The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1919-07-18
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Scripture.


l remember in my small boyhood, hear
ing attacks upon the so-called higher
criticisms" but to this day have never
thoroughly understood what the phrase
meant / had thought IL a Dody OF al
clVlduals who challenged the authority
OF tie Chr iztian aith itself-in fact
rad more or less identified higher criti-
eiSm with Thomas Paine and his likes.
l., however, to find reason for wishing
tiiat our copies of the Bible were the
most perfect COPIES possible is 10 be
higher critic, 1 am one. and others with
many of the saintliest men this genera
ton has seen, at least two of them being
bishops OF the church with whom / am
proud 10 claim acquaintance.
] also remember hearing automobiles
called impious in all seriousness. because
Nahum, in his call to repentance states
tfat The chariots shall rage in the
streets, they shall Iostle one another in
the broad ways. they shall seem like
thunder, they shall with the light
ming careful student of Hebrew rs
apt to tell you that had King James
translators been a bit more learned the
first four chapters of Isaiah would not
have given Thomas Paine the opportunity
Tor his blow at the very heart of Chris
tianity, for the apparent ambiguity would
have been removed
Not until one reads the original Greek
can the meaning of the THREE TIMES
repeated question Lowest thou me?" be
fully grasped with all its epitome of
blind human stumbling and divine pity.
The translators make no shadow of dii-
ference between the twice repeated
'Anagneis me- and the inadequate re-
Fly, "Philo Sc" inadequacy which
contains the measure of Peters faith and
understanding, never complete and ex-
alted until the Growing cock woke him
to realization of his previous timorous
failure TO trust to the uttermost fiber Of
MS being. / have heard women scored
from the pulpit for adopting the exceed
lngly modest fashions of the early ninc-
ties because Ezekiel. In the King James
translation mentioned pillows to arm
holes in uncertain language. Even
the translators doubted If this passa ge
was we'll set forth. for they add a note
'or elbows"
1t IS cause OF frequently expressed
anxiety as a rule men do not take the
interest in the church that they should
or that they used to do As a rule a non
churchsoing man will not talk about re-
llsion; but men at sea have a way of
talking from their hearts, and l think
/ can assure you that ninetenths of the
disbelief of men in these days is due to
the fact that after reading their Bibles
with the education now usual. the appa--
ent contradictions in the English Bible
itself threw them into a fog.
Jeremiah snarls at contemporary
prophets. Well-beside the unfortunate
Hananiah who died-whether defending
his home with Zedekiah or of pesti-
lence, we Go not know-the contempt
rsries Of jeremiah included Ezekiel, and
the first five minor prophets. If all the
Bible as our English edition gives IL to
us is infaliible. what shall we make Of
the defiant challenge in the 18th chapter
OF Zechariah, aimed at the prophet
Amos?
| certainly do not discard Moses. Eze-
kiel or Daniel Aside from the fact that
they We're both educated Jews Moses til
more cultured of the two, but still both
v ell educated. Moses and Jeremiah have
little point of contact or comparison
Ezekiel was among the first of the cap
uves. taken in the early part of the war
and he had opportunities to Judge of the
q ference between united. military Bah
Won and quarrelsome, divided. slothfuI
israel that sickened his patriotic heart
lie cried aloud for contrite return 10
the former clean-mnded, brotheriy
union of the twelve tribes, trurnpets
Cars warning that if the Jews cannot
give up their petty squabbles. their blind
partisanship their heterogeneous idola-
try, they must fall; that only through
r. union of Israel and judah and change
I" a firm clean heart can they prevail
I'iscreditei Hanahiah preached the same
the minor prophets. But thanks 10
Jeremiah. the breach between Israel and
Judah was bridgeless even in the face
Of annihiliation.
cannot discover wherein anything n
my previous letter can be remotely con-
strued into anything to discredit Daniel
and If there is. withdraw it. But l do
not think that there is
Matthew Els, written by a Hebrew
'ofmerly public official and thus versed
IN the speech of educated Israel, might
as well have referred to any prophet
from Isaiah to Obadiah Mathew quoted
rom a work long an integral part of
the historical record of his people I see
10 reason to accept his reference as proof
D inspiration any more than to believe
hat Moses wa, literally correct when he
r'rote that the windows OF heaven were
opened instead of saying that the clouds
broke and deluged the earth. Any we'll
known work is apt to be quoted and g
i remiah contains the only complete his
torlcal record of the war with Babylon,
I was naturally the best known book Of
Is period among studious men
Instances may be multiplied where
J stead Of undermining faith in the Ri
bic the weapons OF those who would Go
Sc would be snatched away by a careful
-e-translatlon and encouragement of our
present editions. To make our present
EDITION. the churchmen of the fourth
h10iS "oiheu nara ana prayed nara,
but at that council were HISTORIANS (now
Thfbetan lamas) Pea sgians and doz ~
other smaller sects such as the dreaming
tssenes-Christians 10 all purposes long
before Christ himself appeared-whoI
p ere outvoted and outelassed leaving
he field to the two great parties now
allied Arminian and Agostinian
As to their infallibility in the process |
well. some years ago Rev. T. A. Good |
n. than whom no better Christian ever
walked published a pamphlet showing
gain from the original not the King
lanes version-that the Song OF solomon !
s really the love song il appears and |
vas not written by Solomon. but as a |
lay to be performed before Solomon |
This book was not considered a under
'7iHing the Bible. apparently-it was pub |
ished by church book concern