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Timely  topics 


E.  B.  TREAT'S 

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TIMELY    TOPICS. 

POLITICAL,  BIBLICAL,  ETHICAL,  PRACTICAL. 

DISCUSSED 


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A  series  of  specially  contributed  and 
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The  publication  in  this  handy  volume  of  these 
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The  Treasury  Magazine, 
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CONTENTS. 


THE  PAPACY  IN  POLITICS. 

By  Chancellor  John  Hall,  D.D.,   LL.D.,  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  the  City  of  New  York il 

THE  PROT^TANT  CHURCH  AND  THE  APOCRYPHA. 

By  John  Hall,  D.D  ,  LL.D 19 

THE    CHARACTER   AISTD    AIM    OF    THE    SOCIETY   OF 

JESUS,    y 

By  Rev.  W.  R.  Gordon,  S.T.D.,  Reformed  Ch.  of  N.  A..     25 

HOW  CAN  JESUITISM  B|X^CCE5SFULLY  MET? 

By    Principal    D.    H.  MacVicar,    D.D.,    Presb.  College, 
Montreal 39 

THE  OPPONENTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

By  Sir  Wm. ^Dawson,    LL.D.,    Principal  of    M'Gill    Uni- 
versity, Montreal.  ...... ., 55 

RISE  OF  PRELACY  AND  I;F^  GRADUAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

By    President   W.    D.    Killen,    D.D.,   Assembly  College, 
Belfast,  Ireland 59 

PROOFS   OF  A    THREEFOLD    ORDER   OF  THE  CHRIS- 
TIAN MINISTRY. 

By  J.  F.  Spalding,  Bis-hop  of  Colorado 73 

/ 

PROOFS  OF  AN  HISTORIC  EPISCOPATE. 

By  Wm.  Stevens  Perry,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Iowa,  and  Presi- 
dent of  Griswold   College   91 

CLAIMS  OF  TRE^HISTORIC  EPISCOPATE  EXAMINED. 

By  Pres.  J.TiARPER,  D.D.,  U.  P.  Theo.  Sem.,  Xenia,  Ohio.   107 

THE  ONE  HOLY  CATlt'OLIC  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

By  Prof.  James  TIeron,  D  D.,  Presb.  College,  Belfast,  Ire- 
land      y- 123 

CHRISTIANITY  V^SUS  FORMALISM. 

By  Pres.  S.  A.  Ort,  D.D.,  Wittenberg  College,  Springfield, 
Ohio 141 


S  CONTENTS. 

THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE  AS  A  TEXT-BOOK  IN  THEOLOG- 
ICAL SEMINARIES. 

By  Pres.  Robert  Graham,  D.D.,  Lexington.  Ky 153 

THE  MINISTER  A}^6  HIS  BIBLE. 

By  Prof.  H.  W.  Warriner,  B.D.,  Congregational  College 
of  Canada,  Montreal 159 

THE  TEACHER  REPRODUCED  IN  THE  PUPIL. 

By  Principal  D.  H.^MacVicar,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Presb.  Col- 
lege, Montreal , 175 

THE  PULPIT  AND  ETHICS. 

By  President  B.  P.  Raymond,  D.D.,  Wesleyan  University, 
Middletown,  Conn 1S9 

THE  SOURCES  OF  MORALS. 

By  President  W.  M.  Blackburn,  D.D.,  Pierre  University, 
E.  Pierre,  S.  Dakota 201 

LAW   AND    PERSUASION. 

By  President  W.  M. 'Blackburn,  D.D.,  Pierre  University, 
E.  Pierre,  S.  Dakota  205 

THE  INDIAN  QUESTION  :  THE   FRIENDLIES. 

By  Pres.  W.  M.  jBlackburn 215 

TEMPERANCE  IN  ALL  THINGS  :  BIBLICAL  TEACHINGS 
AND  MODERN  METHODS. 
V 
By  Prof.  E.  J.  Wolff,  D.D.,  Gettysburgh,  Pa 221 

WHAT  IS  TRUTh/^ 

By  Pres.  F.  L.  Patton,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Princeton  College, 
N.J 229 

TH  E  HIGHER  CRITICISM. 

By  Prof.  M.  S.  Tkrry,  D.D.,  Garrett  Biblical  Institute, 
Evanston,  Illinois 235 

INSPIRED   FICTION. 

By  Prof.  M.  S.  Terry,  D.D.,  Eva,nston,  111 241 

LIBERTY  OF  THOUGHT  AND^ITS  LIMITATIONS. 

By  Professor  Theodore  W.  Hunt,  Princeton  College,  N.  J.  249 

SHEOL.  y^ 

By  Prof.  Thos.  Hill  Rich,  Cobb  Divinity  School,  Lewis- 
ton,  Me ••  257 


CONTENTS.  ^ 

NOTES  ON  THE  NEGATIVE  CRITICISM. 

By  Professor  W.   11. ^Roberts,   DD,  LL.D.,   Lane  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  Cincinnati,  Ohio 263 

BIBLICAL   ARCHAEOLOGY   AND   THE   HIGHER  CRITI- 
CISM, y' 

By  Professor  A.  H.  Sayce,  LL.D.,  Oxford,  England 269 

THE  UNITY  OF  GEi<^SIS :  I.  AND  II.  CHAPTERS. 

By  Prof.  W.  H.Xreen,  D.D.,  Princeton  Theo.  Sem.,  N.  J.  275 

MODERN  CRITjefsM  OF  THE  PENTATEUCH. 

By  Prof.  M.  Leitch,  D.D.,  Presb.  College,  Belfast,  Ireland.  283 

THE   ORIGIN   AND    RELIGIOUS    CONTENTS   OF   THE 
PSALTER. 

By  Rev.  J.  S.  Steele,  Ph.D.,  Lecturer  on  Hebrew 307 

THE  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  OF..-(5UR  DAY. 

By  Rev.  Professor  Geo.   H.   Schodde,    Ph.D.,   Columbus 
University,  Ohio 315 

UNITY  OF   THE  SCRIPTURES. 

By  Rev.  Professor  Geo.   H.  Schodde,    Ph.D.,  Columbus 
University,  Columbus,  Ohio 323 

DOES  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY  MEET  THE  EDUCA- 
TIONAL REQUIREMENTS  OF  THE  AGE? 

By  Pres.  E.  B.  Andrews,  LL.D.,  Brown  University,  R.  I.   329 

OPPORTUNITIES   AND    OBLIGATIONS  OF  A  COLLEGE 
EDUCATip(N. 

By  Prof.  G.  P.  Fisher,  D.D.,  Yale  University,  New  Haven, 
Conn 337 

BROTHERHOOD  IN^HIGHEST  SERVICE. 

By  Pres.  M.  E.  Gates,  LL.D.,  Amherst  College,  Mass....  341 

ESSENTIALS  OF  THE  CURRICULUM. 

By  Pres.  B.  P.  Raymond,  D.D.,  Wesleyan  University 349 

THE    MORAL  AND    RELIGIOUS   VALUE    OF    HIGHER 
EDUCATIO>r.' 

By  Pres.  E.  B.  Andrews,   LL.D.,  Brown   University,  R.  I.  355 


THE  PAPACY  IN  POLITICS. 

By  Chancellor  John  Hall,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  of  the 
University  of  the  City  of  New  York. 


THERE  are  many  excellent  people  who  deprecate  any 
severe  strictures  upon  that  system  of  religion  the 
representatives  of  which  in  Rome,  and  in  our  own  country, 
are  making  public  and  effusive  declarations  of  their  love 
for  us  and  for  our  American  institutions.  It  is  natural  that 
in  a  nation  like  ours,  where  all  men  are  free  and  equal,  any- 
thing savoring  of  narrowness  and  prejudice  should  be  dis- 
couraged. But  it  is  possible  to  make  a  discrimination  that 
is  often  ignored  in  these  criticisms  upon  the  "narrow  and 
bigoted "  Protestants  who  stand  with  the  Reformers,  the 
Puritans,  and  the  historians.  I  think  there  have  been  up- 
right, humane  and  kind-hearted  members  of  the  imperial 
family  of  Russia  ;  but  I  do  not,  as  an  American  citizen, 
feel  kindly  to  the  Russian  system  of  government.  I  have 
met  extremely  amiable  members  of  the  Russian  aristocracy, 
but  I  do  not  like  the  system  they  represent.  Or,  to  put  it 
more  directly,  there  were  some  excellent  people  in  Great 
Britain  in  the  close  of  the  last  century,  but  British  sway 
was  set  aside  notwithstanding.  Now,  is  there  not  room  for 
a  candid  discrimination  on  corresponding  lines  in  regard 
to  pronounced  Protestants  ?  Can  they  not  be  credited 
with  the  recognition  of  devoutness  and  piety  in  Roman 
Catholics,  while  pronounced  against  the  system  known  as 
the  Papacy  ?  Are  not  the  very  critics  who  think  us  want- 
ing in  charity  slightly  defective  themselves  in  that  virtue 
which  is  so  attractive  when  it  is  intelligent  and  genuine  ? 

Again,  it  is  common  enough  to  say  in  relation  to  stric- 
tures on  the  Papacy  that   the  past   is  not  to  be  taken  into 


12  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

account,  for  it  had  its  bad  features  all  around,  and  the 
evil  has  been  discarded  in  the  more  enlightened  times  in 
which  we  live.  Is  this  plea  well  founded  ?  Protestant 
bodies  might  properly  set  it  up.  They  make  no  claim  to 
infallibility  in  their  leaders  and  consequent  unchangeable- 
ness.  But  it  is  different  with  the  Papacy.  We  do  not 
linger  over  the  question  whether  the  infallibility  is  personal 
as  well  as  official.  The  claim  is  that  the  Popes  fill  an  office 
divinely  appointed,  at  the  head  of  a  Church  that  can  make 
no  mistakes.  Its  principles,  therefore,  admit  of  no  change. 
What  it  was  since  the  day,  as  it  alleges,  when  the  Apostle 
Peter  ordained  Clement  I.  as  Pope,  according  to  the  "  Dec- 
retals "  which  for  centuries  gave  supremacy  to  the  Pontiffs, 
it  is  now;  an  unerring  infallible  wisdom  has  shaped  the 
policy  and  determined  the  character  of  the  Papacy.  What 
it  has  been,  according  to  the  nature  it  claims,  it  will  be. 
Pope  Gregory  VII.  counted  it  justification  of  his  claims 
that  former  Popes  had  pursued  the  same  policy.  And  in 
1864  Pius  IX.  points  to  his  illustrious  predecessors  for  the 
defence  of  his  Encyclical  and  Syllabus.  ''  We  will  demon- 
strate," says  that  eminent  Pontiff,  "that  Christ,  in  giving 
to  the  Apostle  power  to  bind  and  loose  men,  excepted  no 
one.  The  Holy  See  has  absolute  power  over  all  spiritual 
things;  why  should  we  not  also  rule  temporal  affairs? 
God  reigns  in  the  heavens;  His  Vicar  should  reign  over 
all  the  earth.  These  senseless  wretches,  however,  main- 
tain that  the  royal  is  above  the  Episcopal  dignity.  Are 
they,  then,  ignorant  that  the  name  of  king  was  invented 
by  human  pride,  and  that  the  title  of  Bishop  was  instituted 
by  Christ  ?  St.  Ambrose  affirms  that  the  Episcopate  is 
superior  to  royalty  as  gold  is  superior  to  a  viler  metal." 
Has  this  principle  ever  been  renounced  ?  Was  Gregory 
VII.  infallible  ?  If  so,  then  the  Church,  where  it  is  politic 
and  safe,  may  be  expected  to  teach  the  same  doctrines  and 
to  pursue  the  same  policy. 


THE    PAPACY    IN    POLITICS.  13 

If  any  reader  wishes  to  verify  and  follow  further  the 
statements  here  mn.de,  he  has  only  to  give  a  little  attention 
to  "  Milman's  Latin  Christianity."  "Ah  !  but,"  says  some 
one,  *' that  is  a  great,  learned,  manyvolumed  book,  and 
life  is  full  of  work  with  me.  I  have  no  time  for  going 
through  it."  Well,  there  is  another  and  easier  way.  Write 
to  Harper  &  Brothers  for  a  copy  of  "The  Papacy  and  the 
Civil  Power,"  and  give  it — there  is  but  one  volume — a 
careful  study,  and  you  will  be  better  able  to  form  a  judg- 
ment as  to  your  duty  as  an  American  citizen. 

"But,"  it  may  be  alleged,  "ambitious  Popes  are  one 
thing  ;  we  do  not  judge  of  the  Papacy  by  them.  There  is 
a  great  body  of  intelligent  people,  refined,  accomplished 
— look  at  their  continental  cities,  picture  galleries,  and  so 
forth;  they  can  be  depended  upon  to  keep  things  right." 
Now  let  us  see.  Did  you  ever  give  any  study  to  the  agen- 
cies that  built  up  the  papal  power  for  centuries  ?  If  not, 
please  to  consider  the  point  of  the  following  sentences. 
The  Roman  Bishop  Siricius  ruled  from  a.d.  384  to  398. 
Editors  of  ecclesiastical  laws  usually  began  their  list  with 
him;  but  the  editor  of  the  "  Pseudo-Isidorean  Decretals  " 
went  back  to  Clement,  whom  he  made  the  immediate,  or 
the  second,  successor  to  Peter.  He  gave  letters,  canons 
and  decrees,  assigning  to  the  first  Popes  all  that  was 
claimed  in  pomp,  power,  control  of  nations  and  kings  in 
the  ninth  century;  and  the  Church,  the  great  community 
under  the  Popes,  accepted  the  whole.  Nicholas  I.  (858- 
867)  paraded  these  *'  Decretals"  as  his  warrant  for  actior. 
And  they  continued  in  authority  for  many  centuries,  and 
while  no  high-class  authors  now  stand  up  for  their  gen- 
uineness, mild  apologies  are  made  for  their  "well-meant " 
errors  and  mistakes.  They  represent  the  clergy  as  includ- 
ing patriarchs,  princes,  archbishops,  and  so  forth  in  the  first 
century.  They  guard  ecclesiastics  against  charges,  trials 
and  condemnations,  requiring  seventy-two  trustworthy  wit- 


14  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

nesses,  sound  in  the  faith,  against  a  bishop,  and,  in  fact, 
protect  the  clergy  against  all  criticism,  no  matter  what  their 
lives  might  be.  They  assign,  as  their  second  great  object, 
the  power  over  civil  rulers  to  the  Popes,  who  are  made 
judges  in  all  contests  ecclesiastical,  and  they  call  for  "  ap- 
peals to  Rome  "  in  all  matters.  The  number,  the  audacity, 
the  clumsiness  of  these  forgeries  would  be  incredible  if  they 
had  not  been  examined  and  exposed.  Think,  for  example, 
of  some  of  the  alleged  thirty-three  Popes,  from  Peter  down 
to  Siricius  (a.d.  385),  being  credited  with  letters  to  men 
who  did  not  live  till  two  centuries  after  the  alleged  writers, 
with  decisions  and  decrees  of  councils  centuries  after  their 
time,  with  quotations  from  Popes  in  Encyclicals  to  Churches 
that  did  not  then  exist,  and  with  passages  from  Popes  who 
ruled  in  the  fifth,  sixth,  seventh  and  eighth  centuries,  while 
they  were  all  prior  to  a.d.  385  !  If  the  reader  has  any 
doubt  about  the  accuracy  of  these  statements,  he  has  only 
to  consult  Dupin  or  Dorner  ;  and  if  these  seem  to  him 
remote  and  too  learned,  he  can  take  up  Professor  Fisher's 
"  History  of  the  Christian  Church  "  (p.  169).  Here  are  the 
words  of  this  dispassionate  historian  :  "  The  most  advanced 
pretensions  ever  propounded  or  hinted  at  by  the  most  am- 
bitious Pontiffs  were  here  explicitly  and  systematically  set 
forth  in  spurious  letters  and  decrees  to  which  the  names  of 
venerated  bishops  of  the  early  Church  were  attached." 

Now,  if  it  be  thought  that  the  community  under  the 
Papacy  can  be  trusted  to  defend  itself  against  personal 
ambition  in  the  Popes,  we  reply  that  the  history  of  these 
"  Decretals,"  accepted  for  more  than  six  hundred  years, 
and  only  recognized  as  forgeries  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
shows  how  little  reliance  can  be  ])laced  on  the  ruled  as 
against  papal  rulers.  As  corroborating  this  view,  we  may 
add  that  while  the  forger  of  the  '*  Decretals  "  wished,  ap- 
parently, to  protect  the  bisliops  and  other  dignitaries  against 
the  Popes,  they  were  so  adroitly  used  as  to  put  in  the  hands 


THE    PAPACY    IN    POLITICS.  15 

of  the  Pontiff  almost  supreme  power  over  them.  Any 
reader  desirous  of  verifying  these  statements  can  turn 
(in  addition  to  others  quoted)  to  the  Schaff-Herzog  Ency- 
clopedia, where  they  come  in  their  natural  place,  as  "Pseudo- 
Isidorean."  The  extent  to  which  the  Papacy  has  been  en- 
gaged in  plans,  schemes  and  conflicts  outside  the  religious 
sphere  and  more  or  less  in  the  political,  can  be  verified  by 
any  fairly  full  Church  history.  Read  the  history  of  the 
"  Holy  Roman  Empire,"  with  its  emperors  making  Popes 
and  Popes  making  emperors.  Read  Pope  Gregory's  bull 
with  its  appeal  to  Peter  and  Paul  as  able  to  ''  take  away,  or 
to  give  to  each,  according  to  his  merits,  empires,  kingdoms, 
duchies,  marquisates,  counties,  and  the  possessions  of  all 
men."  Study  Innocent  III.,  proclaiming  that  "  the  crowns 
of  kings  and  the  destinies  of  nations  were  lodged  by  a 
divine  decree  in "  the  hands  of  Peter's  successors.  But 
there  is  no  room  for  a  detailed  reference  to  these  chapters 
in  history  with  their  ample  evidence  that  the  Papacy,  ever 
since  its  development,  has  been  a  political  force  in  the 
degree  in  which  it  was  possible,  under  the  influence  of 
aims  and  motives,  good,  bad,  and  indifferent.  And  no- 
where has  the  Church  renounced,  deprecated  or  disclaimed 
the  powers  thus  put  forth  and  vindicated  as  conveyed  by 
Christ  through  Peter  to  his  "  successors  "  to  the  end  of  time. 
If  to  any  reader  the  area  of  history  on  the  subject  in  hand 
seem  too  wide,  then  let  attention  be  given  to  the  organiza- 
tion so  intimately  linked,  in  these  later  times,  with  the 
Papacy,  namely  the  Jesuits.  It  is  fair  to  say  that  while 
this  "order"  has  been  the  child  of  the  Church,  it  has  often 
been  a  rebellious  child,  pushing  its  own  interests  irrespec- 
tive of  its  mother's.  It  has  never  shrunk  from  political 
action  in  its  own  interests,  and  has  often  evaded,  and  dis- 
regarded'Papal  injunctions  The  Jesuits  v/ere  put  down 
by  Portugal  for  their  political  trade,  and  commercial  opera- 
tions.   Again  and  again  put  down  and  restored — as  bv  papal 


l6  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

bull  in  1814 — it  is  well  known  that  they  are  now  in  papal 
favor,  with  infallible  recognition,  although  they  had  been 
broken  \ip  in  France,  in  Switzerland,  Prussia,  and  Bavaria. 
An  infallible  Pope  suppressed  the  order  in  1773,  ^^^  ^^^ 
Europe  appeared  to  approve  the  decision  reluctantly 
reached.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  order  is  restored 
in  our  time. 

Now  the  question  may  naturally  arise  in  the  reader's 
mind:  "What  is  the  use  of  discussing  a  matter  of  this 
nature  »*  We  are  nineteenth  century  people,  free,  intel- 
ligent, and  able  to  take  care  of  ourselves.  What  is  it  to 
us  how  the  Papacy  has  stood,  or  now  stands,  in  politics  ? " 
Well,  let  us  reflect.  Our  country  is  new,  and  in  many 
respects  prosperous.  The  Papacy  has,  as  every  one  ac- 
quainted with  history  knows,  repeatedly  tried  to  get  a  hold 
on  such  regions.  Would  it  be  strange  if  a  like  effort  were 
put  forth  in  regard  to  the  United  States  ?  Would  it  sur- 
prise one  if  His  Holiness  should  profess  the  warmest  ad- 
miration for  our  institutions  and  affection  for  our  people, 
and  if  our  resident  prelates  should  loudly  and  ostenta- 
tiously announce  their  sympathy  with  our  people  and  our 
policy  ? 

Suppose  we  had  two  great  opposing  parties  so  nearly 
balanced  in  numbers  that  a  body  of  six  or  seven  millions 
in  the  care,  and  under  the  guidance  of  the  Papacy,  could 
decide  the  vote  for  one  or  the  other  as  it  was  directed, 
would  it  be  strange,  or  against  h'story  if  the  power  should 
be  used  in  this  way:  You  promise  to  do  such  and  such 
things  for  us,  when  in  power,  and  we  shall  see  that  you  gel 
the  power.'*  The  point  might  not  be  si)ecifically  stated; 
but  there  are  other  ways  of  conveying  ideas  than  by  set  and 
articulate  speech. 

Would  it  be  extraordinary  and  unprecedented,  if  the 
Papacy  should  say:  *' By  common  consent  the  State  is  not 
to  be  obeyed  when  it  rules  that  which  is  contrary  to  the 


THE    PAPACY    IN    POLITICS.  1 7 

will  of  the  Creator.  So  Paul  an  J*eter  taught  and  acted. 
Now  the  Holy  See  is  the  judge — the  infallible  judge  of 
what  is  right  and  according  to  the  divine  will."  Would  it 
be  strange  if  vexatious  annoyances  came  up  in  this  way, 
touching  for  example,  oharities,  education,  and  forms  of 
taxation  ?  Suppose  an  element  of  discontented  population 
among  us  making  trouble  for  civil  rulers,  would  it  be  a 
surprise  to  the  student  of  the  history  of  the  past  to  find 
some  such  hints  as  this  coming  from  the  Vatican:  *' We 
have  the  consciences  of  these  people  under  our  control. 
There  are  certain  claims  of  ours  not  recognized  by  your 
government.  Let  them  be  recognized,  and  we  shall  bring 
this  discontented  element  into  quiet  and  submission  "  ? 

But  it  is  not  needful  to  follow  further  this  line  of  specula- 
tion. We  do  not  fear  the  placing  of  this  nation  where  other 
nations  have  often  been  to  their  real  injury.  But,  a  long 
way  on  this  side  of  absolute  victory  over  a  nation,  there 
may  be  inconveniences,  losses,  and  hardships  which  fore- 
sight and  firmness  might  have  averted.  A  ship  may  not 
indeed  be  wrecked,  but  she  may  be  terribly  shaken,  and  her 
passengers  made  extremely  uncomfortable,  when  prudent 
precaution  might  have  kept  her  out  of  the  line  of  the  hurri- 
cane. It  is  not  very  strange  that  busy  Americans  building 
up  national  institutions  and  industries  in  hot  haste,  and 
committed  to  the  loftiest  views  of  rights  to  conscience 
should  know  little  of  remote  histories,  and  should  shun 
anything  that  looks  like  "being  cool  to  a  man  on  account 
of  his  religion."  We  too  want  nothing  but  charity  and  jus- 
tice; but  we  would  fain  have  the  people  who  make  public 
opinion,  choose  rulers  and  accept  or  reject  national  policies, 
study  the  past,  face  the  facts  of  the  case,  and  be  on  their 
guard  against  developments  of  fallen  human  nature,  organ- 
ized into  historic  agencies  that  have  been  despotic  where 
they  ruled,  and  that  have  been  vexatious  and  disturbing 
where  they  had  only  partial  and  occasional  influence. 


THE  PROTESTANT  CHURCH  AND  THE 
APOCRYPHA. 

I>Y  John  Hall,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Chancellor  of  the  Uni- 
versity OF  THE  City  of  New  York. 


IT  is  interesting  evidence  of  the  quickening  influence  of 
inspired  Scripture  that,  even  when  the  Jews  were  far  be- 
low the  standard  set  up  for  them  by  the  Lord,  through  Moses 
and  Joshua,  they  yet  produced  and  valued  books  of  history, 
ethics,  proverbs  and  religious  fiction  so  highly  prized  that 
when  the  Greek  translation  of  the  Old  Testament  was  made 
they  were  also  rendered  into  Greek,  and  placed  beside  the 
divine  oracles. 

The  Septuagint  having  thus  given  the  apocryphal  books 
a  place,  they  passed  on  into  the  Vulgate,  and  were  retained 
where  the  Latin  Bible  was  the  standard,  even  by  Protestant 
Churches — though  with  such  explanatory  notes,  or  inferior 
type,  as  indicated  that  they  did  not  occupy  the  same  plane 
with  the  inspired  Word. 

The  controversy  regarding  the  degree  of  authority  to  be 
given  to  these  sections  of  religious  literature,  of  course, 
early  engaged  the  attention  of  Christian  writers,  and  has  its 
place  in  patristic  discussions.  With  some  inconsistency — 
in  appearance,  at  least — Jerome,  Eusebius  and  Origen  de- 
nied their  canonical  authority,  although  making  frequent 
references  to  them  of  a  very  respectful  character — one 
other  evidence  to  us  Protestants  that  we  must  not  mix  up 
*'  the  Fathers  "  with  Apostles  and  prophets. 

Before  stating  the  attitude  of  the  Churches,  especially  of 
the  Protestant  Churches,  to  these  books,  a  sentence  or  two 
may  be  permitted  as  to  their  worth.     They  differ  widely 
As  a  contribution  to  the  history  of  the  people  of  Israel  in 


20  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

the  period — which  Prideaux  has  named  and  written  on  with 
great  learning — of  the  connexion  between  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  the  books  of  Maccabees  are  of  great  interest 
and  value.  No  one  can  read  Ecclesiasticus  without  seeing 
what  good  use  the  writer  had  made  of  the  Book  of  Pro- 
verbs, and  of  his  own  observation.  So  the  author  of  the 
Book  of  Tobit  had  evidently  been  a  diligent  student  of  the 
Book  of  Job,  and  Hengstenberg  valued  his  production  so 
highly  as  a"  didactic  story  "  that,  admitting  geographical, 
chronological  and  historic  mistakes,  he  would  have  it  cir- 
culated with  the  canonical  books.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Prayer  of  Manasses  and  the  first  and  second  Books  of 
Esdras  (Ezra)  even  the  Church  of  Rome,  in  the  Council  of 
Trent,  put  in  the  doubtful  place  of  an  appendix  to  the 
Vulgate,  while,  curiously  enough,  the  Church  of  England, 
in  1562  and  157 1,  puts  I.  Esdras  as  the  "third  book  of 
Esdras,"  making  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  the  first  and  second. 
This  book  Josephus  used  to  a  large  extent,  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  it  contains  blunders  so  gross  that  DeWette 
and  Hervey  describe  them  as  hopelessly  irreconcilable  with 
historic  fact.  In  a  word,  we  may  examine  the  Apocrypha, 
associated  with  the  Old  Testament  (we  do  not  now  refer 
to  the  corresponding  claimants  for  a  place  in  the  New),  as 
interesting  exhibitions  of  the  mental  and  moral  development 
of  a  people  grounded  in  the  inspired  Word,  but  influenced 
by  outside  thought  and  life,  these  developments  being 
by  fallible  men,  working  as  did  Augustine,  Tertullian,  Josephus, 
and  in  later  times,  Bunyan,  Baxter  and  Martin  Farquahar 
Tupper. 

As  to  the  estimate  formed  of  the  Apocrypha  by  the 
Churches,  it  is  curious  and  interesting  that  the  Greek  Church 
— notwithstanding  corruptions  that  are  deplorable — from 
the  time  of  Origen  down,  held  to  the  Old  Testament  canon, 
and  sometimes  forbade  the  reading  of  the  Apocrypha.  So 
the  Greek  Church  declared  against  the  Apocrypha  at  the 


THE    PROTESTANT    CHURCH    AND    THE    APOCRYPHA.      21 

time  of  the  Reformation,  taking  Protestant  ground,  al- 
though the  need  of  some  defence  for  certain  views  and 
usages  akin  to  those  of  Rome  has  of  late  modified  her  atti- 
tude. Churches — when  off  the  lines  of  loyalty  to  Christ — 
like  politicians,  welcome  aid  from  any  quarter,  and  shut  their 
eyes  to  the  moral  disqualifications  of  their  supporters. 

The  Church  of  Rome  claims  to  have  the  unanimous  ap- 
proval of  "  the  fathers  "  for  her  doctrines,  a  unanimity  on 
most  subjects — like  the  philosopher's  stone — yet  Jerome, 
Hilary,  Rufinus,  Cyril,  and  Gregory  of  Nazianzen  took 
ground  against  the  Apocrypha,  and  not  only  so,  but  great 
men  from  Gregory  the  Great  in  the  sixth  century.  Vener- 
able Bede  in  the  seventh,  and  others  down  to  Cardinal 
Ximenes  and  Caietan  in  the  sixteenth  century,  held  with 
Jerome  and  shut  out  the  Apocrypha  from  the  canonical 
literature. 

For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  Christendom  the 
Council  of  Trent,  after  much  discussion,  received  our  canon- 
ical books  and  the  Apocrypha  ''  with  an  equal  feeling  of 
devotion  and  reverence."  History  repeats  itself.  When  the 
Donatists  quoted  H.  Maccabees  (xiv.,  17),  Augustine  replied 
by  denying  its  authority;  but  he  is  alleged,  in  three  African 
synods,  to  have  sanctioned  the  ecclesiastical  use  of  the  Apoc- 
rypha. With  a  like  uncertain  position,  when  the  Church 
of  Rome  found  Luther  and  his  followers  pronounced 
against  the  Apocrypha,  and  at  the  same  time  that  certain 
parts  thereof  supported  its  policy,  it  went  against  its  most 
influential  "  fathers,"  and  put  the  book  alongside  the  inspired 
oracle.  They  are  made  to  be,  like  the  writings  of  David 
and  Isaiah,  "  sacred  and  canonical."  All  sorts  of  casuistry, 
special  pleadings  and  nominal  distinctions  (such  as  be- 
tween canonical  and  deutero-canonical)  have  been  resorted 
to,  and  no  greater  mass  of  confused  and  confusing  self-con- 
tradictions can  be  found  anywhere  tlian  in  the  oracular  ut- 
terances of  so-called  Roman  authorities  on  this  matter. 


22  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

We  shall  see,  later,  that  there  was  reason,  avowed  reason, 
for  this  human  addition  to  the  divine  *'  law  and  testimony." 

Now  as  to  the  Protestant  Churches — in  Luther's  Bible  the 
"Apocrypha  "  had  a  place  as  appendix,  under  this  name 
with  the  explanation  ''books  that  are  not  held  as  equal  to 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  yet  are  good  and  useful  to  read." 
While  Luther's  occasional  lack  of  clear  discrimination  ap- 
peared here,  and  his  course  had  great  influence  in  the  Lu- 
theran Church,  the  Form  of  Concord,  fifty  years  after  the 
Augsburg  Confession,  set  up  the  Scriptures  as  the  only  rule 
of  faith. 

The  Reformed  Churches  took  more  decided  ground. 
Westcott  compliments  the  Calvinists  for  setting  up  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments  as  "  the  outward  test  and  spring  of 
all  truth."  The  French  Bible  (1535),  while  giving  the  Apoc- 
rypha, gives  it  no  higher  place  than  as  found  in  the  Vul- 
gate. The  Confession  of  Basle,  the  Helvetic  Confessions, 
and  the  Belgian  Confessions  only  recognize  our  Scriptures, 
and  the  French  Reformed  Church,  in  1561,  guarded  itself 
against  any  appearance  of  evil  in  this  matter. 

The  Synod  of  Dort  (1620)  characterized  the  Apocrypha 
in  the  severest  language  and  raised  the  point,  should  it  be 
translated  and  bound  up  with  the  Scriptures;  which  was 
decided,  to  put  it  colloquially,  "  It  is  not  Scripture;  but  let 
it  go  with  it,"  only  marked  off  from  it  by  a  wide  fence;  or, 
they  might  have  said,  "  drain,"  with  different  paging  and 
type,  and  with  notes  pointing  out  the  blunders.  It  ended 
by  putting  it  at  the  end  of  the  New  Testament. 

The  Anglican  Church — the  Church  of  England  that  is — 
occupied  unique  ground  on  this  matter  since  1562,  the 
"  other  books,"  /.  <?.,  than  the  canonical,  being  read  for  ''ex- 
ample of  life  and  instruction  of  manners,"  though  not  for 
the  support  of  doctrines.  Against  this  plan  strong  protests 
were  often  made;  yet  the  Apocrypha  had  place  in  author- 
ized English  versions  until  1629.     In  1643  Bishop  Lightfoot 


THE    PROTESTANT    CHURCH    AND    THE    APOCRYPHA.       23 

described  the  Apocrypha  to  the  House  of  Commons  as 
"  wretched,"  a  *^  patchery  of  human  invention,"  and  with- 
out formal  legislation  the  authorized  version  continued  to 
go  forth  without  this  appendix. 

The  controversy  was  revived  in  our  century  by  the  craving 
for  Bibles  with  the  Apocrypha,  from  communities  on  the 
continent  needing  aid  from  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society.  Scotland  revolted  against  this  concession,  and  in 
1 81 9  Edinburgh  took  such  ground  that  the  society  severed 
its  connection  with  the  Apocrypha  in  1822,  making  some 
little  compromises  to  the  effect  that  any  continental  people 
who  wanted  it  with  their  Bibles  must  pay  for  it  themselves. 
But  even  this  the  Edinburgh  people  would  not  stand;  and 
in  1827  it  was  decided  that  the  society  would  not  help  any- 
body who  put  the  Apocrypha  with  his  Bible,  and  to  prevent 
trickery  it  would  only  circulate  "  bound  Bibles."  The 
Scottish  friends  had  such  a  firm  hold  of  the  Westminster 
decision  of  1643,  that  "the  books  commonly  called  Apo- 
crypha, not  being  of  divine  inspiration,  are  no  part  of  the 
canon  of  Scripture;  and,  therefore,  are  of  no  authority  in 
the  Church  of  God,  or  to  be  otherwise  approved  of  or  made 
use  o^  than  other  human  writings."  This  part  of  the  Con- 
fession will  not,  we  hope,  be  changed  by  revision. 

Any  one  anxious  to  study  the  details  of  this  little  inter- 
national war,  as  it  affected  Germany,  Switzerland  and  Great 
Britain,  will  find  the  details  in  Dr.  Edwin  C.  Bissell's  Intro- 
duction to  the  Apocrypha,  in  Lange's  Commentary,  of 
which  I  have  made  much  use  in  this  paper. 

The  Church  of  England,  in  her  sixth  article,  states  that 
the  Scriptures  only  are  to  be  appealed  to  for  doctrine,  but 
gives  a  list  of  the  Apocryphal  books — as  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment with  this  prefatory  note — I  quote  from  the  English 
Prayer  Book — **and  the  other  books  (as  Hieromesaith)  the 
Church  doth  read  for  example  of  life  and  instruction  of 
manners;  but  yet  doth  not  apply  them  to  establish  any  doc- 


24  QUESTIONS   OF    THE    DAY. 

trine."  Accordingly  the  books  are  set  down  in  her  Calendar 
for  **  Sundays  and  other  Holydays  "  throughout  the  year, 
and  the  same  in  her  Calendar  with  the  table  of  Lessons,  in 
which  Baruch,  Tobit,  Wisdom,  Ecclesiasticus,  Judith,  Bel 
and  the  Dragon  stand  along  with  Isaiah,  Paul,  Matthew  and 
John. 

I  may  add  that  the  Book  of  Tobit  is  used  twice  in  the 
Communion  service  in  the  same  way  as  Scripture,  and  that 
in  the  Book  of  Homilies,  Tobit  and  Wisdom  are  quoted  as 
Scripture,  and  Baruch  is  called  a  prophet.  (The  American 
Prayer  Book.) 

To  any  policy  of  this  kind  there  appear  to  be  the  follow- 
ing objections: 

(i)  The  authority  of  the  inspired  Word  is  lowered  by  its 
being  put  on  the  same  plane  with  the  confessedly  unin- 
spired. 

(2)  The  Apocrypha  countenances,  and  is  used  to  sustain, 
usages  and  views  contradictory  to  inspired  Scripture.  For 
example,  Tobit  xii.,  12,  15,  sanctions  the  doctrine  of  the 
intercession  of  angels:  there  is  but  one  mediator,  Raphael 
is  not  a  second.  II.  Mace,  xv.,  14,  and  Baruch  iii.,  4,  put 
the  intercession  of  saints  in  the  same  category,  against 
Christ's  sole  priesthood. 

The  inherent  merit  of  good  works  is  taught  in  Tobit  iv., 
7-11,  and  Ecclesiasticus  iii.,  30,  *'alms  make  atonement  for 
sin."  Purgatory  and  the  propriety  of  prayers  for  the  dead 
are  rested  on  IF.  Mace,  xii.,  42  and  onward. 

(3)  And  finally,  there  appears  to  be  a  solemn  threat  in  the 
closing  chapter  of  the  inspired  Apocalypse  against  adding 
to  the  Scriptures — whether  it  be  that  one  book  or  the  whole 
volume,  and  it  is  the  Church's  duty  to  avoid  even  *'  the  ap- 
pearance of  evil,"  and  especially  when,  as  expressed  by 
Tanner,  the  Council  0^  Trent  treated  the  Apocrypha  as  canoni- 
cal because  ''  the  Church  found  its  ov/n  spirit  in  these  books." 
The  Bible  makes  the  Church,  and  not  the  Church  the  Bible* 


THE    CHARACTER    AND    AIM    OF   THE 
"SOCIETY   OF   JESUS." 

By  W.  R.  Gordon,  S.T.D.,  of   the  Reformed  Church 

OF  North  America. 


MORE  books,  pamphlets  and  paragraphs  have  been 
written  about  the  Jesuits  than  about  any  other 
order  of  men  ever  formed.  The  reason  lies  not  in  the 
amount  of  good  they  have  done,  but  in  the  vat  amount  of 
unraingled  evil  justly  laid  to  their  charge.  A  brief  state- 
ment, therefore,  is  all  that  is  necessary  for  our  purpose. 

In  A.D.  1540  Ignatius  Loyola,  a  crippled  Spaniard  and  a 
fanatical,  bigoted  Romanist,  devised  the  formation  of  anew 
society  to  help  the  papal  cause  against  the  progress  of  the 
Reformation.  The  Pope,  Paul  III.,  in  due  time  gave  it  his 
sanction  and  a  formal  existence  in  a  verbose  bull,  saying: 
"  We  will  that  in  this  society  there  be  admitted  to  the  num- 
ber of  sixty  persons  only,  desiring  to  embrace  this  rule  of 
living,  and  no  more;  and  to  be  incorporated  into  the  society 
aforesaid."  "Given  at  Rome,  at  St.  Mark's,  September 
27th,  1540."  The  limitation  of  the  number  to  sixty,  how- 
ever, was  abrogated   by  another  bull,  dated  March  14th, 

1543. 

This  society  took  the  name  of  Jesuits,  or  followers  of 
Jesus,  but  the  name  only;  for  Him  they  followed  not  at  all, 
save  in  manner  as  did  the  malicious  Jews  who  drove  Him 
to  the  cross.  Their  history  for  a  period  of  more  than  two 
centuries  is  most  amazing.  Under  the  autocratic  power  of 
a  General  to  whom  they  made  a  solemn  vow  of  blind  obe- 
dience to  do  and  dare  whatever  he  commanded  in  any  ser- 


26  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

vice  assigned  them,  they  soon  became  famous  as  the  right 
arm  of  the  papacy.  Their  number  rapidly  increased.  Men 
were  trained  for  membership  with  the  greatest  caution  and 
subtle  care,  under  laws  and  regulations  thecompletest,  most 
efficient  and  best  adapted  to  make  out  of  any  pliable  honest 
man  the  vilest  villain,  while  wearing  the  livery  of  sanctity 
and  essential  goodness.  Other  and  older  monkish  orders 
were  content  to  rest  in  seclusion,  but  the  object  of  the  Jes- 
uits was  to  roam  the  earth  to  gain  the  greatest  possible  in- 
fluence over  the  persons  and  affairs  of  all  men  for  insuring 
popularity,  protection  and  support  for  the  papal  see;  and 
that  by  cunning  devices  and  false  pretences,  to  enlist  all 
classes  in  the  destruction  of  Protestants  and  Protestantism 
by  any  and  every  means  in  their  power.  With  consummate 
skill  they  managed  at  the  same  time  to  blind  the  eyes  of 
men  to  the  nature  of  their  doings  and  the  object  of  the  de- 
signs, while  making  themselves  the  masters  of  the  papacy. 
Their  government  was  purely  monarchical.  Their  General, 
elected  for  life,  was  empowered  to  keep  and  control  depu- 
ties throughout  all  nations  for  consolidating  Jesuitical  power 
everywhere  in  the  world.  Their  vast  revenues,  gained  by 
cunning  contrivances,  were  in  h'u  hands;  in  whose  grip 
were  all  the  cords  of  management  worked  by  all  the  arts  pf 
treachery,  through  a  system  of  espionage  that  eluded  the 
wit  of  all  who  felt  their  power  but  could  not  discover  its 
source. 

When,  however,  after  a  suceessful  career  of  two  hundred 
and  thirty-three  years,  the  truth  respecting  them  was  re- 
vealed, it  excited  everywhere  the  intensest  indignation  and 
alarm.  It  was  found  that  they  had  been  guilty  of  every 
conceivable  crime.  By  their  means  torrents  of  blood  had 
been  shed,  the  gunpowder  plot  had  been  laid,  and  the  Duke 
of  Alvah  had  been  prompted  to  put  to  death  thirty  thousand 
Protestants  in  the  Netherlands  within  the  space  of  a  few 
years,  by  the  hands  of  common  euecutioners.     The  horrid 


CHARACTER   AND    AIM    OF  "SOCIETY    OF   JESUS."         2^ 

Inqaisition — a  Romish  institution — had  destroyed,  by  vari- 
ous means  of  torture,  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  within 
the  space  of  thirty  years!  These  awful  facts,  and  many 
more,  are  die-sunk  into  the  record  of  Protestant  experience, 
and  can  never  be  erased  from  the  memory  of  man. 

Pope  Clement  XIII.  was  a  violent  partisan  of  the  Jesuits, 
and  in  answer  to  a  thousand  clamors  from  all  quarters  for 
their  summary  suppression,  sent  forth  a  bull  condemnatory 
of  the  expelling  decree  of  the  French  Parliament,  whose  act 
hi  justification  of  it  "  relates  the  principal  works  of  the  Jes- 
uits, cited  as  extremely  dangerous  because  of  the  doctrines 
which  they  professed  in  reference  to  the  subjects  of  simony, 
blasphemy,  magic,  witchcraft,  astrology,  irreligion,  idolatry, 
impurity,  false  witness,  adultery,  incest,  sodomy,  theft,  sui- 
cide, murder,  parricide  and  regicide.  Finally,  the  decree 
concluded  with  a  list  of  kings,  princes,  prelates  and  popes 
butchered  or  poisoned  by  the  disciples  of  the  renowned  and 
sainted  Loyola"  (Bower's  Hist.,  Vol.  III.,  p.  350 — its  con- 
tinuation). 

The  Pope,  however,  was  too  weak  to  withstand  this 
pressure,  and  he  was  forced  to  yield  to  the  demand  for  the 
suppression  of  the  Jesuits,  "announcing  that  he  would  for- 
mally proclaim  the  abolition  of  the  order  of  the  sons  of  Ig- 
natius Loyola,  in  a  public  consistory.  That  announcement 
was  the  cause  of  his  death.  The  Jesuits  were  on  the  watch, 
and  during  the  night  preceding  the  day  appointed  for  that 
solemn  act  of  justice,  the  pontiff  was  seized  with  extraordi- 
nary pains  and  expired  in  terrible  convulsions,  early  in  the 
morning  of  February  2d,  1769.  The  Jesuits  poisoned  the 
Pope!"(/^.,  p.  352). 

This  formidable  Order  of  "  Holy  Mother  "  has  always 
claimed  its  own  existence  as  necessary  to  the  cause  of  edu- 
cation, and  has  succeeded  by  its  blandishments  in  imposing 
large  numbers  of  Jesuits  upon  the  French  people;  for  when 
banished  from  that  kingdom,  no  less  than  four  thousand  of 


28  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

them  were  driven  out  of  Paris  alone !  When  their  common 
confederacy  in  guilt  was  found  out,  the  people  soon  saw 
what  was  the  end  of  their  vaunted  erudition.  "  The  boasted 
genius  of  the  Jesui  s  for  education,"  says  M.  Cousin,  is 
"  nothing  but  the  organization  of  a  vile  system  of  spying 
into  the  conduct  of  young  men,  and  there  never  was  one 
manly  course  of  studies  in  their  institutions.  They  sacrifice 
substance  to  show,  and  deceive  parents  by  brilliant  and 
frivolous  exhibitions"  {Id ,  p.  353). 

The  Catholic  Dictionary  says  that  "  at  the  present  day 
the  total  number  of  the  Society  is  believed  to  be  about  ten 
thousand";  and  further  that  "  Pope  Clement  XIV.,  in  1773, 
summarily  disposed  of  this  great  society  in  a  very  uiipope- 
like  manner."  He  "  signed  the  constitution,  by  which,  on 
account  of  the  numerous  complaints  and  accusations  of 
which  the  Society  was  the  object,  without  declaring  them 
to  be  either  guilty  or  innocent,  he  suppressed  the  Order  in 
every  part  of  world."  On  the  face  of  it,  this  account  of  the 
matter  is  misleading.  We  have  open  before  us  the  bull  of 
suppression,  the  Constitution  of  the  Order,  and  other  his- 
torical documents,  by  which  we  shall  see  to  what  extent 
this  pretentious  dictionary  may  be  relied  upon  for  exacti- 
tude of  statement  in  criminating  the  Pope,  or  in  vindicating 
*'  this  great  Order." 

The  Constitution  of  the  Jesuits  was  first  published  in 
Latin  at  Rome,  a.d.  1558.  Our  copy  is  one  ''reprinted 
from  the  original  edition,  with  an  appendix  containing  a 
translation  and  several  important  documents."     (London, 

1838). 

By  the  tone  of  pious  verbosity,  well  kept  up  throughout 
fifty-four  chapters,  in  ten  parts,  one  would  judge  '' Consti- 
tutiones  Societatis  Jesu  "  likely  to  be  worthy  of  confidence  ; 
but  we  are  compelled  to  say  a  close  perusal  exhibits  the  ex- 
act reverse  as  the  exact  truth.  This  is  made  clear  by  the 
fact  that  the  "  Secreta  Monita,"  or  "  Monita  Sacra,"  as  Gius- 


CHARACTER    AND    AIM    OF  "  SOCIETY  OF   JESUS."         29 

tiniani  calls  it— a  book  of  rules  by  which  the  Jesuits  con- 
ducted themselves,  and  agreeing  remarkably  in  the  style  of 
its  Latinity  and  drift  of  thought  with  the  former,  but  dis- 
covered about  a  century  previous  to  the  expulsion  of  Jesu- 
its from  France,  a.d.  1762— this  book  casts  back  some  rays 
of  light  upon  the  following  sentences,  and  others  like  them 
found  scattered  throughout  the  pages  of  the  "Constitu-. 
tiones"  (Latin  omitted). 

1.  "The  Society  was  not  instituted  by  human  means" 
(p.  95).  This,  unfortunately,  was  soon  shown  to  be  true 
enough. 

2.  The  members  "  must  be  gifted  with  a  comely  presence  " 

(p.  6). 

3.  Men  must  not  be  admitted  of  "  ungovernable  tempers, 

or  unavailable  to  the  society"  (p.  7). 

4.  They  must  have  "  a  comely  presence  for  the  edifica- 
tion of  those  with  whom  we  have  to  deal"  (p.  7). 

5.  "  It  is  necessary  that  all  yield  themselves  to  perfect 
obedience  regarding  the  Superior  (be  he  whom  he  may)  as 
Christ  the  Lord"  (p.  22). 

6.  They  must  not  "  wish  to  be  led  by  their  own  judgment, 
except  it  agree  with  that  of  those  who  are  to  them  in  the 
stead  of  Christ  our  Lord  "  (p.  20). 

7.  They  must  strive  to  acquire  "perfect  denial  of  their 
own  will  and  judgment,  in  all  things  conforming  their  will 
and  judgment  to  that  which  the  Superior  wills  and  judges  " 

(p.  22). 

8.  "Generally  speaking,  they  should  be  taught  what 
method  should  be  pursued  by  the  laborers  of  the  Society, 
in  securing  the  emoluments  which  contribute  to  the  greater 
glory  of  God  by  employing  all  the  means  which  can  be  pos- 
sibly employed  "  (p.  38). 

9.  "  They  should  greatly  revere  their  Rector  as  one  who 
holds  the  place  of  Christ  our  Lord,  leaving  to  Him  the  free 


30  QUESTIONS    OF    THE   DAY. 

dispositions  of  themselves  and  their  concerns  with  unfeigned 
obedience  "  (p.  40). 

10.  '*  Every  one  must  persuade  himself  that  they  who  live 
under  obedience  should  permit  themselves  to  be  moved 
and  directed  under  Divine  Providence  by  their  Superiors, 
just  as  if  they  were  a  corpse,  which  allows  itself  to  be  moved 
and  handled  in  any  way  ;  or  as  the  staff  of  an  old  man, 
which  serves  him  wherever  and  in  whatsoever  thing  he  who 
holds  it  in  his  hand  pleases  to  use  it "  (p.  36). 

11.  "No  one  may  allow  himself  to  be  examined  without 
the  license  of  the  Superior  in  civil  or  criminal  causes,  unless 
he  who  can  oblige  him  under  sin  should  compel  him,  and 
the  Superior  will  never  grant  permission  except  in  causes 
which  relate  to  the  Roman  Catholic  religion"  (p.  62). 

12.  *' The  Superiors  of  the  Society  are  over  them  in  the 
place  of  the  divine  majesty"  (p.  64). 

13.  "The  Society  desires  all  its  members  to  be  secured, 
or  at  least  assisted  from  falling  into  the  snare  of  sin  which 
may  originate  from  the  force  of  its  constitutions  or  injunc- 
tions (?).  It  seems  good  to  us  in  the  Lord,  that,  excepting 
the  express  vow  by  which  the  society  is  bound  to  the  pope 
for  the  time  being,  and  the  other  essential  vows  of  poverty, 
charity,  and  obedience ;  no  constitutions,  declarations,  or 
any  order  of  living  can  involve  an  obligation  to  sin,  mortal 
or  venial  (!),  unless  the  Superior  command  them,  in  the 
name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  or  in  virtue  of  holy  obedi- 
ence ;  which  shall  be  done  in  those  cases  or  persons,  wherein 
it  shall  be  judged  that  it  will  greatly  conduce  to  the  particu- 
lar good  of  each,  or  to  the  general  advantage  ;  and  instead 
of  the  fear  of  offence,  let  the  love  and  desire  of  all  perfec- 
tion succeed  ;  that  the  greater  glory  and  praise  of  Christ 
our  Creator  and  Lord  may  follow  "  (?)  (pp.  6^,  64). 

14.  "  Whoever  is  endowed  with  the  talent  of  writing  books 
conducive  to  the  common  good,  and  shall  compose  any 
such,  nevertheless  shall  not  publish  them  except  the  Gen- 


CHARACTER    AND    AIM    OF  "  SOCIETY  OF    JESUS."         $1 

eral  shall  previously  see  them,  and  subject  them  to  the 
judgment  and  censure  of  others  ;  that,  if  they  shall  seem 
good  for  edification,  they  may  come  before  the  public,  and 
not  otherwise  "  (p.  70).  (See  the  list  of  Jesuit  works  herein 
given  for  edification), 

15.  Upon  the  election  of  a  General,  '*  all  shall  come  forth- 
with to  do  him  reverence,  and  on  both  their  knees  shall  kiss 
his  hand"  (p.  79). 

16.  "Among  the  various  endowments  desirable  in  the 
General,  this  is  the  most  important ;  that  he  be  most  inti- 
mate with  God  and  our  Lord,  as  well  in  prayer  as  in  all 
other  actions  "  (p.  82). 

17.  "As  it  belongs  to  the  General  to  see  that  the  Consti- 
tutions of  the  Society  be  everywhere  observed  ;  so  shall  it 
belong  to  him  to  grant  dispensation  in  all  classes  where  dis- 
pensation is  necessary"  (p.  85). 

18.  "  He  may  send  all  that  are  subject  to  him  to  any  part 
of  the  world,  for  any  period,  definite  or  indefinite,  as  he 
shall  determine,  to  do  any  action  of  those  which  the  Society 
is  wont  to  exercise  for  the  succor  of  souls  (!).  He  may  re- 
call missionaries,  and  in  short,  proceed  in  all  things  as  he 
shall  think  will  be  to  the  greater  glory  of  God  "  (p.  85). 

19.  "  He  shall  scrutinize  as  far  as  possible  the  consciences 
of  those  who  are  under  his  obedience  "  (p.  87). 

20.  "  Obedience  and  reverence  should  always  be  paid 
him,  as  one  who  holds  the  place  of  Christ "  (p.  87). 

These  underscored  phrases — some  of  them  blasphemous, 
some  tyrannical,  some  purposely  made  ambiguous — occur- 
ring in  a  large  instrument,  more  or  less  suspiciously  worded 
throughout,  are  indicative  of  purposes  that  will  not  bear  the 
light  of  a  perspicuous  style,  while  all  are  quite  in  keeping 
with  the  style  and  drift  of  the  "  Secreta  Monita." 

Soon  after  this  Society  was  legalized  by  Pope  Paul  III. 
in  1540,  it  began  to  bring  forth  the  fruits  of  iniquity,  and  it 
was  long  after  that  the  people  among  whom  it  had  operated 


32  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

found  out  its  character  by  their  own  sufferings,  were  driven 
into  exasperation,  and  clamored  for  its  suppression.  By- 
heathen,  as  well  as  by  Christian  states ;  by  Roman  far  more 
than  by  Protestant  countries,  the  Jesuits  were  ignominiously 
expelled,  as  intolerably  dangerous  to  human  society. 

There  never  was  such  a  horrid  catalogue  of  crime  veri- 
fied against  any  body  of  men,  outside  of  Romanism,  put  on 
the  records  of  any  court  since  the  Noachian  Deluge;  and 
this  by  a  Parliament  whose  religious  sentiments  would  have 
naturally  biassed  every  member  of  it  in  favor  of  the  accused, 
had  it  been  possible  to  have  avoided  the  frightful  proof  pro- 
fusely furnished,  not  by  Protestants,  but  by  the  Jesuits 
themselves  in  numerous  books  collected — one  hundred  and 
fifty,  and  every  one  of  them  published  with  the  approbation 
and  permission  of  their  Generals. 

"  So  atrocious,  extensive,  and  continual  were  their  crimes," 
says  Mgr.  De  Pradt,  Roman  Archbishop  of  Malines,  "  that 
they  were  expelled,  either  partially  or  generally,  from  all 
the  different  countries  of  Europe,  at  various  intervals  prior 
to  the  abolition  of  the  Order  in  1773,  thirty-nine  times — a  fact 
unparalleled  in  the  history  of  any  body  of  men  ever  known 
in  the  world.  This  is  the  seal  of  reprobation  stamped  upon 
Jesuitism." 

The  volume,  published  by  the  French  Parliamentary  sanc- 
tion, ought  to  be  translated  into  English  and  circulated 
throughout  our  land.  It  is  divided  into  eighteen  chapters, 
containing  extracts  from  150  volumes,  covering  the  period 
from  1500  to  1 75 1  ;  and  proving  the  various  counts  recited 
as  reasons  for  the  decree  against  tlie  "  Order." 
•  These  chapters  are  arranged  according  to  the  following 
"  Table  of  the  Title  of  Propositions  recited  in  this  Collec- 
tion "  : 

*'  I.  Unity  of  seniwient  a?id  doctrine  of  those  who  ai-e  called 
ike  Society  of  Jesus y — Upon  which  topic  there  are  extracts 
from  five  authors  and  eight  different  works,  from  the  year 


CHARACTER    AND    AIM    OF  "  SOCIETY  OF    JESUS."         33 

1540  to  1757.  The  last  volume  is  entitled  "  Institutes  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus.  By  authority  of  the  General  Con- 
gregation." They  inculcate  these  three  general  rules  : 
That  the  spirit  and  character  of  Jesuitism  are  to  be  as- 
certained by  the  ordinances  and  rules  composed  by  the 
superiors  and  most  mfluential  members  ;  that  no  book 
can  be  published  by  any  Jesuit  upon  his  own  private  respon- 
sibility, for  it  must  be  sanctioned  prior  to  its  promulgation 
by  the  Generals  of  the  Order,  as  a  true  exposition  of  the 
avowed  principles  of  all  the  members  ;  and  that  they  are 
but  "one  in  design,  action  and  vows,  as  if  they  were  united 
by  the  conjugal  bond.  At  the  least  signal,  one  man  turns 
and  changes  the  whole  Society,  and  determines  the  whole 
body,  who  are  easily  impelled,  but  with  difficulty  counter- 
acted." ("  Imago  primi  Seculi,"  etc.,  Prolog.  33,  Lib.  5, 
622.) 

'*  II.  Probabilism, — To  illustrate  the  peculiar  attributes 
of  Jesuitism,  fifty-five  writers,  from  the  year  1600  to  1759, 
are  cited,  containing  about  three  passages,  of  which  only 
one,  from  page  51,  is  selected  as  a  specimen  of  that  perfect 
adaptation  of  Jesuitical  principles  to  the  depraved  propen- 
sities of  sinners.  '  The  confessor,  whether  ordinary  or 
delegated,  under  the  penalty  of  mortal  sin,  is  bound  to  ab- 
solve the  penitent,  who  follows  the  probable  opinion  of  sin, 
even  when  the  confessor  himself  knows  that  it  is  false.* 
(Georges  de  Rhodes,  Actis  Humains,  Disput.  2,  Quest  2, 
Sect.  3.) 

"III.  Philosophical  Sin,  Invincible  Ignorance,  Erroneous 
Conscience,  etc. — Forty  authors  are  quoted  as  expositors  of 
those  dogmas  of  Jesuitism  from  the  year  1607  to  1761  ;  in- 
cluding 130  paragraphs. 

"  IV. — Simony  and  Secrecy. — To  this  chapter  are  appended 
the  works  of  fourteen  writers,  from  the  year  1590  to  1759  ; 
and  forty-one  extracts  from  their  productions. 

"V.  Blasphemy. — Five  of  the  Jesuit   commentators  are 


34  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

adduced,  from  the  year  1640  to  1766  ;  and  fourteen  illustra- 
tions. 

''  VI.  Sacrilege. — This  subject  is  elucidated  by  four  pas- 
sages from  Francis  de  Lugo,  of  the  year  1652  ;  and  three 
citations  from  Georges  Gobat,  1700. 

"VII.  Magic. — To  unfold  that  part  are  alleged  the  writ- 
ings of  Escobar,  of  the  year  1663  ;  Taberna,  1 736  ;  Arsdekin, 
1744;  Laymann,  1748;  Trachala,  1759;  and  thirteen  para- 
graphs from  their  works. 

"VIII.  Astrology. — Arsdekin,  1744;  and  Busembaum  and 
La  Croix  are  cited  as  sanctioning  that  impious  violation  of 
the  divine  law. 

''  IX.  Irreligion. — Thirty-seven  writers,  from  the  year 
1607  to  1759,  are  successively  adduced,  and  130  extracts 
from  their  volumes.  We  select  one  specimen  :  '  By  the 
command  of  God,  it  is  lawful  to  murder  the  innocent,  to  rob, 
and  to  commit  all  lewdness  ;  and  thus  to  fulfil  His  mandate 
is  our  duty.'  (*  Alegona.  Sum.  Theolog.  Compend.,  Thom. 
Aquinas,  Quest.  94.') 

"  X.  Idolatry. — This  is  subdivided  into  three  parts.  The 
general  sanction  to  idolatry  which  is  given  by  the  Order  of 
Jesuits  is  proved  by  three  extracts  from  Vasquez,  of  the 
year  16 14  ;  and  by  the  quotation  from  Fagundez,  1640. 
The  approbation  which  the  Jesuits  formally  gave  to  the 
Chinese  idolatrous  ceremonies  is  verified  by  nineteen  ex- 
tracts from  the  Papal  bulls  and  various  works  of  those  priests 
from  the  year  1545  to  1742.  That  they  encouraged  and 
participated  in  the  idolatry  of  the  Malabars  is  demonstrated 
by  three  extracts  from  Papal  bulls,  decrees,  etc.,  from  the 
year  1645  ^^  i745-  Those  mandates  from  the  Roman  court 
particularly  interdicted  the  Jesuits  from  their  open  combina- 
tion with  those  idolaters ;  upon  which  Daniel,  in  his  *  Re- 
cucil  de  Divers  Oavages  Philosophiques,  Theologiques,' 
etc,  Paris,  1724,  thus  decides:  'That  article  concerning 
idolatry,   of   all   the   provincial  affairs,  is   the   most  cruel 


CHARACTER    AND    AIM    OF       SOCIETY  OF    JESUS.  35 

towards  the  Jesuits.  I  have  often  told  them  that  it  is  a  de- 
cisive point  for  all  others  ;  for  anything  once  having  been 
supposed  to  be  true,  all  which  follows  from  it  is  credible,  or 
at  least  appears  not  to  be  incredible.'  (Entretien  de  Cleand. 
et  d'End.,  440.)  According  to  which  proposition,  error  or 
wickedness  cannot  possibly  exist  in  the  world. 

"XI.  Licentiousness. — This  topic  is  Illustrated  by  eighteen 
writers  of  the  very  highest  authority  in  the  Order,  from  the 
year  1590  to  1759.  vvith  fifty-one  citations  from  their  works. 

*'XII.  Perjury,  Lying  and  False  Witnesses. — Twenty-nine 
authors,  from  the  year  1590  to  1761,  illustrating  those  sub- 
jects;  and  153  paragraphs  are  extracted  from  their  books. 

"XIII.  Prevarication  of  Jtcdi^^es. — Laymann  of  the  year 
Y^Afi  \  Fabri,  1670;  Taberna,  1736;  Fegeli,  1750;  and 
Busembaum  and  La  Croix,  1757  ;  in  eight  paragraphs  in- 
struct judges  how  to  pervert  law  and  justice. 

"XIV.  Theft y  Secret  Compensation^  Concealment^  etc. — 
To  develop  how  men  may  steal  and  plunder  with  impunity, 
and  without  sin,  by  every  variety  of  artifice,  thirty-four 
writers,  from  the  year  1590  to  i76i,are  introduced,  with  149 
expositions  of  Jesuitical  knavery. 

"XV.  Murder. — Thirty- six  authors,  from  the  year  1590 
to  1761,  teach  the  various  modes  of  violating  the  Sixth  Com- 
mandment in  161  passages  from  their  volumes. 

"XVI.  Parricide. — Dicastille  of  the  year  1641  ;  Escobar, 
1663;  Gobat,  1700;  Carnedi,  1719  ;  and  Stoz,  1756,  in 
twenty-nine  paragraphs  inculcate  and  justify  the  murder  of 
parents  and  other  relatives, 

'■  XVII.  Suicide. — Laymann  of  the  year  1627,  and  Busem- 
baum and  La  Croix,  1757,  in  fifteen  passages  defend  sui- 
cide. 

*'  XVIII.  Lligh  Treason  and  Regicide. — Seventy- five  of 
the  most  renowned  Jesuit  authors,  from  the  year  1^90  to 
1759  :  English,  French,  German,  Spanish  and  Italian,  all 
are  cited ;  with  221   quotations  from  their  writings  which 


3^  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

maintain  that  '  Roman  priests  are  not  subject  to  any  civil 
government';  Nicholas  Muskza,  Leg.  Hum.  Lib.  i,  Dissert. 
4,  Num.  185  ;  and  which  defend  rebell  on,  treason,  and  the 
murder  of  all  Protestant  rulers  and  magistrates. 

"  One  of  the  dogmas  must  be  quoted  as  a  specimen 
of  the  morals  of  Jesuits.  It  was  the  thesis  of  Frangois 
Xavier  Mamaki,  Prefect  of  the  Jesuit  College  of  Rouen  in 
France,  in  1759:  '  Heroas  faciunt,  etc.  Fortunate  crimes 
sometimes  mike  heroes.  Successful  crime  ceases  to  le 
crime.  Whom  France  calls  by  the  opprobrious  names  of 
robber  and  pirate  she  will  call  "  Alexmder  "  if  his  course  be 
prosperous.  Success  constitutes  or  absolves  the  guilty  at 
its  will.'  " 

The  eleventh  chapter  of  this  volume,  published  by  the  Par- 
liament of  Paris,  on  the  subject  of  licentiousness,  and  be- 
ginning with  a  quotation  from  Jesuit  Sa.,  1590,  "  Potest  et 
femina  quaeque,  et  mas,  pro  turpi  corporis  usu  pretium  acci- 
pere  et  petere  ;  et  qui  promisit,  tenetur  solvere  "  (Aphor. 
Luxuria,  249),  is  perfectly  horrible.  These  150  volumes 
were  each  issued  with  the  approbition  of  the '' General," 
**  standing  to  "  their  author  "  in  the  place  of  Jesus  Christ  " 
(!  !  f).  These  books,  unparalleled  for  intensified  iniquity, 
afforded  a  mighty  mass  of  evidence  for  conviction,  and 
thoroughly  justified  the  prompt  parliamentary  action. 

The  arrit,  or  judicial  decision,  was  speedily  drawn  up 
and  passed  so  confidentially  and  secretly  that  the  royal 
troops  had  surrounded  the  Jesuit  college,  and  had  rushed 
in  and  seized  the  private  papers  of  the  miserable  inmates 
before  they  had  become  aware  of  the  enactment  of  the  de- 
cree relative  to  their  banishment — subsequently  and  swiftly 
executed.  Because  the  French  Parliament  was  very  par- 
ticular to  collect  material  sufficiently  strong  and  unmistak- 
ably authentic  to  justify  such  expulsion  to  the  world,  in  the 
event  of  their  resorting  to  this  measure,  it  is  more  important 
herein  to   relate  their  proceedings  in  the  matter  briefly  as 


<i„„^,-,„„  „^    »» 


CHARACTER    AND    AIM   OF       SOCIETY  OF    JESUS.  37 

possible,  after  saying  that  all  these  documents  in  the  case 
must  have  been  before  the  Pope,  Clement  XIV.,  to  enable 
him  to  decide  upon  his  own  duty.  Never  was  any  poor 
Pope  more  perplexed  while  perusing  the  odious  mass  which 
proved  out  of  their  own  mouths  what  all  Jesuits  are  bound 
to  be  and  to  do,  and  what  they  actually  did  ;  and  what  was 
truly  affirmed  of  them  in  the  bill  of  indictment  before  a 
Roman  Catholic  parliament,  upon  the  strength  of  which  the 
suppression  of  the  Order  was  clamorously  demanded  and 
righteously  granted.  Though  "His  Holiness"  knew  that 
their  final  suppression  by  his  own  infallible  authority  would 
be  at  the  cost  of  his  life,  he  did  not  flinch  from  his  duty. 

In  his  bull,  dated  July  21,  1773,  Clement  XIV.,  wrote  as 
follows  : 

"  That  we  might  choose  the  wisest  course  in  an  affair  of 
so  much  importance,  we  determined  not  to  be  precipitant, 
but  to  take  due  time  not  only  to  examine  attentively,  weigh 
carefully,  and  wisely  debate,  but  also  by  unceasing  prayer  to 
ask  the  Father  of  lights  for  His  particular  assistance." 

Thus  the  Pope  records  his  decision  :  "The  very  sover- 
eigns whose  piety  and  liberality  towards  the  Company  were 
so  well-known — the  Kings  of  France,  Spain,  Portugal  and 
Sicily — found  themselves  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  expel-- 
ing  and  driving  from  their  states,  kingdoms  and  provinces 
these  very  companions  of  Jesus  ;  persuaded  that  there  re- 
mained no  other  remedy  to  so  great  evils,  and  that  this  step 
was  necessary  in  order  to  prevent  the  Christians  from  rising 
one  against  another  and  from  massacreing  each  other  in 
the  very  bosom  of  our  common  mother,  the  Holy  Church. 

"  It  was  very  difficult,  not  to  say  impossible,  that  the 
Church  should  recover  a  firm  and  durable  peace  so  long  as 
the  said  society  subsisted  ;  in  consequence  thereof  ...  we 
are  determined  upon  the  fate  of  a  society  classed  among 
the  mendicant  orders  both  by  its  institute  and  by  its  priv- 
ileges.    Aftei  a  mature  deliberation  we  do,  out  of  our  cer- 


3^  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

tain  knowledge,  and  the  fulness  of  our  apostolic  power,  sup- 
press and  abolish  the  said  company.  .  .  .  We  declare  all 
and  all  kind  of  authority,  the  General,  the  provincials,  the 
visitors,  and  other  Superiors  of  the  said  Society  to  be  for- 
ever annulled  and  extinguished. 

"  Given  at  Rome,  at  St.  Mary  the  Greater,  under  the  seal 
of  the  Fisherman,  the  21st  day  of  July,  1773,  in  the  fifth 
year  of  our  Pontificate." 

Notwithstanding  this  infallible  decision,  this  dangerous 
Order  was  restored  to  life  and  power  by  another  infallible 
Pope,  Pius  VII.,  August  7,  1814.  He  said:  "We  should 
deem  ourselves  guilty  of  a  great  crime  towards  God  if,  amid 
these  dangers  of  the  Christian  republic,  we  neglected  the 
aids  which  the  special  providence  of  God  has  put  at  our 
disposal  ;  and  if,  placed  in  the  bark  of  Peter,  tossed  and 
assailed  by  continual  storms,  we  refused  to  employ  the  vig- 
orous and  experienced  rowers  (Jesuits)  who  volunteer  their 
services,  in  order  to  break  the  waves  of  a  sea  that  threaten 
every  moment  shipwreck  and  death."  (!  !  I) 


HOW  CAN  JESUITISM  BE  SUCCESSFULLY 

MET? 

By  Principal  D.  H.  MacVicar,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Presby- 
TERiAN  College,  Montreal. 


The  question  is  confessedly  a  difficult  one.  To  say  that 
Jesuitism  cannot  be  successfully  met  is  pessimistic — equiv- 
alent to  acknowledging  that  truth  is  to  be  ultimately  over- 
thrown by  error.  We  cannot  accept  this  conclusion.  God 
is  infinitely  mightier  than  the  devil,  and  the  head  of  the 
old  serpent  hath  been  bruised  under  the  heel  of  the  Son  of 
God,  and,  therefore,  victory  is  sure  on  the  side  of  truth  and 
righteousness,  however  long  delayed. 

The  society  which  is  the  parent  and  propagator  of  what 
is  meant  by  Jesuitism  has  existed  for  more  than  three  cen- 
turies, and,  while  not  as  strong  numerically  as  a  hundred 
years  ago,  it  shows  no  signs  of  senility  or  lack  of  courage 
and  force.  In  the  bull  of  confirmation,  issued  by  Pope 
Paul  III.,  on  the  27th  of  September,  1540,  it  is  described  as 
''  a  spiritual  army  under  the  standard  of  the  Cross."  Its 
members  are  bound  by  a  vow  of  perpetual  '*  poverty,  chas- 
tity, and  obedience  to  a  General,  in  whom  they  see  Jesus 
Christ  as  if  He  were  present,  and  a  special  vow  to  the  Pope 
and  his  successors." 

Its  motto  is,  ''''  Ad  majorc7?i  Dei ^lortam  "  (For  the  greater 
glory  of  God).  But  its  career,  as  recorded  by  impartial  his- 
torians, Roman  Catholic  as  well  as  Protestant,  has  long  ago 
convinced  the  i.ations  that  have  had  most  to  do  with  it  of 
the  hollowness  of  these  pr*^tensions  to  superior  piety. 

At  the  outset  it  swept  over  Italy  with  wonderful  rapidity. 


40  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

Success  marked  its  path  everywhere,  so  that  before  the 
death  of  its  first  General,  Ignatius  de  Loyola,  in  1556,  it 
had  more  than  1,000  members. 

Its  policy  was,  and  still  is,  to  secure  the  friendship  and 
patronage  of  the  rich  and  great  ones  of  the  earth,  specially 
in  educational  work.  In  this  it  has  often  been  successful, 
and  yet  eventually  it  became  the  ruler  and  the  terror  of 
emperors,  kings  and  governments.  For  example,  Jesuit  col- 
leges were  opened  in  Portugal  by  Francis  Xavier  at  the 
invitation  of  the  king.  Just  as  Jesuits  accompanied  Lord 
Baltimore  to  Maryland  for  the  same  purpose,  and  they  have 
since  so  prospered  that  in  1876  they  had  seventeen  colleges 
in  the  United  States,  including  the  University  of  St.  Louis.* 
In  Canada  they  have  St.  Mary's  College,  Montreal,  founded 
in  1848,  and  a  college  at  St.  Boniface,  Manitoba,  and  no 
doubt  others  are  projected  all  under  the  approving  smile  of 
the  pope,  of  politicians,  and  of  easy-going  wealthy  Protes- 
tants. Spain  gave  the  order  a  similarly  kind  reception, 
and  by  the  efforts  of  Francis  Borgia,  Duke  of  Gandia, 
their  prosperity  was  such  that,  in  1773,  they  numbered  in 
that  country  alone  over  6,000  members.  In  France  their 
career  has  been  checkered  in  the  extreme  ;  and  it  is  a  note- 
worthy fact  that,  while  this  country  is  often  regarded  as 
the  very  cradle  of  the  order,  no  Frenchman  has  yet  at- 
tained to  the  distinction  of  being  chosen  General.  The 
University  from  the  first,  acting  in  self-defence,  stoutly 
opposed  their  educational  schemes,  and  in  doing  so  it 
struck  at  the  very  heart  of  their  enterprise.  They  lay  them- 
selves out  to  be  educators.  Their  primary  aim  is  to  seize 
the  young  and  saturate  their  hearts  and  minds  with  the 
principles  of  their  system.  And  in  every  country  in  which 
their  pupils  in  considerable  numbers  have  grown  to  be  men, 
political  intrigue,  religious  turmoil,  and  national  troubles 
have  been  the  issue.     Who  does  not  know  the  treatment  of 

♦  See  Kiddle  and  Schem's  Cyclopedia  of  Education,  p.  494. 


HOW    CAN    JESUITISM    RE    SUCCESSFULLY    MET?  4T 

Galileans  and  Huguenots  at  their  hands  and  the  ruin  which 
it  brought  upon  their  fair  country  ?  During  the  war  of  the 
League  they  fell  into  the  utmost  disrepute,  and  at  length  the 
assassination  of  Henry  HI.,  along  with  the  suspicions  which 
arose  regarding  the  attempt  made  upon  the  life  of  Henry 
IV.  by  Chatell,  for  a  time  one  of  their  pupils,  led  to  their 
total  expulsion  from  France  in  1594.  Being  reinstated, 
however,  in  1603,  they  were  soon  again  involved  in  new 
conflicts  and  reproaches.  The  openly  avowed  doctrines  of 
Mariana,  a  member  of  the  society,  regarding  the  right  of 
revolt,  caused  popular  indignation  to  settle  upon  them  with 
intensity  in  connection  with  the  murder  of  Henry  IV.  by 
Ravaillac.  They  were  also  vigorously  assailed  from  within 
the  Church.  Jansenisls,  Dominicans,  and  Augustinians, 
from  time  to  time,  opened  their  ecclesiastical  batteries  upon 
them  with  galling  effect.  The  caustic  pen  of  the  versatile 
Pascal,  for  example,  in  his  brilliant  and  immortal  "  Lettres 
Provinciales,"  so  exposed  the  rottenness  o^  Jesuitical  casu- 
istry that  their  attempts  to  reply  served  only  to  cover  them 
with  greater  ridicule  in  the  eyes  of  educated  and  honest  men. 

Other  countries,  learning  enough  of  their  doings,  meted 
out  to  them  similar  treatment.  Accordingly,  their  entrance 
into  Hungary,  Bohemia,  Moravia  and  Transylvania  was 
viewed  with  the  strongest  disfavor  and  strenuously  resisted. 
They  also  encountered  the  keenest  hostility  from  the  popu- 
lar belief  that  they  were  the  instigators  of  the  bloody  strug- 
gle known  as  the  Thirty  Years  War, 

Persevering,  however,  in  the  face  of  all  forms  of  opposi- 
tion, they  claim  to  have  gained  decisive  triumphs  in  Austria, 
Bavaria,  and  the  Rhenish  principalities.  The  story  of  the 
alleged  success  of  their  missions  to  the  heathen  in  India, 
China  and  Japan  was  clouded  with  appalling  disasters  in  the 
end.  Even  pagans  gradually  learned  to  abhor  the  system 
and  to  drive  it  from  their  shores  with  loathing.  But  their 
pristine  zeal  and  ubiquitous  spirit  remained  unbroken,  and 


4i  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

thirsting  for  new  fields  of  conquest  they  pushed  their  way 
into  Northern  and  Central  America,  Brazil,  Paraguay,  Uru- 
guay, California,  and  the  Philippine  Islands.  And  so  great 
was  their  success  that  at  the  first  centenary  celebration  they 
reported  13,112  members;  and  a  hundred  years  later  they 
claimed  to  have  22,589  members,  of  whom  11,295  were 
priests,  along  with  24  professed  houses,  669  colleges,  176 
seminaries,  61  novitiates,  335  residences,  and  275  mission- 
ary stations.  This  seems  to  have  been  the  period  of  their 
greatest  strength.  At  present  it  is  not  possible  accurately 
to  ascertain  their  number,  but  it  is  thought  to  be  about 
6,coo  in  all  parts  of  the  \yorld.  An  active  portion  of  this 
small  but  powerful  army  is  stationed  in  Canada  and  the 
United  States,  bent  upon  the  conquest  of  this  continent.  It 
surely  must  be  possible  for  all  lovers  of  truth  and  freedom 
in  theso  two  great  countries  to  meet  successfully  the  ag- 
gressive movements  of  such  a  handful,  if  the  work  is  gone 
about  in  the  ri^lvi;  way. 

And  here  let  it  be  distinctly  understood — 

T.  That  it  is  vain  to  look  to  the  Church  of  Rome  to  terrninate 
Jesuitism. 

The  voice  of  history  is  unmistakably  clear  upon  this 
point.  She  has  signally  failed  wherever  she  has  opposed 
and  coercively  touched  this  body.  When,  in  1762,  F. 
Lavelette,  the  Jesuit  administrator  of  Martinique,  became 
bankrupt  in  the  sum  of  2,400,000  francs,  it  caused  such  a 
scandal  that  the  Parliament  of  Paris  ordered  the  constitu- 
tions of  the  society  to  be  published,  and  appointed  a  royal 
commission  to  examine  the  documents.  This  commission 
called  to  their  aid  a  private  assembly  of  fifty-one  archbishops, 
presided  over  by  Cardinal  de  Luynes.  This  goodly  compa- 
ny of  high  dignitaries,  with  the  exception  of  six,  condemned 
certain  fundamental  points  in  the  constitutions  and  called 
for  amendments.  But  it  was  all  in  vain.  The  defiant  an- 
swer of  their  General,  Lorenzo  Ricci,  was  "  Sint  ut  sunt,  aut 


HOW    CAN    JESUITISM    BE    SUCCESSFULLY    MET?  43 

non  sint."  Learned  prelates  of  commanding  influence  are 
helpless  when  they  come  in  collision  with  Jesuitical  schemes. 
Witness  the  latest  example  of  this  sort  in  the  case  of  Cardi- 
nal Taschereau's  fruitless  efforts  to  prevent  the  incorpora- 
tion and  subsequent  endowment  of  the  society  out  of  public 
funds  in  the  province  of  Quebec.  In  about  two  years,  dur- 
ing 18S7-1888,  by  the  agency  of  a  cunning,  unscrupulous 
politician,  a  pupil  of  their  own,  who  has  since  been  covered 
with  decorations  and  honors  from  Rome,  both  these  ends 
were  gained  in  spite  of  the  Cardinal's  opposition;  and  Que- 
bec to  day  enjoys  the  unenviable  distinction  of  having  given 
the  order  what  it  demanded,  an  act  of  incorporation,  a  legal 
status  on  this  continent,  and  of  having  paid  out  of  the  pub- 
lic purse  $400,000  for  its  endowment  and  to  aid  the  Romish 
Church,  on  the  pretext  of  rectifying  a  wrong  said  to  have 
been  done  to  the  society  by  the  sovereign  of  England  more 
than  a  century  ago. 

Even  the  remonstrances  and  censures  of  popes  are  dis- 
regarded by  the  order.  According  to  the  testimony  of 
Clement  XIV.  several  of  his  predecessors  were  constrained 
to  rebuke  and  punish  them,  but  to  no  purpose.  Finally,  he 
himself,  discovering  that  they  were  hated  by  Spain,  Portu- 
gal, France,  and  in  fact  all  the  nations  of  Europe,  except 
the  feeble  kingdom  of  Sardinia,  completely  suppressed  them 
by  the  brief ''  Dominus  ac  Redemptor^''  July  21st,  1773. 

In  this  instrument  they  are  charged,  among  other  things, 
with  violations  of  their  constitutions  by  meddling  with  poli- 
tics, a  sin  which  they  have  not  yet  abandoned.  They  are 
declared  guilty  of  insubordination  to  local  ecclesiastical 
authorities,  guilty  of  consenting  to  heathen  practices  in  the 
East,  and  of  disturbing  in  various  ways  the  peace  of  the 
Church  and  bringing  upon  her  persecutions  and  manifold 
dangers.  In  accordance,  therefore,  with  the  mind  of 
bishops,  cardinals  and  sundry  other  popes,  and  for  the  con- 
servation of  peace  and  the  safety  of  religion,  Clement  de- 


44  QUFSTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

clares  the  society  suppressed,  extinguished  and  abrogated 
forever,  with  all  its  rites,  houses,  colleges,  schools  and  hos- 
pitals. The  congregation  of  cardinals  takes  possession  of 
all  the  temporalities  of  the  order,  and  the  unyielding  Gen- 
eral, Lorenzo  Ricci,  is  thrown  into  prison  in  the  castle  of 
St.  Angelo,  where  he  dies  in  1775. 

Nothing  more  vigorous  or  drastic  than  this  can  be  ex- 
pected from  the  Vatican,  and  yet  as  a  means  of  terminating 
Jesuitism  it  was  a  conspicuous  failure.  Other  infallible 
popes  came  speedily  to  the  rescue  of  the  shattered  order. 
Scarcely  a  quarter  of  a  century  had  passed  when,  in  1801, 
a  brief  by  Pius  VII.  restored  it  in  Northern  Russia  ;  an- 
other brief  did  the  same  for  it  in  the  Two  Sicilies  in  1804, 
and,  finally,  in  1814  it  was  fully  relieved  of  all  the  disabili- 
ties under  which  it  had  been  placed  by  Clement  XIV. 

In  the  light  of  these  transactions  what  is  the  use  of  look- 
ing to  the  Church  for  the  removal  of  the  evils  of  Jesuitism  ? 
They  have  their  congenial  home  in  her  bosom,  and  thrive 
there  when  attempted  to  be  crushed.  It  is  often  said  by 
the  advocates  of  peace  at  any  price,  that  if  Protestants 
would  leave  it  alone,  its  incurable  tendency  to  breed  strife 
in  the  popish  camp  would  prove  its  destruction.  This  is 
certainly  not  the  lesson  emphasized  by  the  historic  past. 
As  matter  of  fact  the  thousand  tumults,  debates  and  raging 
controversies  it  has  fomented  among  papists  have  not  made 
an  end  of  it.  On  the  contrary  it  has  gained  additional 
courage  and  subtlety  in  these  battles. 

Besides,  it  is  a  gross  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  Church 
is  the  natural  and  uncompromising  enemy  of  the  society. 
Far  from  it.  With  a  few  notable  exceptions,  such  as  those 
just  referred  to,  the  society  has  been  both  tolerated  and 
cherished  as  the  precious  child  of  the  Church,  and  its  spirit 
and  methods  are  now  dominant  in  the  Vatican  and  through- 
out the  whole  body.  It  is  too  much,  therefore,  to  expect 
the  Church  to  deal  unnaturally  and  cruelly  with  her  own 


HOW    CAN    JESUITISM    BE    SUCCESSFULLY    MET  ?  45 

offspring.     In  other  words,  the  attempt  to  separate  Roman- 
ism and  Jesuitism  so  as  to  excuse  the  one  and  condemn  the 
other,  as  is  the  fashion  with,  some  politicians  at  the  present 
time,  is  utter  folly,  and  betra>s  surprising  ignorance  both  of 
history  and  theology.     The  Jesuits  claim  to  be  most  loyal 
s(  ns  of  the  Church,   and   they  may  well  do  so  from  every 
point  of  view,  and  she  dare  not  disown  them.     They  are 
the  champions  of  the  faith,  and  can  fairly  be  counted  the 
special  apostles  of  Mariolatry,  of  the  dogmas  of  immaculate 
conception  and  pontifical  infallibility  and  of  the  indefensi- 
ble notion  of  the  divine  right  of  the  bishops  of  Rome  to  be 
supreme  in  all  things  temporal  and  spiritual.     If  they  are  to 
be  distinguished   from   the  Church,  it   can  only  be  as  the 
species  from  the   genus,  the  part  from  the  whole;  and,  in 
this  case,  the   parodox  is   very  generally  allowed  that  the 
part  is   greater  than  the  whole.     Seeing   then  it  cannot  be 
doubted  that,  taken  all  in  all,  the  Church  esteems  the  Jesuits 
"very  highly  in   love  for  their  work's   sake,'   we  might  as 
well  expect  the  Ethiopian  to  change  his  skin  and  the  leop- 
ard his  spots,  or  that  we  should  gather  grapes  of  thorns  or 
figs  of  thistle?,  as  that  the  Church  should  throw  them  over- 
board.    We  must  look  for  reformation  and  deliverance  from 
other  sources. 

2.  The  sharp  remedy  of  expnhionfro77i  aifferent  countries  has 
proved  insufficient.  It  has  been  resorted  to  more  than  eighty 
times,  but  served  only  to  change  the  domicile  of  the  order, 
without  terminating  their  machinations.  And  it  is  a  significant 
fact  that  these  expulsions  have  been  in  the  vast  majority  of 
instances  from  Romish  countries.  No  other  society  in  the 
Church  of  Rome  or  out  of  it  has  received  such  punishment 
in  this  form  at  the  hands  of  kings,  popes  and  governments. 
It  is  wearisome  and  we  shall  not  attempt  here  to  trace  the 
details  of  this  method  of  dealing  with  them*     Why  should 

*  They    were    expelled   from    Saragossa,    1555;  La    Palatine,    1558; 
Vienna,  1566;  Avignon,  1570;  Antwerp,  1578;  Portugal,  1578;  Segovia, 


46  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

the  society  be  hunted  out  of  nearly  every  country  under 
heaven  ?  The  members  and  their  defenders  say  that  it  is 
because  of  their  excessive  piety.  But  surely  this  cannot  be 
a  reason  for  the  Church  to  lay  the  lash  upon  them,  and  for 
governments  under  her  control  to  visit  them  with  such 
severity.  The  Parliament  of  Paris  gave  a  very  different  ac- 
count of  the  matter.  In  its  decree  enacted  March  5th,  1762^ 
it  declared  the  doctrines  of  the  society,  as  formulated  at 
Prague,  to  be  fitted  "to  destroy  the  law  of  nature,"  and  to 
'■  break  all  the  bonds  of  civil  society."  The  same  decree  de- 
nounced as  utterly  immoral  and  dangerous  their  teachings  on 
''  secret  compensation,  equivocation,  mental  reservations, 
probabilism  and  philosophical  sin."  That  the  same  views 
are  still  held  and  inculcated  by  the  order  admits  of  no  doubt. 
As  late  as  June,  1876,  Mr.  Gladstone,  in  the  Contemporary 
Rcvieiv^  indicts  the  society  on  the  following  counts: 

"(i)  Its  hostility  to  mental  freedom  at  large;  (2)  its  in- 
compatibility with  the  thought  and  movement  of  modern 
civilization;  (3)  its  pretensions  against  the  State;  (4)  its 
pretensions  against  parental  and  conjugal  rights;  (5)  its 
jealousy,  abated  in  some  quarters,  of  the  free  circulation  and 

1578;  England,  1579,  1581,  1586;  Japan,  1587;  Hungary,  1588;  Tran- 
sylvania, 1588;  Bordeaux,  1589;  France,  1594;  Holland,  1596;  Toulon 
and  Berne,  1597;  England,  1602,  1604;  Denmark,  Thor,  Venice,  1606, 
1612;  Japan,  1613;  Bohemia,  1618;  Moravia,  1619;  Naples  and  the 
Netherlands,  1622;  China,  1623;  India,  1613;  Malta,  1634;  Russia, 
1723;  Savoy,  1729;  Paraguay,  1733;  Portugal,  1759;  France,  1754; 
Spain  and  Two  Sicilies,  1767;  Malta  and  Duchy  Parma,  1768;  Russia, 
1776;  France,  1804;  Eripou,  1804;  France,  i8c6;  Naples,  iSro,  1816; 
Seleure,  1816;  Belgium,  1818;  Brest,  18 [9;  Russia,  1820;  Spain,  1826; 
Rouen,  1825;  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  1829;  France  and  Saxony, 
1831;  Portugal,  1S34;  Spain,  1S35;  Rheims,  1838;  Lucerne,  1841,  1S45; 
France,  1845;  Bavaria,  Switzerland,  Naples,  Papal  States,  Linz,  Vien- 
na, Styria,  Austrian  Empire,  Galicia,  Sardinia,  Sicily  and  Paraguay, 
1848;  Italian  States,  1859;  Sicily,  1360.  They  have  been  several  limes 
expelled  from  France  and  other  countries  at  later  dates. 


HOW    CAN    JESUITISM    BE    SUCCESSFULLY    MFIT?  47 

use  of  the  Holy  Scriptures;  (6)  the  de  facto  alienation  of 
the  educated  mind  of  the  country  in  which  it  prevails;  (7) 
its  detrimental  effects  on  the  comparative  strength  and  mo- 
rality of  the  State  in  which  it  has  sway;  (8)  its  tendency  to 
sap  veracity  in  the  individual  mind." 

We  do  not  deny  that  these  and  other  graver  charges  estab- 
lished against  the  order  justify  the  action  of  nations  in  get- 
ting quit  of  it.  It  is  quite  possible  for  a  body  of  men  so  to 
violate  all  the  principles  of  the  social  compact  as  to  forfeit 
their  place  in  it.  In  self-defence  the  body  politic  may  find 
it  necessary  to  cast  them  out  or  to  incarcerate  them.  These 
are  the  remedies  of  which  the  civil  magistrate  naturally 
thinks,  and  in  using  them  he  has  justice  on  his  side,  and  is 
commonly  sustained  by  enlightened  public  opinion.  But  so 
far  as  the  offenders  are  concerned  his  treatment  is  punitive, 
not  remedial.  He  has  not  thereby  improved  their  moral 
character.  To  turn  men  forcibly  out  of  one  country  into 
another  because  of  their  alleged  iniquities  is  not  the  very 
best  thing  that  can  be  done  for  them.  It  can  no  more 
change  them  for  the  better  than  the  imposition  of  a  heavy 
fine  to  keep  them  out  can  do  so.  At  bottom  this  treatment 
is  thoroughly  selfish  in  principle.  It  amounts  to  this,  that 
we  pass  on  to  our  neighbors  what  we  find  to  be  unbearable 
ourselves.  Jesuitism,  or  any  other  great  development  of 
moral  evil,  is  not  to  be  met  in  this  fashion.  It  will  not  do 
to  transport  our  paupers,  thieves,  swindlers  and  bank-rob- 
bers to  other  countries,  and  think  that  we  have  thus  fully 
discharged  our  obligations  in  relation  to  them.  Evil  should 
be  fought  on  the  soil  where  it  grows.  Thistles  should  be 
dealt  with  where  they  are  indigenous  instead  of  forcibly 
scattering  them  over  the  fertile  fields  of  other  lands.  And 
so  had  Christian  nations  avoided  the  short-sighted  selfish- 
ness of  passing  Jesuitism  round  to  one  another,  and  had  they 
concentrated  their  united  resources  and  spiritual  energies 
upon  teaching  men  the  truth,  the  results  would  have  been 


4^  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

infinitely  more  satisfactory  than  those  which  historians  have 
had  to  record. 

3.  IVe  discard  the  manipulations  of  mere  politicians  as  cer- 
tain to  afford  no  solution  of  our  problem. 

Such  creatures  are  the  puppets  of  Jesuits.  We  have  not 
a  single  word  of  reproach  to  utter  against  true  and  honest 
statesmen,  but  we  wish  to  discriminate  sharply  between  them 
and  quacks.  The  aim  of  the  latter,  so  far  as  our  present 
question  is  concerned,  is  so  to  handle  Jesuitism  as  to  gain 
and  hold  office  by  means  of  its  influence.  This  has  been 
the  case  for  years  in  Canada,  hence  the  obtrusive  boldness 
of  the  movements  of  the  Jesuits — and  probably  very  many 
in  other  countries  are  not  actuated  by  higher  considerations. 
These  pseudo  statesmen  deem  it  of  paramount  importance 
always  t3  say  and  do  the  things  that  please  the  dominant 
spirits  in  the  Church,  and  then  they  try  to  convince  the 
multitude  that  it  is  all  for  the  public  good.  Speeches  in 
and  out  ot  Parliament  are  framed  accordingly.  The  daily 
ediiorial  efforts  ot  party  journals  are  also  governed  by  the 
same  supreme  motive;  and  the  poor  literary  drudges  who 
are  hired  to  do  the  work  are  obliged  to  deal  so  recklessly 
with  facts  that,  although  one  may  read  the  representations 
on  both  sides  of  any  political  question  he  can  scarcely  ascer- 
tain the  real  state  of  the  case.  And  so  great  is  the  zeal  and 
cunning  skill  with  which  Protestant  journalists  plead  and 
defend  the  cause  of  the  Jesuits  that  one  almost  wonders 
why  they  should  be  at  the  trouble  and  expense  of  publish- 
ing any  papers  of  their  own.  These  political  wire-pullers 
pose  as  great  public  benefactors — broad-minded,  liberal  and 
impartial — they  can  be  Methodists,  Presbyterians,  Episco- 
palians, Baptists  and  Agnostics  all  combined — intent  only 
upon  their  country's  good.  They  detest  bigotry  and  fan- 
aticism. They  glory  in  the  party  of  peace  which  never 
stirs  up  race  and  religious  animosities.  And  so  well  is  this 
sham  maintained,  and  so  successfully  do  the  players  in  the 


HOW    CAN    JESUITISM    BE    SUCCESSFULLY    MET  ?  49 

game  conceal  themselves  behind  masks  that  thousands  of 
unsuspecting  people  are  duped  by  them.  Now  and  then  a 
square  issue  is  raised  before  the  public  when  concealment 
by  the  tricksters  becomes  impossible.  An  instance  of  this 
sort  recently  occurred  in  the  political  history  of  Canada 
when  the  government  of  Quebec,  in  1887,  incorporated  the 
Jesuits,  who  till  then  were  outlawed  in  all  parts  of  the  British 
Empire,  and  in  1888  proceeded  to  endow  them  and  the 
Romish  hierachy  of  the  province  out  of  the  public  chest. 

