The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-01-29


avrh.t>rt's specification of the details
y. he h,us. 81 tie father of American
letter. It mi .ht he absolutely correct
: 5uG its uns> Gae5lyHt~ uuup2achable
but We sHoG.J MISS the spirit ana the
tender ~, ,r.at:8n- Of tltc place that
Wuu.d make rs feel that we saw it as
Irving SAW ii. AHd ynt some men seem
to school Themselves against studying
the spirit of the Bible. They read mere
ly the letter Of the book BY reading
the letter only they lose the true pUll.-
poses for which the Bible was given as
Il guide to us through this world to the
other.
The Case of Gaii!ei
This fact was conspicuouSly illus
trated in the persecution of the physi-
rist and astronomer. GaIilri. You are
/ familiar with the story Of his life He
was not the first inventor OF the tele-
scope. but he was without doubt the
first intelligent user of it. He focused
! his eyes upon the heavens and began
! to follow the movements of the hpav-
/ emily bodies. He went on in his inves-
! legations until ut last he found out
! That the earth moved around The sun
/ absurd, Absurd" cried the Church
! OF Rome The earth does not move
! about the sun: the sun moves around
! the earth. Does not the Bible tell us
| that Joshua halted the sun above Gid
| con and the moon in the valley of
/ AialOn? Away with the hereto, Away,
! away" Then the 50 called literaIiSt
/ priests placed the heavy hand of the
/ law upon GIlilei and would have tor
| rurcd him to death had he not signed
| this humiiiatimg recantation: with Il
! sincere heart and unfeigned faith
/ ahi1re curse and deteSt the said er-
| r0rs and heresies wiz, that the earth
| moves, etc1. | swear that | will never
| i'll the future say or assert anything
| verbally or in writing which may give
! rise To Il similar suspicion againStSlne
! l. Gallei, have abjured as above with
my own hand"
| Now, was there ever such unmitigat-
ed nonsense as that act of the church:
1t Was the setting up of Il claim that
a book written to teach morality and
religion should be an authority on sci
cnce also. 1t was as if one should in
siSt on taking an incidental reference
of 4 physician on a question Of music
as an authority superior to the dictum
of Il musician. The Bible writer's. in
tent on teaching men how TO live in
this world 50 us To he happy i'll the
next. learned III the things of God, but
unIe3rned in the crude science of their
times, accepted the IDEAS current at
the period and passed on to their APP
pointed topic But Galilei was declar-
ed hereto on such testimony and
saved his life only by recantation. Let
us be careful demand OF tile Bible
more than it was ever intended to teach
More Bigoted Stupidity.
The same b-oted stupidity of the
| medieval church we can find i'll the
| church of the eighteenth and nine
teenth centuries. The scientists went
on in their investigations, and they
proved that this old planet was not
created $500 or $500 years ago. 1t
has been developing during thousands
upOn thousands and hundreds of thou
sands Of years The Bible, by the way,
does not fix a date for the creation.
1t merely SAYS, In the beginning.
Crbe dates on the margin are those OF
Archbishop usher. who lived i'll the
sixteenth century \. D. The geoIo
gists went on in their investigations
and found eras and epochs and ages.
perhaps a million years apart. MOI
only did science prove the immense
age of the earth. but that the develop
ment was Il slow process of ages. They
brought these facts to the church ana
said. Come ana see and study The
church threw up its hands in horror.
''What will become Of our Bibles If
you prove those statements true they
exclaimed docs not the Bible de
clare that God made The earth and the
| heavens in six days. No more amt
no less" But" said the scientific the
ologians, perhaps the day of Gods
creation meant an era, not day OF
twenty four hours" ''Absurd.' cried
the church Absurd. A day means Il
day of twenty -four hours and nothing
else" SO the church fought the in
vestigations of science. They fought
them or and fought them on. The
theologians said to the church mem
bers, IF you believe this heresy you
are not a Christian" The result was
the church continued to read the first
chapter of Genesis as literal history
until it made itself absolutely ridicu-
| lous. They overlooked the essential
| fact that the day of the creation IS
| not day of twenty four hours zone
| day is with the Lord as thousand
years and thousand years as one
| day" III Peter iii, 8.
Now, there is the same disposition to-
| day as there was in the medieval
| church and in the church of the nine
| tepnth century. Some church members
| today are trying to stir up internal
strife by reading the letter of the Bible
instead of the spirit of the Bible. They
| are trying to take certain Bible pas
sages and twist them out of all SEM
| bIance of their true meaning. They do
| this with the assumed air of great
| spiritual erudition and gospel sanctity.
| When they quote these passages, they
| Look of ne In q Very cOuGpScpndinp