The Washington herald., 1915-03-21

- effect that the Old Testament was
a milestone, hung about the neck OF Christian
ity At that time l held the conservative
opinion regarding the thirty-nine Hebrew
books which since the invention OF printing
have been bound with the twentyseven Greek
books constituting the New Testament; and
/ resented the statement irreverent and i'm
proper But years of reflection and reading
have convinced that there was a large
element of truth in that remark
Missionaries who have carried Christianity
to heather and pagan people have seldom had
difficulty in presenting the claims of Jesus, but
they have had no end of trouble to persuade
intelligent natives of Africa and Asia to accept
the Old Testament as the word of God. More
over in defending the faith against agnostics
and infidels at home, the most vulnerable po-
sitons of Christian apologists were found to
be the Old Testament stories, and the Old Tes-
lament moralities. 1t was the rib story of the
Garden of Eden, the story of the universal
deluge of Noah and the Jonah story which
gave Robert Ingersoll and others like him
their easiest angle of an attack on Christian
ity.
And Christian apoIogists unable to explain
these impossible creations of ancient mag
ination, resorted to invective and anatnema,
never realizing that Christianity was no more
responsible lot the myths anu ieSenus OIL tHdI
wonderful people who for thousand years
inhabited the hill country of Palestine, than
it was for the mythology OF Egyptians or
Greeks.
But unfortunately, by series of inter
esting historical events, eliminating in the
Reformation of the sixteenth century, the
Christian religion, became involved in Juda-
ism. The reformers of that period, turning
away from the authority of the pope, chung
TO the authority of the ancient religious books
TIriSt ian oh a
thanks to the art of printing, are included
under the same cover, and called the Bible, and
made available more widely than ever.
To these books were attributed super
natural infallblity. To Some they came to
have the influence of a charm, fetish At
any rate they were enthroned as the supreme
authority among Christian men.
Borrowing the theory of certain ancient
rabbis these books were supposed to have
been written by the very hand of God, or at
least under his personal direction, giving them
an accuracy and certainty OF meaning which
no other books possessed. Out of these He
brew books came a theory or the universe,
and its creation by the Almighty in six days
of twenty-four hours each; the creation of
man on the last day of the six, and from his
rib the creation of the woman; the establish
ment of the seventh day Of creation as a day
of rest; the temptation of the woman by the
serpent understood to be the devil disguised:
the fall" as result of disobedience, and the
revelation of nakedness; the imposition OF
work upon the man, and pain of chlld-bear-
ing upon the woman a penalty-all this was
taken for granted as literal history. So also
were the statements that men lived from SUI
to 800 years, that a flood engulfed the whole
earth. from which but one family of man. and
two pairs of all animal species were saved IN
an ark; the Tower of Babel story: the legends
of Abraham and his descendants; all these
we're held as accurate descriptions of what
really took place in the early stages Of hui
mainly. Even to this day in jewish circles
the time that has elapsed since the creation
of the world is held to be 5,675 years. &C
cording to their calendar. This all good
Christians at one time also accepted.
Upon the basis of these Hebrew stories
shrewd fathers of the church invented doc
trine of salvation and secured its incorpora-
of Adam deemed the Original SIM" which
he transmitted to his posterity. The human
race was lost by that original sin, and rem
dered totally depraved." But the promise of
a Savior, Messiah. who should satisfy Gods
wrath, as Adam had incurred it, was indicated
and foretod in sacrifices, of bullocks and goats
and lambs offered by a priest, typifying the
sacrifice that should later be made by Jesus
in his death upon the cross. The evil of the
first Adam was thus neutraliZed by the blood
"atonement' of the second Adam, Jesus. Yet,
not all of the first offense was to be neutral
lied. Only for the ELECT" was this latest Of
fering for sin to avail. And the elect were
those who were baptized, Joined the church,
and so came under the advantages of the cove
nant of grace. All not baptized persons were