The  case  was  brought  before  the  Federal  or  Dominion 
Parliament  at  Ottawa  on  a  motion,  asking  the  Governor- 
General-in-Council  to  veto  this  outrageous  provincial  legis- 
lation. The  motion  was  in  order,  perfectly  constitutional, 
and  obviously  in  the  interests  of  justice  and  of  the  whole 
Dominion.  Canada  had  long  ago  declared  in  favor  of 
complete  separation  between  Church  and  State,  and  in  op- 
position to  all  public  grants  for  sectarian  purposes.  This 
was  done  at  the  time  of  the  secularization  of  the  Clergy  Re- 
serves, and  the  principle  was  then  incorporated  in  the  very 
constitution  of  the  country.  Bat,  on  this  motion  to  veto 
the  question  with  politicans  was,  who  shall  take  the  respon- 
sibility of  displeasing  the  Church  and  losing  her  support  ? 
Whoever  is  guilty  of  this  temerity  must  speedily  abandon 
the  hope  of  occupying  the  treasury  benches.  And  accord- 
ingly when  the  vote  was  taken  thirteen  incurred  this  risk, 
and  188,  composed  of  both  sides  of  the  house,  were  con- 
strained to  drop  their  masks,  and  hastened  to  bow  the  knee 
to  papal  authority.  No  wonder  that  the  Jesuits  are  j  ubilant. 
Their  game,  for  once,  has  been  an  immense  success.  Can- 
ada, as  represented  on  the  floor  of  Parliament,  has  pro- 
nounced in  their  favor,  and  to  the  victors  belong  the  spoils. 
The  Church,  already  plethoric  in  wealth,  is  to  have  still 
greater  abundance.  And,  as  if  to  add  insult  to  injustice, 
the  5th  of  November,  the  anniversary  of  the  infamous  gun- 
powder plot,  was  selected  as  the  day  on  which  the  premier 


5°  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

and  cabinet  ministers  of  Quebec,  with  great  public  cere- 
mony in  the  city  of  Montreal,  handed  over  to  Father  Tur- 
geon,  the  representativ^e  of  the  Jesuits  and  the  Pope,  the 
sum  of  four  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

But  good  has  already  come  out  of  this  humiliating  spec- 
tacle. It  has  demonstrated  beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt 
what  may  be  expected  from  politicians,  and  has  opened  the 
eyes  of  thousands  upon  a  national  danger  the  existence  of 
which  they  were  accustomed  to  ignore.  The  Protestant 
sentiment  of  the  country  has  been  roused  as  r.ever  before  ; 
and  even  fair-minded  Roman  Catholics  have  united  with 
their  fellow-citizens  of  other  creeds  and  of  both  political 
parties  in  the  formation  of  an  Equal  Rights'  Association, 
which  is  already  powerful  and  determined  to  call  to  account 
before  the  bar  of  public  opinion  the  notorious  i88.  These 
are  likely  to  learn  in  the  near  future  that  it  may  be  worth 
while  to  think  about  Protestant  as  well  as  Roman  Catholic 
votes.  And  whatever  may  be  the  issue  at  the  ballot-box, 
one  thing  is  certain,  that  all  who  uphold  the  banner  of  evan- 
gelical truth  are  convinced  of  the  folly  of  looking  for  help 
from  secular  office-holders  and  office-seekers. 

4-  To  meet  Jesuitism  7ve  must  educate  Protestants  in  certain 
directions.  They  have  themselves  very  largely  to  blame  for 
the  state  of  things  which  we  are  now  obliged  to  discuss. 
They  have  been  content  to  remain  ignorant  of  the  designs 
and  movements  of  the  foes  of  free  institutions.  Hence  the 
need. 

(a)  To  instruct  them  fully  upon  the  true  nature  of  the 
system  against  which  they  are  called  to  contend.  In  this 
connection  there  is  scope  for  the  services  of  properly  quali- 
fied lecturers  ;  and  it  will  be  necessary  to  translate  into 
English  and  scatter  broadcast  the  Constitution  of  the  So- 
ciety along  with  many  portions  of  the  writings  of  standard 
authors  such  as  Liguori,  Gury  and  Busembaum.  The  pulpit 
should    be   the  most    efficient  educating  agency   upon   the 


HOW    CAN    JESUITISM    BE    SUCCESSFULLY    MET?  S^ 

moral  questions  at  issue,  and  should  not  be  silenced  or 
abashed  by  the  gibes  of  secular  demagogues  or  the  frowns 
of  those  who  may  be  at  ease  in  their  pews. 

(d)  Very  many  require  to  be  taught  that  truth  and  free- 
dom are  worth  contending  for — that  they  are  really  better 
than  thousands  of  silver  and  gold.  It  is  the  lack  of  firm 
personal  conviction  on  this  point  that  renders  it  easy  to 
make  fatal  concessions  to  error  and  to  the  secret  enemies 
of  human  liberty.  The  heroic  martyr  spirit  of  primitive 
apostolic  Christianity  is  not  the  overmastering  force  of  our 
age.  We  are  largely  ruled  by  considerations  of  self-indul- 
gence and  a  mercenary  principle  showing  itself  in  every 
form  of  Mammon  worship.  Self-interest,  and  specially  the 
hope  of  gain,  weakens  immeasurably  the  protest  of  business 
men  against  the  wiles  and  aggressions  of  Jesuitism.  They 
are  peculiarly  sensitive  to  the  danger  of  being  boycotted 
under  ecclesiastical  direction,  and,  therefore,  will  do  noth- 
ing that  has  a  tendency  to  withdraw  traffic  from  their  shops. 
It  is  only  among  agriculturists,  who  are  not  subject  to  such 
temptations,  that  a  healthy  opinion  on  the  subject  prevails. 
Many  manufacturers  are  decidedly  opposed  to  the  enlight- 
enment of  the  working  classes  and  their  emancipation  from 
priest  rule  lest  they  should  thus  be  forced  to  pay  them 
higher  wages.  They  quiet  their  consciences  regarding  the 
matter  by  the  silly  and  oft- repeated  affirmation  thdt  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Jesuit  priest  is  good  enough  for  people  in  their 
station  so  long  as  they  are  happy  under  its  sway.  They 
even  pride  themselves  upon  virtuous  abhorrence  of  the  mean 
crime  of  proselytism  with  which  they  charge  those  who  seek 
to  evangelize  Romanists.  They  know  very  well  that  there 
is  all  the  difference  imaginable  in  the  ends  contemplated 
and  the  forms  assumed  by  what  is  called  proselytism.  And 
they  should  be  taught  that  the  man  who,  with  open  Bible  in 
hand,  tries  to  lead  his  fellow  creatures  in  the  exercise  of 
their   inalienable    right    of    private   judgment  into  the  lib- 


5^  QUESTIONS   OF    THE    DAY. 

erty  wherewith  Christ  makes  His  people  free,  is  not  to  be 
classed  along  with  him  who  prostrates  them  at  his  feet  in  a 
confessional  box  and  teaches  them  to  believe  in  fictitious 
ecclesiastical  miracles,  in  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  in  the 
purifying  efficacy  of  the  fabulous  flames  of  purgatory  and 
in  the  intercession  of  saints  and  the  Virgin  Mary — all  of 
which  is  to  the  unspeakable  detriment  of  the  truth  and  dis- 
honor of  the  work  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ, 

(c)  Multitudes  require  to  have  their  views  greatly  elevated 
as  to  the  exercise  of  their  sacred  trust  in  electing  right  men 
to  public  offices.  Under  our  free  system  of  government  the 
thought  and  moral  convictions  of  the  people  are  reflected  in 
the  halls  of  legislation;  and  if  our  rulers  fall  into  reproach 
by  favoring  Jesuitism  or  otherwise,  that  reproach  comes 
back  with  full  force  upon  those  by  whom  they  are  elected 
and  sustained  in  office.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  in  this 
connection,  that  the  tyranny  of  partyism  is  a  bitter  curse. 
But  how  shall  we  get  rid  of  it  ?  Men  are  elected  not  be- 
cause known  to  be  persons  of  capacity  and  unswerving 
integrity  but  because  they  are  pledged  to  support  their  party 
and  to  defend  it  when  most  deeply  immersed  in  public  in- 
iquity. It  is  this,  very  largely,  that  gives  Jesuitism  opportu- 
nity to  play  its  games  and  accomplish  its  ends,  for  it  has 
ever  delighted  in  political  intrigues. 

(d)  The  same  system  of  public  education  should  be  ex- 
tended to  all  classes,  and  its  character  should  be  guarded 
with  sleepless  vigilance.  Poison  insinuated  into  this  foun- 
tain quickly  affects  the  national  life.  If  boys  and  girls  at 
school  and  college  are  taught  essentially  different  views  of 
morals  and  the  fundamental  principles  of  civil  government, 
the  results  cannot  but  be  ultimately  dangerous.  Collision 
will  be  inevitable  if,  for  example,  the  majority  are  instructed 
as  to  the  mutual  independence  of  Church  and  State  in  their 
proper  respective  spheres,  and  the  minority  are  successfully 
indoctrinated  in  the  mediaeval  notion  that  the  State  is  merely 


HOW    CAN    JESUITISM    BE    SUCCESSFULLY    MET  ?  53 

the  creature  of  the  Church,  existing  only  for  her  purposes, 
and  thoroughly  subordinate  to  her  in  all  things. 

To  meet  Jesuitism  successfully  this  pretension  must  be 
resisted  to  the  utmost  in  every  legitimate  form.  It  is  in  the 
highest  degree  pernicious.  The  maintenance  of  good  gov- 
ernment and  the  preservation  of  the  peace  and  highest 
welfare  of  every  country  demand  that  the  line  between  the 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  authority  should  be  clearly  drawn 
and  should  be  invariably  respected  in  legislation  and  the 
administration  of  all  public  affairs.  All  branches  of  the 
Church,  whatever  their  creeds  may  be,  provided  they  are 
not  seditious  and  immoral,  are  entitled  to  entire  freedom 
and  protection  in  their  own  domain  which  embraces  all  that 
is  strictly  spiritual.  The  State,  on  the  other  hand,  must 
have  full  control  in  all  temporal  matters  and  cannot  be  dom- 
ineered over  by  ecclesiastical  persons  or  organizations. 

We  warn  Protestants  against  the  invasion  of  their  homes 
by  Jesuitical  methods  systematically  pursued  through  paro- 
chial schools  for  boys  and  girls  and  through  colleges  and 
convents  where  education  is  offered  to  Protestants  at  a  nom- 
inal cost.  It  is  also  represented  as  superior,  especially  with 
regard  to  accomplishments  for  young  ladies,  to  what  can  be 
elsewhere  obtained.  This  is  a  delusion,  but  one  fatally 
attractive  to  many  wealthy  people  and  others  who  are  ambi- 
tious to  rise  to  social  distinction. 

The  directors  of  these  institutions  make  all  sorts  of  fair 
promises  as  to  non-interference  with  the  religion  of  Protest- 
ant pupils.  They  can  do  so  with  perfect  sincerity,  because 
the  current  belief  of  Romanists  and  Jesuits  is  that  Protestants 
have  no  religion  to  be  interfered  with.  Here  is  a  potent  and 
growing  danger.  Thousands  of  families  in  Britain,  Canada 
and  the  United  States  are  being  morally  and  spiritually  cor- 
rupted in  this  manner.  The  remedy  is  mainly  in  the  hands 
of  faithful  pastors  and  a  vigorous,  independent  religious  press 
who  should  warn  parents  against  such  folly  and  cruelty,  and 


54  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

teach  people  how  to  meet  this  alarming  form  of  Jesuitical 
aggression. 

The  public  school  systems  of  the  world  are  at  this  moment 
in  jeopardy  and  doomed  by  the  Vatican.  All  branches  of 
the  Reformed  Church,  instead  of  dividing  and  contending 
among  themselves,  should  close  their  ranks  so  as  to  meet 
with  invincible  power  the  subtle  attacks  of  a  common  foe. 

They  should  go  farther.  There  is  a  work  of  emancipation 
to  be  done.  The  multitudes  who  are  under  the  yoke  of 
Jesuitism  should  be  liberated.  It  should  be  put  in  their 
power  to  enter  into  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  makes  His 
people  free.  And  this  can  best  be  done  by  the  agency  of 
colporters,  missionary  schools,  and  heroic  preachers  of  the 
pure  Gospel.  These  should  be  everywhere  multiplied  a 
thousand-fold;  and  men  of  the  right  stamp,  of  high  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual  qualifications,  are  needed  for  the  pur- 
pose. In  Canada  the  Presbyterian  Church  carries  on  a 
noble  and  successful  work  upon  these  lines  among  the 
French  population  of  the  Dominion.  Last  year  she  main- 
tained 1 6  colporters,  ;^;^  mission  schools,  and  89  preaching 
stations,  while  19  French  students  are  under  training  for 
the  work  in  the  Theological  Seminary  in  Montreal.  These 
schools  are  most  fruitful  of  good  results.  In  one  of  them 
last  session  as  many  as  36  pupils  confessed  their  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ,  and  these  young  converts  are,  almost  without 
exception,  full  of  zeal  for  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel 
among  their  relatives  and  countrymen.  And  it  should  not 
be  forgotten  that  God's  remedy  for  all  moral  evil  is  the  Gos- 
pel of  His  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  and  upon  this  we  are  bound  lo 
rely  with  unfaltering  confidence.  Armed  with  this  weapon 
and  trusting  in  the  Almighty  power  of  the  Spirit,  our  victory 
is  sure,  for  we  have  the  divine  promise  that  the  Lord  Jesus 
shall  slay  the  lawless  one  with  the  breath  of  His  mouth  and 
bring  him  to  naught  by  the  manifestation  of  His  coming. 

[Reprinted,  by  request,  from  February  "Treasury  for  Pastor  and 
People,"  Copyrighted.  $2.50  per  100,  post-paid.  E.  B.  Treat,  Pub- 
lisher, 5  Cooper  Union,  New  York.] 


OPPONENTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

By  Sjr  William    Dawson,  President  of  Magill  Uni- 
versity, Montreal. 


T 


'HE  history  of  Christianity  has  been  that  of  a  warfare, 
JL  a  struggle,  and  though  Christians  may  at  the  pres- 
ent time  be  exposed  to  less  of  actual  persecution  than  at 
some  former  periods,  they  meet  with  quite  as  much  of  op- 
position. The  prince  of  this  world  is  by  no  means  dis- 
posed as  yet  to  abdicate,  though  he  seems  to  have  a  lively 
conviction  that  his  time  is  short.  Some  of  our  opponents 
are  very  old.  Others  are  new  or  in  new  forms.  Of  the 
latter,  perhaps  the  most  formidable  at  present  are  material- 
istic and  agnostic  evolution  and  destructive  historical  criti- 
cism of  the  Bible.  I  use  the  qualifying  adjectives  because 
among  the  multiform  and  often  contradicted  theories 
grouped  under  the  name  evolution  there  are  some  that  are 
harmless  or  respectable,  and  there  is  a  fair  and  legitimate 
criticism  to  which  the  books  of  the  Bible,  like  other  books, 
may  be  subjected. 

It  is  a  favorite  ruse  de  guerre  with  writers  and  speakers 
against  Christianity  to  represent  that  these  oppositions  are 
due  to  modern  science,  meaning  thereby  physical  and  nat- 
ural science  ;  and  that  all  or  nearly  all  scientific  men  dis- 
believe Christianity.  These,  however,  are  groundless  asser- 
tions. The  experience  of  fifty  years  and  acquaintance  with 
very  many  scientific  men  of  different  types  in  different 
countries,  enables  me  to  say  that  very  many  of  the  most 
distinguished  scientific  men  are  Christians,  and  I  know 
many  ethers  who,  if  not  Christians,  may  be  said  to  be  *' not 
far  from  the  Kingdom  of  God."     The  utterances   of  a  few 


56  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

popular  or  prominent  men  should  not  be  taken  as  express- 
ing the  views  of  their  whole  class.  The  best  and  ablest  of 
scientific  men  have  all  along  been  Christians,  and  Christian- 
ity has  helped  to  make  them  what  they  were  and  are  ;  while 
science  itself,  though  it  may  have  been  used  to  give  new 
forms  to  old  objections,  has  been  on  the  whole  the  hand- 
maid of  religion. 

As  examples  of  oppositions  supposed  to  be  based  on  sci- 
ence, we  may  refer  to  those  of  positivists  and  agnostics,  as 
they  have  recently  been  presented  so  ably  and  clearly  by 
Harrison  and  Huxley  in  some  of  the  reviews,  where  also 
they  have  been  sufficiently  answered.  Such  discussions,  I 
believe,  must  do  good,  and  will  result  in  a  clearer  percep- 
tion of  truth  and  a  more  intelligent  faith.  It  is  in  any  case 
encouraging  that  they  centre  around  the  Word  of  God, 
which  is  thus  shown  to  be  still  a  formidable  power  and  not 
a  thing  of  the  past. 

One  curious  admission  which  has  appeared  in  these  dis- 
cussions is  that  of  the  necessity  of  some  kind  of  religion  or 
substitute  for  religion,  while  it  is  apparent  that  those  who 
reject  theism  and  Christianity  are  at  variance  among  them- 
selves, and  fail  to  find  any  good  substitute  for  what  they 
avowedly  reject,  except  by  falling  back  on  some  portions  of 
its  doctrine. 

In  the  recent  articles  referred  to,  the  positivist  combatant 
believes  in  the  religion  of  humanity,  that  is,  in  setting 
up  an  ideal  standard  of  human  nature,  based  on  historical 
examples  as  something  to  live  up  to.  His  agnostic  oppo- 
nent thinks  this  futile,  stigmatizes  man  as  a  failure  and  as 
a  ''wilderness  of  ages,"  and  would  adore  the  universe  in  all 
its  majesty  and  grandeur.  They  thus  rehabilitate  very  old 
forms  of  religion,  for  it  is  evident  that  the  most  ancient 
idolatries  consisted  in  lifting  up  men's  hearts  to  the  sun  and 
moon  and  stars,  and  in  worshipping  patriarchs  and  heroes. 


OPPONENTS   OF    CHRISTIANITY.  57 

Thus  we  find  that  there  can  be  no  form  of  infidelity  with- 
out some  substitute  for  God,  and  this,  necessarily,  less  high 
and  perfect  than  the  Creator  Himself,  while  destitute  of 
His  fatherly  attributes.  Further,  our  agnostic  and  positiv- 
ist  friends  even  admit  their  need  of  a  Saviour,  since  they 
hold  that  there  must  be  some  elevating  influence  to  raise  us 
from  our  present  evils  and  failures.  Lastly,  when  we  find 
the  ablest  advocates  of  such  philosophy  differing  hopelessly 
among  themselves,  we  may  well  see  in  this  an  evidence  of 
the  need  of  a  divine  revelation.  Now  all  this  is  precisely 
what  the  Bible  has  given  us  in  a  better  way.  If  we  look  up 
with  adoring  wonder  to  the  material  universe,  the  Bible 
leads  us  to  see  in  this  the  power  and  Godhead  of  the  Cre- 
ator, and  the  Creator  as  the  living  God,  our  Heavenly  Fa- 
ther. If  we  seek  for  an  ideal  humanity  to  worship,  the 
Bible  points  us  to  Jesus  Christ,  the  perfect  Man,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  manifestation  of  God,  the  Good  Shepherd 
giving  His  life  for  the  sheep,  God  manifest  in  the  flesh  and 
bringing  life  and  immortality  to  light.  Thus  the  Bible 
gives  us  all  that  these  modern  ideas  desiderate  and  infi- 
nitely more.  Nor  should  we  think  little  of  the  older  part 
of  revelation,  for  it  gives  the  historical  development  of 
God's  plan,  and  is  eminently  valuable  for  its  testimony  to 
the  unity  of  nature  and  of  God.  It  is  in  religion  what  the 
older  formations  are  in  geology.  Their  conditions  and 
their  life  may  have  been  replaced  by  newer  conditions  and 
living  beings,  but  they  form  the  stable  base  of  the  newer 
formations,  which  not  only  rest  upon  them,  but  which  with- 
out them  would  be  incomplete  and  unintelligible. 

The  lesson  of  these  facts  is  to  hold  to  the  old  faith,  to 
fear  no  discussion,  and  to  stand  fast  for  this  world  and  the 
future  on  the  grand  declaration  of  Jesus,  "  God  so  loved 
the  world  that  He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son  that  whoso- 
ever believeth  in  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlast- 
ing life." 


THE  RISE  OF  PRELACY,  AND  ITS  GRADUAL 
DEVELOPMENT.* 

By  President  W.  D.  Killen,  D.D.,  Assembly  College, 
Belfast.  Ireland. 


IT  is  obvious  from  the  New  Testament  that  the  primi- 
tive Church  was  occasionally  disturbed  by  the  teaching 
of  errorists.  We  learn,  however,  from  the  testimony  of  the 
earliest  witnesses,  that  so  long  as  any  of  the  inspired  her- 
alds of  the  Gospel  survived,  the  propagators  of  false  doc- 
trine made  no  considerable  impression  on  the  Christian 
community.  Hegesippus  tells  us  that  until  the  death  of 
Simeon  of  Jerusalem — an  event  which  occurred  not  long 
after  the  commencement  of  the  second  century — "the  Church 
continued  as  a  pure  and  uncorrupted  virgin."  "  If  there 
were  any  at  all,"  says  he,  "  who  attempted  to  pervert  the 
right  standard  of  saving  instruction,  they  were  yet  skulking 
in  dark  retreats;  but  when  the  sacred  company  of  the  Apos- 
tles had,  in  various  ways,  finished  their  career,  and  the  gen- 
eration of  those  who  had  been  privileged  to  hear  their  in- 
spired wisdom  had  passed  away,  then  at  length  the  fraud 
of  false  teachers  produced  a  confederacy  of  impious  errors." 
Celsus,  an  early  infidel  writer  of  the  same  period,  gives  the 
same  report  as  to  the  primitive  followers  of  our  Lord.  At 
first,  he  informs  us,  they  were  agreed  in  sentiment,  but  in  his 
days,  when  ''spread  out  into  a  multitude,"  they  became 
"divided  and  distracted,  each  aiming  to  give  stability  to  his 
own  faction." 

All  accounts  concur  in  the  statement  that  towards  the 
middle  of  the  second  century,  or  the  beginning  of  the  reign 

*  From  advance  copy  of  "  The  Framework  of  the  Church,"  contrib- 
uted by  Pres.  Killen, 


6o  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

of  Antoninus  Pius,  the  heretics  seriously  imperilled  the  peace 
and  purity  of  the  Church.  Appearing  almost  simultaneously 
in  several  of  the  great  cities  of  the  empire,  they  exerted 
themselves  with  wonderful  activity  to  obtain  positions  of  in- 
fluence among  the  disciples.  The  dangers  to  be  apprehended 
from  them  were  of  the  most  formidable  character.  Their 
leaders  were  men  of  ready  eloquence  and  of  high  literary 
culture;  and  they  so  mixed  up  their  corrupt  philosophical 
speculations  with  the  truths  of  Christianity  as  to  render 
them  very  attractive  to  many  minds.  In  Rome,  the  capital 
of  the  western  world,  the  errorists  appeared  in  large  num- 
bers. Here  Valentine,  Cerdo,  Marcion,  Marcus  and  others 
were  making  converts.  Instead  of  laboring  diligently  to 
counterwork  these  enemies  of  tiie  faith  by  the  legitimate  ap- 
pliances prescribed  in  Scripture,  the  Church,  in  an  evil  hour, 
proposed  to  put  them  down  by  a  new  agency  of  her  own 
devising.  The  Christian  brotherhood  had  hitherto  been 
governed  '*  by  the  common  council  of  the  presbyters";  but 
it  was  now  thought  right  to  modify  this  system,  so  "  that  one 
chosen  from  among  the  presbyters  should  be  put  over  the 
rest,"  "  that  the  seeds  of  schism  might  be  taken  away."  It 
would  appear  that  the  new  polity  originated  in  the  chief  city 
of  the  empire.  Hence  Hyginus,  who  was  then  its  most  in- 
fluential presbyter,  is  said,  in  a  book  written  by  one  of  his 
successors  fully  two  centuries  afterwards,  to  have  *'  arranged 
the  clergy,  and  distributed  the  gradations." 

The  preservation  of  the  uniy  of  the  Church  was  the 
g'-and  object  contemplated  by  this  ecclesiastical  movement. 
We  have  reason  to  believe  that  it  was  not  accomplished 
without  considerable  murmuring;  but  the  influential  posi- 
tion of  the  parties  by  whom  it  was  inaugurated  gradually 
succeeded  in  overcoming  all  opposition.  The  presiding 
presbyter  now  assumed  the  title  of  bishops  and  his  former 
colleagues  were  permitted  for  a  time  to  retain  a  large  portion 
of  their  power;  but,  by  yielding  to  the  principle  that  nothing 


THE    RISE    OF    PRELACY.  6 1 

whatever  could  be  done  without  the  approval  of  their  chief, 
they  prepared  the  way  for  their  final  and  complete  subordi- 
nation. In  primitive  times  the  Eucharist  might  have  been 
celebrated  at  the  same  hour,  at  various  places  by  the  pres- 
byters scattered  throughout  a  large  city;  and,  under  such 
circumstances,  it  was  difficult  to  prevent  its  dispensation  to 
heretics  by  accommodating  administrators.  To  avoid  this 
scandal,  it  was  now  arranged  that  the  elements  should  be 
consecrated  only  in  the  principal  church,  or  the  place  where 
the  presiding  presbyter  was  present;  and  that  they  should  be 
sent  from  thence  to  communicants  assembled  elsewhere,  by 
the  hands  of  trusted  officials.  Long  afterwards  this  rule 
continued  to  be  observed.  The  bishop  was  henceforth  to 
be  recognized  as  the  centre  of  catholic  unity,  and  his  sanc- 
tion was  deemed  necessary  to  give  validity  to  all  ecclesias- 
tical ordinances.  He  endeavored,  as  far  as  possible,  to  ap- 
propriate their  performance  to  himself.  Baptism  was  re- 
garded as  a  rite,  which  it  was  his  peculiar  privilege  to 
dispense.  In  the  sixth  century  the  clergy  of  Italy  com- 
plained to  the  Emperor  Justinian,  that,  owing  to  the  vacancy 
of  sees,  an  immense  multitude  of  people  died  without  its 
benefit.  The  bishop  was  also  most  anxious  to  reserve  to 
himself  the  blessing  of  the  communion  elements.  Even  in 
the  fifth  century  the  presbyters  of  Rome  did  not  consecrate 
the  Eucharist  in  their  respective  churches  ;  but  it  was  sent 
to  them  from  the  cathedral. 

We  may  see  from  these  facts  that  the  introduction  of  epis- 
copacy produced  a.  wonderful  alteration  in  the  face  of  the 
Christian  commonwealth.  The  presbyters  became  more  and 
more  subservient  to  the  bishop,  and  at  length  almost  ceased 
to  dispute  his  will.  That  intellectual  freedom,  so  con- 
ducive to  a  healthful  state  of  public  sentiment,  could  no 
longer  be  well  asserted;  for  timorous  presbyters  were  slow 
to  ventilate  convictions  which  might  not  find  favor  with 
their  ecclesiastical  chief.     Under  the  very  plausible  pretence 


62  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

of  conserving  the  unity  of  the  Church,  liberty  of  discussion 
was  discouraged;  and  the  bishop  resisted  with  the  utmost 
firmness  all  attempts  to  challenge  or  circumscribe  his  own 
newly-acquired  privileges.  Thus  it  was  that  at  length  he 
appropriated  almost  the  whole  of  the  ecclesiastical  power. 

It  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  this  deviation  from  the 
primitive  polity  commenced  in  a  city  whose  chief  pastor  has 
ever  since  aimed  at  spiritual  supremacy.  What  was  called 
"  the  Catholic  Church  ''  now  took  its  rise.  This  great  con- 
federation— including  all  pastors  throughout  Christendom 
holding  what  were  called  catholic  principles — was  gradually 
consolidating.  The  leading  bishops  signified  their  adher- 
ence to  it  by  sending  the  Eucharist  to  each  other.  From 
the  very  first,  Rome  was  recognized  as  at  the  head  of  the 
organization.  Irenaeus,  who  was  living  at  the  period  of  its 
formation,  shortly  afterwards  proclaimed  the  primacy  of 
Rome  in  a  passage  which  has  long  enjoyed  historical  celeb- 
rity. "  To  this  Church,"  says  he,  "  because  it  is  more 
potentially  principal,  it  is  necessaiy  that  every  catholic 
Church  should  go,  as  in  it  the  apostolic  tradition  has,  by  the 
Catholics,  been  always  preserved."  The  pastor  of  Lyons  had 
recently  been  under  special  obligations  to  the  Roman  bishop, 
and  he  here  speaks  in  exaggerated  terms  of  the  deference 
due  to  him.  The  primacy  at  first  conceded  implied  nothing 
more  than  a  complimentary  precedence;  but  the  Italian 
chief  pastor  and  his  partisans  had  no  idea  of  confining  it 
within  such  narrow  dimensions;  and  not  half  a  century  had 
elapsed  from  its  commencement  when  the  imperious  Victor 
astonished  all  around  him  by  the  assertion  of  a  spiritual 
dictatorship.  During  the  Paschal  controversy,  towards  the 
close  of  the  second  century,  he  threatened  with  ex-com- 
munication the  Churches  of  Asia  Minor  when  they  departed, 
as  he  conceived,  from  the  principle  of  catholic  unity.  His 
arrogance  surprised  and  irritated  those  who  differed  from 
him — for  such  a  high-handed  proceeding  was  quite  unpre- 


THE    RISE    OF    PRELACY.  63 

cedented— and  they  treated  it  with  contempt;  but  Victor 
could  plead,  notwithstanding,  that  he  was  contending  for  a 
catholic  principle,  as  he  was  seeking  to  create  and  maintain 
unity  and  uniformity  throughout  the  Catholic  world.  In  the 
middle  of  the  following  century,  his  successor,  Stephen, 
pursued  exactly  the  same  policy,  when  he  excommunicated 
Cyprian  of  Carthage  and  others,  who  differed  from  him  as 
to  the  rebaptism  of  heretics.  Cyprian,  no  doubt,  considered 
that  the  Roman  bishop  was  attempting  a  most  unwarrantable 
stretch  of  power;  and  yet  he  might  have  found  it  exceed- 
ingly difficult,  in  a  strictly  logical  argument,  to  defend  his 
nonconformity.  Ever  since  the  Catholic  Church  had  been 
formed,  ingenuity  had  been  at  (work  to  invent  plausible  rea- 
sons for  its  constitution,  and  much  sophistry  had  been  per- 
mitted to  pass  unchallenged.  A  new  meaning  had  been 
discovered  for  the  text,  "  Thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock 
will  I  build  my  Church."  These  words  have  been  ex- 
pounded by  a  member  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  in  a  work 
written  towards  the  middle  of  the  second  century;  and  it  is 
there  stated  that  the  Rock  is  Christ;  but  the  flatterers  of  the 
chief  pastor  of  Christendom  now  extracted  from  it  quite  an- 
other interpretation,  and  stoutly  maintained  that  the  rock 
meant  Peter.  Cyprian  incautiously  accepted  this  foolish 
meaning,  and  thus  placed  himself  in  a  position  from  which 
it  was  no  easy  matter  to  vindicate  his  consistency.  For  if 
Peter  is  the  Rock  on  which  the  Church  is  built,  and  if  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  inherits  his  prerogatives  as  his  successor 
and  his  representative,  it  may  be  impossible  for  us  to  tell 
how  we  are  to  limit  the  boundaries  of  his  jurisdiction.  Cy- 
prian has  made  other  statements  from  which  we  may  see 
that  he  must  have  felt  no  small  embarrassment  when  disput- 
ing with  Stephen.  He  speaks  of  "  the  See  of  Peter"  as  the 
source  ^^  whence  the  unity  of  the  priesthood  took  its  rise,*'  and 
he  describes  the  Roman  bishopric  as  "  the  root  and  womb  of 
the  Catholic  Church.'* 


64  QUESTIONS   OF    THE    DAY. 

We  have  intimated  that  the  doctrine  of  ministerial  parity 
was  not  relinquished  without  a  struggle.  It  was  not  to  be 
expected  that  the  presbyters  would  all  at  once  consent  to 
the  appointment  of  an  ecclesiastical  superior.  But  the 
dread  of  the  spread  of  heresy,  the  hope  that  the  new  govern- 
ment would  arrest  its  progress,  and  the  influence  and  ability 
of  the  leading  Churchmen  in  the  great  towns,  eventually  sur- 
mounted all  opposition.  Polycarp  of  Smyrna  was  still  liv- 
ing when  the  system  was  inaugurated,  and  he  had  evidently 
been  alarmed  when  he  heard  of  this  new  departure  in  eccle- 
siastical discipline.  He  had  great  weight  of  character,  as  he 
was  everywhere  respected  for  his  piety  and  wisdom ;  and 
there  are  good  grounds  for  believing  that  the  alteration  did 
not  meet  the  approval  of  the  venerable  Asiatic  presbyter. 
Though  sinking  under  the  weight  of  years,  he  travelled  all 
the  way  from  Smyrna  to  Rome,  that  he  might  remonstra'e 
with  its  bishop  Anicetus  Irenseus,  who  relates  the  story 
of  this  journey,  but  who  was  in  favor  of  the  new  arrange- 
ments, passes  over  the  chief  cause  of  it  in  suspicious  silence. 
He  tells  us  that  Polycarp  and  Anicetus  "  immediately  agreed, 
without  any  disputation,"  on  the  Paschal  question;  but  he 
acknowledges^  that  "as  to  certain  other  matters  they  had  a 
liitle  controversy y  What  these  "  other  matters  "  were  which 
they  left  unsettled  may  be  confidently  conjectured.  They 
plainly  related  to  questions  of  ecclesiastical  rank.  Anicetus, 
we  are  told,  tried  to  remove  the  scruples  of  Polycarp  by  in- 
viting him  to  preside  at  the  celebrationof  the  Lord's  Supper 
in  the  Roman  Church.  He  thus  obviously  wished  to  suggest 
to  him  that  he  might  still  be  considered  as  his  ecclesiastical 
peer.  But  it  would  seem  that  the  pastor  of  Smyrna  was  not 
content  with  this  concession.  Such  a  piece  of  couitesy  was 
commonly  rendered,  as  a  matter  of  course,  by  one  pastor  to 
another  who  happened  to  be  present  in  the  congregation. 
But  Anicetus  on  this  occasion  merely  undertook  to  perform 
an  act  of  condescension,  in  the  hope  of  conciliating  an  in- 


THE    RISE    OF    PRELACY.  65 

fluential  stranger,  at  a  time  when  the  Catholic  system  had 
not  yet  obtained  a  very  firm  footing.  Polycarp,  in  conse- 
quence, returned  home  far  from  satisfied.  It  is  a  signifi- 
cant fact  that  Presbyterian  Church  government  continued 
in  Smyrna  for  at  least  five-and-twenty  years  after  his  death. 
When  Noetus,  towards  the  end  of  the  second  century,  was 
promulgating  his  errors  relating  to  the  Trinity,  he  was  en- 
countered, not  by  a  bishop,  but  by  the  presbyters  of  the 
place.  Hippolytus,  who  was  a  contemporary,  thus  describes 
the  proceeding:  ^''^\\^x\.  the  blessed  presbyters  [of  Smyrna] 
heard  these  things  [that  is,  the  heretical  sentiments  of 
Noetus],  they  sujumotied  him,  and  examined  him  before  the 
Church.  .  .  .  He,  however,  denied,  saying  at  first  that 
such  were  not  his  sentiments.  But  afterwards,  when  he  had 
intrigued  with  some,  and  had  found  persons  to  join  him  in 
his  error,  he  took  courage,  and  at  length  resolved  to  stand 
by  his  dogma.  The  blessed  presbyters  again  summotied  him, 
and  adininistered  a  rebuke.  But  he  withstood  them.  .  .  . 
Then  they  rebuked  him,  and  cast  him  out  of  the  Church.'' 
Throughout  this  whole  transaction  no  bishop  makes  his 
appearance.  Presbyterianism  was  evidently  still  the  form 
of  government  in  the  Church  of  Smyrna. 

The  establishment  of  the  principle  that,  with  a  view  to  the 
conservation  of  ecclesiastical  unity,  one  of  the  presbyters  or 
elders  should  be  set  over  the  rest,  operated  somewhat  differ- 
ently in  cities  and  in  rural  districts.  In  cities  the  presiding 
presbyter,  now  called  the  bishop,  acquired  increased  power 
over  a  large  congregation,  or,  it  might  be,  over  a  number  of 
congregations ;  in  rural  districts,  where  the  disciples  were 
thinly  scattered,  the  presiding  elder  obtained  only  a  small 
addition  to  his  authority  as  pastor  of  a  single  flock.  As  he 
had  heretofore  conducted  a  large  part  of  the  public  service, 
he  had  already  attained  considerable  influence,  so  that  the 
new  arrangements  produced  no  very  marked  change  in  his 
situation.    Meanwhile  the  city  and  the  country  bishops  held 


66  QUESTIONS   OF    THE    DAY. 

the   same  rank,  and  discharged  the  same  ecclesiastical  func- 
tions.    But  in  reality  they  occupied  very  different  positions. 
When  Constantine  set  up  Christianity  as  the  religion  of  the 
empire,   the    distinction    between  them  became   still   more 
conspicuous.     The  bishop  of  a  metropolis  was  a  rich  digni- 
tary,  mingling  on    equal   terms  with  the  great  officers   of 
government;  whilst  the  country  bishop  was  not  unfrequently 
an  individual  in  needy  circumstances,  supported  by  the  sti- 
pend  of  a   poor  congregation.     Equality    of  ecclesiastical 
rank  under  such  circumstances  could  not  be  long  expected 
to  continue.     The  city  bishops  soon  began  to  complain  of 
the  anomaly,  for  they  felt  the  country  bishops  to  be  so  many 
thorns  in  their  sides,  curbing  their  ambition  and  preventing 
the  enlargement  of  their  jurisdiction.     The  general  estab- 
lishment of  metropolitans,  about  the  time  of  the  Council 
of    Nice  in   a.d.  325,  prepared  the  way  for  their  disappear- 
ance ;  for  they  were  thus  placed  under  the  supervision  of  a 
class  of  prelates  who  looked  on  them  with  little  favor.    They 
had,  shortly  before,  been  distinguished  by  a  new  name — that 
of  chorepiscopi — in   token  of  their  inferior  status  ;  and  they 
had  been  forbidden,   by  a  council  held  at  Ancyra  in  a.d. 
314,  to  ordain  presbyters  or  deacons.    Throughout  the  whole 
of  the  fourth  century  we  may  trace  a  continuous  effort,  on 
the  part  of   city   bishops,   to  accomplish   their   extinction. 
This  was  not  easily  effected,  as  their  numbers  rendered  them 
very  formidable.  We  meet  with  as  many  as  fifty  chorepiscopi 
in  a  single   diocese.     But   they   were  gradually  rooted  out 
under  the  operation  of  canons  passed  by  councils  composed 
almost  exclusively  of  city  bishops.     Thus,  the  Council  of 
Sardica,  held  about  a.d.  343,  decreed  that  "  a  bishop  be  not 
ordained  in  a  village  or  small  city,  whete  a  single  presbyter 
is  sufficient^    lest    the  name  and  authority  of  a  bishop   be 
brought  into  contempt."     Again,  the  Council  of  Laodicea, 
held,  as  it  is  thought,  about  a.d.  360,  enacted  that  *'  bishops 
ought  not  to  be  appointed  in  villages  and  rural  districts, 


THE    RISE    OF    PRELACY.  67 

but  visiting  presbyters,  and  that  those  already  appointed  do 
nothing  without  the  sanction  of  the  city  bishop."  In  the 
end  they  were  entirely  suppressed.  "  In  the  Council  of  Chal- 
cedon,"  says  Bingham,  "  in  the  fifth  century,  we  find  the 
chorepiscopi  sitting  and  subscribing  in  the  name  of  the 
bishops  that  sent  them.  But  this  was  some  diminution  of 
their  power;  for  in  former  councils  they  subscribed  in  their 
own  names,  as  learned  men  agree;  but  now  their  power  was 
sinking,  and  it  went  on  to  decay  and  dwindle  by  degrees,  till 
at  last,  in  the  ninth  century,  when  the  forged  decretals  were 
set  on  foot,  it  was  pretended  that  they  were  not  true  bishops; 
and  so  the  order,  by  the  pope's  tyranny,  came  to  be  laid  aside 
in  the  Western  Church." 

The  Council  of  Nice  in  a.d.  325  recognized  the  Bishop 
of  Rome,  the  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  and  the  Bishop  of  An- 
tioch  as  the  three  most  distinguished  prelates  of  the  Church; 
and  henceforward  the  status  of  bishops  was  regulated  by 
the  rank  of  the  cities  or  provinces  of  the  empire  with  which 
they  were  connected.  When  Constantinople  was  made  the 
capital  of  the  East,  its  bishop  was  not  long  afterwards  placed 
almost  on  a  level  with  the  chief  pastor  of  the  ancient  metro- 
polis of  Italy;  and  subsequently  the  struggles  of  these  two 
dignitaries  for  superiority  created  confusion  throughout  all 
Christendom.  Their  disputes  terminated  in  a  settled 
estrangement  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches. 

Had  the  disciples  continued,  as  at  first,  to  be  governed 
by  the  common  council  of  the  presbyters,  they  never  could 
have  witnessed  the  unseemly  spectacle  of  two  spiritual  poten- 
tates contending  for  supremacy.  By  permitting  one  of  the 
presbyters  to  be  set  over  the  rest  and  invested  with  a  certain 
amount  of  irresponsible  authority,  the  Church  bartered  true 
freedom  for  a  mechanical  and  deceptive  unity.  It  was  vain 
to  speak  of  unity  in  the  midst  of  theological  broils.  In  the 
end  presbyters  and  people  were  reduced  to  a  state  of  com- 
plete enslavement.     The  people  lost  the  right  of  electing 


68  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    BAY. 

their  office-bearers,  and  of  thus  controlling  the  government 
of  the  Church.     The  presbyters  forfeited  their  most  valued 
privileges,   and  even  the  bishops  themselves  were  made  to 
feel  their  helplessness  under  the  pressure  of  an  overbearing 
despotism.     It  is  instructive  to  observe  how  one  false  step 
led  the  way  to  others  still  more  dangerous.     When  one  pres- 
byter was   raised  above  his  fellows,  arguments  had  to  be 
sought  for  to  justify  his  promotion.     It  was  now  discovered 
that  the  deacons,  the  presbyters,  and  the  bishops  had  their 
counterparts  in  the  Levites,  the  priest,  and  the  high  priest  of 
the  Jewish  hierarchy.     In  one  most  important  point  the  par- 
allelism entirely  failed,  for  the  one  high  priest  of  Israel  was 
matched  against  the   countless   array   of  city  and  country 
bishops  in  the  Christian  Church.     But  the  advocates  of  the 
new  polity  attempted,  by  an  odd  style  of  mystical  ratioci- 
nation,  to  get  over  the  difficulty.     They   maintained  that 
there  was  one  episcopate,  consisting  of  homogeneous  bishops, 
diffused  over  the  earth.     They  tried  also,  by  changing  the 
current  terminology,  to  adapt  present  circumstances  to  their 
theory.     ThQ  J>resfyUrhegsin  to  be  called  a  priest;  the  com- 
7nunion  table  was  styled  the  allar;  and  at  length  the  Lord's 
Supper  itself  was   designated  a  sacrifice.     The  priests  and 
Levites  had  succeeded  each  other  in  the  way  of  hereditary 
descent;  it  was  now  maintained  that  true  ministers  must  be 
known   by   their  apostolical   succession.     No  matter    what 
might  be  the  excellence  of  a  pastor,  it  was  contended  that 
he  could   not  dispense  valid   ordinances,   if  he  was  not  in 
communion   with   the  bishops  who  presided  over  what  was 
called  the  Catholic  Church.    The  hierarchy  was  thus  formed 
into   a  close  corporation,  claiming   exclusive  possession  of 
the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven;  the  people  were  reduced 
to  such  a  state  of  impotence  that  they  could  make  no  move- 
ment with  a  view  to  the  recovery  of  their  ecclesiastical  free- 
dom; and  they  were  taught  to  regard  the  clergy  as  mediators 
between  God  and  themselves,  so  that  without  their  services 


THE    RISE    OF    PRELACY.  69 

they  were  in  danger  of  eternal  perdition.  The  new  terms 
descriptive  of  the  Lord's  Supper  were  at  length  literally  in- 
terpreted— the  sacramental  elements  were  regarded  as  the 
real  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  and  idolatry  in  its  grossest 
form  was  patronized.  At  the  time  of  the  Reformation  the 
Church  presented  a  sad  scene  of  ignorance,  disorder,  sen- 
suality and  will-worship.  Prelacy  opened  the  door  for 
popery;  and  popery  took  away  the  Book  of  Life,  led  mill- 
ions blindfolded  into  the  house  of  bondage,  and  fed  them 
on  the  husks  of  her  own  superstitions. 

In  discussing  this  subject  it  has  been  deemed  unnecessary 
to  take  any  notice  of  the  epistles  attributed  to  Ignatius. 
They  are  of  the  same  class  of  writings  as  the  spurious 
decretals.  They  appeared  in  the  early  part  of  the  third 
century,  along  with  a  crowd  of  other  forgeries  evidently 
fabricated  in  the  interest  of  prelacy.  It  is  truly  wonderful 
that  some  learned  men  are  still  befooled  by  these  miserable 
impostures. 

It  may  be  well,  before  closing  this  discussion  on  the  merits 
of  diocesan  episcopacy,  to  add  a  very  few  reflections.  From 
the  account  just  given  of  its  rise  and  progress,  it  must  be 
obvious  that  it  can  lay  claim  to  high  antiquity.  Its  germs 
appeared  about  half  a  century  after  the  last  survivor  of  the 
twelve  Apostles  had  finished  his  career.  At  first  it  presented 
itself  in  a  very  elementary  form,  but  it  gradually  acquired 
strength;  and  in  less  than  three  hundred  years  after  the 
apostolic  age,  it  had  established  itself  throughout  the  greater 
part  of  Christendom.  For  well-nigh  fourteen  hundred  years 
afterwards  it  securely  retained  its  position.  On  the  ground 
of  the  length  of  time  during  which  it  has  been  the  recog- 
nized polity  of  what  was  called  the  Catholic  Church,  it  has, 
therefore,  an  undoubted  claim  to  respectful  consideration. 

It  is  farther  noteworthy  that  the  growth  of  prelacy  was 
associated  with  the  progress  of  Church  corruptions.  Its 
establishment   promoted  a  species  of  artificial  unity;  but  it 


7©  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

also  contributed  to  the  advancement  of  intellectual  and 
spiritual  stagnation.  The  bishops  soon  appropriated  the 
whole  of  the  ecclesiastical  government;  the  inferior  clergy- 
were  obliged  to  obey  their  behests  ;  the  people  were  reduced 
to  a  condition  of  stupid  serfdom,  and  religion  was  made  fo 
consist  mainly  in  the  monotonous  observance  of  rites  and 
ceremonies.  The  corruptions  of  the  Church  had  reached 
their  climax  when  it  had  attained  the  highest  point  of  out- 
ward uniformity.  At  the  dawn  of  the  Reformation  one  man 
swayed  his  ecclesiastical  sceptre  over  Western  Christendom; 
one  language  was  there  used  in  the  services  of  the  sanctuary; 
and  one  liturgy  was  everywhere  in  use.  But,  meanwhile,  a 
darkness  that  might  be  felt  reigned  all  around. 

The  past  history  of  the  Church  also  suggests  that  the  re- 
vival of  religion  appears  to  have  been  always  associated  with 
the  decay  of  prelatic  influence.  Every  enlightened  Prot- 
estant must  acknowledge  that  the  fall  of  the  Romish  power 
in  so  many  countries  of  Europe  in  the  sixteenth  century  was 
the  result  of  a  remarkable  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  of  God; 
and  yet  it  is  notorious  that  prelacy,  as  well  as  popery,  was 
shaken  to  its  foundations  by  the  great  revolution.  In  the 
seventeenth  century  we  see  the  same  principle  illustrated. 
In  the  days  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  there  was 
doubtless  a  great  spiritual  awakening  throughout  England 
as  well  as  Scotland;  and  in  many  places  true  religion  ex- 
hibited its  power  most  significantly  in  a  general  reforma- 
tion of  morals,  and  in  a  thirst,  before  unknown,  for  scriptural 
information;  but  at  the  same  time  prelacy  was  swept  away 
by  public  authority  as  an  ecclesiastical  nuisance.  And  in 
all  the  great  revivals  which  have  since  occurred,  either  in 
Europe  or  America,  prelacy  has  lost  ground.  The  episcopal 
power  has  been  often  put  forth  to  check  the  manifestations 
of  religious  earnestness;  and  the  sameness  of  its  ritual  has 
been  found  to  be  totally  unfitted  for  the  Church  when  visited 
with  times  of  refreshing  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord. 


THE    RISE    OF    PRELACY.  t* 

We  cannot,  however,  conclude  these  remarks  without  ad- 
mitting  that,    notwithstanding  all  the  abatements  we  have 
mentioned,  the  Episcopal  Church  has  produced  not  a  few 
very  noble  specimens   of  vital   Christianity.     Who   can  re- 
member the  names  of  Ussher,  and  Bedell,  and  Bickersteth, 
and  Marsh,  and  Roe,  and  M'llvaine,  and  a  host  of  others, 
without  making  such  an  acknowledgment  ?     Let  us  then  be- 
ware of  attaching  undue  importance  to  the  fact  of  our  ec- 
clesiastical position.     The  outward  framework  of  a  Church 
may  be  constructed  according  to  the  apostolic  pattern,  when 
all  within  may  be  rottenness  and  death.     The  tabernacle  of 
old  might   have    been    reared    up  in  right  proportions;    it 
might  have   had  every  board,  and  every  curtain,  and  every 
pin  appointed  for  it;  and  yet  had  it  been  destitute  of  what 
did  not  meet  the  eye;  had  it  wanted  the  ark,  and  the  mercy- 
seat,  and  the  cloud  of  the  divine  presence,  and  the  comfort 
administered    by    the  promises  to  faithful    worshippers,    it 
would  have  been  desolate  indeed.     Though  a  Church  may 
be  fitly  framed  together  in  its  ecclesiastical  arrangements, 
still,  without  the  indwelling  of  the  Spirit,  it  wants  the  glory 
that  excelleth.     When  it  is  proved  that  it  has  a  form  of  gov- 
ernment promulgated  by  the  Apostles,  many  may  not  be  able 
to  appreciate  the  argumentation;  but  when  it  appears  that 
its  ministers    are    still   animated  by  the  spirit  of  Apostles, 
a  testimony  is  presented  in  its  favor  which  may  be  known 
and  read  of  all  men .    Let  it  then  be  the  care  of  all  associated 
with  a  scriptural  polity  to  furnish  it  with  such  a  recommen- 
dation.    Let  them  seek  to  illuminate  the  Church  with  the 
light  of  holy  living,  and  so  to  execute  the  great  commission 
of  the   ministry  that   onlookers  may  be  disposed  to  say  of 
them:  "  These  men  are  the  servants  of  the  Most  High  God, 
which  show  unto  us  the  way  of  salvation." 


PROOFS  OF  A  THREEFOLD  ORDER  OF  THE 
CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY. 

By  J.  F.  Spalding,  D.D.,  President  of  St.  John's 
College  and  Bishop  of  Colorado. 


THE  subject  is  stated  as  assigned.  I  should  put  it  dif- 
ferently, following  the  language  of  the  preface  to  the 
Ordinal:*  "  It  is  evident  unto  all  men  diligently  reading 
Holy  Scripture  and  ancient  authors,  that  from  the  Apostles' 
time,  there  have  been  these  orders  of  ministers  in  Christ's 
Church — Bishops,  Priests  and  Deacons."  Thus,  it  would 
be  more  accurate  to  say  the  "  three  orders,"  rather  than 
the  '*  threefold  order."  However,  the  meaning  intended  is 
the  same;  just  as  we  may  say  the  threefold  personality  of 
God,  or  the  three  persons  in  the  Godhead.  It  may  be  more 
than  a  pious  fancy  that  the  ground  of  a  threefold  ministry, 
as  of  all  Fatherhood  and  all  sonship,  and  indeed  of  society 
and  all  essential  social  relations  and  of  government,  is  in 
the  Godhead;  as  would  seem  to  have  been  in  the  thought  of 
that  great  Syrian  bishop,  Ignatius  of  Antioch,  the  most  pro- 
nounced asserter  or  champion  of  the  exclusive  claims  of 
the  episcopacy.     (Mag.  xiii.,  Tral.  xii.,  Smyr.  viii.) 

But  it  does  not  concern  us  to  put  forth  now  any  doc- 
trine of  the  three  orders  of  the  ministry.  We  are  neither 
to  show  why  there  should  be  three  orders,  nor  what  doc- 
trine or  principles  may  be  involved.  Our  business  is  only 
with  facts.  Are  there  three  orders  in  the  ministry  ?  Is  the 
threefoldness  of  order  in  the  ministry  a  fact  ?  Does  it  char- 
acterize the  ministry  ?     Is  it,  therefore,  found  in  the  Apostles' 

*  See  Preface  to  Ordination  Servic/^  in  the  American  and  English 
Prayer  Books. 


74  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

time,  in  the  primitiv3  Church,  in  the  Church  of  the  Nicene 
and  the  other  general  councils,  and  in  all  subsequent  ages 
except  so  far  as  the  unity  of  the  Church  was  violated  and 
the  threefold  order  departed  from,  at  and  since  the  Refor- 
mation of  the  sixteenth  century  ?  We  are  to  seek  simply 
the  proofs  of  the  facts  and  not  to  propound  theories  or  in- 
ferences from  the  facts. 

It  is  important  to  observe   that  we  are  to  seek  the  proofs 
of  the  facts  concerning  the  ministry,  whether  in  one  order 
or   three  orders,  whe7'ever  such  proofs  may  be  found.     It  is 
not  necessary,  in  proving  facts  in  regard  to  the  beginnings 
or    progress    of   Christianity,    to    confine   ourselves  to   the 
records  of    Holy  Scripture.     Facts   are  just   as  truly  facts 
when  found  recorded  in  what  people  used  to  call  profane, 
as  in  sacred  history.     Proofs  of  facts  are  just  as  valid  when 
derived  from  early  ecclesiastical  writers  as  from  writers  of 
Scripture.     It  is  strange  that  so  obvious  a  statement  should 
need  to  be  made  or  proved;  and  yet  there  are  men,  even 
in  these  times,  who  bitterly  resent  attempts  to  prove  facts 
in  the  structure  of  the  ministry,  or  in  the  customs  or  ritual 
or  sacraments  of  the  Church   from   any  sources  outside  the 
New    Testament.       Tliey  will   say  that   it    is  of  no  conse 
quence  whatever  whether  the  Didache  or  any  of  the  apos- 
tolic or  early  fathers  use   language   that  shows  infants  to 
have  been  baptized,  for  example;   or  Apostles  to  have  been 
continued  as    a    higher  order  than    presbyters    (presbyter- 
bishops).     All  such   proofs,  they  contend,  are  irrelevant  if 
not  impertinent.     "To  the  law  and  to  the  testimony  "  they 
urge.     *'  The  Bible  and  the  Bible  only  "  must  be  the  source 
of  all  knowledge  of  facts  pertaining  to  Christianity,  at  least 
in  its   earliest  period  !     If  I  remember  rightly,  at  least  one 
writer  in  your  valuable  magazine  manifests  something  of  this 
tendency.     Hence,  we  must  remind  our  readers  of  the  true 
relations  of  the  Scriptures  to   the  Church.     Is  it  not  yet 
generally  known,  that  the  Christian  Church  was  most  flour- 


PROOFS    OF    A  THREEFOLD    ORDER    IN    THE    MINISTRY.    75 

ishing,  was  teaching  a  definite  faith  (creed),   administering 
her  great   sacraments,  preaching  her  Gospel  of    the  king- 
dom, and  extending  herself  throughout  the  world,  when  as 
yet  there  was  no  New  Testament  ?     Is  it  not  well  known 
that  the   Apostles  and    leaders    of    the    Church  wrote   the 
books   of   the  New  Testament  as  occasion  required,  begin- 
ning more  than  a  score   of  years  after  the  Pentecostal  bap- 
tism,   and   continuing   till  the  Apostle  St.  John  wrote  his 
Gospel,  almost   at  the  end  of  the  first  century  ?     The  New 
Testament   books    cannot    be    expected  to  contain   a  pre- 
scribed constitution  for   the  Church,  or   any  other  than  in- 
cidental references  to  the  Church  and  ministry  as  already 
existing.  Dr.  Ladd,  in  his  recent  work,  '*  What  is  the  Bible  ? ' 
brings  out  clearly,  what   is  so  familiar  to  Churchmen,  that 
both  in  the  order  of   thought  and   of   fact  the   Church  is 
first.     "  The  ever  living   Church  of    God  is  in  a  most  im- 
portant and  valid  meaning  of  these  words  both  before  and 
over  the  Bible."     "  The  Church  in  the  past  has  brought  the 
Bible  into   being"    (p.  415)-       The    Church,    needing    the 
Bible,  wrote  it.     The   Bible  is  the  invaluable,  indispensa- 
ble record  of  God's  calling  of  His  people,  His  revelations  to 
them.  His  guidance  of  them  through    their  history.     The 
New   Testament    is  the  like  record   of    Jesus    Christ,   His 
incarnation,   teaching  and   works,    His  death,   resurrection 
and    ascension,    coming,    sending    His    Holy    Spirit,    His 
Chur.h,  the  facts  on  which  it  is  founded,  and  the  teaching 
and  life  it  embodies.     Possibly  you  might  be  able  to  prove 
any  Christian  usage  or  any  important   fact  about   the  mm- 
istry  from  Scripture,  or  you   might  not.     The  Church  has 
had  a  continuous  history.     If   you  find  references   to   the 
usage   or  fact  in  question,  in  early  Christian  writers,  refer- 
ences  that   are    clear  and  unmistakable,  in  writers  of  the 
highest  character  for  veracity  and  competency  of  information, 
you  must  accept   such  proof  as  valid.     To  reject  it  because 
not  scriptural  proof  is  the  height  of  folly  and  absurdity. 


76  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

On  this  subject  of  the  threefold  ministry  the  proof  from 
Scripture  is  abundant,  and  the  proof  from  history  or  from 
ecclesiastical  writers  later  than  those  who  wrote  the  New 
Testament  books  is  also  abundant  and  equally  conclusive. 
Both  sources  of  proof  should  be  considered,  to  give  anything 
like  an  adequate  impression  of  the  full  strength  of  the  evi- 
dence. 

In  investigating  any  subject,  it  is  necessary  to  proceed  on 
some  hypothesis.  If  the  facts  shall  be  found  to  be  accor- 
dant with  or  to  sustain  the  hypothesis,  and  there  is  no  other 
satisfactory  explanation  of  them,  the  hypothesis  is  considered 
proved.  So  scientists  proceed  in  their  investigations.  Thus 
was  proved  the  working  hypothesis  of  the  Copernican  sys- 
tem, of  the  law  of  gravitation,  of  the  nebular  theory;  and 
now  many  think  that  they  have  verified,  or  soon  will  com- 
pletely verify,  the  theory  or  hypothesis  of  evolution. 

In  the  same  way  we  must  pursue  historical  studies  if  we 
would  attain  the  best  results. 

With  what  theory  in  our  minds  shall  we  undertake  the  in- 
vestigation of  the  threefoldness  or  parity  of  order  in  the  min- 
istry? I  think,  taking  the  accepted  modern  historical  method, 
we  must  assume  as  true,  provisionally,  or  as  a  working 
hypothesis,  the  threefold  ministry,  or  what  is  called  from  its 
highest  order,  episcopacy.  If  the  facts  do  not  bear  out  or 
substantiate  this  theory  or  hypothesis,  then  it  must  be  re- 
jected and  another  tried,  and  so  on,  till  that  hypothesis  shall 
be  found  with  which  all  the  facts  agree. 

Why  must  we  assume  this  as  a  working  theory.?  Because 
all  competent  men  admit  that,  at  least  from  the  second  cen- 
tury, the  ministry  was  in  three  orders,  and  that  from  then 
onwards,  episcopacy  was  in  possession  everywhere.  (The 
question  only  arises  in  regard  to  the  highest  order,  everybody 
admitting  the  facts  of  the  orders  of  presbyters  and  deacons.) 
The  presumption  certainly  is  tliat  episcopacy  was  earlier  than 
the  second  century,  that  it  was  in  fact  apostolic.     The  true 


PROOFS    OF    A  THREEFOLD    ORDER    IN    THE    MINISTRY.    77 

historical  method,  therefore,  requires  us  to  examine  all  the 
facts,  in  view  of  this  hypothesis,  and  see  whether  it  is  sub- 
stantiated by  them  or  not.  It  is  presumptively  true.  The 
onus  of  proof  is  upon  those  who  deny  it.  Let  us  test  it.  Let 
us  see  whether  it  will  sustain  all  the-facts  and  whether  all 
the  facts  substantiate  it. 

Great  confusion  has  resulted  from  taking  an  unhistorical 
method,  and  trying  to  fit  the  facts  to  some  modern  theory  of 
what  might  or  ought  to  have  been  the  origin  or  character  of 
the  ministry.  In  such  case  it  will  be  found  that  a  large 
mass  of  facts  of  primary  significance  must  be  set  aside 
and  ignored.  For  example,  Mosheim,  Neander,  Gieseler, 
Hase,  etc.,  ignore  the  apostolic  office,  except  while  the  twelve 
and  St.  Paul  were  living,  though  most  of  these  admit  epis- 
co])acy  to  have  existed  under  the  eye  and  authority  of  the 
Apostles. 

One  of  the  most  instructive  examples  of  the  unhistorical 
method  of  working  on  theoretical  assumptions,  which  have 
no  likelihood  of  truth,  that  I  havehappenedto  notice,  is  seen 
in  the  latest  translation  of  Eusebius'  Ecclesiastical  History, 
with  very  full  and  learned  notes,  which  forms  part  of  the 
first  volume  of  the  second  series  of  the  Post  Nicene  Library 
of  the  Fathers.  For  example,  he  invariably  translates  Par- 
oikia  as  parish.  Thus  he  makes  the  writer  speak  of  the 
parish  of  Alexandria,  the  parish  of  Antioch,  the  parish  of 
Caesarea,  of  Jerusalem,  of  Rome,  etc.  Thus  he  is  guilty 
of  a  curious  and  amusing  anachronism,  if  so  it  may  be  called. 
If  the  reader  will  examine  the  article  "  Parish  "  in  Smith  and 
Cheetham's  Dictionary  of  Christian  Antiquities,  by  E.  H. 
(Edwin  Hatch),  a  very  free  writer  on  ecclesiastical  organ- 
ization, he  will  see  the  absurdity  of  this  apparently  disin- 
genuous attempt  to  carry  back  the  modern  parish  into 
apostolic  and  primitive  times,  and  thus  to  suggest  Presby- 
terianism  as  the  first  form  of  the  Christian  ministry  (a  form 
which,  soniehQw  or  other,  very  early  had  to  be  set  aside,  if 


78  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

it  ever  existed,  though  no  notice  or  record  of  its  having  ex- 
isted or  been  set  aside  has  come  down  to  us).  The  first 
meaning  of  the  word  Paroikia  was  diocese,  and  so  it  should 
have  been  translated.  The  second  meaning  was  '*  the  rural 
or  suburban  district,  dependent  more  or  less  upon  the 
bishop's  church,"  where  the  presbyter  or  deacon  was  placed, 
and  which  the  bishop  sometimes  visited.  Eusebius,  in  sev- 
eral places,  the  Apostolic  Canons,  those  of  Ancyra,  and  of 
Nice,  and  a  host  of  writers,  identify  the  Paroikia  with  the 
diocese.  *'  Where  the  Roman  organization  prevailed  the 
parish  was  \\iQ pagus^  incus  or  castellum  with  its  surrounding 
ierritoriiuny  In  England  the  Roman  organization  was 
swept  away  and  "  the  parish  was  identical  with  the  township 
or  manor."  (See  art.  "  Parish,"  by  E.  H.,  as  above.)  The 
English  parish,  from  which  we  get  the  idea  and  the  fact  of 
parishes,  was  first  introduced  by  Archbishop  Theodore  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  seventh  century !  This  same  writer 
makes  other  like  blunders  from  his  unhistorical  and  un- 
proved assumptions.  Thus,  admitting  the  correctness  of 
Eusebius'  lists  of  the  succession  of  bishops  in  all  the  chief 
apostolic  sees,  as  at  Rome,  Linus,  Cletus,  Clement,  Ever- 
estus,  etc.,  at  Alexandria,  St.  Mark,  Annianus,  Abialus, 
Cergon,  etc.,  at  Antioch,  St.  Peter,  Evodius,  Ignatius,  Hero, 
etc.,  at  Jerusalem,  St.  James,  Symeon,  etc., admitting,  too, 
most  fully  that  episcopacy  prevailed  over  the  period  and  the 
areas  covered  by  the  history;  that  is  to  say,  throughout  the 
whole  Christian  world,  at  and  from  near  the  beginning  of  the 
second  century  onwards  into  the  Nicene  period,  he  yet 
evades  the  force  of  this  evidence  by  the  bare,  unverified 
assertion  that  it  was  the  custom  of  the  writers  of  the 
second  and  third  centuries  to  carry  back  the  forms  of 
organization  of  their  own  days  into  apostolic  times.  Surely 
such  a  theory  might  be  tested.  It  could  not  be  diffi- 
cult, ^^.,  to  examine  St.  Paul's  Epistles  to  Timothy  and 
Titus,  and  see  whether  the  teaching  agrees,  in  the  matter 


PROOFS    OF    A  THREEFOLD    ORDER    IN    THE    MINISTRY.    79 

of  the  orders  of  the  ministry,  with  second  and  third  century- 
facts. 

It  has  been  attempted  to  deny  St.  Paul's  authorship  of 
the  Pastoral  Epistles  and  to  place  their  origin  in  the  middle 
of  the  second  century  for  no  other  reason  than  that  they 
assume  the  three  orders  of  the  ministry  or  episcopacy  as 
then  prevailing.  But  there  being  reasons  enough  outside  this 
question  for  attributing  these  Epistles  to  the  great  Apostle, 
is  it  not  far  more  reasonable  to  suppose  the  threefold  min- 
istry existing  in  St.  Paul's  time,  rather  than  to  deny  the 
authenticity  and  genuineness  of  these  precious  documents  ? 
One  or  the  other  of  these  alternatives  is  necessary.  Either 
that  St.  Paul  wrote  these  epistles,  and  hence  episcopacy  be- 
longs to  his  times,  or  else  that  episcopacy  is  a  second  cen- 
tury growth,  and  hence  St.  Paul  could  not  have  written 
these  epistles.  Conservative  Christians  much  prefer,  and 
indeed,  insist  upon,  the  former  alternative. 

Again,  this  learned  translator  admits  that  St.  James  had 
a  position  of  eminence  at  Jerusalem,  but  asserts  that  he 
could  not  have  been  the  bishop  of  that  first  see  or  diocese 
for  the  incomprehensible  reason  that  he  is  classed  with 
Peter  and  John  as  pillars  (see  page  104,  note).  One  would 
think  that  this  disciple,  who  was  probably  not  an  apostle  in 
the  sense  of  being  one  of  the  twelve,  was  a  pillar  equally 
with  the  chief  of  the  Apostles,  for  the  very  reason  that  he 
was  bishop  of  the  earliest  of  the  apostolic  Churches  or  dio- 
ceses. On  no  other  ground  can  we  conceive  it  possible 
that  he  should  be  called  a  pillar  of  the  Church. 

Thus  this  learned,  and,  in  the  main,  most  accurate  trans- 
lator of  the  "  Father  of  Ecclesiastical  History,"  falls  into 
the  most  serious  mistakes  from  his  unhistorical  presumptions 
and  inapplicable  modern  theories,  suggesting  inferences  that 
are  without  plausibility,  and  are  in  the  teeth  of  undeniable 
or  well  authenticated  facts. 

Others  make  a  distinction,  which  is  altogether  without 


So 


QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 


reality,  and  contrary  to  facts,  between  the  missionary  and 
diocesan  episcopacy,  as  if  the  same  bishop  could  not  be,  and 
has  not  been,  both,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  and  by  turns. 
In  every  country,  on  planting  and  organizing  the  Gospel  of 
the  kingdom,  the  bishop  is  first  an  apostle,  one  sent,  or 
a  missionary  bishop.  Then  as  success  attends  his  labors 
and  those  of  his  clergy  and  people,  he  may  be  able  to  settle 
down  in  a  limited  field  or  a  diocese,  or  form  dioceses  out  of 
his  large  missionary  jurisdiction.  An  apostle,  or  a  mission- 
ary bishop,  if  a  missionary  bishop  may  be  called  an  apostle, 
is  no  different  as  bishop,  from  one  who  does  not  move 
about  in  so  wide  an  area,  but  is  in  charge  of  a  diocese. 

The  question  is,  Are  there  functions  to  be  performed 
by  the  bishop,  whether  a  missionary  bishop  like  the  first 
Apostles,  a  regionary  bishop  as  some  were  called  in  the  early 
middle  ages,  or  bishop  of  a  diocese,  which  presbyters  and 
deacons  cannot  perform  ?  Or  as  St.  Jerome,  when  angry  with 
the  bishops,  and  trying  to  disparage  them,  asks:  "What 
can  a  bishop  do  which  a  presbyter  cannot  do,  excepting  or- 
dination ? "  He  has  to  except  ordination  and  all  that  it 
involves.  (Ep.  cxlvi.  Ad.  Evangelum.)  For  minimize  the 
difference  as  he  may,  there  is  about  him  everywhere  in  the 
Church,  east  and  west,  in  Alexandria,  as  everywhere  else,  an 
order  of  bishops,  regarded  as  successors  of  the  Apostles, 
and  there  has  been  such  an  order  from  the  Apostles'  times; 
for  he  attributes  its  institution  to  the  Apostles,  and  asserts 
that  this  order  has  functions  wliich  distinguish  it  from  that 
of  presbyters.  There  have  been  many  different  sorts,  as 
different  titles,  of  bishops,  bishops  of  large  dioceses  and 
small,  of  the  country  and  the  city,  bishops  roving  and  sta- 
tionary, or  missionary  and  diocesan,  bishops  who  were 
princes,  and  bishops  assistant  or  suffragan.  But  all  bishops 
as  such  had  the  power  to  ordain  ministers  of  all  orders,  as 
well  as  powers  of  supervision,  wanting  in  all  other  ministers. 

Controversial  writers  ought  to  be  very  careful  how  they 


PROOFS    OF    A  THREEFOLD    ORDER    IN    THE    MINISTRY.    8l 

carry  their  modern  theoretical  notions,  such  as  facts  do  not 
sustain,  back  into  early  ecclesiastical  history,  and  attempt 
to  interpret  the  fathers  by  these.  The  famous  Dr.  Miller, 
of  Princeton,  tried  this  and  thought  he  could  show  the 
Church  of  Antioch  and  the  Church  of  Alexandria  to  be 
Presbyterian,  and  Ignatius,  Jerome,  and  one  or  two  others 
like  Aerius,  to  be  advocates  of  ministerial  parity.  The  ter- 
rible punishment  he  received  from  Dr.  Bovvden,  and 
especially  from  Dr.  Mines,  ought  forever  to  deter  others 
from  such  unhistorical  endeavors,  however  honest  and  sin- 
cere. (Bowden's  letters  to  Dr.  Miller  on  the  Ministry,  2 
vols.;  Mines  "Presbyterian  Clergyman  Looking  for  the 
Church.") 

Now  with  the  historical  presumption  for  the  threefold 
ministry  in  mind,  let  us  examine  the  New  Testament. 
What  strikes  us  most  prominently  is  that  there  is  an  order 
of  apostles.  This  is  certainly  the  prime  fact.  This  is  un- 
deniable. The  order  of  apostles  is  the  chief  and  all-im- 
portant order  of  the  ministry.  Then  there  are  presbyters 
or  elders  called  also  bishops,  and  there  are  deacons.  Here 
then  we  have  on  the  face  of  the  New  Testament  the  three 
orders  of  ministers  in  the  Apostolic  Church — apostles, 
presbyter-bishops  or  elders,  and  deacons. 

I  submit  it  to  the  reader  of  whatever  denomination  to  say 
whether  or  not  it  be  true,  that  when  it  is  maintained  that 
there  are  only  the  orders  of  presbyters  (presbyter-bishops) 
call  them  what  you  will,  and  of  deacons,  being  as  deacons 
clergymen  or  laymen,  the  Apostles  themselves  are  not  left 
entirely  out  of  the  reckoning.  If  so,  will  they  also  consider 
whether  it  be  right  thus  to  ignore  the  highest  order  of  all, 
that  of  the  Apostolate  ;  for  clearly  after  Christ  Himself, 
the  Apostles  are  the  source  of  ministry.  "  As  My  Father 
hath  sent  Me,  even  so  send  I  you  "  (St.  John  xx.  21);  and 
"  Lo  !  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  dis- 
pensation "  (St.    Matt,    xxviii.,    20);    with    them    officially 


82  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

therefore,  with  their  order,  as  they  were  not  all  personally 
to  tarry  till  the  Lord  should  come. 

But  here  we  encounter  a  peculiar  theory,  that  there  could 
be  but  twelve  apostles,  and  that  the  Apostles  could  not 
have  successors.  They  were  to  be  witnesses  of  Christ's  life 
on  earth,  to  have  known  Him  personally  in  the  flesh,  and  to 
have  seen  Him  risen  from  the  dead.  Of  course  in  these 
things  they  could  not  have  had  successors,  after  the  gener- 
ation of  Christians  that  was  contemporary  with  them  had 
passed  away.  But  it  was  certainly  possible,  as  it  was  also 
necessary  and  inevitable,  that  they  should  have  successors 
in  all  their  administrative  functions,  in  all  that  was  distinc- 
tive of  their  ministry,  in  teaching,  governing,  maintaining, 
perpetuating  the  ministry  and  the  Church  of  God.  And 
according  to  the  inspired  record  they  did  in  fact  have  suc- 
cessors. St.  Matthias  was  made  the  successor  of  Judas,  and 
was  put  in  the  place  of  his  ''Ministry  and  Apostleship  " 
(Acts  i.,  25).  It  is  too  late  now  to  say  that  this  was  a  mis- 
take. The  Holy  Ghost  nowhere  so  tells  us  in  the  Acts  or 
in  the  Epistles,  nor  was  it  ever  suggested  until  the  times 
when  a  sectarian  motive  made  it  desirable  to  show  that 
Matthias  was  not  an  apostle,  but  that  really  St.  Paul  was 
made  one  of  the  twelve  (!),  a  position  which  St.  Paul  evi- 
dently disclaims  by  insisting  that  he  was  made  an  apostle 
"not  of  men,  neither  by  man,  but  by  Jesus  Christ  and  God 
the  Father"  (Gal.  i.,  i),  and  as  much  an  apostle  as  any  of 
the  twelve  who  were  before  him.  No  theory  can  displace 
St.  Paul  from  his  position  as  the  great  Apostle  to  the  Gen- 
tiles, and  the  head  and  source  of  lines  of  like  apostles,  be- 
ginning with  his  companions,  whom  he  personally  instructed 
and  ordained. 

St.  James,  even  though  not  one  of  the  twelve,  was  an 
apostle  as  being  the  Bishop  of  Jerusalem.  As  Clement  of 
Alexandria  testifies:  "Peter,  James  and  John  did  not  con- 
tend for  the   honor  of  presiding  over  the  Church  at  Jeru- 


PROOFS    OF    A  THREEFOLD    ORDER    IN    THE    MINISTRY.    83 

salem,  but  chose  James  the  Just  to  be  bishop  of  that 
Church."  Whatever  has  been  or  may  be  said  to  the  contrary, 
that  St.  James  was  bishop  of  the  mother  Church,  all  compe- 
tent modern  scholars  of  all  denominations  may  be  said 
substantially  to  agree.  All  antiquity  asserts  this  without 
any  exception,  and  herein  the  testimony  of  antiquity  has  not 
been  impeached. 

Readers  of  the  Greek  Testament  know  that  Barnabas, 
Andronicus,  Junius,  Epaphroditus,  Timothy,  Titus,  Silas, 
Luke,  are  called  apostles  by  St.  Paul.  There  are  others 
also,  e.g ,  Dionysius,  Gaius,  Aristarchus,  Antipas,  Crescens, 
Evodias,  Linus,  Clement,  Mark,  Judas,  Onesimus,  the 
Angels  of  the  Seven  Churches  of  Asia,  companions  or 
pupils  of  apostles,  whom  early  tradition,  which  there  is  no 
reason  whatever  for  denying  to  be  trustworthy,  puts  in  the 
position  of  apostles,  or  successors  of  apostles.  St.  Jerome 
is  esteemed  a  high  authority.  He  was  *'  the  most  learned 
man  of  the  fourth  century,"  and  spent  thirty  years  in  the 
Holy  Land.  He  says,  speaking  of  James,  in  order  to  show 
that  "  others  besides  the  twelve  were  called  apostles,"  "by 
degrees,  in  process  of  time,  others  also  were  ordained  apos- 
tles by  those  \vhom  the  Lord  had  chosen  "  (see  in  Tit.  i.,  5), 
Omnes  (Episcopi)  Apostolorum  successores  sunt.  Ep. 
cxlvi.  Ad.  Evangelum. 

It  is  supposed  that  the  Didache  belongs  to  the  latter  part 
of  the  first  century.  It  is  a  semi-Jewish  composition,  prob- 
ably from  some  obscure  part  of  Syria,  very  crude,  and  with 
apparent  germs  of  heresy  in  doctrine,  simple  even  to  absurd- 
ity, and  not  at  all  to  be  compared  with  any  New  Testament 
writing,  nor  with  any  of  the  so-called  apostolic  fathers;  and 
yet  this  curious  unauthentic  document  may,  and  doubtless 
does,  witness  to  facts  of  custom,  and  even  of  polity,  at  the 
date  to  which  it  belongs;  we  find  in  it  at  any  rate  the  three 
orders,  apostles  and  prophets,  apparently  the  same,  the  first 
and  highest  order,  not  yet  in  this  part  of  the  Church  dioce- 


§4  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

san,  but  missionary  in  character,  and  with  a  roving  commis- 
sion, but  who  are  to  be  "  received  as  the  Lord."  Below  these 
are  the  presbyters,  still  called  bishops,  as  overseers  of  single 
flocks,  and  also  deacons. 

There  is  not  time  to  discuss  the  teaching  of  St.  Paul's  Pas- 
toral Epistles  on  this  subject.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  the 
Apostle  enjoins  upon  these  ministers  to  do,  and  ordains  and 
appoints  them  to  do,  what  presbyters  have  never  been  held 
competent  to  do,  except  post-Reformation  presbyters  in 
Presbyterian  bodies ;  and  that  had  any  theory  but  the 
episcopal  prevailed  among  the  many  congregations  of 
Ephesus  and  of  the  hundred  cities  of  Crete,  most  of  which 
presumably  had  their  churches,  these  men  and  iheir  ministry 
would  certainly  have  been  rejected.  (See  the  writer's  work, 
"The  Church  and  its  Apostolic  Ministry,"  pp.  109-113.) 
The  writer  of  the  article,  "  Bishop,"  in  the  Dictionary  of 
Christian  Antiquities,  already  referred  to,  after  a  most  able 
and  thorough  discussion  in  the  modern  impartial  historical 
spirit,  concludes:  *' The  episcopate,  then,  is  historically  the 
continuation,  in  its  permanent  elements,  of  the  apostolate  ; 
and  accordingly  the  reasons  assigned  for  the  actual  appoint- 
ment of  the  episcopate  are  (i)  as  given  by  St.  Paul  himself, 
to  take  the  place  of  the  apostles  (Tim.  i.,  3;  Titus  i.,  5),  and 
for  the  better  maintenance  of  the  faith  {tb.)  and  in  order  to 
a  due  ordination  of  the  ministry  (Titus  i.,  5).  To  these  the 
fathers  (2)  add  other  reasons  drawn  apparently  from  their 
own  experience  of  the  benefits  of  the  episcopate,"  etc. 

So  much  for  the  highest  order  and  its  perpetuation  in  St. 
Paul's  time.  The  second  order  is  that  of  the  elders  or  pres- 
byter-bishops, about  which,  as  being  an  order,  there  is  no 
contro/ersy. 

Some  recent  writers  against  episcopacy  or  the  threefold 
ministry  have  strangely  asserted,  as  if  it  were  a  discovery  of 
their  own  and  fatal  to  the  argument  for  the  distinction  of 
the  first  and  second  orders,  that  of  late  even  the  defenders 


PROOFS    OF    A  THREEFOLD    ORDER    IN    THE    MINISTRY.    85 

of  episcopacy  have  been  constrained  to  admit  that  in  the 
New  Testament  "bishop"  and  "  presbyter "  are  used  for 
the  same  persons  !  But  this  is  what  nobody  ever  denied.  It 
is  affirmed  by  Theodoret,  Chrysostom,  Hilary,  Jerome, 
Clement,  and  many  others,  "Episcopalians  a  thousand  years 
before  ihe  first  non-episcopal  church  had  been  founded" 
(Little's  Reasons).  It  is  affirmed  by  all  the  modern  Epis- 
copal writers  on  this  subject,  Bowden,  Onderdonk,  Kip, 
Haddon,  Lightfoot,  Gore,  Liddon,  etc.  It  is  strange  indeed 
that  there  should  be  such  lack  of  familiarity  with  the  litera- 
ture of  the  subject  on  the  part  of  those  who  take  the  modern 
theoretical  and  unhistorical  view  as  to  how  episcopacy  may 
have  arisen,  without  duly  considering  the  facts  as  to  its  rise 
and  prevalence. 

We  might  go  on  with  the  New  Testament  proofs  and 
show  that  the  angels  of  the  Seven  Churches  of  Asia  were  the 
bishops  of  those  Churches  or  dioceses.  Thus  there  is  but 
one  angel  of  each  church,  and  the  responsibilities  ascribed 
to  him  correspond  remarkably  with  those  which  are  enforced 
on  Timothy  and  Titus  by  St.  Paul  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles. 
They  are  real  persons  symbolized  as  stars,  just  as  the 
churches  they  governed  are  real  churches  symbolized  as 
candlesticks.  They  are  seen  to  have  been  bishops  by  the 
analogy  of  Gal.  i.  8,  iv.  14,  by  their  standing  for  and  repre- 
senting their  several  churches,  by  the  fact  credited  by 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  by  St,  Jerome,  and  see  Eusebuis  H. 
E.  111.,  2;^,  and  quite  generally,  that  St.  John  is  expressly 
stated  to  have  appointed  bishops  from  city  to  city  in  these 
very  regions,  and  by  the  testimony  of  most  of  the  fathers 
and  of  moderns  when  not  writing  in  the  interests  of  a  theory. 
(See  Dictionary  of  Christian  Antiquities,  art.  "Angel.") 

The  scriptural  proof  ends  with  St.  John  the  Apostle. 
The  patristic  begins  with  Ignatius,  Bishop  of  Antioch,  mar- 
tyred at  P.ome  not  later  than  a.d.  no.  Since  Bishop  Light- 
foot's  vindication,  and  also  that  of  Zumpt  in  Germany,  the 


86  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

genuineness  of  his  seven  short  epistles  can  no  longer  be 
disputed.  Let  anyone  read  them  without  prejudice.  Who- 
ever does  so  must  perforce  admit  that  in  his  time  there 
were  the  three  orders  which  have  ever  since  prevailed.  The 
Ignatian  bishop  is  not  a  presbyter-bishop;  he  is  a  bishop 
over  presbyter-bishops  and  deacons;  he  is  a  Bishop  in  the 
historical  sense. 

Everybody  knows  the  historian  Gibbon's  dictum — "  Nulla 
Ecclesia,  sine  Episcopo  "  (see  Cap.  15,  notes  no,  in,  112). 
Surely,  Gibbon  was  competent  to  know  and  was  without 
ecclesiastical  bias. 

Guizot,  the  learned  French  protestant  historian,  says: 
"The  Apostles  themselves  appointed  several  bishops.  Ter- 
tullian,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  and  many  fathers  of  the 
second  and  third  century  do  not  permit  us  to  doubt  this 
fact."  To  sum  up  in  the  words  of  the  learned  Grotius, 
himself  a  Presbyterian:  ''The  episcopacy  had  its  com- 
mencement in  the  time  of  the  Apostles.  All  the  fathers, 
without  exception,  testify  to  this.  The  testimony  of  Jerome 
alone  is  sufficient.  The  catalogues  of  the  bishops  in  Irenaeus, 
Socrates,  Theodoret,  and  others,  all  of  which  begin  in  the 
apostolic  age,  testify  to  the  same.  To  refuse  credit  in  an  his- 
torical matter  to  so  great  authorities  and  so  unanimous  among 
themselves  is  not  the  part  of  any  but  an  irreverent  and 
stubborn  disposition."  (See  his  "Annotations  on  the  Con- 
sultations of  Cassander"  and  his  "Comments  on  Acts  XIV.") 
The  challenge  of  the  learned  and  proverbially  judicious 
Hooker  was  never  answered,  "  We  require  you  to  find  out 
but  one  churcli  upon  the  face  of  the  whole  earth  that  hath 
been  ordered  by  your  discipline  or  hath  not  been  ordered 
by  ours;  that  is  to  say,  by  episcopal  regimen,  since  the  time 
that  the  blessed  Apostles  were  here  conversant."  Every- 
body interested  in  this  subject  should  procure  and  read  the 
latest  translation  of  Eusebius,  in  the  Nicene  and  Post- 
Nicene  Library  of  the  Fathers, 


PROOFS    OF    A  THREEFOLD    ORDER    IN    THE    MINISTRY.    ^7 

We  will  see  that  from  Ignatius  down,  through  Diognetus 
A.D.  130,  Hegesippus  H.  E.  iv.,  22;  Dionysius,  "the  Holy- 
Bishop  of  Corinth"  (H.  E.  iv.,  23),  who  lived  to  a.d.  176; 
Irenaeus,  disciple  of  Polycarp,  H.  E.  v.,  24;  Polycrates, 
Bishop  of  Ephesus,  a.d.  196,  "sixty-five  years  of  age  in 
the  Lord";  Clement,  Origen,  TertuUian,  Cyprian,  etc.,  etc., 
etc.,  there  is  but  one  unvarying  testimony,  and  there  is 
positively  nothing  to  set  against  it.  The  threefold  order  is 
established. 

The  proof  of  the  Four  Gospels  and  of  the  canon,  and  of 
apostolic  doctrine,  depends  on  the  succession  of  bishops  in 
the  apostolic  sees.  (See  Irenaeus,  Haer  iii.,  cap.  iii.;  Ter- 
tuUian, Praescript,  cap.  xxxii.,  etc.)  In  reading  Irenaeus  and 
a  few  other  early  fathers,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
bishops  are  sometimes  called  presbyters.  In  fact,  every 
apostle  bishop  is  both  presbyter  and  deacon  as  well,  and 
may  be  and  sometimes  is  so  called;  but  never  does  the  re- 
verse find  place. 

Dr.  Salmon,  author  of  the  best  introduction  as  yet  to  the 
New  Testament,  writing  in  the  Expositor^  observes  that 
Church  history  after  the  time  of  the  Apostles  enters  into 
and  passes  through  a  tunnel,  whence  it  emerges  in  the 
second  century;  and  there  is  only  an  air-hole  here  and 
there  by  which  the  light  is  let  in  and  the  conditions  of 
progress  are  observable.  The  Churcii  enters  this  tunnel 
with  its  threefold  ministry  of  apostles,  presbyter-bishops 
and  deacons;  shall  we  say  at  the  time  St.  Paul  wrote  to 
Timothy  and  Titus,  and  James,  the  Lord's  brother,  was 
Bishop  of  Jerusalem .?  Or  was  it  at  the  time  of  Symeon, 
his  successor,  whose  election  and  the  reasons  and  circum- 
stances thereof  are  well-known  historical  facts  (Euseb.  H. 
E.  iii.,  4-9)  ?  Or  must  it  not  be  put  still  later,  when  St. 
John  comes  back  from  Patmos  and  ordains  bishops  for 
various  cities,  as  Polycarp  for  Smyrna,  and  addresses  seven 
of  these  bishops  as  the  angels  of  their  churches  }     Wh?t- 


88  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

ever  moment  the  tunnel  is  entered,  the  train  is  well  made  up 
and  is  on  schedule  time.  And  it  comes  out  in  good  con- 
dition and  on  schedule  time  on  the  other  side,  when  Bishop 
Ignatius  is  being  led  to  Rome  and  writes  his  seven  short 
epistles,  urging  obedience  to  the  bishop  and  the  presby- 
ters and  deacons  under  them.  Or  will  you  put  it  later  when 
Folycarp  or  Irenaeus  or  when  Diognetus  or  Hegesippus 
wrote,  or  when  the  writing  from  which  we  have  the  "  Mura- 
torian  fragment "  appeared?  Still  it  is  in  perfect  order 
and  on  schedule  time.  Now  shall  we  say  that  during  its 
progress  through  the  darkness  of  the  tunnel  it  has  been 
taken  to  pieces  and  reconstructed  ?  Was  it  Presbyterian, 
or  Congregationalist,  or  what  not,  for  a  brief  period  just  be- 
fore it  entered  or  for  a  short  space  therein,  though  there  be 
no  record  of  such  fact  nor  controversy  about  it  ?  Did  it 
get  therein  any  new  Scriptures  and  new  doctrines  and  be- 
come something  different  from  what  it  was,  in  organization 
and  character  ?  Or  did  it  not  rather  continue  what  it  had 
been  under  the  Apostles  and  in  the  earliest  authentic  history 
that  has  come  down  to  us  ?  Why  make  the  gratuitous  and 
unreasonable  supposition  of  change  ?  It  had  the  three 
orders  when  St.  Paul,  St.  Peter,  St.  James  and  St.  John  were 
living.  It  has  them  in  the  second  century.  Therefore  it 
follows  that  it  has  had  them  all  along.  Christian  men  lived 
in  the  second  century  who  had  been  converted  by  Apostles. 
There  has  been  no  break;  tliere  is  no  missing  link  to  be 
filled  in;  the  memory  of  living  men  covers  the  whole  period; 
there  was  no  invention  of  new  scriptures  and  doctrines. 
The  train  goes  on  majestically,  uninterruptedly  with  its 
precious  freight  of  scriptures,  faith,  government  and  wor- 
ship. Here  and  there  you  can  see  it,  or  enough  of  it  to 
know  that  it  is  unchanging,  as  it  passes  on,  like  the  Lord 
Himself  whom  it  proclaims. 

The  supposition  that  the  Church   of  Christ  which   Mos- 
heim,  Hase,  Neander,  Kurtz,  Schaff,  and  all  the  rest  of  t'l'- 


PROOFS    OF    A   THREEFOLD    ORDER    IN    THE    MINISTRY      89 

non-episcopal  historians  admit  was  episcopal  almost  from 
the  beginning  of  the  second  century,  and  some  of  them 
much  earlier,  was  Presbyterian  or  anything  else  in  the  first 
century,  after  the  Apostles  had  departed,  is  without  any 
foundation  of  fact  to  support  it.  It  is  only  a  theory  of  what 
might  have  been  or  what  human  ingenuity  can  conceive 
possible.     It  requires  a  reconstruction  of  the  facts  to  suit  it. 

Dr.  Chillingworth  is  much  esteemed  by  Protestants  for  his 
famous  dictum  about  *' the  Bible  and  the  Bible  only"  as 
their  "  religion."  The  conclusion  of  his  *'  unanswerable 
demonstration  of  episcopacy  "  is  as  worthy  of  being  com- 
mitted to  memory  and  often  repeated  as  is  the  last  para- 
graph of  Hooker's  first  Book  on  Law  as  having  ''its  seat  in 
the  bosom  of  God  "  and  "  its  voice  "  being  "  the  harmony  of 
the  world  ":  ''When  I  shall  see  all  the  fables  of  the  meta- 
morphoses acted  and  prove  true  stories;  when  I  shall  see 
all  the  democracies  and  aristocracies  in  the  world  lie  down 
to  sleep  and  awake  into  monarchies,  then  will  I  begin  to 
believe  that  Presbyterian  government  having  continued  in 
the  Church  during  the  Apostles'  times,  should  presently 
after,  against  the  Apostles'  doctrine  and  the  will  of  Christ, 
be  whirled  about,  like  a  scene  in  a  masque  and  transformed 
into  episcopacy.  In  the  meantime,  while  these  things  re- 
main incredible  and  in  human  reason  impossible,  I  hope  I 
shall  have  leave  to  conclude  thus  : 

"  Episcopal  government  is  acknowledged  to  have  been 
universal  in  the  Church  presently  after  the  Apostles'  times. 
Between  the  Apostles'  times  and  this  presently  after,  there 
was  not  time  enough  for,  nor  possibility  of,  so  great  an 
alteration.  And  tlierefore  there  was  no  such  alteration  as 
is  pretended,  and  therefore  episcopacy,  being  confessed 
to  be  so  ancient  and  catholic,  must  be  granted  also  to  be 
apostolic,  Quod  erat  devionsh'andum.'* 


PROOFS  OF  AN  HISTORIC  EPISCOPATE. 

By  William   Stevens   Perry,   D.D.,    Oxon.,  Bishop    of 

Iowa  and  President  of  Griswold  College, 

Davenport. 


THE  critical  examination  of  the  New  Testament  writings 
for  notices  of  the  polity  of  the  apostolic  churches, 
plainly  indicates  that  the  ultimate  earthly  authority  there  rec- 
ognized was  that  exercised  by  the  Apostles,  and  that  the  means 
for  the  transmission  of  this  authority  was  by  the  imposition 
of  apostolic  hands.     In  other  words,  the  principle  of  indi- 
vidual overseership,  or  episcopacy,  exercised  by  the  Apostles 
first  and  by  apostolic   delegates  afterward^,  and  gradually 
taking  shape  in  more  easily  recognized  and  definite  forui,  is 
found  in  the  New  Testament  Scriptures,  while  we  may  search 
their  pages  in  vain  for  any  indication  of  the  principle  of 
Presbyterian  parity  or  of  Congregational  democracy.     Few 
and  scattered  as  are  the  New  Testament  allusions  to  the 
polity  of  the  Church  in  the  days  in    which    the   Apostles 
were  still  present  on  the   earth,  the  trend  of  each  and  all  of 
these  passages  is   evident.     The  source  of   power    in    the 
Church  was  not  from  the  people  or  of  the  people.     It  was 
from  above  and  in  these  scanty  notices  we  see  apostolic  rule 
gradually  merging  into  episcopal  authority  and  power. 

