The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-07-17

i
| ing last. But they fade away before
adversely, as flowers before the frost.
| Let IT be written large in all teachings
that few friends are one OF life
greatest achievements. whose mas
won them is richer than the man VINO
has piled up mountain of dollars. 1t
takes more character, and a hlgher
order of ability, to make friends than
it does to make money. These com
panions of PauPs life whom we. find
with him at every stage of his Journey
are real. proof of his greatness.
An Early Bible Study Movement;
Paul at Berea. for there he
found what was rarer on the map
of his day than it is at present-and
of open-mfnded people. How exhilar-
ating and refreshing to the
itinerant apostle this must have
been. Accustomed to prejudice
and blind sectarianism. it was
joy to him to find a city where
the people wanted to know the truth.
The fadeless record of the Bereans is
Now these were more noble tnan
those in Thessalonica, in that they re-
cefved the word with all readiness. OF
mind examining the Scriptures daily
whether these things were So. The
synagogue constituency set earnestly
to work to prove the new teacner
statement by their sacred writings.
That Berean trait is the modern ten
dency. This is a Understanding age.
There are probably more popular Bible
classes today than ever before IN the
worlds history-BibIe classes of men,
of women, of young people, of college
students, of workingmen. Everywhere,
at all times, we may find men and wo-
men turning to the study of the Scrip
lures Also there never were so many
earnest theologians at work as there
are today. Learned men are giving
their best thought to close scrutiny
of these sacred pages.
In the realms of theology, however,
an observer finds a tendency at work
which has in it seeds of great evil The
old Berean attitude of reverence Tor
the Scriptures is absent from many
of the theological studies The new
scholastic attitude is not one of rever-
ence. man goes at the Bible with
the air of one who says, Ny surmlse
and my Interpretation are quite as
good as yours For the authority or
the inspired word there is now a ten
dency to substitute the authority of
some be-spectacled German. We hear
Harnack, and Weuhausen and Ritschl
quoted with more Difference than we
hear the Apostle Paul or the historian
Luke. This is the peril and the mad
ness of modern progressive theology.
Let men study as deeply and range as
widely as they will. That is the debt
which scholarship owes to the Bible;
but let them keep a sense of proper
ton and a reverent mind. The theo-
logical world of today is filled with
the clamor of conflicting and strident
voices. Scripture agrees with itself, but
these theological savants do not. Each
discredits the other, and the bewilder-
ed student quickly finds himself at
sea.
A Book For Plain People.
Beyond all other writings, the Scrip
lures have the peculiar quality of be-
ing plain to the mind of the earnest
every day man Simple faith can often
what is clouded to the theo-
IOgian. "God is his own interpreter, and
he will make il plain" In this unique
book the reverent heart may search
and find treasures of wisdom. Even
more; this book inparts life. OF this
there is no doubt. A myriad of wit
land there are converts whose char
acters have been transformed by read
ing this sacred volume.
No other book so carries its power
into all translations. shakespeare
ceases to be Shakespeare when taken
out of English. But in the more than
five hundred translations of the Bible
which the world is today studying,
varying. of course, in their fidelity to |
the original, there still remains this |
same vital faculty of imparting a |
the study in the Sunday school is of |
more Importance to the church than |
the study in the theological seminary. |
The latter may produce parties and |
schools, but the reVerent study of the |
word of God by the plain people pro- |
duces newness of life and holiness of |
conduct. The Berean method is a |
method for all times and for all who |
would know the mind of God.