New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-04-17

Psalter has been supplemented by hymns and
anthems"
The Higher Critics OF the encyclopedias write
for restricted class of library students, and
what they say does not reach the main mass OF
churchgoers. My good friend Sir Robert Ander-
son. with his talent for criminal investigation
and examination Of evidence. may hunt them
down as though they were counterfeters and
pickpockets, but they do not make any serious
impression apart from the academic environ
ment OF representative men like Dr. Cheyne and
Professor Driver. The devout Churchman and
the pious Nonconformist persist in holding on
to the old English version of the Bible and are
not deeply interested in modern problems Of the
cosmogony of Genesis. the accuracy Of the Old
Testament chronology, the credibity of the
Book OF Jonah. the historical evidence Of the
Babylonish captivity, the documents used by
Moses. the dual authorship of Isaiah, the num-
her o; Davids to be held responsible for the
Psalms and the Kenosis theory by which au-
thority is emptied cut of New Testament teach
ing. The people who fill the pews in the
churches and read their Bible a solemn duty
means OF consolation and encouragement
I'm the SORROWS and perplexities OF life are not
moved by these academic themes and discus
sions They know that the wind of criticism
has always come and gone. and that the sound
Of IL is speedily forgotten. They comfort them
selves With the reflection that Bishop Colenso
is now mainly remembered from a battlefield in
South Africa named after him: that Matthew
Arnold the agnostic wrote high above the heads
Of his readers. and no longer exerts influence;
that Renan has had his short period OF disturb
ance among the literary class. and that German
criticism is none the less German when 1t is
caught up with an air of superior scholarship
by professors in English universities and revised
for The Encyclopaedia Biblica-"
The great body OF Bible readers is not serious
ly concerned when the dry-as-dust Oxford and
Cambridge professors take up the Bible on fits
literary or hts human side and neglect to display
the spirit Of reverence which has characterized
the commentaries OF great expositors like Dean
Afford That is perhaps question Of manners
which Dr. Pussy once summed up in the vigor-
Gus sentence: II know not whether the open
basphemy Of the eighteenth century is more
offensive than the cold blooded, patronizing ways
OF the nineteenth 1t is another thing alto
gether when a voice is heard from the Deans
Yard. the stronghold OF Christian learning and
broad federation, crying out for a restricted use
OF the Bible in religious worship and sounding
warning that people no longer listen TO the les
sons I'm church. and that the serious are troubled
by them and coarser minds are moved to con-
tempt Canon Henson brings a storm about his
head at once. and IT is not likely TO blow over
in a week Already there are blunt protests from
writer's in the daily and religious press against
the deplorable consequences Of such reckless
appeal for expurgated dictionary and the re-
stricted use OF the Bible. The daring Canon is
bluntly reminded that ordination in the Church
of England requires unequivocal reply TO the
incisve question, do you unfegnedly believe
all the canonical Scriptures OF tho Old and New
Testament and his suggestion that passages
from the lives Of the saints and religious COM
positions which have become spiritual clas-
sics' shall be substituted for some of the regu-
Canon Henson has become at once a target for
attack, since he holds OF the most influential
pulpits I'm England and has behind him the
thority Of Westminster Abbey, with its histori-
cal national and literary traditions He VIII
share the fate of many other sincere and
versialists. for what he writes and breaches will
be misunderstood. The checks and balances
with which ne overweights his startling asser-
lions will be inadequately considered. and he
viii be denounced az an enemy OF the faith and
a nationalist in disguise when in reality he Is
an earnest Christian minister with sober
sense Of responsibility, who takes the trouble
TO think deeply before entering the pulpit,
sons out the inspiration of the Bible in his own
way and fastens on the central truths implied
in the spiritual messages of the old and new
Scriptures. ]. y. f.