The  exercise  of  the  comuiission  of  their  Master — "As  the 
Father  hath  sent  Me  {aTtearaXKe  yuf),  even  so  send  I  you 
{nayc^  na^iTtoD  v/ua^)  " — by  the  Twelve,  chosen  not  by  the 
company  of  believers,  but  by  the  Lord  Himself ;  the  solemn 
investiture  of  Matthias,  not  by  the  people  but  by  the  Eleven 
acting  under  divine  guidance,  with  the  office   {eTtiaKonrv^ 


92  QUESTK^NS    OF    THE    DAY. 

margin,  Revised  Version,  overseership)  from  which  Judas 
fell  ;  the  choice  of  the  great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles  by  the 
great  Head  of  the  Church  Himself — "an  apostle  not  from 
men  neither  through  men,  but  through  Jesus  Christ  and 
God  the  Father";*  the  headship  of  the  Church  at  Jeru- 
salem, as  well  as  the  title  of  "  apostle,"  so  plainly  accorded 
by  St.  Paul  to  "  James  the  Lord's  brother,"  who  was  evi- 
dently not  one  of  the  Twelve;  the  absence  of  any  hint  that 
the  apostolate  was  to  be  limited  to  the  Twelve,  and  on  the 
other  hand  the  application  of  the  title  to  Barnabas, f  to 
Andronicus    and    Junias,|    probably    to    Silvanus  ||  and   to 

*  Galatians  i.,  i. 

f  "  The  apostleship  of  Barnabas  is  beyond  question.  St.  Luke  records 
his  consecration  to  the  office  as  taking  place  at  the  same  time  with,  and 
in  the  same  manner  as,  St.  Paul's  (Acts  xiii..  2,  3).  In  his  account  of 
their  missionary  labors  he,  again,  names  them  together  as  'Apostles,'  even 
mentioning  Barnabas  first  (Acts  xiv.,  4,  14).  St.  Paul  himself  also  in 
two  different  epistles  uses  similar  language.  In  the  Galatian  letter  he 
speaks  of  Barnabas  as  associated  with  himself  in  the  apostleship  of  the 
Gentiles  (ii.,  9);  in  the  First  to  the  Corinthians  he  claims  for  his  fellow 
laborer  all  the  privileges  of  an  Apostle,  as  one  who,  like  himself,  holds 
the  office  of  an  Apostle  and  is  doing  the  work  of  an  Apostle  (ix.,  5,  6). 
If,  therefore,  St.  Paul  has  held  a  larger  place  than  Barnabas  in  the  grati- 
tude and  veneration  of  the  Church  of  all  ages,  this  is  due,  not  to  any 
superiority  of  rank  or  office,  but  to  the  ascemlancy  of  his  personal  gifts, 
a  more  intense  energy  and  self-devotion,  wider  and  deeper  sympathies, 
a  firmer  intellectual  grasp,  a  larger  measure  of  the  spirit  of  Christ." — 
Bp.  Lighifool's  Epis.  to  the  Galatians,  pp.  96,  97. 

X  "On  the  most  natural  interpretation  of  a  passage  in  the  Epibtle  to 
the  Romans  (xvi.,  7),  Andronicus  and  Junias,  two  Christians  otherwise 
unknown  to  us,  are  called  distinguished  members  of  the  apostolate,  lan- 
guage which  indirectly  implies  a  very  considerable  extension  of  the 
term." — Ibid,  p.  96 

II  "In  I.  Thess.  ii.,  6,  again,  where  ...  he  speaks  of  the  disin- 
terested labors  of  himself  and  his  colleagues,  adding  '  though  7C'e  might 
have  been  burdensome  to  you,  being  Apostles  of  Christ,'  it  is  probable 
that  under  this  term  he  includes  Silvanus,  who  had  labored  with  him  in 
Thessalonica,  and  whose  name  appears  in  the  superscription  of  the  let- 
ter."—Ibid. 


PROOFS    OF    AN    HISTORIC    EPISCOPATE.  93 

Others  by  St.  Paul;  the  condemnation  of  "false  apostles"; 
the  committal  by  St.  Paul  of  the  charge  of  the  churches  he 
had  founded  to  Timothy  and  Titus  ;  the  latest  messages  of 
the  Head  of  the  Church  not  to  the  people  but  to  the  rulers, 
the  "angels,"  the  individually-responsible  heads  of  the 
apocalyptic  churches;  these  are  each  and  all  part  of  that 
vast  net-work  of  scriptural  testimony  uniting  with  its  count- 
less meshes  the  Church's  Chief  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of 
souls  with  the  threefold  ministry  and  the  polity  which,  ere 
the  death  of  the  last  of  the  Apostles,  St.  John,  was  univer- 
sally established  throughout  the  Church  of  Christ. 

It  is  the  judgment  of  the  great  Lighlfoot,  Bishop  of  Dur- 
ham, whose  recent  death  all  good  men  deplore,  that  "history 
seems  to  show  decisively  that  before  the  middle  of  the 
second  century  each  Church  or  organized  Christian  com- 
munity had  its  three  orders  of  ministers,  its  bishop,  its  pres- 
byters, and  its  deacons.  On  this  point  there  cannot  rea- 
sonably be  two  opinions."*  The  same  distinguished 
scholar,  in  commenting  on  the  position  occupied  by  St. 
James,  the  brother  of  the  Lord,  in  the  Church  of  Jerusalem, 
after  expressing  his  conviction  that  "he  was  not  one  of  the 
Twelve,"  asserts  that  "the  episcopal  office  thus  existed  in 
the  mother  church  of  Jerusalem  from  very  early  days,  at 
least  in  a  rudimentary  formf  ";  while  the  government  of  the 
Gentile  churches,  though  presenting  no  distinct  traces  of  a 
similar  organization,  exhibits  "  stages  of  development  tend- 
ing in  this  direction."!  Lightfoot,  who  discusses  this  sub- 
ject with  singular  moderationand  fairness,  concedes  that  the 
position  occupied  by  Timothy  and  Titus,  whom  he  styles 
"  apostolic-delegates,"  "  fairly  represents  the  functions  of 
the  bishop  early  in  the  second  century."  ||  Even  admit- 
ting with   Lightfoot  that  "James  the   Lord's  brother  alone, 

*  Bp.  Light  foot's  Dissertation  on   The  Christian   Ministry,  appended 
to  his  Commentary  on  the  Philippians,  p.  184. 

t  Lightfoot's  Christian  Ministry,  p.  196.         ±  Ibid.         ||Ibid,  p.  197. 


94  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

within  the  period  compassed  by  the  apostolic  writings,  can 
claim  to  be  regarded  as  a  bishop  in  the  later  and  more 
special  sense  of  the  term,"  and  that  "  as  late,  therefore,  as 
the  year  70  no  distinct  signs  of  episcopal  government  have 
appeared  in  Gentile  Christendom,"  still  it  must  be  acknowl- 
edged, in  the  language  of  the  same  authority,  that  "  unless 
we  have  recourse  to  a  sweeping  condemnation  of  received 
documents,  it  seems  vain  to  deny  that  early  in  the  second 
century  the  episcopal  office  was  firmly  and  widely  estab- 
lished. Thus,  during  the  last  three  decades  of  the  first  cen- 
tury, and  consequently  during  the  lifetime  of  the  latest  sur- 
viving Apostle,  this  change  must  havebeen  brought  about."  * 
Again  and  again  does  this  great  scholar  refer  to  the  fact  of 
the  early  and  general  establishment  of  episcopacy  "  from 
the  Apostles'  times."  For  example,  he  asserts  "that  the 
evidence  for  the  early  and  wide  extension  of  episcopacy 
throughout  proconsular  Asia,  the  scene  of  St.  John's  latest 
labors,  may  be  considered  irrefragable."  f  And  again,  "  these 
notices,  besides  establishing  the  general  prevalence  of  epis- 
copacy .  .  .  establish  this  result  clearly,  that  its  maturer 
forms  are  seen  first  in  those  regions  where  the  latest  sur- 
viving Apostles,  more  especially  St.  John,  fixed  their  abode, 
and  at  a  time  when  its  prevalence  cannot  be  dissociated 
from  their  influence  or  their  sanction.";); 

And  again,  "  It  has  been  seen  that  the  institution  of  an 
episcopate  must  be  placed  as  far  back  as  the  closing  years 
of  the  first  century,  and  that  it  cannot,  without  violence  to 
historical  testimony,  be  dissevered  from  the  name  of  St. 
John."  II  "It  will  appear,"  continues  Lightfoot,  "that  the 
pressing  needs  of  the  Church  were  mainly  instrumental  in 
bringing  about  this  result,  and  that  this  development  of  the 
episcopal  office   was  a  providential  safeguard  amid  the  con- 

*  Lightfoot's  Christian  Ministry,  p.  199.         f  Ibid    p.  212. 

X  Ibid,  pp.  225,  226.  II  Lightfoot's  Christian  Ministry,  p.  232. 


PROOFS    OF    AN    HISTORIC    EPISCOPATE.  95 

fusion  of  speculative  opinion,  the  distracting  effects  of 
persecution,  and  the  growing  anarchy  of  social  life,  which 
threatened  not  only  the  extension  but  the  very  existence  of 
the  Church  of  Christ."*  With  this  cumulative  presentation 
of  the  proofs  of  the  historic  episcopate  from  the  writings  of 
the  leading  scholar  of  the  age,  we  may  be  prepared  for  the 
Bishop's  summing  up  of  the  whole  matter  among  the  closing 
words  of  his  '^  Dissertation  on  the  Christian  Ministry":  "If 
the  preceding  investigation  is  substantially  correct,  the 
threefold  ministry  can  be  traced  to  apostolic  direction;  and 
short  of  an  express  statement  we  can  possess  no  better 
assurance  of  a  Divine  appointment  or  at  least  a  Divine 
sanction.'!  I^  even  stronger  language,  this  great  scholar, 
in  his  sermon  before  the  Wolverhampton  Church  Congress, 
asserts  that  the  Church  of  England  has  "  retained  a  form 
of  Church  government  which  had  been  handed  down  in  un- 
broken continuity  from  the  Apostles'  times." 

AVith  these  statements  and  these  proofs,  the  language  of 
the  Ordinal  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  is  in  strict 
accord.  "  It  is  evident  unto  all  men,  diligently  reading 
Holy  Scripture  and  ancient  authors,  that  from  the  Apostles' 
time  there  have  been  these  three  orders  of  ministers  in 
Christ's  Church — bishops,  priests,  and  deacons."  The  full 
meaning  of  this  statement  appears  in  the  fact  that  it  is  the 
requirement  of  the  canon  law  of  the  Church  as  well  as  of 
the  Ordinal  that  "  no  man  shall  be  accounted  or  taken  to 
be  a  lawful  bishop,  priest,  or  deacon,  in  this  Church,  or 
suffered  to  execute  any  of  the  said  functions,  except  he  be 
called,  tried,  examined,  and  admitted  thereunto,  according 
to  the  form  hereafter  following,  or  hath  had  episcopal  con- 
secration or  ordination."  In  the  judgment  of  Lightfoot, 
as  evidently  in  the  intention  of  the  Ordinal,  the  "historic 
episcopate  "  includes  the  apostolic  succession — the  threefold 

*  Ibid.  t  Page  265. 


g6  Questions  of  the  day. 

ministry  communicated  by  the  imposition  of  hands  and  con- 
tinued "  in  unbroken  continuity  from  the  Apostles'  times." 

To  quote  the  language  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  "  In  the  latter 
part  of  the  second  century  of  the  Christian  era,  the  subject," 
of  the  Apostolic  Succession  "came  into  distinct  and  formal 
view;  and  from  that  time  forward  it  seems  to  have  been 
considered  by  the  great  writers  of  the  Catholic  body,  a  fact 
too  palpable  to  be  doubted,  and  too  simple  to  be  misunder- 
stood."* 

We  have  thus  far  dealt  merely  with  the  proofs  of  the  his- 
toric episcopate  as  indicated  in  the  New  Testament  and  as 
existing  during  the  lifetime  ol  St.  John.  We  turn  to  the 
witness  of  history  to  the  fact  that  our  Lord  instituted  in  His 
Church,  by  succession  from  the  Apostles,  a  threefold  min- 
istry, the  highest  order  of  these  ministers  alone  having  the 
authority  and  power  to  perpetuate  this  ministry  by  the  lay- 
ing on  of  hands. 

The  Church  of  Jerusalem,  the  mother  of  us  all,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  presents  the  earliest  instance  of  a  bishop 
in  the  sense  in  which  the  word  was  understood  in  post- 
apostolic  times.  The  rule  and  official  prominence  of  St. 
James,  "the  Lord's  brother,"  is  recognized  both  in  the  epis- 
tles of  St.  Paul  and  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  That 
which  is  so  plainly  indicated  in  thecanonical  Scriptures  is 
supported  by  the  uniform  tradition  of  the  succeeding  age. 
On  the  death  of  St.  James,  which  took  place  immediately 
before  the  war  of  Vespasian,  S)ftneon  succeeded  to  his  place 
and  rule.  Hegisippus,  who  is  our  authority  for  this  state- 
ment, and  who  represents  Symeon  as  holding  the  same  office 
with  St.  James  and  with  equal  distinctness  styles  him  a 
bishop,  was  doubtless  born  ere  Symeon  died.  Eusebius 
gives  us  a  list  of  Symeon's  successors.  In  less  than  thirty 
years, — such  were  the  troubles   and   uncertainties   of   the 

*  Church  Principles  Considered  in  their  Results.  By  W.  E.  Glad- 
stone,    p.  189. 


PROOFS    OF    AN    HISTORIC    EPISCOPATE.  97 

times, — there  appear  to  have  been  thirty  occupants  of  the 
see.  On  the  building  of  ^lia  Capitolina  on  the  ruins  of 
of  Jerusalem,  Marcus  presided  over  the  Church  in  the  Holy 
Ciiy  as  its  first  Gentile  bishop;  Narcissus,  who  became  Bishop 
of  Jerusalem  in  the  year  190,  is  referred  to  by  Alexander, 
in  whose  favor  he  resigned  his  see  in  the  year  214,  as  still 
living  at  the  age  of  116, — thus  in  this  single  instance  bridg- 
ing over  the  period  from  the  time  when  the  Apostle  John 
was  still  living  to  the  date  when,  by  universal  consent,  it  is 
conceded  that  episcopacy  was  established  in  all  quarters  of 
the  world. 

Passing  from  the  mother  Church  of  Jerusalem  to  Antioch, 
where  the  disciples  were  first  called  Christians,  and  which 
may  be  regarded  as  the  natural  centre  of  Gentile  Christian- 
ity, we  find  from    tradition  that  Antioch  received  its  first 
bishop  from  St.  Peter.     We  need  not  discuss  the  probabil- 
ities of  this  story  since  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  name 
standing  second  on  the  list.     Ignatius    is  mentioned  as  a 
bishop  by  the  earliest  authors.    His  own  language  is  conclu- 
sive as  to  his  own  conviction  on  this  point.    He  writes  to  one 
bishop,  Polycarp.     He  refers  by  name  to  another,  Onesimus. 
He  contemplates  the  appointment  of  his  successor  at  Antioch 
after  his  decease.     The  successor  whose  appointment  Igna- 
tius anticipated  is  said  by  Eusebius  to  have  been  Hero,  and 
from  his  episcopate  the  list  of  Antiochene  bishops  is  com- 
plete.   If  the  authenticity  of  the  entire  catalogue  is  question- 
able,  two  bisliops   of  Antioch,  at  least,  during  the  second 
century,  Theophilus  and    Serapion,  are  confessedly  histor- 
ical personages.    With  reference  to  the  Epistles  of  Ignatius, 
controversy  has  raged  for  centuries.     Their  outspoken  tes- 
timony in  favor  of  episcopacy  has  been  regarded   by  the 
advocates  of  parity  or  of  independency  as  a  p. -oof  of  their 
want  of  authenticity.     But  the  discussion  has  been  practi- 
cally settled  in  our  own  day,  and  the  judgment  of  Lightfoot, 
the  latest  and  greatest  commentator   on  these   interesting 


9^  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

remains  of  Christian  antiquity,  will  be  received  without  ques- 
tion by  all  whose  opinion  is  worthy  of  consideration.  He 
places  these  epistles  among  the  earliest  years  of  the  second 
century,  and  he  regards  the  testimony  of  Ignatius  to  the 
existence  and  universality  of  the  threefold  ministry  at  the 
period  in  which  he  lived  and  wrote  as  conclusive.  The  cel- 
ebrated German  critic  and  scholar,  Dr.  Harnack,  who  char- 
acterizes Lightfoot's  work  as  "the  most  learned  and  careful 
patristic  monograph  of  the  century,"  accepts  the  conclusions 
of  the  bishop  and  concedes  that  the  genuineness  of  the  Igna- 
tian  letters  is  rendered  ''certain."  With  such  a  witness, 
thus  supported  by  scholars  confessedly  occupying  the  fore- 
most place  for  learning  and  critical  power,  we  may  proceed 
to  details. 

In  the  Ignatian  letters,  the  writer,  the  second  Bishop  of 
Antioch,  appears  as  a  condemned  prisoner  travelling  through 
Asia  to  his  martyrdom  at  Rome.  Though  each  step  of  his 
progress  brought  him  nearer  to  death;  though  the  severity 
of  his  guard,  "a  maniple  of  ten  soldiers,"  whom  he  desig- 
nates as  "leopards,"  makes  his  last  days  wretchedly  uncom- 
fortable, still  his  journey  is  a  triumph.  On  his  arrival  at 
Smyrna,  representatives  of  the  churches  of  Ephesus,  Mag- 
nesia and  Tralles  unite  with  the  flockof  Polycarp,  the  Bishop 
of  Smyrna,  to  do  him  honor.  During  his  stay  at  Smyrna 
the  aged  bishop  addresses  four  of  his  extant  epistles  to  the 
Ephesians,  to  the  Magnesians,  to  the  Trallians,  and  to  the 
Romans.  The  remaining  three  epistles,  those  to  the 
Churches  of  Philadelphia  and  Smyrna  and  to  Polycarp 
its  bishop,  were  written  from  Troas  whither  a  deacon  from 
Ephesus  had  borne  him  company.  The  siint  proceeds  from 
Neapolis  to  Philippi,  where  he  is  welcomed  by  the  Church 
and  escorted  on  his  way,  and  thus  he  goes  towards  Rome. 
Though,  in  his  modesty,  choosing  to  speak  of  himself  as 
*'only  now  beginning  to  be  a  disciple,"  the  nearness  to  the 
end  evidently  bringing  to  him  new  revelations  of  spiritual 


PROOFS    OF    AN    HISTORIC    EPISCOPATE.  99 

things  and  the  life  to  come,  he  acts  and  writes  as  a  man  ad- 
vanced in  years.  Doubtless  he  was  near  to  man's  estate 
when  the  great  Apostle  wrote  his  epistles.  He  must  have 
been  in  full  maturity  when  Jerusalem  was  trodden  under 
foot  of  the  Gentiles  and  the  Church  was  driven  from  its 
cradle  home.  He  in  whose  life  all  this  had  transpired,  was 
now  on  his  way  to  death.  He  fully  realized  that  the  end 
was  near  at  hand.  His  days  were  numbered,  and  in  his 
epistles  he  appears  to  have  sought  to  crowd  counsels  of  the 
highest  moment,  the  dying  legacy  of  one  whose  voice  would 
soon  be  forever  hushed  in  death.  The  points  this  aged  saint 
chiefly  dwells  upon  are  two — the  doctrine  of  the  Incarna- 
tion, as  an  historic  fact,  as  perpetuated  in  sacraments,  as  a 
fundamental  principle  of  the  faith,  and  the  threefold  minis- 
try, the  divinely-given  rule  for  the  Church,  by  which  the 
Church  itself  would  be  recognized,  and  the  religion  of  the 
Christ  made  known  as  something  organic,  real,  lasting, 
disciplined. 

In  his  statements  of  the  prerogative  of  the  threefold  min- 
istry, Ignatius  is  emphatic.  "  It  is  meet  therefore  .  .  . 
that  being  perfectly  joined  together  in  one  submission,  sub- 
mitting yourselves  to  your  bishop  and  presbytery,  ye  may 
be  sanctified  in  all  things."  *  ''  I  was  forward  to  exhort  you, 
that  ye  run  in  harmony  with  the  mind  of  God:  for  Jesus 
Christ  also,  our  inseparable  life,  is  the  mind  of  the  Father, 
even  as  the  bishops  that  are  settled  in  the  farthest  parts  of 
the  earth  are  in  the  mind  of  Jesus  Christ.  So  then  it  be- 
cometh  you  to  run  in  harmony  with  the  mind  of  the  bishop, 
which  thing  also  ye  do.  For  your  honorable  presbytery,  which 
is  worthy  of  God,  is  attuned  to  the  bishop,  even  as  its  strings 
to  a  lyre."  t 

''  Let  no  man  be  deceived.     If  any  one  be  not  within  the 

*  Ad  Eph..  2.      In  our  citations  we  avail  ourselves  of  Bishop  Light- 
foot's  translations.  f  Ad  Eph.,  3,  4.     Lightfoot's  Translation. 


lOO  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

precinct  of  the  altar,  he  lacketh  the  bread  [of  God].  For, 
if  the  prayer  of  one  and  another  hath  so  great  force,  how 
much   more   that  of  the  bishop  and  of  the  whole  Church. 

.  .  Let  us  therefore  be  careful  not  to  resist  the  bishop, 
that  by  our  submission  we  may  give  ourselves  to  God,  And 
in  proportion  as  a  man  seeth  that  his  bishop  is  silent,  let 
him  fear  him  the  more.  For  every  one  whom  the  Master 
of  the  household  sendeth  to  be  steward  over  his  own  house, 
we  oughtso  to  receive  as  Him  that  sent  him.  Plainly,  there- 
fore, we  ought  to  regard  the  bishop  as  the  Lord  Himself."  * 

"Assemble  yourselves  together  ...  to  the  end  that 
ye  may  obey  the  bishop  and  the  presbytery  without  distrac- 
tion of  mind;  breaking  one  bread,  which  is  the  medicine  of 
immortality  and  the  antidote  that  we  should  not  die."  f 

"  Forasmuch,  then,  as  I  was  permitted  to  see  you  in  the 
person  of  your  godly  Bishop  Damas,  and  your  worthy  pres- 
byters, Bassus  and  Apollonius,  and  my  fellow-servant,  the 
Deacon  Sotion,  of  whom  I  would  fain  havejoy,  for  that  he 
is  subject  to  the  bishop  as  unto  the  grace  of  God  and  to  the 
presbytery  as  unto  the  law  of  Jesus  Christ.  Yea,  and  it  be- 
cometh  you  also  not  "^^o  presume  upon  the  youth  of  your 
Bishop,  but  according  to  the  power  of  God  the  Father  to 
render  unto  him  all  reverence,  .  .  .  yet  not  to  him  l)ut 
to  the  Father  of  Jesus  Christ,  even  to  the  bishop  of  all. 
For  a  man  does  not  so  much  deceive  this  bishop 
who  is  seen,  as  cheat  that  other  who  is  invisible."  J 

*'  Be  ye  zealous  to  do  all  things  in  godly  concord,  the 
bishop  presiding  after  the  likeness  of  God,  and  the  presby- 
ters after  the  likeness  of  the  council  of  the  Apostles,  with 
the  deacons  also  who  are  most  dear  to  me,  having  been  en- 
trusted with  the  diaconate  of  Jesus  Christ."  || 

^'  As  the  Lord  did  nothing  without  the  Father,  either  by 
Himself  or  by  the  Apostles,  so  neither  do  ye  anything  with- 
out the  bishop  and  the  presbyters."  § 

*  Ad  Eph.,  5,  6.         t  Ibid,  20.         t  Ad  Magn.,  2,  3.         !|  Ibid,  6. 

§  Ibid,   7. 


PROOFS    OF    AN    HISTORIC    EPISCOPATE.  idt 

*' Be  obedient  to  the  bishop  and  to  one  another,  as  Jesus 
Christ  was  to  the  Father.     .     .     ."* 

"When  ye  are  obedient  to  the  bishop  as  to  Jesus  Christ, 
it  is  evident  to  me  that  ye  are  living  not  after  men,  but  after 
Jesus  Christ.  .  .  .  It  is  therefore  necessary,  even  as  your 
wont  is,  that  you  should  do  nothing  without  the  bishop;  but 
be  ye  obedient  also  to  the  presbytery,  as  to  the  Apostles. 
.  .  .  And  those  likewise  who  are  deacons  of  the  myste- 
ries of  Jesus  Christ  must  please  all  men  in  all  ways.  .  .  . 
In  like  manner  let  all  men  respect  the  deacons  as  Jesus 
Christ,  even  as  they  should  respect  the  Bishop  as  being  a 
type  of  the  Father,  and  the  presbyters  as  the  council  of 
God  and  as  the  college  of  apostles.  Apart  from  these 
there  is  not  even  the  name  of  a  Church."  f 

"  This  will  surely  be,  if  ye  be  not  puffed  up,  and  if  ye  be 
inseparable  from  [God]  Jesus  Christ,  and  from  the  bishop, 
and  from  the  ordinances  of  the  Apostles.  He  that  is  within 
the  sanctuary  in  clean;  but  he  that  is  without  the  sanctuary 
is  not  clean;  that  is,  he  that  doeth  aught  without  the  bishop 
and  presbytery  and  deacons,  this  man  is  not  clean  in  his 
conscience."  J 

"  Fare  ye  well  in  Jesus  Christ,  committing  yourselves  to 
the  bishop  as  to  the  commandment,  and  likewise  also  to 
the  presbytery."  || 

"  For  as  many  as  are  of  God  and  of  Jesus  Christ,  they  are 
with  the  bishop;  and  as  many  as  shall  repent  and  enter  into 
the  unity  of  the  Church,  these  also  shall  be  of  God.  .  .  . 
Be  ye  careful,  therefore,  to  observe  one  Eucharist,  for  there 
is  one  flesh  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  one  cup  unto  union 
in  His  Blood;  there  is  one  altar,  as  there  is  one  bishop, 
together  with  the  presbytery  and  the  deacons,  my  fellow- 
servants."  § 

*  Ibid,  13.         t  Ad  Trail,  2,  3,  t  Ibid,  7.         ||  Ibid,  13. 

§  Ad  Philad.,  3,  4. 


iOi  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

"  Shun  divisions,  as  ihe  beginning  of  evils.  Do  ye  all 
follow  your  bishop  as  Jesus  Christ  followed  ihe  Father,  and 
the  presbytery  as  the  Apostles;  and  to  the  deacons  pay 
respect,  as  to  God's  commandment.  Let  no  man  do  aught  of 
things  pertaining  to  the  Church  apart  from  the  bishop.  Let 
that  be  held  a  valid  Eucharist  which  is  under  the  bishop  or 
one  to  whom  he  shall  have  committed  it.  Wheresoever  the 
bishop  shall  appear,  there  let  the  people  be;  even  as  where 
Jesus  may  be,  there  is  the  universal  Church.  It  is  not  law- 
ful apart  from  the  bishop  either  to  baptize  or  to  hold  a 
love-feast,  but  whatever  he  shall  approve;  this  is  well-pleas- 
ing also  to  God,  that  everything  which  ye  do  may  be  sure 

and  valid."* 

"  It  is  good  to  recognize  God  and  the  bishop.  He  that 
honoureth  the  bishop  is  honoured  of  God.  He  that  doeth 
aught  without  the  knowledge  of  the  bishop  rendereth  ser- 
vice to  the  devil. "t 

There  can  be  no  question  that  the  writer  of  these  extracts 
held  clear  and  well  defined  views  both  as  to  the  existence 
of  a  visible,  organized  Church  of  Christ,  and  a  threefold, 
divinely-authorized  ministry  ruling  that  Church.  This  he 
deems  to  be  the  '*mind  of  God,"  this  is  "the  command- 
ment," and  so  fully  does  he  hold  these  views  that  in  his 
dying  counsels  he  emphasized  the  idea  that  he  who  would 
keep  the  "commandment"  and  Irun  in  accord  with  the 
divine  mind  must  lose  sight  of  his  very  individuality  in  the 
fellowship  of  the  Church,  and  unhesitatingly  and  without 
reserve  submit  himself  in  action,  word,  or  purpose  to  the 
divinely-appointed  rule  and  order  of  the  Church.  Nor  is 
this  all.  He  regards  the  threefold  ministry  as  essential  to 
the  very  being  of  the  Church,  for,  to  quote  his  own  words, 
as  rendered  by  Lightfoot,  "without  these  three  orders  no 
Church  has  a  title  to  the    name."  |     This   hierarchy,  this 

*  Ad  Smyrn.,  8.  f  Ad  Smyrn.,  9.  :j:  Ad  Trail.,  3. 


PROOFS    OF    AN    HISTORIC    EPISCOPATE.  ^°3 

monarchical  episcopate,  the  aged  bishop  of  Antioch  regards 
as  "  firmly  rooted,"  as  ''beyond  dispute,"  and  as  co-exten- 
sive with  the  Church.  He  speaks  of  bishops  as  established 
in  '*  the  farthest  parts  of  the  earth,"  *  and  it  is  evident  from 
his  language  that,  in  his  judgment,  the  episcopate  is  not  an 
evolution  from  the  presbyterate,  but  is  from  above,  the  or- 
dering of  God  Himself. 

To  these  words  of  Ignatius,  so  clear,  so  strong,  so  abun- 
dant, we  turn  to  the  testimony  of  Irenseus,  who  was  born  not 
later  than  a.d.  130.  He  asserts  that  in  his  youth  he  sat  at 
the  feet  of  Polycarp,  "  who  had  been  appointed  by  the  Apos- 
tles a  bishop  for  Asia  in  the  Church  of  Smyrna,"  and  that 
he  had  listened  to  the  discourses  in  public  and  private  of 
this  venerable  man,  whose  very  looks  and  ways,  he  assures 
us,  were  indelibly  impressed  upon  his  mind.  Irenaeus 
further  claims  that  he  had  opportunities  of  instruction  from 
Asiatic  "elders,"  some  of  whom,  he  tells  us,  had  been  disci- 
ples of  the  Apostles.  With  these  means  of  learning  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  Church  in  Asia  Minor  as  shaped  by  no  less  an 
authority  than  St.  John  himself,  the  latest  living  of  the 
apostolic  band,  Irenaeus,  while  yet  a  young  man  and  proba- 
bly prior  to  Polycarp's  martyrdom  (circa  k.v>,  155),  removed 
from  Asia  to  Rome.  At  the  latest,  in  the  year  177,  when 
persecution  visited  the  churches  of  southern  Gaul,  Irenaeus 
was  a  presbyter  of  Lyons,  and  was  elevated  to  the  see  of  the 
martyred  bishop  Pothinus.  There  is  record  of  his  visiting 
Rome  prior  to  his  entrance  upon  the  episcopal  office  as  well 
as  afterwards;  his  object  in  each  case  being  to  promote  the 
peace  of  the  Church.  Thus  fitted  by  circumstances  as  well 
as  by  his  character  to  know  and  to  maintain  the  "tradition 
of  the  elders,"  we  find  in  his  writings,  to  quote  the  language 
of  the  latest  authority  on  this  subject,  Mr.  Charles  Gore,  in 
his  work  on  "The  Ministry  of  the  Christian  Church,"  "the 

*  Ad  Eph.,  3. 


I04  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

picture  of  the  universal  Church,  spread  all  over  the  world, 
handing  down  in  unbroken  succession  the  apostolic  truth, 
and  the  bond  of  unity,  the  link  to  connect  the  generations 
in  the  Church,  is  the  episcopal  succession."* 

The  language  of  Irenaeus  is  clear  and  determinate  with  ref- 
erence to  the  succession  of  the  bishops  to  the  authority  and 
rule  exercised  by  the  Apostles  in  the  Church,  and  "be- 
cause it  would  be  tedious  ...  to  enumerate  the  succes- 
sions of  all  the  Churches,"  he  gives  that  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  and  records  the  committal  of  the  episcopate  by  the 
Apostles  SS.  Peter  and  Paul  to  Linus  (a.d.  68),  and  then 
the  succession  from  him  of  Anencletus  (a.d.  8c),  Clement 
(a.d.  92),  Evarestus  (a.d.  100),  Alexander  (a.d.  109),  Xystus 
(a.d.  1 19),  Telesphorus  the  Martyr  (a.d.  128),  Hyginus  (a.d. 
139),  Pius  (a.d.  142),  Anicetus  (a.d.  157),  Soter  (a.d.  168), 
and  at  length  in  his  own  day,  of  Eleutherus  (a.d.  177).! 
Certain  discrepancies  which  confessedly  exist  in  the  various 
lists  of  Roman  bishops  which  have  come  down  to  us,  maybe 
explained  by  assuming  the  existence  in  the  very  first  ages  of 
two  distinct  Churches,  one  Jewish  and  one  Gentile,  at  Rome. 
Lightfoot,  while  claiming  that  "no  more  can  safely  be 
assumed  of  Linus  and  Anencletus  than  that  they  held  some 
prominent  position  in  the  Roman  Church,"  J  adds  that  "the 
reason  for  supposing  Clement  to  have  been  a  bishop  is  as 
strong  as  the  universal  tradition  of  the  next  ages  can  make 
it."  It  in  no  way  detracts  from  this  admission  with  respect 
to  Clement  that  Lightfoot  regards  him  rather  as  "  the  chief 
of  the  presbyters  than  the  chief  over  presbyters,"  and  conse- 
quently not  in  the  position  of  irresponsible  authority  occu- 
pied by  his  successors  Eleutherus  (a.d.  177),  and  Victor 
(a.d.  189)  or  even  by  his   contemporaries  Ignatius  of  Anti- 

*  Gore's  Ministry  of  the  Christian  Church,  chap,  iii.,  p.  119. 
tlren.  iii.,  3,  3.     The  dates  we  have  given  to  the  successive  incum- 
bents of  the  see  of  Rome  are  from  Lightfoot. 

^  Com.  on  the  Philippians.     The  Christian  Ministry,  p.  219^ 


PROOFS    OF    AN    HISTORIC    EPISCOPATE.  I05 

och,  and  Polycarp  of  Smyrna.  With  Victor,  apparently  the 
first  Latinprelate  who  held  the  bishopric  of  Rome,  a  new 
era  begins. 

The  line  of  ecclesiastical  descent  is  now  clearly  defined 
and  by  the  participation  in  each  consecration  of  three  or 
more  of  the  episcopal  order  required  by  the  early  canons 
and  continued  with  scrupulous  exactness  till  the  modern 
view  of  episcopacy  as  held  by  the  papacy  permitted  at  times 
the  substitution  of  the  papal  authority  for  the  presence  of 
more  than  a  single  consecrator,  there  has  been  knitted 
together  the  meshes  of  that  vast  network  which  in  its  com- 
prehensiveness includes  the  Church's  chief  rulers  from  the 
very  first,  and  by  the  multitude  of  interlacing  lines  of  suc- 
cession makes  any  serious  defect  in  the  direct  connection 
with  the  Apostles  of  any  individual  bishop  well-nigh  impos- 
sible. The  succession  of  bishops  from  the  Apostles'  times 
is  not  to  be  regarded  as  a  chain  of  single  links,  the  whole 
being  of  no  greater  strength  than  its  weakest  part,  but  as  a 
network,  or  web,  of  interwoven  strands,  now  innumerable, 
which  would  hold  together  even  if,  to  venture  an  impos- 
sible supposition,  nine-tenths  of  these  lines  could  be  proved 
defective  and,  therefore,  invalid.  In  other  words,  a  possi- 
ble defect  in  one,  or  in  a  hundred,  of  the  different  lines  of 
succession,  would  in  no  way  affect  the  consecration  of  any 
particular  bishop  of  our  day,  so  infinite  in  number  are  the 
interlacing  strands  of  the  great  network  uniting  one  who  has 
been  set  apart  for  this  office  and  administration  in  the  Church 
of  God,  with  the  Apostles  and,  through  the  Apostles,  with 
Christ  the  Great  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  souls. 

Authorities. — In  addition  to  the  late  Bishop  of  Durham's 
dissertation  on  **'  The  Christian  Ministry,"  appended  to  his 
commentary  on  the  Philippians,  and  the  many  special  trea- 
tises on  the  Apostolical  Succession  by  Perceval,  Haddon, 
Elrington,  Morse,  and  others,  the  latest  and  most  conclusive 
work  on  the  general  subject  is  that  of  Gore,  *'  The  Ministry 


Io6  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

of  the  Christian  Church. "  James  Pott  &  Co.,  N.  Y.,  1889.  A 
compact  treatise  by  the  Rev.  Professor  J.  H.  Barbour,  of 
the  Berkeley  Divinity  School,  Middletovvn,  Conn.,*  is  admi- 
rably arranged  and  deserves  general  reading.  Its  title  is, 
"  The  Beginnings  of  the  Historic  Episcopate  Exhibited  in 
the  Words  of  Holy  Scripture  and  Ancient  Authors."  Canon 
Liddon,  in  his  sermon  entitled  "A  Father  in  Christ  "  (Riv- 
ington's,  London,  1875),  effectually  disposes  of  the  argu- 
ments of  the  late  Dr.  Edwin  Hatch,  in  his  Bampton  Lec- 
tures on  the  "  Organization  of  Early  Christian  Churches,"! 
"The  Growth  of  the  Christian  Church,"  f  ^^^  a-  later  paper 
in  the  Cotiiemporaiy  Review  from  the  same  source.  '*  His- 
torical Continuity,"  by  Dr.  A.  C.  Garratt.f  **  Apostolic 
Succession,"  by  Rev.  A.  W.  Haddan.*  "The  Jurisdiction 
and  Mission  of  the  Anglican  Episcopate,"  by  Rev.  T.  J, 
Bailey.* 

*New  York  :  E.  &  J.  B.  Young  &  Co.,  1887. 
f  T.  Whittaker,  New  York. 


THE  CLAIMS  OF  THE  HISTORIC  EPISCOPATE 

EXAMINED. 

By   President    James   Harper,  D.D.,    United    Presby- 
terian Theological  Seminary,  Xenia,  Ohio. 


THE  prelatic,  or  in  current,  though  less  accurate  phrase- 
ology, the  episcopal  theory  of  Church  government,  is, 
in  its  Protestant  form,  to  the  effect  that  in  the  Christian  Church 
there  is  a  threefold  ministry,  that  of  deacons,  of  presbyters 
or  elders,  and  of  bishops,  to  all  of  whom  belong  the  func- 
tions of  preaching  and  baptizing,  to  the  presbyters  and 
bishops  the  right  also  to  administer  the  eucharist,  while  to 
the  bishops  alone  it  pertains  to  ordain,  confirm  and  exercise 
within  a  certain  district,  called  a  diocese,  general  super- 
vision. 

Among  the  advocates  of  this  polity,  diversity  of  opinion 
exists,  some  maintaining  that  it  is  of  divine  authority  and 
essential  to  the  being  of  the  Church,  others  holding  that  it 
is  expedient  and  beneficial,  but  not  in  any  other  sense  of 
divine  institution  or  obligation. 

It  may  be  noted  that  among  Protestants  the  theory  of  pre- 
lacy by  divine  right  is  limited  to  the  United  Kingdom,  with 
its  dependencies,  and  the  United  States.  Even  in  the  ranks 
of  Protestantism  its  supporters  are  vastly  outnumbered  by 
its  opponents — a  fact  which  might  serve  to  abate  the  preten- 
sions and  supercilious  tone  by  which  many,  happily  not  all, 
Episcopalians  are  characterized.  True,  they  have  the  mil- 
lions of  Rome  as  a  solace  in  solitude;  but  Rome  ungraciously 
repudiates  them  because  they  do  not  go  farther  and  admit 
the  supremacy  of  the  Pope. 

It  needs  to  be  observed  that  the  advocates  of  high-toned 
episcopacy  contend  strenuously  for  the  doctrine  of  "  apos- 


Io8  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAV. 

tolic  succession,"  that  is,  the  view  that  the  official  descent  of 
bishops  is,  and  must  be,  in  an  unbroken  chain  from  the 
apostles.  It  is  not  enough  that  the  Church  be  officered 
with  the  three  orders  aforenamed.  The  highest  order,  that 
of  bishops,  must  proceed  in  lineal  descent  officially  from  the 
apostles.  If,  for  instance,  a  company  of  men  were  cast  by 
shipwreck  on  some  lonely  island,  they  never  could  be  con- 
stituted as  a  Church  of  Christ  and  have  the  sacraments  law- 
fully dispensed  among  them  and  a  legitimate  ministry  un- 
less they  could  obtain  the  mystic  touch  of  a  bishop's  hands, 
who  had  himself  been  ordained  by  one  who  could  trace  his 
official  genealogy  to  the  apostles.  This  mechanical  theory 
lies  at  the  root  of  the  full-blown  prelacy  of  our  day,  and 
affords  nurture  to  that  baneful  sacerdotalism  which,  it  is  to 
be  feared,  is  gaining  ground  among  Episcopalians  in  spite 
of  manly  protests  made  against  it  by  many  of  their  number. 

The  arguments  wont  to  be  urged  by  Episcopalians  in  favor 
of  their  theory  of  ecclesiastical  polity  are  reducible  to  two 
heads,  namely,  considerations  drawn  from  the  Scriptures, 
and  alleged  facts  of  post- biblical  history. 

The  Scriptural  Plea  for  Prelacy. — First:  It  is  con- 
fidently asserted  that  the  apostolic  office  was  meant  to  be  in 
its  essential  features  not  temporary,  but  permanent,  and  that 
it  survives  in  the  order  of  diocesan  bishops;  the  latter  being 
stationary,  whereas  the  apostles  were  "  ambulatory,"  or  itin- 
erant bishops.  Passages  of  the  New  Testament  are  industri- 
ously collected  in  which  the  perpetuation  of  the  apostolic 
office  is  supposed  to  be  indicated.  For  instance,  in  Acts  xiv., 
4,  14.  Barnabas  as  well  as  Paul  is  represented  to  be  an  apos- 
tle: in  Phil,  ii.,  25,  Epaphroditus  is,  according  to  the  Greek, 
styled  an  apostle;  in  II.  Cor.  viii.,  23,  Paul  speaks  of  certain 
brethren  as  the  "  messengers  [Gr.  apostles]  of  the  churches," 
and  in  the  opening  of  several  of  his  epistles  associates  others 
with  himself,  such  as  Timothy,  Silvanus  and  Sosthenes. 
(See  I.  Cor.  i.,  i;  11.  Cor.  i.,  i;  Gal.  i.,  i;  Phil,  i.,  i;  Col. 


CLAIMS    OF    THE    HISTORIC    EPISCOPATE    EXAMINED.     I09 

i.,  I ;  I.  Thess.  i.,  i ;  II.  Thess.  i.,  i ;  Philemon  verse  i.  Rom. 
xvi.,  7,  and  I.  Thess.  ii.,  6,  are  also  adduced  with  the  same 
intent.) 

On  this  branch  of  the  argument  from  Scripture  a  few  re- 
marks are  offered. 

1.  Beyond  doubt,  the  word  "  apostle"  is  used  in  the  New 
Testament  sometimes,  in  its  wide  etymological  meaning,  to 
denote  any  one  sent,  and  sometimes,  in  a  restricted  and 
technical  sense,  to  signify  a  special  functionary.  A  parallel 
u^.age  attaches  to  the  Hebrew  word,  ^^^D  (malak),  and  its 
Greek  equivalent,  a;/;/f Ao?  (anggelos),  which  denote  a  mes- 
senger generally;  but,  in  a  limited  sense,  a  particular  kind  of 
messenger,  or  agent,  whom  we  call  an  angel. 

2.  In  the  special  or  restricted  sense  the  title  apostle  is 
given  in  the  New  Testament  to  none  but  fourteen  men,  that 
is,  to  the  twelve  chosen  by  Christ  to  be  His  immediate  as 
tendants,  together  with  Matthias,  who  was  appointed  by 
Christ  to  apostleship  through  the  ordinance  of  the  lot,  and 
Saul  of  Tarsus,  who  received  from  the  Lord  an  extraordinary 
call. 

3.  Among  the  qualifications  requisite  for  apostleship  in 
the  limited  sense  were  the  following:  Ability  from  personal 
knowledge  to  attest  the  fact  of  Christ's  resurrection  from 
the  dead;  an  immediate,  external  call  by  Christ  to  this  office; 
a  power  to  work  miracles  as  proof  in  part  of  the  divine  mis- 
sion of  the  worker;  and  supernatural  inspiration  to  fit  for 
teaching  the  truth  authoritatively  and  infallibly.  (See  Luke 
vi.,  13;  Acts  i.,  21,  22;  xxii.,  14,  15  ;  xxvi.,  16;  I.  Cor.  ix.,  i, 
2;  Heb.  ii.,  4;  John  xiv.,  26.) 

4.  There  is  no  express  intimation  in  Scripture  that  the 
apostles,  as  such,  were  to  have  official  successors.  Appeal 
has  been  made  to  Matt,  xxviii.,  20,  as  proof  that  the  apos- 
tolic order  should  be  continued  till  the  end  of  time.  But 
this  text,  if  interpreted  with  rigid  literality,  would  teach 
that,  till  the  end  of  the  world,  Christ  would  be  with  the  very 


no  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

individuals  then  addressed.  The  reference  rather  is  to  all 
those  who,  to  the  end  of  time,  should  be  engaged  in  carry- 
ing out  the  great  commission.  According  to  the  prelatic 
idea,  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  pertains  rather  to  the  pres- 
byters than  to  the  bishops;  the  distinctive  function  of  the 
latter  being  government  rather  than  preaching. 

5.  There  is  nothing  in  the  New  Testament  to  show  that 
the  apostleship  was  actually  extended  beyond  the  number 
of  the  original  twelve,  together  with  Matthias  and  Saul. 
The  case  of  Matthias  has  been  urged  as  evidence  of  a  pur- 
pose to  perpetuate  the  apostolic  order.  But  let  it  be  noted 
that  Matthias  was  simply  chosen  to  do  what  Judas  should 
have  done,  that  is,  bear  witness  to  the  fact  of  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Christ,  a  thing  which  none  but  one  who  had  seen 
Christ  after  His  resurrection  could  do.  But  when,  at  a  later 
date,  James,  the  brother  of  John,  was  killed,  no  successor  to 
him  was  chosen.  Paul,  indeed,  had  been  called  meanwhile, 
not  only  to  saintship.  but  also  to  apostleship;  but  he  speaks 
of  himself  in  I.  Cor.  xv.,  8,  as  attaining  the  latter  standing 
irregularly  as  to  time.  He  was  the  last  to  whom  the  Lord 
appeared  with  the  view  of  constituting  him  an  apostle. 

In  two  instances  Barnabas  and  Paul  are  together  called 
apostles;  but  it  is  noticeable  that  Barnabas  is  never  called 
an  apostle  previously  or  subsequently  to  the  m'ssionary  tour 
on  which  he,  together  with  Paul,  had  been  sent  forth  by  the 
Church  of  Antioch.  It  seems  highly  probable  that  both  of 
these  men  are  in  the  instances  under  notice  called  *'  apos- 
tles" in  the  wide  sense  of  that  word,  as  being  in  this  par- 
ticular tour  what  we  would  call  missionaries  sent  out  from 
Antioch. 

In  Phil,  ii.,  25,  Epaphroditus  is  called  an  apostle,  although 
in  our  authorized  version  and  in  the  Revised  version  as  well, 
the  rendering  given  is  "  messenger."  But  it  is  observable 
that  he  is  not  styled  an  apostle  of  Christ,  but  ''  your  "  apos- 
tle, that  is,  the  apostle  of,  or  from,  the  Philippians;  and  in 


CLAIMS    OF    THE    HISTORIC    EPISCOPATE    EXAMINED,    m 

ch.  iv.,  i8,  the  reason  why  he  was  called  their  apostle  is  indi- 
cated, namely,  because  he  had  acted  in  their  behalf  in  carry- 
ing to  Paul  their  gifts.  The  interpretation  just  given  has 
the  sanction  of  the  distinguished  scholar,  the  late  Bishop 
Lightfoot,  who,  in  his  "  Dissertation  on  the  Christian  Min- 
istry "  (p.  196),  thus  writes:  ''  The  true  apostle,  like  St.  Peter, 
or  St.  John,  bears  this  title  as  the  messenger,  the  delegate, 
of  Christ  Himself:  while  Epaphroditus  is  only  so  styled  as 
the  messenger  of  the  Philippian  brotherhood;  and  in  the 
very  next  clause  the  expression  is  explained  by  the  state- 
ment that  he  carried  their  alms  to  St.  Paul.  The  use  of  the 
word  here  has  a  parallel  in  another  passage  (II.  Cor.  viii., 
23),  where  messengers  (or  apostles)  of  the  churches  are 
mentioned." 

The  passing  remark  made  in  Rom.  xvi.,  7,  respecting  An- 
dronicus  and  Junias  that  they  were  **  of  note  among  the 
apostles,"  can  hardly  mean  that  the  persons  named  were  dis- 
tinguished apostles  in  the  restricted  sense  of  that  word; 
but  it  rather  signifies  that  by  their  character  and  labors  they 
had  attracted  the  attention  and  won  the  admiration  of  the 
apostles.  It  is  not  certain,  indeed,  that  Junias,  a  masculine 
form,  should  be  substituted  for  the  feminine  form,  Junia, 
of  the  authorized  version. 

Touching  the  plea  for  the  perpetuation  of  the  apostolate 
drawn  from  the  fact  that  in  the  introductory  salutations  of 
his  epistles  Paul  associates  others  with  himself,  it  may  be 
said  that  Paul  is  careful  to  distinguish  himself  in  such  cases 
from  the  others  whom  he  links  with  his  name.  For  example, 
in  I.  Cor.  i.,  i,  he  writes,  '*  Paul,  called  to  be  an  apostle  of 
Jesus  Christ  through  the  will  of  God,  and  Sosthenes  our 
brother^''  etc.  So  also  in  II.  Cor.  i.,  i,  he  expresses  him- 
self thus  guardedly,  *'  Paul,  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  by 
the  will  of  God,  and  Timothy,  our  brother,''  etc.  In  a  like 
cautious  way  he  writes  in  Col.  i.,  i,  discriminating  between 
himself  as  an  apostle  and  Timothy  as  a  brot^-er.     But  when 


112  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

he  conjoins  himself  entirely  with  Timothy,  he  uses  a  title 
common  to  both,  namely,  "servants  of  Jesus  Christ"  (see 
Phil,  i.,  i).  Nor  does  the  language  used  in  I.  Thess.  ii.,  6, 
warrant  the  view  that  Silvanus  and  Timothy,  in  common 
with  Paul,  are  designated  apostles;  for  Paul  occasionally 
speaks  of  himself  in  the  plural  (see  I.  Thess.  ii.,  i8),  and, 
besides,  the  context,  particularly  verse  2,  compared  with  the 
narrative  in  Acts  xvi.,  forbids  the  supposition  that  Timothy 
at  least  is  referred  to  in  verse  6. 

Second:  By  many  Episcopalians  great  stress  is  laid  on  the 
alleged  prelatic  authority  with  which  Timothy  and  Titus 
were  clothed.  "  These  men,"  it  is  said,  ''were  established, 
the  one  in  Ephesus,  the  other  in  Crete  as  bishops,  to  ordain 
to  office,  as  occasion  might  demand,  and  to  maintain  super- 
vision over  presbyters,  deacons,  and  people." 

Now  it  is  admitted  that  these  men  were  invested  with 
large  authority.  But  they  were  extraordinary  officers,  for 
the  circumstances  in  which  they  were  called  to  act  were  ex- 
traordinary. The  Church  of  the  New  Testament  was  then 
in  a  forming  state.  The  apostles,  as  pioneers,  carried  the 
Gospel  far  and  wide,  but  they  could  not  tarry  sufficiently 
long  in  every  place  where  converts  were  made  to  organize 
them  fully  into  ecclesiastical  societies.  Timothy  and  Titus, 
perhaps  others  also,  were  employed  to  complete  what  apos- 
tles had  begun,  and  this  in  the  way  of  establishing  the  faith- 
ful in  the  truth  and  carrying  out  in  detail  the  organization 
of  churches  (see  Titus  i.,  5).  These  men  were  coadjutors 
of  the  apostles,  like  them  itinerant,  not  stationary,  enjoy- 
ing a  special  measure  of  delegated  authority,  and  being  di- 
rectly instructed  by  apostles  as  to  the  duties  to  be  per- 
formed. There  is  not  the  slightest  evidence,  but  much  to 
the  contrary,  that  Timothy  and  Titus  were  settled  as  dio- 
cesan bishops  in  their  respective  fields.  A  disclosure  of  the 
reason  why  Timothy  was  left  at  Ephesus  is  given  in  I. 
Tim.  i.,  3:  "  As  I  besought  thee  to  abide  still  at  Ephesus^ 


CLAIMS   OF    THE    HISTORIC    EPISCOPATE    EXAMINED.    113 

when  I  went  into  Macedonia,  that  thou  mightest  charge  some 
that  they  teach  no  other  doctrine."  In  II.  Tim.  iv.,  9,  13, 
21,  Paul  expresses  the  expectation  and  earnest  desire  that 
Timothy  would  come  to  him  at  Rome.  And  it  is  clear  that 
when  Paul  wrote  from  Corinth  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans, 
Timothy  was  with  him  (Rom  xvi.,  21)  and  that  he  was  also 
with  him  when  he  wrote  from  Rome  his  epistles  to  the  Phi- 
lippians,  the  Colossians  and  Philemon  respectively.  If 
Timothy  was  bishop  of  Ephesus,  he  must  have  been  sadly 
negligent  of  his  diocese. 

Titus  was  left  in  Crete,  Paul  intimates  in  his  letter  to  him 
(Tit.  i.,  5),  to  attend  to  certain  specified  duties.  It  is  not 
said  that  Titus  was  established  in  Crete.  Besides,  Paul  wrote 
to  Titus  from  Nicopolis  in  Macedonia  asking  that  he  come 
to  him  there,  a  procedure  very  singular  if  Crete  was  the 
proper  diocese  of  Titus. 

Third:  It  is  claimed  that  James,  who  took  a  prominent 
part  in  the  council,  or  synod  of  Jerusalem,  was  bishop  of 
that  city. 

In  opposition  to  this  view,  it  may  be  urged  that  in  the 
New  Testament  James  is  never  styled  bishop  ;  that  the  only 
functionaries  who  figured  in  the  synod  were  apostles  and 
presbyters,  or  elders,  to  whom  alone  appeal  had  been  made 
for  a  decision  of  the  question  at  issue;  that  the  words  of 
James,  "  wherefore  my  sentence  is,"  etc  ,  imply  no  assump- 
tion of  authority  over  the  others  present;  and  that  there  are 
reasons  of  great  weight  for  the  belief  that  he  was  an  apostle, 
who,  though  not  necessarily  confined  to  any  territory,  labored 
chiefly  at  Jerusalem,  or  at  least  among  the  Jews. 

Fourth:  Episcopalians  have  long  insisted  that  diocesan 
bishops  are  meant  by  the  angels  of  the  seven  churches  of 
Asia  of  whom  we  read  in  the  first  three  chapters  of  the  Apo- 
calypse. 

A  few  strictures  on  this  line  in  the  argument  for  prelacy 
must  suffice. 


It4  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

1.  If  the  angels  were  prelates,  the  elders  are  utterly  ig- 
nored. Those  elders  of  Ephesus,  for  instance,  whom  Paul, 
in  his  parting  charge  to  them,  had  led  to  believe  that  they 
had  much  to  do  with  the  oversight  of  the  flock,  are  not  rec- 
ognized at  all  by  Christ,  if  the  Episcopal  interpretation  of 
the  term,  angel,  is  correct.     This  would  be  singular  indeed. 

2.  In  the  course  of  the  epistles  to  the  Seven  Churches,  a 
particular  angel  is  addressed,  or  indirectly  described,  as 
plural;  a  fact  which  favors  the  view  that  *' angel  "  is  used 
collectively  to  denote  the  company  of  elders.  (See  Rev.  ii , 
lo,  13,  24,  25.) 

3.  John  several  times  elsewhere  in  this  Book  of  Revela- 
tion, uses  the  word  "angel"  to  signify  a  plurality  of  agents. 
Thus,  in  chapter  xiv.,  6,  it  is  said,  "  And  I  saw  another  angel 
fly  in  the  midst  of  Heaven,  having  the  everlasting  Gospel  to 
preach  unto  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth,"  etc.  Does  not 
the  angel  here  symbolize  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  a  vast 
number  ?  and  may  not  the  angel  of  a  church  denote  the 
ministry  laboring  in  that  church.?  In  Rev.  i.,  21,  it  is  ex- 
plained that  a  candlestick  symbolized  a  church,  which  is  a 
collective  unit,  and  that  a  star  symbolized  an  angel  of  a 
church.  Might  not  the  word  "  angel "  also  be  used  as  a 
collective  term  to  mean  many  ? 

It  may  be  added  that  candid  Episcopalians  are  beginning 
to  admit  that  their  cause  can  derive  no  help  from  the  angels 
of  the  churches.  Bishop  Lightfoot  distinctly  does  so.  (See 
his  "  Dissertation  on  the  Christian  Ministry,"  p.  199.) 

A  few  thoughts  may  be  subjoined  to  our  very  hurried  re- 
view of  the  argument  from  Scripture  in  behalf  of  prelacy. 

I.  It  is  unaccountable  that  in  the  New  Testament  there 
is  no  distinctive  title  given  to  the  alleged  third  and  highest 
order  of  permanent  ecclesiastical  officers,  if  such  an  order 
actually  existed  before  the  completion  of  the  canon. 

The  first  and  second  orders  are  distinguished  respectively 
as   deacons   and  elders,  the  latter  class  being  also  styled 


CLAIMS   OF    THE    HISTORIC    EPISCOPATE    EXAMINED.    US 

bishops.  After  centuries  of  quibbling  on  the  point  it  is  now 
conceded  by  the  ablest  defenders  of  prelacy,  Bishops  On- 
derdonk  and  Lightfoot  among  them,  that  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment usage  of  the  words,  bishop  and  elder,  or  presbyter,  are 
identical,  or  denote  precisely  the  same  kind  of  officer. 

Is  it  credible  that  the  highest  permanent  order  would  be 
destitute  of  a  distinctive  name?  The  absence  of  the  name 
is  a  sure  sign  that  the  thing  itself,  the  order  of  prelates,  was 
absent  from  the  arrangements  of  the  apostolic  Church. 

2.  It  is  most  remarkable  that,  although  Paul  formally  de- 
scribes in  his  pastoral  epistles  the  qualifications  and  duties 
of  elders,  or  bishops,  and  even  those  of  deacons,  he  says 
nothing  about  the  order  of  prelates,  if  such  an  order  existed. 
Does  not  the  omission  indicate  that  such  functionaries  had 
no  place  in  the  Church  of  apostolic  times,  and  that  their 
existence  was  not  contemplated  as  desirable  or  lawful? 

3.  It  is  highly  significant,  also,  that  in  stating  the  duties 
of  elders  (or  bishops)  and  deacons,  Paul  never  enjoins  it 
upon  them  to  obey  a  superior  order  of  officers,  now  called 
prelates,  or  diocesan  bishops.  In  the  letters  attributed  to 
Ignatius  this  duty  is  insisted  on  vehemently.  But  not  a 
word  on  it  is  penned  by  Paul  ! 

4.  The  fact  that  the  title,  bishop,  was,  in  the  course  of 
time,  appropriated  to  prelates,  favors  the  view  that  the  pre- 
lates sprang  from  the  order  of  elders,  and  covered  the  usur- 
pation of  the  prerogatives  of  the  latter  by  retaining  that 
title  of  the  elders  which  suggested  the  idea  of  rule. 

5.  The  elders,  or  Scriptural  bishops,  were  vested  with  such 
powers  as  rendered  needless  a  permanent  superior  order. 
The  teaching,  the  ruling,  the  ordaining,  and,  so  far  as  it 
pertains  to  any  one,  the  confirming  power  was  theirs  (Acts 
XX.,  28;  I.  Tim.  iv.,  14;  Jas.  v.,  14,  15).  What  need,  then, 
for  a  standing  superior  order  ? 

6.  The  claim  of  any  one  in  our  day  to  be  a  bishop  by 
tactual  descent  officially  from  the  apostles  is  incapable  of 


4l6  QUESTIONS   OF    THE    DAY. 

proof.  Archbishop  Whately,  with  a  candor  creditable  to 
him  and  an  inexorable  logic,  has  shown  this  in  his  "  King- 
dom of  Christ  Delineated."  This  idea  of  succession,  with 
its  correlated  mysticism,  has  formed  a  bridge  of  passage  for 
many  Episcopalians  into  the  realm  of  Rome.  As  already 
said,  the  mere  plan  or  form  of  Church  government  is  in  the 
eyes  of  the  chief  sticklers  for  prelacy  of  far  less  moment 
than  the  fancied  lineal  succession. 

The  Historical  Plea  for  Prelacy. — Let  us  now  turn 
to  the  argument  drawn  from  the  condition  of  the  Church  in 
the  second  century  in  behalf  of  diocesan  episcopacy.  Bishop 
Lightfoot  rests  the  cause  of  episcopacy  mainly  on  this 
ground.  An  effort  is  made  to  prove  that  almost  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  second  century,  just  after  the  demise  of  the  Apostle 
John,  the  prelatic  form  of  polity  prevailed  generally  in  the 
Church.  The  inference  is  that  this  mode  of  government 
must  have  been  established,  at  least  sanctioned,  by  the 
apostles,  or  that  it  was  the  natural  and  purposed  develop- 
ment of  germs  planted  by  them. 

The  historical  evidence  adduced  is  derived  mainly  from 
the  epistles  of  Ignatius  and  the  writings  of  Irenaeus  and 
Eusebius  of  Caesarea,  but  from  the  first- named  pre-emi- 
nently. 

Unable  to  deal  minutely  with  this  line  of  argument,  we 
may  yet  offer  some  criticisms  upon  it  which  may  suffice  to 
show  how  insecure  a  basis  it  affords  for  the  towering  fabric 
of  prelacy. 

I.  The  assumption  that  in  the  early  part  of  the  second 
century  diocesan  episcopacy  generally  prevailed  in  the 
Church  is  unwarranted. 

Touching  Ignatius,  the  chief  voucher  for  the  early  prev- 
alence of  prelacy,  it  is  not  rash  to  say  that  his  reputation 
for  veracity  is  badly  damaged.  The  real  Ignatius,  could 
we  reach  him,  would  doubtless  be  an  unexceptionable  wit- 
ness; but  there  is  room  for  the  gravest  suspicions  that  the 


CLAIMS    OF    THE    HISTORIC    EPISCOPATE    EXAMINED.     II7 

epistles  which  bear  his  name  have  all  been  fabricated,  tam- 
pered with  at  least,  in  the  interests  of  the  hierarchy,  which, 
it  is  granted,  supplanted  at  a  very  early  date  the  primitive 
form  of  ecclesiastical  polity.  Any  one  conversant  with  the 
history  of  the  Church  in  ancient  and  mediaeval  times  must 
know  how  common  it  was  to  seek  favor  and  currency  for 
certain  views  by  publishing  them  in  documents  purporting  to 
have  proceeded  from  men  of  high  reputation  in  the  Church. 
The  collection  of  rubrics  and  counsels,  known  as  *'  The 
Apostolical  Constitutions,"  is  an  eminent,  but  by  no  means 
a  solitary,  instance  of  the  practice  described.  Now  around 
the  name  of  Ignatius,  probably  the  oldest  pastor  of  Anli- 
och,  a  halo  of  glory  speedily  gathered,  both  because  he  was 
reputed  to  have  enjoyed  direct  apostolic  instruction,  and 
because  he  fell  as  a  martyr  for  Christ,  an  event  which  hap- 
pened probably  in  a.d.  115  or  116.  The  tradition  is  that, 
having  been  ordered  from  Antioch  to  Rome  to  suffer  there, 
he  addressed,  while  on  his  journey  thither,  a  number  of  letters 
to  individuals  and  churches.  Of  such  letters,  bearing  the 
name  of  Ignatius,  fifteen  have  come  down  to  us;  but  that 
eight  of  the  number  are  forgeries  is  now  universally  admit- 
ted. The  remaining  seven  have  been  transmitted  in  Greek 
in  a  double  form,  a  longer  and  a  shorter,  and  three  of  them 
also  in  Syriac  in  an  abbreviated  form.  By  scholars  in 
modern  times  it  is  generally  held  that  the  longer  form  in 
Greek  is  not  genuine;  and  very  many  of  the  highest  repute, 
among  them  Neander,  regard  even  the  shorter  Greek  form 
as  much  corrupted.  This  form,  however,  most  Episcopa- 
lians pronounce  genuine,  and  in  this  judgment  Bishop 
Lightfoot,  whose  edition  of  the  Epistles  of  Ignatius  is  a 
monument  of  fine  scholarship  and  patient  research,  con- 
curs. Some  have  taken  the  ground  that  all  of  the  epistles 
ascribed  to  Ignatius  are  alike  spurious.  This  we  are  in- 
clined to  think  is  an  extreme  view.  It  is  most  probable 
that  Ignatius  did  on  his  way  to   Rome  pen  some  letters, 


ii8 


QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 


perhaps  the  seven  that  have  found  most  favor;  but  that 
these  have  been  all  interpolated  with  the  view  of  promot- 
ing the  pretensions  of  an  ambitious  hierarchy.  We  know 
that  forgeries  in  the  name  of  Ignatius  have  been  perpe- 
trated. Then,  again,  suspicion  is  justified  by  the  fact  that 
these  epistles  have  come  down  in  a  longer  and  a  shorter 
form,  each  purporting  to  be  genuine.  Furthermore,  while 
the  external  evidence  in  their  behalf  is  but  vague  and  scanty, 
the  documents  considered  in  themselves  are  fitted  to  beget 
strong  suspicions  that  they  have  been  corrupted  for  a  pur- 
pose, if  indeed  they  are  not  entire  forgeries. 

The  very  intensity  and  persistence  with  which  the  duty  of 
revering  and  implicitly  obeying  the  bishop  is  inculcated  in 
these  letters  are  fitted  to  rouse  suspicion,  and  this  all  the 
more  when,  in  other  writings  originating  about  the  time  of 
Ignatius,  or  even  much  later,  the  genuineness  of  which  is 
hardly  questioned,  presbyters  and  deacons  are  brought  to 
view,  but  no  prelatic  bishops.  For  example,  in  the  lately 
discovered  treatise  entitled  "  The  Teaching  of  the  Apostles," 
which,  by  the  most  competent  judges  is  supposed  to  have 
been  composed  not  later  than  a.d.  i6o,  possibly  as  early 
as  A.D.  1 20,  these  words  occur,  "Choose  for  yourselves 
bishops  and  deacons  worthy  of  the  Lord,"  etc.,  the  word 
"bishops"  being  used  unquestionably,  as  it  is  in  the  New 
Testament,  to  denote  elders.  Not  a  hint  is  given  in  this 
treatise  of  the  existence  of  a  bishop  as  superior  to  elders. 

Again,  in  the  Epistle  of  Clemens  Romanus  written  to 
the  Corinthians  about  a.d.  96,  while  bishops  (or  elders)  and 
deacons  are  mentioned  often,  not  an  allusion  is  made  to  a 
prelatic  bishop;  this,  too,  by  one  for  whom  it  is  claimed 
that  he  was  a  bishop  of  Rome. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  Epistle  of  Polycarp  to  the 
Philippians,  written  probably  as  late  as  a.d.  150.  Well 
might  Bishop  Lightfoot  in  his  notice  of  this  letter  say,  "  We 
are  thus  led  to  the  inference  that  episcopacy  did  not  exist 


CLAIMS    OF    THE    HISTORIC    EPISCOPATE    EXAMINED.     II9 

at  all  among  tlie  Philippians  at  this  time,  or  existed  only  in 
an  elementary  form,  so  that  the  bishop  was  a  mere  president 
of  the  presbyteral  council.'      ("Christian  Ministry,"  p.  115.) 

But  it  is  said  that  tlie  representations  made  as  to  Church 
polity  in  the  Ignatian  letters  are  corroborated  by  lists  of 
bishops  given  by  Eusebias.  In  answer  it  may  be  said  that 
the  information  given  by  Eusebius  rests  largely  on  very  hazy 
tradition,  as  he  himself,  in  the  opening  of  his  history,  can- 
didly confesses;  that  the  oldest  presbyter  in  a  city,  or  dis- 
trict, seems  commonly  to  have  presided  in  the  meetings  of 
the  presbyters  and  to  have  been  vested  with  a  large  meas- 
ure of  executive  control;  that  by  degrees  he  came  to  have 
the  title  bishop  given  to  him  by  way  of  eminence,  although 
theoretically  he  was  still  only  the  organ  of  the  presbytery, 
the  first  among  his  equals;  that  later  writers  viewing  the  past 
through  the  customs  of  their  own  times,  unconsciously  in 
some  cases,  but  in  other  cases  consciously  and  with  a  view 
to  the  confirmation  of  hierarchal  claims,  transferred  to  the 
pastor,  or  moderator,  of  the  early  times  dignity  and  preroga- 
tives which  only  in  the  lapse  of  years  had  become  associated 
with  the  title,  bishop.  These  different  positions  can  be  sup- 
ported by  an  array  of  evidence  which  it  would  be  much 
easier  to  ignore  than  to  encounter.  Thus  the  assumption 
that  diocesan  episcopacy  was  widely  established  in  the  early 
part  of  the  second  century,  and  presumably  with  the  sanc- 
tion of  at  least  one  apostle,  the  saintly  John,  rests  on  grounds 
of  a  very  precarious  character. 

2.  It  is  a  reasonable  presumption  that  the  form  of  Church 
government  established  by  the  apostles  was  meant  to  be 
permanent.  So  far  as  the  New  Testament  sheds  light  on 
the  point,  the  church  wherever  erected  by  the  apostles  was 
framed  on  one  uniform  plan.  There  is  no  evidence  that 
one  apostle  organized  on  one  plan  and  another  on  a  differ- 
ent plan,  or  that  in  different  countries  divergent  forms  of 
Church  government  were  adopted   under  apostolic  direc- 


I20  QUESTIONS    OF    THK    DAY. 

tion.  This  uniformity  of  settlement  points  to  purposed 
permanence;  especially  as  no  hint  is  given  that  in  the  course 
of  time  changes  might  lawfully  be  introduced.  But  accord- 
ing to  Bishop  Lightfoot  and  some  other  influential  advo- 
cates of  episcopacy,  the  form  impressed  on  the  Church  at 
its  organization  by  the  apostles  did  not  outlast  the  first  cen- 
tury, nay  that  before  the  close  of  that  century  and  before 
the  death  of  the  Apostle  John,  a  new  order  of  officers  was 
created,  not  recognized  in  the  book  of  Acts  or  in  the 
epistles,  for  whom  as  yet  there  was  no  distinctive  name,  but 
corresponding  to  modern  prelates  in  having  jurisdiction 
over  deacons  and  presbyters.  The  evolution,  or  rather  rev- 
olution, resulting  in  the  creation  of  this  third  and  supreme 
order  must  have  been  marvellously  rapid.  When  the  cur- 
tain falls  at  the  close  of  the  sacred  canon,  the  only  discover- 
able permanent  officers  of  the  Church  are  deacons  and 
elders,  or  presbyters,  called  also  bishops.  When  it  rises 
slightly  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  second  century,  a  new 
order  has  been  evolved,  by  what  authority  no  one  can  tell, 
but  it  is  fondly  conjectured  by  that  of  the  Apostle  John 
at  least.  Bishop  Lightfoot  says  ("Christian  Ministry,"  p. 
195),  "It  is  clear  then  that  at  the  close  of  the  apostolic  age, 
the  two  lower  orders  of  the  threefold  ministry  were  firmly 
and  widely  established;  but  traces  of  the  third  and  highest 
order,  the  episcopate  properly  so  called,  are  few  and  indis- 
tinct." He  seems,  however,  to  think  that  as  circumstances 
changed,  a  new  order  became  necessary  and  was  added,  just 
as  the  order  of  deacons  was  established  when  need  for  it 
:irose.  But  he  overlooks  the  facts,  that  the  diaconate  was 
established  at  an  early  date  in  the  history  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment Church;  that  it  was  not  a  growth,  but  was  instituted 
definitely  and  at  once  by  the  apostles;  and  that  a  record  of 
its  institution  was  made  in  the  inspired  Word.  If  the  in- 
ferior order,  that  of  deacons  was  placed  upon  a  foundation  so 
solid,  surely  the  order  of  diocesan  bishops,  if  meant  to  exist 


CLAIMS    OF    THE    HISTORIC    EPISCOPATE    EXAMINED.    121 

in  the  Christian  Church,  the  highest  order,  as  Episcopalians 
think,  would  have  been  formally  established  by  the  apostles, 
and  the  fact  recorded  in  the  sacred  volume. 

3.  Even  though  it  could  be  proved  that  prelacy  grew  up 
under  the  eye  of  the  Apostle  John,  it  would  not  follow  as  a 
necessary  inference  that  it  received  his  approval.  We  know 
from  his  writings  that  many  evils  were  in  the  Church  in  his 
time,  nay  that  the  spirit  of  antichrist  was  then  at  work. 

4.  The  historic  plea  is  faulty  because  it  implies  that  the 
Bible  is  not  the  only  rule  of  faith.  We  grant  that  evidence 
confirmatory  of  our  faith  and  useful  also  for  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  Scriptures  may  be  drawn  from  many  sources, 
and  among  them  from  post  biblical  history;  but  the  matter 
and  ground  of  our  faith  must  be  found  in  the  Scriptures 
alone.  Those  who  would  have  us  accept  the  prelatic  theory 
on  the  ground  of  post-biblical  history,  ask  us  to  renounce 
the  great  Protestant  position  that  the  Bible  is  the  sufficient, 
the  infallible  and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice.  In 
closing  this  examination  of  the  claims  of  the  ''  historic  epis- 
copate "  we  might  say  in  the  words  of  Seneca,  ""Inopem  me 
copia  fecit'' 


THE  ONE  HOLY,  CATHOLIC,  APOSTOLIC 
CHURCH.* 

By  Professor  James  Heron,  D.D.,  Presbyterian  Col- 
lege, Belfast. 


ON  the  subject  of  "The  One  Holy,  Catholic,  Apostolic 
Church  "  there  is  one  theory  in  particular  so  very  ex- 
clusive in  its  claims,  and  also  so  very  obtrusive  at  the  present 
time,  as  to  demand  special  notice.  It  is  that  theory  upon 
which  I  purpose  to  make  a  few  remarks  to-day ;  and,  to 
avoid  the  possibility  of  misrepresenting  it,  I  will  begin  by 
stating  it  in  the  language  of  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  its 
recent  advocates. 

"  As  we  watch  the  history  of  Christendom,"  says  the  leader 
of  the  new  school  of  Anglican  High  Churchmen,  '*  we  dis- 
cern a  great  number  of  organized  religious  bodies,  owing 
their  existence  and  their  purpose  to  Christian  belief  and 
Christian  ideas  ;  but  in  the  midst  of  these  we  discern  also 
something  incomparably  more  permanent  and  more  universal 
— one  great  continuous  body — the  Catholic  Church.  There 
it  is  ;  none  can  overlook  itsvisible  existence,  let  us  say,  from 
the  time  when  Christianity  emerges  out  of  the  gloom  of  the 
sub- Apostolic  age  down  to  the  period  of  the  Reformation." 
This  **  Catholic  Church  "  is  described  further  as  a  visible 
society,  possessing  corporate,  organic  unity,  historic  contin- 
uity and  permanence.  It  is  *'  an  organized  society  in  which 
a  graduated  body  of  ordained  ministers  is  made  the  instru- 
ment of  unity" — ministers  episcopally  ordained,  and  thus, 
and  thus  only,  possessing  "  an  authoritative  stewardship  of 
the  graces  and  truth  that  came  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  a  recog- 
*  Address  delivered  at  the  close  of  the  college  session,  April  2d, 
1891.     [Copyright  by  E.  B.  Treat.] 


124  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY, 

nized  power  to  transmit  it,  derived  from  Apostolic  descent/' 
Access  to  God  and  all  spiritual  privileges  depend  on  mem- 
bership in  the  visible  society  thus  organized,  which  is  "  the 
special  and  covenanted  sphere  of  His  regular  and  uniform 
operations  " — "  the  home  of  the  new  covenant  of  salvation," 
instituted  by  the  incarnate  Son  of  God  **  for  man  to  belong 
to  as  the  means  of  belonging  to  Him  "  ;  for  "  communion 
with  God  depends  on  communion  with  His  Church  "  as  thus 
understood.! 

Here,  then,  we  are  assured,  is  "  The  One  Holy,  Catholic, 
Apostolic  Church,"  and  there  is  none  other.  The  only  com- 
munions that  are  recognized  as  forming  part  of  it  are  the 
Church  of  Rome,  the  Greek  Church,  and  the  Anglican 
Church  with  its  branches.  The  other  great  Christian  com- 
munities, including  Presbyterians  (who  are  expressly  and  by 
name  referred  to),  are  not  entitled  to  the  name  of  Churches, 
but  are — ''  out  of  communion  with  God,  which  depends  on 
communion  with  His  Church  " — living  in  schism  and  in  sin. 

As,  during  the  last  two  sessions,  we  have  been  tracing  the 
history  of  this  so-called  "  Catholic  Church,"  in  its  rise  and 
growth,  and  in  the  golden  period,  that  is  the  medieval  period, 
of  its  life,  it  will,  I  think,  be  no  inappropriate  conclusion  to 
our  studies  to  look  at  the  high  claim  set  up  on  its  behalf, 
and  the  conception  of  the  Church  which  it  embodies.  I  can, 
of  course,  do  this  to-day,  in  the  short  time  at  my  disposal, 
only  very  briefly  and  very  cursorily. 

But,  before  proceeding  to  consider  the  theory  itself,  it  may 
be  interesting  to  observe  how  far  it  is  carried  out  and  re- 
alized by  those  who  advocate  it.  Supposing  for  a  moment 
that  the  idea  of  the  Church  I  have  just  presented  is  the  true 
idea  of  it,  what  Church  is  there  that  can  justly  claim  the  title, 
*'  The  One  Holy,  Catholic,  Apostolic  Church  "  ? 

*'  The  Church  of  Rome,"  it  will  be  said  by  some.     I  shall 

t  **  The  Church  and  the  Ministry,"  by  the  Rev.  Charles  Gore,  M.A., 
pp.  II,  57,  70,  344  etpassirn. 


THE    ONE    HOLY,    CATHOLIC,    APOSTOLIC    CHURCH.      I25 

have  more  to  say  bearing  upon  this  answer  by  and  by.  I 
shall  only  ask  at  present,  What  about  the  Greek  Church  ? 
Can  we  forget  the  great  schism  that  rent  these  two  Churches 
asunder  in  the  ninth  century,  and  that  continues  to  this  day  ? 
Can  we  forget  how  the  one  has  excommunicated  and  anathe- 
matized the  other,  and  with  about  equal  reason,  the  Eastern 
Church  denouncing  the  Pope  himself  as  "  the  first  Protest- 
ant," and  the  Papacy  as  the  chief  heresy  of  these  latter  days, 
and  the  Western  Church  paying  back  the  compliment  with 
interest  ?  Can  we  forget  the  deep,  wide  gulf  of  alienation 
and  the  intense  hostility  that  separate  them;  how  their  ec- 
clesiastics are  only  kept  from  violent  collisions  and  from 
shedding  one  another's  blood  at  Bethlehem  and  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  by  the  interposition  of  Mahometan  soldiers  ?  Not 
only  are  they  not  in  "  organic,  corporate  unity  " — no  Churches 
in  the  world  are  more  deeply  estranged  or  more  bitterly 
averse  to  one  another.  They  certainly  do  not  constitute  to- 
gether "  One  Holy,  Catholic  Church,"  for  they  are  not  one 
Church,  but  two  ;  and  with  as  little  truth  or  justice  can  any- 
one of  them  appropriate  the  title  "  Catholic  "  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  other.  The  theory  of  a  visible  Catholic  Church 
"  one  and  indivisible,"  with  *'  historic  continuity,"  has  broken 
down,  you  see,  in  the  very  first  attempt  to  apply  it. 

*'  Oh  !  but  the  Greek  Church  and  the  Roman  Church 
have  but  one  Episcopal  form  of  government."  Does  that 
make  them  one  ?  Has  that  conserved  even  their  external 
unity  ? — and  remember  it  is  external,  organic,  corporate  unity 
that  the  High  Church  theory  demands.  Are  two  nations 
that  are  at  war  with  one  another,  and  thoroughly  antagonis- 
tic in  their  national  traits  and  tendencies,  one  because  they 
possess  a  similar  form  of  government  ?  The  forms  of  gov- 
ernment of  France  and  Prussia  at  the  time  of  the  Franco- 
Prussian  war  were  far  more  nearly  akin  than  those  of  the 
Greek  and  Roman  Churches.  Were  they,  therefore,  one 
nation  ?     Are  France  and  the  United  States  one  nation  to- 


126  QUESTIONS   OF    THE    DAY. 

day  because  they  have  both  a  Republican  form  of  govern- 
ment ?  When  the  same  nation  changes  its  form  of  govern- 
ment, does  its  national  existence  and  identity,  its  existence 
as  a  State,  cease  ?  The  English  nation  passed  from  a  mon- 
archy into  a  republic,  and  from  a  republic  into  a  monarchy 
again.  Did  the  change  in  the  mere  form  of  government 
create  a  break  in  the  continuity  of  national  existence  ?  Did 
England  cease  to  b:  a  nation  or  a  State  under  the  Com- 
monwealth ?  The  Duke  of  Savoy  thought  otherwise  when 
Cromwell  inter ""ered  on  behalf  of  the  persecuted  Vaudois, 
God's 

"  Slaughtered  saints  whose  bones 
Lay  scattered  on  the  Alpine  mountains  cold," 

and  compelled  that  tyrant  to  desist  from  his  barbarities. 
And  if  a  particular  form  of  government  does  not  belong  to 
the  essence  of  national  or  State  existence,  I  hope  to  show 
you  by  and  by  that  it  is  still  less  of  the  essence  of  the  Church. 
You  might  ai  well  affirm  that  two  hostile  nations  are  one 
because  they  have  similar  forms  of  government,  or  that  two 
men  at  enmity  are  one  because  they  are  clad  in  garments 
made  by  the  same  tailor  and  after  the  same  pattern,  as  that 
the  Roman  and  Greek  Churches  are  one  because  their  modes 
of  government  are  somewhat  similar.  The  one  holy,  Catholic 
Church  as  a  visible  corporate  society  is  thus  so  far  non-ex- 
istent. 

But  what  about  the  Anglican  Church  }  What  claim  has 
she  to  belong  to  the  one  corporate  society  which  Mr.  Gore 
pictures  }  Having  deliberately  seceded  and  separated  from 
the  Church  of  Rome — that  is  from  connection  with  **  the  one 
Catholic  Church  "  of  which  Mr.  Gore  speaks — at  the  Refor- 
mation, and  having  continued  separate  ever  since,  the  claim 
of  the  Anglican  Church  to  be  a  part  of  the  **  one  visible 
Catholic  Church  "  has  still  less  to  justify  it.  She  is  certainly 
not  a  part  of  the  corporate  unity,  and  she  is  not  recognized 
by  Rome  as  being  a  Church  at  all.     In  view  of  that  act  and 


THE  ONE  HOLY,  CATHOLIC,   APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.  12] 

State  of  separation,  how  can  Anglicans  talk  of  "one  holy- 
Catholic  Church"?  Why  the  phrase,  if  there  is  any  real 
force  in  it,  only  condemns  and  smites  them.  From  the  point 
of  view  of  their  own  theory  of  the  Church,  what  right  had 
they  to  separate  from  Rome  ?  If  there  is  only  "  one  visible 
Catholic  Church,"  there  is  no  right  to  separate  from  it,  no 
matter  how  corrupt  it  may  become.  The  moment  you 
separate  from  it,  you  abandon  the  theory  of  the  one  visible 
Catholic  Church.  Augustine  told  the  Donatists  that  **  being 
separate  from  the  body  of  the  Church,  they  were  ipso  facto 
cut  off  from  the  heritage  of  the  Church  "  ;  and  yet  those 
Donatists  had  their  bishops  and  their  Episcopal  succession. 
It  was  just  such  considerations,  Newman  tells  us,  that  drove 
him  from  Anglicanism  to  Rome.  It  was  the  inexorable  logic 
of  the  principle  of  the  one  visible  but  indivisible  Church 
body  that  drove  him.  The  idea  that  the  Roman,  Greek,  and 
Anglican  communions  make  up  one  visible,  indivisible  Church 
of  God  he  describes  as  "  a  view  as  paradoxical  when  re- 
garded as  a  fact,  as  it  is  heterodox  when  regarded  as  a  doc- 
trine." "All  the  learning,"  he  says,  "all  the  argumentative 
skill  of  its  ablest  champions,  would  fail  in  proving  that  two 
sovereign  States  were  numerically  one  State,  even  though 
they  happened  to  have  the  same  parentage,  the  same  lan- 
guage, the  same  form  of  government ;  "  and  yet,  he  goes  on 
to  say,  the  gulf  between  Rome  and  England  is  greater  than 
the  demarcation  between  State  and  State.  But  "it  may  pos- 
sibly be  suggested,"  he  remarks,  "  that  the  universality 
which  the  fathers  ascribe  to  the  Catholic  Church  lay  in  its 
Apostolical  descent,  or  again  in  its  episcopacy;  and  that  it 
was  one,  not  as  being  one  kingdom  or  civitas  at  unity  with 
itself,  with  one  and  the  same  intelligence  in  every  part,  one 
sympathy,  one  ruling  principle,  one  organization,  one  com- 
munion, but  because,  though  consisting  of  a  number  of  inde- 
pendent communions  at  variance  with  each  other,  even  to  a 
breach  of  intercourse,  nevertheless  all  these  were  possessed 


128  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

of  a  legitimate  succession  of  clergy,  or  all  governed  by 
bishops,  priests,  and  deacons.  But  who  will  in  seriousness 
maintain  that  relationship,  or  that  resemblance,  makes  two 
bodies  one  ?  England  and  Prussia  are  two  monarchies;  are 
they,  therefore,  one  kingdom  ?  England  and  the  United 
States  are  one  stock  ;  can  they,  therefore,  be  called  one 
State  .»*  If  unity  lies  in  the  Apostolical  succession,  an  act  of 
schism  is  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case  impossible. 
Either  there  is  no  such  sin  as  schism,  or  unity  does  not  lie 
in  the  Episcopal  form,  or  in  Episcopal  ordination."  "Anti- 
quarian arguments  "  in  favor  of  Apostolical  succession  are, 
he  says,  "  altogether  unequal  to  the  urgency  of  visible  facts;" 
while,  with  regard  to  the  Church  of  England,  he  continues, 
"  I  cannot  tell  how  soon  there  came  upon  me — but  very  soon 
— an  extreme  astonishment  that  I  had  ever  imagined  it  to 
be  a  portion  of  the  Catholic  Church.  .  .  .  When  I  looked 
back  upon  the  poor  Anglican  Church,  for  which  I  had  labored 
so  hard,  and  upon  all  that  had  appertained  to  it,  and  thought 
of  our  various  attempts  to  dress  it  up  doctrinally  and  aesthet- 
ically, it  seemed  to  me  the  veriest  of  nonentities  !  "* 

I  have  thus  shown  how  badly  Mr.  Gore's  own  Church,  not 
to  speak  of  others,  bears  the  test  of  his  own  principles.  But 
now  with  regard  to  the  theory  itself,  I  have  one  or  two  re- 
marks to  make. 

I.  And,  first,  there  is  no  fact  more  distinctly  revealed  in 
history  than  the  genesis  of  this  materialistic  conception  of 
the  Church — the  rise  of  the  idea  that  a  certain  piece  of  ex- 
ternal organization  called  '*  the  bishop  "  belongs  to  the  es- 
sence of  the  Church — and  the  growth  of  a  great  hierarchical 
corporation  after  the  pattern  of  this  idea.  The  genesis  and 
growth  of  it,  and  the  gradual  formation  of  the  Church  ac- 
cording to  it,  are  apparent  to  every  student  of  the  literature 
of  the  second  and  third  centuries.     The  idea  is  a  complex 

*  Newman's  Essays,  v.  i.,  pp.  217-220;  **  Development  of  Doctrine," 
c.  vi.,  sec,  2;  "  Apologia,"  pp.  339,  340,  341,  last  edition. 


THE  ONE  HOLY,  CATHOLIC,  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.        1 29 

one,  involving  along  with  other  elements  chiefly  these  two: 
(i)  That  the  bishop  is  of  a  different  order  from  the  pres- 
byter; and  (2)  the  sacerdotal  character  of  the  ministry,  with 
its  corollary,  the  transmission  of  grace  through  unbroken 
Episcopal  succession.  When  did  these  ideas  begin  to  take 
visible  shape  ?  When  did  they  attempt  to  ''  mix  themselves 
with  life  "  ? 

I.  As  to  the  first — the  separation  of  the  Episcopate  from 
the  Presbyterate,  and  the  erection  of  the  former  into  a  dis- 
tinct and  separate  order — we  see  the  process  going  on  in  the 
second  century,  and  not  quite  completed  even  towards  the 
close  of  it.  Not  only  in  the  New  Testament,  but  in  many 
sub-Apostolic  writings,  presbyters  are  bishops  and  bishops 
are  presbyters.  Bishop  Lightfoot  has  clearly  shown  that  the 
Episcopate  was  created  out  of  the  Presbyterate,  that  in 
Clement  of  Alexandria  and  Irenaeus  "  the  functions  of  the 
bishop  and  presbyter  are  regarded  as  substantially  the  same 
in  kind,  though  different  in  degree";  that  they  are  repre- 
sented as  being  ''  not  a  distinct  order,"  and  that  at  Alex- 
andria *'  the  bishop  was  nominated  and  apparently  ordained 
by  the  twelve  presbyters  out  of  their  own  number."  Hilary, 
Jerome,  Augustine  and  others  saw  this  and  affirmed  it.  "Let 
bishops  know,"  says  Jerome,  "  that  they  are  above  presbyters 
more  by  the  custom  of  the  Church  than  by  any  actual  or- 
dinance of  the  Lord."  Under  the  stress  and  pressure  of 
such  facts  Mr.  Gore  at  one  point  virtually  gives  up  the  cause 
for  which  the  chief  part  of  his  book  is  a  plea — the  necessity 
of  the  monarchical  Episcopate.  "  No  one  of  whatever  part 
of  the  Church,"  he  says,  "  can  maintain  that  the  existence 
of  what  may  be  called,  for  lack  of  a  distinctive  term,  tnon- 
Episcopacy  is  essential  to  the  continuity  of  the  Church." 
This,  however,  is  what  Mr.  Gore  himself  does  strenuously 
maintain  elsewhere.  But  I  only  note  that  what  the  greater 
part  of  his  book  assumes  as  essential  he  here  practically 
abandons. 


130 


QUESTIONS   OF    THE    DAY. 


2.  But  simultaneously  with  the  development  of  one  of  the 
presbyters  into  a  third  and  superior  order  called  the  bishop> 
another  development  is  seen  going  on.  The  efforts  of  the 
Judaizers  to  preserve  the  distinctive  features  of  the  Jewish 
system,  and  foist  them  on  the  Christian  Church,  failed  in  the 
first  instance.  These  attempts  were  foiled  by  Paul  and  the 
other  Apostles,  who  invested  all  Christians  with  a  spiritual 
priesthood,  and  clearly  taught  the  abolition  of  an  exclusive 
priesthood.  As  Bishop  Lightfoot  also  shows,  there  is  not 
only  no  trace  of  a  sacerdotal  ministry  in  the  New  Testament 
— there  is  no  trace  of  it  in  any  of  the  Apostolic  Fathers. 
TertuUian,  as  he  points  out,  is  "  the  first  to  assert  direct 
sacerdotal  claims,"  which,  however,  he  qualifies  by  his 
strong  assertion  of  a  universal  priesthood.  "  The  first 
champion  of  undisguised  sacerdotalism,"  he  shows,  is  Cypri- 
an. "  As  Cyprian  crowned  the  edifice  of  Episcopal  power, 
so  also  was  he  the  first  to  put  forward,  without  relief  or  dis- 
guise, these  sacerdotal  assumptions,"  which,  he  adds,  "  were 
imported  into  Christianity  by  the  ever-increasing  mass  of 
heathen  converts,  who  were  incapable  of  shaking  off  their 
sacerdotal  prejudices,  and  appreciating  the  free  spirit  of  the 
Gospel."  Observe  in  passing  how  the  growth  of  the  Epis- 
copate and  of  sacerdotalism  went  on  together,  just  as  they 
have  had  a  peculiar  affinity  for  each  other  ever  since.  It  is 
not  without  significance  that  it  is  in  Episcopal  Churches,  and 
in  these  only,  that  sacerdotalism  is  rampant.  Archbishop 
Plunket  must  excuse  us  for  saying  that,  with  a  most  sincere 
desire  for  Christian  union,  this  peculiar  affinity  which  it  has, 
and  always  has  had  for  sacerdotalism,  makes  us  wary  of  the 
so-called  "  historic  Episcopate."  For  my  part,  I  prefer  the 
Episcopate  that  has  the  double  virtue  of  being  both  historic 
and  Scriptural. 

It  was  under  the  influence  of  this  two-fold  deviation  from 
New  Testament  ideas  that  Cyprian  in  the  middle  of  the  third 
century  was  enabled  to  take  up  the  position,  so  far  removed 


THE  ONE  HOLY,  CATHOLIC,  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.         ^3' 

from  the  New  Testament  standpoint,  that  the  bishop  is  es- 
sential to  the  very  existence  of  the  Church,  and  to  be  sepa- 
rate from  the  bishop  is  to  be  separate  from  the  Church. 
"  The  true  centre  and  living  pillar  of  Catholicism  "  (says 
Baur),  "  the  organizing  and  animating  principle  of  the  whole 
body  corporate,  is  the  Episcopate.  Now,  the  early  idea  of 
the  Episcopate  was  that  the  bishop  was  to  be  to  the  indi- 
vidual community  of  Christians,  concretely  and  visibly, 
what  the  Jewish  Messianic  idea  in  its  Christian  development 
represented  Christ  as  being  for  the  Church  in  His  heavenly 
dignity.  And  thus  in  the  first  beginnings  of  the  Episcopal 
constitution  we  see  before  us  the  whole  Papal  hierarchy  of 
the  Middle  Ages."  *  The  papal  supremacy  is  but  a  develop- 
ment of  the  same  idea.  If  in  the  interest  of  external  unity 
a  diocesan  bishop  is  necessary  and  a  metropolitan  and  a 
national  primate  are  also  necessary,  the  conclusion  was  in- 
evitable that  a  visible  head  and  centre  of  the  whole  Church 
on  earth,  an  episcopus  omnium  eptscoporum,  is  no  less  essential 
and  legitimate. 

