Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-11-15
The Worst of Dogn1GtiSfS
and Their FavOrite Dogma
By Bishop Warren A. Gambler


tain class of minds that the dogmatic
1t has been often assumed by a GER
spirit belongs exclusively to ecclesi-
astics and theologians, and that men
engaged in scientific pursuits are pc
culiarly and entirely exempt from it.
But history does not seem to justify
this assumption. The dogmatic spirit
seems to belong to human nature in gen.
eral, and the scientists are as full of it
as any of the rest of the race.
1t is interesting to note manifestations
of dogmatism upon the part of scientists
in the matter of locomotion alone. With
Preference to steam navigation, the pro-
pulsion OF ears by electricity, and avia-
! ton. some of the most eminent scien-
fists nave been as dogmatic as any &C.
clesiastic ever dared to be about any
theological proposition whatsoever.
Aviation is already a fact, and every
| day records progress in the art of aerial
navigation. Yet it has been but a little
while since Prof. Newcomb demonstrated
math ematically the utter impracticability
of "a heavier than air machine" and
was convinced the aero-p:ane would
never be more than scientific toy
1T will be remembered when the "Sa-
vannah," the first steamship to cross
the Atlantic, was making her first voy-
age across the ocean, the mathemati-
clans of England were proving beyond
all doubt that no steamship could be
constructed that would be able to carry
coal enough for such a voyage. The
| day on which the Savannah" entered
the harbor of Liverpool it was mathe-
matically shown that she could not pos
sibly make the trip.
Again, Mr.. Herbert Spencer, in his
work on Education" makes this conf
dent utterance on the subject of locomO-
ton by electricity: Numerous attempts
magnetic engines, in the hope of super
seding steam; but had those who sup
piled the money understood the general
, law of the correlation ard equivalence of
forces they might have had better bal
ances at their bankers" He classifies
the effort thus to apply electricity to
locomotion with a bundle of foolish in
ventions which "a mere tyro in science
could show TO be futile
| Yet We are now riding in trolley cars,
and long before he died Mr.. Spencer
went about the cities of England In cars
driven by electricity.
| 1t is quite easy to show theoretically
what cannot possibly be done, but what
becomes of your theory when some one
does what you have proved was impos-
sible? We may not safely dogmatize
too confidently about what is or Is not
possible. We are not perfectly acquaint-
ed with the whole range or posslollty
| in heaven and earth.
| Our biblical critics have repeatedly
| told us what was and what was not pos
sibIe at certain times and places in the
remote past, and, like the scientists
whose predictions about locomotion we
have been considering, they have been
mistaken very often. For example, II
has been but few years since the crit
| les were sneering at the inaccuracies
of the Bible in regard to the Hltutes'
But later the Psychologists have I'M
earthed things which shed a flood OF
light on the history of the Hittltes,
showing that 1.-THE impossible things
recorded in the Bible about that ancient
people were all true, and that the really
impossible things were the theories OF
| the critics.
| Again, the critics declared that the
writer of the Acts of the Apostles was
/ in error about st. Paul's visit to the
island of Cyprus in that he affirmed the
| governor of the island was a ''procon-
! sui" whereas the critics said that Ser
| gius Paulus was a proprietor" The
| critics thus corrected st. Luke, and gave
as their authorities for so doing StraDo
and Dion Cassius Cocceianus, although
| there seems to be- no better reason for
| correcting a sacred historian by secu-
| lar authority than there Is for correcting
| a secular historian by sacred writer
| But later it was found that the critics
had not read sufficiently carefully the
authorities upon which they themselves
relied in correcting st. Luke's account
| II was discovered Dion Cassius Coccei-
| anus had recorded, that while Augustus
did hold Cyprus as an imperial province
! for a time, he eventually exchanged it
| for another district, and thus ii became
| a senatorial province with a ''pro-con-
SUI as it's governor Still later coins of
| the time were found and these also
l showed the governors of Cyprus were
1 ''proconsuls" and not "pro-praetors."
| Finally General Cesnola, in his exca-
vations on Cyprus, came upon a coin
/ bearing the Inscription Gin the pro-con-
| shulshfp of Paulus." And so st. Luke
was shown to be right, and Strabo and
/ the critics were seen to be all wrong.
| Many other such instances Of critical
| dogma tism ending in critical error might
be mentioned, but these are enough for
| the purposes of this article. They show
how wise and true are the words Of that
careful writer, Prof. ]. ]. Las, who, in
his excellent work entitled principles
of Biblical Criticism" says, $50 many
of the impossibilities of the critics have
turned out to be the facts Of history,
| that it were we'll to pause before admit
| ting the force of any argument built on
| what is after all the basis Of our (often
very profound) ignorance Of the condi-
| tions of life in early times"
| It is worthy of remark in this con-
nection that the destructive critics start
with a bias against the sacred writings.
| They come to the study of those writings
having already adopted the dogma that
| the miraculous never has occurred in
history and never can occur. Finding