiller, Spencer
browning, Tennyson, Longfellow, Low
oil have written nothing to compare
with this little Shepherd Psalm of six
teen lines, No poem has quoted so
MANY fears. soothed so many sorrows
thrown such an aureole about the face
of death. and no poem is such living
insniration to human life day as this
+vartv third Psalm. Can you explain
II save that the pen of David was
touched WITH llfe ildiiiC VI 49,
take the Lords Prayer, hardly more
than a sentence prayer, and yet after
constant use for 1900 years 1t is as
fresh as the day it was first uttered
And no matter how many times day
we repeat 1t, 1t is as new and beautiful
as If we had never heard it before.
How to you explain it? Is 1t the pro-
duct of rude fishermen and tav gather
ers? Is it the product of genius? Com
mare with it the best genius has done
in it's line and you may well compare
the matchless liturgy of the Church OF
England No less an authority than
Canon Farrar said the other day that II
the English church was to hold the
workingrhen they must revise their lit
urgv and make it simpler and easier TO
be understood as the common people
were no longer attracted or held by It,
But the humblest laborer can under
stand. take part in and enjoy the
Lords prayer 1t is alike beautiful to
childhood and old age, while the pro-
foundest philosopher has not yet been
able to sound it's depths. To account
for this little prayer alone in its beauty,
influence and power is to accept the
foit hat