Such  is  the  genesis  of  this  idea  of  the  visible  Church,  and 
of  the  whole  Papal  hierarchy  in  which  it  was  embodied.  It 
came  chiefly  from  two  sources,  from  Roman  imperialism  and 
from  Pagan  sacerdotalism.  Now,  if  a  person,  whose  father 
and  mother  you  know  to  have  been  of  humble  rank,  sets 
up  a  claim  to  royal  lineage  and  a  royal  inheritance,  you  only 
laugh  at  his  pretensions.  A  claim  was  set  up  some  years 
ago  to  the  title  and  estates  of  Sir  Roger  Tichborne.  But 
when  it  was  proved  in  court  that  the  claimant  had  a  much 
humbler  origin,  and  that  his  proper  name  was  Arthur  Orton, 
an  English  jury  made  short  work  of  his  audacious  preten- 
sions. When  in  the  Christian  literature  of  the  second,  third 
and  subsequent  centuries  you  see,  as  you  do  see,  the  genesis 
and  gradual  growth  of  this  externalistic  conception  of  the 
Church,  when  you  see  the  father  of  it  to  have  been  Roman 

*  Baur's  "  Church  History  of  the  First  Three  Centuries,"  3d  ed.,  p.  II2. 


132  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

imperialism,  and  the  mother  of  it  heathen  sacerdotalism, 
your  respect  for  it  is  considerably  reduced,  and  only  the 
large  number  of  people  who  are  dupes  of  it  compels  you 
to  treat  it  with  any  seriousness. 

II.  But  observe  further  that  the  growth  of  the  visible 
Church  after  this  pattern  was  but  part  of  a  general  tendency 
to  materialize  and  paganize  Christianity.  External  observ- 
ances took  the  place  of  spiritual  and  moral  action.  A 
magical  efficacy  in  washing  away  sin  was  attributed  to  the 
external  rite  of  baptism.  The  material  bread  in  the  Euchar- 
ist became  the  real  body  of  Christ,  and  the  life  and  aliment 
of  the  soul  to  him  who  partook  of  it.  The  repentance  of 
the  New  Testament  became  the  penance  of  the  Vulgate — 
"a  laborious  sort  of  baptism  "  for  working  out  sin.  Pardon 
of  sin  was  offered  for  such  external  acts  as  the  payment 
of  a  sum  of  money,  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome  or  Jerusalem,  or 
enlistment  on  a  crusade  to  Palestine — acts  that  not  only 
had  no  vital  connection  with  morality,  and  no  moral  sig- 
nificance, but  that  were  often  an  occasion  for  the  indulgence 
of  the  passions.  Rich  nobles  were  enabled  to  reduce  a  fast 
of  years  to  as  many  days,  either  by  the  payment  of  money 
or  by  compelling  their  dependants  to  share  the  fast  with 
them.  In  the  same  way  extraordinary  miraculous  virtue 
was  ascribed  to  relics.  Fabulous  prices  were  paid  for  them, 
and  fierce  contests  waged  by  monasteries  to  obtain  pos- 
session of  them.  The  whole  forest  of  Lebanon  would  not 
have  sufficed  to  produce  all  the  wood  that  was  brought 
from  the  East  as  fragments  of  the  true  cross.  Fortunes 
were  made  by  the  manufacture  of  spurious  relics;  and  im- 
age-worship was'  but  another  manifestation  of  the  same 
paganizing  tendency.  Nay,  Gregory  the  Great  wrote  in  con- 
nection with  the  conversion  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  that  Pagan 
forms  of  worship  might  be  profitably  preserved  if  modified 
to  Christian  uses,  and  that  even  sacrifices  of  oxen  might  con- 
tinue if  they  wereofTered  on  saints'  days!  Not  only  Pagans, 
but  Pagan  rites  and  practices  were  baptized. 


THE  ONE  HOLY,  CATHOLIC,  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.  13^ 

Time  won't  permit  me  even  to  touch  on  the  practical 
fruit  borne  by  this  system  in  its  most  palmy  days.  So  far 
had  men  got  away  from  spiritual  Christianity  and  a  true 
idea  of  the  divine  Being  Himself,  that  when  Ratherius  of 
Verona,  a.d.  974,  reminded  his  clergy  that  God  is  a  Spirit, 
some  of  them  cried  out,  "  What  shall  we  do  ?  We  thought 
we  knew  something  about  God,  but  God  is  nothing  at  all, 
if  He  has  not  a  head."  The  moral  outcome  was  precisely 
what  you  might  expect.  Even  the  personal  history  of  the 
Popes  themselves  during  long  periods,  when  every  precept 
of  the  Decalogue  was  set  at  naught  by  them,  and  the  Papal 
chair  was  occupied  by  the  paramours  or  illegitimate  chil- 
dren of  three  infamous  women,  would  disgrace  the  annals 
of  the  most  barbarous  and  degraded  of  the  South  Sea 
Islanders. 

in.  But  the  visible  corporate  society  described  by  Mr. 
Gore  *'  claims  to  have  been  instituted  as  the  home  of  the 
new  covenant  of  salvation  by  the  incarnate  Son  of  God  " 
and  His  Apcstles.  Does  the  New  Testament  give  any 
countenance  to  this  theory  of  the  Church  ?  I  have  practi- 
cally answered  this  question  already  in  showing  that  its 
origin  was  post-Apostolic.  But  at  least  a  glance  must  be 
taken  at  the  Church  delineated  by  our  Lord  and  His  Apos- 
tles; for  the  whole  question  turns  upon  this:  What  is  the 
nature  of  the  Church  instituted  by  its  authorized  founders  ? 
Here  to-day  I  can  only  give  the  heads  of  the  statement  I 
have  prepared  on  this  part  of  the  subject. 

I.  The  term  ecclesia  in  the  New  Testament  denotes  (says 
Chremer)  *' the  redeemed  community  in  its  two-fold  aspect: 
(i)  The  entire  of  all  who  are  called  {hoi  cletot)  by  and  to 
Christ's  Church  universal.  (2)  Every  Church  in  which  the 
character  of  the  Church  as  a  whole  is  repeated."  "Where 
two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  My  name  there  am  I 
in  the  midst  of  them,"  says  Christ  (Matt,  xviii.,  20).  What 
secures  Christ's  presence  and  constitutes  the  "  two  or  three  " 


134  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

a  Church  is  their  being  gathered  together  in  His  name,  not 
their  being  in  connection  with  an  Episcopal  hierarchy.  "  I 
am  the  door  "  (He  says  in  another  place — the  door  to  the 
sheepfold,  which  is  another  name  for  the  Church),  ''  by  Me 
if  any  man  enter  in  he  shall  be  saved,  and  shall  go  in  and 
out,  and  find  pasture  "  (John  x.,  9).  The  Church  has  the 
same  broad  basis  in  Paul's  conception  of  it.  He  writes 
"  unto  the  Church  of  God  which  is  at  Corinth,  to  them  that 
are  sanctified  in  Christ  Jesus,  called  to  be  saints,  with  all 
that  in  every  place  call  upon  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord  "  (I.  Cor.  i.,  2).  All  who  are  united  to  Christ  by  faith, 
all  who  in  every  place  call  upon  His  name,  are  recognized 
as  members  of  His  Church. 

2.  It  is  to  the  whole  Christian  society  as  thus  defined  that 
all  Church  power  is  given.  The  power  of  binding  and 
loosing  given  first  lo  Peter  (Matt,  xvi.,  19)  is  extended  to 
the  disciples  generally  (Matt,  xviii.,  18).  Even  the  words 
in  John  xx.,  21-23,  "Whosesoever  sins  ye  remit,"  etc.,  are 
shown  by  such  expositors  as  Alford,  Bishop  Lightfoot, 
Plumptre,  Maclear,  etc.,  to  have  been  addressed  not  to  the 
Apostles  merely,  but  to  others  as  well.  We  thus  see  on 
what  solid  Scriptural  ground  the  Reformers  based  their 
teaching  that  all  Church  power  resided  originally  in  the 
whole  Church.  It  was  a  fundamental  doctrine  with  the  Re- 
formers, says  Principal  Cunningham,  that  **  all  the  power 
and  authority  necessary  for  the  Church  executing  its  func- 
tions, and  attaining  its  objects,  lay  radically  and  funda- 
mentally in  the  Church  itself — in  the  company  of  believers; 
so  that,  when  necessity  required,  Churches  might  provide 
and  establish  office-bearers  for  themselves,  and  do  whatever 
might  be  needful  for  securing  all  the  objects  connected 
with  their  welfare,  and  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  ordinances 
which  Christ  appointed."  Even  Hooker  fully  grants  this 
admitting  that  "  the  whole  Church  visible  is  the  true  original 
subject  of  all  power  "  (Eccl.  Pol.,  vii.,  14). 


THE  ONE  HOLY,  CATHOLIC,  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.  I35 

3.  And  now,  what,  in  New  Testament  teaching,  is  the  re- 
lation of  the  ministry  to  the  Church  ?  That  a  definite  and 
permanent  ministry  was  instituted  by  the  Apostles,  to  my 
mind,  admits  of  no  doubt;  nor,  in  view  of  this,  am  I  able 
to  see  that  the  Church  is  now  at  liberty  to  adopt  any  form 
of  ministry,  any  polity  it  pleases.  But  my  point  at  present 
is,  What  relation  does  the  ministry  set  up  by  the  Apostles 
sustain  to  the  Church  ?  Is  that  ministry  so  much  of  the 
essence  of  the  Church  that  a  Christian  society  that  lacks  it 
cannot  be  regarded  as  being  a  Church  at  all  ?  It  seems  to 
me  that  that  question  is  already  answered  in  the  words  of 
Christ,  '*  Where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  My 
name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them,"  and  in  Paul's  syno- 
nym for  the  Church,  "  All  that  in  every  place  call  upon  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord."  Again,  when  the  elders 
are  told  to  **  feed  the  Church  of  God  "  (Acts  xx.,  28);  when 
it  is  said  that  "  God  hath  set  some  in  the  Church,  first  Apos- 
tles," etc.  (I.  Cor.  xii.,  28);  when  bishops  are  represented  as 
''taking  care  of  the  Church  of  God  "  (I.  Tim.  iii.,  5);  and 
Timothy  is  instructed  "  how  to  behave  himself  in  the  house 
of  God,  which  is  the  Church  of  the  living  God  "  (I.  Tim. 
iii.,  15);  in  all  these  instances  the  office-bearers  are  dis- 
tinguished from  the  Christian  community,  and  the  Christian 
community,  considered  apart  from  the  office-bearers,  is  called 
"  the  Church."  It  follows  that,  however  obligatory  it  is 
upon  every  Christian  society  to  have  a  Scriptural  ministry, 
and  however  necessary  that  ministry  is  to  the  well-being  of 
the  Church,  it  is  not  essential  to  its  being.  The  Church  ex- 
ists before  the  ministry,  and  the  ministry  exists  for  the 
Church. 

4.  Another  question  now  arises — Wherein  consists  the 
essential  unity  of  the  Church  of  Christ  ?  On  what  does  the 
New  Testament  lay  special  emphasis  in  enforcing  it  ?  Now 
the  unity  of  Christians  is  the  unity  of  those  who  have  "  one 
Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  God  and  Father  of  all," 


13^  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

and  who  are  animated  by  one  life  and  spirit.  Adhesion  to 
the  visible  society  of  Christians  is  signified  by  baptism,  and 
their  unity  and  fellowship  are  exhibited  and  promoted  by 
their  participation  of  one  bread  in  the  Eucharist;  but  the 
unity  insisted  on  is  mainly  spiritual  and  moral,  finding  its 
cement  and  bond  in  love.  And  office-bearers  are  given,  not, 
be  it  observed,  as  a  part  of  this  essential  unity,  but  for  the 
purpose  of  promoting  it;  "for  the  edifying  of  the  body  of 
Christ,  till  we  all  come  in  the  unity  of  the  faith  and  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God  unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the 
measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ."  When, 
therefore,  Lord  Bacon  says,  "  It  is  good  we  return  unto  the 
ancient  bonds  of  unity  in  the  Church  of  God,  which  was 
one  faith,  one  baptism,  and  not  one  hierarchy,"  he  is  strictly 
Pauline. 

5.  What  has  just  been  said  with  regard  to  the  unity  of 
the  Church  is  in  striking  unison  with  what  the  Apostle 
teaches  respecting  schism:  "When  ye  come  together  in  the 
Church  I  hear  that  there  be  divisions  {schismatd)  among 
you  "  (I.  Cor.  xi.,  18).  "  I  exhort  you  that  there  be  no  divi- 
sions {schtsmata)  among  you  "  (I.  Cor.  i.,  10).  You  see,  the 
schisms  in  the  Church  of  Corinth  (and  they  are  the  only 
schisms  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament)  were  not  seces- 
sions from  the  Church,  but  the  rending  of  its  internal  unity 
of  mind  and  heart  by  the  growth  of  factions,  and  by  dissen- 
sions in  their  Church  meetings.  You  see  from  this  that  there 
may  be  real  schism  among  the  members  of  the  same  con- 
gregation, in  the  same  Church,  living  under  the  same  Church 
polity. 

It  is  quite  true  that  secession  from  a  Christian  society  is  a 
most  grave  and  serious  step,  and  requires  good  grounds  to 
justify  it. 

"  The  spirit  I  that  evermore  divides  " 

is  the  delineation  of  Mephistopheles  as  given  by  himself  in 
**  Faust."     But  withdrawal  from  a  Christian  society  on  ac- 


THE  ONE  HOLY,  CATHOLIC,  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.         1^7 

count  of  gross  corruptions  in  doctrine,  discipline  and  life  is 
nowhere  called  schism  in  Scripture.  On  the  contrary,  we 
are  to  "  turn  away  from  those  who  have  only  a  form  of  god- 
liness, but  deny  the  power  thereof  "  (II.  Tim.  iii.,  5).  We 
are  to  "  withdraw  from  them  that  walk  disorderly  and  not 
after  the  tradition  received  from  the  Apostles  "  (II.  Thess. 
iii.,  6).  Our  Lord  Himself  informs  the  Church  that  suffers 
corruption  in  doctrine  and  life  that  unless  she  repents  He 
"  will  fight  against  her  with  the  sword  of  His  mouth  "  (Rev. 
ii.,  16).  He  tells  another  Church  that  except  she  repents 
He  "  will  remove  her  candlestick  out  of  its  place,"  which 
means  unchurching  her,  for  the  candlestick  represents  the 
Church.  This  yoke  is  not  laid  upon  us  by  our  Master,  to 
live  in  fellowship  with  those  who  corrupt  His  teaching  and 
despise  His  laws.  Though  Israel  play  the  harlot,  Judah  is 
not  to  offend,  nor  to  come  to  Gilgal,  nor  to  go  up  to  Beth- 
haven,  to  participate  in  his  idolatrous  rites — when  Ephraim 
is  joined  to  his  idols  he  is  to  be  let  alone  (Hos.  iv.,  15,  17). 
The  Reformers,  therefore,  were  fully  justified  in  with- 
drawing from  a  Church  which  had  ceased  to  *'  walk  after 
the  tradition  of  the  Apostles,"  and  become  thoroughly  cor- 
rupt in  doctrine,  worship,  discipline  and  life;  justified  in 
disencumbering  themselves  of  the  corruptions  that  had  ac- 
cumulated, and  in  reviving  and  continuing  the  Church  of 
the  Apostles.  Even  on  Anglican  principles  they  had  better 
reason  than  Anglican  "  Catholicism."  The  Anglican  High 
Churchman  goes  back  beyond  the  mediaeval  period  to  the 
Fathers  that  preceded  it.  That  surely  is  a  tremendous 
breach  of  "  historic  continuity."  Now,  if  the  High  Church- 
man may  leap  back  over  the  whole  Papal  and  mediaeval 
period  to  the  time  of  the  Fathers,  why  should  it  be  unlaw- 
ful to  go  back  a  little  farther  still  to  the  Church  as  founded 
by  our  Lord  and  His  Apostles  and  attempt  to  reproduce  it  ? 
The  Reformers  felt  that  in  doing  so  they  were  breaking  no 
real  continuity.     It  was  a  strong  point  with  them  that  they 


138  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

were  not  making  a  new  creed  or  creating  a  new  Church. 
The  doctrines  which  they  taught  they  held  forth  as  the  old 
doctrines  of  the  early  creeds,  stripped  of  error  and  supersti- 
tion, and  the  forms  which  they  revived  were  the  old  forms 
of  the  Apostolic  Church,  freed  from  the  corruptions  that 
had  gathered  round  them.  They  had  the  continuity  of  true 
Christian  doctrine,  and  faith,  and  worship,  and  life.  Does 
the  tree,  in  throwing  off  a  huge  excrescence  that  has  grown 
on  it,  and  threatens  its  vitality,  cease  to  be  the  same  tree  ? 
Does  the  living  man  in  ultimately  getting  rid  of  a  disease  or 
deformity  that  has  come  on  him,  and  long  afflicted  him, 
cease  to  be  the  same .'' 

"  The  One  Holy,  Catholic,  Apostolic  Church,"  so-called, 
which  I  have  been  passing  in  review,  how  little  worthy  of 
the  name  it  is  !  How  narrow,  contracted  and  sectarian, 
how  materialistic  and  mechanical,  when  brought  into  the 
light  of  New  Testament  ideas  !  The  French  academicians 
defined  a  crab  as  "  a  little  red  fish  that  walks  backwards  " 
— an  admirable  definition,  Cuvier  said,  only  for  three  slight 
defects.  It  is  not  a  fish,  it  is  not  red,  and  it  does  not  walk 
backwards.  The  title,  ''  The  One  Holy,  Catholic,  Apostolic 
Church,"  is  about  equally  true  to  what  it  is  meant  to  de- 
scribe. Voltaire  said  of  the  "  Holy  Roman  Empire  "  that 
that  title  had  a  similar  defect;  for  what  it  was  meant  to  des- 
ignate was  not  "holy";  it  was  not  "Roman,"  and  it  was 
not  properly  an  "  empire."  The  same  may  be  said  with 
equal  truth  of  what  is  called  ''  The  One  Holy,  Catholic, 
Apostolic  Church."  We  may  not  deny  it  perhaps  the  name 
of  "Church,"  but  it  is  not  "  one,"  but  several;  it  is  not  and 
never  has  been  remarkable  for  "  sanctity  ";  it  is  certainly 
not  "  Apostolic,"  and  being  of  all  sects  the  most  narrow  and 
sectarian,  it  is  less  entitled  than  any  other  to  the  name  of 
"  Catholic."  Most  fittingly  it  may  be  addressed  to-day  in  the 
words  which  the  great  Caesarean  bishop  Firmilian  addressed 
to  Stephen,  the  Roman  bishop  of  his  day,  who  had  cut  off 


THE  ONE  HOLY,  CATHOLIC,   APOSTOLIC  CHURCH.        139 

certain  churches  from  communion:  "  How  great  is  the  sin 
of  which  you  have  incurred  the  guilt  in  cutting  yourself  off 
from  so  many  Christian  flocks.  For  do  not  deceive  your- 
self, it  is  yourself  you  have  cut  off;  he  is  the  real  schismatic 
who  makes  himself  an  apostate  from  the  communion  of  the 
Church.  While  you  think  that  you  can  cut  off  all  from  your 
communion,  it  is  yourself  whom  you  cut  off  from  commun- 
ion with  all." 

We,  too,  "  believe  in  the  holy  Catholic  Church,"  but  in  a 
larger  sense.  We  believe  in  it  in  Paul's  sense,  as  including 
"  all  that  in  every  place  call  upon  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord."  We  believe,  too,  in  *'  the  general  assembly  and 
Church  of  the  first-born  which  are  written  in  heaven,"  the 
invisible  Church  of  God,  whose  boundaries  no  human  eye 
can  trace.  On  the  roll  of  its  membership  may  our  names 
be  registered  I 


CHRISTIANITY  versus  FORMALISM. 

By  President  S.  A.  Ort,  D.D.,  Wittenberg  College, 
Springfield,  Ohio. 


WE  are  living  in  the  closing  period  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  a  century  which  has  phases  of  thought, 
scientific,  philosophical  and  theological,  and  tendencies  of 
moment  peculiar  to  itself.  Men  are  pushing  their  investiga- 
tions into  every  field  of  knowledge.  They  are  making  a 
resurvey  of  the  whole  territory  of  intelligence.  They  are 
testing  the  conclusions  of  their  predecessors.  They  are 
thinking  over  again,  in  boldest  manner,  the  problem  of  man; 
whence  he  is,  what  he  is,  and  whither  he  is  going.  They 
are  vigorously  discussing  the  existence  of  God;  who  He  is, 
and  how  related  to  the  universe;  whether  knowable  or  un- 
knowable; whether  He  is  the  fixed  law  of  a  natural  world, 
or  a  personal  being  who  has  revealed  Himself  in  a  super- 
natural way  to  man.  They  are  citing  the  religion  of  Jesus 
to  the  test  of  criticism  and  the  bar  of  reason,  and,  under  the 
claim  of  highest  certainty,  are  passing  judgment  on  its  ori- 
gin, whether  from  beneath  or  from  above.  They  are  seek- 
ing in  nature  and  in  the  powers  of  the  human  mind,  the 
substantial  good,  the  eternal  portion  of  the  soul. 

With  all  this  a  restless,  dissatisfied  spirit  everywhere 
prevails.  On  the  one  hand,  the  people  are  not  content  with 
the  teachings  of  skepticism.  They  do  not  find  in  the  prac- 
tice of  these  the  satisfaction  which  they  crave.  Neither, 
on  the  other  hand,  do  they  get  in  the  doctrinal  propo- 
sitions or  formal  statements  of  divine  truth  that  rest  of  soul 
and  deep  assurance  of  union  with  God,  which  are  the  special 
promise  of  the  Gospel.     In  its  living  the  age  is  largely  sen- 


142  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

suous.  The  earth-born  spirit  excites  its  energy,  governs 
its  conduct,  and  directs  its  activity.  Under  the  influence 
of  naturalism  the  impulse  is  to  seek  the  temporal  as  the 
only  solid  good.  The  chiefest  aim  is  to  live  and  be  sen- 
suously happy.  Nothing  is  judged  worth  care,  save  that 
which  helps  to  make  man  a  satisfied  animal. 

Religion,  with  its  eternal  concerns,  is  deemed  an  idle 
fancy  or  superstition  or  senseless  something,  which,  when 
dressed  in  sensuous  garb,  may  serve  to  entertain  and  give  a 
momentary  pleasure.  True,  the  age  talks  much  in  one  way 
and  another  about  moral  principle  and  spiritual  truth.  It 
familiarly  uses  such  words  as  sin  and  righteousness  and 
Gospel  and  even  salvation;  but  these  are  merely  words  of 
formal  speech,  repeated  parrot  like,  with  no  deep  sense  of 
the  realities  they  express.  Crime  of  divers  sort,  wickedness 
cunning  and  damnable,  and  every  ungodliness  of  men  are 
described  to  the  public  mind  in  a  mode  of  address  and  by 
a  kind  of  spectacle  which  reveal  the  absence  of  a  tender 
conscience  that  hates  all  vileness  and  loves  the  pure. 

It  is  not  meant  that  our  time  is  worse  than  any  period  of 
the  human  past.  By  no  means.  But  the  meaning  is,  that,  in 
our  day  on  this  western  continent,  materialism,  with  all  its 
sequences,  wields  a  moulding  power  over  the  life  of  the 
people,  over  their  thoughts,  over  their  belief  and  over  the 
course  of  their  movement.  And  in  addition  the  meaning 
is,  that  rationalism  is  beginning  to  show  a  dominating  influ- 
ence in  many  quarters,  and  is  gradually  moving  forward  to 
a  more  extensive  sway  over  the  religious  views  and  faith  of 
the  multitudes. 

In  consequence  of  these  existing  facts,  two  tendencies  are 
clearly  discernible  in  the  evangelical  Church.  One  is  the 
endeavor  to  substitute  the  form  of  the  Christian  life  for  the 
life  itself,  or  the  expression  of  Christian  sentiment  for  the 
truth  in  that  sentiment.  Emphasis  is  placed  on  the  phe- 
nomenal, and,  hence,  a  phase  of  religious  phenomenalism  is 


CHRISTIANITY    versUS    FORMALISM.  143 

presented  as  the  best  attraction  to  an  outside  world  to  fre- 
quent the  house  of  prayer,  and  to  the  inside  world  it  is  ex- 
hibited as  the  most  acceptable  way  of  worshipping  Almighty 
God  and  being  devoutly  Christian.  This  is  formalism.  It 
may  be  simply  intellectual  or  it  may  be  chiefly  aesthetic. 
Christian  piety  and  true  godliness  are  neither  one  nor  the 
other  in  substance,  though  in  their  formal  manifestation  both, 
are  truly  involved.  The  Christian  religion  necessarily  has  its 
forms.  Every  kind  of  life  has  a  mode  or  modes  of  expres- 
sion. Likewise  the  Christian.  That  there  are  forms  of 
doctrine  and  forms  of  worship  is  not  strange  or  foreign  to 
the  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  Not  in  the  least.  A  living  Chris- 
tianity could  not  exist  without  producing  and  developing 
them.  They  inseparably  go  with  the  Christian  life,  and  with 
its  true  development  truly  grow.  But  when  little  stress  is 
laid  on  the  inner  life,  and  the  outward  form  is  taken  as  its 
equivalent,  then  Christian  service  ceases  to  be  a  worship  of 
God  in  spirit  and  truth,  and  becomes  a  mere  artificial  method 
for  meeting  the  obligations  of  a  religious  profession.  This 
is  easy  practice  for  a  lukewarm  church  and  is  popular  with 
the  natural  man. 

The  other  tendency  is  to  substitute  human  invention 
for  the  power  of  divine  truth.  The  theory  is,  that  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  must  be  adapted  to  the  sensuous 
taste  of  the  day,  instead  of  being  directed  to  the  consciences 
of  the  people.  This  is  an  age  eager  for  show,  greedy  for 
entertainment,  fond  of  physical  excitement,  intensely  de- 
lighted by  the  extravagant.  The  preaching,  hence,  that  will 
crowd  the  church  and  make  the  popular  preacher,  is  any- 
thing which  in  word  or  manner  or  speech,  under  the  sem- 
blance of  Gospel  truth,  will  beget  a  sensation.  This  is  sen- 
sationalism. 

And  now  in  the  face  of  these  tendencies,  with  naturalism 
ruling  the  energies  of  the  masses  and  rationalism  beginning 
to  reveal  its  presence  in  growing  strength,  what  is  necessary  > 


144  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

Answer:  A  deep,  practical  apprehension  of  the  fundamental 
nature  of  justifying  faith. 

This  is  the  vital  principle  of  the  Gospel.  It  is  not  a  mere 
doctrine,  that  which  is  worked  out  in  thought  and  given 
definite  limit  and  logical  form,  but  it  is  a  fact  revealed 
in  Christian  consciousness,  and  a  reality  known  in  expe- 
rience. It,  hence,  precedes  dogma,  and  is  conditional  for 
the  framing  and  development  of  religious  truth  into  a 
system  of  well  defined  statement. 

As  a  doctrine,  justifying  faith  stands  with  other  doc- 
trines in  certain  logical  order  and  is,  therefore,  one  among 
many,  a  subject  for  the  belief  and  examination  of  the 
intellectual  understanding.  But  as  a  principle,  justifying 
faith  is  before  the  mental  conception,  the  formal  exhibition 
of  saving  truth,  and  is  that  according  to  which  the  con- 
struction is  made.  It  is  the  light  in  which  the  spiritual 
understanding  moves  and  acts.  Justifying  faith  is  the 
essential  principle  of  the  Gospel— it  is  the  Gospel;  for  the 
great  Apostle  pointedly  declares  that  the  Cxospel  is  the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  who  believes. 
Abstract  this  principle,  or  make  it  subordinate,  or  calculate 
it  to  be  a  part  only  of  the  body  of  doctrine,  and  you  thereby 
either  set  aside  entirely  or  push  far  into  the  background  the 
divine  plan  for  the  recovery  of  sinful  man.  What  is  this 
plan  ?     Salvation  by  faith  in  a  crucified  Jesus. 

A  clear,  practical  apprehension  of  justifying  faith  is 
necessary  for  the  Christian  Church  to-day,  because  it  is  only 
by  this  principle  that  the  truth  in  Christianity  can  be  kno7vn 
7vith  certainty. 

Two  forms  of  human  thought  are  extant.  One  looks  out- 
ward and  fixes  sole  attention  on  the  natural;  the  other 
directs  its  vision  inward  and  recognizes  supreme  authority 
and  the  determiner  of  all  certainty  to  be  the  intellectual. 
The  first  knows  only  nature  to  be  real  existence.  Beyond 
this  the   human   mind   cannot   go.     Natural  law  produces 


CHRISTIANITY    VCrSUS    FORMALISM.  1 45 

everything  which  is — the  stars,  the  world,  man  and  human 
history  with  all  its  strange  and  startling  facts.  This  law 
is  fixed,  unchangeable.  No  outside  or  superior  power  could 
anywhere,  or  at  any  time,  along  the  course  of  natural  devel- 
opment, thrust  in  its  energy,  and  modify  or  change  the  facts 
of  nature  and  the  life  of  man.  A  union,  hence,  of  natural 
with  supernatural  cannot  occur.  The  miracle  of  incarnation 
is  absolutely  impossible.  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  like  every  in- 
dividual of  the  human  race,  is  the  product  of  materia]  force. 
Christianity,  the  revelation  of  the  eternal,  personal  God,  is 
made  to  vanish  in  the  idle  dreamings  of  an  unsettled  brain. 
The  only  religion  given  a  weary,  struggling  humanity,  is  that 
which  says:  "  Obey  the  laws  of  nature;  otherwise,  suffer 
the  consequences";  a  religion  without  love,  without  hope, 
without  faith,  whose  only  teaching  is  :  "Eat,  drink  and 
be  merry,  for  to-morrow  you  die."  This  is  naturalism,  a 
kind  of  thinking,  in  present  time,  powerful  and  widely  in- 
fluential. It  reaches  every  sphere  and  grade  of  human 
life,  and  is  the  master  spirit  in  the  busy  movements,  the 
toils  and  struggles  of  a  restless,  disappointed  humanity.  It 
sports  itself  not  only  in  an  unchristian  world,  but  also 
wields  increasing  power  over  the  practical  life  of  the  Church 
and  mars  the  faith  of  many.  It  blurs  the  distinction  be- 
tween evangelical  religion  and  worldliness,  substitutes  the 
ways  and  methods  of  the  natural  man  for  the  plain  efficient 
means  of  a  divine  Christianity  and  calls  man  to  the  seeking 
of  his  destiny  by  appeals  to  his  sensuous  nature  or  aesthetic 
taste,  instead  of  by  a  pungent  preaching  of  the  truth  con- 
cerning sin  to  his  conscience,  and  salvation  by  faith  in  a 
crucified  Redeemer  to  his  soul.  According  to  this  scheme 
nothing  is  certain  except  that  which  is  determined  by  the 
fixed  and  final  law  of  a  natural  world. 

The  other  form  of  popular  thought  in  its  ultimate  result 
is  one  with  naturalism,  just  as  materialism  and  idealism 
finally  strike  hands  in  pantheism.     But  rationalism  recog- 


14^  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

nizes  chiefly  the  subject  of  human  knowledge,  and,  in  the 
solution  of  the  question  of  certainty,  poinds  to  reason  as 
supreme  authority.  To  a  physical  world  with  its  fixed  laws, 
mind  is  superior.  Reason  has  power  of  oversight  and  insight 
for  all  phenomena  of  material  existence,  and  hence  is  com- 
petent to  know  their  truth.  More  than  this,  it  is  able,  on 
account  of  its  constitution,  to  look  up  through  and  beyond 
the  natural  universe  to  the  supernatural  and  recognize 
Him  as  eternal,  omnipotent,  benevolent  Deity.  This  is  the 
power  of  intuition,  in  the  light  of  which  every  truth  in  its 
fundamental  reality  must  be  tried  and  settled. 

Whatever  reason  in  the  exercise  of  its  intuitive  energy 
cannot  know,  is  not  truth  for  man,  in  short  is  no  truth  at  all. 
Mention  a  scheme  of  redemption,  and  rationalism  says  : 
"The  natural  powers  of  man  alone  are  sufficient  for  the 
attainment  of  his  chiefest  good."  Nothing  pertains  to  this 
life  which  can  prevent  the  ultimate  reaching  of  his  moral 
destiny.  Sin  is  a  sheer  circumstance  or  accident,  or  at 
worst  a  misfortune,  which  can  be  easily  remedied  by  a  proper 
culture.  Speak  of  the  Christian  religion,  a  revelation  of  the 
eternal  God  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  New  Testament  as  the 
Scripture  of  this  revelation,  and  rationalism  says:  "This  is 
a  human  book  and  the  religion  of  a  genius."  A  miracle 
of  knowledge  is  impossible.  Inspiration,  which  arises  from 
contact  between  the  divine  and  human,  is  inconceivable. 
There  is  but  one  kind  of  inspiration  and  that  is  the  kind 
which  distinguishes  the  wise  and  great  from  the  common 
herd  of  mankind — the  enthusiasm  of  genius. 

Rationalism  poses  itself  before  the  world  as  the  only  hope 
of  man.  It  points  him  to  a  religion  whose  God  is  the  human 
reason,  whom  he  must  implicitly  trust  and  to  whose  authority 
he  must  reverently  bow;  a  religion  in  which  conscience  is 
kept  far  in  the  background,  and  sin  is  made  to  appear  sim- 
ply as  an  unfavorable  power,  over  which,  by  and  by,  through 
his  own  sufficiency,  man  will  gain  completest  victory;  a  re- 


CHRISTIANITY    VerSUS    FORMALISM.  I47 

ligion  whose  centre  is  the  intellect  and  whose  bulwarks  are 
the  forms  of  logical  thought.  Here  truth  is  tested  like 
precious  metal  in  the  crucible,  and  here  is  given  the  highest 
assurance  that  can  ever  be  found  in  human  experience. 

It  would  be  idle  to  close  our  eyes  against  the  fact  that 
various  forms  of  the  rationalistic  spirit  are  manifesting  them- 
selves in  the  thought  and  life  of  the  present  generation. 
Everywhere  almost,  in  school  and  church,  in  individual  and 
social  belief,  their  presence  is  evident.  Not  abruptly,  sud- 
denly, or  in  extremest  form  does  this  spirit  immediately  ex- 
hibit its  power,  but  quietly,  slowly,  with  plausible  speech,  it 
gains  for  itself  a  place  in  thought  and  belief.  At  length, 
boldly  and  with  radical  demand,  it  insists  that  the  old  paths 
be  forsaken,  and  that  Christianity,  the  religion  of  miracle 
and  grace,  be  given  up.  What  it  has  produced  is  well 
known  :  empty  pews,  deserted  churches,  pulpits  turned  into 
platforms,  where  every  question  under  Heaven  is  discussed, 
except  that  one  about  which  the  human  soul  has  always 
been  most  deeply  concerned,  "How  can  man  be  just  be- 
fore God  ?"  and  a  people  uneasy,  seeking  rest  and  finding 
none,  reckless,  miserable.  These  are  facts  which  attest  the 
products  of  this  Christless  spirit.  What  it  has  produced  in 
a  former  generation  and  in  a  foreign  land,  it  will  repeat  in 
our  day  and  on  this  Western  Continent.  In  fact,  its  work, 
ing  is  already  manifest  and  its  legitimate  fruits  are  appar- 
ent. Men  are  running  to  and  fro,  asking.  What  can  I  be- 
lieve ?  Where  is  the  truth  which  satisfies  ?  The  creeds 
are  insufficient.  We  have  thought  them  through  in  careful 
manner,  but  they  do  not  give  us  what  we  want — peace,  sat- 
isfaction. The  common  people  go  up  to  the  house  of  God 
and  listen  for  a  message  from  Heaven  to  their  weary,  sin- 
burdened  souls — a  message  of  love,  of  sympathy,  of  gracious 
tenderness,  but  the  sermon  is  an  address  to  their  heads  or 
sense  of  the  beautiful,  or  appetite  for  entertainment,  and 
moves  at  wide  distance  from  both  conscience  and  heirt 


148  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

whose  chiefest  aim  seems  to  be  to  make  Church  members 
rather  than  persuade  perishing  sinners  to  become  like  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  and  incite  believers  to  a  more  unreserved 
dedication  of  their  whole  life  to  the  service  of  a  loving  and 
most  lovable  God. 

No  wonder  the  plaintive  cry  comes  up  from  every  side, 
What  ails  thee,  O  Zion  ?  and  men,  in  boisterous  manner, 
talk  about  the  decay  of  the  Church,  the  decline  of  Prot- 
estantism, and  the  failure  of  Christianity.  Reason  is 
usurping  the  throne  of  Christ  and  rejecting  the  witness  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  heart  to  forgiveness  of  sin,  peace  with 
God  and  assurance  of  eternal  life.  And  now  here  are 
sensuous  thought  with  its  widespread  influence  on  the  one 
hand,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  intellectual  powers  of 
man  as  supreme  authority  and  sufficiency,  energizing  them- 
selves to  supplant  the  Gospel  of  an  incarnate  Redeemer, 
rob  the  world  of  a  divine  revelation  and  leave  man  without 
a  heaven-inspired  chart  to  steer  his  bark,  as  best  he  can,  on 
a  storm-tossed  sea  to  the  haven  of  eternal  rest.  What  can 
be  done  to  defeat  these  unfriendly  powers  and  vindicate 
the  Gospel  of  the  crucified  Nazarene  ?  How  shall  the 
truth  in  Christianity  be  verified  for  this  generation  }  By 
argument }  By  the  power  of  logic  .-*  Does  this  give  cer- 
tainty, that  kind  of  certainty  to  which  clings  not  the  slight- 
est doubt,  and  is  the  assurance  of  a  present,  living  reality  ? 
What  is  the  sphere  of  logic  ?  To  settle  the  truth  in  a 
proposition,  or  to  determine  its  form  and  relation  to  other 
propositions  ?  Does  it  deal  in  any  way  with  the  thing  itself, 
or  only  with  the  conception  of  the  thing  ?  Evidently  the 
latter.  True,  it  produces  conviction  of  certainty,  but  this 
is  a  conviction  which  pertains  to  the  forms  of  thought,  and 
is  solely  for  the  intellectual  understanding.  The  faith  it 
generates  is  mere  historical  belief,  which  finds  its  limits 
altogether  within  the  compass  of  formal  thought.  If  inquiry 
be  pushed  beyond  the  forms  themselves  to  their  contents, 


CHRISTIANITY    VCrSUS    FORMALISM.  149 

and  the  demand  be  made  to  verify  the  truth  in  these,  the 
human  understanding  knows  no  other  method  than  that 
which  answers  for  the  certainty  of  the  forms.  When, 
therefore,  the  highest  ground  of  assurance  is  centred  in  the 
logical  understanding,  the  form  of  truth  and  the  truth  itself 
are  confounded  with  each  other,  that  is,  the  truth  is  the 
form,  and  the  form  is  the  truth.  Under  this  conception, 
formal  Christianity  and  the  truth  in  Christianity  are  one 
and  the  same,  and  hence,  certainty  for  the  first  is  certainty 
for  the  second.  But  this  means  that  the  only  faith  necessary 
to  assurance  of  salvation  is  the  belief  of  the  intellect.  In 
this  case  most  stress  will  be  laid  on  logical  propositions, 
and  the  utmost  care  be  given  to  dogmatic  statement.  Great, 
massive  systems  of  Christian  thought  will  be  developrd. 
The  historical  evidences  for  the  truth  of  the  sacred  Scri[)- 
tures  will  be  marshalled  in  exact  order  and  powerful  array, 
and  every  proof  be  furnished  necessary  to  convince  the 
understanding  of  the  natural  man.  But  though  convinced, 
he  is  still  the  natural  man.  His  only  belief  is  that  which  he 
refers  to  the  force  of  logic.  With  his  intellect  he  knows  the 
facts  and  declarations  of  the  Scriptures,  but  he  is  yet  a 
stranger  to  the  saving  power  of  the  Gospel.  But  this  is  the 
very  heart  of  the  Gospel— Christ  Jesus,  who  is  mighty  to 
save.  This  is  the  truth,  the  precious,  joyful  truth,  which 
lies  beyond  the  reach  of  the  natural  understanding,  and  in 
its  reality  never  can  be  known  by  any  sort  of  mental  opera- 
tion. It  must  be  experienced  in  the  heart,  through  the 
witness  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  a  faith  which  not  merely 
accepts  the  formal  Scriptures  as  authentic  and  credible,  but 
far  beyond  this,  appropriates  the  saving  content  of  the 
sacred  Word,  the  living,  personal  Jesus,  who  offers  Himself 
in  this  Word  to  the  lost  soul,  its  life  and  salvation.  The 
certainty  which  transcends  every  form  of  doubt,  and  which 
abides  the  irrepressible  conviction  that  the  Christ  of  the 
Gospel  is  the  all- sufficient  Saviour,  arises  out  of  a  real  con- 


T50  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

tact  of  the  living,  personal  Word  with  the  human  soul.  In 
this  contact  the  heart  knows  Jesus,  the  real,  personal  Jesus, 
and  not  simply  an  impersonal  statement.  The  formal 
Scriptures,  the  record  of  divine  revelation,  point  out  the 
way,  but  Jesus  is  the  way;  they  give  an  account  of  the  truth, 
but  Jesus  is  the  truth;  they  describe  the  life,  but  Jesus,  and 
He  only,  is  the  life.  Contact  with  the  record  is,  hence,  not 
enough.  The  soul  and  Christ  must  verily  come  together,  if 
the  great  and  precious  truth  in  Christianity  would  be  known, 
and  a  clear  assurance  of  peace  with  God  through  the  Holy 
Ghost  would  ever  be  a  fact  of  personal  experience.  But 
this  real  contact  between  Christ  and  the  human  heart  can 
only  be  realized  through  the  faith  which  confidingly  re- 
ceives, appropriates  the  Jesus  who  offers  Himself  to  the 
soul,  its  eternal  portion  and  highest  good. 

In  the  language  of  Luther:  "  God  must  witness  to  me  in 
my  heart,  that  this  is  God's  Word,  else  it  is  not  determined. 
Through  the  Apostles  God  originally  had  that  same  Word 
preached,  and  He  still  has  it  preached.  But  if  even  the 
Archangel  Gabriel  were  to  proclaim  it  from  Heaven,  it  would 
not  help  me.  I  must  have  God's  own  word;  I  will  hear 
what  God  says.  Men,  indeed,  may  preach  the  Word  to  me, 
but  God  alone  can  put  it  in  the  heart,  or  else  nothing  re- 
sults from  it.  This  Word  is  certain,  and  though  all  the 
world  should  speak  against  it,  yet  I  know  that  it  is  not  other- 
wise. Who  decides  me  in  this  ?  Not  man,  but  the  truth 
alone,  which  is  so  certain  that  no  man  can  deny  it."  Also 
with  the  Apostle  Paul  we  say,  *'  I  know  whom  I  have  believed, 
and  am  persuaded  that  He  is  able  to  keep  that  which  I  have 
committed  unto  Him  against  that  day."  It  must,  however, 
be  clearly  noted  that  this  persuasion  of  the  Apostle  differs 
widely  from  that  assurance  which  only  holds  that  the  doc- 
trines of  Holy  Scriptures  are  true.  The  former  is  the 
assurance  of  justification  and  the  adoption  of  the  individual 
witnessed  in  the  heart  by  the  Holy  Ghost.     The  latter  is 


CHRISTIANITY   versUS    FORMALISM.  151 

a  conviction  produced  by  an  inference  of  the  cause  from 
the  effect.  The  procedure  is  on  this  wise  :  Holy  Scripture 
possesses  converting,  saving  power.  "  The  changed  heart 
knows  that  the  effect  of  Scripture  is  good."  Hence  the 
cause  is  divine  ;  in  other  words,  inspiration  of  Scripture  is 
true.  This  kind  of  assurance  plainly  substitutes  the  means 
of  grace,  word  and  sacrament,  for  the  living  God,  and  is 
secure  in  the  possession  of  the  pure  doctrine. 

Here  is  certainty  of  having  a  creed,  but  absence  of  ex- 
perience in  the  inner  life  of  what  the  creed  describes.  Here 
is  possession  of  dogmatic  formulae,  but  ignorance  of  the 
vital  realities  denoted  by  the  formulae.  This  is  the  orthodoxy 
of  two  centuries  ago,  the  orthodoxy  which  staked  everything 
on  the  assurance  of  doctrine  as  the  ultimate  ground  of 
defence,  dared  natural  reason  to  combat,  and  at  last  was 
worsted  in  the  fight.  Scholastic  orthodoxy  was  one-sided. 
It  recognized  chiefly  the  formal  Scriptures,  and  depreciated 
the  testimony  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  heart  to  forgiveness 
of  sin;  and  this  was  its  weakness.  When  confronted  by 
rationalism  with  its  high  claims  for  the  natural  man  and  his 
rejection  of  the  saving  content  of  the  Gospel,  a  crucified 
Jesus,  scholastic  orthodoxy  had  no  stronger  defence  than 
the  assurance  of  logic.  In  the  fierce  struggle  which  ensued, 
this  could  not  avail,  and  utter  defeat  was  the  inevitable  result. 
The  same  was  true  of  pietistic  fanaticism.  It  likewise  was 
partial.  It  neglected  the  formal  Scriptures  as  the  Word 
of  God,  and  hence  had  no  fixed,  invariable  authority  and 
rule  for  Christian  faith  and  practice.  It  found  assurance 
solely  in  an  inner  sentiment,  which  in  itself  is  variable  and 
uncertain.  When  called  upon  by  rationalism  to  answer  for 
the  hope  it  professed,  it  could  only  respond  in  extravagant 
speech  and  wild  exclamation,  and  was  forced  at  last  to  sur- 
render to  the  foe  of  sacred  Scripture  and  inner  experience 
of  salvation.  Justifying  faith,  on  the  contrary,  lays  hold  of 
the  truth  in  the  formal  Scriptures  and  in  the  creed,   and 


152  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

makes  this  its  own  possession.  It  knows  for  itself  imme- 
diately, through  the  witness  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  what  is  the 
Word  and  what  is  not;  it  knows  the  living  power  of  the 
Gospel  to  be,  indeed,  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation,  and 
that  through  the  Christ  whom  it  receives,  it  has  true  peace 
and  clear  assurance  of  eternal  life.  Justifying  faith  has  the 
testimony  to  the  truth  in  Christianity,  in  itself,  with  itself, 
a  present  fact  of  conscious  experience;  and  with  this  most 
certain  of  all  convictions,  personal  assurance,  it  is  able  to 
meet  every  denial  of  miracle,  whether  it  be  miracle  of  knowl- 
edge, or  miracle  of  life.  To  rationalism  it  gives  the  irre- 
pressible answer:  I  know  that  these  Scriptures  are  the  Word 
of  God,  because  He  has  spoken  their  truth  in  my  ear ; 
and  to  naturalism  it  triumphantly  replies:  I  know  that  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  is  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  because  He  has 
revealed  Himself  to  me  as  both  the  wisdom  and  power  of 
God,  in  whom  is  life  and  light,  joy  and  peace. 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE  AS  A  TEXT-BOOK  IN 
THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARIES. 

By  President  Robert  Graham,  College  of  the  Bible, 

Lexington,  Ky. 


IT  may  be  safely  affirmed  that  the  mental  energy  of  our 
day  is  direcledmainly  to  the  investigation  of  biblical 
questions.  Scholarship  is  doing  its  utmost  to  determine 
the  exact  value  of  the  claims  of  the  sacred  writings  upon 
human  thought  and  their  demand  of  devout  and  implicit 
belief,  and  the  deepest  interest  centres  in  those  discussions 
which  vitally  concern  the  foundations  of  Christian  faith  and 
worship.  And  this  is  no  matter  of  wonder.  If,  indeed,  it 
be  true  that  "  all  Scripture  (being)  given  by  inspiration  of 
God  is  profitable  for  teaching,  for  conviction,  for  amend- 
ment of  life,  for  training  in  righteousness  that  the  man  of 
God  may  be  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good 
works,"  the  intellectual  activity  manifested  in  the  various 
departments  of  Biblical  study  finds  a  most  ample  justifica- 
tion. "  Search  the  Scriptures,"  said  Jesus,  "for  in  them  ye 
think  ye  have  eternal  life,  and  these  are  they  which  testify 
of  Me."  Accordingly  when  Paul  preached  Christ  to  the 
Berean  Jews  it  is  said  that  "  These  were  more  noble  than 
those  of  Thessalonica  in  that  they  received  the  word  with  a'l 
readiness  of  mind  and  searchedthe  Scriptures  daily  to  see 
whether. these  things  were  so,  therefore  many  of  them  be- 
lieved." If  such  be  the  legitimate  effect  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment oracles  concerning  the  Messiah  when  candidly  studied, 
how  greatly  shall  this  intelligent  belief  be  invigorated  by 
proper  attention  to  the  testimony  of  the  apostolic  "eye- 
witnesses of  His  majesty  "  ? 


154  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

Nor  is  it  merely  the  interest  of  Christian  faith  that  is  af- 
fected by  the  influence  which  the  Bible  exerts  over  indi- 
viduals and  nations.  The  interests  of  Christian  civilization 
are  equally  involved.  For  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  not  only 
"  profitable  for  teaching  "  and  "  for  conviction,"  but  also 
"  for  amendment  of  life  "  and  "  for  training  in  righteous- 
ness." As  the  sun  both  illumines  the  world  and  warms  it 
into  life,  so  the  divine  light  that  goes  forth  from  the  Word  of 
God  is  attended  by  a  moral  power  that  elevates  and  en- 
nobles the  souls  of  men.  A  practical  demonstration  of 
this  profitableness  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  may  be  found  in 
a  comparison  of  the  moral  condition  of  Christian  lands  with 
that  of  those  on  which  the  light  of  divine  truth  has  never 
dawned.  So  instructive  is  the  result  of  such  comparison 
that  a  distinguished  skeptical  writer,  in  concluding  an  article 
on  the  Christian  religion,  expressed  with  emphasis  the  desire 
that  its  influence  should  not  decrease,  but  constantly  increase 
from  age  to  age,  giving  as  his  reason  that  the  effect  was  the 
moral  uplifting  and  purification  of  human  thought  and  ac- 
tion. Christ  then  is  not  only  **  the  Light  of  the  world,"  but 
the  source  and  sustainer  of  right  livmg,  and  by  consequence 
the  author  of  true  happiness. 

Now  from  these  premises  the  natural  conclusion  would 
be  that  the  Bible  should  be  used  as  a  text-book  not  only  in 
theological  schools,  but  in  all  institutions  of  learning. 
Science  and  philosophy  may  minister  to  the  intellectual  pro- 
gress of  mankind,  but  the  higher  moral  refinement  of  the 
race  is  due  directly  or  indirectly  to  the  influence  of  religious 
truth.  Let  the  importance  then  of  a  thorough  study  of  the 
Bible  be  emphasized  as  paramount.  The  special  reason  for 
its  use  as  a  text-book  in  theological  seminaries  is  found  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  quotation  given  above,  "  that  the  man 
of  God  may  be  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good 
works."  God's  man  or  messenger  or  ministerial  servant  has 
certain  great  ends  to  accomplish  such  as  teaching,  convinc- 


BIBLE  AS  TEXT  BOOK  IN  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARIES.     155 

ing,  correcting  and  training  in  righteousness,  and  for  effect- 
ing these  important  results  he  is  thoroughly  furnished  by  the 
Holy  Scriptures.  In  other  words,  the  abundant  provision 
for  the  accomplishment  of  all  good  works  is  objectively 
presented  in  the  Bible,  and  it  remains  for  "  the  man  of 
God,"  the  proclaimer  and  teacher  of  the  divine  word,  t<» 
become  thoroughly  imbued  in  mind  and  heart  with  its  in- 
exhaustible riches.  Whatever  others  may  do  with  the  Bible, 
if  he  desires  to  fulfil  his  mission  with  fidelity  and  integrity, 
he  cannot  afford  to  make  it  a  mere  book  of  reference  or  sort 
of  religious  armory  to  which  he  may  resort  for  weapons  in 
the  shape  of  proof-texts  to  carry  on  a  theological  warfare. 
His  own  soul  must  burn  under  the  influence  of  its  "  words 
of  life  and  beauty  "  that  he  may  fill  others  with  holy  aspira- 
tions after  a  true  and  righteous  life. 

But  what  is  it  to  use  the  English  Bible  as  a  text-book, 
and  what  has  mainly  been  the  practice  respecting  this  matter 
in  theological  schools  ?  There  is  known  to  the  writer  only 
one  institution  that  really  meets  this  important  demand. 
Lectures  on  the  sacred  writings,  in  whole  or  in  part,  and 
the  presentation  of  views  touching  the  Word  of  God,  how- 
ever excellent  these  might  be  in  themselves,  do  not  consti- 
tute a  real  inculcation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Let  us  illus- 
trate this  point  in  the  first  place  by  the  correct  method  of 
procedure  in  the  department  of  sacred  history.  When  the 
student  is  made  familiar  with  biblical  events,  and  in  the 
light  of  the  Scriptures  discerns  their  relations  and  especially 
their  bearing  upon  the  great  object  of  divine  revelation,  he 
is  using  the  Bible  as  a  text-book  to  which  he  subjects  his 
mind  and  heart  for  infallible  instruction  unmingled  with 
human  speculations.  It  is  far  better  for  example  to  study 
the  character  of  Abraham  as  depicted  in  the  Bible,  to  fix  in 
the  memory  the  events  of  his  interesting  life,  and  to  com- 
prehend their  import  as  interpreted  by  Paul  in  his  Epistle 
to  the  Galatians,  than  to  be  entertained  by  the  discourse 


^S^  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

of  an  eloquent  professor  on  the  manliness  and  moral 
grandeur  of  the  great  patriarch.  To  obtain  an  accurate 
knowledge  of  sacred  history  itself,  and  not  to  receive 
the  views  of  a  learned  lecturer  respecting  biblical  events, 
is  to  make  the  Bible  a  text-book  in  this  department  of 
study. 

And  the  great  importance  of  such  scriptural  knowledge 
is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  God  has  employed  mainly  the 
historical  method  in  revealing  His  will  and  inculcating  the 
divine  lessons  connected  with  the  whole  system  of  human 
redemption.  The  Gospel  itself  consists  of  certain  great  facts 
standing  in  vital  relation  to  the  spiritual  interests  and  happi- 
ness of  mankind.  Even  the  evidence  by  which  the  reality 
of  these  facts  of  transcendent  importance  is  sustained  and 
Christian  faith  established  comes  to  us  in  historic  form.  "  We 
have  not  followed  cunningly  devised  fables,"  says  Peter,  "  in 
making  known  to  you  the  power  and  coming  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  but  were  eye-witnesses  of  His  majesty." 
"  That  which  we  have  heard,"  says  John,  '*  which  we  have 
seen  with  our  eyes,  which  we  have  looked  upon  and  our 
hands  have  handled  of  the  word  of  life  declare  we  unto  you. 
For  the  life  was  manifested  and  we  have  seen  it  and  bear 
witness,  and  show  unto  you  that  eternal  life  which  was  with 
the  Father  and  was  manifested  unto  us."  Accordingly  the 
marvellous  deeds  and  supernatural  events  that  entered  into 
the  Saviour's  wonderful  life  on  earth  constitute  an  essential 
element  of  the  testimony  of  God  concerning  His  Son.  '^  The 
works,"  said  Jesus,  "  that  the  Father  hath  given  Me  to  ac- 
complish, the  very  works  that  I  do,  bear  witness  of  Me  that 
the  Father  hath  sent  Me."  Hence  the  sacred  record  of 
these  events  is  pointed  to  as  the  ground  of  Christian  belief. 
"These  are  written,"  says  John,  "that  you  might  believe 
that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  and  that  believing 
you  might  have  life  through  His  name."  In  the  light  of  all 
llicbc  Scriptures  what  can  be  regarded  of  more  importance 


BIBLE  AS  TEXT- BOOK  IN  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARIES.    157 

than  the  study  of  sacred  history  and  the  use  of  the  English 
Bible  as  a  text-book  to  this  end  ? 

But  it  is  more  in  the  department  of  biblical  exegesis  than 
in  that  of  sacred  history  that  the  theories  of  men  are  apt  to 
be  substituted  for  the  utterances  of  the  Divine  Word  itself. 
All  sound  principles  of  hermeneutics  conspire  to  one  im- 
portant end,  to  allow  the  Holy  Scriptures  to  speak  for  them-  . 
selves.     It  is,  therefore,  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word, 
a  science  whose  laws  cannot  be  safely  neglected  if  we  wish 
to  really  make  the  Bible  a  text-book  in  exegetical  studies, 
and  thus  to  ascertain  what  the  Scriptures  actually  teach. 
A  professor  who  would  simply  offer  to  his  class  his  own  in- 
terpretation of  a  given  passage  or  present  the  views  of  a 
number  of  distinguished  exegetes,  leaving  the  student  to 
choose  the  exposition  which  he  may  regard  the  most  felici- 
tous, is  not  pursuing  a  method  that  will  allow  the  Divine 
Word  to  interpret  itself.     His  course  of  procedure  is  not 
grounded  on  scientific  principles,  and  cannot  lead  to  any 
very   profitable  result.     It  is,  indeed,  the  almost  universal 
practice  for  men  of  great   learning  and  ability  connected 
with  universities  of  world-wide  renown  to  pour  out  their 
scholarly  thoughts  before  the  class  in  their  lectures  on  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  Bible,  requiring  the  student  to  take  notes 
on  what  is  thus  presented,  and  accordingly  prepare  for  re. 
citation.     The  result  of  necessity  is  a  mingling  of  the  wis- 
dom of  men  with  the  teaching  of  inspiration,  with  perhaps 
a  larger  ingredient  of  the  former  than  of  the  latter.     And 
this  is  not  the  only  pernicious  result.     The  mental  discipline 
of  the  student,  the  development  of  his  capacity  to  think  for 
himself  under  the  guidance  of  principles,  is  here  reduced  to 
a  minimum.     A  radical  change  in  the  method  of  procedure 
is  imperatively  demanded  to  secure  a  happier  end,  and  to 
make  the  English  Bible  a  text-book  in  this  most  interesting 
and  vitally  important  department  of  biblical  stuciy. 

And  this  brings  us  in  conclusion  to  the  consideration  of 


158  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

the  true  method  oi  instruction  in  exegetical  investigations. 
First  of  all  the  student  should  become  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted with  the  unalterable  and  self-evident  principles  of 
interpretation  which  cannot  possibly  be  disregarded  in  ex- 
egesis without  falling  into  error  as  to  the  teaching  of  the 
Scriptures.  Then  under  a  severe  application  of  these  laws 
every  passage  submitted  for  interpretation  should  be  exam- 
ined without  reference  to  prepossessions  of  any  kind,  and 
the  result  accepted  without  hesitation.  If,  for  example, 
sufficient  light  is  thrown  upon  a  passage  to  make  its  import 
clear  by  statements  in  the  context  or  in  passages  elsewhere 
bearing  directly  on  the  subject  in  hand,  these  must  not  be 
neglected  in  the  effort  to  determine  the  meaning.  To  do  so 
would  be  far  from  allowing  the  Scriptures  to  interpret  them- 
selves. Without  compliance  with  these  indisputable  laws  of 
hermeneutics  the  correct  exegesis  of  any  passage  is  utterly 
impossible.  Now  the  manifest  duty  of  a  professor  in  this 
department  of  instruction  is  not  to  present  for  acceptance 
some  exposition  of  his  own,  or  the  views  of  distinguished 
expositors,  but  to  require  his  students  to  test  the  merits  of 
whatever  view  may  be  presented  by  a  rigid  application  of 
the  principles  under  the  guidance  of  which  all  exegetical 
procedure  must  of  necessity  be  conducted.  This  would  not 
only  lead  to  satisfactory  conclusions  as  manifestly  correct, 
but  give  opportunity  for  intelligent  discipline,  the  expansion 
of  mental  capacity,  the  development  of  the  powers  of 
thought  on  the  part  of  the  learner.  Hermeneutics  being  in 
reality  a  science,  the  results  of  a  true  and  faithful  applica- 
tion of  its  principles  and  laws  cannot  rest  on  mere  authority 
or  rationally  be  sustained  by  the  weight  of  celebrated  names, 
any  more  than  the  demonstrations  of  mathematics  can  re- 
ceive force  as  a  commendation  to  acceptance  from  the  re- 
nown of  distinguished  mathematicians. 


THE  MINISTER  AND  HIS  BIBLE-* 

By   Prof.  H.   W.   Warrinner,   B.D.,   Congregational 
College  of  Canada,  Montreal. 


I  PRESUME  that  on  such  an  occasion  as  this,  it  would 
be  quite  in  order  for  the  incoming  professor  tc  give  an 
address  on  some  feature  of  his  own  special  work,  even 
though  it  might  be  somewhat  technical  and  abstruse;  but  I 
thought,  in  consideration  of  the  general  character  of  this 
audience — an  audience  composed  not  of  students  and  min- 
isters only,  but  also  of  the  representative  members  of  our 
various  churches — that  it  would  be  better  to  choose  a  theme 
which,  while  it  should  have  special  reference  to  some  phase 
of  ministerial  life  and  work,  would  also  be  of  vital  interest 
to  every  one  who  has  the  welfare  of  the  Church  of  Christ  at 
heart.  I  have  therefore  chosen  for  my  subject,  "  The  Minis- 
ter and  his  Bible,"  and  in  developing  this  theme  I  propose 
to  enquire,  first  of  all,  what  the  Bible  is  to  the  minister; 
secondly,  what  the  college  proposes  to  do  for  the  minister  in 
relation  to  his  Bible  studies,  and,  lastly,  what  the  minister 
must  do  for  himself. 

In  speaking  of  what  the  Bible  is  to  the  minister,  we 
must  remember  that  the  minister  is  himself  a  man  of  like 
passions  as  his  people.  He  is  not  a  being  of  a  higher  or  dif- 
ferent order,  removed,  from  the  common  ills  of  humanity,  the 
frailties  and  weaknesses,  the  temptations,  the  sorrows  and 
disappointments  to  which  flesh  is  heir — far  from  it;  he  is  as 
truly  human  as  any  of  his  flock,  and  just  as  liable  to  go 
astray  as  any  other  Christian.  And  this  fact  is  not  a  thing  to 
be  lamented,  as  if  it  were  derogatory  to  the  very  highest 
success  in  his  work:  on  the  contrary,  it  is  just  this  human 
*  Delivered  at  the  opening  of  the  college,  October  2d,  1890. 


l6o  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

element  that  by  the  grace  of  God  may  make  him  most  suc- 
cessful in  winning  men  from  sin;  even  as  the  high  priest 
of  old  was  taken  from  among  men,  as  one  who  could  bear 
gently  with  the  ignorant  and  erring,  for  that  he  himself  also 
was  compassed  with  infirmity. 

Nevertheless  this  fact,  namely,  that  the  minister  himself 
is  beset  with  infirmities,  necessitates  on  his  part  constant 
watchfulness  against  temptation,  and  persistent  endeavors 
to  build  up  his  soul  in  righteousness.  And  how  shall  he 
do  this  ?  How  shall  he  nourish  his  own  soul  in  goodness, 
keep  his  own  faith  firm  and  true,  his  own  heart  pure  and 
clean  ?  How  shall  he  obtain  inspiration  and  strength  for  his 
own  conflict  with  sin,  if  it  be  not  at  the  very  fountains  to 
which  he  leads  his  people  ?  They  drink  of  the  same  living 
stream,  the  ever-blessed  truth  of  God.  The  Bible  must  be 
to  him  inspiration  and  strength,  just  as  it  is  to  his  people. 
It  must  be  the  bread  of  his  life,  of  which  he  himself  must 
first  partake.  The  minister  can  no  more  live  a  Christian 
life  without  communion  Avith  God  in  prayer,  and  in  the 
meditation  of  His  truth,  than  can  the  weakest,  the  hum- 
blest, the  most  ignorant  disciple  in  all  his  flock. 

What  then  is  the  Bible  to  the  minister  ?  It  is  his  life. 
Here  he  will  find  comfort  in  his  sorrow,  and  companionship 
— divinest  companionship — in  the  hours  of  his  loneliness. 
Here  he  will  gather  weapons  for  his  own  spiritual  warfare; 
sharp,  keen  and  victorious;  here  he  will  find  holiest  inspira- 
tion to  service,  when  perhaps  his  hands  are  weary,  and  his 
heart  grows  faint.  In  a  word,  he  will  meet  his  Lord  and 
Saviour  here,  and  in  His  fellowship  find  light  and  life. 

And  as  a  servant  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  co-operating 
with  his  Master  in  the  world's  salvation,  he  will  find  the 
Bible  to  be  the  great  instrument  in  his  life  work.  If  he 
would  indeed  be  a  successful  follower  of  the  Apostles  of 
Christ,  he  must,  like  them,  be  emphatically  a  "  minister  of 
the  Word."     He  must  sow  in  the  field  of  humanity  the  true 


THE    MINISTER    AND    HIS    BIBLE.  l6l 

seed  of  the  kingdom,  which  is  the  "  Word  of  God."  It  is 
to  this  he  is  called ;  and  the  obligation  is  laid  upon  him,  as 
it  was  upon  Timothy,  to  "  preach  the  Word." 

And  it  is  by  means  of  the  preaching  of  this  Word  that  he 
is  to  be  successful  in  saving  the  world,  "  by  the  foolishness 
of  preaching,"  as  the  Apostle  Paul  says,  that  is,  by  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel,  which  seemed  so  foolish  because  of 
its  apparent  inadequacy  to  accomplish  the  mighty  task  im- 
posed upon  it.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  super- 
cilious Greek  and  proud  Roman  looked  upon  the  attempt 
to  convert  the  world  to  the  faith  of  a  crucified  Jew,  through 
the  preaching  of  a  handful  of  obscure  and,  for  the  most 
part,  uneducated  provincialists,  as  utterly  foolish  and  vain. 
And  yet  such  was  the  sublime  faith,  yea,  the  divine  presci- 
ence of  Jesus,  that  He  sent  His  followers  forth  to  conquer 
the  prejudices  and  passions  of  a  world,  by  simply  preaching 
His  Gospel  to  every  creature. 

There  are  men  to-day,  even  in  Christian  churches,  I  am 
sorry  to  say,  who  seem  to"  have  lost  their  faith  in  the  power 
of  the  simple  Gospel  to  win  the  affections  and  conquer  the 
pride  of  men.  There  is  a  clamor  for  some  new  thing,  some 
new  ritual,  some  startling  sensationalism,  some  eccentricity 
of  belief,  or  mannerism  in  the  pulpit;  anythifig  to  give  a 
little  spice  and  flavor  to  a  Gospel  otherwise  too  insipid  for 
the  palled  and  jaded  taste  of  this  fast  and  full-fed  age. 

Thank  God,  we  are  not  one  of  these;  we  still  believe  that 
the  Gospel,  and  nothing  but  the  Gospel,  is  the  power  of  God 
unto  salvation.  That  if  Jesus  be  only  truly  lifted  up.  He  will 
draw  all  men  unto  Himself.  Depend  upon  it,  he  will  be  the 
most  effective  minister  of  Christ,  who  best  brings  Christ 
into  living  contact  with  men. 

The  preacher  is  not  called  of  God  to  be  a  lecturer  on 
social  or  political  economy.  Others,  it  may  be,  can  do  that 
better  than  he ;  or,  at  any  rate,  he  may  find  some  other 
platform  than  the  pulpit  from  which  to  discourse  on  these 


l62  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

themes.  He  is  not  called  of  God  to  ventilate  his  own 
peculiar  theories  and  speculations  in  the  realm  of  morals 
and  religion.  He  is  called  to  deliver  a  definite  message, 
and  that  with  the  greatest  urgency,  because  the  time  is 
short  and  men  are  dying  fast. 

I  read,  some  time  ago,  an  analysis,  by  an  eminent  leader 
of  Christian  thought,  of  the  preaching  of  one  of  the  greatest 
pulpit-orators  of  this  age ;  a  man  whose  mind  was,  perhaps, 
more  fruitful  in  moral  ideas  than  that  of  any  other  man  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  In  that  analysis,  three  steps  in 
the  development  of  the  preacher's  methods  were  em- 
phasized (I  quote  from  memory,  after  the  lapse  of  two  or 
three  years): 

In  his  earlier  years,  it  was  said,  the  preacher  proclaimed 
the  general  truths  of  Christian  doctrine  and  experience,  as 
they  came  up,  one  by  one,  before  his  mind.  Then  he  pro- 
ceeded to  systematize  these  doctrines  and  experiences,  and 
to  formulate  them  in  logical  order.  Lastly,  laying  aside  all 
systems,  he  became  an  explorer  in  new  and  untrodden  paths. 
The  critic  held  that  the  last  development  of  the  preacher's 
mind  and  method  was  the  most  fruitful  of  all.  And,  perhaps, 
in  some  respects,  the  critic  was  right ;  but,  in  other  re- 
spects, and  these  the  most  important,  the  last  period  was 
the  least  satisfactory. 

Brethren,  I  do  not  conceive  the  office  of  the  preacher  to 
be  that  of  an  explorer.  I  mean,  that  he  is  not  called  of 
God  to  lead  the  way  into  untrodden  realms  of  speculation, 
or  tc  offer  for  men's  salvation  an  untried  remedy.  If  Christ 
had  not  come;  if  He  had  not  spoken  ;  if  He  had  not  given 
a  clear  and  definite  message  to  His  disciples;  then  indeed 
we  might  have  been  compelled  to  grope  in  the  darkness  for 
ourselves.  But  since  God  has  spoken,  it  is  for  the  preacher 
to  hear  the  word  at  God's  mouth,  and  declare  it  to  the 
people.  Since  Christ  has  come,  it  is  for  the  preacher  to  be 
simply  His  herald;  to  go  forth   into  the  world  and  preach 


THE    MINISTER    AND    HIS    BIBLE.  163 

His  Gospel,  a  Gospel  which,  thank  God,  has  been  fully  tried 
by  the  centuries,  and  never  found  wanting  yet.  And  if  he 
does  that,  his  preaching  will  never  lose  its  sweetness  and 
power,  so  long  as  sin  and  misery  and  hunger  and  want  are 
in  the  world. 

Moreover,  it  is  only  as  a  man's  preaching  is  biblical  that  it 
car  possess  the  very  highest  authority.  A  certain  authority 
the  preacher  may  have,  apart  from  this,  in  proportion  as 
meii  have  faith  in  his  sincerity,  his  knowledge  and  common 
sense;  but  if  he  wants  to  clothe  himself  with  the  authority 
of  God,  he  must  utter  God's  truth,  and  not  his  own  surmis- 
ings. 

The  Apostle  Paul  realized  this,  as  he  contemplated  visit- 
ing the  luxurious  city  of  Corinth.  Thinking  it  all  over  in 
his  mind,  he  came  to  the  solemn  conclusion  not  to  know 
anything  among  them  save  Christ  and  Him  crucified.  True, 
he  felt  that  he  was  with  them  in  weakness,  for  he  had 
voluntarily  stripped  himself  of  all  the  advantages  of  schol- 
astic knowledge  and  oratory.  But  the  power  of  God  was 
on  him — aye,  and  it  was  on  his  hearers  too  ;  and  when  they 
believed — as  they  did — their  faith  rested,  not  on  the  per- 
suasion of  his  philosophy  and  rhetoric,  but  on  the  very 
"  wisdom  of  God."  The  young  preacher  is  often  tempted 
to  despise  his  own  youth,  at  least  if  he  be  rightfully  modest  ; 
he  is  tempted  to  shrink  from  standing  before  men  who,  in 
so  many  departments  of  knowledge,  surpass  him  so  very 
far.  But  he  need  not  feai  when  he  declares  simply  and 
truly  the  Word  of  God.  The  greatest  and  the  wisest  among 
men  will  bow  down  to  that  Word,  though  it  be  uttered  by 
the  lips  of  a  child.  It  is,  in  fact,  not  the  preacher  who 
speaks,  but   God  who  speaks  through  him. 

Again,  this  use  of  the  Word  will  furnish  the  preacher  with 
an  endless  variety  of  themes.  I  would  not  have  you  sup- 
pose, from  what  I  have  said,  that  I  conceive  the  office  of  the 
preacher  limited  to  the  simple  declaration  of  the  guilt  and 


164  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

ruin  of  sin,  and  the  offer  of  salvation  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord.  No  !  Those  are  but  the  rudiments  of  that 
Gospel.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  preacher  to  build  up  men 
into  the  fulness  of  the  manhood  of  Christ.  To  inspire  them 
to  holy,  Christ-like  living  in  all  their  relationships — in  the 
home,  in  business,  in  society,  in  the  state.  If  you  want  to 
see  what  Paul  meant  by  preaching  Christ's  Gospel,  read  his 
epistles.  There  was  nothing  of  true  human  interest — nothing 
that  affected  the  welfare  of  man  in  his  whole  composite 
nature,  as  body,  soul  and  spirit — that  he  believed  to  be  be- 
yond the  range  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  In  his  conception, 
it  was  ordained  to  touch  and  redeem  all  life.  So  that  while 
I  say  it  is  not  the  minister's  duty  to  preach  social  econ- 
omy or  politics,  it  is,  nevertheless,  his  duty  to  preach  the 
Gospel  as  it  relates  to  these,  and  to  every  other  department 
of  human  life.  In  a  word,  he  is  to  make  every  man  feel, 
whatever  his  circumstances  may  be,  that  Christ  can  be  a  true 
Saviour  and  friend  to  him  that  religion  has  to  do  with  every 
concern  of  his  life,  and  the  cross  of  Christ  sends  its  healing 
rays  of  infinite  love  into  every  avenue  of  human  experience. 

And  what  ample  material  we  will  find  for  this  in  the 
manifold  fulness  of  the  Bible  !  It  is  a  world  in  itself.  The 
message  of  the  Father,  not  to  one  class  of  men  only,  nor  to 
one  age  alone,  but  to  all  His  children,  of  every  condition,  of 
every  clime  and  every  age. 

The  preacher  who  lives  in  sympathetic  touch  with  his 
fellow-men,  understanding  and  appreciating  their  perplexi- 
ties, their  temptations,  their  struggles  after  goodness,  and 
who  also  knows  something  of  the  inexhaustible  fulness  of 
this  blessed  work,  and  how  to  apply  the  truth  he  finds  here 
— incarnate,  living  and  glorified  in  Jesus  Christ — to  the  souls 
of  men,  will  never  want  freshness  or  power  in  his  preach- 
ing; nor  will  he  lack  appreciation  and  gratitude  on  the  part 
of  his  fellow-men. 

But  we  must  pass  on  to  consider  the  second  part  of  our 


THE    MINISTER    AND    HIS   BIBLE.  165 

theme  :  what  the  college  proposes  to  do  for  the  min- 
ister in  relation  to  his  Bible  studies.  Surely,  if  the  Bible  be 
so  essential  to  a  minister's  life  and  work,  it  may  well  be  ex 
pected  to  occupy  the  central  place  in  every  system  of  educa- 
tion which  professes  to  have  for  its  object  the  training  of 
young  men  for  the  work  of  the  ministry. 

And  yet,  I  dare  say,  many  of  us  have  met  with  the  com- 
plaint that  the  Bible  is  not  sufficiently  taught  in  our  theo- 
logical seminaries  ;  not  ours  in  particular,  but  theological 
seminaries  in  general. 

Now  let  us  look  at  this  complaint,  and  see  what  it  means, 
and  how  far  it  may  be  true,  and,  if  true,  what  can  be  done 
to  remedy  the  evil.  What  do  men  mean  when  they  say 
that  there  is  not  enough  of  the  Bible  taught  in  the  theolog- 
ical college  ?  I  suppose  they  mean  that  the  Bible  itself  as 
a  book,  is  not  sufficiently  studied  ;  that  men  have  lectures, 
discussing  various  theories  about  the  Bible,  but  that  the 
Bible  itself  is  not  brought  into  the  class-room  as  often  as 
it  should  be,  and  men  taught  to  find  out  the  simple  facts 
and  truths  contained  therein,  for  themselves,  and  how  to 
arrange  and  systematize  these  truths  in  fitting  forms  for  the 
practical  work  of  saving  souls.  This,  I  think,  is  the  meaning 
of  the  complaint,  and,  as  you  will  see  later  on,  I  shall  admit 
that  there  is  some  truth  in  it.  But,  first  of  all,  let  us  bear  in 
mind  one  or  two  things,  that  may  help  to  give  us  a  broad 
and  rational  view  of  the  whole  subject. 

What  then,  let  me  ask,  is  the  purpose  of  all  education; 
whether  it  be  given  in  a  public  or  private  school  to  our 
children ;  or  in  the  university  to  our  young  men  who  are 
preparing  themselves  for  the  various  arts  and  professions  of 
life;  or  in  the  theological  seminary,  to  students  who  are  pre- 
paring for  the  special  work  of  the  ministry  ?  What  is  the 
broad,  general  and  fundamental  purpose  of  this  education  ? 
Is  it  to  fill  up  the  mind  with  an  accumulation  of  facts  ;  to 
heap  up  a  vast  and  multifarious  knowledge  of  things  ?      Or 


l66  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

is  it  not  rather  to  educate  the  mind  and  heart ;  that  is,  to 
draw  out  and  exercise  the  spiritual  and  mental  forces  which 
are  in  the  scholars  ;  and,  so  exercising,  make  them  grow  ? 
I  think  we  shall  all  admit  that  this  is  the  true  purpose  of 
education — the  development  of  the  man  himself.  And  if 
this  be  so,  it  follows  that  the  best  educated  man  is  not  the 
one  who  has  stored  in  his  memory  the  greatest  number  of 
facts,  but  the  one  who  has  his  mind  best  trained  to  see,  and 
appreciate,  and  use  the  truth. 

Now  for  the  purpose  of  training  the  mind  to  this  mas- 
terful condition,  a  variety  of  studies  is  necessary  ;  studies, 
some  of  them,  that  at  first  sight  seem  to  have  no  relation  to 
the  special  work  of  the  minister.  For  instance,  what  rela- 
tion does  the  study  of  mathematics  sustain  to  the  preaching 
of  the  Gospel?  It  has  this  relation  that  it  disciplines  the 
mind  tc  concentration  and  continuity  of  thought;  it  enables 
a  man  to  objectify  his  own  thinking  to  himself,  and  see  it 
as  a  thing  tangible  and  positive;  to  build  up  idea  upon  idea, 
in  continuous  succession,  until  he  has  a  perfect  and  har- 
monious whole.  So  it  gives  strength  and  vigor  to  his  intel- 
lect, just  as  the  exercises  of  the  gymnasium  develop  mus- 
cular energy.  What,  it  may  be  asked,  has  the  leaping  and 
vaulting  of  the  gymnasium  to  do  with  the  practical  work  of 
life.  The  student  does  not  expect  to  make  his  living  by 
these  exercises.  No,  certainly  not ;  but  he  will,  by  these 
things,  have  developed  bodily  health  and  muscular  strength, 
that  shall  be  a  permanent  possession,  fitting  him  more  per- 
fectly for  whatever  work  he  may  eventually  undertake, 
whether  it  be  mental  or  manual. 

So  in  every  true  system  of  education  the  chief  purpose  is, 
and  must  always  be,  to  produce  muscularity  of  mind;  strength 
and  vigor  of  intellect  and  heart.  Without  this  you  may 
have  fanatics — men  of  fiery  zeal  who  in  their  narrow  limits 
may  do  either  a  vast  amount  of  good,  or  a  vast  amount  of 
evil,  as  their  inclination  and  prejudices  may  lead  them — 


THE   MINISTER    AND    HIS   BIBLE.  1 67 

but  broad-minded,  safe,  reliable  leaders  of  men  you  cannot 
expect  to  have. 

Let  us,  then,  not  make  the  mistake  of  supposing  that  every 
item  of  education  is  lost,  unless  it  has  to  do  directly  with 
the  interpretation  of  the  Bible.  But  while  I  thus  speak,  I 
will  also  state  most  emphatically  that,  in  every  well-con- 
ducted theological  seminary,  the  Bible  is  made  the  centre 
around  which  all  its  studies  are  arranged.  Every  branch  of 
study  in  the  theological  department  deals  expressly  with 
some  phase  of  Bible  truth. 

What  are  the  studies  usually  included  in  the  curriculum 
of  a  theological  college,''  They  maybe  briefly  summarized 
as  follows  :  The  original  language  of  the  sacred  Scriptures; 
investigations  into  the  development  of  the  canon,  that  is, 
an  endeavor  to  find  how,  and  when,  and  why,  these 
Scriptures  were  accepted  in  the  Church  of  Christ  as  our 
supreme  revelation  of  God,  and  authoritative  for  our  faith 
and  conduct;  studies  in  textual  criticism,  that  is,  an  endeavor 
to  find  out  so  far  as  we  can,  what  is  the  original  and  true 
text  of  the  sacred  Word,  the  exact  words  of  Holy  Writ, 
and  their  true  literary  meaning  ;  studies  in  higher  criticism, 
that  is,  an  examination  of  the  Bible  in  its  true  character,  as 
a  holy  literature  expressive  of  the  life  of  men,  under  the  gov- 
ernmental providence  of  God,  and  as  God  revealed  Himself 
in  that  life,  as  it  developed  through  successive  ages  ;  in 
other  words,  an  examination  of  the  Bible,  as  it  is  illustrated 
by  every  phase  of  the  life  of  the  people,  by  whom,  and  to 
whom,  its  truths  were  first  revealed. 

Then  comes  exegesis,  or  the  more  particular  study  of 
some  selected  portion  of  sacred  Scripture,  in  its  original 
tongue  ;  endeavoring  to  get  at  the  precise  meaning  and  force 
of  the  words  themselves,  as  they  are  found  in  that  particu- 
lar portion. 

When  all  this  has  been  done,  the  basis  has  been  laid  for 
the  study  of  what  is  known  as  biblical  theology  ;  that  is. 


l68  QUESTIONS   or   THE   DAY. 

the  development  of  the  truth,  as  it  grew  in  the  minds  of 
individual  writers,  and  advanced  from  age  to  age.  It  rec- 
ognizes the  fact,  that  God  gave  to  men  line  upon  line,  precept 
upon  precept,  here  a  little  and  there  a  little  ;  that  He  re- 
vealed Himself  as  they  were  able  to  bear  it,  speaking  "  by 
divers  portions,"  as  well  as  "in  divers  manners";  and  it 
endeavors  to  trace  these  growing  lines  upon  lines — to  see 
where  God  gave  here  a  little,  and  there  a  little,  and  how 
He  gave  it ;  to  distinguish  the  divers  portions,  and  the 
divers  manners,  that  it  may  be  able  to  form  a  true  conception 
of  the  whole,  and  to  appreciate  the  fulness  of  that  revelation 
which,  in  these  last  days,  God  hath  given  to  us  by  His  Son. 

Then,  when  this  has  been  done,  a  safe — because  an  intel- 
ligent and  true — foundation  has  been  laid  for  the  study  of 
systematic  theology;  which  is  simply  a  gathering  together, 
and  an  arranging  in  logical  order,  of  the  scattered  and  "  di- 
vers portions  "  of  truth.  It  is  the  gathering  together  of  the 
ripe  fruits  of  all  other  studies;  so  that  they  may  be  held  in 
the  mind  in  their  proper  order  and  proportion,  and  be 
most  available  for  practical  use.  Then,  when  the  Bible  has 
been  thus  studied  in  itself,  it  remains  to  be  studied  in  its 
various  applications  to  human  life. 

Historic  theology  is  the  study  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
Bible  as  they  have  been  understood  and  dogmatically  ex- 
pressed in  the  Church  throughout  the  centuries.  Church 
history  is  the  study  of  those  same  doctrines  as  they  have 
become  incarnate,  more  or  less  perfectly,  in  the  organic 
life  of  the  Church.  Apologetics  is  the  study  of  the  Bible  in 
relation  to  the  objections  of  its  opponents.  Sacred  rhetoric 
and  homiletics  treat  of  the  Bible  as  the  inspiration  and 
substance  of  the  preacher's  sermons;  while  pastoral  theology 
is  designed  to  teach  him  how  to  apply  the  principles  of  the 
Bible  to  the  spiritual  necessities  of  men,  as  these  are  met 
with  by  him  in  his  daily  intercourse  with  them,  as  their 
spiritual  leader  and  guide. 


tHE    MINISTER    AND    HIS    BIBLE.  169 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  we  are  able,  with  our  present 
staff,  to  cover  all  this  ground;  but  we  do  as  much  of  it  as  is 
possible  in  the  circumstances;  and  we  do  it  as  well  as  we 
can.  Some  day  we  hope,  through  the  generosity  of  the 
friends  of  the  college,  to  do  all  this  and  more.  At  present 
"  we  cover,  or  shall  from  this  time  onward,  most  of  this 
ground.  But  I  have  described  these  studies  especially 
to  show  how,  in  our  theological  department,  the  Bible  is 
really  the  centre  of  all  our  operations;  and  no  branch  of 
study  is  placed  in  the  curriculum  unless  it  is  felt  to  be 
necessary  to  an  intelligent,  and  full,  and  practical  knowledge 
of  the  Word  of  God.  So  that  when  men  say  that  the  Bible 
itself  is  not  sufficiently  studied  in  our  theological  colleges, 
you  will  see  that  in  these  important  particulars  the  charge  is 
not  true. 

And  yet,  as  I  said  before,  I  must  admit  that  the  charge 
is  in  some  sense  true.  The  fact  is,  that  the  colleges  have 
acted  on  the  assumption  that  the  men  who  present  them- 
selves to  be  educated  for  the  work  of  the  ministry  do  not 
need  to  be  informed  as  to  the  simple  facts  of  the  Bible,  but 
know  these  already,  having  learned  them  by  previous  per- 
sonal study  and  practical  Christian  work.  It  was  thought 
that  no  man  would  come  to  college  who  was  not  already  a 
devout  and  successful  student  of  the  Bible,  and  knew  how 
to  study  it.  So  the  time— the  all-too-limited  time — at  the 
disposal  of  the  theological  professor  has  been  given  to  those 
studies  in  which  it  was  thought  men  were  most  deficient, 
and  in  which  they  most  needed  that  kind  of  help  which 
the  professor  could  best  give.  But  teachers  in  theological 
seminaries  are  beginning  to  find  that  they  have  been  acting 
on  assumptions  not  altogether  correct.  The  men  that  come 
up  are  not,  save  in  exceptional  circumstances,  so  well 
grounded  in  scripture  truth  as  they  thought;  nor  do  they 
manifest  such  aptitude  for  the  study  of  the  Bible  as  has  been 
supposed. 


1^6  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAV. 

And  so  something  more  of  this  neglected  work  must  find 
a  place  in  the  college.  I  think  the  colleges  have  presumed 
too  much,  and  more  than  they  have  had  any  right  to  do  in 
the  circumstances.  A  man  may  have  the  natural  ability  in 
every  respect,  and  the  grace  of  God  in  his  heart,  to  make  a 
successful  minister,  and  yet  he  may  not  have  had  time  or 
opportunity  to  inform  his  mind  with  Bible  facts,  or  train 
himself  in  the  wisest  methods  of  Bible  study.  Indeed,  it  is 
perhaps  not  too  much  to  say  that  it  is  possible  for  a  man 
to  be  in  the  ministry  all  his  life,  and  yet  not  know  how 
to  study  his  Bible  in  a  rational  way. 

Now,  I  think  that  there  is  a  great  and  fruitful  field  for 
work;  and  I  am  glad  that  it  falls  to  my  lot  to  cultivate  this 
field.  Not  because  I  feel  myself  fit  for  the  task,  but  simply 
because  I  love  it.  To  me  there  is  no  joy  comparable  to  the 
joy  of  finding  out  how  to  get  near  to  the  very  heart  of  the 
Bible.  As  I  tell  the  students,  I  am  only  a  student  myself, 
and  can  only  give  to  them  what  I  find.  But  as  it  is,  this 
keeps  me  happily  busy. 

This  has  been,  in  some  measure,  my  work  during  the  past 
four  years,  as  I  have  come  up  to  Montreal  to  give  special 
courses  of  lectures  on  biblical  literature.  We  have  brought 
our  Bibles  into  the  classes,  and  studied  them,  not  simply 
in  the  light  of  the  original  text,  but  also,  and  chiefly,  as 
they  stand  before  us  in  the  English  version.  We  have 
sought  to  find  out  what  the  Book  has  to  say  for  itself,  and 
have  felt  that  we  have  been  well  repaid  for  our  labors. 

This  work  will  now  be  enlarged,  as  my  labors  will  cover 
the  courses  on  the  canon  and  criticism  (both  lower  and 
higher),  the  examination  of  the  text,  and  of  the  Bible  as 
the  literature  of  a  life;  the  life  of  God  in  men,  as  that  grew 
throughout  successive  ages. 

We  have  also  been  able,  under  the  new  arrangement,  for 
the  first  time,  to  classify  our  students  according  to  their 
collegiate  years;   so  that  the  studies  being  also  graduated 


THE    MINISTER    AND    HIS    BIBLE.  iji 

in  logical  order,  the  men  will  advance  intelligently  from  year 
to  year.  This  means  more  lectures  for  the  professors,  and 
less  for  the  individual  student;  but  it  also  means  much  more 
successful  and  happy  work  than  the  old  system,  which  gath- 
ered men  o"  all  grades  into  the  self-same  class. 

I  think  that  this  will  give  you  some  idea  of  what  the  col- 
lege proposes  to  do  for  the  minister  in  relation  to  his  Bible 
studies. 

And  now,  lastly,  in  order  to  do  justice  to  my  subject,  and 
to  the  students  who  are  present  with  us  to-night,  I  must  say 
a  few  words  on  what  the  minister  must  do  for  himself. 

The  college  does  not  propose  to  make  preachers;  only  to 
help  men  to  do  the  very  best  possible  with  the  talents  God 
has  given  them.  It  does  not  obviate  the  necessity  for  per- 
sonal effort — far  from  it.  In  fact,  no  truth  is  really  known 
until  it  is  apprehended  as  a  personal  experience.  You  can- 
not ladle  out  knowledge  with  a  spoon.  A  man  must  work 
and  wrestle  and  pray  for  himself.  Aye,  and  he  must  live 
the  truth,  if  he  is  really  to  know  it.  In  the  deepest  sense, 
the  student  makes  his  own  theology  as  he  lives  it. 

What,  then,  must  the  minister  do  for  himself  ?  He  must 
study  the  Bible  for  his  own  personal  good.  It  is  possible  for 
the  minister  truly  to  care  for  the  souls  of  others,  and  yet  be 
guilty  of  neglecting  his  own;  to  be  so  busy  in  a  multitude  of 
Christian  works  as  to  overlook  and  underestimate  the  vital 
necessity  of  that  quiet,  calm  and  prayerful  study  of  God's 
Word  by  which  alone  he  can  retain  the  freshness,  and  vigor, 
and  beauty  of  his  own  heart's  love  for  God.  Yea,  it  is  not 
simply  possible,  it  is  indeed  one  of  the  great  temptations  of 
the  ministry  to  drift  into  a  life  of  external  activities,  which 
may  become  at  last  a  mechanical  and  formal  routine  of 
officialism  without  heart  or  grace. 

My  brethren — students  for  the  ministry — let  me  urge  you 
never  to  neglect  to  study  the  Bible;  first,  for  your  own  good. 
Not  to  come  to  it  simply  to  find  material  for  sermons,  but 


172  QUESTIONS   OF    THE    DAY. 

first,  and  chiefly,  to  find  food  for  your  own  soul's  life.  Re- 
member that  character  is  more  effective  than  eloquence. 
Pulpit  brilliancy  may  attract  and  dazzle  for  awhile,  but  it  is 
only  the  white  light  of  a  pure  life  that  can  be  permanently 
attractive. 

Barrenness  of  piety  on  the  part  of  the  minister  will  soon 
produce  barrenness  among  the  people;  but  if,  on  the  other 
hand,  you  give  all  diligence,  "  in  your  faith,  to  supply  virtue, 
and  in  your  virtue  knowledge,  and  in  your  knowledge  tem- 
perance, and  in  your  temperance  patience,  and  in  your 
patience  godliness,  and  in  your  godliness  love  of  the  breth- 
ren, and  in  your  love  of  the  brethren  love.  If  these  things 
are  yours  and  abound,  they  make  you  to  be  not  idle,  nor 
unfruitful  unto  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

If  you  want  your  people  to  grow  in  goodness,  you  must 
grow  yourselves.  It  is  the  growing  minister  whose  sermons 
are  always  fresh  and  inspiring.  His  preaching  can  never 
become  stale  or  profitless,  who  is  always  gathering  to  him- 
self fresh  accessions  of  spiritual  strength,  and  seeing  now 
beauties  in  the  face  of  Christ.  And  few  things  can  give  a 
man  such  a  hold  of  the  affections  and  confidence  of  his 
people  as  the  knowledge,  on  their  part,  that  he  himself 
profits  by  the  truths  that  he  proclaims. 

Let  your  sermons  then  be  the  expression  of  your  own 
life,  as  that  life  is  nourished  by  the  Word  of  God.  Let  the 
truth  become  incarnate  in  you,  and  it  shall  live  in  your 
hearers.  The  truth  is  never  so  persuasively  eloquent  as 
when  it  becomes  articulate  in  a  Christ-like  life. 

Again,  study  it  patiently.  Do  not  think  to  apprehend  a 
revelation  of  ages  in  a  year  or  two;  but  be  glad,  rather,  that 
the  Bible  is  so  vast,  so  varied,  so  wonderful,  so  world-wide, 
that  it  takes  you  time  to  go  over  it  and  learn  what  is  in  it. 
No  education  can  be  acquired  by  cramming  Time  is 
needed  for  mind  and  heart  to  develop  and  quicken  into  re- 
ceptivity and   power.     Experience   is   needed   to  test  and 


THE    MINISTER    AND    HIS    BIBLE.  1 73 

prove  the  truth,  and  make  it  real.  Not  even  God  can  teach 
you  faster  than  you  can  learn,  nor  can  you  learn  faster  than 
you  are  able  to  assimilate  the  truth  to  your  own  life.  You 
need  life,  years  of  practical  Christian  service,  of  patient, 
holy  endeavor;  and  you  will  find,  as  your  own  life  broadens 
and  deepens,  as  your  experience  of  the  actual  condition 
of  humanity  widens,  that  you  will  understand  the  Bible 
more  and  more,  and  see  in  it,  ever  increasingly,  evidences  of 
the  manifold  wisdom  of  God.  Be  patient,  therefore;  and, 
while  learning  with  eagerness  as  fast  as  you  can,  be  will- 
ing also  to  wait  for  the  slower  processes  of  life.  You  have 
all  time  and  all  eternity  before  you;  and  through  it  all  your 
Heavenly  Father  will  have  some  new  revelation  of  His  infi- 
nite wisdom,  and  grace,  and  power  to  show  to  your  glad  and 
wondering  eyes. 

And,  lastly,  study  it  fearlessly.  Don't  be  afraid  of  the 
truth;  no  matter  in  what  unfamiliar  guise  she  may  appear 
before  you.  The  truth  is  God's  always,  however  she  may 
come.  The  truth  is  the  bread  of  your  life  always.  Do  not 
for  your  own  soul's  sake  turn  away  your  face  Trom  her. 

