Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-01-08
University Of Chicago Dean
Gives Scholarly Discourse Be
fore Y. NJ. C. A. Audience
BIBLE IN MODERN THOUGHT
It Stands First, Because of Its Last
ing and Widespread Influence,
Among the Books of the World Its
Reflected Teachings in Art and Lit
erature-Audience Small.

of the Disciples Divinity House, of the
University OF Chicago. lectured at the
Methodist chulch Monday night before
the third audience of the winter of
the annua! Y. NJ c. A. entertainments
course. His lecture was the first ol
two. which form a part of the course.
The subject chosen by the entertain
ment course committee from DR.. WI
let's repertoire was The Place OF the
Billie in Modern Thought"
To students of the Bible and those
who have made study of it, DIR. Will
let's lecture was delightful treat,
but 1t could not be called a popular
lecture in the general meaning of that
term because of the knowledge of the
subject necessary for the proper appre-
citation of 1t. Much that might have
been lost in the lecture, if handled by
others, was, however gained thru it's
delivery by DR.. Willett. who is a most
excellent speaker, yet scarcely an ora
tor His subject did not furnish the
means for flights of oratory, but was
rather the scholarly discourse of a stu
dent on subject not perhaps thor
oughly understood by the ordinary au-
dience.
DIR. Willett has q delightfully."- clear
and resonant voice, his enunciation i3
perfect, and his platform presence easy
and pleasing. He handled his subject
only in broad way. necessitated by
the time allotted to 1t, but he touched
on its different phases with an easy
and logical sequence of thought which
spoke of familiarity with it, From thu
influence that the single sentences of
the Bible had welded in the lives of
such men as Dante, Sir Walter Scott,
and others, he passed to the position
the book held among literature, and to
the place it held, and its steady spread,
during the various eras of it's attempt
ed suppression. He touched on the
earliest of these, which took the form
Of the persecution of the little band
of Christians by the Roman emperor
Nero, and passed to later effort
made against it in Martin Luthers
time. Martin Luther's translation of
the Bible from Latin to German was
one Of the critical epochs of the book,
and because of it the means of its cir
culation thru Germany and much Of
Europe was made possible.
Perhaps the most important of these,
and the last great effort to annihilate
the book, was thru the higher criti-
cism, ridicule and scepticism Of the
scholars and scientists. This invests
cation, ridicule and criticism, DR.. Will
lett said, were the means of much good
rather than evil, for they stirred and
awoke the church to action to find out
what the Bible really was. But in spite
had survived and remained at the head
of all books.
DIR. Willett holds there is nothing
mystical or unnatural about the book,
but on the contrary it is the most nat
ural of all books. He told briefly how
parts of it were written, and how it
merely detailed in part the gradual
development of the spiritual life of the
time it was written, or of the writer.
He touched 'on the apparent contra
dictory parts and lawless teachings of
the Old Testament books, and ex-
planned it by the statement that Judea
was not taught Goodness in day, but
that the record of it's coming to Chris
tianity was the slow development of a
people who are learning gradually,
hence the contradictions in some parts.
The Old Testament. he said. was not
the rules and laws of social govern
ment, but was the history of the devel-
opment of its time.
He spoke of the influence of the BIZ
BILE in literature and art, and delineated
at length the beauty of the book of
Job, of the Proverbs and the Psalms.
1.-The danger the Bible faces" DR..
Willett said, in closing, lis the danger
Of neglect. Its neglect is in the home.
where business and social demands
force from the freside the daily prayer
and scripture reading. Its purpose is
to hold up to the light Him whose
beauty is everlasting, the hottest among
the mighty, and the mightiest among
the holy. 1t is the marriage ring
which unites heaven and EARTH
DR.. Willett was introduced by for
mer classmate and an old friend, Rev.
w. H. Scott. The audience was small
err than those that usually greets Y. NJ.
C. A. entertainment course numbers.
due no doubt, to the bad weather and
the ice covered streets and sidewalks.
Country Preduce.