The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-03-27
Hood's SarsapariIIa


when the New Testament WAS III
wise slowly forming the same care
/ ,ai slltlng made up the canon of the
New Testament. Origin and Gregory
uocldrea mat the book of Genesis was
merely an exposition OF ideas in the
form OF stories.
Tenaeus of Lyons and Clement of
alexandria rejected the belief in a
primitive state of human perfection.
rope Gregory and Zivinzli both re-
iuseo 70 accept the book of Revelation
as inspired
Luther admitted that Moses might
not nave written the Pentateuch and
that there were later editions in the
books of Isaiah, jeremiah and Hosea
that the book of Job was not history
out poem or drama. Every reformer
mas been more or less higher
crltlc' But in the last quarter of a
century it has made rapid s.r;aes
This leads me to the point when
we can ask. What are some of the
teachings of higher criticism and of
Wnat value are they?
]. One of the surest and most far.
reaching conclusions OF higher crit.
lclsm is, that the Bible is the record
oil progressive revelation of God to
man. This is true because Gods rev
citation was made in human conscious
ness AS child could not under
stand algebra till it had studied the
simple elements of mathematics and
is thus brought gradually ND to the
higher branches. as it's mind devotion
ed, SO the knowledge of God could
only be given to men gradually as
they were able to receive such knowl-
edge. With this key in our hands the
Old Testament opens before us a new
book. The letter to the Hebrews tells
us that God spake in time pas, t.,
the fathers by divers manners. For
instance in the Pentateuch by means
OF primitive legend and national law,
in the historical books by mean; of
national tradition, in the Psalms by
means of poetry, in Job by drama,
while in the prophets God reveals
himself and His will in criticism CT
contemporary events. The authors of
the Old Testament books wrote under
Gods inspiration but they We're no.
all equally capable of understandings
God. Hence were not all equally in.
spired. Therefore all the writings of
these men are not of the same value
There are differences of spiritaa,
assortment and perception between
the prophets, between one Psalm and
another, as well as between books.
Ecciesiastes does not give us as
noble philosophy of life as Job. The
same author is not always at his best.
Some OF Isaiah's chapters are finer
than others. AT times Ezekiel rises
to the highest and again he sinks to
the level of an ordinary prophet 1t
is when one compares judges with
the book of Acts and Leviticus with
Hebrews, the Decalog with the Ser.
mon on the Mount, the highest Old
Testament conception of God with the
universal Fatherhood as revealed to
us by Jesus that We at once recognize
the progressive revelation of God to
man. There is great variety in the
quality of the sacred writings, not
only as to their literary style but as
to their quickening and nourishing
power. To my mind this is one of the
1,a fpl re ~ y, ;oI,, ,,;t
icism This discrimination regarding
the scriptures will do more toward
placing them in our schools and
colleges and make them more popular
for general reading than any one
thing.
2. Higher criticism has thrown
light on the inspiration of the scrip
lures. 1t has shown that the theory
of verbal dictation is untenable. That
inspiration does not mean merely to
act as Gods amanuensis But that
where we are told that God spoke or
showed Himself we are not to under
stand an audible voice or a ysable
appearance for mo man hath seen God
at any time.
The voice heard was with the
minds ear and the vision seen was
with the minds eve He spoke in the
language of the spirit in the vision of
the soul Thus do we account for the
human and divine elements in the
scriptures. The revelation was di-
vine but the recorder was human.
This rightly understood saves us from
the futile effort of trying TO explain
many things In the Old Testament.
Such as the treatment of female cap
tives Deut. 81; 1914 or the 1903 Psalm.
or the merciless slaughter of men,
women and children as well as the do
mestic animals by the lsraelites in
the conquest of Canaan or in their
fueds with the Philistines. of which
we read in Joshua, Judges and Samuel
and which are seemingly approved.
II is difficult to explain on any other
grounds how God would bless Jael,
the wife of Heber, for a deliberate
and cold blooded murder done to a
sleeping guest or sanction the destruc-
ton of the children for calling
Elisha "ball-head.'
Higher criticism is helping to free