You  have  not  come  to  college  to  be  established  in  the 
dogmas  of  any  creed — the  traditionary  teachings  of  any 
"father."  No,  thank  God  !  You  have  come  to  a  college 
which  puts  the  Bible  in  your  hand,  and  as  you  are  Christian 
men,  dares  to  trust  you  with  it,  and  the  ever-living  Spirit  of 
God. 

You  are  not  here  to  accept,  without  question,  what  your 
professors  teach  you.  We  are  not  here  to  deal  out  to  you 
our  opinions  of  God's  Word,  and  have  you  accept  our  dicta 
just  because  they  are  ours.  No,  thank  God  !  That  re- 
sponsibility is  not  ours.  We  are  here  simply  to  lead  you 
into  the  presence  of  the  Master,  and  help  you,  it  may  be,  to 
catch  the  sound  of  His  voice,  as  you  sit  at  His  feet,  and 
look  up  into  His  face;  and  God  forbid  that  we  should  ever 
come  between  your  soul  and  Jesus  ! 


174  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY, 

Oh,  brethren,  this  is  your  privilege  to  come,  each  one  of 
you  for  himself,  to  the  Great  Teacher.  Avail  yourselves  of 
it.  Come  in  meekness,  come  in  faith,  come  in  love,  come 
with  holy  boldness,  and  believe  that  Christ  will  lead  you 
truly.  Take  His  Word  and  trust  it,  whether  you  under- 
stand it  or  not;  live  on  it,  give  it  to  others,  and  all  your  life 
shall  unceasingly  prove  that  this  Word  is  the  power  of  God, 
and  the  wisdom  of  God. 

I  congratulate  you  on  your  high  and  holy  calling.  I  an- 
ticipate, with  you,  a  most  happy  winter,  full  of  helpful, 
holy  studies.  Oh,  be  worthy  of  your  high  vocation,  and 
your  blessed  Master !  Let  your  whole  life  be  His  entirely  ! 
Every  power  and  faculty  of  body,  soul  and  spirit  train  and 
develop  to  the  utmost  for  His  sake  !  Bring  to  Him  who 
gave  His  life  for  you,  no  lame  offering,  no  halting  service,  no 
poor  half-educated  life;  but  gather  up  all  the  strength  of 
your  manhood,  refined,  ])olished,  fully  matured,  and  lay  it 
all,  a  willing  and  glad  offering,  at  our  Saviour's  feet. 


THE  TEACHER  REPRODUCED  IN  THE 

PUPIL. 

By  Principal   D.   H.   MacVicar,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Presby- 
terian College,  Montreal. 


I  SOLICIT    consideration  of  this  : 
I.  As  a  fact.      What    you  are   yourself,  your   pupil 
gradually  becomes — very  serious  matter  both  to  you  and  to 
him.     All   the   relations   of    life   are  infinitely  serious  and 
pregnant  with  momentous  issues. 

We  mingle  in  social  intercourse,  and  life  and  death  are 
the  outcome  of  our  doing  so,  for  God  says,  "  Evil  com- 
munications corrupt  good  manners."  We  see  this  terribly 
verified  when  unsuspecting  young  persons  are  drawn  into 
haunts  where  the  wicked  are  supreme.  It  is  equally  true, 
and  blessed  be  God  for  the  law  of  His  kingdom  which 
makes  it  a  truth,  that  strong  intellectual  and  spiritual 
natures  impress  themselves  upon  others.  If  vice  is  conta- 
gious, virtue  is  undoubtedly  so.  If  man  is  naturally  quali- 
fied and  disposed  to  disseminate  evil,  he  can,  by  grace, 
attain  and  wield  the  power  to  propagate  good.  He  can 
sow  to  the  Spirit  as  well  as  to  the  flesh.  If,  for  example,  as 
a  godly  and  devoted  teacher,  you  are  successful  in  your 
work,  the  very  lineaments  of  your  soul  are  being  stamped 
more  or  less  accurately  upon  your  pupil.  He  is  the  index 
or  exponent  of  your  thinking,  of  your  spiritual  activity  and 
intensity. 

The  medium  upon  which  you  thus  work  may  be  dull  and 
comparatively  unimpressible,  or  it  may  be  highly  sensitive 
and  receptive,  and  hence,  without  any  special  fault  or  merit 
on  your  part,  your  image  may  reappear  obscurely  or  vividly 


1^6  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

— all  imperfect  and  blurred,  or  accurate  and  clearly  defined. 
But  reappear  it  must  in  some  form.  You  are  to  have  im- 
mortality in  your  pupils.  They  will  speak  of  you  when  you 
are  gone,  and  speak  and  act  under  the  controlling  power  of 
your  teaching  without  being  conscious  of  it,  or  being  able 
to  distinguish  it  from  what  they  will  claim  to  be  the  product 
of  their  own  minds.  They  will  be  the  mirrors,  the  reporters 
of  your  failure  or  success  ;  and  well  will  it  be  with  you  if 
able  to  say  in  apostolic  words,  "  Ye  are  our  epistle  written 
in  our  hearts,  known  and  read  of  all  men,  being  made  man- 
ifest that  ye  are  an  epistle  of  Christ,  ministered  by  us, 
written  not  with  ink,  but  with  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God." 

This  fact  of  the  reproduction  of  the  teacher  in  the  pupil 
is  exemplified  in  the  formation  and  history  of  great  schools 
of  art,  poetry,  theology  and  philosophy. 

The  critical,  and  almost  the  untrained  eye,  can  easily  dis- 
tinguish Italian  art  from  that  which  is  French,  German,  or 
English.  Each  of  these  nations  has  had  its  great  masters, 
and  these  have  reappeared  a  thousand  times  in  their  ad- 
miring pupils. 

So  in  poetry,  while  commonly  counted  a  divine  gift,  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  the  vast  majority  of  the  votaries  of 
the  muses  sing  as  they  are  taught  by  loftier  spirits. 

Theologians  follow  their  leaders.  Great  masters  in  Israel 
like  Augustine,  Calvin,  Arminius  and  Luther  leave  their  im- 
press upon  generations  of  feebler  thinkers. 

Philosophers  are  no  exception  to  this  rule.  They  may 
theoretically  assert  absolute  independence  of  thought  ;  and 
each  one  who  appears  in  an  essay  or  voluminous  treatise 
may  promise  to  show  the  world  truth  never  before  disclosed; 
yet,  when  closely  searched,  what  they  are  least  remarkable 
for  is  originality.  Their  utterances  are  echoes  of  the  near 
or  distant   past.     Take  but  one  example. 

God  sent  Socrates  into  the  world  endowed  with  amazing 
power  of  thought ;  and  while  he  founded  no  college  and 


THE    TEACHER    REPRODUCED   IN    THE   PUPIL.  I?? 

presided  over  no  great  university,  yet,  as  a  teacher,  he  so  re- 
produced himself  in  his  pupils  that  after  the  lapse  of  more 
than  two  thousand  three  hundred  years  they  have  not 
ceased  to  speak  of  the  Socratic  philosophy.  And  so  in 
numerous  other  well-known  instances.  Plato,  Hegel,  Kant, 
Hume  and  Hamilton  might  be  mentioned.  But  high  above 
all  teachers  stands  the  One  who  spake  as  never  man  spake 
— the  perfect  One — who  is  the  pattern  and  guide  of  all  true 
Sunday-school  workers.  They  cannot  improve  upon  His 
methods.  Their  business  and  wisdom  is  to  understand  and 
follow  them.  Having  in  Himself  the  fulness  of  the  God- 
head, and  having  come  to  teach  our  whole  race.  He  is  repre- 
sented in  and  by  His  pupils  in  all  ages  and  countries  of  the 
world,  and  will  be  seen  in  them  to  the  end,  and  through- 
out eternity,  for  the  ecclesia,  the  assembly,  the  Church  or 
company  of  those  whom  He  shall  at  last  have  effectually 
taught,  are  to  continue  for  ever  to  be  His  very  body — "the 
fulness  of  Him  who  filleth  all  in  all." 

The  fact  that  the  teacher  reappears  in  his  pupil  is  very 
generally  acknowledged,  and  is  made  much  of  in  educa- 
tional circles.  On  this  principle  parents  select  the  institu- 
tions in  which  they  place  their  children  tor  training  and 
culture,  and  it  is  usual  to  speak  of  a  person  as  well  educated 
because  he  bears  the  imprimatur  of  a  certain  school. 
Witness  the  importance  which  a  young  man  attaches  to 
the  fact  of  his  being  a  graduate  of  Oxford,  Cambridge, 
Edinburgh,  Harvard  or  Yale.  And  he  is  supported  in  his 
belief  by  a  wide-spread  public  opinion.  He  regards  himself 
as  the  embodiment  of  the  spirit  and  the  learning  of  his 
Ahna  Mater,  and  he  is  so  far  right,  making  all  due  allow- 
ance for  the  very  common  danger  of  exaggeration  as 
to  the  extent  to  which  this  embodiment  has  taken  place.  It 
may  be  conceded,  with  necessary  limitations,  that  the 
strength  and  the  weakness  of  a  teaching  staff  can  be  more 
or  less  distinctly  discerned  in  the  conduct  and  character 


lyS  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

of  those  who  pass  through  their  hands.  "  By  their  fruits  ye 
shall  know  them."  Hence  the  state  of  the  classes  is  the 
best  practical  test  of  the  efficiency  of  Sunday-school  teachers. 
There  are,  of  course,  exceptions  to  this  rule  for  which  full 
allowance  must  be  made.  The  power  of  the  very  best 
teacher  to  stamp  himself  upon  his  pupils  may  be  largely 
neutralized  by  noisy  surroundings  and  lack  of  isolation 
where  he  is  called  to  do  his  work.  Then  there  are  wayward 
persons,  old  and  young,  of  limited  capacity  and  abundant 
dulness  and  stubbornness.  Persons  whose  natures  are  not 
plastic,  but  hard  and  rigid  and  incapable,  especially  because 
of  overweening  conceit,  of  being  moulded  to  any  consider- 
able extent.  But  this  is  not  commonly  the  case  in  child- 
hood, at  the  time  we  have  to  deal  with  pupils ;  it  is  rather 
true  in  manhood.  Then,  indeed,  it  must  be  acknowledged 
that,  in  some  instances,  the  very  best  teacher  may  fail  to  re- 
produce himself  in  his  pupil.  For  example.  Judas  Iscariot 
entered  the  training  class  of  Jesus  Christ  as  a  thief,  and, 
although  he  listened  to  all  the  lessons  of  his  Master  against 
serving  Mammon  and  as  to  the  sin  and  danger  of  inor- 
dinate desire  for  riches,  he  closed  his  three  years*  course 
in  the  best  college  ever  instituted,  without  being  cured  of 
his  overmastering  vice.  The  Teacher  and  the  lessons  were 
not  at  fault.  They  were  most  impressive  and  successful  in 
the  case  of  eleven  out  of  twelve  students,  so  much  so  that 
when  Annas,  the  high  priest,  and  his  distinguished  associates 
saw  the  boldness  of  Peter  and  John,  as  they  stood  before 
them,  and  "  perceived  that  they  were  ignorant  and  unlearned 
men  " — according  to  their  standard  of  learning — "  they  mar- 
velled; and  they  took  knowledge  of  them  that  they  had  been 
with  Jesus."  The  clearness,  courage  and  convincing  power 
with  which  they  uttered  their  views  and  the  spirit  which 
governed  them  brought  forcibly  to  the  mind  of  the  council 
the  great  Master  by  whom  they  were  taught.  They  saw 
in  Peter  and  John  a  reproduction,  a  fac-simile,  shall  I  say, 


The  teacher  reproduced  in  the  pupil.        179 

however  imperfect,  of  that  unequalled  Teacher  sent  from 
God,  as  all  teachers  should  be,  who  was  constantly  followed 
by  multitudes. 

Let  this  much  suffice  in  illustration  of  the  fact  that  the 
teacher,  whether  strong  or  weak,  is  more  or  less  reproduced 
in  the  pupil. 

II.  The  ration::le  of  this  fact.  The  question  now  is,  by 
what  principles  or  laws  does  it  happen  that  the  teacher  re- 
appears in  the  pupil  ?  We  answer,  (i)  the  dominant  thought 
or  passion  in  the  instructor  lays  hold  upon  and  pervades 
his  class.  They  are  all  affected  in  degree  as  he  is  himself. 
This  is  specially  the  case  in  teaching  spiritual  lessons.  The 
sincerity  and  intensity  of  conviction  with  which  the  truth  is 
held  by  the  teacher  is  in  some  measure  communicated  to 
the  pupils.  Just  as  when  one  string  upon  a  harp  or  vio- 
lin is  made  to  vibrate  forcibly  all  the  rest  are  moved  in 
sympathy  with  it.  Thus  it  is  that  a  hearty  burst  of  laughter 
carries  a  whole  household  into  a  similar  state  of  mirth. 
A  sudden  rush  of  anger  from  one  heart  quickly  spreads 
among  hundreds.  A  piercing  wail  of  sorrow  issuing  from  a 
desolate  broken  heart  often  moves  to  tears  those  it  reaches. 
When  the  Perfect  Man  stood  by  the  grave  of  Lazarus  and 
saw  the  two  sisters  of  the  deceased  sobbing  with  grief,  "  Jesus 
wept."  This  is  not  an  incidental  occurrence,  but  is  an 
illustration  of  the  law  of  our  common  humanity. 

The  call  to  strike  and  to  resist  oppression  uttered  by  the 
leader  in  tones  of  determined  courage  has  inspired  a  whole 
army  with  the  spirit  of  victory.  Thus  all  experience  is 
more   or  less  what  is   originated   and  propagated   by  one. 

This  same  law,  be  it  remembered,  is  true  in  relation  to 
our  intellectual  activity  as  well  as  our  emotional  nature. 
And,  as  already  hinted,  the  depth  and  permanence  of  the 
experiences  we  cause  others  to  have  are  determined  by  the 
vividness  and  intensity  of  our  own  mental  activity.  What  I 
mean  is  this:  when  in  teaching  you  are  so  controlled  and 


l80  QUESTIONS   OF    THE    DAY. 

absorbed  by  one  overmastering  thought  that  all  others  are 
necessarily  excluded,  and  the  entire  force  of  your  spiritual 
nature  is  so  concentrated  upon  it  that  you  can  truly  say 
"this  one  thing  I  do,"  that  thought  is  sure  to  become  the 
mental  property  of  your  pupil,  to  enter  into  his  very  being. 

This  law  acts  to  a  great  extent  irrespective  of  the  subject- 
matter  of  what  is  being  taught.  It  may  be  geography  or 
geometry,  history  or  the  eternal  verities  of  Christianity.  If 
the  soul  of  the  teacher  is  burning  with  intense  concentrated 
enthusiasm  over  the  matter  in  hand,  whatever  it  may  be, 
he  will  lay  the  truth  thus  apprehended  upon  the  mind  of 
his  pupil  with  such  transforming  power  as  to  throw  him, 
for  the  time  being,  into  a  precisely  similar  condition  to  his 
own.  When  this  is  the  case,  success  is  achieved — the  work 
of  teaching  is  really  done.  But  failing  to  be  thus  borne 
along  by  a  strongly  dominant  purpose  or  thought,  which 
should  always  be  the  central  or  ruling  thought  of  the  lesson 
in  the  case  of  the  Sunday-school  teacher,  his  work  is  largely 
lost,  and  he  but  feebly  and  obscurely  reappears  in  his  pupil. 
Deservedly  so,  too,  because  he  is  lacking  in  one  of  the 
prime  elements  essential  to  success. 

(2)  Our  passive  states  of  mind  grow  weak  by  rep- 
etition. It  is  necessary  to  explain  and  illustrate  this  law 
and  to  show  how  it  acts  in  relation  to  the  work  of  the 
teacher. 

Passive  states  are  those  induced  by  impressions  made  upon 
us  through  our  bodily  senses  and  without  any  effort  of  will 
on  our  part.  The  more  frequently  they  are  experienced 
without  any  active  exertion  of  our  will-power  the  feebler 
they  become.  For  example,  we  witness  a  spectacle  of  deep 
distress  and  the  impression  made  upon  us  the  first  time  is 
strong  and  vivid  ;  but  we  do  nothing,  exercise  no  volition 
to  relieve  the  distress.  Let  this  be  repeated  a  sufficient 
number  of  times  and  the  impression  becomes  so  feeble  as 
to   be   almost  imperceptible.      Our  sensibilities  are  being 


THE    TEACHER    REPRODUCED    IN    THE    PUPIL,  161 

slowly  but  surely  deadened,  or  we  are  being  hardened  by 
the  sight  of  distress. 

Take  as  another  illustration  the  case  of  the  medical 
student  who  enters  the  dissecting-room  for  the  first  time. 
The  impression  made  upon  him  by  what  he  sees  is  deep 
and  startling.  He  is  shocked;  but  let  him  continue  his 
visits,  and  pursue  his  work  in  that  same  place  of  ghastly 
sights  for  several  years,  and  the  impressions  made  upon 
him  become  so  enfeebled  by  repetition  that  he  scarcely  re- 
gards his  surroundings  as  in  any  sense  abnormal.  You  see 
the  working  of  this  law.  Look  then  at  another  correlated 
law. 

(3)  Our  active  mental  states  are  strengthened  by  repe- 
tition. Active  states  are  those  into  which  we  pass  by  voli- 
tion, by  the  exercise  of  our  innate  will-power.  Look  again 
at  a  case  of  unmistakable  distress.  By  a  deliberate  act  of 
will  you  overcome  a  feeling  of  disinclination  to  deal  with 
it,  and  you  put  yourself  about  to  afford  relief.  That  is  to 
say,  by  an  act  of  resolute  choice,  you  turn  to  proper 
account  the  passive  state  into  which  you  have  been  thrown 
by  the  sight  of  misery.  You  do  so  again  and  again,  ten, 
fifteen,  twenty  times.  What  is  affirmed  is,  that  these  repe- 
titions give  greater  strength,  a  larger  measure  of  ability  to 
grant  relief.  Such  actions  become  easy  and  natural,  be- 
cause a  habit  of  virtue  is  gradually  formed  in  the  direc- 
tion of  benevolence,  and  thus  you  escape  the  serious  danger 
of  personal  deterioration  by  having  your  feelings  weakened 
and  destroyed  through  frequent  appeals  to  them  without 
corresponding  action  on  your  part.  It  is  under  the  action 
of  these  laws  that  the  readers  of  sensational  novels  and  our 
theatre-going  population  inflict  irreparable  mischief  upon 
themselves.  Their  emotional  nature  is  stimulated  to  the  last 
degree  by  exaggerated  representations  of  imaginary  woes 
over  which  they  weep  in  their  boxes  and  on  their  luxuri- 
ous couches  while   they   do   nothing   to   relieve   suffering 


l82  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

humanity  at  their  doors.  Practical  action  is  wholly  lacking 
with  them.  Their  feelings  are  being  worn  out,  so  that  a 
stronger  and  still  stronger  stimulus  is  required  to  reach 
them,  while  no  manly  or  womanly  vigor  is  being  gained  by 
the  cultivation  of  active  habits  of  virtue. 

But  what  has  all  this  to  do  with  teaching  and  with  the 
teacher  being  reproduced  in  the  pupil  ?  Very  much. 
These  three  laws,  namely,  that  touching  the  diffusion  of 
strongly  dominant  ideas  ;  that  under  which  our  emotional 
nature  may  be  weakened  and  virtually  destroyed;  and  that 
by  which  we  can  gain  mental  strength  and  rise  to  true  man- 
hood, are  all  operative  during  the  process  of  teaching,  and 
success  depends  in  a  very  large  degree  upon  wise  and  skil- 
ful compliance  with  them.  But  this  will  be  more  apparent 
when  we  consider  : 

III.  The  opportunity  and  danger  involved  in  this  fact 
that  the  teacher  is  reproduced  in  the  pupil.  Generally 
speaking,  privilege  and  responsibility  go  hand  in  hand.  It 
is  obviously  so  in  this  case.  The  teacher  of  spiritual  truth 
has  a  grand  opportunity  of  stamping  his  own  character,  views 
and  convictions  upon  the  minds  of  his  pupils.  Acting  un- 
der the  first  law  as  to  the  propagation  of  dominant  thoughts 
or  desires  he  may,  through  the  power  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
become  to  them  not  only  the  instrument  of  instruction  but 
also  of  salvation.     How  so  .'* 

Let  me  suppose  that  he  is,  first  of  all,  earnestly  bent  upon 
the  intellectual  task,  by  means  of  correct  logical  arrange- 
ment, lucid  statement  and  apt  illustration,  to  make  the 
meaning  of  the  lesson  in  hand  clear,  convincing  and  mem- 
orable. This  is  a  commendable  aim,  and,  when  faithfully 
pursued,  usually  results  in  holding  a  class  together,  whether 
junior  or  senior,  and  evoking  their  interest  in  the  study 
of  divine  truth.  But,  while  thus  intent  upon  the  useful  work 
of  instruction,  it  is  only  a  means  to  an  end.  He  has  one 
Strong  overmastering  desire  in  his  heart   that,  through   this 


THE    TEACHER    REPRODUCED    IN    THE    PUPIL.  183 

truth  and  the  ministry  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  members  of 
his  class  may  be  led  to  trust  in  Jesus  Christ  for  pardon  and 
eternal  life.  This  feeling  is  so  constant  and  vehement  in 
his  heart  that  he  cannot  conceal  it.  It  is  seen  in  his  counte- 
nance, heard  in  voice,  breathed  in  his  prayers.  Without 
perhaps  making  formal  announcement  of  it,  in  various  ways 
which  it  may  be  impossible  to  define,  he  convinces  his  pupils 
of  the  existence  and  the  intensity  of  the  desire.  The 
feeling  spreads  among  them,  pervades  their  minds,  or  in 
other  words,  they  respond  to  his  dominant  desire,  and  the 
result  is,  that  it  rises  to  God  as  the  united  wish  of  all  in 
the  true  spirit  of  prayer.  What  then?  We  are  assured  upon 
the  highest  authority  that  if  two  or  three  are  agreed  touch- 
ing what  they  shall  ask  it  shall  be  given  them ;  and  that 
"  whosoever  shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be 
saved."  Do  not  doubt  the  possibility  of  making  your  pupils 
share  your  feelings  in  their  behalf,  and  thus  drawing  them 
after  you  into  a  praying  attitude. 

Witness  the  power  exercised  through  intense  desire  in  be- 
half of  others  by  the  Apostle  Paul.  You  recollect  how  he 
said  to  the  Philippians,  "  I  have  you  in  my  heart.  For  God 
is  my  witness  how  greatly  I  longed  after  you  all  in  the 
tender  mercies  of  Jesus  Christ,"  and  to  the  Galatians,  "  My 
little  children,  of  whom  1  am  again  in  travail  until  Christ  be 
formed  in  you."  And  this  intense  spiritual  solicitation, 
this  agony  of  soul,  this  ruling  passion  of  his  heart,  was  so 
reciprocated  by  them  that  he  declares,  "  I  bear  you  witness 
that,  if  possible,  ye  would  have  plucked  out  your  own  eyes, 
and  have  given  them  to  me,"  so  complc;tely  were  they  car- 
ried away  by  his  travail  of  soul  in  their  behalf.  In  another 
instance,  you  may  remember,  he  relates  that  Prisca  and 
Aquila,  his  fellow-workers  in  Christ  Jesus,  for  his  life 
actually  "  laid  down  their  own  necks."  And  listen  to  what 
he  says  respecting  his  Jewish  fellow-countrymen  :  "  For 
I  could  wish  that  I   myself  were   anathema    from    Christ 


184  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

for   my   brethren's   sake,  my   kinsmen    according    to   the 
flesh." 

A  man  thus  governed  by  one  mighty,  irresistible  desire 
could  not  help  being  influential  for  good  among  his  coun- 
trymen and  far  beyond  them.  And  as  matter  of  fact  he  re- 
produced himself  as  to  thought,  energy,  courage  and  con- 
duct in  Barnabas  and  Apollos  and  Timotheus  and  Titus 
and  hundreds  of  men  and  women  who  caught  the  spiritual 
enthusiasm  of  their  great  teacher  and  leader.  And  thus  it 
is  in  degree  with  every  true  teacher  according  to  his  ability, 
and  in  so  far  as  the  right  spirit  and  aim  are  overwhelmingly 
dominant  in  him  ;  but  let  the  wrong  spirit  prevail  and  in- 
calculable mischief  and  ruin  may  be  the  result.  Whether 
dealing  with  secular  or  sacred  subjects,  the  teacher  should 
rouse  his  pupils  to  the  repeated  exercise  of  active  mental 
states,  and  train  them  to  think  for  themselves  that  they 
may  thus  develop  their  faculties  and  grow  in  intellectual, 
moral,  and  spiritual  strength.  But  here,  precisely,  we  are 
upon  the  verge  of  danger  of  the  most  serious  nature.  In- 
stead of  aiming  constantly  by  wise  forethought  and  prepara- 
tion at  awakening  active  mental  states,  the  teacher  may  have 
his  pupil  almost  habitually  in  a  passive  condition,  or  even 
in  a  state  of  active  resistance,  because  not  moving  along  the 
plane  of  child  nature.  He  may  deal  boisterously  with  the 
child's  nervous  sensibilities  by  scolding,  shouting,  threat- 
ening and  other  methods  of  showing  fidelity  to  professional 
duty;  forgetful  all  the  while  that  the  feeling  will  not  stand 
to  be  handled  roughly,  and  that  if  approached  in  this  fashion 
they  will  retreat  and  refuse  to  be  dealt  with.  In  accordance 
with  the  second  law  stated  in  another  connection  the  longer 
this  vicious  course  is  pursued  the  feebler  the  impression 
becomes,  and  if  persisted  in  for  years,  callousness  and  gen- 
eral mental  imbecility  are  the  results.  Thus  it  happens  that 
a  pupil  of  perhaps  average  brightness  and  intelligence 
degenerates  into  a  first  class  dunce.  And  usually,  after  having 


THE    TEACHER    REPRODUCED    IN    THE    PUPIL.  185 

slowly  and  painfully  passed  through  the  deteriorating  process 
by  which  the  vivacity  and  freshness  of  childhood  have  been 
worn  off  and  the  power  of  original  thinking  has  been  effec- 
tually crippled,  the  unhappy  victim  gets  credit  for  having 
been  a  dunce  from  the  beginning.  This  is  an  easy  way  of 
explaining  educational  failures  wholly  from  one  side.  I  do 
not  say  that  Sunday-school  teachers  often  bring  about  such 
results.  Perhaps  they  never  do  so,  because  half  an  hour 
of  teaching  per  week,  amid  the  bustle  of  a  large  school,  is 
insufficient  for  the  purpose.  The  evil  can  only  be  seen  in 
matured  form  where  the  child  is  for  six  or  eight  years 
subjected  daily  to  such  wrong  methods.  Hence  it  is  not  a 
very  uncommon  thing  to  find  boys,  who  have  been  left  very 
much  to  their  own  resources,  who  have  escaped  the  techni- 
cal grind  of  the  schools,  escaped  the  coercion  of  well-meant 
but  most  unwise  training,  come  to  the  front  in  after  life 
just  because  they  have  been  free  under  the  influence  of 
natural  environment  to  exercise  thought,  instead  of  being 
treated  as  animated  receptacles  into  which  all  sorts  of  stuff 
should  be  poured  in  the  sacred  name  of  education. 

Finally,  from  this  brief  discussion  of  a  single  point  in  the 
philosophy  of  education  one  or  two  inferences  are  apparent. 

I.  The  need  of  special  training  to  qualify  the  teacher  for 
his  work.  This  is  happily  conceded  by  the  directors  of  sec- 
ular, and,  to  an  increasing  extent,  by  the  managers  of  Sun- 
day-schools. It  is  not  denied  that  good,  and  in  some 
instances  a  very  great  amount  of  good,  is  done  by  those 
who  have  not  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  such  training.  It 
is  readily  admitted,  indeed  emphatically  affirmed,  that  a 
renewed  heart  and  a  mind  illumined  by  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
guided  by  His  infinite  wisdom  are  of  inexpressibly  greater 
value  than  all  that  normal  classes  and  teachers'  institutes 
can  confer  upon  those  who  attend  them.  But  how  much 
better  is  it  when  natural  ability  and  high  spiritual  qualifi. 
cations  are   united  with  the  skill  which  technical  training 


1 86  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

imparts.  The  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God  is  not  hindered 
but  helped  by  the  superior  intelligence  and  attainments  of 
the  devout  teacher.  There  need  be  no  antagonism  between 
spirituality  and  educational  competency.  The  deepest  de- 
votion in  the  service  of  God,  the  strongest  desire  to  save 
souls,  to  honor  the  Spirit  and  to  exalt  our  blessed  Redeemer, 
may  be  found  in  minds  of  the  highest  culture  and  most  pro- 
found and  practical  acquaintance  with  the  science  of 
education.  And  I  feel  confident  that  what  the  superinten- 
dents of  the  Sunday-schools  of  our  land  need  in  order  to 
increase  the  efficiency  of  their  great  work  is  a  large  army  of 
such  persons.  We  should  therefore  urge  godly  young  men 
and  young  women  to  aspire  to  become  distinguished  by  the 
thorough  mastery  of  the  laws  and  best  methods  of  teaching. 

2.  Teachers  should  always  seek  to  be  animated  by  the 
right  spirit,  and  to  have  the  right  feeling  strongly  dominant. 
But  how  is  this  to  be  attained  ?  I  can  only  answer  by 
hints  or  suggestions  without  elaboratic  n.  Cherish  an 
habitual  sense  of  the  sacredness  of  your  office  and  work,  and 
of  the  mighty  issues  dependent  upon  it.  We  are  working 
upon  immortal  spirits,  making  them  more  or  less  like 
ourselves,  moulding  them  for  time  and  eternity.  This  is  a 
most  serious  matter. 

We,  the  teachers  of  the  Gospel,  of  God's  message  of  love, 
are  "  a  sweet  savour  of  Christ  unto  God,  in  them  that  are 
being  saved,  and  in  them  that  are  perishing";  that  is,  we 
represent  Christ  in  this  matter;  we  pray  then  in  Christ's  stead, 
and  thus  become  *'  to  the  one  a  savour  from  death  unto 
death,  to  the  other  a  savour  from  life  unto  life."  We,  not 
our  message  or  lesson,  but  we  ourselves  are  this  savour  of 
life  and  death.     "  And  who  is  sufficient  for  these  things  ?  " 

The  question  may  well  be  asked,  and  let  it  have  its  full 
force  upon  our  hearts  and  consciences,  that  we  may  pray 
without  ceasing,  that  we  may  be  filled  with  all  the  fulness 
of    God,    that   His    Holy    Spirit   may    be    consciously    our 


THE    TEACHER    REPRODUCED    IN    THE    PUPIL.  187 

Teacher,  that,  enjoying  this  baptism  of  fire  from  on  high, 
being  thus  acted  upon,  we  may  have  that  love  and  vivid 
apprehension  of  truth,  and  that  love  of  souls  and  intense 
fervor  of  heart  which  above  all  things  qualify  us  to  reproduce 
ourselves  in  our  pupils,  to  the  glory  of  God  and  their  eternal 

well-being. 

"  Earth's  crammed  with  Heaven, 
And  every  common  bush  afire  with  God." 

But  we  need  to  have  our  eyes  anointed  with  eye-salve,  that 
we  may  see  and  teach  these  wonders. 


THE  PULPIT  AND  ETHICS. 

By  B.  p.  Raymond,  D.D.,  President  of  Wesleyan 
University,  Middletown,  Conn. 


THE  growth  of  our  country  during  the  century  just  clos- 
ing has  been  so  rapid  that  we  have  had  little  time  for 
careful  analysis  of  the  facts  we  have  gathered,  or  systematic 
study  of  the  problems  that  have  been  multiplying  about  us. 
The  growth  of  our  population,  the  multiplication  of  large 
cities,  the  mixed  character  of  the  population,  the  increase  of 
manufactures,  the  rapid  accumulation  of  wealth,  the  emanci- 
pation of  the  slave,  these  are  but  suggestive  of  the  vast  mass 
of  sociological  and  political  facts  that  are  to  be  studied  and 
of  the  problems  unsolved  that  are  now  beginning  to  press 
upon  us  for  solution.  In  the  last  analysis  the  underlying 
questions  are  all  ethical,  and  must  be  thought  out  from  that 
point  of  view.  The  burning  question  in  politics  is  political 
corruption.  The  solutions  that  are  being  offered  are  in  the 
interest  of  an  honest  ballot.  The  storm  centre  in  economics 
is  the  question  of  distribution.  The  contest  between  capital 
and  labor  is  not  between  capital  and  labor,  but  between  the 
capitalist  and  the  laborer,  and  it  is  at  last  a  righteous  divi- 
sion of  the  products  that  is  demanded.  The  temperance  re- 
form must  at  last  depend  upon  the  extent  to  which  right 
principles  can  be  worked  into  human  relations  and  laws. 
The  congested  condition  of  things  in  our  cities  is  on  the 
surface,  a  question  of  security  to  society,  of  physical  health, 
but  the  deeper  question  is  one  of  moral  health.  The  dyna- 
mite that  threatens  irreparable  ruin  is  moral  dynamite. 
What  principles  shall  control  conduct  and  determine  the 


igO  QUESTIONS    OF*    THE    DaY. 

relation  of  man  to  his  fellow-man  is  deeper  than  all  othef 
questions. 

Having  inherited  this  condition  of  things,  a  wealth  of  re- 
sponsibilities, of  liabilities  and  possibilities  goes  with  it.  We 
have  not  inherited  the  solution  of  the  problems.  No  nation 
has  applied  ethical  principles  to  our  set  of  conditions.  They 
are  not  absolutely  unique  but  are  new  in  many  particulars. 
As  every  city  must  be  built  anew  by  each  succeeding  gene- 
ration, so  must  each  generation  think  out  anew  all  the  prin- 
ciples of  life.  The  attention  now  being  given  to  practical 
ethics  is  one  of  the  hopeful  signs  of  the  times.  It  is  mani- 
fest in  a  very  marked  way  among  writers  on  sociological 
questions  and  especially  among  the  younger  economists. 
There  is  an  effort  being  made  to  see  these  questions  in  the 
light  of  the  principle  of  human  brotherhood. 

There  is  a  socialism  which  is  law-abiding  and  righteous. 
It  is  the  socialism  contained  in  the  law,  "  Thou  shalt  love 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  That  is  a  law  which  cannot  be 
ignored  even  in  the  labor  problem  and  the  question  of  eco- 
nomics. Ours  cannot  continue  to  be  '*  the  age  of  the  first 
person  singular,"  as  Emerson  once  called  it.  The  first  per- 
son plural,  we,  and  not  I,  or  the  possessive  pronoun  plural, 
ours,  not  mine,  must  characterize  the  new  age.  Individ- 
ualism has  been  tried;  competition  has  had  or  is  having  its 
day;  monopolies  cannot  last.  Co-operation  will  call  out 
all  the  best  powers  of  man.  The  success  of  the  future  is 
dependent  upon  it.  The  most  potent  factors  at  work  in 
society  to-day  tend  toward  it.  And  more  than  all  there  is 
:in  ethics  in  it  that  can  be  justified.  All  questions  of  reform 
are  being  quickened  by  an  appeal  to  ethics.  So  strong  has 
this  trend  of  thought  become  that  in  some  instances,  cer- 
tainly, churches  have  become  little  more  than  an  ethical 
bociety  or  a  school  of  ethics. 

The  scientific  spirit  which  now  is  brooding  over  every 
chaotic  body  of  facts,  determined  to  bring  order  out  of 


THE    PULPIT    AND    ETHICS.  tgj 

chaos;  the  collision  of  interests  made  so  conspicuous  by  the 
vast  accumulation  of  material  interests;  and,  above  all,  the 
constant  pressure  of  the  gospel  of  the  Good  Samaritan 
upon  the  thought  and  heart  of  the  age;  each  and  all  of  these 
have  wrought  mightily  to  make  conspicuous  all  ethical  ques- 
tions. These  are  hopeful  signs  and  the  pulpit  is  especially 
concerned  with  the  question  how  to  make  the  most  of 
them.  The  answer  is  by  a  many-sided  development  of  the 
subject.  Lotze  has  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  in 
heathenism  there  is  a  great  preponderance  of  cosmological 
interests,  and  that  there  is  such  a  preponderance  of  cos- 
mological interests  in  our  day.  The  one-sided  develop- 
ment of  principles  in  themselves  true  has  compromised 
them  and  limited  their  influence.  Church  history  makes 
prominent  the  tendency  to  asceticism,  to  cenobitism,  and 
to  mysticism,  all  of  which  ignore,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent, 
this  world  and  its  claims  and  meanings.  But  the  peril  that 
is  imminent  to-day  is  the  peril  of  ignoring  the  unseen  world, 
and  of  getting  lodged  in  this.  Partial  developments  of 
ethical  principles  grow  almost  of  necessity  out  of  the  demand 
for  specialists.  Socialism  shows  one  phase  of  this  exag- 
gerated tendency.  The  socialist  "  Does  not  propose  to 
wait  for  the  development  of  a  perfect  moral  state  before 
realizing  his  dream.  Evolution  is  slow  and  manufacture 
rapid,  he  will,  therefore,  make  the  ideal  state  with  his  own 
hands.  He  will  plan  it  and  secure  the  popular  decree  that 
shall  put  it  in  operation.  Let  there  be  socialism,  and  there 
will  be  socialism — over  night  possibly;  anarchy  will  put  an 
end  to  the  experiment  in  the  morning."  There  is  a  dis- 
regard of  property  rights.  There  is  lack  of  that  free  his- 
toric sense  which  always  knows  how  to  estimate  the  roots  of 
things.  He  will  saw  down  the  tree  to-day,  stick  down  the 
trunk  and  expect  it  to  yield  fruit  to-morrow.  The  same 
lack  of  balance  which  comes  from  a  many-sided  study  of 
the  subject  is  seen  in  nearly  every  reform.     For  the  sake  of 


192  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

the  great  cause  every  preacher  ought  to  put  an  extension 
into  his  library  for  the  growing  literature  in  the  field  of 
both  theoretical  and  practical  ethics. 

The  preponderating  cosmological  trend,  which  multi- 
plies questions  in  practical  ethics,  increases  the  demand  for 
a  wide  and  thorough  study  of  the  foundations  of  ethics. 
The  fundamental  principles  must  be  made  luminous;  the 
presuppositions  of  the  various  systems  must  be  brought  to 
light ;  and  the  genetic  connections  between  these  principles 
and  conduct  made  conspicuous.  Not  every  system  of 
thought  will  support  the  superstructure  we  seek  to  raise 
upon  it. 

Every  science  must  deal  with  a  distinctive  body  of  phe- 
nomena. And  the  first  step  in  the  prosecution  of  any  scien- 
tific study  is  to  determine  the  subject-matter  of  the  science, 
the  phenomena  to  be  treated.  By  the  collation  of  the  facts 
and  the  work  of  classification  we  are  enabled  to  pass  be- 
yond the  unessential  differences  among  the  facts,  to  the 
essential  likenesses  and  to  the  affirmation  of  laws  underlying 
all.  These  essential  laws,  thought  out  into  harmonious  re- 
lations with  each  other,  and  the  forces  they  represent  into 
genetic  connection  with  the  facts,  constitute  a  science  of 
the  subject.  Mr.  Huxley  says,  "The  object  of  science  is 
the  discovery  of  the  rational  idea  which  pervades  the  uni- 
verse." The  Fortnightly  Review  says,  *'  Science  is  the  dis- 
covery of  the  abstract  generalities  which  underlie  these  con- 
crete facts,  and  which,  when  fully  grasped,  enable  us  to 
foresee  how  new  arrangements  of  facts  will  behave." 
Ethics  must  have  to  do  with  a  definite  body  of  facts,  and 
conceived  as  a  science  it  must  seek  to  discover  **  the  ab- 
stract generalities  which  underlie  these  facts."  Or  using 
Mr.  Huxley's  thought,  it  must  seek  to  rationalize  the  phe- 
nomena in  question. 

Ethics  begin  by  assuming  man  to  be  an  ethical  subject 
equipped  with  all  those  powers  necessary  for  moral  actions. 


THE    PULPIT    AND    ETHICS.  193 

It  assumes  this  as  a  part  of  the  work  done  by  psychology. 
As  such  he  has  knowledge  of  moral  law,  and  that  it  is  bind- 
ing upon  him.  He  has  moral  sensibilities,  and  the  capacity 
for  motives  which  multiply  here.  He  is  free.  He  has  a 
will  which  puts  forth  volitions  in  execution  of  plans  and 
purposes,  in  harmony  with  the  right,  or  against  it.  His  is  a 
self-directed  life.  The  forces  which  move  him  do  not  all 
work  from  behind,  but  ideals  and  ends  are  projected  in  har- 
mony with  reason  and  righteousness  and  he  controls  and 
directs  all  manner  of  agencies  for  the  realization  of  these 
ideals,  or  he  compromises  both  himself  and  them,  by  allow- 
ing impulses  that  have  not  been  made  rational  and  right- 
eous by  him,  to  control  him.  The  moral  subject  has  per- 
sonality: eliminate  either,  intelligence  with  self-conscious- 
ness, or  the  moral  sensibility,  or  will,  and  personality  is 
destroyed  and  both  moral  and  immoral  acts  are  made  im- 
possible, and  the  word  ethics  might  as  well  be  dropped  out 
of  the  language. 

The  field  of  absolute  certainty  in  our  conduct  is  a  very 
limited  one.  We  know  to  a  certainty  that  we  are  under 
obligations  to  do  the  right,  and  to  do  it  under  all  circum- 
stances. We  know,  too,  with  absolute  certainty  the  moral 
quality  of  our  motives  in  all  our  acts.  Did  we  deliberately 
intend  the  wrong  ?  Were  we  indifferent  ?  Did  we  intend  to 
do  the  right  ?  These  questions  a  man  can  answer  categori- 
cally. We  know  that  we  ought  so  to  act  as  to  be  able  to 
approve  ourselves.  No  man  may  violate  his  conscience. 
Whether  it  be  regarded  as  a  power  taking  cognizance  of 
the  quality  of  motive,  or  of  the  law  of  right,  or  regarded  as 
a  sensibility,  or  as  an  impulse,  moving  to  the  doing  of  the 
right  already  determined  by  the  intellect,  it  may  never  be 
violated.  No  set  of  circumstances  arises,  under  which  a 
man  may  say,  here  I  may  do  the  wrong  thing,  the  thing 
which  I  do  not  approve 

This  all  seems  very  clear.     There  is  however  a  field  of 


194  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

difficulty,  which  is  soon  discerned  when  we  come  to  apply 
the  principles  developed  in  theoretical  ethics  to  practical 
life.  How  does  this  *'  Ought  always  to  do  right  "  apply  in 
the  concrete  case  ?  Do  not  circumstances  change  what  I 
do  not  approve  to-day  into  what  I  do  approve  to-morrow  ? 
What  is  fixed  and  how  much  of  life  is  afloat  ?  Has  our 
ought  no  better  right  than  that  given  it  by  Bentham  ?  "  The 
talisman  of  arrogance,  indolence,  and  ignorance,  is  to  be 
found  in  a  single  word,  an  authoritative  imposture.  .  .  . 
It  is  the  word  'ought,'  *  ought  or  ought  not'  as  circum- 
stances may  be.  ...  If  the  use  of  the  word  be  admis- 
sible at  all  it  'ought'  to  be  banished  from  the  vocabulary 
of  morals."  The  subject  demands  study  from  several  points 
of  view.  From  the  study  of  the  progress  of  mankind,  by  the 
widest  possible  generalizations,  we  have  learned  that  hon- 
esty and  truthfulness  are  obligatory  in  our  relations  with  our 
fellow-men.  The  outcome  of  the  sociological  studies  of  Mr. 
Spencer  and  his  school,  in  his  "  Data  of  Ethics  "  is  the  doc- 
trine of  altruism.  This  points  toward  the  law  "  thy  neigh- 
bor as  thyself,"  however  inadequate  the  ground  of  its  author- 
ity as  a  law  of  duty.  The  subject  ought  also  to  be  studied 
from  the  revelations  of  our  own  personal  life.  Here  arise 
duties  that  are  absolutely  binding.  The  duty  of  unfolding 
this  personal  life,  which  can  only  be  done  in  society,  makes 
it  necessary  to  determine  the  laws  of  interaction  with  others. 
By  dishonesty,  falsehood  and  selfishness  I  am  conscious  of 
deterioration  in  the  quality  of  my  personal  life.  I  discover 
that  certain  laws  of  action  are  essential  to  the  realization 
of  that  which  I  am  under  obligations  to  realize.  The  sub- 
ject must  be  seen  also  from  the  point  of  view  of  my  fellows. 
Says  Coleridge,  ''  Morality  commences  with,  and  begins  in, 
the  sacred  distinction  between  thing  and  person.  On  this 
distinction  all  law  human  and  divine  is  grounded." 

Has  my  comrade  in  life's  march,  whom  I  call  a  slave, 
personality,  with  the  same  law  resting  upon  him  that  holds 


THE    PULPIT    AND    ETHICS.  1 95 

me?  And  do  honesty,  and  truthfulness,  and  self-sacrifice 
toward  him  contribute  to  the  realization  of  the  personal 
life,  the  fulfilment  of  the  command  from  the  throne  ?  There 
are  no  considerations  that  can  even  be  entertained  as  to 
whether  I  may  or  may  not  hinder  or  help  the  realization  in 
my  fellow  of  that  command.  Out  from  the  centre  of  the 
personal  life  spring  obligations,  and  with  them  rights,  for 
the  realization  of  which  every  moral  subject  may  and  must 
if  need  be  set  himself  against  all  men  and  all  government. 
The  more  thorough  the  study  of  ethics  from  these  several 
points  of  view,  the  more  clear  and  urgent  will  be  the  claim 
of  that  central  law  of  society,  ''  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neigh- 
bor as  thyself." 

There  is  a  genetic  connection  between  all  ethical  theories 
and  conduct,  and  there  is  urgent  necessity  for  the  study  of 
the  subject  from  the  point  of  view  of  utilitarianism.  Mr. 
Spencer  gives  us  a  new  study  in  this  field  in  the  March 
number  of  The  Nineteenth  Century.  It  forms  a  part  of  the 
work  which  is  to  treat  of  the  *'  Relations  between  the  ethics 
of  the  progressive  condition  and  the  ethics  of  the  condition 
which  is  the  goal  of  progress, — a  goal  ever  to  be  recognized, 
though  it  cannot  be  actually  reached."  He  treats  in  this 
paper  of  '^  Animal  Ethics."  He  says,  "  Most  people  regard 
the  subject-matter  of  ethics  as  being  conduct  considered  as 
calling  forth  approbation  or  reprobation.  But  the  primary 
subject-matter  of  ethics  is  considered  objectively  as  pro- 
ducing good  or  bad  results  to  self  or  others  or  both." 
"A  bird  which  feeds  its  mate  while  she  is  sitting  is  re- 
garded with  a  sentiment  of  approval.  For  a  hen  which 
refuses  to  sit  upon  her  eggs  there  is  a  feeling  of  aversion; 
while  one  which  fights  in  defence  of  her  chickens  is  ad- 
mired." No  one  would  deny  the  sympathy  or  antipathy 
toward  animals  suggested  by  these  illustrations.  But  would 
not  every  body  deny  that  there  is  an  ethical  quality  in  the 
acts  specified  ?     Of  course  it  is  easy  to  apply  the  terminol- 


196  QUESTIONS   OF   THE    DAY. 

ogyof  ethics  to  any  subject  provided  you  first  eviscerate  the 
terms,  empty  out  the  ethical  contents,  and  then  agree  that 
the  shell  shall  represent  a  given  thing.  It  would  be  very 
easy  to  make  a  donkey  an  ethical  subject,  or  a  citizen  of 
the  republic.  You  have  only  to  remember  that  there  are 
a  great  many  citizens  that  are  donkeys,  and  pass  up  the 
whole  class  to  that  dignity  and  invest  them  with  the  rights 
of  the  franchise.  The  fact  is,  in  Mr.  Spencer's  "Animal 
Ethics  "  we  are  playing  fast  and  loose  with  our  terminology. 
An  animal  never  commits  sin;  cannot  even  rise  to  the  dig- 
nity of  a  criminal.  The  essential  powers  for  these  acts  are 
wanting.  If  we  are  to  call  the  animal  an  ethical  subject  we 
can  do  it  only  by  ignoring  the  essential  meaning  of  ethics, 
and  by  changing  the  meaning,  when  we  pass  from  the 
animal  to  the  man,  or  vice  versa. 

But  whatever  the  theory,  its  essential  implications  will 
run  out  into  the  fields  of  thought  to  which  it  is  applied. 
Words  are  frail  things,  but  they  carry  the  ghosts  of  dead 
men  with  them,  and  cannot  shake  off  the  spirit  of  the 
theories  which  have  been  put  into  them.  There  can  be 
little  doubt  that  ethical  principles  are  to  be  carried  into 
economics.  Says  Prof.  John  B.  Clark,  a  most  suggestive 
writer  in  this  field,  'We  may  trace  the  economic  history  of 
Europe  through  a  series  of  conditions  bearing  less  and  less 
resemblance  to  the  communal  ideal,  until  we  reach  the 
aphelion  of  the  system,  the  point  of  extreme  individualism 
"and  begin  slowly  to  tend  in  an  opposite  direction.  This 
turning-point  may  be  located  at  a  period  about  a  hundred 
years  ago."  We  have  struggled  through  a  great  many  ex- 
periments in  the  economic  problem.  Instead  of  individual- 
ism, we  have  had  organization  both  on  a  large  and  small 
scale.  Competition  has  had  its  diy.  Might  makes  right 
with  it  and  the  greatest  monopolist  is  the  greatest  saint. 
The  principle  of  co-operation  is  steadily  advancing  and 
moral  force  is  to  be  the  characteristic  of  the  new  age.     The 


THE    PULPIT    AND    EtHtCS.  197 

manhood  of  man,  and  the  demands  of  the  personal  life  are 
to  find,  progressively,  the  conditions  of  their  largest  devel- 
opment under  the  new  regime. 

But  is  there  not  a  class  of  duties  that  arise  in  certain 
callings,  of  such  a  nature  as  to  exempt  them  from  the 
fundamental  laws  of  ethics  ?  Put  in  this  bald  way  most 
men  would  probably  say,  No.  Nevertheless,  this  query  is 
often  practically  answered.  Yes.  There  is  a  class  of  duties 
for  the  discharge  of  which  professional  men  are  responsible, 
and  to  which  it  is  not  always  easy  to  see  just  how  the  high 
standards  of  Christian  ethics,  or  indeed  of  ethics  at  all,  are 
applicable.  But  a  science  never  allows  an  outstanding 
class  of  facts  which  cannot  be  brought  under  the  system. 
Such  a  class  means  a  modification  of  the  system.  It  is 
the  business  of  science  to  explain  facts,  and  if  it  fails  in 
this,  the  so  called  science  can  only  be  looked  upon  as  a 
working  hypothesis  toward  a  scientific  theory.  The  ethicist 
can  exclude  no  class  of  duties,  no  line  of  conduct  from  the 
field  of  ethical  phenomena.  Into  every  line  of  conduct, 
the  ethical  requirements  of  the  great  law,  "  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself,"  must  be  pressed. 

The  political  principle,  "  My  business  is  to  win,"  has  a  far 
too  wide  range  of  application.  The  pulpit  has  no  right  to 
win,  except  by  legitimate  motives  and  honest  arguments. 
The  worthiness  of  the  end  does  not  warrant  the  use  of  an 
argument  that  has  lost  its  force  with  the  speaker.  The 
effect  upon  the  hearer  may  seem  to  be  all  that  could  be  de- 
sired, but  what  of  the  mental  obliquity  of  the  preacher  ? 
What  of  the  relation  of  the  parties  when  the  fraud  is  ex- 
posed ?  A  man  must  keep  on  good  terms  with  himself  and 
with  his  fellows.  The  amusement  question  opens  a  large 
field  of  ethical  inquiry  for  the  preacher,  of  inquiry  vv^hich 
concerns  the  arguments  that  may  be  used  against  ques- 
tionable amusements,  the  motives  that  shall  be  brought  to 
bear  upon  those  whose  spiritual  life  may  be  imperiled,  and 


I9S  OUESTiONS   OF    THE    DAY. 

the  conditions  under  which^that  spiritual  life  may  be  ex- 
ercised with  the  best  results.  The  ethics  of  reforms  and  of 
politics  urgently  demand  the  attention  of  the  pulpit,  and 
that  too  from  every  possible  point  of  view. 

It  is  not  the  sole  business  of  the  lawyer  even  to  win. 
His  obligations  to  his  client  must  be  determined  by  prin- 
ciples as  high  and  holy  as  those  that  govern  in  any  other 
sacred  duty.  That  his  attitude  is  often  misunderstood  is 
very  evident.  He  may  defend  a  criminal,  but  not  in  those 
respects  in  which  he  is  a  criminal.  A  man  is  something 
more  than  a  criminal.  He  is  a  man  and  has  rights  as  a 
man  which  have  not  been  forfeited.  There  are  always, 
perhaps,  extenuating  circumstances  which  ought  to  be  con- 
sidered, in  order  that  injustice  may  not  be  done.  It  would 
be  an  injustice  to  hang  a  man  for  stealing  a  loaf  of  bread 
for  his  starving  family.  In  litigation  concerning  property 
there  is  always  a  conflict  of  rights.  But  may  a  lawyer  de- 
fend a  criminal  when  he  knows  him  to  be  a  criminal  ?  Yes, 
if  he  has  rights.  If  he  cannot  defend  him  in  the  interest 
of  justice  and  righteousness,  then  he  has  no  ethical  grounds 
for  his  defence  and  had  better  tell  him  so.  But  ought 
he  not  to  state  all  he  knows  about  the  case  in  the  interest  of 
righteousness  ?  Does  he  not  intentionally  practise  a  lie  in 
such  a  defence  ?  No.  It  is  understood  both  by  the  prose- 
cution, and  the  judge,  and  by  the  jury  that  he  is  respon- 
sible to  defend  the  criminal  only  in  so  far  as  he  has  rights. 
No  man  can  find  any  ethical  ground  for  attempting  to  show 
that  a  man  did  not  commit  a  crime  when  the  criminal  has 
confessed  himself  guilty  of  the  crime.  To  attempt  a  de- 
fence of  crime  is  immoral.  Government  is  the  institution 
of  rights,  and  law  is  for  the  security  of  rights.  The  lawyer 
is  the  advocate  of  the  principles  of  law  for  the  securement 
and  defence  of  rights,  and  never  for  the  defence  of  wrong. 
What  a  revolution  would  be  wrought  if  the  defence  of  the 
criminal  were  always  limited  to  the  rights  of  the  accused  ! 


THE    PULPIT    AND    ETHICS.  I99 

There  is  a  field  here  for  ethics  the  beneficial  effects  of  which 
can  hardly  be  estimated. 

The  want  of  ethical  principles  in  the  field  of  politics  is 
notorious.  Legislation  involves  insight  into  the  profound- 
est  and  most  far-reaching  ethical  problems.  The  rights 
of  man  are  connected  with  nearly  every  legislative  act. 
The  Gospel  has  constantly  exalted  the  ideal  of  human 
rights  and  extended  them  to  all  men.  It  must  contribute  to 
the  realization  of  the  kingdom  of  God  among  men  by  dili- 
gent study  of  the  fundamental  problems  of  ethics  in  their 
relation  to  all  departments  of  life.  Righteous  ends  by 
righteous  means,  as  inspired  by  the  law  "  Thy  neighbor  as 
thyself,"  and  applied  to  all  the  relations  of  men  in  society, 
from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  will  lead  steadily  and  surely 
to  the  goal. 


SOURCES  OF  MORALS. 

By  President  W.  M.  Blackburn,  D.D.,  Pierre  Univer- 
sity, Dakota. 


T^HE  revived  demand  for  an  education  that  will  make 
good  citizens  has  become  a  movement.  In  it  is  the 
assumption  that  moral  teaching  should  have  a  place  in  every 
school,  for  the  school  itself,  and  for  the  later  life  of  every 
pupil  in  society  and  in  the  State.  The  capacity  of  the  child 
for  moral  ideas  is  admitted:  they  are  readily  received  and 
understood  when  the  method  of  teaching  is  wisely  adapted  to 
the  moral  powers  of  the  learner.  This  capacity  is  large — 
wonderfully  large  and  vigorous.  What  great  things  a  little 
child  wants  to  know  ! 

In  her  *'  Lectures  to  Kindergartners  "  Miss  Peabody  re- 
lates certain  very  interesting  experiments,  showing  that  a 
little  child  craves  great  truths  and  finds  delight  in  the 
knowledge  of  God  as  the  good  Friend,  Father,  Creator  and 
First  Cause.  She  makes  this  fact  the  mainspring  of  moral 
teaching,  and  goes  even  farther  in  saying  "  The  true  method 
of  the  intellect  is  the  perpetual  gift  of  a  very  present  God,  as 
much  as  the  true  method  of  the  heart  and  soul." 

How  make  this  capacity  a  moral  energy  ?  Not  solely 
through  the  emotions  or  feelings,  for  they  alone  do  not  work, 
conviction  strong  and  lasting.  The  affections  may  not 
become  a  directing  moral  force.  Love  is  not  law  although 
it  may  lead  to  obedience  when  a  right  law  is  made  known. 

Nor  does  this  moral  receptivity  lie  entirely  in  the  realm 
of  intellect.  The  moral  truth  should  be  reasonable  and 
rationally  taught.  And  yet  the  sweetest  reasonableness 
alone  will  not  assure  duty.  "  You  know  better  "  is  a  com- 
mon rebuke  to  the  disobedient. 

This  receptive  power  is  more  nearly  in  the  domain  of  will 


^O^  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

There  is  no  real  morality  without  will — voluntariness,  in- 
tention, purpose.  "I  did  not  mean  to  "  is  a  child's  excuse, 
as  if  non-intention  were  a  justifying  plea.  Yet  it  is  not  the 
equivalent  of  "  I  meant  not  to,"  or  "  I  meant  to  avoid  the 
error."  We  want  to  see  well-meant,  well-willed  deeds,  for 
the  essence  of  morality  is  in  the  intention.  How  reach  the 
will  ?  Through  emotion,  affection  and  reason  co-operating 
and  directed  to  right  rules  of  conduct  ;  that  is,  trained  to 
obey  the  right  laws  of  life.  We  offer,  then,  these  four  prop- 
ositions : 

I.  Morality  requires  law.  One  expression  of  law  is  the 
conscience  of  the  child.  Conscientiousness  is  a  high,  noble 
quality  in  a  pupil.  Where  you  find  it  you  expect  moral 
earnestness.  But  the  conscience  needs  to  be  awakened  in 
most  children,  and  instructed  in  all ;  as  an  inward  law  it 
needs  to  be  revised,  rectified  and  supported  by  some  other 
form  of  law  more  definite  and  clearly  stated.  It  is  not  the 
most  trusty  source,  nor  the  ultimate  standard  of  morals. 
Appeal  to  it  always,  and  with  as  much  emotion,  affection  and 
reason  as  every  case  may  require;  but  with  the  appeal 
awaken  or  convey  the  thought  of  right  and  just  law.  To  say 
"  Do  right  "  is  valueless  advice  unless  your  pupils  know  the 
elementary  law  of  right.  To  "put  them  on  honor  "  effec- 
tively you  must  have  an  assurance  that  they  have  an  ade- 
quate knowledge  of  the  highest  law  of  honor. 

II.  Law  must  have  authority :  authority  to  enact  it 
and  to  enforce  it.  In  morals  the  supreme  authority  is  God. 
He  has  delegated  the  requisite  amouat  of  His  authority 
to  every  parent,  every  teacher,  and  every  ruler  of  men  ;  in 
others  words,  the  home,  the  school,  and  the  State  are 
within  the  dominion  of  God,  and  in  them  all  He  is  the 
supreme  author  of  morality.  Let  the  teacher  wisely,  kindly, 
firmly  use  his  own  authority  in  the  public  school,  with 
that  of  the  State,  and  above  all  point  to  that  of  the  Good 
Father  and  the  Great  King. 


SOURCES    OF    MORALS.  ^O^ 

You  may  go  into  some  land  of  ancient  feachers  and  liter- 
atures, say  India,  and  collect  from  them  excellent  precepts 
for  a  moral  life;  precepts  admirably  and  forcibly  expressed, 
setting  forth  the  highest  ethical  virtues  that  come  within 
the  range  of  philosophy,  poetry,  and  parable.  It  has  been 
done,  and  a  volume  of  them  has  been  published  for  the 
schools  of  an  English  race.  But  they  have  long  failed  in 
India  to  produce  the  morality  they  commended.  Why  ? 
One.  reason  is  there  was  in  them  no  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord  " — no  authority  above  and  beyond  the  human  teacher; 
nothing  to  make  the  precepts  royal  and  imperative  to  a  hu- 
man soul. 

III.  Moral  law  and  authority  must  have  definite  and  im- 
perative expression.  Where  find  it  ?  Do  not  the  Ten 
Commandments  present  paternally  and  royally  a  summary 
of  all  ethical  principles  and  duties  .'*  The  Bible  interprets 
the  Ten  Commandments,  out  of  which  all  others  grow. 
Why  should  any  one  object  that  they  are  Hebrew — Isra- 
elite, Jewish  ?  If  so,  they  are  none  the  worse  for  that. 
Their  merit  is  inherent.  Their  worth  is  in  the  gold,  apart 
from  the  coinage.  But  they  are  evidently  older  than 
Abraham,  the  father  of  the  Hebrew  nation,  older  than 
any  known  religious  sect  or  philosophical  school  ;  so  old 
that  they  were  the  moral  law  when  religion  was  universal — 
the  unbroken  faith  of  the  human  race.  Their  reannounce- 
ment  on  Mount  Sinai  did  not  make  them  peculiarly  He- 
brew; nor  did  their  reaffirmation  by  Jesus  Christ  render 
them  peculiarly  Christian.  They  are  as  unsectarian  as  the 
belief  in  one  supreme  God.  Elements  of  them  are  in  every 
moral  system  and  in  the  laws  of  every  civilized  land.  They 
are  the  original  source  of  all  our  moral  teachings.  They 
have  this  advantage  over  all  merely  human  compends  of 
ethics,  a  **  Thus  saith  the  Lord." 

It  is  a  great  thing  for  pupils  to  tell  one  another,  "  The 
teacher  says  so."     He  has  a  happy  moral  power  over  them 


^04  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

when  they  quote  his  ethical  precepts,  refer  to  his  good  ex- 
ample, and  gracefully  admit  his  rightful  authority.  The 
teacher  is  to  them  a  source  of  morality.  And  so  is  every 
good  book  which  they  are  persuaded  to  read  and  study, 
every  anecdote  that  presents  a  needed,  or  noble,  trait  of  per- 
sonal character  to  the  child-mind,  every  illustration  of  a 
social  grace  and  a  civic  virtue,  every  line,  set  in  the  copy- 
book, telling  of  imitable  wisdom  and  excellence.  We  do 
not  ignore  these  means  of  moral  guidance  ,  they  are  pro- 
ducing good  results.  And  yet,  we  think  it  is  a  greater  thing 
for  teacher  and  pupils  to  unite  in  saying  of  any  moral  duty, 
"  The  Good  Father  says  so  "— "  God  says  so  "—or  "  The 
Bible  says  so  "  ;  for  then  they  appeal  to  the  original  source 
of  morals.  This  is  very  different  from  making  the  Church, 
or  any  form  of  it,  or  any  sect  in  philosophy,  the  author- 
ity in  ethics.  It  does  not  put  any  sort  of  "  sectarianism  " 
into  the  school-room.  It  recognizes  in  some  simple,  unpre- 
tentious way  (I  am  not  here  saying  how)the  prime  moral 
law,  the  Divine  Author  of  it  and  the  Book  which  contains  it. 
IV.  The  teacher  of  morals  cannot  afford  to  ignore  a  moral 
religion.  It  has  never  been  done  with  safety.  The  separa- 
tion of  religion  from  education  is  a  very  modern  thing.  It 
would  have  shocked  even  a  pagan  in  the  times  of  Cyrus, 
Plato  or  Seneca.  It  is  now  an  experiment,  only  in  the 
earlier  stage  of  its  trial,  and  it  has  not  furnished  the  evi- 
dence that  ethics  can  be  maintained  without  the  help  of 
divinely  revealed  truth.  Morality  and  religion  are  not 
identical ;  yet  morality  is  a  part  of  religion  ;  the  very  part 
which  insures  moral  conduct,  and  for  this  reason  it  should 
enter  into  the  teachings  of  the  public  school.  It  is  the 
shortest  way  to  teach  ethics,  to  continue  the  succession  of 
honest  men  and  women  in  social  life  and  to  assure  the 
safety  of  the  State  by  the  virtues  and  the  votes  of  good 
citizens.  The  well  that  furnishes  water  to  thirsty  pupils  is 
worthy  of  grateful  recognition  by  the  master  of  the  school. 


LAW  AND  PERSUASION. 

By  President  W.  M.  Blackburn,  D.D.,  Pierre  Univer- 
sity, East  Pierre,  South  Dakota. 


How  are  law  and  moral  suasion  related  to  each  other  ? 
The  question  is  timely  whenever  reforms  are  urged  upon  us, 
and  different  methods  are  proposed  for  effecting  them.  One 
reformer  lays  stress  upon  law  as  a  power  to  remove  great 
social  evils;  another  insists  upon  the  persuasive  force  of 
sympathies,  facts  and  truths.  Are  not  both  needed  ?  Are 
not  both  founded  in  the  revelation  which  is  given  us 
concerning  the  divine  government,  and  authorized  by  it  ? 
God  has  revealed  a  law  against  all  sin:  one  that  may  be 
applied  to  every  iniquity  that  exists.  His  Word  does  not 
specify  every  injurious  drug  or  drink,  every  perilous  in- 
dulgence and  habit,  and  expressly  forbid  them,  for  it  is  not 
a  book  of  special  rules;  but  it  announces  principles  that 
meet  all  cases  of  immorality  with  prohibitive  force  by  bring- 
ing them  under  generic  laws.  He  also  offers  a  persuasion 
for  every  evil-doer  to  abandon  his  sins  and  secure  the  new 
life.  The  two  methods  are  recognized  in  the  fervent  appeal 
of  an  Apostle:  "Knowing  the  terror  of  the  Lord'[in  the 
law  by  which  He  will  judge  us  all],  we  persuade  men."  The 
assured  efficiency  of  law  in  punishment — though  not  always 
in  prevention  of  crime — does  not  exclude  the  use  of  per- 
suasion. In  this  present  world  there  is  a  place  and  a  reason 
for  both  of  them.  Each  is  a  force  sent  from  Heaven  into 
earthly  society  for  the  highest  purpose.  In  each  is  a  power 
for  removing  public  evils  and  reforming  society.  How  make 
them  as  efficient  as  possible  ?  Is  it  wise,  at  the  outset,  to 
place  them  in  different  latitudes  whose  lines  never  meet,  so 


2o6  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

that  one  shall  be  ignored,  or  disowned,  by  the  other  ?  Shall 
one  supplant  the  other?  Which  has  the  right  of  a  sup- 
planter  ?  Must  we  not  recognize  their  mutual  dependence  ? 
What  can  law  do  without  love  ?  What  can  love  do  with- 
out law?  Along  these  lines  let  us  consider  certain  possi- 
bilities. 

I.  Whether  moral  suasion  would  effect  any  permanent 
good  in  society  without  law — civil,  moral,  divine  law.  We 
mean  law  that  has  penalties,  and  that  is  not  used  merely 
persuasively.  Imagine  a  society  in  which  it  does  not  exist. 
It  has  been  annulled,  and  still  the  difference  between  right 
and  wrong,  good  and  evil,  is  not  lost;  the  people  know  it, 
at  least  as  a  sentiment;  they  are  conscious  that  virtue  and 
vice  are  not  the  same  thing  in  their  nature  and  effects.  The 
leaders  wish  to  promote  social  morality,  and  their  method  is 
solely  that  of  moral  suasion.  Nobody  shall  be  outwardly 
punished  for  a  misdeed.  Then  let  the  men  of  authority 
proclaim  on  the  streets  and  in  the  markets  that  henceforth 
there  is  to  be  no  more  law.  There  shall  be  no  arrests  of 
evil-doers;  no  trials  for  injuries  to  person  and  property;  no 
courts,  no  penalties;  no  forcible  collection  of  debts,  no 
recovery  of  damages  for  losses  by  fraud,  theft  or  malice; 
no  legal  defence  of  personal  character  against  a  reckless  pen 
or  slanderous  tongue,  and  no  exaction  of  a  guilty  life  for  an 
innocent  life,  nor  for  high  treason.  Public  economy  shall 
be  free  from  the  expense  of  prisons,  and  public  charities 
shall  no  longer  be  an  obligation  upon  the  state. 

What  would  be  the  result  of  this  method,  if  it  alone  were 
adopted  ?  Less  crime  ?  Better  morals  ?  Nobler  charities  ? 
A  reign  of  justice,  truth  and  beneficence?  Let  us  think  as 
favorably  of  human  nature  as  the  facts  will  justify,  and  still 
those  facts  will  show  that  many  people  are  restrained  from 
crimes,  not  by  love  for  the  right,  nor  by  convictions  of  con- 
science, nor  by  the  ''beauty  of  holiness,"  but  by  fear  of  the 
penalty.     The  persuasions  that  affect   them  are  those  of  the 


LAW    AND    PERSUASION.  207 

law  and  the  power  that  executes  it  with  exactness.  This  is 
admitted  in  yonder  court,  and  in  the  foreign  land  where 
fugitives  from  justice  remain  in  exile  so  long  as  the  law, 
which  they  dread,  is  in  force.  The  fears  of  the  criminal  are 
his  tribute  to  the  civil  power,  and  his  motive  for  reluctant 
obedience  to  it.  He  knows  the  terrors  of  the  law.  But  re- 
peal the  law,  and  you  remove  the  terrors,  and  what  can  you 
then  do  with  your  rousing  appeals  to  honor,  and  your  gen- 
tlest entreaties  of  love  ?  How  can  you  guard  yourselves 
and  all  that  is  sacred  to  you  from  an  irrepressible  lawless- 
ness? How  entrench  yourself  against  the  havoc  by  day  and 
violence  by  night  ?  On  what  persuasive  argument  can  you 
lay  hold  to  convince  the  lawless  that  you  have  rights  and 
possessions  and  privileges  worthy  of  their  respect?  The 
sheriff's  warrant  is  cancelled,  the  policeman's  club  is  broken, 
the  jail  is  demolished,  the  penitentiary  is  an  open  retreat  for 
wandering  beggars.  You  may  point  to  the  worst  deed  of 
malice,  or  extortion,  or  lust,  or  intemperance,  pleading 
that  for  the  sake  of  personal  honor,  or  kindred,  or  home,  or 
Heaven,  it  never  be  committed  again,  and  the  guilty  may 
reply,  "  There  is  no  law  against  it,  no  penalty  upon  it.  You 
are  not  invited  to  give  attention  to  our  affairs.  Look  to  your 
own.     Who  is  lord  over  us  ?  " 

Further,  let  it  be  taught  that  the  moral  law  has  come 
to  an  end,  that  human  progress  has  carried  us  beyond  it 
into  the  larger  liberty  of  thought  and  life,  and  that  we  are 
not  in  the  childhood  of  the  human  race,  nor  under  the 
tutorage  of  any  divine  law  with  God  for  its  authority,  ex- 
ecutor  and  judge,  and  with  the  future  for  complete  and 
final  reward  or  punishment.  Teach  men  that  the  Ten 
Commandments  are  no  longer  laws  with  penalties,  but 
merely  principles  of  right  or  recommendations  for  general 
guidance,  and  then  try  to  persuade  them  to  comply  with 
those  recommendations,  doing  a  right  deed  just  because  it 
is    right  and    for    the    sake    of   goodness.     What    will   vou 


2o8  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

accomplish  ?  They  may  not  care  for  "  right  in  itself,"  nor 
goodness  by  itself,  and  may  ask,  "  Where  is  your  law  for  it  ? 
By  what  authority  is  your  moral  suasion  ? "  They  may 
admit  the  reasonableness  of  your  plea,  but  with  no  divine 
mandate  to  deepen  its  impression,  their  impulses  will  die 
away  before  the  next  temptation  comes. 

Experience  teaches  us  to  keep  the  law — civil,  moral  and 
divine — before  the  people:  keep  the  lessons  of  it  in  the 
home,  the  church,  the  school,  the  court,  and  then  we  have 
a  solid  basis  for  the  strongest  persuasions  that  can  affect 
the  hearts  of  men.  Little  can  be  accomplished  by  moral 
suasion  without  law. 

II.  Whether  law  without  persuasion  will  bring  the  de- 
sired social  morality.  Suppose  that  we  have  no  moral  force 
but  law — rigid,  unyielding,  inevitable  law.  No  entreating 
voice  in  the  home  reaching  the  impressible  hearts  of  chil- 
dren, nor  in  the  school  where  kindness  wins  more  surely 
than  severity,  nor  from  the  pulpit,  where  the  plea,  "  I  be- 
seech you  by  the  mercies  of  God,"  is  always  fitting;  nor 
from  the  neighbor,  whose  kindly  wishes  open  ways  of 
blessedness  to  all  who  know  his  example.  No  helpful 
hand  to  lift  up  the  fallen,  nor  benevolent  soul  to  seek  and 
teach  the  ignorant,  nor  courteous  tongue  to  say  to  the  err- 
ing, "Come  thou  with  us  and  we  will  do  thee  good";  only 
law  and  power  to  enforce  it  upon  every  offender. 

What  may  we  expect  in  such  a  state  of  affairs  ?  Obedi- 
ence to  law — ready,  cheerful,  complete,  universal  in  the 
community  .'*  What  has  prepared  the  people  for  it  ?  Not 
popular  education,  for  it  belongs  to  the  persuasive  agencies. 
Ignorance  does  not  make  her  children  good  citizens;  for,  if 
they  have  any  knowledge  of  the  law,  they  are  apt  to  know 
it  only  through  its  terrors,  and  grow  defiant  of  its  pen- 
alties. Why  expect  them  to  be  law-abiding  and  obedient  in 
a  cheerful  spirit  ?  They  have  never  been  taught  to  love 
the   statutes,  nor  the  government.     If  arrested  for  crimes, 


LAW    AND    PERSUASION.  209 

they  may  plead  their  ignorance,  lay  the  blame  of  it  on 
society,  and  say,  "  None  ever  sought  us,  nor  tried  to  con- 
vince us  that  our  lives  were  wrong,  and  that  a  better  way  of 
living  was  open  to  us.  None  have  cared  for  us  except  to 
punish  us  for  evil  deeds."  Is  the  statement  true  ?  It  would 
be  true  in  a  society  which  allowed  the  various  forces  of 
moral  suasion  to  be  unemployed. 

Where  persuasions  are  now  earnestly  used  there  is  one 
fact  prompting  us  to  give  a  larger  place  in  our  higher  schools 
to  the  studies  relating  to  good  citizenship:  the  fact  that 
the  penal  side  of  civil  government  receives  more  attention 
in  the  courts  and  the  public  press,  if  not  in  the  popular 
mind,  than  the  protective  and  helpful  side  of  it.  Crimes  are 
allowed  columns,  good  conduct  may  beg  for  an  item.  The 
penalties  are  more  conspicuous  than  the  common  bene- 
fits of  law  !  If  the  disproportion  seem  too  great,  it  would 
be  far  greater  if  moral  suasion  should  cease  ;  for  these  re- 
ports of  crimes,  arrests,  trials  in  courts,  and  infliction  of 
penalties  need  not  be  imported  from  afar  to  meet  a  demand 
for  such  news.  Every  locality  would  have  a  daily  supply 
of  its  own,  and  its  immoralities  might  seem  to  be  past 
remedy  by  legislation  alone.  Wise  legislators  know  that 
a  statute  which  is  extremely  severe  is  liable  to  become  a 
dead  letter;  or,  if  it  be  just,  the  people  must  be  prepared  for 
its  execution  by  an  advance  of  public  sentiment.  Law 
without  moral  suasion  has  little  power  to  reform  society. 

III.  Whether  a  union  of  persuasion  and  law  be  not  the 
more  excellent  way.  How  is  a  community  prepared  to  obey 
and  execute  good  laws  ?  By  knowing  them,  receiving  ben- 
efits from  them,  honoring  and  loving  them;  that  is,  by  the 
persuasive  methods  of  education,  experience,  affection 
and  conscience.  The  school  and  church  logically  pre- 
cede the  court-house  and  prison.  The  teacher's  work 
comes  before  that  of  the  sheriff,  and  it  may  relieve  the 
policeman  of  duty.     The  blessings  of  the  law  are  set  forth 


2IO  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

before  the  penalties  (Deut.  xxviii.).  The  people  learn  that 
they  have  priceless  benefits  in  a  just  government,  and  that 
when  a  man  forfeits  them  by  lawlessness  his  loss  is  irrepar- 
able. The  better  the  government  the  more  certainly  will 
privileges  be  assured  to  the  obedient  and  punishment  fall 
upon  the  guilty.  Thus  the  same  law  which  is  a  terror  to 
evildoers  is  the  confidence  and  support  of  those  who  do 
well. 

Ill-designing  men,  choosing  a  city  where  they  may  in 
dulge  in  immoralities,  do  not  prefer  the  one  which  has  the 
most  thoroughly  executed  laws,  the  most  vigilant  police,  the 
sternest  judges  and  strongest  prisons,  for  the  terrors  are 
too  great.  But  in  that  same  city  are  quite  certain  to  be 
schools  of  high  moral  grade,  active  churches,  and  societies 
promoting  industry,  temperance  and  charity,  representing 
the  suasive  agencies.  All  these — the  legal  and  the  suasive 
— are  attractions  to  those  who  love  righteousness  and  hate 
iniquity.  If  you  seek  to  know  where  law  is  best  main- 
tained, go  where  the  brightest  type  of  social  morality  pre- 
vails. There  public  sentiment  has  been  created  and  nur- 
tured by  the  persuasive  age  cies.  There  you  will  find 
efforts  to  reform  the  vicious  Ly  holding  out  to  them  the 
benefits  of  good  citizenship,  the  persuasives  to  a  better  life, 
the  invitations  of  the  Gospel,  the  divine  forgiveness,  and 
the  rest  which  the  Christ  offers  to  the  heavy-laden  when 
they  become  His  disciples. 

This  method  may  be  applied  to  any  social  reform.  We 
are  apt  to  select  some  one  great  evil  at  a  time  and  try  to 
restrain  or  remove  it.  The  term  **  social  reform  "  implies 
that  the  evil  has  gone  beyond  private  limits  and  become 
generally  prevalent,  that  it  touches  public  interest  and 
public  duty,  and  that  at  least  two  classes  of  people  are  in- 
volved in  it:  those  who  are  gainers  by  supplying  a  demand, 
and  the  losers  by  whom  the  demand  originally  comes;  or 
we  may  say  the  tempters  and  the  (usually  willing)  victims. 


LAW    AND    PERSUASION.  211 

A  third  class  seeks  to  bring  the  other  two  under  its  salutary 
influence  and  power. 

The  reform  may  become  a  "cause"  with  formulated 
principles  and  organized  forces.  It  may  grow  without  tak- 
ing party  form,  or  aiming  at  political  supremacy,  and  still 
win  to  itself  a  majority  in  the  state.  As  Christianity  has 
changed  the  spirit  and  legislation  of  empires  by  moral 
methods  (so  far  as  human  agencies  are  concerned),  the 
special  reform  may  leaven  the  national  life;  awaken,  edu- 
cate and  direct  the  public  conscience;  propose  and  expect 
great  moral  changes — if  not  peaceful  revolutions — remov- 
ing vices  and  installing  virtues;  secure  the  enactment  and 
execution  of  good  laws,  though  not  formally  a  law-making 
power,  and  all  the  while  maintain  itself  by  non-partisan 
methods. 

The  mind  at  once  turns  to  a  reform  which  has  tried 
various  methods,  passed  through  many  phases,  and  is  still  at 
the  front  with  its  problems  scarcely  solved.  Is  it  not  singular 
that  when  we  wish  to  name  it,  we  hesitate  whether  to  say 
temperance  or  prohibition  ?  One  is  taken  to  represent 
persuasive  methods,  the  other  legislative  measures.  We 
query  whether  to  call  the  evil  intemperance  or  the  liquor- 
traffic,  one  referring  to  the  drinker,  the  other  to  the  vender. 
We  find  it  questioned  which  of  these  two  men  is  the  prime 
sinner,  the  drinker  who  comes  with  the  demand,  or  the  ven- 
der who  brings  the  supply.  The  whole  philosophy  of  de- 
mand and  supply  enters  into  the  discussion,  and  it  is  ad- 
mitted that  law  is  not  able  to  remove  a  demand  which  is  in 
an  appetite  (or  nature),  is  older  than  the  liquor-traffic,  and 
is  the  real  cause  of  it.  Prohibitory  laws  will  not  remove  the 
real  cause  of  intemperance.  This  is  a  work  for  divine  grace 
and  power;  all  that  we  can  do  towards  it  must  be  through 
persuasive  agencies.  We  may  logically  say,  no  demand,  no 
supply;  but  we  cannot  reasonable  say,  no  supply,  no  demand. 

It  is  admitted  that  just  law  can  very  greatly  diminish  the 


212  QUESTIONS   OF    THE    DAY. 

supply,  and  thus  restrict  the  satisfaction  of  the  demand.  An 
appetite  ungratified  may  annoy  its  possessor,  but  it  is  not 
likely  to  inflict  injury  upon  home  and  society.  Law  may  re- 
press, if  not  remove,  those  evils  which  the  saloon  represents, 
and  which  are  more  public  than  personal  drinking.  But  law 
will  not  produce  these  results  until  a  community  is  educated 
— persuaded — and  organized  to  maintain  it. 

It  is  little  wonder  that  certain  advocates  of  reform  by  law 
become  intensely  earnest,  and  see  in  their  measures  the  only 
hope  of  relief.  They  have  the  sharper  contest  to  wage  be- 
cause they  ask  for  a  kind  of  power  which  the  people  are  apt 
to  grant  with  reluctance.  Their  own  method  seems  to  them 
quite  infallible,  and  other  means  are  given  a  lower  place  or 
neglected.  Some  of  them  appear  ready  to  say  that  tem- 
perance is  not  the  word  for  them;  their  work  is  not  to 
reform  the  drunkard,  but  to  annihilate  the  drink,  and  then 
his  sobriety  will  be  assured;  as  if  the  drink  was  the  cause  of 
his  imperious  thirst  and  of  intemperance,  or  food  the  cause 
of  hunger  and  of  gluttony. 

This  extreme  is  offset  by  another.  In  a  brief  notice  of 
four  "  Gospel  Temperance  Meetings,"  at  which  500  per- 
sons signed  the  total  abstinence  pledge,  this  advice  is  given: 
"  If  the  good-meaning  people  who  are  gathered  in  conven- 
tion to-day  to  devise  means  for  the  better  enforcement  of 
the  prohibitory  law  will^  on  their  return  home,  make  a  per- 
sonal effort  to  save  men  and  boys  from  becoming  drunkards 
by  kindness  and  sympathy  and  not  rely  on  the  law  to  do  an 
impossibility,  they  will  accomplish  more  for  God  and  human- 
ity than  the  law  has  done  in  the  past  five  years  in  Iowa." 

Such  antagonism  in  the  ranks  of  a  great  reform,  which  is 
essentially  moral,  is  needless  and  dangerous.  It  tends  to 
create  two  parties,  each  hurling  at  the  other  the  charge  of 
failure.  That  word  ''failure"  is  easily  spoken.  No  prin- 
ciple, no  cause,  no  movement  has  yet  been  fully  successful 
anywhere  on  earth.     Persuasion  has   not  failed  in  behalf 


LAW    AND    PERSUASION.  213 

of  Christianity,  liberty,  human  rights,  education,  and  eveiy 

great  element   in   our  civilization.     It  has  won  for  law  its 

power,  and  given  to  it  a  field.     It  has  still  more  to  do  in 

the  renewal  of  the  world,     It  will  not  gain  its  purpose  by  any 

sudden  stroke.    *'  It  suffereth  long  and  is  kind."     Its  silent 

forces  are  assure  as  the  laws  of  gravitation,  and  its  triumph 

is  most  certain  when  they  bind  us  and  all  our  efforts  to  the 

orbits  fixed  for  us  by  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  in  whose 

kingdom  there  is  the  union  of  law  and  love.     It  is  wrong  to 

assume  that  any  method  of  reform  may  not  apparently  fail 

at  some  time  and  place,  yet  even  then  we  may  remember 

that 

'*  The  good  is  grander  in  defeat 
Than  evil  is  in  victory." 


THE  INDIAN  QUESTION  :-THE  FRIENDLIES. 

By  President  W.  M.  Blackburn,  D.D.,  Pierre 
University,  E.  Pierre,  So.  Dakota. 


THE  giving  of  this  good  name  to  the  peaceable  Indians 
of  South  Dakota  is  a  notable  event  in  the  history  of 
a  word  and  of  a  people.  It  originated  naturally  enough 
when  they  declined  to  join  the  hostiles  in  taking  arms 
against  the  federal  government.     They  were  worthy  of  it. 

A  few  months  ago  their  position,  spirit  and  numbers  were 
generally  misunderstood.  They  were  almost  unreported.  At 
a  distance  they  were  classed  with  enemies,  as  if  every  Sioux 
was  a  foe;  or  regarded  as  exceptional — an  undefined  party, 
timid,  trustless,  restrained  from  war  by  coming  winter,  and 
quite  ready  to  prove  the  assertion  that  efforts  to  civilize 
their  people  have  been  disheartening  failures.  In  their  be- 
half certain  statements,  based  upon  my  personal  observation 
and  trustworthy  replies  to  inquiries,  are  here  tendered. 

I.  The  Friendlies  have  been,  and  they  now  are,  the  vast 
majority.  Exact  figures  are  not  now  attainable,  but  compe- 
tent teachers  and  missionaries  make  the  following  estimates: 
Ninety-five-hundredths  of  the  Indians  west  of  the  Mis- 
souri river  meant  at  first  to  be  friendly,  although  some  of 
them  were  drawn,  or  driven,  into  the  hostile  ranks ;  "  a  large 
majority  in  the  Pine  Ridge  district  were  friendly,  though 
some  got  mixed  up  in  the  last  stampede;  only  a  minority 
of  the  Rosebud  Indians  came  into  the  fight ";  very  few  from 
other  agencies  were  hostile;  '*in  general,  those  who  had 
shown  evidence  of  a  real  hearty  acceptance  of  Christianity 
were  friendly  and  loyal ";  "  you  can  safely  say  that  the  effect 
of  Protestant  Christian  missions  has  been  to  cut  the  nerve 
of  the  war  instinct ";  "  the  Indians  among  whom  the  Gospel 
has  had  time  to  work  were  not  in  these  troubles."  East  of 
the  Missouri  river  there  were  no  fighting  hostiles.  It  was 
not  a  war  upon  settlers,  although  foraging  bands  carried 


2i6  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

off  property.  Instances  of  kindly  warning  given  by  Indians 
to  white  ranchmen  are  noteworthy.  The  main  conflict  was 
centred  at  one  point,  near  Pine  Ridge,  and  the  military  re- 
ports, when  published,  will  probably  show  the  comparatively 
small  number  of  Indians  engaged  in  it. 

II.  The  Friendlies  were  artfully  tempted,  and  their  loyalty 
was  severely  tested.     The  hostiles,  whatever  the  purpose  at 
first,  sought  to  arouse  their  pride  of  race,  their   spirit  of 
clanship,  their  respect  for  the  chiefs,  their  sense  of  depriva- 
tion and  poverty,  and  their  love  for  the  old  freedom,  cus- 
toms and  associations.     The  dance   was    fascinating,  and 
why  should  it  be  thought  uncivil  or  unchristian   if   white 
people  could  have  a  "  ball  "  upon  so  many  public  occasions 
without   relapsing   into   barbarism?      The  Messiah    dance 
appealed  to  their  Christian  hope  until  it   bewrayed  itself  as 
the  old  ghost-dance,  or  war-dance.   Its  tendency  was  to  mis- 
lead and  "  enthuse  "  the  young  men  and  "  the  Sioux  of  the 
old  style."   It  drew  hundreds  away  from  their  homes,  broke 
up  schools,  depopulated  villages,  and  brought  excited  bands 
together  in  threatening  wildness.     The    religious    nature  of 
the  craze  was  tempting  even  to  the  more  civilized  Indians, 
so  long  as  the  pagan  and  disloyal   elements  of  it  were  con- 
cealed.    The  purpose  of  the  leaders  seems  to  have  been  to 
restore   the  old   spirit  of  independence    and   the   glory  of 
nationality  in  a  people  who  have  had  a  pride  in  being  called 
"  the  Sioux  nation."     As  earnest  was  the  effort  of  the  hostile 
chiefs  to  nurture  discontent  on  account    of  alleged  ill-treat- 
ment, reduction  of  rations,  and  non-fulfilment  of  pledges  by 
the   Government.      The    Indian  would    naturally    look    at 
these  alleged  wrongs  from  his  point  of  view.     The  Friend- 
lies  were  thus  tempted  to  revolt  and  resistance  by  an  appear- 
ance (at  least)  of  reasonable  grievances;  and  writings  from 
white  hands  could  be  quoted  to  inflame  their  minds  and 
give  them  *'  bad  hearts.''     Let  those  who  stood   such  tests 
and  remained  loyal  have  large  credit  for  their  fidelity. 


THE    INDIAN   QUESTION: — THE    FRIENDLIES.  217 

III.  When  the  moral  line  was  drawn  between  the  hostiles 
and  the  peaceful,  the  Friendlies  refused  to  cross  it.  The 
real  causes  of  the  outbreak  seem  to  have  been  opposition 
to  Christianity  and  to  the  civilization  produced  by  it. 
Aversion  to  the  Severalty  Bill,  which  requires  the  Indians 
to  abandon  their  tribal  relations,  take  lands,  cultivate  them, 
gradually  attain  self-support  and  become  citizens,  had  its 
effect,  "  It  figured  considerably,"  says  a  missionary  who 
ought  to  know.  When  Sitting  Bull,  the  archconspirator,  said, 
"  as  a  citizen  I  must  be  no  more  than  any  other  man ;  as 
Indian  chief,  I  am  big  man,''  he  expressed  the  ambition  of 
the  hostile  chiefs,  Other  leaders  were  probably  more  pagan 
in  their  sentiments.  The  natural  Indian  is  very  religious  in 
his  way.  Every  day  he  "  sees  God  in  clouds,  or  hears  Him 
in  the  wind,"  regards  himself  as  under  the  control  of  a  spirit 
whom  he  consults,  and  from  whom  his  enthusiasms  are  sup- 
posed to  come.  He  is  a  spiritist  without  intentional  im- 
posture. When  hostile  to  the  Government,  his  old  religion 
moved  him  to  revolt.  His  recent  war,  then,  has  a  parallel 
in  the  spasmodic  reaction  ot  paganism  against  Christianity 
in  the  times  of  the  Roman  Emperor  Julian,  of  the  fiery 
Penda  in  Mercia,  of  the  Saxons  under  Charlemagne,  and  of 
a  modern  queen  in  Madagascar.  A  competent  witness  wrote* 
"  This  is  not  a  race  war.  It  is  a  war  of  barbarism  against 
civilization." 

The  Friendlies  resisted  this  complex  hostility.  They 
valued  the  benefits  already  received  from  ^' the  pale  faces." 
In  their  dress,  their  houses,  their  furniture,  their  farms  and 
their  modes  of  life,  they  were  conforming  to  those  of  the 
white  people.  They  were  using  the  sewing-machine  and 
the  reaper.  They  were  becoming  useful  citizens  of  the 
State,  patrons  of  the  schools,  supporters  of  the  Church,  some 
of  them  contributing  annually  eighty  cents  a  member  to 
missions.  They  proved  the  elevating  power  of  Christian- 
ity.    It  had  not  been  a  failure.     It  did  not  fail  them  when 


2l8  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

the  test  of  religion  came.  When  the  Messiah  craze  proved 
to  be  the  heathen  war-dance,  it  had  no  charm  for  them. 
As  a  rule,  no  Indians  at  any  mission  station  joined  the 
hostiles.  Where  a  village  had  a  missionary  the  villagers 
remained  friendly.  Out  of  iioo  communicants  in  a  single 
denomination,  only  one  is  known  to  have  been  hostile.  Out 
of  127  young  people,  who  had  been  in  the  Indian  school 
at  Carlisle,  Pa.,  only  seven  became  ghost-dancers.  These  are 
samples  of  fidelity. 

IV.  The  resumption  of  civilizing  work.  During  the  con- 
flict nearly  all  the  village  schools  on  the  reservation  west 
of  the  Missouri  river  were  suspended.  The  prospect  of 
resuming  them  was  dark  and  doubtful.  A  letter  of  the  time 
ran  thus  :  **  How  long  it  will  take  to  recover  from  so  great 
a  drawback  in  the  work  of  civilizing  the  Indians  !  "  But 
the  recovery  has  already  begun.  The  Friendlies  have  had 
"light  in  their  dwellings."  They  want  the  schools  restored, 
and  where  it  has  been  possible  in  the  winter  they  have  been 
resumed.  The  missionary  schools,  of  at  least  one  denom- 
ination, are  better  attended  than  last  year.  The  new  Indian 
school  (government)  at  Pierre  is  daily  receiving  new  pupils. 
One  overseer  of  mission  work  says  that  the  demand  for 
churches  is  increasing,  and  that  there  have  lately  been  more 
applicants  for  admission  to  church  membership  than  at  any 
time  for  years.  Thus  the  pagan  reaction  has  "stirred  up 
the  Friendlies  to  a  higher  appreciation  of  education  and 
Christianity,"  and  been  the  storm  before  a  revival  of  light 
and  life.  These  encouraging  facts  have  parallels  in  the  his- 
tory of  successful  missions. 

The  much-discussed  Indian  question  will  never  be  justly 
solved  unless  the  Indians  become  active  and  influential 
in  its  solution.  They  must  be  kept  from  pauperism  and 
from  sole  dependence  on  the  Government.  They  must 
learn  to  labor,  engage  in  various  employments,  earn  a  living, 
gain  property,  know  the  value  and  right  uses  of  wealth,  un- 


QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY.  219 

derstand  their  real  needs  and  be  free  to  supply  them  in 
all  honest  ways.  The  aversion  to  work  is  not  so  peculiar 
to  them,  nor  so  inveterate,  as  most  people  suppose.  The 
obstacles  to  labor  and  its  profits  come  mainly  from  the  old 
tribal  relation  or  clanship.  This  relation  gives  undue  power 
to  the  chiefs  and  to  men  ambitious  to  maintain  the  tribe 
as  a  sort  of  nation  with  which  the  Government  must  con- 
tinue to  make  treaties  for  the  purchase  of  peace  ;  it  nurtures 
pride,  prejudice  and  ignorance :  it  makes  labor  appear 
contemptible,  and  so  long  as  it  exists  there  must  be  trou- 
ble. Destroy  it,  not  by  proclamation,  but  by  persuasive 
measures  (rather  strictly  urged),  so  that  land  will  be  taken 
by  individuals  or  families  who  will  settle  on  it  and  thus  be- 
come separate  from  the  tribe.  Kinship  will  thus  give  way 
to  neighborhood,  or  grow  into  it,  as  it  did  among  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  when  the  tun,  or  clan-village,  became  the  township 
with  its  organized  society,  meetings,  and  laws. 

