The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-12-04

created the heaven and earth" And
God saio. Let there be light, and
there was light" In almost the next
paragraph we are told that on the
fourth day God made two great
lights. the greater light to rule the
day and the lesser light TO rule the
night. The question naturally arises:
What became of the light that God
created on the first day and what
did it consist of? The biblical MARIA
tive Of the creation of Adam and
Eve. Gains murder of his brother
Abel without the slightest prOvoca-
ton. God putting mark upon him
lest anyone finding him should kill
him, Gains going to the land of Nod
and getting a wife. while We are
led to believe th"t there isn't any
body upon eartn except Cain and his
parents is so utterly incredible. so
absurdly preposterous. so degrading
to mans intellect that the wayfaring
man cannot understand how the chill
dren of God could have pretended to
believe II.
According to the teaching of Moses
God will visit the sins of the fathers
upon the children. Ezekiel fatty
lU.S oOCltlnt- n Nllt AHNi
chapter he says: THE son shall not
bear the iniquity OF the father
neither shall the father bear the
IMMUNITY of the son." Now which OF
these sayings is inspired? They can
not both be. How is the Bible reader
to determine which is the inspired
passages? Furthermore. when we
proceed TO the investigation of the
&
authorized word of God. we discover
on the very threshold of our inquiry
not only that there is no satisfactory
and independent evidence OF the as
sertion that Moses wrote the books
which bear his name-but that there
is nearly all the proof which the case
admits Of that he did not write them
and that they were not written until
some centuries after his death. II
is manifestly evident that Moses
ooud not have been the author of
Deuteronomy. for the simple reason
that 1t records his own death. And
De Wette says:
After coming to these results we
find no ground and no evidence that
the books of the Pentateuch were
COM sed by Moses. Some consider
him their author. merely from tradi-
tionary custom, because the Jews
were Of this opinion; though 1t is
not certain that the more ancient
Jews shared il. The opinion that
Moses composed these books is not
only opposed by all the signs of a
later date which occur in the Book it.
self. but also by the entire analogy
of the history OF the Hebrew litera-
ture and language" 1t is manifestly
obvious to every student of Biblical
literature that the inspiration OF the
Bible is derived not from any proof
that il is so, but from an opinion
The doctrine arose not because II
was an established fact, but because
shallow minded theologians thought
1t was necessary.
OF this most famous and dramatic
shipwreck which Mr.. Bryan refers
to. we have only Paul's word for it,
but st. John says: III bear witness
OF myself. my witness is not true.
Then again 1t may be as erroneous
as Paul's prediction of the end of
the world. Even if it be admitted
that Jesus promised Inspiration to
his apostles, II Is certain that Paul
was not included. as he was then on
the war-path against Christians. 1t
would be not only interesting and
instructive but also Illuminating IL
Mr.. Byran would furnish Herald
readers with the evidence on which
he bases Bible inspiration.
THOMAS F. MONAHAN.