Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-12-13

another of the ereeds of the darker past,
all of which contain some truth, WITH
considerable error, we must all admit.
Our great mistake has been In assum-
ing that our confessions of faith and all
of our ereeds strongly and fully repre-
sent the Bibles teachings This mis-
take has already been costly. Thou
sands Of the most generous minds nave
been turned away from the Bible by the
mistaken supposition that the creeds
properly represent It's teachings AS
sured that they could no longer endorse
any Christian creeds as a whole, these
bright minds have renounced them and
the Bible as we'll
The necessary thing to be done is to
resume Bible study. and that without
creedal spectacles. Our forefathers who
made our creeds participated more or
less in prosecutions of each other which
we today entirely condemn. They were
as honest, doubtless. as are we, but they
had less light-they lived in a darker
Age. The belief that God is torturng
thousands of millions of His creatures
led some of our well-intentioned fore
fathers to torture one another in God S
name. in a manner which we today can
not endorse as being either just or low
ing or Christlike.
Why then should we assume that those
@creeds are correct in all particulars?
Should we not the rather see that If so
good man as Brother John Calvin
committed SO great a mistake as to sign
the warrant which sent brother Chris
tian, Servetus. to the stake this proves
that there was something wrong WITH
Calvin's theological ideas. which lie at
the Foundation of nearly all of our Pro-
testant creeds?
With the wonderful Bibles which we
possess today, found in nearly every
Christian home, we should know more of
its teachings than any of our forefathers
could possibly know. Not only has edu-
cation aided in this respect but our BIZ
bles are conveniently formed, and We
have study aids. in the form of concor-
dances, marginal references, etc. Is 1t
not the time to strive as Levites and
spiritual Israelites to turn afresh to the
Bible and instruct the people respecting
its teachings?
The Deep Things of God.
We are not advocating merely the
reading of SO many chapters day, or
the committing of verses to memory, or
the ordinary Sunday School lessons, We
advocate a reconstruction of our faith
upon the basis of the Bible only. Surely
if all of Gods people could take from
their minds their creed speetacles and
study the Word afresh, in its own light,
q great blessing would speedily follow.
The Bible students would soon become
one with each other and with the Father
and with the Lord Jesus Christ-the one
Church Of the Living God mentioned in
the Scriptures, with one Lord, one Faith
one Baptism, one God and Father of all
The Power of the Divine Law.
There is a power for good in the Word
of God which can be found nowhere else.
Higher Criticism has much responsibility
in connection with the growing lawless-
ness of the world The Higher Critics
in all our colleges and seminaries are
doing a terribly destructive work. In
comparison TO which the work of Vol
taire, Thomas Paine and Robert Inger-
soil We're as nothing. 1t is safe to say
that three-fourths Of all the graduates
of all colleges within the last thirty
years have been unbelievers in the Bible.
and that their influence has been used
persistently to undermine the faith of
others The errors which led them to
infidelity are liable to influence others.
The Bible itself is a study, and only
what it teaches should be believed,
whether favorable or contrary to our