Who  of  the  Sioux  are  most  ready  for  all  these  changes  ? 
Evidently  the  Friendlies.  The  civiHzing  movement  depends 
on  them.  They  have  begun  it.  The  school  and  the  Church 
have  led  them  to  it.  Many  of  them  are  now  settled  on  farms 
and  ranches  ;  others  are  locating  lands.  Neighborhoods  of 
farmers  are  forming ;  the  township,  school  district,  village, 
voting-places  and  due  number  of  elect  officials  will  follow. 
Pride  of  tribe  will  yield  to  privilege  of  town.  The  leading 
Friendlies  perceive  this  result  of  the  severalty  law,  if  it  be 
wisely  carried  out,  and  they  wish  it  for  their  children. 
Their  eye  is  upon  citizenship.  Through  them,  under  the 
educative  and  Christianizing  agencies  at  hand,  the  law  may 
become  effective.  It  is  a  timely,  wise  and  great  law  ;  just, 
generous,  protective  and  competent  to  solve  the  Indian 
problem.  The  Friendlies  can  give  it  power.  It  can  give 
them  power,  for  under  it  a  citizen  will  be  mightier  than  a 
chief. 


TEMPERANCE    IN  ALL   THINGS-BIBLICAL 
TEACHINGS  AND  MODERN  METHODS. 

By   Prof.   E.  J.  Wolf,    D.D.,   Lutheran   Theological 
Seminary,  Gettysburg,  Pa. 


HOW  the  good  old  words  are  changing  !  And  our  ideas 
too  !  The  changes  in  the  latter  are,  in  fact,  so  rapid 
that  words  cannot  be  created  fast  enough  to  keep  pace  with 
them.  Old  terms  have  to  serve  in  a  new  capacity.  They 
stand  for  a  meaning  quite  different  from  that  which  his- 
torically belongs  to  ihem.  Old  clothes  are  fitted  to  new 
ideas.  Sometimes  the  relationship  between  the  new  thought 
and  the  thought  they  formerly  invested  is  scarcely  discern- 
ible, yet  as  these  appear  successively  in  the  same  well-known 
garment  they  may  be  easily  mistaken  for  each  other,  like 
two  individuals  whose  personal  features  bear  hardly  any  re- 
semblance, but  who  in  turn  wear  the  same  dress. 

Open  any  standard  dictionary  and  "  temperance  "  is  de- 
fined as  moderation  in  the  indulgence  of  the  natural  appe- 
tites and  passions,  freedom  from  excess,  self-restraint,  con- 
tinence. And  the  Bible  as  well,  whenever  it  uses  this 
expression  or  its  synonyms,  inculcates  unmistakably  the 
observance  of  due  limits  in  our  gratifications  ;  the  curbing 
of  one's  passions,  moderate  indulgence,  self-government, 
with  no  reference  to  the  subject  now  commonly  under- 
stood by  the  term  temperance.  Yet  were  you  to  speak  in 
a  modern  Christian  assembly  of  men  who  moderately  gratify 
the  appetite  for  strong  drink  as  temperance  men,  you  would 
so  shock  the  sensibilities  of  many  good  people  as  to  expose 
your  reputation  if  not  your  head  to  serious  injury. 

No  indulgence  whatever,  total  abstinence,  nay,  with  many 
the  absolute  prohibition  of  all  intoxicants  is  the  only  prin- 


222  QUESTIONS   OF    THE    DAY. 

ciple  that  is  now  recognized  in  the  noble  old-fashioned  garb 
of  temperance.  Underneath  a  well-worn  robe  pulsates  an 
idea  that  is  practically  new.  Our  fathers  did  undoubtedly 
preach  temperance,  but  they  meant  something  altogether 
different  from  the  reform  now  agitated;  while  the  sturdy, 
ancient  virtue  of  temperance  which  they  emphasized,  and 
which  has  the  sanction  alike  of  heathen  and  Christian 
morality,  so  far  from  being  earnestly  advocated,  has  almost 
disappeared  from  the  ethics  of  the  hour.  A  reformation  appar- 
ently in  direct  conflict  with  it  has  boldly  usurped  its  place. 

I  have  no  quarrel  with  this  reformation.  Inappropriate 
and  mislead'ng  as  the  designation  may  appear,  I  will  not 
even  question  its  right  to  be  entitled  "  temperance,"  although 
it  obviously  violates  the  acknowledged,  well-defined  and 
lofty  meaning  of  the  word.  I  am  persuaded  that  the  Gospel 
in  its  essential  spirit  justifies  the  most  radical  opposition  to 
the  drinking  customs  which  have  become  an  unmitigated 
curse  to  society.  Let  the  iniquitous  traffic  be  abolished. 
Let  the  infamous  and  infernal  business  which  submits  to 
neither  regulation  nor  reform  be  crushed  under  the  iron  heel 
of  the  State.     Let  prohibition  come,  the  sooner  the  better. 

But  while  we  invoke  the  secular  power  in  this  crusade,  let 
us  also  call  up  from  the  past  that  inestimable,  comprehen- 
sive, now  almost  obsolete  virtue  of  temperance.  Having, 
not  without  some  misgivings,  recourse  to  the  State  in  behalf 
of  a  moral  reform,  let  us  at  the  same  time  remember  the 
cardinal  law  of  Christianity,  which  imposes  upon  its  disciples 
the  culture  of  internal  spiritual  strength,  and  fortifies  them 
with  the  power  of  inward  principles,  the  bulwark  of  con- 
science and  the  firmness  of  the  will.  These  are  ever  to  be 
recognized  as  mightier  weapons  than  the  sword. 

It  is  at  all  events  to  be  feared  that  many  are  making  the 
fatal  mistake  of  overestimating  the  scope  and  power  of  pro- 
hibition. It  is  no  panacea.  It  makes  no  one  inherently 
better.     The  utmost  it  can  do  is  to  create  for  some  the  pos- 


TEMPERANCE    IN    ALL    THINGS.  223 

sibility  of  improvement.  Unspeakably  better  would  it  be, 
if  men  could  protect  themselves  against  the  temptation,  if 
by  the  energy  of  their  moral  nature  they  could  enforce 
prohibition  on  themselves.  Self-restraint  is  certainly  and 
always  superior  to  outward  and  forcible  regulation.  The 
wise  parent  would  choosa  to  have  his  son  saved  from  youth- 
ful enticements  by  self-imposed  moral  restrictions  rather  than 
by  the  vigilance  of  the  police.  Prohibition  is  a  police  meas- 
ure. Temperance  is  self-restraint.  One  is  the  government 
of  the  State,  the  other  is  self-government. 

Men  and  women  are  conquered  by  other  appetites  as  well 
as  by  that  for  drink,  appetites  quite  as  powerful,  as  vicious 
and  as  ruinous  as  the  thirst  for  an  intoxicating  beverage. 
To  cut  off  the  supply  of  this  thirst  will  save  them  from  this 
form  of  perdition,  but  it  makes  them  no  stronger,  it  imparts 
to  them  no  virtue,  it  does  not  affect  their  moral  nature  and 
does  not  furnish  them  with  any  armor  against  other  foes  that 
plot  and  work  their  destruction  as  certainly  and  as  effec- 
tively as  the  fiend  of  the  bar-room.  Evil  is  hydra-headed 
and  the  excision  of  a  single  head  does  not  slay  the  mon- 
ster. The  enemy  is  driving  on  us  from  every  quarter,  and 
it  happens  too  often  that  just  as  we  are  bearing  down  vigor- 
ously on  one  of  his  strongholds,  he  forces  the  lines  at  an- 
other point  and  gets  possession  of  the  field. 

Intoxicating  liquors  of  every  description  may  be  done 
away.  Excepting  only  cold  water  the  country  may  be  turned 
into  a  Sahara,  yet  men  are  still  exposed  to  temptations 
without  number.  And  if  they  are  not  panoplied  in  the  steel 
of  moral  firmness,  if  they  have  not  attained  to  a  supreme 
self-command,  if  they  cannot  pronounce  a  prompt,  resolute 
and  unalterable  "  No,"  they  will  inevitably  be  overborne  in 
the  conflict.  Splendid  youths  who  have  never  "tasted  a 
drop  "  are  lured  by  the  enchantment  of  other  sirens  and 
swept  headlong  upon  the  rocks.  They  are  not  on  the  look- 
out.    They  are  defenceless  against  the  approaches  of  evil. 


2  24  QUESTIONS   OF    THE    DAY. 

They  are  weak,  without  self-government,  without  armor. 
They  have  not  mastered  their  passions.  They  are  strangers 
to  self-denial.  And  when  the  real  test  of  virtue  comes  they 
have  no  power  of  resistance  and  succumb  to  the  destroyer 
almost  without  a  struggle.  Had  their  moral  attributes  been 
rightly  developed,  had  they  been  schooled  to  self-discipline, 
had  they  been  shielded  by  the  old-time  virtue  of  temperance, 
they  might  have  withstood  every  fiery  assault.  But  without 
this  iron  mail  of  inherent  moral  power  the  overthrow  of  the 
tempted  is  inevitable.  If  they  do  not  "walk  in  the  spirit"  men 
will  sooner  or  later  be  overpowered  by  ''the  lusts  of  the  flesh." 

Unless  the  whole  life  is  governed  by  a  supreme  moral 
principle  enthroned  on  the  heart,  what  is  to  save  our  youth 
from  the  wily  blandishments  and  allurements  of  impurity  ? 
Of  what  avail  is  the  feeble  show  of  virtue  when  one  is  over- 
borne by  the  power  of  unbridled  passion  ?  No  vice  is  more 
prevalent,  none  more  besotting  and  blasting  than  the  social 
evil.  None  makes  greater  havoc  of  body  and  of  soul,  of  in- 
dividuals and  of  homes,  of  personal  interest  and  of  personal 
character  ;  and  the  one  sole  bulwark  against  it  is  found  in 
that  resolute,  sturdy  self-possession  or  self-control  which  in 
olden  times  men  called  temperance. 

Observe  the  rage  for  gambling,  the  towering  passion  for 
some  species  of  gaming  or  chancing  which  involves  from 
day  to  day  the  wreck  of  thousands  in  fortune  and  character. 
Measures  for  its  suppression  were  instituted  by  Imperial 
Rome,  and  our  statute-books  are  covered  over  with  pro- 
hibitory enactments,  but  the  State  finds  itself  confronted 
here  with  one  of  those  natural  immoralities  which  no  law 
can  suppress  except  the  law  of  self  government  by  which 
the  individual  may  control  the  strongest  and  mo^t  depraved 
propensities. 

It  is  the  same  with  the  immoderate  pursuit  of  pleasure, 
the  inordinate  and  irrational  craving  for  personal  gratifica- 
tion, by  which  the  noblest  intellectual  and  moral  energies  are 


TEMPERANCE    IN    ALL    THINGS.  225 

corroded   and    the  soul  delirious  goes  whirling  down   the 
inexorable  abyss. 

And  it  is  just  the  same  with  the  mad  chase  after  fashion 
— that  goddess  so  fascinating  and  yet  so  corrupting,  so  dainty 
and  yet  so  hideous  and  heartless,  to  whose  iron  sceptre  a 
whole  sex  yields  remorseless  slavery  and  on  whose  altars 
are  consumed  the  spiritual  affinities  and  the  sacred  affec- 
tions of  woman.  When  one  considers  to  what  crimes  of 
embezzlement  and  forgery  men  are  driven  to  pay  for  the 
finery  and  extravagance  of  the  household,  he  may  justly  raise 
the  question:  Which  is  the  greater  foe  of  human  society,  the 
Saloon  of  strong  drink  or  the  Salon  of  fashion  }  Which  does 
more  to  overturn  the  financial,  social  and  moral  foundations  ? 

And  there  is  the  insatiate  greed  for  wealth.  How  univer- 
sal amongst  us  is  this  passion  !  And  how  base,  how  deprav- 
ing and  hardening.  It  slays  one  by  one  the  better  instincts 
of  humanity  and  ruthlessly  extinguishes  benevolence,  equity, 
justice,  honesty  and  every  other  virtue.  A  casual  observer 
may  exclaim:  The  love  of  drink  is  the  root  of  all  evil.  An 
inspired  Apostle  says  the  love  of  money  is.  And  it  is  this 
lust  of  gain,  the  same  moralist  affirms,  which  "  drowns  men 
in  destruction  and  perdition." 

And  thus  the  black  catalogue  continues  with  its  lusts  of 
the  flesh  and  lusts  of  the  eye,  multifarious  and  possessed  of 
the  strength  of  giants,  directed,  it  would  seem,  by  some  in- 
fernal will  and  exposing  especially  the  young  to  omnipresent 
and  innumerable  perils. 

Now  that  which  gives  to  these  elements  of  evil  their  ter- 
rific power  is  the  peculiar  affinity  for  them  in  men's  own 
hearts.  The  objective  evil  is  only  the  correlative  of  our 
moral  organism.  The  saloon,  the  gambling  den,  are  in- 
deed very  wicked  places,  but  it  is  mainly  what  is  in  us  that 
makes  them  so  wicked.  Men  have  a  morbid  inclination  for 
evil,  as  the  sparks  have  a  propensity  for  flying  upward,  and 
it  is  the  torch  within  them  that  sets  on  fire  of  hell  the  ob- 


226  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

jects  around  them.  The  law  of  action  and  reaction  is  of 
course  at  work  here,  but  the  vileness  of  outward  things 
would  be  inconsiderable  were  it  not  for  the  vileness  of  in- 
ward depravity.  It's  man  that's  vile.  The  gilded  portals 
to  ruin  which  open  everywhere  so  temptingly  would  offer 
little  danger  to  any  one  but  for  the  attraction  felt  for  them 
within  his  own  heart.  Men  are  swift  to  run  into  them. 
When  legal  force  even  closes  them,  they  are  not  slow  in  look- 
ing out  a  back  entrance. 

Change  this  inward  trend  and  those  doorways  may  stand 
open  night  and  day  without  harm.  Quench  "  these  fires 
that  within  my  bosom  burn  "  and  the  hells  of  which  we 
hear  so  much  will  die  out  of  themselves.  Purge  out  the 
filth  that  reeks  in  your  breast  and  all  the  putrid  dives  of  vice 
will  be  no  more  contaminating  to  you  than  so  many  drifts 
of  snow.  There  is  no  surer  method  of  abolishing  the  saloon 
and  every  kindred  evil  than  by  the  repression  of  sensual 
appetites  and  the  readjustment  of  the  affections.  Secure 
a  change  in  the  spirit  of  men's  minds,  let  them  be  *'  strength- 
ened with  might  in  the  inner  man,"  fortified  by  the  inherent 
power  of  self-discipline  and  self-dominion,  and  these  haunts 
of  sin  will  crumble  away  for  want  of  support.  There  is, 
after  all,  no  mightier  remedy  against  intemperance  than 
just  temperance.  Bring  the  drinker,  the  one  that  is 
tempted  by  any  lust,  to  enforce  prohibition  on  himself,  and 
the  process  of  his  deliverance  is  not  only  amazingly  simpli- 
fied but  at  the  same  time  made  doubly  sure.  Power  over 
one's  self  is  the  most  effective  power  in  the  world.  He  that 
ruleth  his  own  spirit  is  better  than  he  that  taketh  a  city. 

When  two  persons  are  set  on  marrying  and  their  union 
is  viewed  as  a  calamity  by  the  parents,  there  is  only  one 
measure  which  never  fails  to  prevent  it.  Effect,  if  possible, 
a  change  of  mind  in  one  of  the  parties,  a  change  sustained 
by  a  firm  purpose  and  a  resolute  will,  and  you  can  dispense 
with  bolts  and  police  and  detectives.     The  girl  is  safe.     No 


TEMPERANCE    IN    ALL    THINGS.  22/ 

expedient  of  her  suitor  can  make  any  impression  upon  the 
impregnable  defence  of  her  own  fortitude. 

How  much  superior,  then,  is  this  old-time,  sturdy,  stal- 
wart, temperance  to  every  modern  reform  that  passes  under 
that  name.  As  long  as  men  and  women  are  so  lacking  in 
moral  fibre  as  to  be  capable  of  but  feeble  resistance  to  the 
pressure  of  temptation,  as  long  as  they  are  morbidly  inclined 
to  wrong-doing  and  wrong-going,  and  possessed  of  a  de- 
praved eagerness  to  compass  their  ruin,  no  power  on  earth 
can  save  them  alike  from  inebriety  and  impurity,  from  the 
spell  of  the  dice,  the  grasp  of  Mammon  and  the  lures  of 
fashion.  But  with  the  character  changed,  the  heart  drawn 
to  spiritual  objects,  with  inward  strength  replenished  and 
moral  principle  made  firm,  all  forms  of  evil  lose  at  once 
their  attractions,  or  if  they  still  wear  an  enticing  garb,  there 
is  inherent  moral  power  to  withstand  them.  The  danger  is 
at  the  worst  reduced  to  a  minimum.  One  becomes  so  thor- 
oughly fortified  in  grace  and  virtue  as  to  be  made  proof 
against  all  temptation.  For  real  temperance  is  a  comprehen- 
sive virtue,  directed  not,  like  prohibition,  against  a  single  vice, 
but  against  every  vice.  It  is  a  safeguard  against  every  foe. 
It  is  essentially  the  rule  of  one's  spirit  under  every  excite- 
ment or  provocation,  and  makes  one  safe  in  the  midst  of 
the  aggression  and  whirl  and  tumult  of  the  hosts  of  sin.  Nor 
is  it,  like  prohibition,  a  merely  negative  expedient.  It  is 
the  positive  exercise  of  moral  principle.  It  is  self-acting, 
self-enforcing  prohibition  by  virtue  of  which  a  man  curbs 
his  headlong  passions,  denies  to  himself  every  indulgence 
that  undoes  the  soul  and  keeps  at  a  safe  distance  all  the 
countless  forms  of  evil. 

Arrayed  in  this  panoply  the  youth  may  enter  the  city 
where  temptations  roll  around  him  like  the  waves  of  the  sea. 
Bacchus  may  lure  him  to  halls  of  revelry,  pleasure  spread 
her  silken  toils,  beauty  may  assail  him  with  her  meretri- 
cious charms  and  gold  may  offer  the  world  for  his  soul, — he 


228  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

cannot  be  moved.  He  stands  like  a  rock  amidst  the  break- 
ers. "  Though  devils  all  the  world  do  fill  "  he  is  protected 
by  an  armor  that  quenches  all  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked 
one.  Temptation  has,  indeed,  strength.  It  is  the  fierce  power 
of  hell.  But  virtue  sustained  by  grace  is  yet  stronger.  It 
is  the  power  of  God. 

And  this  method  of  reform,  finally,  accords  with  the 
genius  of  Christianity.  Our  efforts  for  good  are  certainly 
most  efficacious  when  directed  upon  the  line  of  divine 
methods.  The  Gospel  goes  below  the  surface  and  lays  the 
axe  upon  the  root.  It  deals  not  so  much  with  the  outward 
manifestations  of  evil  as  with  its  hidden  sources.  Its  process 
is  from  within  outward.  It  saves  men  not  by  the  abolition  of 
temptation,  but  by  the  renewal  of  their  natures  and  by  the 
upbuilding  of  a  character  that  firmly  resists  evil.  The  devil, 
for  some  good  reason,  has  not  been  chained.  And  the  new 
convert  in  religion  is  not  taken  out  of  the  world  where  temp- 
tation is  rife,  but  he  is  transformed  internally  and  thereby 
the  world  is  disenchanted. 

"The  weapons  of  our  warfare  are  not  carnal,"  was  the 
confession  of  one  of  those  men  who  were  charged  with 
turning  the  world  upsidedown,  and  those  weapons  proved 
their  power  in  "the  pulling  down  of  strongholds."  It  did 
not  occur  to  those  single-minded  pioneers  of  reform  to  in- 
voke the  assistance  of  the  empire  for  the  suppression  of 
drunkenness,  licentiousness  and  idolatry.  They  might  have 
owned  even  to  the  conceit  of  wielding  armor  at  which  satanic 
interests  trembled  more  than  at  the  fiats  of  emperors  or 
the  decrees  of  senates.  The  state  is  no  doubt  of  divine 
appointment  as  a  terror  to  evil-doers,  but  as  a  positive  means 
of  saving  and  training  men  the  family  has  been  instituted, 
and  the  Church.  And  more  can  be  done  for  temperance  at 
a  mother's  knee  and  through  the  means  of  grace  than  by 
the  combined  power  of  the  legislation  and  police  of  the 
world. 


WHAT  IS  TRUTH?* 

By  President  Francis  L.  Patton,  D.D.,LL.D.,  r'«./NCE- 

TON  College,  N.  J. 


PILATE  said  unto  Him,  What  is  trath  ?  (John  xviii., 
;^S.)  I  did  not  hear  Pilate  say  these  words  and  1 
do  not  know  whether  he  was  jesting,  as  Bacon  says,  or 
not.  Much  depends,  as  we  all  know — and  this  is  just  as 
true  of  written  as  of  spoken  utterances — on  emphasis  and 
accent,  on  tone  and  qualifying  phrases,  and  this  is  some- 
thing that  both  readers  and  writers  would  do  well  always 
to  bear  in  mind.  The  speaker  will  probably  show  the 
spirit  he  is  of  in  the  way  he  asks  the  question. 

But  Pilate  altogether  apart  this  famous  interrogation  may 
at  the  present  day  pass  from  the  lips  of  the  philosopher,  the 
religious  inquirer,  or  the  scoffer.  Each  will  probably  show 
the  spirit  he  is  of  in  the  way  he  rsks  it.  What  is  truth? 
What  meaning  do  you  impose  upon  this  word  ?  The  answer 
leads  so  rationally  to  suggestions  that  are  eminently  appro- 
priate to  all  the  circumstances  of  to-day  that  I  think  we 
may  spend  a  few  moments  in  its  consideration. 

"  What  is  truth  ?  "  Truth  is  the  correspondence  between 
thought  and  reality.  A  fact  in  the  outward  world  or  an 
event,  is  not  truth.  The  river  or  the  wind-mill  which  you 
pass  during  an  evening's  drive,  the  events  of  history,  are  all 
facts  but  not  truths.  The  world  we  live  in  might  have  been 
as  full  of  material  for  thought  as  it  now  is,  but  had  no 
thinker  appeared  there  would  have  been  no  truth.  Our 
thought  relation  implies  the  great  thinker  whom  we  call 
*  Abstract  of  Baccalaureate  sermon,  delivered  May  7th,  1891. 


230  QUESTIONS   OF    THE    DAY. 

God.  That,  indeed,  is  the  great  inference  to  which  we 
are  led  in  our  attempt  to  impose  a  meaning  upon  this  word 
truth.  In  every  case  the  endeavor  is,  to  bring  the  mind  into 
harmony  with  the  actual,  so  that  there  shall  be  the  closest 
consonance  between  the  thought  of  the  thing  and  the  thing 
itself.  Truth  is  not  the  thing;  it  is  the  accurate  thought  of 
the  thing.  Truth  is  thought's  relation  to  reality,  truth  is 
the  word  we  use  when  we  wish  to  say  that  thought  and 
things  match  each  other  perfectly.  There  is  no  truth  where 
there  is  no  thought.  No  man  has  truth  imparted  to  him. 
He  may  swallow  facts  and  repeat  formulas,  but  until  he 
thinks  he  is  a  stranger  to  truth.  Your  text-book  will  do  you 
as  much  good  in  your  pocket,  as  in  your  memory,  if  you  have 
not  thought  over  its  statements  for  yourself. 

The  training  you  have  received  here  will  prepare  you  for 
putting  a  proper  valuation  upon  some  rhetorical  statements 
about  truth  that  are  so  common  as  to  be  misleading,  for  men 
write  truth  in  capitals,  speak  of  her  in  the  feminine  gender, 
and  say  she  is  relative  and  partial;  and  that  what  passes  for 
truth  in  one  age  is  discarded  in  the  next;  or  indeed  that  the 
question,"  What  is  truth  V  if  by  it,  you  mean,  what  are  the 
contents  of  your  knowledge  chest,  is  one  that  cannot  be  an- 
swered. Of  course  truth  is  relative  ;  that  is,  one  man  knows 
one  thing  and  another  knows  something  else.  Truth  being 
the  consonance  of  my  thought  with  reality,  it  must  be  rela- 
tive. It  must  be  relative,  for  my  range  of  vision  is  limited, 
and  I  trouble  myself  about  some  things,  and  let  others 
severely  alone.  Then  what  is  truth  ?  The  question  is  asked 
this  time  in  a  tone  of  anxiety  that  betrays  a  personal  interest. 
It  is  now  a  question  of  religious  truth.  There  is  no  way  of 
keeping  young  men  from  coming  in  contact  with  the  relig- 
ious problems  of  the  age.  They  cannot  well  be  educated 
men  without  coming  in  contact  with  them,  for  the  open 
questions  in  science  and  philosophy  involve  them.  It  is 
not  unnatural  for  young  men  to  think  that  the  old  is  false 


WHAT    IS    TRUTH?  23I 

and  the  new  is  to  supersede  it,  and  that  this  should  have 
a  disturbing  influence  upon  the  early  faiths  of  educated 
young  men.  I  am  sorry  for  the  young  man  who  feels  that 
his  faith  is  undergoing  eclipse  ;  and  that  his  education  is 
lifting  a  barrier  between  him  and  those  who  are  most  dear 
to  him,  by  preventing  him  from  sharing  their  religious  faiths 
in  the  fulness  of  the  old  and  unhesitating  confidence.  I 
pity  the  man  who  feels  as  he  leaves  college  that  he  has  more 
philosophy  and  less  Bible  than  when  he  entered.  Far  sooner 
would  I,  that  a  son  of  mine  should  never  enter  a  college 
door,  than  that  his  college  learning  should  be  gained  at  the 
cost  of  his  Christian  faith.  And  yet  I  suppose  there  is  a 
quiet  process  of  reconstruction  of  religious  faith  that  goes 
on  in  the  minds  of  a  great  many  young  men,  and  an  anxiety, 
consequently,  of  which  very  few  of  us  have  any  idea.  There 
are  flippant  men  who  ask,  "  What  is  truth  ?  "  as  though  they 
did  not  care.  But  the  men  of  whom  I  am  speaking  now, 
are  speaking  soberly.  Would  to  God  I  could  speak  a  help- 
ful word  to  such  to-day — the  last  time  I  may  have  a  chance 
to  answer  the  question,  ''What  is  truth  ?" 

Your  college  training  has  done  either  of  two  things  for 
you  In  a  greater  or  less  degree.  It  has  increased  your  love 
for  truth  or  lessened  it,  for  I  am  a  full  believer  in  the  truth 
that  men  get  good  in  college  that  does  not  show  in  class- 
room. Now,  young  men,  I  tell  you  that  you  may  be  earnest, 
charitable,  and  full  of  good  works,  but  unless  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth is  distinguished  both  in  person  and  in  work  by  marked 
supernaturalism  your  Christianity  with  all  its  earnestness  is 
only  a  baptized  paganism. 

When  I  see  young  men  can  carry  the  Christian  name  and 
really  illustrate  so  many  of  the  features  of  Christian  life,  and 
yet  make  a  positive  denial  of  essential  truth,  or,  by  their  in- 
difference to  it,  sacrifice  the  dearest  interest  of  Christian 
truth,  I  am  disheartened.  I  am  not  contending  here  for  a 
sectarian  theology.     I  am  preaching  to  you  on  the  broad 


232  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

lines  of  Catholic  Christianity,  and  am  trying  to  present  to 
you  the  essence  of  Christian  faith.  I  only  wish  that  you 
should  realize  that  Christianity,  if  it  is  anything,  if  it  deserves 
any  enduring  place,  if  it  has  any  exceptional  claims,  if  it 
brings  any  word  of  comfort,  if  it  has  any  voice  of  authority, 
rests  upon  the  doctrine  that  Jesus  Christ  was  delivered  for 
our  offences,  and  raised  again  for  our  justification.  It  is 
not  true  that  Christianity  is  a  life  and  not  a  doctrine.  It 
is  a  life  because  it  is  a  doctrine.  A  religion  that  sees  only 
the  human  side  of  Christ  always  calls  him  Jesus;  the  re- 
ligion that  looks  only  upon  ethical  states  and  preaches  only 
the  moralities  of  life,  a  religion  that  holds  that  love  is  the 
greatest  thing  in  the  world,  and  is  satisfied  with  the  sweet- 
ness and  tenderness  of  Christian  feeling,  is  a  religion  of 
which  the  best  that  you  can  say  is,  that  it  is  trying  to  keep 
the  fruits  of  Christianity  living,  while  it  lays  the  axe  at  the 
root  of  the  tree  which  bears  them. 

Now  I  say,  I  dare  to  say — would  to  God  that  men  would 
heed  me — that  if  I  must  choose  between  life  and  dogma,  I 
will  say  that  Christianity  is  not  a  life,  but  a  dogma.  You 
cannot  live  the  Christian  life  without  holding  the  Christian 
dogma,  the  one  emanates  solely  from  the  other.  This  dog- 
ma's great  supposition  is,  that  man  is  a  sinner  and  that 
without  the  shedding  of  the  blood  there  is  no  remission 
of  sin.  Its  great  fact  is  that  Jesus  was  the  propitiation  of 
our  sins,  and  not  for  ours  only,  but  for  the  sins  of  the 
whole  world.  It  comes  to  us  saying  in  a  thousand  ways 
that  we  cannot  be  justified  by  the  works  of  the  law,  but 
that  being  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace  with  God.  Its 
one  shining  and  conspicuous  miracle  is  the  resurrection  of 
Christ.  Its  doctrine  of  the  incarnation  separates  it  from  all 
the  religions  in  the  world. 

If  you  are  in  earnest,  my  friends,  and  you  want  to  know 
what  you  shall  do  to  keep  your  Christian  faith  on  rational 
grounds,  I  will  tell  you  how  to  get  at  the  heart  of  the  ques- 


WHAT    IS    TRUTH?  23^ 

tion  without  delay.  You  believe  in  God.  Add  to  your  the- 
ism the  Incarnate  Christ,  and  you  have  found  the  truth. 
The  pitched  battle  of  unbelief  is  here.  It  is  history  versus 
philosophy.  Settle  with  yourself  whether  you  will  let  your 
rationalistic  philosophy  settle  your  history  ;  or  whether  you 
will  make  history  qualify  your  philosophy.  Will  you  permit 
theory  to  make  fact,  or  fact  to  make  theory  ?  This  is  the 
crucial  question  of  theological  debate ;  not  the  inspiration 
of  the  Scripture  nor  the  authorship  of  the  Pentateuch. 

Young  men  of  the  senior  class,  you  lately  won  a  battle  in 
athletic  games,  then  remember  that  ordinary  events  in  life 
are  often  parables  to  us.  There  are  battles  we  have  to 
fight  and  victories  we  hope  to  win  all  through  life.  You 
know  how  you  did  it.  You  know  the  patience,  you  know 
the  training  and  the  faith  that  entered  into  it.  Self-confi- 
dence is  the  beginning  of  great  acts.  You  contested  that 
you  might  win  an  earthly  crown  ;  but  do  not  forget,  my 
friends,  that  there  is  a  crown  of  righteousness  that  fadeth 
not  away.  Go  forth  to-day  in  the  strength  of  Christian  char- 
acter, stand  like  true  soldiers  on  the  battlefield  and  fight 
your  hardest. 


HIGHER  CRITICISM. 

By  Prof.  Milton  S.  Terry,  D.D,,  Garrett  Biulical  Institute, 

EvANSTON,  III. 


'\  J^riTH  hundreds  of  devout  biblical  scholars  it  is  a  matter 
of  profound  regret  that  the  term  "  Higher  Criticism  " 
should  be  confounded  with  destructive  rationalism.  Not  that 
the  term  in  itself  is  of  any  great  importance,  but  the  mistaken 
sense  of  it  has  been  employed  to  fill  the  popular  mind  with 
narrow  prejudice  against  critical  research.  The  *'  higher 
critic  "  is  referred  to  with  a  sneer,  and  it  is  implied  that  he 
gives  himself  this  title,  and  thereby  assumes  a  higher  grade 
of  knowledge  and  ability  than  other  men.  Those  who  are 
guilty  of  this  misuse  of  language  ought  to  know  that  the 
term  "  Higher  Criticism  "  held  an  honorable  place  in  biblical 
science  some  years  before  they  were  born.  It  has  served  a 
most  convenient  purpose  in  distinguishing  historical  and 
critical  inquiries  into  the  age,  authorship  and  contents  of 
the  sacred  writings,  from  similar  inquiries  after  the  exact 
original  texts  of  those  writings,  which  latter  is  known  as 
"  Lower  Criticism."  Perhaps  the  misuse  and  abuse  of  the 
term  may  lead  to  the  adoption  of  another  word.  Some 
writers  of  distinction  are  already  substituting  such  synonyms 
as  ''biblical  criticism,"  and  "historical  research." 

But  this  kind  of  criticism  is  nearly  as  old  as  Christianity. 
Eusebius  tells  us  that  many  in  his  day  had  questioned  the 
authorship  of  Hebrews,  and  James,  and  H.  Peter,  and  Jude, 
and  the  Revelation  of  John.  Porphyry  assailed  the  genu- 
ineness of  Daniel,  and  Jerome  and  others  defended  it.  The 
last  century  has,  indeed,  brought  out  libraries  of  literature 
on  both  sides  of  these  questions,  and  comparatively  little 
that  is  really  new  has  been  brought  forward  within  the  last 
fifteen  years,  and  yet,  within  that  time,  "  Higher  Criticism  " 


23^  QUESTIONS   OF    THE    DAY, 

has  been  denounced  as  a  monstrous  hydra,  aiming  to  destroy 
the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints.  But  the  defenders  of 
traditional  views,  who  have  maintained  a  learned  opposition 
to  rationalism,  are  as  truly  *'  higher  critics  "  as  the  neolo- 
gists.  Neander  distinguished  himself  in  higher  criticism  as 
truly  as  did  Strauss.  All  who  search  in  a  true  scientific  manner 
to  ascertain  the  facts  touching  date,  authorship  and  character 
of  the  books  of  the  Bible  are  students  in  higher  criticism. 

It  is  the  infirmity  and  misfortune  of  some  minds  to  sup- 
pose that  everything  of  importance  in  religion  must  be 
settled  by  outward  authority.  The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
loses  all  its  interest  to  them  when  told  that  it  was  probably 
not  written  by  Paul,  They  suspect  the  piety  and  honesty 
of  one  who  affirms  that,  in  his  judgment,  the  internal  evi- 
dence against  the  Isaiahan  authorship  of  Isa.  xl.-lxvi.  out- 
weighs the  external  evidence  in  favor  of  such  authorship. 
Such  minds  are  apt  to  rush  at  certain  conclusions  much  as 
Don  Quixote  attacked  the  windmills,  and  when  one  affirms 
his  conviction  that  Moses  did  not  write  the  Pentateuch,  they 
hasten  to  class  him  with  infidels,  and  sometimes  indulge  in 
pitiful  commiseration  over  his  lack  of  understanding,  and 
perversity  of  heart.  Surely,  they  say,  he  ought  to  know  that 
he  is  openly  contradicting  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ! 

But  in  the  interest  of  piety,  and  fairness,  and  honor,  let  us 
calmly  consider  the  nature  and  issues  of  one  or  two  of  the 
unsettled  questions  of  higher  criticism.  Take  first  the 
question  of  the  date  and  authorship  of  Isa.  xl.-lxvi. 

I.  The  thoughtful  reader  finds  in  xliii,,  14;  xlvi,,  i; 
xlvii.,  1-7  ;  xlviii.,  14-20,  passages  in  which  Babylon  is  men- 
tioned in  a  manner  very  unnatural  for  a  writer  living  more 
than  a  hundred  years  before  the  Babylonian  exile. 

II,  He  finds  in  xlii.,  22-25  ;  xliv.,  26-28  ;  Hi.,  2-1 1  ;  Ixiii., 
18;  Ixiv.,  9-1 1,  passages  which  show  the  Jewish  people  in 
exile,  Judah  a  desolation,  and  Jerusalem  and  the  temple  in 
ruins.     "  Our  holy  and  beautiful  house,  where  our  fathers 


HIGHER    CRITICISM.  237 

praised  Thee,  is  burned  with  fire,  and  all  our  pleasant  things 
are  laid  waste." 

III.  He  also  finds  passages  which  mention  or  refer  to  Cyrus 
as  a  well  known  conquerer.  In  xli.,  2,  25  ;  xlv.,  13  ;  xlvi., 
II,  he  is  referred  to  as  one  so  well  known  as  not  to  need 
naming  in  order  to  be  recognized,  and  in  xliv.,  28,  and  xlv., 
1-4,  he  is  explicitly  named  and  titled. 

These  three  classes  of  passages  resolve  themselves  into 
one  united  testimony  to  show  that  the  standpoint  of  the 
writer  is  the  time  of  the  Babylonian  exile.  The  ruin  and 
desolation  of  Jerusalem  and  Judah  are  not  predicted  as 
something  yet  to  be,  but  assumed  as  already  existing.  To 
imagine,  as  some  have  done,  that  the  prophet  transports  him- 
self to  a  future  age,  and  from  that  future  standpoint  predicts 
a  future  still  more  distant,  is  a  most  violent  and  unnatural 
assumption.  Passages  like  Isa.  v.,  13  ;  ix.,  1-7,  in  which  we 
meet  with  what  is  called  the  ''prophetic  perfect  "  in  the  use 
of  the  verbs,  furnish  no  true  parallel.  Their  context  and 
historical  background  abundantly  explain  them,  and  they 
contain  no  such  sustained  and  continuous  picture. 

Moreover,  the  mention  of  Cyrus  by  name,  and  the  manner 
in  which  he  is  repeatedly  referred  to,  would  be  utterly  un- 
natural in  a  prophet  writing  more  than  a  century  before  the 
conquerer  appeared.  The  mention  of  Josiah  by  name  in  I. 
Kings  xiii.,  2,  is  not  parallel,  for  there  we  have  a  definite 
prediction;  but  here  Cyrus  is  first  referred  to  without  men- 
tion of  his  name,  xli.,  2,  25,  as  a  person  supposed  to  be 
known,  and  when  he  is  named,  xliv.,  28  ;  xlv.,  i,  it  is  not 
done  after  the  manner  of  prediction.  It  is  amazing  to  find 
an  exegete  like  Cowles  declaring  that  such  language  in  a 
writer  of  the  exile  time  would  be  "false  and  even  blasphe- 
mous "  {Bibiiotheca  Sacra^  1873,  P*  SS^)-  Forbes  also  makes 
the  bold  assertion  that  such  language  "would  be  utterly 
ludicrous  if  made  by  one  who  wrote  at  the  close  of  the 
Babylonian  captivity  "    {Servant  of  Jehovah^   p.    x).     The 


238  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

prophet  does  not  claim,  as  these  writers  assume,  to  name 
Cyrus  before  he  has  appeared,  but  he  points  to  him  rather 
as  one  who  has  already  taken  his  place  upon  the  stage  of 
history.  He  has  appeared,  and  is  marching  on  to  conquest, 
as  a  chosen  vessel  of  Jehovah.  "  I  have  called  thee  by  thy 
name,"  He  says  ;  '*I  have  surnamed  thee  (/.  ^.,  called  him 
His  shepherd  and  messiah,  in  xliv.,  28,  and  xlv.,  i),  though 
thou  hast  not  known  Me."  Cyrus  did  not  know  or  worship 
Jehovah,  but  was  employed  as  His  agent  to  say  of  Jerusa- 
lem, "  she  shall  be  built,  and  to  the  temple,  thy  foundation 
shall  be  laid." 

These  are  specimens  of  evidence  in  the  book  itself  bear- 
ing directly  on  the  question  of  date.  To  many  of  the  most 
devout  students  of  the  sacred  Word  they  have  more  weight 
and  cogency,  to  prove  the  exile  date,  than  all  the  argu- 
ments from  other  sources  to  prove  a  date  a  century  before 
the  exile.  But,  whatever  one's  judgment  as  to  that,  what 
are  we  to  think  of  the  fair  mindedness  of  a  writer  who 
sets  out  to  discuss  this  subject,  and  totally  ignores  all  this 
internal  witness  to  the  exile  date .''  Is  it  honest  to  say 
that  higher  criticism  claims  that  these  chapters  were  written 
after  Cyrus.**  If  such  a  charge  is  made  in  ignorance,  then 
the  ignorance  is  culpable.  Is  it  pious  to  say  that  those 
who  deny  the  Isaiahan  authorship  are  anxious  to  get  rid  of 
the  supernatural?  Such  a  cliarge  is  little  less  than  a  viola- 
tion of  the  Ninth  Commandment.  No;  not  the  supernat- 
ural, but  the  unnatural,  is  what  most  recent  critics  seek  to 
avoid.  The  dating  of  these  prophecies  in  the  closing  years 
of  the  exile  (not  after  the  exile)  does  not  in  the  least  di- 
minish their  power  as  inspired  oracles  of  God.  The  glor- 
ious Messianic  future,  as  outlined  in  these  wonderful  chap- 
ters, has  the  exile  for  its  background,  just  as  the  Messianic 
glory  of  Isaiah  xi.  follows  in  prophetic  vision  immediately 
upon  the  fall  of  Assyria. 

But,  writers  who  identify  higher  criticism  with  rationalism 


HIGHER    CRITICISM.  239 

are  not  only  guilty  of  misrepresenting  the  issues  of  criti- 
cism on  this  subject,  but  they  prejudice  fair-minded  stu- 
dents by  irrational  methods  of  defending  what  they  hold  to 
be  the  truth.  What  must  a  well-informed  student  of  the 
Bible  think  of  proving  the  author  of  Isaiah  Ixii.,  4,  to  be  a 
contemporary  of  King  Hezekiah  because  he  chances  to  use 
the  word  Hephzibah,  which  was  the  name  of  Hezekiah's 
wife?  The  Hebrew  scholar  will  be  asking  why  the  sym- 
bolical name  Hephzibah  should  be  allowed  suc'i  an  histori- 
cal reference,  rather  than  Azubah  and  Shemamah  and  Beulah, 
which  occur  in  the  same  verse.  It  is  also  claimed  that 
these  chapters  exhibit  a  notable  play  on  the  name  of  Heze- 
kiah by  means  of  various  forms  of  the  Hebrew  verb  hhazaq, 
and  therefore  the  prophet  7vas  a  contemporary  of  that  king  ! 
But  these  logicians  seem  never  to  have  noticed  that  the 
Hiphil  form  of  this  verb  occurs  more  times  in  the  short  book 
of  Nehemiah  than  in  all  the  sixty-six  chapters  of  Isaiah. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to  argue  for  or  against 
any  particular  theory  of  the  authorship  of  Isaiah,  or  of  the 
Pentateuch.  We  have  written  the  foregoing  to  show  the 
false  and  self-destructive  methods  often  conspicuous  in 
some  who  assume  to  confute  "  higher  criticism."  We  enter 
an  emphatic  protest  against  current  indiscriminating  de- 
nunciations of  men  who  see  good  reason  to  reject  some  of 
the  traditional  notions  of  the  Bible.  Whatever  may  become 
of  the  term  "  higher  criticism,"  its  age-long  work  will  go 
right  on.  Centuries  of  patient  research  may  not  settle  a 
number  of  interesting  questions,  but  it  is  noticeable  that  the 
defenders  of  the  Pauline  authorship  of  Hebrews  are  becom- 
ing fewer,  while  those  who  adopt  the  exile  date  of  Isaiah 
xl.-lxvi.  are  becoming  more  numerous  every  year.  All 
such  questions  should  be  calmly  left  to  the  most  rigor- 
ous criticism.  There  is  no  probability  that  the  great  body 
of  biblical  critics  will  be  willing  to  persist  in  any  palpable 
sophistry.     If  the  analysis  of  the  Pentateuch,  now  preva- 


240  QUESTIONS   OF    THE    DAY. 

lent  among  the  best  biblical  scholars,  has  no  valid  founda- 
tion in  fact,  it  will  surely  come  to  nought.  But,  if  it  is  true, 
there  is  no  more  wisdom  in  fighting  against  it  than  in 
fighting  against  God. 

It  should  be  added  that  no  sound  criticism  will  ignore 
the  weight  and  importance  of  a  unanimous  tradition.  One 
of  its  settled  axioms  is  that  such  a  fact  has  "  the  right  of  waj^" 
until  offset  by  controlling  evidence  to  the  contrary.  But  a 
uniform  tradition  of  centuries  may  have  originated  in  error, 
and,  having  so  begun,  centuries 'of  repetition  do  not  add 
one  whit  to  its  correctness.  Age  cannot  make  an  error  truth. 

But  what  about  our  Lord  and  His  disciples  endorsing 
such  a  tradition  ?  So  far  as  this  question  touches  the  tra- 
ditional authorship  of  Old  Testament  books,  the  naked 
proposition,  fairly  stated,  is:  Does  the  quotation  of  a  book, 
or  a  reference  to  it  or  its  traditional  author,  after  the  cur- 
rent and  popular  methods  of  quotation,  commit  the  person 
making  such  reference  to  an  authoritative  verdict  on  the 
questions  of  date  and  authorship  ?  Sober  and  thoughtful 
minds  will  hesitate  before  affirming  such  a  proposition.  We 
quote  with  approval  and  conclude  this  article  with  the  fol- 
lowing words  of  Prof.  Stevens,  in  his  opening  address  be- 
fore the  Rochester  Theological  Seminary : 

"  Does  the  language  of  our  Lord  forever  debar  a  Chris- 
tian scholar  from  raising  the  question  whether  the  Penta- 
teuch is  a  composite  document,  or  wholly  the  work  of 
Moses  ?  I  have  learned  the  danger  of  taking  any  passage 
of  Scripture  to  teach  that  which  it  was  not  originally  in- 
tended to  teach.  One  of  the  most  difficult  tasks  of  the  in- 
terpreter is  to  distinguish  between  the  teaching  of  Scrip- 
ture and  his  own  inferences  from  that  teaching.  Hence  in 
this,  and  in  all  similar  cases,  in  order  to  know  what  our 
Lord's  conception  of  the  fact  was,  what  He  meant  to  say 
and  what  He  did  siy,  it  is  first  incumbent  upon  us  by  all 
possible  research  to  ascertain  what  the  given  fact  was," 


INSPIRED  FICTION. 

By  Prof.  Milton   S.  Terry,  D.D.,  Garrett   Biblical 
Institute,  Evanston,  III. 


TO  some  minds  the  two  words  in  the  title  of  this  article 
may  seem  preposterous.  The  Holy  Scriptures,  given 
by  inspiration  of  God,  are  assumed  to  be  the  written  em- 
bodiment of  truth,  without  any  admixture  of  error,  and  to 
say  that  they  contain  works  of  fiction  is  to  put  a  heavy  bur- 
den upon  the  evangelical  faith.  Such  inspired  oracles  must 
needs  confine  themselves  to  the  realm  of  sober  fact. 

But  is  it  not  rather  preposterous  to  set  up  such  a  pre- 
sumption in  advance  ?  Who  is  qualified  to  say  a  prion 
what  form  the  written  Word  of  God  must  take  on  ?  Is  it 
not  the  wiser  way  to  examine  carefully  the  writings  as  they 
are,  and  suspend  judgment  on  questions  of  form  and 
method  until  we  have  all  the  facts  before  us  ? 

Looking  into  these  sacred  writings  we  find  not  only 
the  record  of  facts,  and  laws,  and  counsels,  and  exhorta- 
tions,and  predictions  of  what  shall  certainly  come  to  pass, 
but  also  riddles,  fables,  enigmas,  proverbs,  poems,  parables, 
allegories  and  symbols.  Is  there  anything  absurd  in  the 
thought  of  an  inspired  riddle,  or  an  inspired  parable  ? 
What  are  the  parables  of  Jesus  but  inspired  fictions?  The 
parable  of  the  good  Samaritan  begins  :  '*  A  certain  man 
went  down  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho  and  fell  among 
thieves."  Are  these  statements  and  the  rest  of  the  parable 
fact  or  fiction  ?  We  hesitate  not  to  pronounce  it  fiction. 
Scores  of  men  may  have  made  such  a  journey  and  fallen 
into  similar  misfortunes  ;  although  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  any  Samaritan  ever  really  did  what  is  here  written. 


242  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

But  even  that  is  not  impossible.  Whatever  may  be  sup- 
posed of  the  actual  occurrence  of  such  an  affair,  no  evan- 
gelical interpreter  deems  it  important  to  maintain  such  a 
proposition  in  order  that  the  parable  may  be  made  to  serve 
its  highest  purpose.  The  same  may  be  said  of  all  the  para- 
bles of  Scripture,  for  it  is  the  nature  of  a  parable  to  move 
in  the  realm  of  supposable  reality.  Herein  the  parable  dif- 
fers from  the  fable.  But  Gotham's  story  of  the  trees  choos- 
ing a  king.  Judges  ix.  7-15,  is  a  pure  fiction.  Will  anyone 
maintain  that  therefore  it  is  not  inspired  and  has  no  place 
in  the  oracles  of  God  ? 

Some  four  hundred  years  before  Christ  we  find  Plato 
writing  his  philosophical  treatises  and  putting  them  in  the 
form  of  conversations  between  Socrates  and  his  friends. 
Does  any  scholar  believe  that  those  dialogues  are  accurate 
transcriptions  of  what  Socrates  said  ?  It  goes  without  say- 
ing that  such  ''Socratic  method  "  was  only  Plato's  chosen 
way  of  writing  his  philosophy.  Socrates  may  indeed  have 
taught  in  that  manner,  and  many  of  his  teachings  are 
doubtless  correctly  represented  in  the  dialogues  of  his  peer- 
less disciple,  but  it  would  be  a  waste  of  time  and  words  to 
argue  that  the  Platonic  dialog  es  are  accurate  reports  of 
conversations  of  Socrates.  Why,  then,  should  it  be  deemed 
a  thing  incredible  that  the  teachings  of  the  ancient  Scrip- 
tures should  be  also  cast  in  a  like  fictitious  form  ? 

In  the  Book  of  Job  we  seem  to  have  a  most  notable  ex- 
ample of  this.  The  book  is  a  magnificent  poem,  cast  in 
dramatic  form.  Like  many  of  Shakespeare's  dramas,  it 
may  or  may  not  have  been  based  on  historical  fact.  But 
so  far  as  its  great  lessons  are  concerned,  it  matters  not 
whether  Job  be  a  real  person  of  history  or  the  creation  of 
the  poet's  genius.  The  reader  who  most  fully  takes  in  the 
divine  lessons  of  the  drama  cares  as  little  about  that  ques- 
tion as  the  appreciative  reader  of  Shakespeare  cares  about 
the  question  whether  "Hamlet,  Prince  of  Denmark,"  was  a 


Inspired  FicTioisr.  243 

real  person.  He  knows  in  any  case  that  the  work  is  essen- 
tially a  fiction,  and  such  works,  even  the  most  ephemeral 
novels  of  modern  times,  usually  select  some  historic  names 
and  places  as  a  background. 

It  has  become  the  all  but  unanimous  opinion  of  the  best 
biblical  scholars  that  the  author  of  Ecclesiastes  was  not 
Solomon,  but  a  much  later  writer  who  personates  Solomon 
and  speaks  as  ''king  over  Israel  in  Jerusalem."  According 
to  this  view,  the  author  puts  what  he  wishes  to  say  in  the 
form  of  what  he  assumes  '*  the  Son  of  David,  king  in  Jeru- 
salem," might  have  said.  He  does  what  Plato  has  done  in 
presenting  his  philosophy  as  the  wise  discourses  of  Socrates. 
Such  dramatic  personation  has  been,  in  various  times  and 
countries,  a  favorite  method  of  communicating  instruction. 
The  apocryphal  book  entitled  the  "  Wisdom  of  Solomon  "  as- 
sumes this  form,  as,  for  example,  when  its  author  writes,  ix.  7, 
8  :  ''  Thou  hast  chosen  me  to  be  a  king  of  thy  people,  and  a 
!udge  of  thy  sons  and  daughters.  Thou  hast  commanded 
me  to  built  a  temple  upon  thy  holy  mount,  and  an  altar  in 
the  city  wherein  thou  dwellest."  Men  who  insist  that  the 
Solomonic  authorship  of  Ecclesiastes  must  be  held  because 
the  writer  assumes  to  speak  in  the  name  of  Solomon,  must 
also  expect  to  show  convincing  reasons  for  rejecting  the 
Solomonic  authorship  of  that  magnificent  apocryphal  book 
just  quoted,  which  makes  the  same  claim. 

But  many  among  us  feel  that  such  concessions  are  virtu- 
ally a  surrender  to  the  demands  of  a  destructive  rationalism. 
Such  turning  from  traditional  views  always  starts  the  ques- 
tion, "  Where  will  this  procedure  end  ? "  If  the  books  of 
Job  and  Ecclesiastes  are  works  of  fiction,  who  knows  what 
other  books  will  soon  be  swept  into  the  same  category  ? 

Such  questions  evince  a  prudent  caution,  and  every  wise 
man  forecasts  to  see  the  probable  outcome  of  marked  tenden- 
cies of  thought.  But  other  important  questions  demand  for 
their  answer  equal  caution.    Must  free  inquiry  touching  the 


244  QUESTIONS   OF    THE    BAY. 

date  and  authorship  of  a  book  be  overruled  by  an  ab  extra 
command  of  *'  thus  far  and  no  farther  "  ?  Is  it  compromising 
the  evangelical  faith  to  hold  that  the  Bible  contains  works  of 
fiction?  Is  our  faith  in  a  divine  revelation  to  depend  on  a 
/r/V?r/ assumptions  of  what  forms  its  written  documents  must 
take  ?  We  believe  the  best  minds  of  the  modern  Church  are 
coming  to  see  the  peril  of  such  assumptions  as  these  ques- 
tions suggest.  There  is  wide  room  for  differences  of  opinion 
on  the  great  questions  of  biblical  criticism.  I  may  be  per- 
suaded in  my  own  mind  that  the  traditional  authorship  of 
Ecclesiastes  is  too  well  established  to  be  overthrown  by 
valid  criticism.  But  I  should  cheerfully  concede  that  hun- 
dreds of  the  most  devout  students  of  the  Word  believe  it  to 
be  a  work  of  fiction,  and  no  more  intended  to  deceive  its 
readers  than  Plato's  Apology  of  Socrates.  I  should  be 
broad  enough  to  see  that  no  essential  doctrine  which  it 
teaches  and  no  important  truths  of  religion  suffer  by  such 
concession. 

But  many  will  feel  that  this  matter  takes  on  a  more  seri- 
ous aspect  when  one  thinks  he  discovers  the  elements  of  a 
fiction  in  such  a  book  as  Daniel.  This  hits  at  once  upon 
the  question  of  the  evidential  value  of  prophecy,  and  sets 
aside  what  many  have  long  regarded  as  one  of  the  central 
pillars  of  divine  revelation.  But  must  this  fact  stop  free 
and  full  investigation  ?  It  is  possible  that  an  argument,  or 
even  a  series  of  arguments,  in  apologetics,  may  become  ob- 
solete, because  of  the  discovery  of  a  latent  error  therein. 
Suppose  it  should  be  shown,  by  evidence  impossible  to  re- 
fute, that  the  Book  of  Daniel  originated  in  the  time  of 
Antiochus  Epiphanus  (about  170  B.C.),  would  the  book 
thereby  be  made  worthless  and  lose  its  right  to  a  place  in 
the  volume  of  inspiration  ?  There  are  those  who  answer 
this  question  affirmatively.  They  may,  perhaps,  allow  that 
Job,  and  Ecclesiastes,  and  the  Song  of  Songs  are  works  of 
fiction,  but  they  will  not  permit  the  Book  of  Daniel  to  be 


INSPIRED    FICTION.  245 

SO  regarded.  But  why  may  we  not  have  genuine  prophecy, 
as  well  as  genuine  philosophy,  set  in  a  fictitious  background  ? 
The  difficulty  which  dogmatic  theologians  find  in  allowing 
such  a  range  of  biblical  fiction  is  only  the  outcome  of  their 
own  unproven  assu.Tfiptions.  They  assume  that  all  fiction 
ii  false,  and  the  Word  of  God  must  needs  be  given  in  a  form 
of  absolute  fidelity  to  historical  fact.  Other  literatures  may 
embody  art  and  fiction  and  sentiment,  but  the  Scriptures  of 
God  must  not  employ  anything  so  common  and  unclean. 

But  we  may  respond  :  "  What  God  has  sanctified,  call 
thou  not  common  or  unclean  !  "  The  Holy  Spirit  has 
chosen  fable,  and  riddle,  and  allegory  and  parable,  and 
symbol  as  vehicles  of  divine  revelation.  Why  should  He  not 
also  sanctify  any  other  forms  of  literary  fiction  which  might 
be  made  to  serve  the  purpose  of  "instruction  in  righteous^ 
ness  "  ?  Whether  the  narrative  portions  of  the  Book  of  Dan- 
iel be  fact  or  fiction,  the  sublime  prophecies  of  the  future 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God  remain  the  same.  In  no  other  book 
of  the  Old  Testament  have  we  so  unique  a  picture  of  the 
coming  Messiah,  or  so  impressive  a  revelation  of  the  innu- 
merable company  of  angels  that  minister  before  God.  If 
the  story  of  the  fiery  furnace  and  the  den  of  lions  be  a  fic- 
tion, it  still  remains  a  fact  that  those  fictitious  creations  of 
inspired  genius  have  cultivated  the  true  martyr  spirit,  and 
served  to  strengthen  thousands  who  have  been  tested  by 
fire  and  thrown  to  the  wild  beasts. 

Now  there  are  many  among  us  who  have  no  trouble  in 
accepting  all  the  miraculous  narratives  of  Daniel  as  facts, 
and  who  hold  to  the  genuineness  of  the  entire  book,  and 
defend  its  historical  and  prophetical  character  after  the 
manner  of  the  fathers.  But  we  believe  that  such  defenders 
of  the  traditional  view  go  too  far  when  they  assume  to  pro- 
scribe that  large  number  of  devout  and  truth-loving  schol- 
ars who  see  no  reason  for  adopting  a  different  opinion.  To 
make  the  faith  of  the  Churgh  and  the  value  of  the  Scrip- 


246  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

tures  depend  on  such  a  doubtful  question  as  that  of  the 
date,  authorship  and  historical  accuracy  of  the  Book  of 
Daniel  is,  to  our  thought,  a  most  hazardous  procedure. 
The  bare  fact  that  the  arguments  against  the  traditional 
view  have  been  "answered  so  many  times"  (!),  and  yet 
will  not  stay  answered,  is  an  admonition  to  be  less  presump- 
tuous. The  number  of  those  who  reject  the  traditional 
arguments  seems  to  be  constantly  increasing. 

We  exult  in  the  manifoldness,  nay,  more,  the  infinite  sug- 
gestiveness,  of  the  inspired  oracles  which  were  given  to  the 
fathers  "  in  many  parts  and  in  many  forms,"  Heb.  i.  i. 
Their  imperishable  value  does  not  depend  on  critical  ques- 
tions of  literary  form,  and  dates,  and  chronologies,  and 
human  authorship.  The  minister  of  the  Gospel,  who  is 
impelled  by  an  all-controlling  call  to  ''preach  the  Word," 
should  not  make  such  questions  prominent  in  his  proclama- 
tion of  God's  truth.  The  great  spiritual  lessons,  the  correc- 
tion, the  rebuke,  the  warning,  ihe  doctrine  of  salvation  in 
Christ,  the  consolation  and  comfort,  the  promise  and  eter- 
nal hopes — these  are  the  great  pulpit  themes.  And  these 
are  illustrated  and  enhanced  by  divers  forms  of  literary  art 
in  the  Bible.  These  the  preacher  should  employ,  but  with- 
out distortion  or  abuse.  "  Let  him  speak  as  the  oracles  of 
God."  These  seem  so  utterly  indifferent  about  the  ques- 
tions of  their  date  and  authorship,  that  a  large  number  of 
them  make  no  mention  of  the  time  and  place  of  their  com- 
position. It  is  not  the  province  of  the  preacher  to  discuss 
such  questions  before  the  promiscuous  assembly.  He 
may  study  them  for  himself.  He  should  make  himself 
acquainted,  so  far  as  opportunity  is  given,  with  the  results 
of  scientific  research,  and  the  processes  of  historical  inves- 
tigation and  criticism.  But,  unless  they  be  matters  of  sal- 
vation, or  important  for  "  instruction  in  righteousness,"  he 
should  be  as  slow  to  publish  the  processes  or  results  of  such 
research,  as  he  should  be  to  denounce  them,  or  to  discour- 


INSPIRED    FICTION.  247 

age  and  embarrass  the  freest  investigation.  He  who  pre- 
sumes to  make  himself  the  champion  of  truth  by  the  dog- 
matic method  some  exhibit  in  fighting  doubtful  errors,  will 
find  that  he  has  taken  hold  of  a  dangerous  two-edged 
weapon,  which  may  be  hurled  back  against  him  with  disas- 
trous effect,  and  do  irreparable  harm  to  the  cause  of  sound 
biblical  learning. 


LIBERTY  OF  THOUGHT  AND  ITS  LIMITA- 
TIONS. 

By  Prof.  Theodore  W.  Hunt,  Litt.  D.,  Princeton 
College,  New  Jersey 


WE  are  living  in  the  days  of  free  discussion.  From 
the  time  of  Lactantius  and  Lucretius  down  to  the 
present,  men  have  insisted,  with  more  or  less  earnestness, 
upon  looking  at  the  multiform  questions  of  life  from  their 
own  point  of  view  and  reaching  conclusions  in  their  own 
way.  Whenever,  for  any  reason  or  for  any  length  of  time, 
such  freedom  of  debate  has  been  denied,  serious  results  have 
followed,  taking  the  form  at  times  of  political  and  religious 
revolution.  It  was  so  in  Europe  after  the  repressive  influ- 
ences of  the  Middle  Ages.  It  was  so  in  the  stirring  days  of 
the  Protestant  Reaction  and  Reformation.  It  was  so  in  Eng- 
lish politics,  in  the  reign  of  King  John  ;  in  the  Revolution  of 
1640,  and  in  that  of  1688  ;  as,  also,  in  France  and  America, 
in  the  civil  commotions  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Such  a 
history  of  English  thought  as  that  given  us  by  Leslie 
Stephen  or  that  by  Dr.  Draper,  in  his  "  Intellectual  Devel- 
opment of  Europe,"  is  a  signal  confirmation  of  this  spirit 
of  agitation  so  germane  to  the  nature  of  man  and  so  essen- 
tial to  all  true  progress. 

Hence,  we  notice,  first  of  all,  the  right  and  duty  of  free 
inquiry.  We  may  call  it  by  various  names — the  right  of 
private  judgment,  freedom  of  thought  and  speech,  the 
claims  of  personal  opinion.  By  whatever  designation  it  is 
known,  it  is  assumed  to  be  an  inalienable  pjssession,  in- 
volved in  the  nature  of  man  as  man,  bjcoming  more  and 
more  pronounced  as  the  questions  and  interests  with  which 


250  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

it  deals  deepen  in  their    significance.     In  theology,   phi- 
losophy, literature  and  morals  ;  in   matters  of  social  and 
economic  import  ;  in  the  multiplied  topics  that  emerge  from 
the  daily  evolution  of  individual  and  public  life,  intelligent 
men  may  think,  and  ought  to  think,  for  themselves  just  to 
the  degree  in  which  they  are  intelligent,  and  recognize  their 
status  as  rational  and   accountable   beings.     The  Biblical 
statement,  that  '*  every  man  must  give  account  of  himself  to 
God,"  is  not  confined  in  its  application  to  the  day  of  final 
judgment,  nor,  indeed,  to  the  special  sphere  of  moral  con- 
duct in  this  life,  but  covers  a  scope  as  wide  as  the  area  of 
human   relationships.      Personal  accountability  applies  to 
our  intellectual  as  well  as  our  ethical  judgments.     In  this 
sense  every  man  should  be  a  Protestant,  taking  just  excep- 
tion to  any  code  or  class  that  seeks  to  seriously  invade  his 
personal  privileges,  and  oblige  him,  at  all  hazards,  to  argue 
and  conclude  along  the  lines  that  others  have  laid  down^ 
So  Milton  reasoned  in  his  "  Areopagitica,"  with   respect  to 
freedom  of  speech  and  political  theory,  and  in  his  "  Chris- 
tian Doctrine  "  with  reference  to  religious  truth.     He  had 
determined  "  to  swear  in  the  words  of  no  master,"  however 
high  in  repute  ;  never  to  follow  blindly  any  course  proposed 
just  because  it  was  proposed,  and  to  carry  his  natural  right 
of  private  judgment  into  every  matter  that  came  before  him 
for   investigation.     So  D'Aubigne    and  Chillingworth    and 
Bishop  Burnet  contended  in  their  defence  of  Reformation 
principles  against  the  assumption  of  the  Papacy,  and  so  have 
all  contended  who  either  for  themselves  or  their  generation 
have  revealed  the  fallacies  of  existing  errors  and  opened  out 
the   way    to   sounder   and    safer   beliefs.      Upon    such    a 
freedom  of  thinking  mental  and   moral  vigor  depends,  as 
also  national  and  personal  self-respect.     By  such  insistence 
of  private  right  are  men  and  nations  saved  from  becoming 
the  dupes  and  deputies  of  others,  and  place  themselves  in 
right  relations  to  God  and  the  world.    Never  has  there  been 


LIBERTY    OF    THOUGHT    AND    ITS   LIMITATIONS.        25 1 

a  time  when,  with  all  the  boasted  independence  of  scope 
and  view,  it  has  been  easier  to  be  led  and  misled  than  now, 
so  that  even  while  we  deem  ourselves  the  most  fully  free  in 
thought  and  action,  we  may  be  the  veriest  servants  of  others. 
No  man  can  afford  to  unman  himself  in  the  interests  of 
others,  be  the  interests  what  they  may.  The  duty  of  assent 
or  of  dissent  is  as  important  as  the  right,  and  he  is  the  likeliest 
to  place  a  proper  estimate  upon  that  freedom  of  discussion 
and  belief  that  belongs  to  others  who  sacredly  guards  it  as  a 
privilege  belonging  equally  fully  to  himself.  All  this  is  true, 
but  it  is  not  the  whole  of  the  truth,  and,  in  a  sense,  not  the 
most  significant.  The  prerogative  of  private  judgment  car- 
ries with  it,  when  properly  interpreted,  its  own  conditions 
and  restrictions,  without  the  acknowledgment  and  enforce- 
ment of  which  such  a  liberty  defeats  its  own  ends  and  be- 
comes the  occasion  of  the  direst  results.  It  is  just  because 
we  are  living  in  an  age  of  open  discussion  that  it  is  essential 
to  state  and  apply  these  conditions,  and  most  especially 
within  the  domain  of  religious  truth.  Liberty  of  opinion  is 
one  thing,  license  or  mental  lawlessness  is  another  ;  scope 
for  fair  and  full  debate  is  one  thing,  unlimited  range  of 
means  and  methods  is  another  ;  to  raise  the  question,  What 
is  truth  ?  every  man  has  a  right  as  a  man  ;  in  the  final  set- 
tlement of  that  question  every  contestant  must  admit  the 
validity  of  certain  well-established  limitations  under  the 
governance  of  which  he  must  conduct  the  controversy. 
Religious  thought  involves,  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case, 
what  Dr.  Mansel  has  called  the  limits  of  religious  thought. 
To  some  of  these  limitations  or  conditions  we  may  briefly 
refer : 

I.  The  Acceptance  of  Postulates  as  a  basis  of  Argument. 

We  may  call  these  axioms  in  morals,  ethical  and  mental 
intuitions,  first  truths,  fundamental  ideas,  or  by  other  terms. 
They  stand  as  logical  postulates  without  which,  or  some- 
thing like  them,  it  is  impossible  to  proceed  with  the  discus- 


252  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

sion.  Without  them  discussion  is  forestalled.  A  starting- 
point  there  must  be  ;  some  things  must  be  assumed.  There 
is  a  sense  in  which  all  reasoning  within  the  sphere  of  morals 
and  religion,  as  in  mathematics,  must  have  an  a  priori  ele- 
ment in  it.  What  the  earlier  Scottish  school  called  the 
common-sense  philosophy  is  a  philosophy  and  form  of  logic 
far  older  than  the  Scottish  school  and  far  wider  in  its  range. 
If  we  are  to  begin  discussion  with  the  so-called  creed  of  the 
agnostic  with  knowing  nothing  and  believing  nothing  and 
accepting  nothing  till  proved,  and  insist  that  the  presump- 
tion is  always  against  the  possibility  of  truth  and  reality  as 
at  present  existing — then  the  debate  begins  and  ends  at  the 
same  point,  and  freedom  of  thought  is  free  to  a  fault  and 
caught,  at  the  outset,  in  its  own  meshes. 

2.  Defence  to  the  History  of  Opinion. 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  consensus  of  view,  a  concur- 
rent testimony,  strong  and  vital  because  it  is  concurrent 
and  so  pronounced  in  its  character  that  no  discreet  debat- 
ant  can  afford  to  ignore  it.  The  right  and  duty  of  private 
judgment  does  not,  at  this  point,  stand  by  itself,  and  could 
not  if  it  would.  It  must,  unwillingly  or  perforce,  concede 
the  existence,  at  least,  of  public  opinion  and  listen  to  what 
it  says.  It  is  so  in  all  spheres — mental  and  moral ;  in  all 
departments  of  inquiry,  philosophic,  linguistic  and  literary. 
Due  account  must  be  taken  of  what  others  have  thought 
upon  the  same  subjects  ;  what  conclusions  they  have 
reached  and  how  they  have  reached  them,  while  the  indi- 
vidual inquirer,  in  the  purest  and  fullest  mental  liberty,  is 
bound  to  ask  himseU  why  he  is  called  to  depart  from  such 
conclusions  already  attained.  Certain  it  is  that,  if  there  is 
such  a  departure  on  his  side,  he  is  bound  logically  to  justify 
it  and  to  show  that  he  cannot  be  true  to  his  own  convic- 
tions and  the  accepted  principles  of  reasoning  and  think  as 
others  have  thought.  This  is  not  servility  in  any  sense, 
nor  does  it  call  for  a  craven  endorsement  of  what  others 


LIBERTY    OF    THOUGHT    AND   ITS   LIMITATIONS.        253 

say,  but  is  an  intelligent,  conscientious  and  manly  proce- 
dure, demanded  alike  of  the  claims  of  other  thinkers  and  of 
the  general  interests  of  truth.  It  invites  candor  and  un- 
selfishness ;  makes  a  ready  surrender  of  prejudice  and  pride 
of  opinion  for  the  mere  sake  of  opinion  ;  concedes  the  ele- 
ment of  fallibility  in  the  wisest  of  men,  and  lifts  the  entire 
discussion  that  may  be  pending  to  the  plane  of  a  dignified 
and  earnest  exercise  of  mind. 

3.   The  Desire  and  Purpose  to  reach  the  Truth. 

Just  here  is  one  of  the  crucial  tests  of  ingenuous  proce- 
dure. Argument  for  the  sake  of  argument,  or  a  discussion 
which  does  not  even  contemplate  securing  a  definite  issue, 
is  disingenuous,  when  men  are  supposed  to  be  contending 
for  truth  and  right.  Scholastic  practice  in  the  way  of  de- 
bate and  as  exemplified  in  the  educational  training  of  young 
men  may  justify  itself  on  forensic  grounds,  in  aiming  at  the 
practice  itself  as  the  final  end  of  the  exercise,  but  not  so 
outside  the  preparatory  drill  work  of  the  school-room,  when 
the  gravest  questions  are  in  hand  for  examination  and 
settlement.  It  is  thus  that  Carlyle  speaks  of  "  jesting  Pilate, 
asking.  What  is  truth?"  and  significantly  adds,  "Jesting 
Pilate  had  not  the  smallest  chance  to  establish  what  was 
truth.  He  could  not  have  known  it  had  a  god  shown  it  to 
him."  Precisely  so,  the  Pharisees  and  scoffers  of  Christ's 
day  could  not  reach  the  truth  as  declared  by  Him  and  em- 
bodied in  Him  simply  because  it  was  not  their  sincere  and 
serious  purpose  to  reach  it.  Hence,  all  nice  distinctions 
of  casuistry  for  the  sake  of  the  distinctions,  all  subterfuge, 
evasion,  quibbling  and  twisting  of  the  truth  ;  all  intentional 
ambiguity  and  sophistry  and  double  dealings  in  the  use  of 
mean  and  ends,  is  directly  counter  to  the  spirit  of  honest 
discussion,  a  gross  abuse  of  that  freedom  of  thought  which 
is  one  of  the  highest  privileges  of  man.  Such  freedom, 
properly  interpreted,  is  a  trust  and  a  moral  responsibility, 


254  QUESTIONS   OF    THE    DAV. 

making  it  incumbent  on  every  one  who  possesses  it  to  take 
heed  how  he  uses  it,  lest  he  justly  forfeit  it. 

Such  are  a  few  of  those  limitations  or  conditions  which 
form  a  kind  of  guide-line  around  the  inherited  right  of  per- 
sonal liberty  of  thought,  lest  that  liberty  trespass  upon  the 
rights  of  others,  and  thus  transgress  the  very  principle  that 
characterizes  it.  No  one  can  carefully  observe  the  manner 
in  which  such  a  natural  privilege  is  exercised  without  see- 
ing the  frequent  violations  of  these  conditions,  and,  most 
especially  so,  within  the  realm  of  religious  truth.  Long 
established  postulates,  which  have  been  seen  to  be  trust- 
worthy, and  are  supposed  to  lie  at  the  basis  of  all  fair  dis- 
cussion, are  either  ignored,  or,  if  accepted,  accepted  but  in 
part.  With  such  reasoners  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a 
"  faith  once  delivered  "  ;  no  such  thing  as  fundamental  and 
known  truth  on  which  to  rise  to  something  higher,  and,  as 
yet,  unknown.  In  the  exercise  of  a  supposed  liberty  de- 
void of  all  restraint,  the  only  method,  it  is  urged,  is  to  be- 
gin with  denying  all  ;  to  bring  what  is  called  an  absolutely 
unbiased  mind  to  the  discussion  and  to  accept  nothing  save 
perforce.  Moreover,  a  captious  and  suspicious  spirit  takes 
the  place  of  honest  investigation.  Lessing's  famous  pref- 
erence of  the  "  search  after  truth  "  to  the  truth  itself  be- 
comes the  guiding  impulse  ;  questions  historically  settled 
and  so  accepted  are  reopened  and  revoked  or  modified 
without  the  presence  of  any  new  evidence  to  justify  it,  and, 
if  so  be  any  truth  emerges  outside  the  limits  of  the  material 
and  natural,  it  is  thereby  regarded  as  untrustworthy.  As 
Prof.  Mansel  has  tersely  expressed  it,  all  such  reason- 
ing is  "  speculative,  not  regulative,"  a  lawless  application 
of  free  thinking  with  no  practical  ultimatum  in  view,  and 
the  more  vague  and  visionary  the  better.  Hence,  hypothe- 
sis takes  the  place  of  history,  and  imagination  that  of  rea- 
son, and  no  progress  is  made  in  the  discovery  of  truth.  By 
such  a  false  conception  of  what  freedom  of  opinion  is  many 


LIBERTY   OF   THOUGHT    AND    ITS   LIMITATIONS.         255 

have  come,  at  length,  in  theological  issues,  to  have  no  opin- 
ions at  all.  What  Prof.  Bryce  has  termed  "  an  age  of  dis- 
content "  is  thus  induced,  and  not  a  few  are  pleased  to  have 
it  so.  Even  the  sea  is,  at  times,  at  calm,  but  in  the  wild 
waters  of  agitation  for  the  sake  of  agitation,  there  is  no 
peace.  An  endless  round  of  question  and  answer  becomes 
the  ideal  condition.  In  the  onward  course  of  life  there  is 
no  period  or  full  stop,  nothing  but  interrogation  or  exclama 
tion  or  parenthesis  or  dash,  and  so  this  moral  history  repeats 
itself  without  cessation,  bringing  in  the  reign  of  rational- 
ism and  then  of  naturalism,  and  then  of  pessimism — each 
for  himself  and  all  for  the  worst.  The  Seekers  and  Level- 
lers are  not  confined  to  the  days  of  Cromwell,  but  are  now 
busily  at  work,  under  the  plea  of  freedom  of  thinking,  un- 
dermining all  ethical  distinctions,  all  existing  moral  institu- 
tions. To  explain  truth  is  not  the  object,  but  rather  to  ex. 
plain  it  away  ;  not  to  reach  it  so  as  to  diffuse  it,  but  to  up- 
root and  destroy  it  and  bid  every  man  think  as  he  pleases, 
despite  all  precedent,  condition  and  possible  result. 

Personal  liberty  of  thought  under  well-adjusted  limita- 
tions is  one  of  the  urgent  needs  of  the  time,  so  as  not  to 
run  athwart  the  laws  of  God  and  the  rights  of  men  and  the 
interests  of  truth.  The  spirit  of  intellectual  humility  in  the 
pursuit  of  truth  is  another  need  equally  urgent,  so  as  not, 
once  again,  to  commit  the  personal  sin  of  usurping  God's 
place  in  the  universe  as  the  source  of  all  wisdom  and  knowl- 
edge. Personal  pride  of  opinion  is  at  the  basis  of  a  large 
part  of  the  religious  scepticism  of  the  day  ;  the  right  of 
private  judgment  carried  to  so  gross  and  revolting  an  ex- 
treme as  to  provoke  the  righteous  wrath  of  God  and  all 
good  men  and  ruin  the  souls  of  those  who  indulge  it. 

There  are  some  things  in  the  realm  of  thought  and  truth 
which  even  German  specialists  in  theology  do  not  know  ; 
some  things  too  high  even  for  the  highest  criticism  ;  and 
the  first  thing  for  these  modern  wiseacres  to  do  is  to  get 


256  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

down  upon  their  knees  in  the  dust  with  Job  and  confess 
that  they  were  not  personally  present  when  God  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  earth  and  outlined  its  moral  order.  The 
spirit  of  humility  and  discipleship  is  the  spirit  that  we  need 
in  the  world  and  in  the  Church.  The  theory  that  we  know 
or  can  know  everything  is  as  false  in  philosophy  and  relig- 
ion as  that  we  know  and  can  know  nothing.  It  is  an  abuse 
of  personal  liberty.     God  alone  is  unconditionally  free. 


SHEOL. 

By   Professor  Thomas  Hill   Rich,   Cobb   Divinity, 
School,  Lewiston,  Me. 


SHEOL  is  derived  from  the  Hebrew  shaal,  "  to  dig,"  "  to 
excavate,"  and  then,  figuratively,  "  to  inquire,"  "to 
ask."  From  asking  comes  the  thought  of  insatiableness. 
"There  are  three  things  never  satisfied;  four  that  never  say, 
'Enough'"  (Prov.  xxx.  15,  16).  Sheol  is  one  of  these 
four.  From  insatiableness  comes  the  thought  of  a  monster 
who  without  measure  opens  his  mouth  seeking  to  glut  his 
greed  (Is.  v.  14;  Hab.  ii.  5)  ;  who  is  cruel  (or  hard)  and 
inexorably  holds  his  victim  (see  Song  of  Solomon  viii.  6)  ; 
and  from  whose  grasp  God  only  can  release  (Ps.  xlix.  15). 

From  its  primary  meaning  to  "  excavate,"  Sheol  was  con- 
ceived of  as  a  deep  cavern  (Job  xi.  8),  having  depths  upon 
depths  (Prov.  ix.  18)  ;  as  in  the  centre  of  the  earth  (Numb. 
xvi.  30;  Deut.  xxxii.  22);  and  as  fastened  with  gates  and 
bars  (Is.  xxxviii.  10  ;  Job  xvii.  16). 

Forth  from  vigorous  life,  Dathan  and  Abiram  went 
down  to  Sheol  (Numb.  xvi.  30)  ;  to  Sheol  all  the  wicked 
will  have  to  retreat  (Ps.  ix.  17);  sickness  brought  King 
David  and  King  Hezekiah  to  its  borders  (Ps.  xxx.  3  ;  Is. 
xxxviii.  10)  ;  and  Jacob  expected  to  go  down  thither- 
mourning  all  the  way  for  his  son  Joseph  (Gen.  xxxvii.  35). 
Sheol  is  the  destination  of  all  mankind  (Eccles.  ix.  10)  ;  and 
Job  no  doubt  has  reference  to  Sheol  when  he  speaks  of 
"  the  house  appointed  (the  house  of  meeting  ;  see  orig.)  for 
all  the  living"  (Job  xxx.  23),  /.  ^.,  the  house  where  the 
living  are  to  convene  (compare  "  tabernacle  of  the  congre- 


258  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

gation,"  Ex.  xxix.  44,  and  elsewhere — for  which  the  margin 
and  the  Revision  give  "  tabernacle  of  meeting.") 

By  the  Hebrew  Rephaim,  occurring  in  Job  xxvi.  5  ;  Is. 
xiv.  9;  Is.  xxvi;  xiv.  19  ;  Prov.  xxi.  16;  Ps.  Ixxxviii.  10,  we 
are  to  understand  not  the  dead,  but  that  part  of  man  that 
survives  death.  So  in  the  margin  of  these  passages  the  Re- 
vision has  "  the  shades,"  which  in  common  English  usage 
corresponds  to  the  Hebrew  conception  of  Rephaim.  In 
Is.  xiv.  9,  Sheol  is  said  to  be  in  commotion  at  the  approach 
of  the  King  of  Babylon,  who,  if  not  unexpected,  was  not 
expected  so  soon.  The  Rephaim  (the  shades),  especially 
the  former  leaders  of  the  nations,  are  so  amazed  that  they 
start  up  from  their  thrones,  exclaiming  :  "  Art  thou  also  be- 
come weak  as  we  ?  Art  thou  made  like  to  us  ?  "  Though 
this  is  poetic  language,  as  the  prophet  indicates  in  verse  4, 
yet  we  may  conclude  that  it  expresses  the  popular  ideas  of 
his  time ;  and  that  the  Rephaim,  the  inhabitants  of  Sheol, 
were  regarded  as  a  reflection,  a  shadow  of  what  they  were 
on  this  side  of  the  grave.  So  Homer  in  his  famous  "Nekyia'' 
represents  the  lower  world  not  so  much  as  the  place  of  ret- 
ribution, as  an  image  of  this  present  life,  a  place  where 
mortals  still  live  on,  retaining  their  former  character  and 
habits. 

A  like  idea  of  future  existence  seems  to  have  prevailed 
among  simple  peoples  and  among  barbarians  in  every  age, 
from  the  early  inhabitants  of  the  East  to  the  aborigines  of 
our  Western  wilderness,  who,  by  burying  with  their  dead, 
articles  that  they  were  wont  to  use  here,  declare  a  belief  in 
a  world  beyond  this.  Accordingly  the  familiar  Scripture 
phrase,  "being  gathered  to  his  fathers,"  does  not  mean 
dying  as  they  died,  nor  the  being  placed  in  the  family  sepul- 
chre, but  the  coming  to  the  assembly — to  "  the  shades  " — 
of  one's  fathers,  in  Sheol. 

Sheol  is  never  used  of  the  individual  grave,  or  sepulchre  ; 
and  so  it  is  not  said  that  Jacob  set  up  a  pillar  on  the  Sheol 


SHEOL.  259 

of  Rachel  (Gen.  xxxv.  20);  nor  was  it  at  Abner's  Sheol  that 
King  David  and  the  people  wept  (II.  Sam.  iii.  32). 

Another  word,  fitly  translated  "  grave,"  was  used  by  the 
Hebrews  to  denote  the  place  where  the  mortal  remains  are 
laid  away.  Bit  as  our  word  "grave"  can  have  a  meta- 
phorical sense,  and  signify  the  abode  of  the  dead  in  general, 
it  could  likewise  be  used  to  translate  Sheol,  as  was  done  in 
thirty-one  passages  of  the  authorized  version.  In  the  He- 
brew, words  meaning  pit  are  synonyms  of  Sheol,  and  so  in 
the  authorized  version  ^'  pit  "  is  thrice  its  representative, 
owing  to  the  fondness  of  King  James'  revisers  for  a  varied 
translation  of  the  same  original.  The  word  "hell"  belongs 
to  the  Teutonic  languages,  and  means  "  the  hollow  place." 
Curiously  enough,  it  is  one  in  etymology  with  the  Latin 
coeltcni  (Gr.  koiloti),  heaven — the  concave  above  ;  hell  is 
the  concave  (Gr.  koilon,  allied  to  Ger.  hohl,  and  English 
hollow)  beneath  As  now  used,  the  word  hell  has  only  an 
incidental  relation  to  Sheol  ;  but  by  its  like  etymology,  and 
by  its  former  use,  being  closely  allied  to  Sheol,  could  once 
translate  it  ;  and  so  in  the  authorized  version  it  does  that 
service  in  the  thirty-one  remaining  passages  where  Sheol 
occurs. 

The  Douay  Bible,  of  nearly  the  like  date  with  the  au- 
thorized version,  almost  uniformly  rendered  Sheol  by  the 
word  hell.  The  Douay  represents  Jacob  assaying:  "I  will 
go  down  to  my  son  into  hell,  mourning  (Gen.  xxxvii.  35). 

The  Apostles*  Creed,  which  passed  into  the  English 
Church  in  1534,  uses  the  word  hell  in  the  same  sense. 

These  different  translations  of  Sheol  are  perplexing  to 
those  who  can  study  the  Bible  in  English  only.  It  would 
have  greatly  aided  such  in  their  investigations  if  Sheol  had 
been  everywhere  left  untranslated  ;  as  indeed  it  should  have 
been,  since  it  is  a  proper  name. 

Men  naturally  speak  of  "  going  down  "  to  the  grave  ;  and 
men  of  olden  times  thought  of  the  passage  to  the  region  be- 


26o  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

vond  the  grave,  as  likewise  a  descent,  and  accounted  the 
inhabitants  of  such  lower  region  dreamy  shadows,  since 
evidently  divested  of  their  former  substance.  Like  Homer, 
the  Old  Testament  writers  draw  a  gloomy  picture  of  this 
world  of  shades  ;  and  were,  perhaps,  inspired  to  utter 
their  dim  views  upon  future  existence  rather  than  to  make 
revelations  in  respect  to  life  and  immortality — subjects  there- 
after to  be  lighted  up  by  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  Yet  the 
Dious  Israelite,  assured  that  it  was  well  with  the  righteous 
(Is  iii.  lo),  and  should  forever  be  so,  had  hope  in  death 
(Prov.  xiv.  32).  Struggling  to  rise  above  the  popular  con- 
ception, he  was  enabled  by  the  Spirit,  sometimes  at  least,  to 
say  :  *  God  will  not  abandon  me  (orig.  my  soul)  to  Sheol  ; 
nor  suffer  his  servant  to  experience  the  pit"  (Ps.  xvi.  10). 
"  God  will  redeem  me  from  the  power  (lit.  the  hand)  of 
Sheol,  for  he  shall  receive  me  ''—snatch  me  away  as  he  did 
Enoch  and  Elijah  (so  the  original  suggests). 

Hades,  according  to  the  classics,  "the  under  world,"  or, 
according  to  the  common  derivation,  "  the  unseen  world," 
as  being  the  Greek  word  nearest  Sheol,  stands  for  it  in  the 
Septuagint.  However,  we  must  not  at  once  infer  that  with 
this  choice  of  Hades,  all  its  Greek  associations  were  like- 
wise adopted. 

We  find  this  choice  of  the  LXX.  approved  by  the  New 
Testament  writers.  Here  Hades,  like  Sheol,  is  deep  (Matt, 
xi.  23),  and  powerful;  but  its  gates  (in  Oriental  speech 
gates  stand  for  power)  shall  not  prevail  against  the  congre- 
gation of  the  faithful  (Matt.  xvi.  18),  i.e.,  Christ's  Church  is 
inextinguishable  ;  it  shall  not  be  blotted  from  the  earth. 

He  to  whom  all  is  alike  manifest  teaches  us  that  the  rich 
man  in  Hades — *' the  unseen  world" — being  in  torments, 
sees  Lazarus  there,  but  afar  off.  separated  by  an  impassible 
chasm— in  Abraham's  bosom  (/.  e  ,  resting  in  bliss,  according 
to  Jewish  view;  see  Luke  xvi.  23). 

Christ  on  the  day  of  His  crucifixion  went  into  Hades,  and 


SHEOL. 


261 


there  on  the  same  day  the  thief  found  with  Him  Paradise 
(Luke  xxiii.  43).  There,  too,  as  it  would  seem,  Christ's  ser- 
vants, after  leaving  the  body,  dwell  amid  His  ever-manifested 
presence  (see  orig.  II.  Cor.  v.  8). 

But  though,  put  to  death  as  regarded  His  body,  Christ  en- 
tered Hades,  still  death  could  not  hold  Him  there  (Acts  ii. 
24);  and  made  alive  again,  in  His  glorified  body  He  as- 
cended to  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high.  Hence- 
forth He  has  the  keys  of  Hades  (Rev.  xi.  18),  and  Hades 
shall  not  retain  His  people,  nor  have  victory  over  them  (I. 
Cor.  XV.  55).  They,  like  their  Lord,  shall  thence  come 
forth  at  the  resurrection  of  life  to  perfection  of  bliss — in 
body  and  soul,  in  the  eternal  and  everlasting  glory! 

The  tongue  is  not  set  on  fire  by  Hades,  but  by  Gehenna 
(James  iii.  6— Gehenna  is  fitly  translated  hell  as  the  word  is 
now  used);  and  he  who  calls  his  brother  a  fool  is  in  danger 
of  the  Gehenna  of  fire  (Matt.  v.  22). 

While  death  comes  to  all  and  Hades  follows  death  (Rev. 
vi.  S\  yet  Gehenna  can  be  escaped— though  it  may  be  with 
sacrifice  of  a  right  hand  or  a  right  eye  (Matt,  v.  29,  30). 


NOTES  ON  THE  NEGATIVE  CRITICISM. 

By  Professor  W.  H.  Roberts,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Lank 
Theological   Seminary. 


(y  \  There  is  very  evidently  in  Germany,  and  to  a  certain 
/  extent  in  England  and  America,  a  party  who  are  bent 
upon  establishing  a  doctrine  of  inspiration  and  a  rule  of  faith, 
which  shall  admit  as  their  basis  the  fact  of  proved  errors 
in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  This  party  is  composed  in  the 
main  of  the  negative  critics.  The  critics,  i.e.,  the  biblical 
scholars,  who  are  engaged  in  the  critical  study  of  the  text, 
authorship,  etc.,  of  the  books  of  the  Bible,  are  usually 
divided  into  two  classes,  the  lower  and  the  higher.  The 
lower  critics  are  those  who  are  engaged,  in  the  main,  in 
studies  dealing  with  the  text  of  Scripture  in  its  original 
languages;  the  higher  critics  are  chiefly  concerned  with 
what  may  be  termed  the  literary  criticism  of  the  Bible.  The 
critics  may  again  be  divided  into  positive  and  negative,  in 
view  of  the  motives  which  control  their  work.  The  negative 
critics  are  thus  called  because  the  things  which  they  assert 
are  ordinarily  denials  or  negations.  They  always  oppose 
what  they  term  the  "  traditional  "  views  as  to  the  integrity, 
authenticity  and  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  They 
deny,  for  instance,  that  Moses  wrote  the  Pentateuch,  that 
Ezra  was  the  editor  of  Chronicles,  that  Daniel  is  a  canon- 
ical book,  that  the  evangelists  are  accurate  historians,  and 
some  of  them,  that  the  Word  of  God  is  anywhere  an  infal- 
lible record.  They  accord,  as  a  rule,  the  Scriptures  scant 
credit,  and  are  more  ready  to  believe  secular  than  sacred 
historians.     Their    actual    purpose,  whether  intentional  or 


264  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

unintentional,  is  to  discredit  the  Bible.  Those  of  the  num- 
ber who  are  found  in  the  United  States,  while  they  rebuke 
many  Christians  for  being  Bibliolatrists,  are  themselves  de- 
cided Teutolatrists,  repeating  verbatim  the  lessons  set  them 
by  their  German  masters. 

(2)  That  the  school  of  the  negative  critics  first  became 
a  power  in  the  world  of  religious  thought  some  sixty  years 
ago,  but  in  that  period  of  time  the  changes  of  position  by 
the  leaders  in  the  school  have  been  as  rapid  and  as  nu- 
merous as  those  of  a  kaleidoscope.  In  a  recent  number  of 
the  Methodist  Review  the  well  equipped  Methodist  scholar, 
Dr.  Mendenhall,  gives  the  following  statistics  respecting  the 
theories  concerning  the  several  books  of  the  Bible  promul- 
gated by  the  negative  critics  during  the  past  forty  years. 
He  writes:  "The  grand  number  of  theories  respecting  the 
Old  Testament  books  is  539.  The  number  of  theories 
applied  to  the  New  Testament  books  is  208.  Adding  539 
and  208  we  have  a  total  of  747  theories  applied  to  the  bib- 
lical books  since  1850."  And  then  Dr.  Mendenhall  adds: 
"  Of  the  747  theories  603  are  defunct,  and  many  of  the  re- 
maining T44  are  in  the  last  stages  of  degeneracy  and  disso- 
lution." And  yet  certain  of  the  negative  critics  desire  the 
Church  to  follow  them  and  accept  as  a  basis  of  doctrine  cer- 
tain theories  of  the  critical  school  which  within  ten  years 
may  be  simply  objects  of  scholarly  curiosity  and  amusement. 
The  Protestant  Churches  have  no  desire  to  place  their  creed 
as  exhibits  in  a  historical  museum. 

(3)  The  tide  seems  to  be  turning  against  the  negative 
school.  One  of  the  latest  works  in  the  Old  Testament  de- 
partment issued  in  Germany  is  "  Zahn's  Deuteronomy,"  ded- 
icated to  the  "  eminent  American  apologete,  Dr.  Wm. 
Henry  Green,  in  Princeton,  with  sincere  esteem."  This 
treatise  is  one  of  great  ability,  and  resolutely  maintains 
the  traditional  views  of  the  Mosaic  authorship,  historical 
accuracy  and  inspiration  of  Deuteronomy.     Again,  in  Eng- 


NOTES    ON    THE    NEGATIVE    CRITICISM.  265 

land    the   present  trend    of    thought  is  unfavorable  to  the 
negative   school.     I   have  seen  the  statement  that  recently 
Prof.  Margoliouth,  Arabic  Professor  in  Oxford  University, 
England,   has  vindicated  the   integrity  and  authenticity  of 
Daniel,  and  has  compelled  the  acquiescence  in  his  views  of 
Profs.  Driver  and  Cheyne,  the  foremost  champions  in  Great 
Britain  of  the  negative  criticism.     If  this  be  true,  then,  so 
far  as   that  prophetical  book   is    concerned,  Prof.   Briggs' 
inaugural  is  already  a  back  number.     Literary  critics,   who 
reconstruct  the  Bible  out  of  their  inner  consciousness,  are 
continually  meeting  the  fate  of  those  German   critics  who 
flatly  denied  that   Bering,   the   navigator,   ever  visited  the 
northwest  coast  of  the  American  continent.     The  log-books 
of  Bering's  voyages  have  recently  been   given  to  the  public 
by  the  Russian  Government,  whose  employee  he  was,  and 
German  criticism  has  met  by  the  publication  an  overwhelm- 
ing defeat.     It  is  now    proven  incontestably    that    Bering 
sailed  over  the  waters  which  bear  his  name.  As  in  geograph- 
ical, so  in  biblical   records,  the   German  critics  are  at  war 
with   facts.     Dr.  W.   C.  Prime,  one  of  the  most  eminent  of 
Egyptologists,  writes:  "The  great  discoveries  of  antiquities 
which  have  been  made  in  Egypt   have  a  much  broader  sig- 
nificance   and   importance    than    in    their   mere    historical 
character.     They  not  only  reveal  interesting  facts  in  regard 
to  the  intercourse  between  Egypt  and  Asia  thirty  centuries 
ago,  but  in  making  these  revelations  they  annihilate  a  very 
large  part  of  the  so-called  '  Biblical  Criticism  '  which,  during 
the  past  quarter  century,  has  assumed  to  judge  ancient  his- 
torical books  and  tell  us  how  far  they  are  true  and  how  far 
they  are  false."    To  put  this  third  main  point  concisely:  For 
fifty  years  the  advocates  of  negation   have  brought  charge 
after  charge  against  the  integrity  of  biblical  books   and  the 
accuracy  of  biblical  history,  only  to    go    down   to  defeat 
before  the   advance  of  knowledge  in  ancient  Oriental  his- 
tory, and  in  biblical  philology.     The  past  unites  with  the 


266  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

present  in  evidencing  that  the  Bible  is  an  anvil  which  has 
worn  out  every  hammer  lifted  upon  it. 

(4)  The  positive  class  of  critics  is  the  one  which  has  done 
acceptable  and  profitable  work  for  Anglo-Saxon  Christen- 
dom. It  is  in  the  main  this  class  of  critics  who,  laboring 
together  in  England  and  America,  have  satisfied  for  the 
time  being  the  demands  of  that  supreme  work  which  God 
and  His  Church  have  entrusted  to  critical  scholars,  the 
giving  to  Christians  not  a  list  of  the  errors  to  be  found  in 
the  Scriptures,  but  a  revised  biblical  text.  The  German 
negative  critics,  on  the  other  hand,  with  their  imitators, 
have  been  engaged  in  the  main  in  the  work  of  deprecia- 
tion and  destruction.  Criticism  with  them  means  usually 
disparagement  of  opponents  and  overthrow  of  the  histori- 
cal accuracy  of  the  Word  of  God  by  any  means  within 
their  power.  If  I  know  anything  of  Anglo-Saxon  Christen- 
dom, with  its  intense  practicality;  with  its  readiness  to  be- 
lieve the  best  about  men,  not  the  worst ;  with  its  insistence 
that  the  Bible,  like  other  books,  is  to  be  judged  even  in  this 
matter  of  inerrancy,  by  its  general  character,  not  by  the 
discrepancies  which  may  here  and  there  appear  in  its  text  ; 
then  I  am  certain  that  this  issue  now  raised  will  be  settled 
in  a  decisive  manner. 

(5)  The  inerrancy  of  the  Scriptures,  whatever  allegations 
may  have  been  made  to  the  contrary,  is  a  doctrine  of  the 
Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  and  was  the  received  doc- 
trine of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  reunion.  There  is 
no  probability  that  Presbyterians  will  adopt  any  doctrine 
of  inspiration  which  admits  as  its  basis  alleged  errors  in 
the  Scriptures.  They  do  not  believe  that  the  Bible  in  its 
first  and  only  inspired  form,  any  more  than  man  at  his 
creation,  was  imperfect.  It  is  with  the  uninspired  human 
connection  that  change  and  imperfection  appear  therein. 
The  alleged  proved  errors  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  either 
discrepancies,  owing  to  errors  made  by  copyists,  or  seeming 


NOTES    ON    THE    NEGATIVE    CRITICISM. 


267 


errors  arising  from  human  ignorance,  and  which,  as  already 
indicated,  God  is  removing  gradually  by  the  increase  of  our 
knowledge. 

(6)  The  main  principles  which  control  the  two  schools 
of  criticism  are  totally  opposed.  I  quote  here  a  part  of 
Dr.  Watts'  (Belfast)  crushing  reply  to  Prof.  Blaikie  (Edin- 
burgh) in  this  very  matter  of  inspiration,  and  apply  it  to  the 
negative  school  and  its  adherents.  The  quotation  reads, 
'*  While  the  principle  of  your  theory  [?>,,  the  negative 
critics]  is  a  mere  inference  from  apparent  discrepancies  not 
yet  explained,  the  principle  of  the  theory  you  oppose  is  the 
formally  expressed  utterance  of  prophets  and  apostles  and 
of  Christ  Himself."  Protestants  must  refuse  to  follow  the 
negative  critics  in  taking  biblical  errors  as  a  basis  for  a 
doctrine  of  inspiration.  They  should  take  for  that  basis 
the  affirmations  of  Scripture,  and  should  refuse  to  minimize 
Scripture  doctrine  in  order  to  excuse  inability  to  explain 
Scripture  difficulties. 

(7)  Thorough-going  Protestants  do  not  believe  in  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Scriptures  merely  on  an  a  priori  \.\\to\y,  or 
on  the  testimony  of  any  man  or  Church.  Protestants  be- 
lieve that  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  inspired  because  the 
Scriptures  themselves  make  the  claim.  Are  the  Scriptures 
credible  or  are  they  not  when  they  assert  that  they  are  in- 
spired ?  Believing  that  the  "  Old  Testament  in  Hebrew  and 
the  New  Testament  in  Greek,  being  immediately  inspired 
by  God,  are  authentical "  (Westm.  Conf.  of  Faith,  Chap  i., 
Sec.  8),  i.e.,  are  to  be  believed,  Presbyterians  should  reso- 
lutely maintain  the  plenary  inspiration  and  the  infallibility 
of  the  Word  of  God. 


BIBLICAL  ARCHAEOLOGY  AND  THE  HIGHER 

CRITICISM. 

By  a.  H.  Sayce,  LL.D.,    Professor  of  Assyriology, 

Oxford. 


^^  'T^WO  truths  cannot  be  contradictory."  So  we  are 
i  told,  and  in  this  abstract  form  the  assertion  is, 
doubtless,  correct.  But  what  is  meant  by  a  "  truth  "  is 
generally  the  statement  of  what  we  believe  to  be  the  truth, 
and  it  will  be  easily  seen  that  such  statements  may  be  either 
actually  or  apparently  inconsistent  with  one  another.  We 
can  never  know  all  the  facts  connected  with  a  given  sub- 
ject ;  indeed,  the  fact  itself  is  but  a  generalization  from  a 
limited  series  of  phenomena.  Hence  it  is  quite  possible 
for  two  statements  to  be  each  of  them  quite  true  in  its  own 
sphere, — an  accurate  representation  of  the  facts  with  which 
it  deals,  so  far  as  they  are  known,— and  yet  at  the  same 
time  to  be  apparently  irreconcilable.  A  certain  group  of 
facts,  for  instance,  leads  us  to  conclude  that  space  is  bound- 
less ;'  but  there  are  other  psychological  facts  which  obHge 
us  just  as  imperatively  to  maintain  that  the  universe  is  finite. 
When  modern  astronomy  first  began  to  find  adherents, 
and  again  when  geology  began  to  take  rank  as  a  science, 
various  attempts  were  made  to  "  reconcile,"  as  it  was  termed, 
the  records  of  the  Bible  with  the  new  scientific  teaching. 
Such  attempts  are  even  now  made  from  time  to  time,  though 
it  has  at  last  been  recognized  that  the  student  of  theology 
and  the  astronomer  or  geologist  deal  with  different  branches 
of  research,  with  different  sets  of  facts,  and  that  conse- 
quently  they  must  necessarily  move  in  different  spheres. 


270  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

Not  until  we  know  all  the  facts  connected  with  astronomy 
or  geology  on  the  one  hand,  and  with  theology  on  the  other, 
will  it  be  time  to  form  a  science  which  shall  embrace  all 
alike.  Then  and  then  only  will  it  be  possible  to  solve 
the  seeming  contradictions  which  exist  between  the  conclu- 
sions of  the  two  lines  of  inquiry,  and  to  construct  a  "  har- 
mony" which  shall  be  a  harmony  indeed. 

The  controversy  carried  on  between  the  advocates  of 
science  and  the  advocates  of  the  traditional  interpretation 
of  the  Bible  has  in  these  latter  years  shifted  its  ground. 

Theology  has  at  last  been  content  to  leave  science  alone 
to  work  out  its  results  in  its  own  way  and  its  own  sphere  ; 
and  science  in  its  turn  is  ceasing  to  occupy  itself  with 
framing  new  theological  systems.  It  is  no  longer  the  bear- 
ing of  physical  science  upon  the  statements  of  Scripture 
that  arouses  the  war-cry  of  the  controversialist,  but  the 
character  and  authenticity  of  those  statements  themselves. 
The  "higher  criticism"  claims  to  sit  in  judgment  on  the 
traditions  or  beliefs  of  preceding  centuries,  and  by  the 
application  of  a  more  rigorous  method  of  investigation,  and 
of  the  principles  of  modern  scientific  thought  to  reverse  or 
modify  them. 

The  term  "  higher  criticism  "  is  an  unfortunate  one.  It 
has  the  appearance  of  pretentiousness,  and  it  may  be  feared 
that  in  some  cases  it  has  led  to  the  unconscious  assumption 
of  a  tone  of  superiority  on  the  part  of  its  professors  and 
their  followers.  But  in  reality  the  word  "higher"  is  used 
only  in  order  to  distinguish  the  form  of  criticism  to  which  it 
is  applied  from  textual  criticism.  Textual  or  "lower" 
criticism  is  mainly  mechanical  ;  the  "higher  "  criticism  re- 
quires a  power  cf  sifting  and  weighing  evidence,  and  of 
balancing  probabilities  one  against  the  other. 

Its  sphere  of  work  is  tw^ofold.  On  the  one  hand,  it  in- 
vestigates the  age  and  composition  of  the  documents  with 
which  it  deals  ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  historical  credibility 


BIBLICAL  ARCH/EOLOGY  AND  THE   HIGHER   CRITICISM.  27  I 

of  the  narratives  which  these  documents  contain.  In  the 
one  case,  its  object  is  literary  analysis  ;  in  the  other,  his- 
torical criticism.  But  it  is  obvious  that  the  two  objects 
are  closely  connected  with  each  other  ;  the  historical  credi- 
bility of  a  narrative  often  depends  largely  on  the  age  of  the 
documents  in  which  it  is  found,  or  the  character  of  their 
authors  ;  while  the  results  of  literary  analysis  can  be  best 
verified,  in  many  instances,  by  an  appeal  to  history.  If,  for 
instance,  it  could  be  shown  by  the  historical  critic  that  there 
are  two  inconsistent  accounts  of  the  geography  of  the  Ex- 
odus, one  placing  the  passage  of  the  sea  in  the  Gulf  of 
Akabah,  and  the  other  at  the  head  of  the  Gulf  of  Suez, 
and  further  that  the  lines  of  division  between  the  two 
accounts  correspond  with  the  lines  of  division  in  the  com- 
position of  the  Book  of  Exodus  presupposed  by  the  literary 
analyst,  we  should  have  an  important  verification  of  the 
accuracy  of  the  literary  analysis,  at  all  events  in  this  par- 
ticular instance. 

The  general  results  of  literary  analysis  have  had  much 
to  do  with  the  judgment  passed  onthe  earlier  narratives 
of  the  Old  Testament  Scripture.  As  long  as  it  was  believed 
that  the  Pentateuch  was  written  by  Moses,  it  followed  that 
the  account  of  the  Exodus  and  of  the  wanderings  of  the 
Israelites  in  the  desert  could  be  accepted  without  question. 
But  the  case  is  altered  if  we  accept  the  conclusions  of  the 
most  recent  school  of  criticism,  and  not  only  regard  the 
Hexateuch  as  a  composite  work,  but  also  hold  that  it  did  not 
assume  its  present  form  until  after  the  Exile.  During  the 
long  centuries  which  intervened  between  the  age  of  Moses 
and  that  of  Ezra,  the  earlier  history  of  the  Israelitish  people 
would  have  had  time  to  be  forgotten,  and  to  be  replaced  by 
legendary  tradition  or  even  conscious  fiction.  Deprived  of 
the  support  of  contemporaneous  testimony,  the  story  of 
the  legislation  in  the  Wilderness,  and  the  subsequent  con- 
quest of  Canaan,  could  offer  little  resistance  to  the  assaults 


272  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

of  historical  criticism.  Criticism,  consequently,  had  little 
difficulty  in  showing  that  it  was  improbable  and  self-contra- 
dictory, borrowing  many  of  its  details  from  a  state  of  things 
that  did  not  exist  until  the  age  of  the  Exile,  and  filled  with 
that  atmosphere  of  miracle  which  we  find  in  the  pre-literary 
traditions  of  most  nations. 

The  conclusions  of  the  "  higher  criticism  "  were  supported 
by  an  assumption  and  a  tendency.  The  assumption  was 
that  writing  was  unknown  to  the  Israelites,  or  even  to  the 
Canaanites,  in  the  age  of  the  Exodus.  At  the  most,  it  was 
believed,  they  could  engrave  inscriptions  on  wood  or  stone  ; 
books  were  the  product  of  a  later  and  more  cultured  time. 
The  tendency  was  the  extreme  skepticism  with  which  the 
early  periods  of  secular  history  were  regarded.  The  more 
exact  method  of  investigating  ancient  history  and  de- 
manding adequate  evidence  for  its  statements,  which  had 
been  made  popular  by  Niebuhr,  had  resulted  in  making 
Greek  history  a  blank  page  before  the  epoch  of  Peisistratos, 
and  in  refusing  credit  to  the  history  of  Rome  before  its  cap- 
ture by  the  Gauls.  In  Sir  George  Cornewall  Lewis  this 
tendency  reached  its  extreme  point.  For  him  the  history 
of  civilization,  and  therefore  of  accurately  known  facts,  be- 
g'ns  with  Herodotos  and  Thukydides,  and  the  counter- 
evidence  of  the  monuments  of  Egypt  and  Assyria  was  got 
rid  of  by  maintaining  that  they  neither  had  been  nor  could 
be  deciphered. 

But  Sir  George  Cornewall  Lewis  was  scarcely  dead  be- 
fore the  reaction  began.  What  the  higher  critics  had  so 
successfully  demolished  was  again  built  up  by  the  spade  of 
the  excavator  and  the  patient  skill  of  the  decipherer,  Schlie- 
mann,  strong  in  a  belief  which  no  amount  of  skilful  dia- 
lectic could  shake,  dug  up  the  ruins  of  Troy  and  Mykenae 
and  Tiryns,  and  demonstrated  that  the  old  tales  about  the 
splendor  and  culture  of  the  Akhaean  princes,  and  of  their 
intercourse  with  the  shores  of  Asia  Minor,  were,  after  all, 


BIBLICAL  ARCH;E0L0GY  AND  THE  HIGHER    CRITICISM.  273 

not  SO  very  far  from  the  truth.  Undeterred  by  the  ^  priori 
demonstrations  of  Sir  George  Cornewall  Lewis  and  his  re- 
viewers, the  decipherers  pursued  their  labors  among  the 
inscriptions  of  Egypt  and  Assyria,  and  reconstructed  the 
lost  history  of  the  ancient  Oriental  world.  And,  what  was 
even  more  important,  they  proved  that  the  reading  and 
writing  of  books  was  centuries  older  than  the  classical  age 
of  Greece;  that  ages  before  the  time  of  Moses,  or  even  of 
Abraham,  libraries  existed  where  scribes  and  readers  were 
constantly  at  work,  while  literary  intercourse  was  carried 
on  from  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates  to  those  of  the  Nile. 

Schliemann  has  been  followed  by  many  rivals  in  the  field 
of  excavation,  and  the  small  band  of  Orientalists  who  ven- 
tured to  explore  the  unknown  regions  of  Egyptian  and 
Assyrian  research  at  the  risk  of  being  accused  of  charla- 
tanism, or  neglect  of  exact  philology,  have  now  become  a 
goodly  company.  Discovery  has  crowded  upon  discovery, 
each  more  marvellous  than  the  last,  until  the  student  has 
come  to  believe,  that,  as  in  physical  science,  so  too  in  Orien- 
tal archaeology,  all  things  are  possible. 

Naturally,  the  ''higher  criticism"  is  disinclined  to  see 
its  assumptions  swept  away  along  with  the  conclusions  which 
are  based  upon  them,  and  to  sit  humbly  at  the  feet  of  the 
newer  science.  At  first,  the  results  of  Egyptian  or  Assyrian 
research  were  ignored  ;  then  they  were  reluctantly  admitted, 
so  far  as  they  did  not  clash  with  the  preconceived  opinions 
of  the  "  higher  "  critics.  It  was  urged,  unfortunately  with 
too  much  justice,  that  the  decipherers  were  not,  as  a  rule, 
trained  critics,  and  that  in  the  enthusiasm  of  research  they 
often  announced  discoveries  which  proved  to  be  false  or 
only  partially  correct.  But  it  must  be  remembered,  on  the 
other  side,  that  this  charge  applies  with  equal  force  to  all 
progressive  studies,  not  excluding  the  "higher  criticism" 

itself. 

The  time  is  now  come  for  confronting  the  conclusions 


274  QUESTIONS   OT    THE    DAY. 

of  the  "  higher  criticism,"  so  far  as  it  applies  to  the  books 
of  the  Old  Testament,  with  the  ascertained  results  of 
modern  Oriental  research.  The  amount  of  certain  knowl- 
edge now  possessed  by  the  Egyptologist  and  Assyriologist 
would  be  surprising  to  those  who  are  not  specialists  in  their 
branches  of  study,  while  the  discovery  of  the  Tel-el- Amarna 
tablets  has  poured  a  flood  of  light  upon  the  ancient  world, 
which  is  at  once  startling  and  revolutionary.  As  in  the 
case  of  Greek  history,  so  too  in  that  of  Israelitish  history, 
the  period  of  critical  demolition  is  at  an  end,  and  it  is 
time  for  the  archaeologist  to  reconstruct  the  fallen  edifice. 

But  the  very  word  ''reconstruct"  implies  that  what  is 
built  again  will  not  be  exactly  that  which  existed  before. 
It  implies  that  the  work  of  the  "  higher  criticism  '*  has  not 
been  in  vain  ;  on  the  contrary,  the  work  it  has  performed 
has  been  a  very  needful  and  important  one,  and  in  its  own 
sphere  has  helped  us  to  the  discovery  of  the  truth.  Egyptian 
or  Assyrian  research  has  not  corroborated  every  historical 
statement  which  we  find  in  the  Old  Testament  any  more 
than  classical  archaeology  has  corroborated  every  statement 
which  we  find  in  the  Greek  m:  iters  ;  what  it  has  done  has 
been  to  show  that  the  extreme  i^kepticism  of  modern  criti- 
cism is  not  justified,  that  the  materials  on  which  the  his- 
tory of  Israel  has  been  based  may,  and  probably  do,  go 
back  to  an  early  date,  and  that  much  which  the  "  higher  " 
critics  have  declared  to  be  mythical  and  impossible  was 
really  possible  and  true.  The  justification  of  these  asser- 
tions must  be  deferred  to  another  article. 


THE  UNITY  OF  GENESIS  I.  AND  II.  CHAPTERS. 

By  Prof.  William  Henry  Green,  D.D.,  Princeton 
Theological  Seminary. 


ARE  the  first  two  chapters  of  Genesis  the  continuous 
production  of  one  writer,  or  are  they  a  compilation 
from  two  antecedent  documents  ? 

It  is  alleged  that  Genesis  ii.  cannot  have  been  written  by 
the  author  of  Genesis  i.,  because  it  is  a  second  account  of 
the  creation,  and  is  superfluous  for  that  reason  ;  its  state- 
ments are  irreconcilable  with  those  of  chapter  i  ;  and  its 
diction  and  style  are  different.  The  critics  are  at  fault  here 
in  two  respects  ;  and  these,  it  may  be  said,  characterize 
their  general  method  of  procedure,  and  are  their  chief  in- 
struments in  sundering  the  Pentateuch  into  what  they  re- 
gard as  distinct  documents : 

1.  The  arbitrary  assumption  that  two  different  parts  of  a 
narrative  relating  to  matters  quite  distinct  are  variant  ac- 
counts of  the  same  thing.  It  is  very  easy  to  make  two  nar- 
ratives, or  two  parts  of  the  same  narrative,  which  have  cer- 
tain points  in  common,  but  which  really  describe  different 
transactions,  and  lay  them  alongside  of  one  another  and 
point  out  the  lack  of  correspondence  between  them.  There 
is  no  significance  in  this  further  than  that  the  writer  has 
finished  one  part  of  his  story  and  has  proceeded  to  another  ; 
and  of  course  he  does  not  detail  over  again  what  he  had 
just  detailed  before. 

2.  Creating  discordance  where  none  really  exists.  Every 
form  of  expression,  which,  if  isolated,  might  admit  of  a  sig- 


2  7^  QUESTIONS   OF  THE   DAY. 

nification  at  varience  with  statements  elsewhere,  is  pressed 
to  the  utmost,  and  urged  as  a  proof  of  diverse  representa- 
tions ;  when,  if  it  be  allowed  to  bear  its  natural  sense  in  the 
connection  in  which  it  stands,  all  appearance  of  discrep- 
ancy will  disappear. 

Chapter  ii.  is  not,  and  does  not  profess  to  be,  another 
account  of  the  creation.  It  claims  to  be,  and  it  is,  a  sequel 
to  the  account  given  in  chapter  i. 

The  current  division  into  chapters  obscures  to  the  ordi- 
nary reader  the  plan  upon  which  the  Book  of  Genesis  is 
constructed.  After  the  introductory  section  describing  the 
creation  of  all  things,  i.,  i-ii.,  3,  it  proceeds  with  the  history, 
which  is  distributed  into  ten  sections,  each  of  which  is  in- 
troduced by  a  title  of  uniform  pattern — "  These  are  the  gen' 
erations,"  etc.,  ii.  4  r  v.  i  ;  vi.  9  ;  x.  i,  etc.  The  section 
entitled  ''The  Generations  of  Adam,"  v.  i,  traces  the  de- 
scendants of  Adam.  ''The  Generations  of  Noah,"  vi.  9, 
records  the  history  of  Noah's  family.  And  so,  uniformly, 
"the  generations  of"  any  one  do  not  detail  his  ancestry  or 
his  origin,  but  give  either  the  history  of  his  immediate  fam- 
ily or  the  continuous  line  of  his  descendants.  It  is  thus 
contrary  to  uniform  analogy  and  to  the  proper  sense  of  the 
words  to  regard  "  The  generations  of  the  heaven  and  the 
earth,"  ii.  4a,  as  a  subscription  to  the  preceding  section, 
summing  up  its  contents  as  an  account  of  the  origin  of  the 
heaven  and  the  earth.  It  can  only  be  the  title  to  the  sec- 
tion which  it  introduces,  whose  subject  it  announces  to  be, 
not  the  formation,  but  the  offspring  of  heaven  and  earth; 
that  is  to  say,  man,  the  child  of  both  worlds,  his  body  formed 
of  dust,  his  soul  inbreathed  by  God  Himself. 

And,  in  point  of  fact,  ii.  4,  sq  ,  do  not  contain  a  fresh 
account  of  the  creation.  The  opening  words,  "  In  the  day 
that  Jehovah  God  made  the  earth  and  the  heavens,"  pre- 
suppose the  act  of  making,  and  proceed  to  indicate  what 
was  then  the  state   of   things  and   what  followed   subse- 


UN'ITY   OF   GENESIS   I.    AND   II.    CHAPTERS.  277 

quently.  No  account  is  given  of  the  formation  of  the  earth 
or  the  dry  land;  none  of  the  sea  and  its  occupants  ;  none 
of  the  firmament  or  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars ;  none  of 
covering  the  earth  with  its  varied  vegetations,  but  only  of 
the  garden  of  Eden  and  its  trees,  vs.  8,  9.  To  say  with 
Dr.  Dillmann  that  all  this  was  originally  in  chapter  ii.,  but 
was  omitted  because  it  is  treated  sufficiently  in  chapter  i., 
is  a  confession  that  chapter  ii.  is  not  what  it  would  have 
been  if  the  writer  had  intended  to  give  a  narative  of  the 
creation,  and  that  ils  omissions  are  with  definite  reference 
to  the  contents  of  chapter  i.  Chapter  ii.  is  introductory  to 
the  narrative  of  the  fall  in  chapter  iii.,  and  hence  describes 
the  two  constituents  of  man's  nature,  vs.  7,  comp.  iii.  19  ; 
the  garden  as  the  scene  of  the  temptation,  vs.  8-17;  the 
actors  Adam  and  Eve,  vs.  18-25.  These  details  would  have 
been  out  of  place  in  the  general  account  of  the  creation. 

All  comparisons  or  contrasts  between  chapter  i.  and  chap- 
ter ii.  on  the  assumption  that  they  relate  to  the  same  subject 
are  fallacious.  One  deals  with  the  world  at  large  and  all 
that  it  contains  ;  the  other  with  the  garden  of  Eden  and 
the  relations  of  the  first  human  pair.  When  it  is  said  that 
chapter  i.  is  generic,  treating  of  species  and  classes,  and 
chapter  ii.  individual,  this  grows  necessarily  out  of  their  re- 
spective themes.  So,  when  it  is  claimed  that  chapter  i.  deals 
in  stereotyped  phrases  and  is  verbose  and  repetitious,  while 
the  style  of  chapter  ii.  is  free  and  flowing.  In  chapter  i.  the 
almighty  fiat  is  issued  ;  the  result  precisely  corresponds  and 
is  noted  in  identical  language.  There  is  the  regular  recur- 
rence of  each  creative  day,  of  the  word  of  omnipotence,  of 
Gjd's  approval  of  his  work  which  precisely  matches  the 
divine  idea,  the  name  given  to  indicate  its  character,  the 
blessing  bestowed  to  enable  it  to  accomplish  its  end.  To 
mark  all  this  in  the  most  emphatic  manner,  the  identical 
phrases  are  repeated  throughout.  Such  a  style  would  be 
utterly  unsuited  to  simple  narrative  like  chapter  ii.  and  ac- 


278  QUESTIONS   OF  THE    DAY. 

cordingly  does  not  reappear  even  in  those  narrative  pa^>- 
sages  which  are  assigned  by  the  critics  to  the  same  docu- 
ment with  chapter  i.  It  is  said  that  chapter  i.  proceeds 
from  the  lower  to  the  higher,  ending  with  man,  while  chap- 
ter ii.  begins  with  man  and  proceeds  to  thelower  forms  of  life 
But  as  chapter  ii.  continues  the  history  begun  in  chapter  i., 
it  naturally  starts  where  chapter  i.  ends,  with  the  creation 
of  man,  especially  as  the  whole  object  of  the  chapter  is  to 
depict  his  primitive  condition. 

These  and  other  similar  contrasts  between  chapter  i,  and 
chapter  ii.  explain  themselves  at  once  from  the  diversity  of 
theme,  and  require  no  assumption  of  separate  documents  to 
account  for  them. 

While  each  chapter  pursues  its  own  proper  aim,  they  have 
certain  points  of  contact  in  which  the  second  chapter  sup- 
plements the  first,  but  there  is  no  discrepancy  between 
them.  In  fact  it  would  be  inconsistent  with  the  document 
hypothesis  itself  to  suppose  that  there  were  here  two  diver- 
gent stories  of  the  creation.  The  redactor  does  not  offer 
them  as  alternatives,  but  as  equally  true  and  to  be  credited 
alike,  so  that  he  could  not  have  thought  them  imcompatiblc 

The  writer  begins  the  second  section  by  reminding 
his  readers,  in  conformity  with  chapter  i.,  that  "  in  the  day 
that  Jehovah  God  made  earth  and  heaven,  no  bush  of  the 
field  was  yet  in  the  earth,  and  no  herb  of  the  field  had  yet 
sprung  up."  The  reason  given  is  twofold:  there  was  no 
rain  to  moisten  the  earth,  and  no  man  to  till  the  ground. 
There  is  no  variance  here  with  chapter  i.  The  suggestion 
that  rain  could  not  be  needed  if  the  land  had  just  emerged 
from  the  water,  leaves  out  of  view  that  the  earth  was  *'  dry," 
i.  9,  10,  before  any  plants  appeared  upon  its  surface. 
And  there  is  no  implication  that  man  preceded  vegetation, 
contrary  to  i.  12,  27.  For  (i)  chapter  ii.  says  nothing  of 
the  production  of  plants  generally,  but  only  of  the  trees  of 


UNITY    OF   GEinSES   I.    AKD   II.    CHAPTEIiS.  279 

the  garden  verses  8,  9.  (2)  Man  was  a  condition  of  the  ex- 
istence of  food-bearing  plants  only  as  they  were  designed 
for  his  use  and  required  his  tillage.  (3)  The  order  of 
statement  is  plainly  not  that  of  time,  but  association  in 
thought.  Verse  7,  man  is  formed;  verse  8,  the  garden 
planted  and  man  put  in  it;  verse  9,  trees  are  made  to  spring 
up  there  ;  verse  15,  man  is  taken  and  put  in  it.  Must  we 
infer  that  man  was  made  and  kept  in  suspense  until  the 
garden  was  planted  ;  that  he  was  then  put  there  before  the 
trees  that  were  to  supply  him  with  food  had  sprung  up  ;  and 
when  the  trees  were  in  readiness  he  was  put  there  a  second 
time. 

It  has  been  proposed,  however,  to  bring  about  a  conflict 
in  this  matter  between  chapter  ii.  and  chapter  i.  by  a  gram- 
matical construction,  putting  ii.  5,  6  in  a  parenthesis  and 
linking  verse  7  with  verse  4.  The  meaning  then  will  be: 
In  the  day  that  God  made  earth  and  heaven,  he  formed 
man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  while  no  bush  or  herb  had 
yet  sprung  up.  But  so  long  a  parenthesis  is  questionable 
in  Hebrew  generally,  and  is  impossible  here.  Verse  5 
states  a  twofold  reason  why  there  were  no  plants  adopted 
to  human  use.  The  first  condition  is  supplied  in  verse  6, 
the  second  in  verse  7  ;  verses  6  and  7  must  accordingly 
stand  in  like  relation  to  verse  5,  so  that  verse  6  cannot  be 
included  in  the  parenthesis  and  verse  7  linked  to  verse  4. 

It  has  been  charged  that  chapter  ii.  puts  the  creation  of 
man  before  that  of  the  lower  animals,  contrary  to  chapter  i. 
The  allegation  rests  upon  the  assumption  that  the  Hebrew 
tense  in  ii.  19,  necessarily  implies  a  sequence  in  the  order 
of  time.  But  Dr.  Delitzsch  in  the  last  edition  of  his 
"  Genesis  "  says  that  according  to  Hebrew  style  there  is  no 
discrepancy  here  ;  it  is  quite  possible  to  understand  that 
the  beasts  now  brought  to  Adam  had  been  made  some  time 
before.     Dr.  Dillmann  admits  that,  so  far  as  the  tense  is 


2  8o  QUESTIONS   OF   THE   DAY. 

concerned,  this  might  be  the  case,  but  insists  that  the  ani- 
mals were  made  in  pursuance  of  the  divine  purpose,  verse 
i8,  to  make  a  help  meet  for  Adam,  and  must  therefore 
have  been  formed  after  he  was.  But  God's  purpose  was 
not  to  make  man  a  companion  of  some  sort,  or  such  as  he 
might  be  willing  to  have,  but  a  help  meet;  that  is,  literally- 
rendered,  a  help  corresponding  to  him.  The  beasts  were 
brought,  not  as  the  companion  intended  for  him,  but  "  to 
see  what  he  would  call  them";  that  is,  to  let  them  make 
their  impression  on  him  and  thus  awaken  in  his  mind  a 
sense  of  his  need  of  companionship  and  of  their  unfitness 
for  the  purpose.     When  this  had  been  done  Eve  was  made. 

To  insist  that  the  order  of  statement  must  be  regarded  as 
the  order  of  time  will  create  absurdities  in  many  passages. 
It  would  imply  in  Genesis  xxiv.  64,  65,  that  Rebekah 
alighted  out  of  respect  to  her  future  husband  btfore  she 
knew  that  it  was  he  ;  Exodus  iv.  31,  that  the  people  be- 
lieved the  words  of  Aaron  before  they  heard  them  ;  Joshua 
ii.  22,  the  pursuers  returned  from  their  unsuccessful  search 
before  their  search  was  begun;  Isaiah  xxxvii.  2-5,  Heze- 
kiah  messengers  told  Isaiah  their  message  before  they  came 
to  him  ;  in  I.  Kings  xiii.  12,  "saw"  is  plainly  equivalent  to 
"  hed  seen,"  and  so  the  Authorized  Version  renders  it.  Un- 
less a  principle  of  interpretation  which  leads  to  these  ab- 
surd results  be  insisted  on  in  the  case  before  us,  there  is 
not  a  shadow  of  contrariety  between  chapter  i.  and  chapter 
ii.  in  respect  to  the  order  of  creation. 

The  distribution  of  the  matter  between  these  sections  im- 
plies pre-arrangement.  The  creation  of  the  world  at  large 
is  described  in  chapter  i.  and  assumed  in  chapter  ii. ;  the 
latter  simply  supplies  details  necessarily  passed  over  in  the 
plan  of  the  former,  which  were  essential  to  an  understanding 
of  the  account  of  the  fall.  God  gave  names  to  day  and  nighty 
heaven,  earth  and  seas,  i.  5,  8,  10,  and  to  Adam,  v.  i  ;  Adam 


UNITY    OF    GENISES    I.    AND    II.    CHAPTERS.  261 

gave  names  to  the  inferior  animals,  ii.  20,  and  to  Eve,  ii. 
23;  nothing  is  duplicated  and  nothing  omitted.  So  the  em- 
phatic repetition  in  chapter  i. — God  saw  that  it  was  good,  or 
very  good — prepares  the  way  for  the  reverse  that  was  to  fol- 
low in  chapter  iii. 

The  alleged  difference  of  diction  in  these  chapters  is  fal- 
lacious. The  characteristic  words  imputed  to  chapter  i. 
recur  in  part  in  the  account  of  the  flood,  which  equally 
affected  all  orders  of  creatures,  but  nowhere  else  in  the  same 
document,  as  the  critics  divide  them,  in  Genesis,  The  cre- 
ation, the  flood,  genealogies,  and  ritual  legislation,  which 
make  up  the  bulk  of  one  document,  have  little  in  common 
with  the  transactions  of  individual  life,  which  constitute  the 
substance  of  the  other.  The  diversity  of  diction  between 
the  two  is  just  the  natural  result  of  a  partition  so  conducted, 
not  a  ground  upon  which  that  partition  can  be  based. 

Elohim,  as  the  general  term  for  God  in  nature  and  the 
woild  at  large,  is  appropriately  used  in  i,  1;  ii,  3.  Jehovah 
is  the  God  of  revelation  and  redemption,  and  is  hence  ap- 
propriate, ii.  4;  iv,  26,  where  God's  loving  care  of  man  in 
his  original  estate,  the  primal  promise  of  mercy,  and  the 
goodness  mingled  with  severity  which  ordered  his  condition 
subsequently,  are  detailed.  And  to  show  that  the  God  of 
creation  and  Jehovah  the  God  of  grace  are  one  and  the 
same,  both  names  are  used  in  chapters  ii.  and  iii.  Is  this 
appropriate  use  of  these  terms  merely  a  lucky  accident  re- 
sulting from  the  combination  of  two  independent  documents, 
in  each  of  which  the  names  of  God  are  regulated,  not  by 
their  suitableness  to  the  subject  matter,  but  by  the  unmean- 
ing habit  of  different  writers.?  Again,  as  Elohim  and  Jeho- 
vah represent  the  Most  High  under  different  aspects  of  his 
being,  they  must,  when  used  correctly  and  with  regard  to 
their  proper  meaning,  be  associated  with  different  concep- 
tions of  God.     This  does  not  argue   a   diversity  of   writers, 


282  QUESTIONS    OF   THE    DAY. 

but  simply  that  the  divine  name  has  each  time  been  selected 
in  accordance  with  the  idea  to  be  expressed. 

This  paper  only  touches  the  edge  of  a  vast  subject.  If  it 
has  accomplished  its  aim,  it  has  shown  that  the  critical  at- 
tempt to  establish  separate  documents  in  the  first  two  chap- 
ters of  Genesis  is  unsuccessful.  I  believe  that  the  same 
thing  can  be  shown  in  the  rest  of  Genesis  and  the  entire 
Pentateuch. 


MODERN  CRITICISM  OF  THE  PENTATEUCH. 

By  Professor  Matthew  Leitch,  D.D.,  Presby- 
terian College,  Belfast,  Ireland. 


THE  school  of  biblical  criticism  which  is  most  widely 
dominant  at  the  present  day  asks  from  us  a  complete 
reconstruction  of  the  history  of  Israel,  based  on  a  new  criti- 
cal analysis  of  the  Pentateuch. 

In  this  school  are  two  classes  of  critics,  which  must  be 
carefully  distinguished  from  each  other.  To  the  first  class 
belong  those  who  regard  Christianity  and  its  sacred  books 
as  the  naturally  developed  product  of  the  religious  instinct 
of  the  human  race.  As  the  Greeks  developed  art,  and  the 
Romans  law  and  politics,  so,  they  say,  the  Hebrews  devel- 
oped religion.  With  critics  of  this  class  it  is  a  fundamental 
assumption  that  a  miracle  never  happened,  a  real  prophecy 
was  never  uttered,  and  God  never  supernaturally  revealed 
Himself  to  man.  But  the  Pentateuch  is  full  of  the  miracu- 
lous. They  must,  therefore,  construct  such  theories  of  its 
origin  and  structure  as  will  account  for  the  existence  of  its 
miraculous  element  without  admitting  the  truth  of  its  mira- 
cles, and  will  explain  the  rest  of  its  history  without  admit- 
ting the  interference  of  any  higher  power  than  that  of  the 
religious  instincts  and  impulses  of  the  race,  developing 
themselves  according  to  natural  laws.  This  they  attempt 
to  do  by  cleverly  splitting  up  the  Book  into  several  parts, 
arranging  these  parts  according  to  what  they  conceive  to 
be  the  natural  progressive  development  of  the  people,  and 
assigning  the  narratives  of  miraculous  events  to  men  of  a 
late  age  who  in  more  or  less  good  faith  recorded  them  of 
their  remote  ancestors. 

The  second  class  of   this  school  of  criticism  embraces 


284  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

those  who  themselves  believe  in  the  supernatural,  but  adopt 
the  critical  theories  of  those  who  don't.  There  always  has 
been  a  well-meaning  class  of  scholars,  who,  fearing  that  the 
Bible  and  the  Church  will  fall  behind  the  age,  are  ever  ready 
to  readjust  their  criticism  and  their  creed,  so  as  to  adapt 
it  to  any  theory  of  science  or  philosophy  that  happens  to 
be  dominant  for  the  day  and  claims  to  represent  the  ad- 
vanced thought  of  the  age.  They  sincerely  believe  that  every 
passing  form  of  thought  that  the  "spirit  of  the  age"  calls 
forth  is  permanent  and  final. 

Critics  of  this  class  all  believe  in  the  great  miracle  of 
the  Incarnation.  Some  of  them  even  accept  the  Westmin- 
ster Confession  of  Faith,  and  some  go  so  far  as  to  trust  in 
mystical  supernatural  endowments  of  an  external  Church 
organization;  and  yet  they  all  adopt  theories  which  are 
avowedly  based  by  their  authors  on  the  incredibility  of  the 
supernatural  in  the  Bible.  What  the  first  class  calls  myths, 
legends,  sagas,  or  inventions  of  a  later  age,  they  call  "  ideali- 
zations of  history,"  and  they  consider  that  to  invent  fictitious 
narratives  of  events  that  never  happened,  to  devise  codes  of 
laws  that  never  were  enacted,  to  compose  speeches  that 
were  never  uttered,  and  to  describe  in  detail  institutions 
that  never  had  existence,  and  to  give  to  these  fictions  cur- 
rency and  authority  by  solemnly  attributing  them  to  Moses 
and  to  God  Himself,  is  not  inconsistent  with  honesty,  or 
truth,  or  religion. 

The  weakness  of  this  class  of  critics  seems  to  be  that  they 
adopt  the  theories  of  the  anti-supernatural  critics,  while  they 
repudiate  the  fundamental  reasons  on  which  their  authors 
base  them.  They  take  over  the  elaborate  structure  which 
others  have  raised,  but  they  remove  the  substantial  pillars  on 
which  it  rested,  retaining  only  a  few  buttresses  which  the 
original  builders  added  to  embellish  rather  than  sustain  it. 

With  the  first  class  of  these  critics,  who  are  chiefly  Con- 
tinental scholars,  we  have  little  to  do  directly.     We  believe 


MODERN    CRITICISM    OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  285 

in  the  living  God,  and  in  the  incarnate  Son,  and  in  the  Holy 
Ghost  ever  present  and  ever  working  in  His  people.  We 
have,  therefore,  but  little  common  ground  with  those  who 
deny  or  ignore  these  fundamental  doctrines  of  Christianity. 
It  is  with  the  second  class  we  have  to  deal  directly.  They 
are  for  the  most  part  British  scholars,  who  occupy  them- 
selves in  adapting  to  Christian  faith  the  naturalistic  theories 
of  the  others,  modifying  them,  popularizing  them,  and 
striving  hard  to  show  that  they  do  not  destroy  Christian 
faith  and  morality,  and  are  not  inconsistent  with  the  divine 
inspiration  of  the  Bible  or  the  Deity  and  perfect  humanity  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

Let  me,  in  the  first  place,  endeavor  to  state  what  the  most 
generally  accepted  of  these  theories  are.  It  would  be  im- 
possible in  a  brief  space  to  give  even  a  summary  of  all  the 
theories  of  the  Pentateuch  which  have  been  advanced  by 
critics  ever  since  Astruc,  a  French  physician,  in  the  middle 
of  last  century,  published  a  book  in  which  he  set  forth  as  a 
conjecture  that  Moses  in  the  compilation  of  Genesis  used 
various  documents,  some  eleven  in  all,  but  chiefly  two  main 
documents,  distinguished  from  each  other  by  their  use  of 
Elohim  or  Jehovah  as  the  name  of  God.  Since  that  time 
there  have  been  almost  as  many  theories  as  there  have  been 
critics;  each  critic  either  dividing  the  Book  anew  into 
pieces  for  himself,  or  forming,  as  he  shakes  the  critical 
kaleidoscope,  new  combinations  of  the  old  pieces  into  which 
it  had  been  before  divided.  Indeed  the  whole  series  of 
these  theories  of  the  Pentateuch  affords  an  excellent  ex- 
ample of  natural  development,  in  which  each  new  form, 
while  preserving  the  common  type,  modifies  and  advances 
some  form  that  went  before,  while  there  is  ever  going  on  a 
process  of  natural  selection,  by  which  that  theory  survives 
which  best  fits  itself  into  the  environing  spirit  and  temper 
of  its  age. 

The  theory  of  the  Pentateuch  which  seems  to  have  best 


286  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

fitted  itself  to  the  fashion  of  thought  of  the  present  day  is 
somewhat  as  follows  :  The  prominent  critics  of  this  school, 
while  not  agreeing  in  details,  are  generally  agreed  on  the 
main  lines  of  the  division  of  the  Pentateuch.  They  find 
three  well-marked  codes  of  laws,  which  differ  from  each 
other  in  style  and  phraseology  as  well  as  in  religious  con- 
ception, and  which  represent  and  reflect  three  different  peri- 
ods of  the  history  of  Israel. 

I.  The  first  code  is  that  collection  of  laws  contained  in 
Exodus  from  the  twenty-third  verse  of  the  twentieth  chapter 
to  the  end  of  chapter  twenty-three,  commonly  called  the 
Book  of  the  Covenant.  2.  The  second  code  is  contained  in 
Deuteronomy,  chapters  xii.-xxvi.  3.  The  third  code  is 
made  up  of  the  laws  found  in  the  rest  of  Exodus  and  in 
Leviticus  and  Numbers. 

We  all  admit  the  existence  of  these  three  codes  and  the 
well-marked  differences  that  distinguish  them. 

1.  The  first  code  seems  to  be  composed  chiefly  of  laws 
which,  no  doubt,  had  been  observed  among  the  Israelites 
during  the  long  period  of  their  existence  as  a  tribe  governed 
by  elders  and  judges.  Just  as  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  existed 
before  it  was  sanctioned  on  Sinai  in  the  Decalogue,  so  may 
these  laws  have  been  long  established  in  Israel  previous  to 
their  being  summarized  and  sanctioned  at  the  beginning  of 
the  nation's  life  in  the  wilderness.  Moses  speaking  to  his 
father-in-law  before  Israel  had  come  to  Sinai  refers  to  the 
existence  of  a  body  of  divine  laws,  when  he  says:  "When 
the  people  have  a  matter,  they  come  unto  me,  and  I  judge 
between  one  and  another,  and  I  do  make  them  know  the 
statutes  of  God  and  His  laws."  Israel,  therefore,  had 
"  statutes  and  laws  of  God  "  before  the  promulgation  of 
the  Sinaitic  code.  It  might  well  be  called  the  Judges'  Code. 
Critics  generally  call  it  the  Prophetical  Code. 

2.  So  also  we  find  in  the  middle  books  of  the  Pentateuch 
a   series   of  laws  which  may  fairly  enough   be  called  the 


MODERN    CRITICISM    OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  287 

Priests'  Code.  It  consists  of  laws  which  deal  chiefly  with 
the  functions  of  the  priests  in  the  national  worship  of 
Jehovah. 

3.  The  Deuteronomic  Code  is  also  clearly  different  from 
the  others.  It  is  contained  in  those  popular  addresses 
which  Moses  delivered  to  the  whole  body  of  the  Israelites  at 
the  close  of  their  forty  years  of  wandering.  There  is  nat- 
urally a  development  or  modification  of  some  of  the  laws 
after  thirty-eight  years  of  experience  in  the  wilderness,  and 
this  popular  re-statement  of  them  keeps  in  view  the  altered 
conditions  under  which  the  people  are  now  to  live  as  the  set- 
tled occupants  of  Canaan.  While  this  legislation  presup- 
poses and  often  refers  to  what  is  contained  in  the  preceding 
books,  it  does  not  give  the  details  of  priestly  duties,  but  ad- 
dresses itself  to  the  people  as  the  People's  Code,  in  prospect 
of  their  settlement  in  Canaan. 

This  explanation  of  the  three  codes,  which  is  that  of  the 
record  itself,  accounts  simply  and  naturally  for  the  differ- 
ences between  them.  But  it  is  much  too  obvious  to  satisfy 
our  advanced  critics.  They  say  that  the  first  code  was  not 
given  at  Sinai,  nor  through  Moses  at  all;  that  few,  if  any, 
laws  of  Israel  came  from  Moses;  that  this  code  was  com- 
piled and  written  down  about  the  time  of  the  early  kings 
of  Israel  in  the  ninth  or  eighth  century  before  Christ — say 
about  six  hundred  years  after  Moses. 

The  Deuteronomic  Code,  though  it  may  contain  some 
laws  of  earlier  date,  was  written  in  the  reign  of  Manasseh 
or  Josiah,  say  about  eight  centuries  after  the  time  of  Moses. 
The  Priests'  Code  they  say  was  not  completed  till  after  the 
exile,  or  nearly  a  thousand  years  later  than  Moses.  The 
critics,  however,  are  not  agreed  as  to  the  date  of  the  Priests' 
Code,  and  its  relation  to  that  in  Deuteronomy.  Some  of 
the  leading  critics  in  Germany,  such  as  Dillmann  and 
Riehm,  put  it  before  Deuteronomy,  and  assign  it  to  the 
year  800  b.c.     However,  the  criticism  which  is  at  the  pres- 


288  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

ent  most  in  vogue,  and  is  being  popularized  in  England  and 
Scotland,  makes  it  post  exilic. 

But  our  critics  find  in  the  Pentateuch  not  only  different 
codes  of  laws  but  different  strata  of  historical  narrative. 
The  narrative  associated  with  the  First  Code  is  called  the 
prophetical  narrative,  because  it  is  thought  to  present  the 
history  of  the  times  of  the  patriarchs  and  Moses,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  prophets.  It  uses  sometimes  Jehovah 
and  sometimes  Elohim  as  the  name  of  God,  and  so  it  must 
itself  be  a  combination  of  two  older  narratives,  one  Jehovis- 
tic  and  the  other  Elohistic.  It  is  therefore  called  J  E,  and 
there  is  of  course  a  Redactor  (R)  who  combined  the  two 
and  pieced  them  together  so  skilfully  that  it  defies  the  critics 
themselves  to  tell  which  parts  belong  to  the  Jehovist  and 
which  to  the  Elohist,  and  which  are  the  Redactor's  own. 

The  Priests'  Code  has  also  its  historical  setting  called  the 
Priestly  Narrative,  known  commonly  as  P,  and  comprising 
a  great  part  of  the  Pentateuchal  history.  But  various  hands 
wrought  at  this  narrative.  There  is  a  second  P  and  a  third, 
and  a  Redactor,  or  Redactors,  to  combine  them. 

The  Deuteronomist  is  styled  D.  Then  we  have  all  these 
codes  and  narratives  put  together  some  time  later  than  the 
exile  by  a  very  cunning  and  skilful  Redactor  who  adapted 
them,  harmonized  them,  and  dove-tailed  them  together  so 
as  to  make  one  continuous  work,  the  Pentateuch,  as  we  now 
have  it. 

Let  us  now  consider  by  what  evidence  these  ingenious 
and  intricate  theories  are  supported.  It  cannot  be  too  em- 
phatically stated  that  the  authors  of  these  theories  proceed 
tacitly  or  expressly  on  the  assumption  that  the  miracles  and 
prophecies  recorded  in  the  Old  Testament  are  incredible. 
It  is  true  that  many  of  those  who  adopt  and  popularize 
these  theories,  especially  English  and  Scotch  critics,  do  not 
deny  the  credibility  of  the  supernatural,  and  even  vehemently 
assert  that  their  views  are  not  inconsistent  with  the  fullest 


MODERN    CRITICISM    OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  289 

belief  in  the  divine  inspiration  of  the  Bible.     Still  it  cannot 
be  denied,  and  it  ought  to  be  emphasized,  that  the  men  who 
originated  and  worked  out  these  theories,  and  whose  learn 
ing  and  reputation  have  gained  acceptance  for  them,  assume 
all  through  their  arguments  that  the  miraculous  is  incredi- 
ble. To  be  convinced  of  this,  one  has  only  to  examine,  look- 
ing up  the  Scripture  passages  referred  to,  a  few  of  the  argu- 
ments of  Wellhausen,  who  may  be  taken  as  a  fair  represen- 
tative of  such  critics  in  Germany,  or  of  Kuenen  in  Holland, 
or  of  Renan  in  France.     They  everywhere  take  for  granted 
that  the  narratives  of  miraculous  events  are  mere  legends, 
often  recorded  for  unworthy  ends,  and  that  Jehovah  was 
a  mere  local  deity  of  Israel,  with  no  more  real  existence 
than   Baal  or  Chemosh.     These  assumptions,  which  to  us 
seem  simply  blasphemous,  underlie  this  whole  theory,  and 
form  its  philosophical  basis.     And  when   it  is  said  that  men 
like  Canons  Driver  and  Cheyne,  or  Dr.  RobertsonSmith,  or 
Mr.  Gore,  or  other  men  of  smaller  reputation,  accept  these 
same  theories,  and  yet  are  believers  in  miracle  and  prophecy; 
that  only  means  that  these  critics  have  adopted  the  theories 
without  accepting  the  grounds  on  which  their  authors  have 
based  them.     They  adopt  the  theories,  but  deny  the  validity 
of  the  main  arguments  on  which  they  rest.     We  are,  there- 
fore, constrained  to  believe  that  it  is  not  so  much  that  the 
arguments  of  men  like  Wellhausen  have  convinced   them, 
as  that  the  imposing  authority  of  great  names  has  overborne 
their  judgment. 

This  argument  from  the  authority  of  the  great  critical 
experts  has  more  weight,  perhaps,  than  any  other  with  or- 
dinary students  of  the  Bible.  Canon  Driver,  for  instance, 
uses  it  forcibly  when  he  is  replying  to  Dr.  Green's  objections 
to  the  analysis  of  the  Pentateuch,  and  it  is  the  only  reply  to 
them  which  he  makes.  Canon  Driver  says:  "If  it  [the 
analysis  in  its  main  features]  had  rested  as  Dr.  Green  sup- 
poses solely  upon  illusion,  there  would  not  have  been  a  sue- 


290  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

cession  of  acute  Continental  critics — who  are  ready  enough 
to  dispute  and  overthrow  one  another's  conclusions,  if  able 
to  do  so — virtually  following  in  the  same  lines,  and  merely 
correcting  or  modifying  in  details  the  conclusions  of  their 
predecessors"  (Cont.  Rev.^  Feb.,  1890). 

This  argument  from  authority  would  have  more  weight 
with  us  if  we  did  not  remember  that  Continental  critics  one 
after  another,  and  all  with  the  same  air  of  lofty  infallibility, 
have  been  for  generations  propounding  and  defending 
theories  both  of  the  Gospels  and  the  Pentateuch,  which 
for  a  while  w^ere  widely  accepted,  and  are  now  universally 
rejected.  It  is  true  that  these  German  theories  mostly  came 
to  England  after  they  were  dead  at  home,  while  now  our  re- 
lations with  Continental  thought  are  closer  and  communica- 
tion is  more  rapid,  so  that,  though  they  are  still  short-lived, 
we  get  them  before  there  is  time  for  the  natural  term  of  their 
life  to  be  expired  and  their  successors  to  have  taken  their 
place.  Yet  the  remembrance  of  this  long  succession  of 
these  exploded  theories  lessens  the  weight  of  the  authority 
of  the  great  scholars  who  in  our  day  are  propounding  new 
ones. 

And  in  regard  to  these  theories  of  the  Pentateuch  it  is  not 
difficult  to  explain  why  these  "  acute  Continental  critics 
do  not  overthrow  one  another's  conclusions."  They  could 
not  do  so,  without  controverting  the  principle  with  w^hich 
they  start — the  incredibility  of  the  supernatural.  The  ques- 
tion that  they  have  virtually  before  them  is.  How  to  account 
for  the  Bible  without  admitting  the  supernatural.  And  we 
no  more  accept  their  conclusions,  because  they  in  the  main 
agree,  than  we  should  accept  the  conclusions  of  several 
Roman  Catholic  controversialists,  who,  "  though  ready 
enough  to  dispute  and  overthrow  one  another's  conclusions 
if  able  to  do  so,"  are  not  able,  because  they  all  start  with 
the  assumption  of  the  infallibility  of  the  pope.  So  these 
Continental  critics  agree  in   the  main   in  their  conclusions, 


MODERN    CRITICISM    OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  29I 

because  they  agree  in  the  assumption  with  which  they  start, 
and  which  dominates  all  their  arguments.  And,  therefore, 
it  has  now  became  the  fashion  of  the  day  among  the  learned 
— for  there  are  fashions  in  learning  as  well  as  in  dress — to 
advocate  the  theories  that  the  most  renowned  scholars  adopt. 
Even  such  a  spiritually-minded  man  as  the  late  Dr.  Delitzsch, 
in  what  we  cannot  but  believe  to  be  the  weakness  of  his 
old  age,  was  unable  to  stand  against  the  prevailing  current 
of  German  scholarship  and  surrendered  the  position  which 
he  had  held,  no  doubt  with  some  inconsistencies,  through 
the  maturity  and  vigor  of  his  manhood. 

But  if  we  ask  on  what  other  evidence,  apart  from  this 
philosophical  assumption  and  the  authority  of  great  names, 
does  this  theory  of  the  composition  of  the  Pentateuch  rest, 
we  are  told  that  it  is  on  the  internal  evidence  of  the  work 
itself.  There  is  no  other  evidence.  Not  one  tittle  of  ex- 
ternal historical  testimony  is  alleged  for  the  list  of  authors, 
Jehovists,  Elohists,  and  Redactors,  about  whom  the  critics 
talk  as  familiarly  as  if  they  were  personally  acquainted  with 
them.  Whatever  external  evidence  there  is,  in  the  frequent 
statements  of  the  work  itself,  in  the  references  of  the  sub- 
sequent literature,  in  the  unbroken  traditions  of  the  nation, 
in  the  unvarying  testimony  of  prophets,  and  apostles,  and  of 
our  Lord  Himself — it  is  all  without  exception  in  favor  of 
the  authorship  of  IMoses.  Whether  you  assign  to  it  much 
value  or  little,  it  is  all  on  one  side.  There  is  not  a  particle 
of  external  evidence  in  favor  of  any  other  authorship. 

But  internal  evidence  may  be  of  such  a  nature  that  it  is  of 
itself  convincing  and  sufficient.  It  is  on  internal  evidence 
alone  that  we  believe  that  Moses  did  not  write  the  last  por- 
tion of  Deuteronomy,  which  gives  an  account  of  his  own 
death  and  burial.  There  is  no  particular  statement  that  he 
wrote  it  or  did  not  write  it;  but  it  stands  there  like  the 
rest  of  the  books,  and  yet  we  infer,  by  internal  evidence, 
that  it  was  not  written  by  Moses,  but  by  some  subsequent 


292 


OUFSTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 


author  or  editor.  Similarly,  there  might  be  internal  evi- 
dence sufficient  to  satisfy  us  that  other  passages  are  not 
written  by  Moses. 

Now  let  us  look  at  the  nature  of  the  internal  evidence 
that  is  alleged  in  favor  of  the  various  authors  to  whom  the 
critics  assign  the  different  parts  of  the  Pentateuch.  There 
are,  they  say,  palpable  differences  in  style  and  in  words  and 
phrases,  by  which  they  can  distinguish  one  part  from  another. 
There  are  discrepancies  where  statements  taken  from  one 
document  contradict  those  taken  from  another.  There  are 
also  differences  in  religious  conception,  and  in  historical 
point  of  view,  and  all  these  differences  combine  with  each 
other  and  repeat  themselves  often,  and  so  form  unmistaka- 
ble criteria,  according  to  which  critics  can  assign  each  part 
to  its  own  author. 

Before  presenting  some  objections  to  these  theories  I 
think  it  right  to  state  what  seems  to  me  the  right  attitude 
to  take  in  regard  to  them.  The  philosophical  assumption 
of  the  incredibility  of  miracle  with  which  one  class  of  critics 
start,  and  on  the  lines  of  which  their  detailed  arguments 
are  worked  out,  we  cannot,  of  course  accept.  If  there  was 
no  miracle,  there  was  no  Divine  Saviour,  and  if  we  reject 
Him,  we  may  well  reject  the  whole  Bible,  Old  Testament 
and  New. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  not  necessary  to  believe  all 
the  traditional  opinions  of  the  Church  as  to  the  date,  author- 
ship, and  structure  of  each  book  of  the  Bible,  nor  as  to  the 
mode  of  its  inspiration  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  We  hold  no 
brief  for  scholastic  or  ecclesiastic  traditions.  They  may 
be  wrong,  and  if  so,  must  be  rejected.  We  cannot  oppose 
scientific  criticism,  for  it  is  only  a  systematic  method  of 
reaching  clearer,  fuller,  and  more  definite  knowledge  of 
what  the  Bible  is  and  what  it  contains.  If  criticism  brings 
to  light  any  new  facts  about  the  Bible,  we  welcome  them. 
We  may  have  to  distinguish  between  the  theory  of  the  critic 


MODERN    CRITICISM    OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  293 

and  the  facts  of  the  criticism;  but  we  accept  the  facts,  not 
in  unwilling  concession,  but  in  confidence  that  every  truth 
makes  for  true  religion.  Any  theory  of  the  origin  and 
authorship  and  structure  of  the  books  which  is  not  incon- 
sistent with  the  substantial  truthfulness  of  Scripture  is  law^ 
ful  for  us  to  hold,  and  may  be  examined  without  prejudice. 


MODERN  CRITICISM  OF  THE  PENTATEUCH 
OBJECTIONS  TO  IT. 

By  Professor  Matthew  Leitcii,  D.D.,  Presby- 
terian College,  Belfast,  Ireland. 


I  THE  first  objection  we  make  to  the  theory  of  this 
•  school  of  criticism  is  four.ded  on  the  impossibility  of 
making  with  any  certainty  such  an  analysis  of  the  Penta- 
teuch as  these  theories  require. 

To  divide  a  book  into  two  or  three  parts  and  assign 
each  to  a  separate  author,  judging  solely  by  internal 
evidence,  might  in  certain  circumstances  be  possible,  but  it 
is  very  dififtcult.  It  requires  the  exercise  of  nice  literary 
taste  and  trained  powers  of  discrimination,  and  a  long 
familiar  acquaintance  with  various  works  of  the  authors  thus 
judged.  Shakespeare  in  some  of  his  plays  has  worked  up 
the  writings  of  older  dramatists,  and  it  is  very  difficult  to 
decide  what  is  Shakespeare's  own  and  what  is  taken  from 
others.  No  one  is  able  to  do  it  with  any  certainty  unless  he 
has  some  external  evidence  to  guide  him.  And  no  one  would 
attempt  it,  judging  merely  by  style  and  phraseology  if  he  has 
only  brief  scraps  and  extracts  of  the  writing  used.  He 
must  have  long  and  varied  passages  if  he  is  to  judge  by  style 
at  all. 

Yet  here  are  critics  who  can  judge  of  the  style  and 
phraseology  of  a  single  verse,  or  half  verse,  and  assign  it 
with  confidence  to  an  author  of  whom  they  know  little  or 
nothing.  They  can  tell  not  only  what  parts  of  lost  docu- 
ments were  adopted  by  the  compiler,  but  what  were  passed 
over;  and  not  only  what  these  lost  fragments  contained,  but 
ivhat  they  omitted.     They  can  split  up  a  small  book  like  the 


296  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

Pentateuch  into  fragments,  and  assign  them  to  above  a  dozen 
otherwise  unknown  authors.  Wellhausen  actually  divides 
the  Hexateuch  (the  first  six  books  of  the  Bible)  among 
twenty- two  different  authors  and  redactors,  and  Kuenen, 
among  at  least  eighteen!  It  is  not  without  reason  that  the 
critic  adds  to  his  authors  till  he  reaches  the  incredible 
number  of  twenty-two  or  eighteen.  It  would  be  far  more 
suitable  to  have  only  four  or  five.  But  he  is  obliged  by  the 
necessities  of  his  theory  to  add  on  Elohist  to  Elohist  and 
redactor  to  redactor.  A  passage,  for  instance,  which  by 
his  usual  criteria  is  assigned  to  the  Elohist,  is  found  to  have 
imbedded  in  it  the  name  Jehovah,  and  so  he  is  obliged  to 
bring  in  a  Jehovist  redactor  for  the  word  or  the  clause 
that  contains  it.  Again,  a  passage  which  has  the  criteria  of 
one  redactor  is  suddenly  found  to  have  a  word  or  clause  that 
he  has  shown  elsewhere  cannot  have  been  used  by  him,  and 
so  he  has  to  bring  in  a  second  or  third  redactor.  And  so 
by  the  very  necessities  of  his  theory  the  critic  is  obliged, 
however  much  he  dislikes  it,  to  multiply  his  documents  and 
editors.  It  will  not,  therefore,  do  for  a  student  of  the  Bible 
to  say,  as  most  of  our  British  adopters  of  these  theories  say, 
"I  will  accept  Wellhausen's  four  or  five  authors,  but  not  his 
twenty-two."  You  are  obliged  for  the  same  reasons  for 
which  you  accept  his  five  to  accept  his  twenty-two.  He 
himself,  who  understands  best  what  his  own  theory  demands, 
sees  that,  carrying  out  the  principles  that  are  essential  to  his 
theory  and  judging  by  the  criteria  which  have  guided  him  all 
through  his  work,  he  is  obliged  to  add  document  to  docu- 
ment and  redactor  to  redactor.  The  criteria  which  gave 
you  five  different  authors  must  not  be  ungratefully  cast 
away,  when  by  continuing  to  use  them  with  the  same  intelli- 
gence and  honesty  you  will  get  twenty-two.  You  have  no 
right  to  repudiate  the  fundamental  principles  of  your  theory 
only  when  they  lead  you  into  absurdities.  And  surely,  gen- 
tlemen, there  is  absurdity  enough  to  damn  any  theory  in  the 


MODERN    CRITICISM    OF    THE    PENTAFEUCH.  297 

supposition  that  a  book  like  the  Pentateuch,  which  has 
vindicated  its  literary  unity  and  powerful  individuality  by 
winning  its  way  through  charm  of  style  and  matter  to  the 
hearts  of  young  and  old  throughout  a  hundred  generations, 
is  the  result  of  the  artificial  combination  of  heterogeneous 
documents  from  different  centuries  patched  together  by 
half  a  dozen  unknown  compilers!  We  can  believe  in 
miracles,  but  not  in  absurdities  like  this. 

But  lest  I  might  be  supposed  to  be  exaggerating  the  pre- 
tensions of  critics  in  making  their  analysis  of  the  Pentateuch, 
let  me  give  you  some  specimens  of  the  results  of  their 
labors.  Take  any  chapter,  almost  at  random,  say  the 
account  of  the  plague  of  turning  the  waters  of  the  Nile  into 
blood  (Exodus,  chap,  vii.,  from  verse  17  to  the  end). 
According  to  Wellhausen's  analysis  of  this  passage,  verse 
17a  (first  part)  is  by  the  Jehovist  (J),  17b  (second  part)  by 
the  Elohist  (E),  18  is  by  J,  19  and  20a  are  by  the  priestly 
narrator,  verse  20b  and  21a  and  b  (first  and  second  clauses) 
are  by  E,  21c  and  22  and  23  are  by  the  priestly  narrator,  24 
by  E,  and  25  by  J. 

Take  again  the  7th  chapter  of  Genesis,  according  to  still 
more  recent  German  critics  (Kautsch  and  Socin,  1888).  The 
first  eight  verses  are  chiefly  by  the  second  Jehovist  J2,  ver. 
9,  ''  They  went  in  two  and  two  (2d  Jehovist,  J2),  the  male 
and  the  female  (Redactor  R),  to  Noah  into  the  ark,  as  (J2) 
Elohim  (R)  hid  commanded  Noah  "  (J2),  ver.  10  (J2),  ver. 
II  (P),  ver.  12  (J2),  ver.  13  to  i6a  (P),  ver.  i6b,  ''And 
Jehovah  shut  him  in  "  (J2),  ver.  17,  **  And  the  flood  was  (P) 
forty  days  (R)  upon  the  earth  "  (P),  ''And  the  waters  in- 
creased and  bare  up  the  ark  "  (J2),  And  so  on  and  so  on. 
It  is  impossible  to  read  such  stuff  without  a  feeling  of 
amazement,  or  perhaps  amusement,  at  the  pretensions  to 
infallibility  which  such  an  analysis  involves  on  the  part  of 
those  Germans  who  work  at  it,  not  unmingled  with  some 
feeling  of  contempt  for  our  obsequious   British  critics  who 


29^  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

with  open  mouths  take  it  all  in,  and  swallow  it  down  as  the 
sure  results  of  scientific  criticism,  reached  by  a  succession 
of  *' acute  Continental  critics." 

The  allegation  that  it  is  a  proof  of  the  correctness  of  this 
analysis  that  the  critics,  while  differing  in  some  details,  are 
agreed  in  the  main  lines  of  their  divisions,  should  not  have 
the  slightest  weight  with  us.  They  are  agreed  in  the  main 
results,  because  they  are  agreed  in  the  presumptions  with 
which  they  start.  It  does  not  require  great  learning  and 
critical  skill  to  assign  a  passage  where  the  name  of  God  is 
Jehovah  to  the  Jehovist,  and  where  it  is  Elohim  to  the 
Elohist;  and  it  is  no  marvel  that  the  critics  agree  in  such 
divisions.  It  is,  however,  to  be  noted  that  again  and  again 
they  find  that  this  criterion  does  not  otherwise  suit  their 
theory,  and  they  have  to  say  that  the  word  Jehovah  or 
Elohim  or  the  clause  containing  it  has  been  inserted  or 
changed  by  a  redactor. 

I  think  that  I  could  give  a  few  rules  on  which  they  act  in 
such  a  way  as  to  show  how  critics  who  argued  in  their 
theories  should  be  also  agreed  in  the  main  lines  of  their 
divisions 

Rule  I. — Where  Jehovah  occurs,  assign  the  passage  to  a 
Jehovist  (No.  i  or  2),  where  Elohim,  to  an  Elohist.  If  in 
any  case  the  result  is  inconvenient  to  your  theory,  bring  in 
a  redactor  who  has  inserted  Jehovah  or  Elohim,  as  either 
suits  you.  There  is  also  a  convenient  division  called  JE, 
an  unresolvable  combination  of  Jehovist  and  Elohist,  to 
which  you  may  assign  either  kind  of  passage,  as  suits  your 
theory. 

Rule  II. — If  there  are  two  passages  which  describe  the 
same  events  from  different  points  of  view,  make  them  con- 
tradict each  other  and  assign  them  to  different  authors. 
This  contradiction  can  mostly  be  secured  by  straining  the 
interpretation  of  either  or  both  passages,  but  if  not,  a  word 
or  words  may  be  omitted  or  added  in  the  text. 


MODERN    CRITICISM    OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  299 

Rule  III. — If  a  passage  contain  a  prophecy,  assign  it  to  a 
writer  who  lived  after  tlhe  event  prophesied  ;  if  a  miracle, 
bring  it  down  to  a  date  so  long  after  the  event  that  no  cred- 
ibility can  be  attached  to  the  narrative. 

Rule  IV. — If  any  laws,  which  by  intrinsic  evidence  are 
proved  to  be  ancient,  are  found  in  a  code  or  narrative 
which  your  theory  makes  recent,  you  need  not  change  your- 
theory  but  say  that  some  pre-existent  usage  has  got  incor- 
porated in  the  late  work.  If  you  are  always  ready  to  adopt 
tliis  device,  you  can  defy  chronology. 

Rule  V. —  [n  general,  everything  favorable  to  your  theory, 
accept  and  accentuate  and  exaggerate;  everything  adverse, 
suspect,  ignore,  readjust  or  reject. 

If  these  rules  are  carefully  observed,  and  the  various  pas- 
sages ingeniously  manipulated  by  any  number  of  acute 
critics,  I  will  guarantee  that  those  who  start  with  the  same 
theory  will  agree  in  the  main  divisions  of  their  analysis  quite 
as  closely  as  our  Continental  critics  now  do. 

Nothing  could  be  more  manifest  than  that  the  theory  is 
not  based  on  the  analysis,  but  the  analysis  is  made  to  suit 
the  theory. 

The  truth  is,  such  an  analysis  as  our  critics  propose  of  the 
Pentateuch  is  an  impossibility.  Moses  may  have  used  many 
documents,  Elohistic  if  you  like.  But  he  has  wrought  them 
into  an  original  work,  and  so  woven  them  inextricably  into 
its  texture  that  they  cannot  now  be  separated.  He  may 
even  have  used  contemporary  scribes  to  write  out  narratives 
or  laws  that  he  has  embodied  in  his  work,  just  as  Beza- 
leel  used  carpenters  and  goldsmiths  in  the  construction  of 
the  tabernacle.  But  if  so,  all  the  material  used,  and  all 
the  workmanship  dene,  have  been  combined  by  the  force 
of  one  great  creative  mind  inspired  to  do  this  work,  so  that 
every  attempt  to  separate  them  is  in  vain,  and  the  com- 
pleted work  has  come  down  to  us  fused  together  by  the  genius 
and  stamped  with  the  authority  of  Moses,  the  man  of  God. 


^OC>  QUKSIIONS    OF    THE    DAV. 

The  time  at  my  disposal  will  allow  me  to  do  little  more 
than  barely  state  the  other  objections  to  these  theories. 

II.  The  objection  to  them  founded  on  what  is  called  the 
Egypticity  of  the  Pentateuch.  Modern  Egyptologists  de- 
clare that  the  writer  of  the  Pentateuch  shows  a  minute  and 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  history,  politics,  literature,  re- 
ligion, and  social  manners  and  customs  of  Egypt,  which 
could  not  have  been  possessed  by  anyone  who  was  not  a 
resident  in  the  country  and  learned  in  the  wisdom  of  Egypt. 
And  the  Egypt  which  is  so  accurately  delineated  is  not  the 
Egypt  of  the  time  of  the  exile  or  of  the  kings  of  Israel,  but 
the  Egypt  of  the  date  of  Moses.  If  the  Pentateuch  was  not 
written  at  this  date,  but  written  at  the  time  of  the  exile  by 
some  priest  or  scribe  of  Israel,  we  must  suppose  that  the 
writer  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  the  history  and  arch- 
aeology of  Egypt  of  a  thousand  years  before  his  day,  and 
got  up  his  work  so  accurately  and  projected  himself  so 
thoroughly  into  the  spirit  of  the  distant  times  in  a  foreign 
country,  that  when  he  came  to  write  of  them  he  moves  among 
all  the  thousand  details  of  ancient  Egyptian  life  with  easy 
and  confident  step,  and  never  makes  a  stumble.  If  the 
writer  has  done  this  he  must  be  a  marvellous  genius,  such 
as  has  no  equal  in  all  the  literature  of  the  world.  If  more 
writers  than  one  are  supposed,  the  force  of  this  objection  is 
multiplied.  I  should  like  to  know  how  the  advocates  of  these 
theories  get  over  this  objection. 

III.  Another  objection,  somewhat  similar  to  this,  is 
founded  on  the  accurate  description  of  the  topography  of 
Egypt  and  the  wilderness  found  in  the  Pentateuch.  A  writer 
in  ancient  times  who  had  no  personal  knowledge  of  these 
countries  would  be  sure  to  make  wild  mistakes  if  he  touched 
on  their  topography.  And  yet  recent  researches  in  Egypt  and 
scientific  surveys  of  the  countries  through  which  the  Israel- 
ites passed  on  their  journey  from  Egypt  to  Canaan,  prove 
that  the  author  had  an  accurate  and  detailed  knowledge 


MODERN    CRITICISM    OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  jOI 

of  these  countries  such  as  could  hardly  have  been  possessed 
by  one  who  had  not  both  resided  in  Egypt  and  travelled 
long  in  the  wilderness. 

IV.  A  fourth  objection  may  be  drawn  from  literature. 
The  monuments  of  Babylonia  and  Egypt  show  that  liter- 
ature flourished  in  these  countries  long  before  the  time  of 
Moses.  It  used  to  be  an  objection  to  the  Mosaic  author- 
ship that  writing  was  not  known  in  the  time  of  Moses. 
But  now  we  know  that  not  only  was  writing  known  and  his- 
torical composition  practised,  but  poetry  and  novel-writing 
were  cultivated,  and  literature  was  reckoned  one  of  the  most 
honorable  of  professions  centuries  before  the  date  of  the 
Exodus.  It  is  hardly  possible  that  the  nation  of  Israel, 
which  was  so  intimately  connected  with  both  these  coun- 
tries, should  have  no  literature  during  the  most  flourishing 
periods  of  its  history,  and  that  all  those  masterpieces  of  lit- 
erature that  have  become  the  admiration  and  delight  of  the 
whole  civilized  world  should  have  been  produced  at  the 
period  of  Israel's  national  bondage  and  degradation,  and  of 
its  spiritual  degeneracy  and  decay. 

V.  A  fifth  objection  may  be  made  on  the  ground  of  his- 
tory. The  history  of  Israel  as  presented  in  the  only  mon- 
uments and  records  of  it  which  we  possess,  demands  some 
basis  to  rest  upon,  such  as  is  afforded  by  Moses  and  the 
Pentateuch.  Take  away  these,  and  the  whole  history  of 
the  nation,  with  its  laws  and  institutions  and  traditions 
clinging  to  it,  are  left  hanging  in  the  air. 

Again,  history  tells  that  the  Samaritans  accepted  the  Pen- 
tateuch as  loyally  as  the  Jews.  It  must,  therefore,  have 
been  established  as  a  sacred  and  authoritative  book  in 
Israel  long  before  the  Samaritan  schism.  Yet  these  theories 
suppose  that  it  was  completed  either  after  the  date  of  the 
Samaritan  schism  or  only  a  short  time  before  it. 

VI.  A  sixth  objection  is  founded  on  language.  It  has 
been   very  recently  argued  with   great   ability  and  learning 


302  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

by  one  of  the  most  brilliant  Semitic  scholars  of  this  age, 
Professor  Margoliouth,  of  Oxford,  from  a  study  of  the  orig- 
inal language  of  the  book  of  Ecclesiasticus,  that  the  original 
language  of  this  book  of  the  Apocrypha,  written  about  200 
B.C.,  which  was  then  "  the  classical  language  of  Jerusalem, 
and  the  medium  for  prayer  and  philosophical  and  religious 
instruction  and  speculation  "  is  so  different  from  that  of 
the  books  of  the  Old  Testament  "in  its  philosophical  and 
religious  terms,  in  its  logical  phrases  and  legal  expressions, 
in  its  idioms  and  particles  as  well  as  in  its  grammar  and 
structure,  that  between  the  language  of  Erclesiasticus  and 
that  of  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament  tiiere  must  lie  cen- 
turies. Nay,  there  must  lie,  in  most  cases,  the  deep  waters 
of  the  captivity,  the  grave  of  the  Old  Hebrew  and  the  Old 
Israel,  and  the  womb  of  the  New  Hebrew  and  the  New 
Israel." 

If  this  position  is  ultimately  maintained,  and  its  defender 
seems  to  have  been  able  hitherto  to  maintain  it  against 
the  vigorous  attacks  of  Cheyne,  Driver,  Neubauer,  and 
Noldeke,  it  not  only  demolishes  the  theory  of  the  exilic 
origin  of  the  Pentateuch,  but  we  shall  hear  no  more  of  a 
Babylonian  Isaiah,  or  Maccabean  Psalms,  or  a  second  cen- 
tury Daniel. 

VII.  But  to  many  minds  the  most  formidable  objections 
to  these  theories  are  drawn  from  religion  and  morality. 

If  Deuteronomy  was  comi)osed  in  the  time  of  Josiah  to 
help  him  in  his  conflict  with  idolatry  and  his  reformation 
of  religion,  then  its  iini)osition  on  the  people  as  the  law 
given  by  God  to  Moses  and  spoken  by  him  to  Israel  when 
entering  the  promised  land,  was  no  mere  literary  fiction, 
but  a  political  manoeuvre,  which  can  be  justified  by  no 
righteous  code  of  morality. 

Similarly,  if  the  priesthood  in  the  time  of  the  exile  pro- 
mulgated laws  and  invented  untruthful  narratives  attributing 
these  laws  to  Moses  and  to  God  for  the  purpose  of  securing 


MODERN    CRITICISM    OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  303 

prestige  for  their  order  and  divine  sanction  for  their  cere- 
monies, then  such  a  transaction  was  in  the  highest  degree 
immoral. 

Besides,  if  the  history  narrated  in  the  Pentateuch  has  not 
substantial  truthfulness,  if  its  writers  have  not  genuine 
veracity,  then  no  euphemism  of  "idealization  "  will  convince 
Christian  men  that  it  can  be  inspired  of  God.  The  con- 
science of  Christendom  refuses  to  attribute  the  inspiration 
of  God  to  history  that  has  not  truth,  and  writers  that  have 
not  veracity.  Men  who  hold  that  a  book  is  inspired  of  God, 
and  yet  historically  untrue,  cannot  long  maintain  that  posi- 
tion. 

VIII.  The  objection  founded  on  religion  is  that  this 
theory  makes  it  very  difficult  to  believe  in  the  divinity  or 
perfect  humanity  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  thus  it  saps  the  foun- 
dation of  the  Christian  faith. 

It  is  not  a  mere  question  of  the  kenosis  theory,  though 
that  is  important  nor  is  it  a  question  of  the  limitation  of  our 
Lord's  knowledge  in  matters  of  criticism  to  t^at  of  the  time 
and  circumstances  in  which  He  lived.  Tlie  theory  in- 
volves the  ignorance  and  error  of  Jesus  in  that  special 
sphere  of  religious  truth  in  which  we  must  trust  Him  if  we 
trust  Him  at  all. 

If  Jesus  bases  religious  teaching  on  facts  recorded  in  the 
Pentateuch,  which  turn  out  to  be  no  facts  at  all,  if  He 
claims  acceptance  for  Himself  on  the  ground  that  Moses 
wrote  of  Him  and  it  is  proved  that  Moses  never  wrote  at  all, 
and  if  He  everywhere  treats  these  books  of  Moses  with  the 
reverence  and  submission  due  to  the  words  of  His  Father, 
and  teaches  their  supreme  authority  in  morals  and  religion, 
and  even  regards  them  as  the  source  and  basis  of  His 
own  religious  teaching,  and  if  these  books  are  shown  by 
this  theory  to  be  largely  the  words  of  some  unknown  and 
unauthorized  priest  of  the  exile,  who  wrote  narratives  that 
were  historically  untrue  and  falsely  attributed  his  work  to 


304  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

Moses — then  I  do  not  see  how  we  could  trust  Jesus  to  be  the 
revealer  of  the  Father  and  the  witness  to  the  Truth  which 
we  know  He  is. 

I  am  not  here  to  judge  other  men  who  in  their  life  take 
Jesus  as  their  Divine  Saviour,  and  in  their  creed  accept 
"  the  Holy  Scripture  as  the  Word  of  God  written,"  and  yet 
teach  that  Jesus  was  in  ignorance  and  error  on  this  essen- 
tially religious  question,  and  tliat  the  Scripture  is  not  his- 
torically truthful,  but  consists  largely  of  narratives  of  events 
that  never  happened,  and  contains  descriptions  of  institu- 
tions (such  as  the  tabernacle  and  its  utensils  and  its  sacri- 
fices) which  never  existed.  These  men  do  not  see  the  in- 
consistency of  their  own  position,  and  we  are  not  judging 
them.  But  I  think  we  have  a  right  to  demand  from  them 
that  they  declare  in  plain  unambiguous  language  what  their 
position  is.  They  must  not  hide  their  belief  in  the  histor- 
ical untruthfulness  of  the  Old  Testament  under  vague  and 
misleading  terms,  such  as  "  idealization  "  and  "  systematiza- 
tion  of  history."  They  have  no  right  under  false  colors  to 
surreptitiously  introduce  their  theories  into  the  Church  to 
get  them  accepted  by  the  young  and  unwary.  Let  them 
call  truth  truth,  and  falsehood  a  lie,  and  then  plain  men  will 
understand  what  is  meant  by  the  acceptance  of  these 
theories.  If  they  are  presented  in  their  naked  truth  I  have 
little  doubt  they  will  be  ultimately  rejected.  For  a  while 
the  spirit  of  the  age  and  the  temper  of  the  times  may  lead 
to  their  adoption,  but  the  fashion  of  the  time  is  ever  chang- 
ing, while  the  Word  of  God  abideth  forever. 

In  conclusion  I  may  say  that  any  of  these  objections 
worked  out  in  detail  (as  no  doubt  they  will  be  by  competent 
scholars)  would  be  sufficient  to  overturn  this  theory  of  the 
Pentateuch.  But  the  strength  of  the  argument  lies  in  the 
accumulated  force  of  all  the  objections  together.  When 
this  has  been  clearly  exhibited  and  candidly  weighed  it  will 
be  seen  that  this  theory,  which  is  the  fashion  of  the  day,  is 


MODERN    CRITICISM    OF    THE    PENTATEUCH.  305 

as  unscientific,  as  untrue  to  the  facts  of  the  Bible,  the  facts 
of  history,  and  the  facts  of  human  nature  as  any  of  the 
hundred  other  theories  now  exploded  and  forgotten  which 
originated  in  the  ponderous  learning,  the  ill-balanced  judg- 
ment, and  the  aggressive  infidelity  of  Continental  schclars. 


THE  ORIGIN  AND  RELIGIOUS  CONTENTS  OF 
THE  PSALTER.* 

Collated  by  Rev.  James  D.  Steele,  B.D,,  Lecturer  in 
Hebrew,  Columbia  College,  New  York  City. 


DR.  C.  A.  BRIGGS  gives  his  verdict  upon  this  book  of 
Canon  Cheyne  in  The  North  American  Review  for 
January  as  being  the  most  important  theological  work  of 
the  year.  "  The  author,"  he  says,  ''is  somewhat  cramped 
by  the  form  of  the  lecture,  but  he  has  managed  by  numer- 
ous notes  and  appendices  to  give  the  freshest,  richest  and 
most  fruitful  piece  of  criticism  that  has  appeared  for  many 
a  year ;  showing  an  amount  of  original  research  and  a  wealth 
of  knowledge  that  can  hardly  be  surpassed  by  any  Biblical 
scholar  now  living."  Hebrew  scholars  generally  will  doubt- 
less concur  in  this  verdict  so  far  as  respects  the  scholarship 
of  the  learned  Oxford  professor,  but  many  will  at  once  and 
with  great  propriety  take  issue  with  the  conclusions  at  which 
the  lecturer  arrives.  Time  honored  views  will  not  readily 
be  surrendered  and  humble  and  pious  Christians  will  refuse 
to  regard  David's  Psalm-book  as  being  only  the  expression 
of  the  religious  experience  of  Israel  in  the  Persian,  Greek, 
and  Maccabean  periods.  Indeed,  a  careful  reading  of  these 
Bampton  lectnres  for  1889  but  emphasizes  more  and  more 
the  truth  that  much  of  the  higher  criticism  is  mere  guess 
work,  is  based  on  insufficient  premises,  and  owes  its  sur- 
roundings largely  to  the  imagination.      Cautious  students 

*  The  Origin  and  Religious  Contents  of  the  Psalter  in  the  Light  of 
Old  Testament  Criticism  and  the  History  of  Religions.  Bampton  Lec- 
tures for  1889.     By  T.  K.  Cheyne,  D.D. 


3o8  QUESTIONS   OF    THE   DAY. 

need  not  be  very  particular   about  affirming  or  denying  its 
various  positions  so  long  as  confirmation  is  lacking. 

But  now  let  us  notice  the  results  of  the  writer's  patient 
and  learned  researches.  These  will  surely  be  startling  to 
many.  He  holds  that  the  Psalter  is  *'  a  monument  of  the 
best  religious  ideas  of  the  great  post  Exile  Jewish  Church." 
He  will  not  allow  David  the  authorship  of  a  single  Psalm, 
nor  does  he  believe  that  one  was  written  before  the  Exile, 
unless  it  be  Psalm  xviii.,  and  this,  he  rather  unwillingly 
allows,  may  have  been  written  about  the  time  of  Josiah. 
The  evidence  of  II.  Samuel  xxii.  to  the  authorship  of  Psalm 
xviii.,  which  will  be  conclusive  to  most  Bible  students,  ac- 
cording to  Canon  Cheyne,  "only  proves  that  the  poem  was 
conjecturally  ascribed  to  the  idealized  David  not  long  be- 
fore the  Exile."  A  few  Psalms,  about  twenty- five  in  num- 
ber, are  assigned  to  the  period  of  the  Maccabees,  Simon  the 
Maccabee  being  understood  to  have  edited  the  Books  IV. 
and  V.  of  the  Psalter.  The  great  majority  of  the  Psalms 
were,  however,  according  to  the  writer,  written  during  the 
Persian  period,  especially  its  later  portion.  Canon  Cheyne's 
view  is  that  authors  of  the  late  Persian  period  "  think  them- 
selves back  into  the  soul  of  David  "  ;  if  early  phrases  and 
forms  of  expression  are  used,  he  says  that  later  writers 
"  archaized,"  or  that  they  employed  "  affectations  of  archaic 
roughness."  The  method  adopted  in  these  lectures  leads 
to  some  strange  results.  Things  truly  are  not  what  they 
seem.  Psalms  xlv.  and  Ixxii.  refer  to  Ptolemy  Philadelphus ! 
Even  Psalm  cxxxvii.  cannot  be  allowed  the  place  during  or 
immediately  after  the  Exile  which  its  language  seems  to 
imply.  Canon  Cheyne  says,  "  Let  us  group  it  with  Psalms 
cxxxv.  and  cxxxvi.  and  place  it  in  the  time  of  Simon  the 
Maccabee.  It  is  in  the  fullest  sense  a  'dramatic  lyric' 
Just  as  the  author  of  Psalm  xviii.  thinks  himself  into  the 
soul  of  David,  so  a  later  temple-singer  identifies  himself  by 
sympathy  with  his  exiled  predecessors  in  Babylon."     Psalm 


ORIGIN  AND  RELIGIOUS  CONTENTS  OF  THE  PSALTER.    309 

ex.  is  described  as  Maccabean.  ''  It  sets  before  us  Simon 
as  a  *  king  of  righteousness,'  and  as  sitting  at  Jehovah's 
right  hand  on  Mount  Zion." 

The  pious  Christian  and  Bible  reader  who  refuses  to  allow 
the  spirit  of  free  criticism  to  make  shipwreck  of  his  faith 
will  have  little  difficulty  in  deciding  between  the  opinion  of 
Christ  and  His  Apostles  as  to  the  Davidic  authorship  of 
certain  Psalms  and  that  of  Dr.  Cheyne,  notwithstanding  his 
undoubted  learning,  for  "  great  men  are  not  always  wise." 
Nor  will  lovers  of  the  Psalms  generally  agree  with  the  state- 
ment that  the  apologist  of  Christianity  has  nothing  to  lose, 
but  everything  to  gain,  if  the  Psalter,  as  a  whole,  can  be 
shown  to  be  of  post-Exilic  growth.  Ptolemy  Philadelphus 
in  Psalm  Ixxii.  is  a  poor  substitute  for  Solomon  as  a  type  of 
the  coming  Messiah,  and  few  will  make  Psalm  ex,  centre 
around  Simon  the  Maccabee,  an  apocryphal  character,  in 
opposition  to  the  plain  teaching  of  our  Divine  Master. 

Even  on  critical  grounds,  however,  there  are  serious  ob- 
jections to  the  chronology  of  the  Psalms  adopted  by  the 
Bampton  lecturer.  Before  passing  to  tliese,  however,  it 
may  be  remarked  that  the  later  lectures  (VI.-VIII.)  describe 
with  some  fulness  the  religious  ideas  of  the  Psalter,  and 
trace  out  their  development  as  the  author  conceives  it  to 
have  taken  place.  He  does  not  assert  that  those  ideas,  in- 
cluding "  an  intenser  monotheism,"  a  freer  universalism,  and 
a  belief  in  immortality  and  resurrection  to  judgment,  were 
borrowed  from  surrounding  nations,  but  he  does  hold  that 
the  influence  of  those  nations  was  needed  to  cause  the  germ 
of  the  truth  latent  in  earlier  Judaism  to  spring  forth,  so  that, 
in  his  own  words,  "from  Jeremiah  onwards  there  has  been 
a  continuous  development  through  the  co-operation  of  some 
of  the  noblest  non-Jewish  races  and  the  unerring  guidance 
of  the  adorable  Spirit  of  truth,  in  the  direction  which  leads 
to  Christ."  The  professor's  theory  is  that  the  ideas  of  im- 
mortality and  resurrection  to  judgment  are  native  Hebrew 


3 TO  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

ideas,  which,  however,  owe  their  development  and  popular- 
ization to  the  fostering  influence  of  Zoroastrianism,  the 
religion  of  their  over-lords  and  neighbors  the  Persians. 

The  real  ground  for  assigning  so  late  a  date  to  the  Psalter 
is  not  found  in  the  use  of  certain  names  such  as  Shaddat 
and  El  "^Elyon  for  God,  but  the  necessity  comes  from  the 
consistent  maintenance  of  the  ideas  of  religious  develop- 
ment in  Israel,  as  held  by  Wellhausen  and  his  school.  If 
these  views,  which  now,  to  some  extent,  rule  the  critical 
world,  are  taken  as  proved,  then  there  is  supplied  the  tacit 
premise  which  alone  gives  force  to  Canon  Cheyne's  other- 
wise arbitrary  assumptions  and  unwarrantable  conclusions. 
True,  he  does  not  in  so  many  words  assume,  say,  the  post- 
Exilic  date  of  the  priestly  code,  but  all  his  arguments  con- 
cerning Davidic  Psalms  virtually  rest  upon  the  improbability 
that  .'*  the  versatile  condotiiere,  chieftain,  and  king  "  com- 
posed such  spiritual  songs  as  those  attributed  to  him,  and  the 
much  greater  likelihood  that  the  Moses,  the  Elijah,  the 
David  of  whom  we  read  in  the  Old  Testament,  are  not  his- 
torical figures,  but  idealizations  of  a  later  day.  The  real 
significance,  therefore,  of  Canon  Cheyne's  position  is  in  this 
volume  thrown  into  the  background.  His  reasoning  is  full 
of  assumptions,  esteemed,  many  of  them,  as  matter  of  course 
by  himself  and  those  of  his  school,  but  strenuously  repudi- 
ated by  those  who  hold  different  views  of  revelation.  These 
lectures  may  be  considered  as  an  answer  to  the  question. 
How  can  the  Psalter  be  harmonized  with  the  prevailing 
critical  view  of  Old  Testament  history  ? 

And  now,  briefly,  as  to  some  objections  which  may  be 
urged  against  Canon  Cheyne's  theory.  Four  criteria  are  laid 
down  by  him  for  determining  Maccabean  Psalms.  They 
imply  that  there  should  be  (i)  some  fairly  distinct  allusions 
to  Maccabean  circumstances  ;  (2)  a  uniquely  strong  Church 
feeling;  (3)  an  intensity  of  monotheistic  faith  ;  and  {4)  in 
the  later  Psalms  "  an  ardor  of  gratitude  for  some  unexampled 


ORIGIN  AND  RELIGIOUS  CONTENTS  OF  THE  PSALTER.  311 

Stepping  forth  of  the  one  Lord  Jehovah  into  history."  The 
first  is  a  good  test,  but  not  easily  applied,  because  the  allu- 
sions in  most  cases  are  not  distinct,  but  general,  and  very 
few  indeed  can  be  said  to  be  decisive.  The  last  criterion 
is  equally  faulty,  for  Jewish  history  contains  more  than  one 
*'  stepping  forth  of  Jehovah  "  on  behalf  of  His  people.  The 
second  we  are  not  ready  to  admit,  because  Canon  Cheyne's 
views  on  the  collective  "  I  "  of  the  Psalms,  though  interest- 
ing, are  by  no  means  established  ;  and  the  third  rests  upon 
a  basis  of  assumption  concerning  the  history  of  the  idea  of 
God  among  the  Jews,  which  requires,  to  say  the  least,  care- 
ful examination  before  we  can  grant  that  the  presence  of 
"intense  monotheism  "  marks  a  Psalm  as  Maccabean. 

Throughout  the  books  such  external  evidence  as  is  forth- 
coming receives  very  slight  attention.  While  external  evi- 
dence may  be  scanty,  the  indirect  importance  of  certain 
facts  in  the  Septuagint  version  and  some  of  the  Apocryphal 
books  is  considerable.  True,  we  do  not  know  at  what  date 
the  completed  Psalter  was  translated  into  Greek,  but  if  the 
Pentateuch  of  the  LXX.  dates  from  about  250  B.C.,  a  Greek 
Psalter  of  some  sort — for  is  it  not  a  commonplace  that  "the 
Psalter  contains  the  answer  of  the  worshipping  community 
to  the  demands  made  upon  it  in  the  law  "  ? — could  not  long 
have  been  delayed.  The  ignorance  displayed  by  the  Greek 
translators  of  the  meaning  of  so  many  of  the  titles  to  the 
Psalms,  which  are  admittedly  much  older  than  the  Macca- 
bean period,  seems  to  argue  for  a  greater  antiquity  than 
Canon  Cheyne  allows.  With  regard  to  two  Psalms  in  par- 
ticular, the  LXX.  imperatively  forbids  the  acceptance  of  his 
views.  One  of  the  least  successful  of  Dr.  Cheyne's  chron- 
ologies is  that  of  Psalm.s  xlv.  and  Ixxii.  in  the  reign  of 
Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  the  former  being  a  panegyric  from 
the  pen  of  a  Jev/ish  admirer  (whose  name  is  given)  on  the 
occasion  of  this  prince's  marriage  with  Arsinoe,  the  daughter 
of  Lysimachus  !     It  is  admitted  that  such  poems  could  not 


312  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

have  gained  admission  into  the  canonical  Psalter  till  the 
history  of  their  origin  had  been  forgotten  and  they  had  ac- 
quired another  and  higher  interpretation.  But  even  if  such 
an  accident  were  possible  at  Jerusalem,  it  must  surely  have 
been  impossible  at  Alexandria,  the  capital  of  the  Ptolemies. 
This  is  altogether  apart  from  the  difificuUies  of  interpreta- 
tion, not  to  mention  other  difficulties  which  such  an  assign- 
ment involves. 

Dr.  Che}ne  admits  that  there  is  no  external  evidence  for 
the  existence  of  Maccabean  Psalms,  but  thinks  there  is  great 
^ /r/^A-/ probability  that  such  were  written.  Is  it  wise  and 
sound  criticism  to  lay  the  foundation  of  an  investigation  of 
this  kind  in  a  mere  hypothesis  such  as  the  following  : 
"What  more  natural  than  that  Simon  should  follow  the 
example  of  David,  his  prototype,  as  described  in  Chroni- 
cles, and  make  fresh  regulations  for  the  liturgical  services 
of  the  sanctuary  ?  ''  Nothing  is  said  of  any  reconstruction 
of  temple  psalmody  in  I  Maccabees,  though  there  is  a  no- 
tice of  the  attention  paid  by  Simon  to  the  sanctuary  and 
the  vessels  of  the  temple.  Prof.  Cheyne  argues,  "Is  it  likely 
that  he  beautified  the  exterior  and  took  no  thought  for  the 
greatest  of  the  spiritual  glories  of  the  temple  ?"  The  argu- 
ment from  silence  here  may  fairly  be  urged  the  other  way. 
At  all  events,  sober  criticism  should  hardly  pass  by  with  a 
sneer  (p.  458)  the  external  evide.ice  as  to  date  supplied  by 
the  titles  to  the  Psalms  in  the  LXX.  version,  in  order  to 
clear  the  way,  not  for  some  testimony  of  cardinal  impor- 
tance, but  for  a  guess  that  it  is  "  natural  "  that  something 
should  take  place  of  which  we  have  no  record  or  hint  in 
history,  and  the  probability  of  which  has  been  questioned  by 
nearly  all  critics,  German  and  English,  with  two  or  three 
exceptions.  Ewald,  as  is  well  known,  held  that  no  Macca- 
bean Psalms  are  included  in  the  canon,  but  Prof.  Cheyne 
has  left  his  former  teacher  far  behind. 

Decided  objection  must  be  taken  to  the  extreme  views 


ORIGIN  AND  RELIGIOUS  CONTENTS  OF  THE  PSALTER.   3^3 

urged  concerning  pre-Exilic  Psalms.  To  adopt  the  author's 
own  method  of  reasoning.  Is  it  "  likely  "  that  no  such 
Psalms  were  composed,  that  David's  fame  as  a  Psalm-writer 
rests  on  no  foundation  ?  or  if,  as  the  Bampton  lecturer  ap- 
pears to  admit,  David  did  write  some  Psalms,  and  many 
temple  songs  were  written  and  sung  before  the  Exile  is  it 
likely  that  all  these  were  lost  in  the  course  of  a  few  genera  , 
tions  among  a  people  well  qualified  and  heartily  disposed 
to  preserve  such  sacred  strains  ?  The  nationalistic  interpre- 
tati  :in  of  the  Psalms,  a  theory  on  which  much  stress  is  laid  in 
these  lectures,  assumes  that  the  authors  of  the  Hebrew 
Psalms,  almost  without  exception,  speak  and  write  "  not  as 
individuals,  but  in  the  name  of  the  Church  nation.  In  the 
Psalmists,  as  such,  the  individual  consciousness  was  all  but 
lost  in  the  corporate.  They  had  their  private  joys  and  sor- 
rows, but  they  did  not  make  these  the  theme  of  song  " 
(p.  265).  The  consistent  application  of  this  theory  leads 
to  the  whole  Psalter  being  relegated  to  post-Exilic  times, 
when  the  ''  remnant  "  of  the  Hebrew  nation  had  become 
the  Jewish  Church.  The  Church  of  pre-Exilic  days,  we 
are  told  again  and  again,  was  "  too  germinal  "  to  appro- 
priate the  advanced  religious  ideas  of  this  or  that  Psalm, 
and  therefore  the  latter  must  be  the  post-Exilic.  Surely  it 
is  far  more  probable  that  choice  spirits  of  the  days  of  the 
Monarchy  may  have  seen  visions  of  divine  things  to  which 
the  mass,  even  of  the  godly  in  Israel,  were  blind,  just  as  the 
mountain-peaks  catch  the  first  rays  of  the  rising  sun,  while 
the  valleys  below  are  still  in  darkness. 

Throughout  the  book  is  characterized  by  conjectures  and 
assumptions,  and  a  bold  and  ingenious  theorizing  not  justi- 
fied at  all  by  the  arguments  actually  adduced.  However,  the 
work  is  marked,  it  is  needless  to  say,  by  great  learning;  it 
contains  ab.ndant  suggestion  for  the  exegete,  and  must  be 
full  of  stimulus  to  theearnesc  student  of  the  Old  Testament, 
whatever  be  his  personal  opinions. 


THE  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  OF  OUR  DAY. 

By  Rev.  Prof.  George  H.  Schodde,  Ph.D.,  Columbus, 

Ohio. 


BIBLICAL  criticism  is  no  new  science.  From  the  days 
of  the  earliest  literary  opponents  of  Christianity  in  the 
first  and  second  centuries  down  to  our  own  times,  the  claims 
of  Holy  Writ  to  be  the  revelation  of  God,  given  by  inspiration 
to  man,  have  provoked  investigation,  although  probably  never 
before  has  the  doctrine  of  the  sacred  Scriptures  been  the  burn- 
ing question  within  the  circle  of  Christian  scholarship,  as  this 
is  the  case  at  present  and  is  becoming  more  and  more  to  be 
the  case  with  the  steady  progress  of  modern  biblical  research. 
This  is  not  at  all  an  accidental  affair.  The  present  status 
of  Bible  study  is  the  natural  result  and  outcome  of  causes 
which  have  been  operative  for  years  in  the  English-speaking 
theological  world  and  for  decades  in  Germany  and  elsewhere 
on  the  Continent.  Our  age  is  characterized  by  the  special 
prominence  it  gives  to  the  human  side  of  the  Scriptures,  both 
in  their  origin,  contents  and  history.  Without  necessarily  in 
principle  or  degree  depriving  the  divine  factor  in  the  Word 
of  its  full  rights  and  powers,  the  conviction  has  compelled 
recognition  also  in  conservative  circles  that  the  Scriptures, 
without  being  any  the  less  divine,  are  also  human,  given  to 
man  through  man;  that  both  the  process  of  religious  develop- 
ment which  forms  the  burden  and  substance  of  their  con- 
tents, as  well  as  the  record  of  this  process  are  in  close  touch 
and  tone  with  human  history  and  thought  ;  and  that,  as  a 
consequence,  the  historic  principle  of  interpretation,  which 


3l6  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

aims  to  reproduce  with  the  exactness  of  science  the  very 
thoughts  and  ideas  originally  put  into  their  writings  by  the 
sacred  scribes,  as  these  thoughts  and  ideas  appear  when 
viewed  in  the  light  of  the  entire  historical  background  and 
surroundings  of  the  original  composition,  is  the  correct  and 
only  legitimate  method  and  manner  of  scriptural  exposition. 
In  this  way  the  literary,  historical,  archaeological  and  allied 
problems  in  connection  with  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  came 
to  the  front  as  they  never  did  before.  Scholars  began  to  look 
upon  the  sacred  books  as  a  literature  with  a  record  and 
history  of  their  own.  This  new  departure  in  the  principles 
and  methods  of  biblical  investigation,  which,  when  correctly 
and  carefully  applied,  would  only  be  hailed  as  a  valuable  aid 
to  the  elucidation  of  the  scriptural  ideas  in  their  whole 
length,  breadth  and  depth,  leads  to  the  recognition  of  facts 
in  connection  with  the  several  books  of  the  Bible,  notably  as 
far  as  their  literary  history  was  concerned,  which  could  not 
be  made  to  h:;rmonize  with  some  current  and  traditional 
views  as  to  how  these  books  became  to  be  such  as  they  are. 
The  discussion  of  such  detail  investigation  as  the  Penta- 
teucha  question,  the  Dcutero- Isaiah,  the  Synoptic  problem, 
the  Fourth  Gospel  riddle  implied  principles  and  standpoints 
which,  of  a  necessity,  lead  to  re-examination  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  Scriptures,  as  such.  The  controversy  on  the  extent 
of  inspiration,  on  the  absolute  inerrancy  of  Scriptures  in  each 
and  every  particular  is  the  natural  result  of  the  special  in- 
vestigations which  have  been  going  on  for  years  and  still  are 
going  on.  Modern  biblical  criticism,  both  as  to  matter  and 
manner,  is  neither  a  spasmodic  nor  an  illogical  phenomenon. 
It  needed  neither  a  prophet  nor  a  prophet's  son,  but  only  an 
intelligent  understanding  of  its  currents  and  tendencies,  to 
see  that  consistently  its  course  and  final  shape  could  be  none 
other  than  these  are  at  present. 

The  legitimate  existence  of  this  science  no  genuine  scholar 
nor  true  lover  of  God's  Word  will  deny.     If  the  Scriptures 


BIBLICAL   CRITICISM   OF   OUR   DAY.  317 

cannot  stand  the  test  of  lawful  investigation  and  legitimate 
criticism  they  do  not  deserve  to  be  regarded  as  of  divine 
origin  and  of  authoritative  character.  The  Scriptures  them- 
selves not  only  challenge,  but  require  investigation  of  their 
merits.  It  would  be  deplorable  if  they  could  not  bear  this, 
and  the  Christian  could  give  no  why  and  wherefore  for  his 
confidence  in  them  and  their  teachings.  Accordingly, 
neither  those  who  in  days  gone  by  have  devoted  acumen,  art 
and  learning  to  the  problem  of  the  origin  and  history  and 
character  of  the  biblical  books,  nor  those  who  in  the  present 
times  are  pursuing  the  same  tasks  are  for  that  reason  to  be 
regarded  with  the  suspicion  of  being  tainted  with  the  leprosy 
of  heterodoxy  or  rationalism.  Such  a  policy  is  suicidal  to 
Christian  theology  and  a  testif?wmum  paupeftatis,  or  confes- 
sion of  weakness,  on  the  part  of  the  Church  that  professes 
to  base  its  all  on  the  written  Word;  nor  is  the  fact  that  criti- 
cism does  not  always  end  in  a  confirmation  of  the  traditional 
views  of  the  Church  in  reference  to  the  authorship,  date, 
purpose  or  teachings  of  a  book  in  itself  a  cause  for  condem- 
nation. It  is  a  historical  right  of  Christians  and  of  Protes- 
tants to  search  all  things,  and  to  adhere  to  that  which  is  good. 
This  right  no  one  exercised  with  more  determination  than 
did  the  Fathers  of  the  Reformation.  Their  rejection  of  the 
Apocrypha  in  the  Greek  Canon  cf  the  Old  Testament  after 
their  acceptance  by  the  Church  in  general  for  nearly  fifteen 
hundred  years,  was  a  masterstroke  of  biblical  criticism,  and 
that  too  of  "Higher"  Criticism.  To  investigate  and  study 
the  Scriptures  independently  but  reverently  is  the  unalien- 
able birthright  of  Protestantism.  The  fact  that  modern 
biblical  criticism  has  produced  not  only  gold  and  silver,  but 
also  hay  and  stubble,  is  no  impeachment  of  its  right  to  exist- 
ence in  the  family  of  theological  sciences.  The  abuse  of  it 
does  not  do  away  with  its  use  ;  and  it  requires  but  a  super- 
ficial knowledge  of  the  history  of  recent  Bible  criticism  to  see 
that  its  blessings  have  been  many  and  manifold,  far  outweigh- 


o 


1 8  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 


ing  the  incidental  and  accidental  harms  it  may  have  done. 
Among  the  various  special  problems  that  are  in  the  fore- 
front of  the  biblical  criticism  of  the  day,  the  Pentateuchal 
undoubtedly  takes  the  lead.  To  this  rank  it  is  entitled  not 
only  on  account  of  the  interest  naturally  centering  in  the 
discussions  dealing  with  the  oldest  books  in  the  Bible,  but 
still  more  because  of  the  new  departures,  and  even  radical 
changes  in  the  current  views,  not  only  of  the  Pentateuch, 
but  of  the  whole  course  of  Old  Testament  history  and  relig- 
ious development,  made  necessary  by  an  acceptance  of  the 
critical  views  of  the  hour  in  reference  to  the  Five  Books  of 
Moses.  For  the  documentary  theory  which  parcels  out  to 
various  authors  of  different  dates,  either  from  Moses  or  from 
the  early  days  of  the  Kings  down  to  post-exilic  period,  the 
parts  and  portions  that  are  claimed  to  enter  into  the  present 
composition  of  the  Pentateuch,  is  more  than  a  chronological 
change  in  the  date  of  the  books.  It  signifies  an  entire 
reconstruction  in  the  origin,  character  and  history  of  Old 
Testament  revelation,  of  the  factors  and  forces  and  course 
of  this  development,  and  thus  involves  a  more  or  less  new 
conception  of  the  Bible  religion  as  such.  The  mere  literary 
change  involved  in  the  theory,  as  also  the  theory  in  itself 
and  divorced  of  the  conclusions  drawn  from  it,  may  be  even 
improvements  of  the  traditional  views.  It  should  never  be 
forgotten  that  the  documentary  theory  or  analysis  of  the 
Pentateuch  was  not  originally  a  device  invented  to  break 
down  traditional  views,  but  was  first  put  forth  for  the  pur- 
pose of  defending  the  Mosaic  authorship.  Astruc,  the 
French  Roman  Catholic  physician,  who,  in  his  Memoirs 
more  than  a  century  ago,  proposed  the  dissection  of  the 
Pentateuch  into  a  number  of  documents,  added  as  a  sub- 
i.tle  to  his  volume  the  words:  "Of  the  documents  which  Moses 
seems  to  have  used  in  the  composition  of  the  Pentateuch." 
Even  when  the  Germans  first  took  up  and  developed  the 
idea,  it  was  done  in  the  interests  of  the  old  view.    Notably 


BIBLICAL    CKItlCISM    OF    OUR    DAY.  319 

was  this  the  case  with   Eichhorn,  who  was  the  first  among 
the  Germans  to  utilize  the  idea.     Only   later,  when  a  con- 
sistent and  rigid  application  of  the  method  seemed  to  neces- 
sitate a  post- Mosaic  period  for  at  least  certain  portions  of 
these  books,  did  the  current  views  obtain  hold  and  ground 
among  scholars.     Astruc's  position  was  perfectly  i.  telligible 
and  natural.     Even  accepting  that  Moses  did  write  the  whole 
or  the  bulk  of  Five  Books,  it  is  almost  absolutely  necessary 
in  the  interests  of  the  reliability  of  his  writings  that  for  those 
portions  which  antedate  his  age  he  must  have  had  documents 
of  various  kinds  from  which  he  drew  his  information.     No 
theory  of  inspiration  is  so  mechanical  that  would  assign  to 
the  Holy  Spirit  the  function  of  giving  Moses  the  historical 
data  he  employs  in  Genesis  or  early  part  of  Exodus.     That 
he  doubtless  learned  in  the  ordinary  way,  and  the  use  of 
documents  and  earlier  writings  is  much  more  plausible  and 
certainly  much   more  confidence-inspiring   than   if  he  had 
drawn  them  entirely  from  the  unwritten  traditions  of  the 
people,  even  if  the  agency  of  the  inspiring  Spirit  was  direct- 
ing his  heart  and  mind  against  errors  or  faults. 

No;  the  danger  and  harm  of  the  Pentateuchal  analysis 
does  not  lie  in  it  as  a  merely  literary  problem.  And,  indeed, 
this  is  not  the  heart  and  soul  of  the  problem  at  all;  this  is 
but  the  preliminary  phase,  the  means  to  the  end.  This 
end  is  the  reconstruction  of  Israel's  religious  development* 
A  comparison  of  the  actual  commands  and  prohibitions  of 
the  Pentateuch,  with  the  events  of  history  in  Israel,  reveals 
the  not  at  all  surprising  fact  that  the  conduct  of  the  people 
was  never  up  to  the  ideals  of  their  law  book,  and,  in  fact,  was 
often  a  grave  violation  of  this  book.  But  to  conclude  from 
this  the  non-existence  of  this  book,  is  an  abuse  of  the  argu- 
mentu7n  ex  silentio  that  cannot  be  justified.  With  the  same 
right  we  could  conclude,  from  this  universal  acceptance  of 
the  anti-scriptural  doctrine  of  justification  by  works  before 
the  days  of  Luther  and  the  Reformation,  that  the  Bible,  with 


320  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

its  clear  enunciation  of  the  doctrine  of  grace  and  free  pardon, 
did  not  exist  in  the  Church  ;  and  from  the  existence  and 
antagonism  of  the  various  denominations  of  Christianity,  we 
could  with  an  equal  right  conclude  that  the  New  Testament, 
the  common  authority  of  them  all,  contains  no  behest  that 
Christians  should  be  one. 

Still  less  justifiable  is  the  reconstruction  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament history  based  upon  this  literary  reconstruction.     The 
law  is  made  the  outcome  and  final  development  of  Israel's 
religious  development,  not  its  fountain-head  and  source,  and 
it,  as  a  rule,  brings  with  it  a  naturalizing  and  naturalistic 
conception  of  their  entire  religion  and  its  history.     Kuenen, 
one  of  th?  most  radical  and  most  honest  of  the  new  school, 
frankly  states  that  he  and  his  followers  start  out  from  the 
standpoint   that    the    religion   of    Israel   was  one    of    the 
greatest  of  the  world's  religions,  nothing  less,  but  also  noth- 
ing  more.     In  other  words,  while  the  religion  of  Israel  was 
developed  to  an  extent  unheard  of  among  other  nations,  this 
superior  development  was  nevertheless  the  natural  outgrowth 
of  the  genius  of  the  people,  just  as  the  superiority  of  the 
Greeks  in  philosophical  thought  and  of  the  Romans  in  ad- 
ministration grew  out  of  the  natural  talents  and  trends  of 
these  nations.     The  reduction  to  as  small  a  limit  as  possible, 
or  even  the  entire  elimination  of  the  special  divine  element 
in  Israel's  religion  is  tacitly  or  openly  the  accepted  ideal  of 
the  more  advanced  school,  although  not  at  all  shared  by  the 
many  conservative  scholars  who  cannot  accept  the  Mosaic 
authorship  of  the  Pentateuch,  and  are  ready  to  adopt  some 
new  views  on  the  Old  Testament  and  its  contents  in  general. 
In  other  words,   to   use   the   words  of  the   late   lamented 
Delitzsch,  the  idea  of  advanced  criticism  is  to  develop  a 
"religion  of  the  era  of  Darwin."     The  idea  of  development 
has  certainly  been  one  of  the  most  potent  factors  and  forces 
in  the  history  of  modern  sciences  ;  but  when  applied  to  the 
Old  or  to  the    New   Testament   in    order   to  explain    the 


BIBLICAL   CRITICISM   OF   OUR   DAT.  32 1 

religion  there  taught  as  to  origin  and  character  is  to  force 
these  on  the  Procrustean  bed  of  a  preconceived  idea  of 
religious  development  in  general,  as  these  hypotheses  are  con- 
cocted by  that  Pandora  box  of  mischief — the  modern  science 
of  Comparative  Religion — this  is  to  all  intent  and  purpose  a 
most  ^digxzxi\. petitio principii,  and  anything  but  exact  science. 
The  arrogant  claim  that  the  advanced  or  radical  biblical 
criticism  of  the  day  is  "scientific"  isentirely  without  ground 
or  basis  :  on  the  contrary,  in  more  than  one  particular,  it 
grossly  violates  the  cardinal  principle  of  scientific  research. 
For  instance,  to  mention  no  other  point,  the  literary  canon 
that  the  Old  Testament  books  or  parts  of  books  are  the 
results  of  the  development  which  their  contents  describe 
and  in  no  way  the  sources  and  causes  of  such  a  develop- 
ment, is  entirely  a  gratuitous  assumption  and  admits  of  no 
plausible  demonstration,  being  also  a  direct  contradiction  of 
what  is  observed  in  other  literatures. 

The  principles,  practices,  methods  and  manners  employed 
in  the  Pentateuchal  discussion  are  typical  and  representative 
of  those  carried  on  in  other  lines  also.  The  new  school, 
with  others,  is  ever  ready  to  criticise  and  correct  the  theo- 
logians of  other  and  earlier  generations  for  permitting  their 
systems  to  be  developed  under  the  spell  of  the  philosophical 
schemes  of  a  Kant  or  Hegel.  The  protagonists  of  the  new 
school  in  our  own  day  and  date  do  not  practise  what  they 
preach,  and  fundamentally  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  are 
under  the  spell  of  naturalistic  ideas  and  ideals.  Without 
doubt  or  debate  the  discussions  of  the  last  years  have  con- 
tributed not  a  little  toward  the  elucidation  particularly  of 
the  origin,  history  and  development  of  the  biblical  books 
and  the  biblical  religion  ;  that,  however,  the  last  word  has 
been  spoken,  or  that  the  radical  critics  of  the  day  shall  speak 
that  word  in  biblical  science,  no  unprejudiced  scholar  will 
dream  of  asserting.  When  the  final  settlement  comes,  it  is 
quite  possible  that  some  of  the  old  views  will  not  be  able  to 


322  UESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

hold  their  own  ;  but  fundamentally  the  truth  will  stand  that 
the  Scriptures  are  a  Supernatural  Revelation  and  the  his- 
tory of  this  Revelation.  Naturalism,  or  a  criticism  based 
upon  naturalistic  ideas,  will  never  be  able  satisfactorily  to 
explain  the  phonomena  of  the  Scriptures.  This  can  be  done 
only  by  faith  in  them  as  God's  Word,  but  God's  Word  given 
throughout  to  man  and  given  amid  human  surroundings. 


THE  UNITY  OF  THE  SCRH'TURES. 

By  Rkv.   Prof.   Georc.e    H.    Schodde,    Ph.D.,  Capital 
University,  Columbus,  O. 


THE  writings  composing  the  Sacred  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  the  New  Testaments  are  more  than  a  collec- 
tion of  the  literary  remains  of  a  most  interesting  Oriental 
people.  Differing  from  the  religious  literatures  of  other 
nations,  which  consist  of  works  more  or  le~s  accidentally- 
preserved,  whose  value  and  worth  and  mission  lie  only  in 
their  individual  character,  the  Hebrew  and  Christian  Scrip- 
tures, because  they  are  the  official  documents  of  the  develop- 
ment of  one  grand  religious  scheme,  are  internally  most  in- 
timately connected,  and  therefore  constitute  one  body  of 
writings.  To  recall  to  mind  this  feature  of  the  unique 
character  of  the  Scriptures  is  a  timely  task,  and  by  no  means 
a  work  of  supererrogation.  The  general  trend  and  tend- 
ency of  the  advanced  Biblical  criticism  of  the  day  is  to 
minimize  the  distinctive  individuality  of  the  Bible  and  its 
contents,  especially  from  their  divine  sides,  t )  develop,  as 
D^litzsch  says,  ''a  religion  of  the  era  of  Darwin."  The 
naturalizing  ideals  and  methods  are  very  pronounced  and 
potent,  and  the  views  of  scholars  on  the  Scriptures,  as  a 
literature,  have  been  seriously  influenced  by  this  factor. 
While  the  unique  character  of  the  biblical  books,  as  also  of 
the 'historical  process  which  forms  the  burden  of  their  con- 
tents, are  not  denied,  but  even  made  especially  prominent, 
yet  this  uniqueness  is  regarded  rather  as  the  result  of  his- 
torical, social  and  national  environments,  and  not  of  agencies 
other  than  those  operative  elsewhere  also.  Israel's  religious 
development  is,  by    common   consent,  regarded    as   having 


324  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

far  surpassed  that  of  any  other  people  ;  but  this  superiority 
is  declared  the  result  of  a  natural  endowment  in  this  direc- 
tion, just  as  the  Greeks  were  the  leaders  among  the  ancients 
in  philosophical  thought,  and  the  Romans  in  legal  and  ad- 
ministrative. As  a  further  result,  then,  the  literatures  of 
the  Biblical  religion  is  regarded  as  not,  in  origin  and  kind, 
essentially  differing  from  that  of  other  people.  The  idea 
that  they  constitute  a  canon,  a  collection  of  books  in  which 
each  is  one  member  of  the  whole,  is  dropped  ;  the  inner 
unity  of  these  writings  is  discarded. 

Such  views,  however,  come  into  serious  conflict  with  the 
position  of  Christ,  the  Apostles,  and  the  entire  New  Testa- 
ment over  against  the  Old.  For  the  New  Testament  the 
Old,  both  as  a  literature  and  as  the  unfolding  of  great  re- 
ligious principles,  is  an  organic  whole,  separate  and  distinct 
in  kind  and  character  from  every  other  literary  collection 
or  historical  process.  The  direct  citations  show  that  for  the 
New  Testament  speakers  and  writers  the  Old  Testament 
was  practically  one  sacred  book.  Compare,  e.  g.,  Luke  xxiv. 
44;  Matt.  xxii.  29;  Acts  xviii.  24;  Romans  i.  2;  II.  Tim. 
iii.  15;  John  xix.  ;^6;  II.  Pet.  i.  20,  for  representative  and 
typical  formulas  of  citations.  Recent  research  has  shown 
that  the  earlier  theories  concerning  the  adoption  of  an  Old 
Testament  canon  in  the  Ezra-Nehemiah  period,  or  by  the 
great  Synagogue,  indeed  requires  modification,  and  that  this 
canon  formation  in  pre-Christian  Judaism  was  a  gradual 
process  extending  over  decades,  as  did  the  similar  process 
in  regard  to  the  New  Testament  in  the  early  Church;  yet  it 
also  appears,  with  equal  certainty,  that  this  process  had 
reached  a  definite  conclusion  before  the  advent  of  Chr.at, 
and  that  the  great  Teacher  fully  approved  of  the  result,  as 
does  the  entire  New  Testament  literature. 

This  is  shown  to  be  the  case  still  more  clearly  by  the  in- 
ternal connection  between  the  two  Testaments  than  by  the 
quotations   mentioned.     The   entire   Ncvv  Testament    con- 


THE    UNITY    OF    THE    SCRIPTURES,  $2$ 

sciously  and  cxprofesso  stands  upon  the  basis  of  the  Old, 
of  which  it  is  the  continuation  and  completion.     The  words 
in  Luke  xxiv.  44  are  fundamental   on   this  point,  and  find 
but  another  expression  in  the  dictum  of  St.  Augustine:  /;/ 
Veteri  Testamento  Novum  latct^  in  Novo  Veins  paid  (Quest, 
in  Exod.  Ixxiii.)     And  when  the  new  thus  refers  to  the  Old, 
it  is  solely  and  alone  to  the  canonical  writings  of  the  latter, 
to  the  Palestinian  collection  of    Hebrew  secred  books.     It 
is  a  singular  and  most  significant  fact  that  neither  directly 
nor  indirectly  have  any  other  writings  of  that  day  and  gen- 
eration exerted   a  material  influence  upon  the   contents  of 
the  New  Testament.     That  a  formal  influence  was  exerted 
from  this  source  is  not  only  undeniable,  but  the  discovery 
and  appreciation  of  this  factor  has  been  one  of  the  most 
valuable  of  new  tools  employed  by  modern  interpretation. 
The  forms  and  moulds  of  thought  which  the  New  Testament 
writers  have  employed  are  all  in  direct  touch  and  tone  with 
the  intellectual,  moral   and  religious  world    of   their   day. 
The  writers  and  speakers  of   the  New  Testament  addressed 
themselves  first  and  foremost  to  the  aucfiences  of  their  own 
times.     There  can  be  no  doubt  that   the  current  ideas  of 
mediatorship  between  God  and  man  influenced  the  form  in 
which  St.  John   clothes  his  grand   revelation  of   the  Word 
having  become  flesh.     It  is  equally  certain  that  the  figures 
and  pictures  that  crowded  the  popular  apocalyptic  literature 
of  Israel  did  their  work  in  shapir  g  the  panorama  of  the  fu- 
ture of  the  Church  in  revelation  ;  as  also  that  Paul's  famil- 
iarity with  the  dialectic  methods  of  the  Rabbinical  schools 
gave  shape  and  form  at  least  in  a  measure  to  the  elucida- 
tion of  his  central  thesis  of  Christian  doctrine,  the  justifi- 
cation by  faith  alone.     And  yet  there  is  not  a  single  indi- 
cation   of    a   non-canonical  book    having  been   quoted  or 
having    in  the    substance    of  the    New    Testament    books 
influenced    the    writers    or    the    speakers.      The    appeal 
direct   and  indirect,   is  always   to   the  canonical  books  of 


326  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAV. 

the  Old  as  the  sole  authority  and  source  of  knowledge. 
While  the  New  Testament  does  not  thetically  pronounce 
this  proposition  it  does  so  by  implication  in  a  most  em- 
phatic manner  ;  and  the  exclusion  of  all  other  sources  is 
more  than  an  argujnentum  ex  sileniio.  It  is  true  that  there 
are  echoes  from  non-canonical  sources  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment :  but  that  is  practically  all.  This  is  the  case  with 
what  seems  a  free  citation  from  the  Book  of  Enoch  found 
in  Jude  xiv.,  as  also  the  references  in  v.  9  of  the  same  Epis- 
tle to  a  statement  not  indeed  found  in  what  is  now  left  of 
the  Asswnptio  Mosis^  but  according  to  Origen,  De  Princi- 
i)iis  iii.  2,  I.  was  contained  in  that  book.  In  Heb.  xi.  35, 
sq.,  here  is  an  echo  of  II.  Mace.  6  f.  The  reference  in 
Heb.  xi.  37,  and  II.  Tim.  iii.  8,  are  more  than  doubtiul ; 
while  several  to  Ecclesiasticu?,  ^.^'-.,  cf.  James  i.  19,  with 
Eccles.  V.  II,  are  clear.  Other  passages  are  sometimes 
quoted  in  this  connection,  such  as  Luke  xi.  49  ;  James  v. 
5,  6  ;  John  vii.  38  ;  Matt,  xxvii.  9 ;  but  all  of  these  are  of  a 
very  uncertain  character.  Data  like  these  show  in  a  rather 
remarkable  manner  that  the  New  Testament  literature, 
which  by  no  means  is  hermetically  sealed  to  other  writings, 
as  is  seen  from  Ils  use  of  Septuagint,  its  citations  of  Greek 
poets,  its  moving  and  living  in  the  atmosphere  of  its  age,  in 
the  establishment  of  its  principles  and  doctrines,  builds 
upon  and  appeals  solely  and  alone  to  the  canonical  writings 
of  the  Old  Testament,  and  to  these  alone,  because  they  and 
they  alone  are  the  inspired  Revelation  of  the  God  to  man. 
For  the  New  Testament  the  unity  of  the  Old  is  a  fixed  and 
fundamental  fact. 

And  this  is  in  full  agreement  with  the  character  of  the 
biblical  books.  They  are  the  record  of  a  gradual  unfold- 
ing cf  God's  plans  for  the  redemption  of  man,  and,  in  fact, 
this  is  the  golden  chord  that  connects  them  all  and  makes 
them  one.  The  sacred  literature  of  no  other  people  can 
lay  claim  to  this  unique  feature.     While  it  may  be  difficult 


THE    UNITY    OF    THE    SCRIPTURES.  327 

at  present  to  assign  to  each  and  every  book  its  peculiar 
position  and  necessary  role  in  the  development,  yet  it  must 
not  be  forgotton  that  some  of  the  books  are  as  yet  imper- 
fectly understood.  Who  can  affirm  that  we  have  with  a 
certainty  the  key  to  unlock  the  mysteries  of  Ecclesiastes  or 
the  Apocalypse  of  St.  John  ?  When  these  riddles  are 
answered,  then,  too,  we  will  doubtless  better  see  and  appre- 
ciate than  now  what  links  these  somewhat  enigmatical 
writings  constitute  in  the  chain  of  Scriptural  literature.  But 
this  is  known,  that  these  books,  as  far  as  clearly  understood, 
represent  the  different  stages  in  one  process,  the  develop- 
ment of  principles  from  germ  to  full  fruit.  In  this  process 
these  books,  one  and  all,  have  some  portion  or  part  to 
record  ;  and  it  v;ould  be  difficult  to  show  that  even  the 
smallest  could  be  omitted  without  in  one  or  the  other  mate- 
rial point  injuring  our  understanding  of  the  unfolding  of 
God's  kingdom  on  earth  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is 
no  material  stage  in  this  process  on  which  the  canonical 
writings  are  silent  Internally  they  constitute  a  oneness  ; 
their  unity  is  undeniable. 

Again,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  even  according  to 
the  readjustment  and  reconstruction  hypotheses  of  the 
modern  school,  the  fact  of  this  unity  as  a  unique  character 
of  Scripture  stands.  The  modern  views  do  indeed  seriously 
modify  the  old,  in  fact,  revolutionize  them  ;  yet  the  result 
is  that  these  books,  far  from  being  merely  individual  writ- 
ings without  inner  agreement  or  connection,  are,  on  the 
contrary,  when  correctly  or  chronologically  arranged,  the 
expression  and  exponents  of  a  religious  process,  and  solely 
that.  Comparative  religious  science  can  claim  no  phenom- 
enon of  this  kind  for  any  other  nation.  Even  when  under 
the  scalpel  of  modern  criticism,  the  truth  that  the  Scriptures 
practically  constitute  one  volume,  consisting  of  parts  mu- 
tually complementary  and  supplementary,  remains. 


DOES   THE   CHRISTIAN    MINISTRY   MEET 
THE    EDUCATIONAL    REQUIRE- 
MENTS OF  THE  AGE  ? 

By  President  E.  Benj.   Andrews,  D  D.,  LL.D.,  Brown 
University,  Providence,  R.  I. 


THE  average  education  of  ministers  is  probably  better 
than  that  of  lawyers,  physicians  or  j  mrnalists.  A 
larger  proportion  of  ministers  than  of  the  others  begin  with 
liberal  training,  and  ministers'  occupation  keeps  them  more 
familiar  than  the  majority  of  other  professional  men  with 
general  and  elevated  thought.  It  is,  in  fact,  one  of  the  chief 
attractions  of  the  ministry  as  a  profession,  that  it  summons, 
urges,  almost  forces  its  devotees  to  read  noble  and  broad- 
ening books.  The  Bible  is  by  itself  at  once  a  literature  and 
a  history.  To  study  it  thoroughly  is  to  educate  one's  self 
in  these  branches  as  well  as  in  a  vast  number  besides.  Other 
of  the  great  practical  callings  may  drill  and  discipline  the 
mind:  none  of  them  can  feed  or  enrich  the  mind  as  does 
faithful  ministerial  work.  There  is  no  other  profession 
where  you  find  so  large  an  array  of  men  well  informed  upon 
intellectual  questions  at  large.  Lawyers  have  more  knowl- 
edge of  a  strictly  practical  kind;  physicians  more  that  is 
related  to  science;  but  neither  class  equals  ministers  in  all- 
around,  high  mental  equipment.  Nor  can  any  other  set  of 
men  whatever  vie  with  ministers  as  felicitous  and  effective 
public  speakers. 

For  all  this,  one  must  admit  that  the  educational  ouifi'  of 
the  average  minister  is  very  inadequate  to  the  demands  of 
these  times      This  is  true  not  only  of  ministers  as  a  class, 


^3<^  QUESTIONS   OF    THE    DAY. 

but  also  of  such  as  have  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  college 
and  seminary  life.  The  fault  lies  partly  in  the  men  who 
study  for  the  ministry,  partly  in  the  methods  employed  in 
educating  them. 

The  ministry  loses  much  intellectual  power  in  that  many 
able  young  men  now  take  up  law,  medicine,  or  journalism 
who  would  enter  the  ministry  but  for  the  present  prevalence 
of  more  or  less  reasonable  doubts  touching  matters  of  faith. 
Every  one  conversant  with  students  in  college  has  known 
many  who  have  been  turned  from  the  path  by  this  consid- 
eration. Not  always,  to  be  sure,  but  often,  if  not  usually, 
they  are  youths  of  special  mark  and  promise.  Determined 
to  think  freely  and  to  act  as  they  believe,  they  fear  to  begin 
the  study  of  theology  lest  this,  and  the  sacred  work  to  which 
it  naturally  leads,  shall  require  them,  if  they  will  succeed, 
to  stifle  certain  convictions.  They  commonly  magnify  the 
danger,  but  the  danger  has  not  always  been  imaginary.  It 
were  fatal,  of  course,  to  fill  our  pulpits  with  convictionless 
men.  Conservatism  the  most  senseless  and  extreme  is  not 
now  doing  the  Church  more  harm  than  the  influence  of  a 
few  callow  preachers  who  regard  no  truth  as  settled,  and 
seek  each  Sunday  to  edify  the  people  of  God  with  the 
doubts  that  their  giddy  brains  have  suggested  during  the 
week.  Still,  the  quality  of  our  ministry  suffers  from  a  too 
rigid  exaction,  at  ordination,  of  assent  to  dogmas.  An 
evangelical  spirit  and  purpose  should  excuse  much  theo- 
logical misconception,  for,  mark  it  well,  the  main  aim  of 
the  Gospel  is  not  correct  doctrine  but  holy  living. 

Fortunately,  no  small  number  of  excellent  young  men 
study  for  the  ministry  after  all;  but,  owing  in  part  to  the 
matter  which  is  taught  them  and  in  part  to  the  methods 
whereby  this  is  done,  their  education  is  far  less  valuable  than 
it  ought  to  be.  Hardly  one  of  our  theological  institutions 
is  well  endowed.  The  courses  offered  in  them  are  few. 
Pupils  are  forced  mostly  to  pursue  the  same  lines  of  study. 


tHE    CHRISTIAN    MliSTTSTRY    AND    EDUCATION.  331 

whether  they  prefer  them  or  not.  Certain  parts  of  the  the- 
ological curriculum,  as  Homiletics  and  the  outlines  of  Dog- 
matics, are  indeed  needful  for  all  students.  These  should 
be  insisted  on.  But  the  theological  curriculum  would  with 
the  best  results  admit  the  elective  principle  far  more  broadly 
than  has  yet  been  anywhere  done — more  broadly  than  were 
proper  in  schools  of  law  or  of  medicine.  The  ideally  or- 
ganized theological  seminary  would  present,  in  each  great 
branch,  one  very  general  course  of  instruction,  and  a  large 
number  of  special  courses.  None  of  the  special  courses 
would  be  required,  and  only  the  indispensable  ones  among 
the  general.  Though  immensely  desirable,  it  is  still  not 
absolutely  indispensable  to  success  in  the  ministry  that  a 
candidate  should  be  able  to  read  Greek  or  Hebrew,  or  that 
he  should  have  spent  a  solid  year  upon  Systematic  Divinity. 
Let  some  spend  their  time  mainly  in  general  Church  history, 
others  in  the  history  of  doctrine,  others  in  Biblical  history, 
others  in  Biblical  introduction,  and  so  on.  Personal  pref- 
erence in  study  would  thus  be  gratified,  with  the  conse- 
quence that  new  zeal  and  a  vastly  larger  fruitage  of  attain- 
ments would  attend  the  pursuit  of  theology. 

Such  a  reformation  would  offer  to  students  who  desired 
it — as  the  best  would  certainly  do — time  and  place  for  a 
much  more  ample  canvass  than  is  at  present  possible  of 
several  disciplines  now  much  neglected,  which  I  conceive 
to  be  indescribably  important  in  a  minister's  outfit.  Logic 
is  one  of  these.  How  few  preachers,  even  when  they  do 
their  best,  work  out  a  truly  methodical  sermon!  How  few 
habitually  grasp  the  exact  meaning  of  words!  How  few 
recognize  with  any  clearness  the  difference  between  a 
valid  inference  and  a  fallacy!  How  few  argue  logically  or 
fairly,  or  appreciate  the  multitudinous  and  subtle  sources 
of  mental  error  !  Every  thoughtful  church-goer  knows  that 
sermons  very  often  fail  of  effect  solely  because  the  matter 
in  them  is  not  properly  marshalled.    Sometimes  intrinsically 


33^  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

heterogeneous  materials  are  piled  together,  each  piece 
proper  and  rich  enough  in  itself,  but  powerless  in  sucli  an 
ensemble.  More  often  what  is  offered  is  susceptible  of  uni- 
tary treatment,  but  the  artist  has  placed  cart  before  horse. 
I  once  listened  to  a  sermon  which  might  have  been  a  thun- 
derbolt had  the  preacher  done  a  little  work  of  definition  at 
the  outset.  As  it  was,  his  thought  went  "  flying  all  abroad," 
since  no  hearer  could  possibly  divine  what  any  of  his  main 
conceptions  meant.  Unity  may  be  present  but  no  progress 
mark  the  thought — another  grievous  fault.  Many  sermons 
are  very  interesting  on  other  accounts,  though  extremely 
illogical.  Let  no  preacher  whose  work  is  of  this  character 
flatter  himself  that  the  study  of  method  in  speech  is  of  no 
account  for  him.  By  it  he  might  double  or  treble  the  effect 
of  his  utterances. 

A  worse  defect — leaving,  now,  the  form  of  thought  and 
coming  to  its  matter — lies  in  the  fact  that  even  our  ablest 
ministers  have  so  little  knowledge  of  Practical  Ethics. 
Every  reflecting  man  must  feel  how  painful  society  at  present 
needs  ethical  instruction.  Much  of  the  conduct  which 
shocks  us  in  our  fellow-men  is  due  to  nothing  else  but  ignor- 
ance of  what  is  right.  Many  people  are  keenly  aware  of 
their  lack  in  this  regard,  and  would  rejoice  to  be  enlightened. 
Whence  is  the  light  to  come  unless  from  our  religious 
teachers  ?  The  Church  is  the  only  institution  recognized 
as  charged  with  the  important  duty  of  training  human  be- 
ings in  morals,  and  ministers  are  its  spokesmen.  So  far  as 
the  writer  is  aware,  schools  for  ministerial  education  in 
America,  one  or  two  alone  excepted,  have  no  appliances 
worthy  the  name  for  teaching  concrete  ethics.  Students  are 
at  best  put  off  with  a  few  more  or  less  edifying  lessons  upon 
the  family,  society,  the  state,  and  the  more  obvious  duties 
arising  from  these.  If  any  of  the  difficult  moral  problems 
of  modern  society  are  broached,  none  of  them  are  fathomed. 
Marriage   and   Divorce,   for   instance,    Prison    Legislation, 


THE    CHRISTIAN    MINISTRY    AND    EDUCATION.  ;^^^ 

Copyright  and  Bankrupt  Laws,  Hours  of  Labor  for  Women 
and  Children,  Socialism  and  Communism,  the  Land  Ques- 
tion, Taxation,  Honest  Money,  Stock  Gambling,  Strikes,  the 
Care  of  the  Poor,  the  Aged  and  the  Insane,  Monoply,  Our 
Indian  Policy — these  and  many  more  are  essentially  ethical 
problems,  of  pressing  and  vital  importance  ;  but  scarcely  a 
school  of  sacred  learning  deems  them  worthy  of  more  than 
the  most  superficial  treatment  at  its  hands.  No  doubt 
many  of  these  subjects  are  too  delicate  to  be  formally 
handled  from  the  pulpit,  yet  who  will  deny  that  ministers 
should  know  about  them  ?  Clergymen  are  incessantly  con- 
sulted in  a  private  way  respecting  such  matters,  and  this 
would  occur  far  oftener  if  people  found  it  of  avail.  The 
mere  opinion  of  an  intelligent  and  honest  man  upon  any  im- 
portant topic  carries  great  weight,  and  will  become  known 
throughout  his  community  whether  publicly  proclaimed  or 
not.  At  present,  alas,  ministers  too  often  have  no  opinions 
touching  most  questions  of  this  sort,  and  the  few  who  es- 
pouse one  side  or  the  other  of  any  of  them  commonly  do  it 
with  so  little  information  as  neither  to  carry  conviction  nor 
to  win  respect.  These  problems  are  deep  and  intricate. 
They  need  long,  careful  and  unprejudiced  exposition.  The 
preacher  who  enters  upon  his  work  without  training  in  them 
can  hardly  expect  to  master  the  ground  by  subsequent  effort. 
The  study  ought  to  be  carried  on  under  competent  teachers 
defore  ordination. 

Adequate  ethical  instruction  for  intending  clergymen  would 
also  include  a  course  in  casuistry,  covering  those  numerous 
difficult  cases  of  conscience  which  arise  in  ordinary  conduct- 
Many  of  these  might  be  treated  directly  in  sermons,  giving 
offence  to  none,  light  and  relief  to  many.  What  pastor  has 
not  found  good  people  distressed  over  queries  like  the  fol- 
lowing :  Whether  a  Christian  has  aright  to  be  rich  ;  whether 
the  spirit  of  Christ  fully  possessing  one  would  not  lead  him 
to  share  his  all  with  the  first  beggar  he  met ;  whether  inten- 


334  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

tional  deception  is  in  any  case  justifiable  ;  whether  a  debtor 
whom  bankrupt  law  has  absolved  from  payment  ought  still 
to  pay  if  ever  able  ;  whether  it  is  right  to  take  an  oath,  and 
many  more. 

Most  Christians,  like  most  other  people,  conceive  wealth, 
whether  in  any  one  community  or  in  the  world,  as  a  given, 
fixed  sum,  so  that  if  one  man  gains,  another  must  necessarily 
lose.  It  is,  of  course,  entirely  an  error,  yet  I  once  heard 
tliis  precise  doctrine  from  a  very  able  preacher  in  King's 
Chapel,  Boston.  It  is,  he  said,  the  property  only  of  imma- 
terial goods  to  grow  by  use  :  in  material  wealth  your  gain 
means  my  loss,  and  vice  versa. 

How  rarely  preachers  discriminate  as  they  should  between 
vice  and  virtue  or  between  vice  and  vice.  We  are  perhaps 
duly  careful  not  to  call  evil  g^od,  but  do  we  not  continually 
denounce  certain  forms  of  good  as  evil  ?  Things  merely  re- 
prehensible are  continually  classed  with  those  to  which 
blackest  guilt  attaches,  no  distinction  or  gradation  in  evil 
quality  being  attempted.  I  have  heard  of  a  church  which 
excluded  a  young  lady  from  its  membership  for  dancing, 
but  retained  in  good  standing  a  deacon  who  had  been  guilty 
of  murder. 

It  is  a  complaint  as  just  as  it  is  common  that  ministers  have 
so  little  of  that  education  which  comes  from  close  and  rough 
contact  with  men.  They  do  not  know  enough  of  human 
nature.  This  is  the  more  a  pity  from  the  fact  that  means  of 
instruction  in  this  kind  are  so  ready  to  hand.  Men  are  all 
about  us  :  the  poor,  the  rich,  high  and  low,  good  and  bad, 
believers  and  unbelievers,  fortunate  and  unfortunate,  opti- 
mists and  pessimists.  Thegreatlaboratory  of  an  anthropology 
is  open.  Whosoever  will,  may  enter  and  pursue  the  study 
according  to  themost  approved  demonstrative  methods- 
Some  culture  in  this  way  the  minister  may,  to  be  sure,  if  he 
will,  obtain  after  he  has  begun  his  life-work.  But  it  is  then 
much  harder.     He  is  now  "  the  minister,"  and  men  will  not 


THE    CHRISTIAN    MINISTRY    AND    EDUCATION.  335 

behave  normally  before  him.  He  sees  for  the  most  part  only 
the  good  side  of  good  people  and  the  evil  side  of  bad  people. 
An  earlier  schooling  in  actual  life  would  enable  him  to 
allow  for  these  artificial  appearances  in  both  directions,  so, 
giving  to  his  preachingand  to  his  entire  influence  a  healthier 
tone. 

Probably  few  preachers,  when,  in  their  sermons,  they  refer 
to  the  affairs  of  Wall  Street,  have  any  idea  how  their  hearers 
who  are  familiar  with  that  region  inwardly  smile.  Many 
pastors  of  congregations  not  the  wealthiest,  habitually,  next 
Sunday  after  returning  from  vacation,  preach  upon  vacation 
experiences.  I  never  hear  such  a  sermon  without  pain 
having  had  occasion  to  be  sure  that  they  are  always  a 
source  of  pain  to  the  large  class  of  hearers  who,  alas  !  are  for- 
bidden to  know  from  personal  experience  what  a  holiday  or 
an  outing  means.  Sermons  of  this  order  serve  but  to  remind 
the  poor  how  poor  they  are.  This  ministerial  habit  is  an 
illustrative  fact.  My  observation  is  to  the  effect  that  the 
proportion  of  clergymen  who  have  much  more  than  a  theo- 
retical sympathy  with  the  very  poor  is  small  ;  fewer  still 
have  the  slighest  notion  of  the  peculiar  trials  which  beset 
the  rich,  but  this  imperfection  is  from  the  nature.of  the  case 
more  excusable. 

Longer  tuition  in  the  school  of  real  life  would  enable 
ministers  to  sympathize,  as  too  many  of  them  do  not  now, 
with  the  terrible  moral  struggles  and  questioning  which  are 
peculiar  to  this  age.  We  need  to  know  what  our  parishoners 
are  thinking  about,  what  it  is  that  tries  them,  what  phases 
of  their  life  are  most  fruitful  of  temptation,  and,  looking 
out  over  society  at  large,  precisely  where  given  evils  have 
their  root.  The  common  diagnosis  of  intemperance,  for  in- 
stance, is  extremely  shallow.  Men  drink,  it  is  said,  because 
of  a  liquor  habit.  Yes  ;  but  whence  this  habit  ?  The  habit 
itself  is  an  effect  and  not  a  cause  only.  The  ultimate  causes 
of  intemperance  need  to  be  investigated.     They  are  mainly 


;^^6  QUESTK  NS    OF    THE    DAY. 

two,  unbelief  and  poverty.  To  a  good  extent  the  unbelief 
may  be  further  traced  to  the  poverty,  and  this  to  vicious 
social  and  economic  arrangements. 

Who  can  doubt  that  a  deeper  grasp  by  our  ministers  upon 
these  great  affairs  of  humanity's  actual  life  would  give  added 
power  to  their  preaching  ?  People  are  wont,  if  religious 
teachers  are  obviously  in  error  or  ill  advised  rgarding  im- 
portant secular  matters,  to  infer  their  exceeding  fallibility 
in  relation  to  those  of  a  spiritual  nature.  We  cannot  pre- 
vent this.  But  most  of  the  social  interests  so  much  discussed 
nowadays  are  not  wholly  or  mainly  secular.  They  have  their 
moral  and  religious  aspects,  which  in  many  of  them  are 
very  pronounced.  So  long  as  the  clergy  ignore  these  mighty 
interests,  dawdle  with  them,  treat  them  as  having  no  relation 
to  the  Church's  mission  and  duty,  as  topics  to  be  studied  by 
eccentric,  leisurely,  or  worldly-minded  clergymen  alone,  so 
long  shall  we  wait  in  vain  to  see  the  effect  of  preaching 
what  it  once  was,  what  it  ought  to  be  to-day. 


OPPORTUNITIES  AND  OBLIGATIONS  OF  COL- 
LEGE EDUCATION.* 

By  Professor  George  P.  Fishlr,  D.I)..  LI  ,1).,  Yale  Col- 
lege, Conn. 


T  HAVE  to  confess  that,  when  I  accepted  the  invita. 
i  tion  to  be  here  to  night,  my  idea  of  the  purpose  of 
the  mceling  was  somewhat  vague.  But  one  thing  was  clear; 
that  the  meeting  was  to  be  composed  of  college  men,  gradu- 
ates and  undergraduates.  I  judged,  therefore,  that  a  few 
words  bearing  on  college  education,  and  the  opportunities 
and  obligations  resulting  from  it, would  not  be  out  of  place. 
The  course  of  study  in  our  colleges  has  been  a  good  deal 
modified  during  the  last  twenty  or  thirty  years.  The  in- 
creased importance  of  the  modern  languages,  and  of  the 
literatures  that  belong  to  them,  and,  still  more,  perhaps, 
the  astonishing  growth  of  the  natural  and  physical 
sciences,  have  obliged  the  colleges  to  make  room  for  other 
branches,  which  were  loudly  knocking  at  the  door  and 
demanding  admission. 

"One  result  of  the  diversifying  of  study  has  been  the  in- 
troduction of  elective  courses.  The  bill  of  fare  had  become 
too  long  for  the  time  at  the  student's  command,  and  foi 
the  digestion  of  any  single  individual.  But  the  general 
aims  of  a  college  educaiion  are  not  essentially  altered 
There  is  still  the  same  end  in  view— the  development  and 
culture  of  the  mental  powers.  For  the  college  aims,  or 
ought  to  aim,  at  something  more  than  the  equipment  of 
specialists.     Behind  the  specialist  there  must  be  the  man, 

*  Delivered   to   college    alumni,    Brooklyn,    December    2Qth,     1891. 
Published  by  request,  fiom  c  py  furnishel  by  the  author. 


338  QUESTIONS   OF    THE    DAY. 

who  has  been  taught  to  look  out  in  more  than  one  direc- 
tion ;  with  powers  and  tastes,  if  I  may  so  say,  of  a  catholic 
variety  and  range.  No  doubt,  discipline  is  a  prime  object 
to  be  kept  in  view  ;  and  discipline,  if  compared  with  the 
amassing  of  knowledge,  is  the  more  important  of  the  two.  But 
then  the  term  *  discipline*  must  be  interpreted  in  abroad  way. 
Cardinal  Newman  said  that  the  aim  of  education  is  accuracy. 

"He  is  educated  who  has  learned  to  distinguish  between 
things  that  differ,  and  to  see  things  just  as  they  really  are. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  truth,  and  yet  only  a  part  of  the 
truth,  in  this  proposition.  Here  is,  indeed,  a  criterion,  serv- 
ing to  divide  men  by  a  clearly  defined  line  into  two 
classes.  But  the  ideal  of  college  training  is  more  compre- 
hensive. There  is  a  realm  of  beauty,  as  well  as  of  truth. 
The  imagination  and  sentiments  have  their  rights.  Without 
enlarging  on  this  point — for  which  there  is  not  the  time — 
there  is  one  thing  at  least  that  college  ought  to  do  for  a 
man  ;  one  good  thing  that  he  ought  to  gain.  The  college 
should  awaken  within  him  the  intellectual  life.  It  should 
unseal  his  vision,  enabling  him  to  discern  '  the  things  of  the 
spirit,*  and  to  find  delight  in  them.  The  student's  turn  may 
be  for  science,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term.  But  he 
must  rejoice  in  the  perception  of  scientific  truths  for  its 
own  sake,  as  well  as  for  its  utility. 

"  When  the  old  philosopher  was  asked,  *  What  is  the  use 
of  philosophy  ? '  he  answered,  *  It  is  too  good  to  be  useful '; 
by  which  he  meant  that  it  is  an  end  in  itself,  and  not  merely 
a  means  to  something  else.  But  how  is  the  man  of  science 
enriched  by  an  added  appreciation  of  the  treasures  of 
literature  and  art  !  The  intellectual  life,  defined  in  any 
proper  way,  is  a  priceless  possession.  How  does  the  stu- 
dent bless  the  teacher,  or  the  book,  that  first  opened  his 
eyes,  first  touched  the  hidden  spring  within  him,  first  re- 
freshed his  spirit  with  glimpses  of  a  world  not  before  seen  ! 

"  How  shall  the  intellectual  life,  enkindled  in  college,  be 


OPPORTUNITIES   OF    COLLEGE    EDUCATION.  339 

kept  up  afterwards,  in  the  busy  occupations  that  follow 
graduation  ?  This  is  one  problem.  Only  one  or  two  hints 
towards  the  solution  of  it  can  be  given.  One  obvious 
answer  is  by  reading,  by  communion  with  the  authors  best 
fitted  to  minister  to  the  life  within. 

*'  Here  we  have  to  meet  the  difficulty  arising  from  the 
want  of  time.  Practical  pursuits  in  this  age  and  in  this  land 
are  engrossing.  It  is  a  help  to  remember  that  it  is  not 
necessary  to  read  many  writers,  however  desirable  it  might 
be  it  one  had  the  leisure  for  it.  In  fact,  nowadays  it  is 
necessary  to  sift  the  literature  of  the  day,  to  search  for  the 
grains  of  wheat  in  the  heaps  of  chaff.  For  in  this  depart- 
ment there  is  an  immense  overproduction.  Look  for  a 
moment  at  the  periodical  literature  of  the  time,  the  daily, 
semi-weekly,  weekly,  monthly,  yearly  journals.  What  a  vast 
extent  of  space  has  to  be  covered  by  writing  of  some  sort  ; 
the  space  being  measured  out  for  the  types  beforehand, 
and  the  contracts  all  made  to  fill  it.  The  blocks  of  blank 
paper  which  have  to  be  thus  covered  daily  would  make  a 
pile  as  broad  and  as  high  as  the  largest  pyramid  that  looks 
down  on  the  Nile.  There  is  much  good  writing  in  the 
current  periodical  literature.  One  who  would  be  in  con- 
tact with  his  time  cannot  neglect  it.  But  a  busy  man,  who 
is  concerned  in  the  way  I  have  indicated  for  'the  things  of 
the  spirit,'  must  be  sparing  of  his  time.  Suppose  him  to 
give  his  leisure  hours  to  a  few  authors.  Let  him  select 
six — we  will  say.  Homer,  Sophocles,  Plato,  Virgil,  Dante, 
Shakespeare.  Let  him  read  these  authors  themselves,  and 
not  the  thousand  and  one  books  written  about  them.  It 
might  almost  be  said  of  the  works  of  any  one  of  these  mas- 
ter-spirits, that  a  thorough,  thoughtful  study  of  him  is  itself 
a  liberal  education.  And  if  one  chooses  to  follow  out  the 
suggestions,  historical  and  literary,  which  the  perusal  of 
these  authors  brings  before  one,  inviting  and  extensive  fields 
of  investigation  and  reading,  fields  of  indefinite  extent,  yet 
capable  of  being  gradually  traversed,  are  opened.     Besides 


^40  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

reading,  for  the  nourishment  of  the  intellectual  life,  the 
society  of  kindred  spirits  is  needful.  The  stimulus  flow- 
ing from  the  interchange  of  ideas,  from  the  play  of  sym- 
pathy, is  very  helpful.  Some  minds  need,  in  their  intellect- 
ual progress,  the  aid  of  the  social  element  more  than  others. 
But  there  are  comparatively  few  who  can  very  well  spare  it. 

**  And  now,  in  connection  with  the  social  intercourse 
which  one  needs  for  his  own  intellectual  advantage,  we  may 
connect  the  duty  which  every  educated  man  should  per- 
form, of  being,  in  a  sense,  a  missionary  of  culture.  In  this 
time  of  material  prosperity,  when  material  enjoyments 
are  so  eagerly  sought  for  and  prized,  it  surely  behooves 
men  who  have  received  a  college  training,  to  do  all  that 
they  can,  in  combination  as  well  as  separately,  to  lift  up 
society  to  a  higher  level,  to  hold  up  worthy  ideas,  to  inspire 
the  community  with  a  becoming  regard  for  the  supreme 
value  of  '  the  things  of  the  spirit.' 

"  Societies  which  have  for  their  end  the  diffusion  of  cul- 
ture, by  bringing  together  educated  men,  and  by  placing 
them  in  contact  with  aspiring  youth  who  lack  the  advan- 
tages of  a  college  training,  are  deserving  of  honor  and 
support.  May  the  association  within  whose  walls  we  meet 
to  night,  with  other  good  work,  do  its  part  in  the  discharge 
of  this  noble  and  beneficent  duty  ! 

"  I  will  take  leave  to  add  that  the  intellectual  life,  and 
the  influence  emanating  from  it,  should  be  leavened  with 
the  spirit  of  religion.  The  religion  of  the  men  of  the  class 
whom  I  have  in  mind  should  be  thoughtful.  It  should 
have  its  root  in  intelligent  convictions.  One  should  be  able 
to  give  a  reason  for  the  faith  that  is  in  him.  It  should  be, 
also,  virile.  I  should  include  in  it  a  sound,  robust  moral- 
ity, with  a  healthy  abhorrence  of  all  forms  of  so-called  piety 
that  lack  this  quality.  And  it  should  be  practical,  no 
'  cloistered  virtue,'  but  going  forth  to  do  good— to  help  the 
needy,  and  to  infuse  new  strength  and  hope  into  those 
who  have  fallen  in  the  race." 


BROTHERHOOD  IN  HIGHEST  SERVICE.* 

By  President  Merrilt,  E.  Gates,  LL.D.,  Aiviherst  Col- 
lege, Mass. 


IN  our  general  harmony  of  purpose,  each  institution  is 
asked  to  sound  here  its  own  distinctive  key-note  in  the 
higher  education.  I  may  speak  freely  of  the  ideals  of  Am- 
herst, for  they  were  formed  and  were  known  the  world 
over  before  I  came  into  those  close  relations  with  the  col- 
lege which  give  me  the  right  to  speak  for  Amherst.  We  seek 
to  train  clear,  strong  thinkers  ;  to  make  manly  men;  to  send 
into  social  and  political  life  men  who  will  make  their  en- 
vironment more  nearly  what  it  should  be, — not  men  who  seek 
the  most  agreeable  or  profitable  environment,  or  yield  to  and 
are  moulded  by  the  environment  in  which  they  may  find 
themselves. 

To  this  end,  Amherst  believes  in  thorough  and  severe 
scholarship,  sound  morality,  and  a  living,  manly  Christianity. 
This  training,  reinforced  by  the  systematic  development  of 
each  man's  physical  powers,  we  believe  sends  out  into  the 
world  each  year  a  powerful  body  of  young  alumni,  who, 
accustomed  to  something  of  self-government,  and  students  of 
our  political  institutions  and  our  social  needs,  prove  them- 
selves staunch  patriots  and  useful  Christian  citizens. 

At  this  centre  of  American  life,  if  we  name  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  and  Roswell  P.  Hitchcock  and  Charles  H.  Park- 
hurst  and  Richard  Salter  Storrs,  we  feel  that  Amherst  has 
spoken  to  you  in  the  lives  of  her  sons.  If  the  goodly  colony 
of  Amherst  men  who  teach  at  Columbia  College  may  declare 

*  Address  delivered  to  college  alumni  at  Brooklyn,  Dec.  29th.  1891. 
Published  by   request,  from  copy  furnished  by  the  author. 


342  QUESTIONS   OF    THE    DAY. 

to  you  something  of  Amherst's  ideals  in  higher  education, 
and  if  the  treasurer  and  the  superintendent  of  that  noble 
educational  work,  the  Pratt  Institute,  may  interpret  to  you 
certain  Amherst  ideals  of  practical  philanthropy  held  and 
practised  by  our  younger  men,  we  will  refrain  from  men- 
tioning many  other  honored  sons  of  Amherst  whom  we 
might  well  name. 

But  we  recognize  with  deep  joy,  on  an  occasion  like  this, 
the  fact  that  the  aims  and  ideals  which  are  precious  to  us 
and  in  these  great  twin  cities,  our  metropolis,  find  wide 
expression  in  the  lives  of  a  host  of  men  trained  at  our  sister 
colleges. 

The  uplifting  thought  in  my  heart,  as  I  face  this  assem- 
blage, is,  ''  How  superbly  strong  for  enlightened  leadership 
and  ennobling  service  of  their  age  and  their  native  land,  is 
such  a  body  of  the  alumni  of  our  American  colleges  !"  By  the 
logic  of  events  we  are  called  to  be  leaders  in  the  great  work 
of  diffusing  ideas  among  our  fellow-men — in  bringing  life, 
social,  industrial  and  political,  into  harmony  with  the  best 
ideas. 

For  this  work  your  college  training  has  especially  fitted 
you.  There  is  a  sense  in  which  all  men  are  "  self-made  " 
men.  No  man  is  fully  made  a  man,  be  he  college-bred  or 
not,  unless  he  makes  himself  !  He  must  be  king  of  his  own 
activity;  ruling  with  imperial  will,  in  the  light  of  conscience  ! 
But  whatever  may  be  the  strength  or  the  virtues  of  the  man 
who  is  commonly  called  *' self  made  " — of  the  man  who 
forms  his  character  outside  the  schools — it  holds  as  the 
pre-eminent-  characteristic  of  college-bred  men,  that  they 
have  learned  to  deal  with  ideas  as  well  as  with  facts. 
While  business-life  and  active  professional  duties  make  of 
college-bred  men  the  most  intensely  practical  citizens — 
men  who  can  "bring  things  to  pass  " — yet  the  man  with  a 
college  diploma,  if  he  has  fairly  earned  it,  is  all  his  life  long 
a  citizen  of  the  Republic  of  Ideas.     He  is  open  to  reason. 


BROTHERHOOD    IN    HIGHEST    SERVICE.  343 

He  knows  the  power  of  thought.     He  has  seen  that  '*  ideas 
after  all  rule  the  world." 

It  was  this  openness  to  ideas  which  marks  the  educated 
man,  that  led  Aristotle  to  say,  "He  who  has  received  an  edu- 
cation differs  from  him  who  has  not,  as  the  living  does  from 
the  dead."  If  thought  is  the  life  of  the  soul,  the  habit  of 
answering  quickly  to  ideas  is  the  mark  of  the  man  who  is 
truly  alive.  It  is  because  we  know  that  sofne  theory  is 
essential  to  all  practice,  and  that  the  practical  man  is  a 
*'  bungler  "  in  life  unless  he  has  a  true  theory — it  is  for  this 
reason  that  we  do  not  fear  the  name  of  theorists.  The 
theorist  is  by  etymology  the  one  who  sees  what  he  is  at- 
tempting to  do.  The  word  means  a  seer  of  verities.  He 
who  despises  all  theories,  merely  argues  for  the  awkward 
and  foolish  process  known  as  ''going  it  blind."  The  true 
theorist,  the  true  man  of  ideas,  takes  all  the  facts  into  ac- 
count in  framing  his  theory,  and  has  a  clear  aim  in  view  in 
choosing  the  means  to  carry  out  his  theory,  to  embody  his 
ideas. 

To  fit  for  such  work  in  life,  the  college  course  sought 
ought  to  call  forth  in  us  all  the  mental  energy  at  our  com- 
mand. It  sought  to  make  our  thinking  clear,  accurate,  in- 
tense, and  to  make  the  love  of  truth  our  strongest  motive. 
In  so  far  as  this  has  been  done,  we  are  "  men  of  light 
and  leading,"  among  our  fellow-men. 

Each  man  of  you,  in  the  community  in  which  he  lives,  we 
trust,  is  such  a  man  "  whose  part  is  taken — who  does  not 
wait  for  society  in  anything,"  but  acts  fearlessly  on  his  own 
convictiopp.  How  greatly  the  world  needs  such  men  ! 
They  are  needed  to  break  the  foolish  bonds  of  unworthy 
custom,  to  keep  society  above  the  level  of  the  unthinking 
who  dread  a  new  idea,  to  whom  a  new  idea  is  a  positive  pain 
simply  because  ihey  never  had  it  before — a  terror  to  be  fled 
from,  if  it  comes  at  them  as  if  it  meant  to  influence  their 
daily  living;  or,   if  they  cannot  escape  its  grasp,  then   an 


344  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

enemy  to  be  closed  with  and  if  possible  throttled,  that  all 
things  may  be  as  they  were  before. 

This  is  the  type  of  man  of  whom  Crabbe  writes: 
*'  His  habits  are  his  only  test  of  truth: 

It  must  be  right,  I've  done  it  since  my  youth." 

So  many  men  shrink  from  any  and  every  act  that  would 
show  intelligent  self-direction  and  individuality  !  So  in- 
tensely do  most  men  fear  to  break  over  customs,  however 
foolish  and  hurtful ! 

For  the  love  of  humanity,  we  are  to  be  fellow-workers 
with  all  good  men  everywhere  in  diffusing  the  light  of  the 
truth  and  intelligence.  Many  who  see  the  truth  will  not 
obey  it.  But  if  they  do  not  see  it  certainly  they  cannot  obey 
it  !  And  "  Of  all  plagues,  ignorance  is  the  most  perni 
cious."  Wherever  your  work,  then,  and  as  long  as  you  live, 
as  college  bred  men  you  are  bound  to  be  dispellers  of  ig- 
norance, bearers  of  light  and  hdp  to  men. 

To  do  this  we  must  live  strong  lives  ourselves. 

It  is  not  because  scholars  have  ideas,  that  self-styled  "  prac- 
tical men  "  now  and  then  venture  to  sneer  at  scholars  as 
"  visionaries."  It  is  because  scholars  do  not  live  by  these 
ideas/  We  must  hold  to  ideas  and  enforce  them  in  our 
own  living  if  we  would  win  respect  both  for  the  truth  and 
for  ourselves  ! 

The  world  looks  to  us  to  live  by  those  ideas  which  are  the 
life  of  the  soul  I 

Let  us  live  up  to  the  level  of  our  own  best  thinking,  in 
our  social  and  politic-^^l  relations  as  well  as  in  our  private  life. 
Since  our  conviction  is  clear  that  there  is  no  reason  why  pub- 
lic office  should  be  regarded  as  **the  spoils  "  of  a  successful 
campaign,  let  us  stand  for  civil-service  reform.  Let  us  speak 
out  clearly  on  all  occasions,  in  favor  of  clean,  honest  ad- 
ministrations of  city  and  state  government,  and  against  job- 
bery and  trickery  of  all  kinds  in  elections  and  in  adminis- 
tration.    Let  us  not   allow  our  standard  of  morality  to  be- 


BROTHERHOOD    IN    HIGHEST    SERVICE.  345 

come  lower  in  political  affairs  than  in  business  affairs.  Since 
we  know  well  that  buying  a  vote  is  a  sin  and  a  disgrace,  a 
wrong  to  the  manhood  of  both  buyer  and  seller,  and  the 
gravest  danger  that  threatens  our  free  government,  let  us 
speak  Old  against  it,  whoever  does  it  !  Whatever  the  social 
position,  the  wealth  or  the  influence  of  the  man  who  is  guilty 
of  buying  votes  or  attempting  to  gerrymander  a  district, 
whether  he  belongs  to  your  party  or  not,  let  him  know, 
and  let  the  community  know,  that  you  hold  him  criminally 
guilty  !  The  quiet  toleration  of  what  we  know  to  be  im- 
moral will  undermine  our  own  principles  and  relax  our  own 
moral  tone. 

Let  our  ends  be  fair  and  just,  and  the  means  by  which  we 
seek  to  attain  them  honorable. 

"  Him,  only  him,  the  shield  of  Jove  defends, 
Whose  means  are  fair  and  spotless  as  his  ends." 

That  we  may  live  fully  and  strongly  in  all  our  nature,  physi- 
cal, intellectual  and  moral,  and  so  living  may  give  new  life 
and  fresh  impulse  to  all  with  whom  we  come  in  contact — 
this  is  our  wish  and  hope  for  the  college-bred  men  of 
America. 

To  do  this  we  must  be  leaders  and  masters  of  men  in  the 
highest  and  best  sense.  We  must  lead  by  first  climbing  the 
hard  places  ourselves  that  we  may  help  others  up.  We  must 
do  more  work  and  better  work  than  other  men.  We  must 
study  more  assiduously  to  be  useful,  for  all  men  who  suc- 
ceed in  life  are  life-long  students  of  that  in  which  they  suc- 
ceed !  We  must  put  into  our  life  more  of  self-sacrifice; 
for  it  is  only  by  serving  others  that  we  can  truly  be  leaders. 
Our  highest  wish  is  that  each  man  of  us  may  attain  to 
what  Ruskin  has  well  called  '' the  one  pure  kingship,  that 
which  consists  in  a  stronger  moral  state  and  a  truer  thought- 
ful state  than  that  of  others,  enabling  you  therefore  to  guide 
them  and  to  raise  them  toward  a  better  life." 


346  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

How  can  we  attain  to  this  state^  and  by  noble  service  keep 
ourselves  "  true  kings  of  men  "  ? 

Be  helpful  !  Communicate  ideas !  Give  out  moral 
energy!  Let  the  light  we  have  shine!  We  do  not  lose 
moral  or  intellectual  power  by  giving  an  impulse  to  our 
neighbor.  Here  is.  the  difference  between  mechanical 
forces,  and  intellectual,  moral,  social  forces.  If  you  give 
your  neighbor  a  "  cut  off  "  with  half  the  electric  current  that 
lights  your  house  or  runs  your  factory,  your  own  house  must 
go  half-lighted,  your  own  factory  can  do  but  half  its  work. 
But  when  you  give  him  your  best  thought  and  your  hearti- 
est, friendliest  sympathy,  there  is  more  light,  more  warmth, 
more  power  for  you  both.  By  giving,  j;^?/ ^^/;/.  Your  own 
thought  becomes  clearer.  Your  own  conviction  is  more  in- 
tense. Your  own  power  of  right  feeling  and  right  willing 
is  strengthened.  By  such  unselfish  efforts  for  others  we 
keep  the  horizon  broader  and  the  heart  fresher. 

To  do  such  service  we  shall  need  a  steady  fire  of  love  in 
the  heart.  To  overcome  inertia  in  ourselves  and  in  others, 
not  to  be  overawed  and  silenced  by  the  numbers  of  the  dull, 
the  timid  and  the  vicious  who  oppose  all  changes  for  the 
better;  to  make  our  way  up  steep  grades  of  moral  progress; 
to  draw  our  A?^^  steadily,  every  day,  and  with  our  own  bur 
dens  to  bear  also  the  burdens  of  others  less  strong  than 
we — this  calls  for  an  impelling  power  constantly  renewed 
.  and  unfailing. 

The  early  invented  locomotives  all  failed  of  practical  use- 
fulness, because  they  could  not  generate  a  sufficient  power 
of  steam.  Then  came  the  Stephensons,  and  by  their  inven- 
tion of  the  steam  blast  took  the  very  breaih  of  heaven 
into  league  with  the  fires  within  the  engine.  The  steam  that 
did  the  first  few  pounds  of  work  was  used  to  make  a  vacuum 
by  which  the  pure  air  of  heaven  was  hungrily  sucked  in,  to 
feed  the  fires  and  make  more  heat.  Thus  was  given  to  the 
world  the  secret  of  the  power  of  all  our  modern  locomotives. 


BROTHERHOOD    IN    HIGHEST    SERVICE.  347 

In  this  feeding  of  the  fires  within  by  the  very  winds  of 
heaven,  the  great  possibilities  of  our  modern  civilizing  force 
stood  revealed. 

To  enable  us  to  do  the  heavy,  up-grade  work  of  helpers 
of  the  weak  and  ignorant,  to  uplift  society  and  raise  our  fel- 
low-men to  higher  planesof  thought  and  action,  we  shall  need 
to  have  a  breath  from  Heaven  itself  feed  the  fires  of  love  and 
life  in  our  hearts. 

"  'Tis  life  whereof  our  nerves  are  scant, 
More  life  and  fuller,  that  we  want." 

Such  life  and  power  as  we  need  in  our  life-work  comes 
only  from  God,  who  feeds  our  souls  with  thoughts  of  Him- 
self, with  His  Truth,  which  is  Life. 

We  believe,  then,  that  there  is  an  especial  fitness  in  our 
meeting  a  body  of  college  alumni,  in  the  Hall  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association.  As  men  come  to  understand 
the  solidarity  of  interest  that  binds  the  entire  race,  every- 
where, the  world  round,  there  goes  up  a  yearning  cry  for 
that  true  brotherhood  among  men  which  is  possible  only 
as  men  understand  the  Fatherhood  of  God.  And  if  col- 
lege-men are  to  undertake,  with  deeper  earnestness  each 
year,  the  duties  and  responsibilities  that  belong  to  "  men 
of  light  and  leading,"  dispellers  of  gloom,  how  can  they 
more  hopefully  and  happily  do  this  than  by  putting  them- 
selves under  the  leadership  of  Him  whom  we  know  as  the 
Eternal  God,  Giver  of  Light  and  Wisdom,  and  whose  glori- 
ous, inspiring  power  for  service  the  Greeks  dimly  discerned 
when  they  spoke  of  their  Sun-God,  Apollo,  as  the  radiant 
one,  "  Whose  bright  eye  lends  brightness  and  never  yet  saw 
a  shadow  " ? 


ESSENTIALS  OF  THE  CURRICULUM.* 

By  President   B.  P.  Raymond,  Wesleyan  University, 

MiDDLETOWN,   CONN. 


With  such  a  theme  and  in  such  a  presence,  one  can  but 
wish  for  the  opportunities  of  a  volume  rather  than  that  of 
fifteen  minutes.  We  congratulate  ourselves,  liowever,  on 
this  advantage  at  least,  we  can  address  ourselves  to  the 
theme  immediately.  You  need  no  introduction  to  the  sub- 
ject. Moreover,  we  can  count  on  you  to  supply  many  miss- 
ing logical  links,  which  must  be  presupposed  at  the  outset 
and  implied  in  the  development  of  the  theme. 

Like  the  navigator,  the  educator  must  have  clearly  de- 
termined the  port  whence  he  sails,  and  the  harbor  in  which 
he  proposes  to  furl  sail  and  drop  anchor.  The  educator 
starts  from  the  cradle.  His  subject,  be  it  observed,  is  an 
it,  an  it,  sensitive  to  every  ripple  of  sound,  to  every  ray  of 
light,  to  the  gentlest  touch  of  the  breast  upon  which  its 
head  is  pillowed  ;  potentially  responsive  to  every  thought 
of  the  race,  potentially  accessible  to  motives  that  would 
blacken  the  fame  of  a  Nero,  accessible  to  the  high  ideals 
that  would  grace  and  crown  an  archangel.     But  an  it. 

The  educator  receives  this  helpless  giant  from  the 
embrace  of  his  mother's  love,  and  by  the  wise  use  of  edu- 
cative agencies  must  transmute  this  im.personal  subject  into 
a  man.  Personality  is  the  goal  ;  personality,  rich  and  reg- 
nant. 

It  is  easy  to  determine  thus  the  starting  point  and  the 

*  Address  delivered  to  College  Alumni,  at  Brooklyn,  December  29th, 
1891.     Published  by  request,  from  copy  furnished  by  the  author. 


35^  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

goal,  easy  to  read  up  the  pedagogical  theories  of  the  ages 
with  their  wealth  of  details,  rich  in  suggestive  errors  and 
pitiful  failures  ;  but  the  question  is  still  on  our  hands 
under  new  conditions,  complex  enough  to  confuse  and 
perplex  the  wisest,  and  with  possibilities  that  might  well 
stir  the  soul  of  the  most  indifferent.  It  is  the  how  and  the 
why  that  put  to  the  test  all  our  theories.  Upon  questions 
of  method,  who  dare  dogmatize  ?  Here  the  problems  mul- 
tiply. There  ought  to  be  a  rationale  of  our  curricula,  and 
of  our  pedagogical  appliances.  Dr.  Hermann  Lotze  affirms 
that  there  is  only  one  complete  personality,  one  being  alone, 
who,  conscious  of  all  His  resources,  is  perfectly  self- directive 
in  the  use  of  all,  and  that  is  God.  Be  it  so.  The  goal  of 
our  work  is  the  completest  personality  possible  for  man. 

As'uming  that  the  cry  from  this  cradle,  a  cry  which 
voices  a  hunger  for  all  the  universe  has  to  give,  has  been 
progressively  met  and  that  the  subject  is  no  longer  in  it, 
that  the  boy  under  favorable  conditions  has  been  prepared 
for  college,  how  shall  the  years  of  college  life  carry  forward 
this  work  to  maturity  ? 

How  shall  the  college  man  be  met  and  treated  ?  I 
answer  first  of  all,  and  emphatically,  as  a  man  ;  as  a  man 
who  must  think  and  act  for  himself.  All  growth  is  from 
instinct  and  impulse  toward  personality,  and  growing  per- 
sonality means  the  self- directed  life  in  the  light  of  reason. 
Hence,  the  college  man  should  be  met  with  the  fewest  au- 
thoritative restrictions  possible,  and  with  the  most  intense, 
intellectual,  moral  and  religious  inspirations  possible. 

The  curriculum  has  its  rationale. 

We  do  not  need  to  argue  the  study  of  mathematics. 
They  have  held  their  place  for  more  than  2,000  years. 

And  shall  we  study  languages  .»*  Most -assuredly.  And 
unless  the  boy  starts  too  late,  both  ancient  and  modern. 
The  latter  will  hold  its  place  because  we  live  in  an  age 
intensely  practical   and  in  a  country  intensely  utilitarian. 


ESSENTIALS    OF    THE    CURRICULUM.  35I 

This  has  grown  out  of  our  circumstances.  We  are  still  pio- 
neers, and  the  pioneer,  with  his  axe,  is  driven  by  exigencies 
which  demand  that  every  blow  shall  count  for  something 
that  can  be  transmuted  immediately  into  service.  But  if 
that  were  all,  it  is  very  questionable  whether  the  translation 
is  not  cheaper  far  than  to  translate.  But  that  is  not  all. 
To  master  a  language  is  to  acquire  a  new  sense.  The  sense 
of  hearing  gives  the  m.elody  and  harmony  of  the  world's 
voices,  and  makes  accessible  its  oratorios  ;  the  sense  of 
sight  brings  the  rapt  vision  of  morning  and  evening's  glow, 
the  radiant  bush  of  autumn  which  burns  and  is  not  con- 
sumed, and  the  revelations  of  art,  heroic  as  the  tramp  of 
armies,  or  sacred  with  the  forms  of  saints  and  madonnas. 
What  power  could  describe  the  glory  of  the  setting  sun  ? 
Or  what  language  communicate  the  hallelujah  chorus?  The 
soul  of  either  would  be  lost  by  the  translation.  To  read 
into  the  literature  of  any  great  language  is  to  feel  the 
heart  throb  of  the  spirit  of  another  age  in  its  best  utter- 
ance ;  to  master  a  language  is  not  only  the  power  to  trans- 
late an  author.  We  might  well  ask  who  can  do  that  ?  Who 
can  translate  Luther's  battle  hymn,  "  Eine  feste  Burg  ist 
unser  Gott "  ?  It  is  to  acquire  capacity  to  see  and  feel. 
And  to  master  this  classic  Greek,  which,  with  its  philoso- 
phy, has  dominated  the  thought  of  twenty  three  centuries, 
has  furnished  permanent  ideals  for  the  sculptor  and  archi- 
tect, is  to  add  to  that  new  sense  microscopic  accuracy  and 
telescopic  vision.  The  thing  we  have  to  fear  is  lest  in  tlie 
swing  of  the  pendulum  from  the  false  dominance  of  classics 
we  may  by  virtue  of  the  momentum  of  practical  considera- 
tions lose  our  hold  upon  that  ideal  and  esthetic  side  of  life 
without  which  life  itself  would  be  emptied  of  its  contents. 

And  shall  we  study  science.?  Emphatically,  I  answer. 
Yes.  And  that,  too,  not  chiefly  because  it  can  be  used, 
but  because  of  its  power  to  develop  capacity.  Let  every 
man  be  required  to  study  science.     Not  every  man  can  be- 


352  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

come  a  specialist,  but  every  man  can  master  the  funda- 
mental elements  of  some  department,  and  thus  relate  him- 
self to  the  world  with  its  fundamental  all-comprehensive 
principle  of  mechanism.  For,  as  Leibnitz  taught,  every 
monad  reflects  the  universe.  Conjure  with  the  word  evo- 
lution, and  measure  the  response  in  the  mind  of  Mr.  Spen- 
cer. Contrast  it  with  the  mental  reaction  of  the  man  who 
has  simply  learned  the  definition  of  the  term.  Spencer  is 
an  intellectual  millionnaire,  and  the  boor  a  candidate  for 
the  poorhouse. 

To  this  must  be  added  the  study  of  philosophy,  both 
as  a  discipline  and  as  a  counterpoise  to  science,  which  al- 
ways works  with  purely  mechanical  notions.  Philosophy, 
however,  finds  itself  compelled,  in  the  study  of  society, 
government  or  history,  to  work  with  ethical  notions  as  its 
necessary  presuppositions.  The  several  disciplines  indi- 
cated may  be  considered  as  fairly  comprehensive  of  the  es- 
sential notions  which  quicken  the  human  intellect  and  stir 
the  human  heart.  These  are  the  disciplines  which  in  a  lib- 
eral education  must  not  be  left  out. 

But  the  college  curriculum,  could  we  detail  it  never  so 
perfectly,  would  give  but  the  most  barren  account  of  the 
inspiring  and  constructive  forces  which  operate  to  build 
the  man.  These  agencies  work  almost  exclusively  upon 
the  intellect.  The  scientist  cries  out  against  the  atrophy  of 
the  powers,  which  results  in  an  irremediable  inaptitude  for 
scientific  notions.  In  the  man  of  best  training  and  most 
perfectly  developed  personality  there  must  be  no  atrophy  of 
powers.  Nature  does  not  stop  with  the  intellect.  She  fol- 
lows the  boy  up  through  his  boyhood,  with  questions  which 
start  from  every  empty  bird's  nest,  interrogation  marks  on 
every  speckled  egg,  in  every  crystal  of  the  snow,  in  every 
phase  of  nature.  They  follow  him  into  manhood.  They 
rise  up  out  of  the  earth  to  meet  him.  The  markings  of 
the  glacial  period,  the   tiled   strata,  the  tracks  of  the  birds 


ESSENTIALS   OF   THE   CURRICULUM.  353 

which  Stalked  over  the  Connecticut  sand-stone  startle  him 
with  their  how  and  their  why.  The  falling  apple,  the  phases 
of  the  interior  planets,  the  returning  comet — yea,  every 
green  leaf  and  gorgeous  maple,  the  gentlest  note  of  spring 
and  the  reverberating  thunder  of  August  speak  to  this  boy, 
make  him  uneasy  with  questions  which  he  can  neither 
answer  nor  leave  unanswered,  determined  to  call  out  the 
intellect  in  all  of  its  power.  But  nature  does  not  stop  here. 
Nature  sets  this  boy  in  relations  with  others  like  himself. 
He  must  recognize  the  rights  of  others,  and  demand  like 
recognition  for  his  own  rights.  He  must  love,  and  have 
love.  And  in  that  hour  when  the  conscience  comes  to 
birth,  when  the  boy  says  *'  I  ought,"  and  "  I  ought  not,"  he 
hears  a  note  that  rings  the  harmony  of  the  spheres,  the  key- 
note of  the  highest  and  holiest  in  the  universe.  The  weird 
yet  charming  music  in  that  note  is  the  voice  of  God  from 
the  throne  eternal.  He  has  not  sounded  all  the  diapasons 
of  that  voice,  but  he  knows  that  all  degradation  and  despair 
are  to  be  measured  by  their  departure  from  the  law  there 
announced,  and  that  obedience  thereto  is  the  bliss  of 
heaven.  Nature's  plan  is  to  act  upon  the  child  by  powers 
from  without  and  awaken  the  response  of  the  powers  within. 
I  wish  to  add  another  salient  factor  ;  nature's  method  is 
to  act  with  powers  from  without  upon  all  the  powers  of 
the  boy,  and  call  them  all  out  into  energetic,  harmonious 
and  adequate  response.  She  seeks  for  the  most  perfect  type 
of  man.     With  her,  indeed,  the  fittest  alone  survive. 

Taking  his  clue  from  nature,  the  educator  dare  not  rest 
with  brilliant  intellectual  achievements.  Intellect  alone 
does  not  constitute  the  fulness  of  the  personal  life.  He 
must  summon  the  moral  and  religious  life  into  being.  The 
most  difficult  and  delicate  task  of  all,  and  the  most  im- 
portant. This  left  undone,  and  there  is  atrophy  of  powers 
at  the  very  summit  of  being.  For  success  in  this  task,  he 
must  count  on  plenty  of  work,  from  the  highest  motives; 


354  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

on  the  high  character  of  the  men  that  teach  ;  and,  finally, 
on  the  grace  of  God. 

What  characteristics  in  his  personality  stand  for  the 
influence  of  these  years  in  the  college-bred  man  ?  If  a 
compound  photograph  of  i,ooo  college-bred  men  could  set 
forth  the  mental  habitude,  the  comprehensiveness  of  grasp, 
the  scope  of  vision,  and  the  ideals  of  life,  would  that  pho- 
tograph not  differentiate  these  men  from  every  other  i,ooo 
men  of  given  training  that  could  be  found  ?  A  recent 
number  of  The  College  Man  affirms  that  "  the  college  men 
of  the  United  States  are  but  a  small  fraction  of  one  per 
cent,  of  the  voters;  yet  they  hold  58  per  cent,  of  the  high- 
est offices."  Another  writer  affirms  that  a  free  common 
school  education  adds  50  per  cent,  to  the  productive  power 
of  the  laborer  ;  an  academical  education,  100  per  cent.,  and 
an  average  collegiate,  or  university,  education,  200  to  300 
per  cent. 

Liberally  educated  men,  with  a  comprehensive  knowl- 
edge of  facts,  a  firm  grasp  of  principles,  and  almost  pro- 
phetic scope  of  vision,  men  of  truest  purpose,  who  dare 
welcome  light  from  every  source,  even  though  it  come  from 
heaven  itself,  of  generous  and  tolerant  spirit,  of  lofty  ideals, 
are  always  more  needed  than  gold  or  silver,  armies  or 
navies,  guns  or  forts.  And,  although  the  number  of  such 
men  can  never  be  proportionately  large,  they  are  the  men, 
who,  first  made  masters  of  themselves,  become  masters  of 
the  world.  The  Great  Teacher,  as  one  writer  has  pointed 
out,  spent  much  time  on  twelve  men.  We  shall  make  no 
mistake  if  we  spend  our  millions  upon  even  the  compar- 
atively few  men  who  seek  the  most  liberal  training.  These 
men  must  lead  the  thought  of  the  age,  and  put  forth  for  so- 
ciety a  kind  of  vicarious  volition  along  the  line  of  action 
where  all  others  must  and  will  follow. 


THE  MORAL  AND  RI'LIGIOUS  VALUE  OF 
HIGHER  EDUCATION.* 

By  President    E.   Benjamin    Andrews,    LL.D.,   Brown 
University,   Providence,  R.  I. 


LEARNING  for  its  own  sake,  in  the  strict  sense  of  this 
phrase,  meaning  that  we  learn  without  any  reference 
whatever  to  any  good,  either  to  ourselves  or  to  others  to 
be  had  thereby,  is  a  contradiction.  If  such  a  course  were 
conceivable  or  possible,  it  would  still  be  irrational.  But  let 
us  be  convinced  that  we  are  vital  members  of  human  society; 
that  our  mental  cultivation  will  count  in  furtherance  of 
human  progress,  that  our  fellow-men  are  to  be  made  happier 
and  better  through  the  training  which  we  are  giving  and  re- 
ceiving ;  we  then  see  it  to  be  reasonable  and  good  to  exert 
ourselves  to  the  utmost.  Only  under  the  stimulus  of  such 
a  view,  I  believe,  can  a  thoughtful  man  permanently  do  his 
best.  Now,  I  profoundly  believe  that  such  an  intimate 
relation  between  the  higher  learning  and  the  weal  of  all 
actually  exists. 

We  see  it,  first,  on  the  ordinary  level  of  material  welfare. 
Civilization  as  to  its  material  basis,  as  to  those  aspects  of  it 
that  fill  men's  minds,  alas,  mostly  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
higher  phases — civilization  in  its  practical  efficiency,  is  in 
the  last  analysis  totally  dependent  on  the  work  done  at  the 
centres  of  learning.  Nearly  all  the  great  advances  in  indus- 
try which  make  goods  cheaper  and  life  happier  involve  prin- 
ciples which  have  been  carefully  wrought  out  in  the  study 
or  the  laboratory.  Edison  could  do  little  but  for  the  science 
of  physics,  which  less  practical  men  elaborated  and  made 

*  Address  delivered  before  College  Alumni,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Dec. 
29th,  1891. 


356  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

ready  for  his  use.  Physics,  in  turn,  depends  at  every 
step  upon  the  higher  mathematics.  Bichloride  of  mer- 
cury, which  has  given  to  recent  surgery  its  glorious  suc- 
cesses and  which,  in  medicine,  has  taken  its  main  terrors 
from  that  once  awful  disease,  diphtheria,  is  a  chemical  inven- 
tion. And  the  power  of  research  in  these  high  realms 
pays.  Witness  the  case  of  Germany,  which  manufactures 
83  per  cent,  of  the  chemicals  used  on  the  continent  of 
Europe,  because  of  the  chemical  discoveries  made  and  the 
knowledge  of  chemistry  diffused  among  her  people  through 
the  agency  of  her  universities.  It  is  for  lack  of  chemical 
knowledge  of  clays  that  America  as  yet  makes  no  such  por- 
celain as  Germany  or  Austria,  and  the  same  lack  wastes  for 
us  every  year  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  materials  and 
labor  in  such  third  or  fourth  class  pottery  as  we  do  make. 
In  the  effort  of  America  to  compete  industrially  with  Euro- 
pean nations,  no  one  thing  is  more  important  than  the  pro- 
motion among  us  of  scientific  training  in  its  higher  forms. 

No  tongue  can  tell  the  debt  which  the  practical,  every- 
day science  on  which  the  world  now  lives  owes  to  the  great 
masters  and  law-givers  of  science  in  the  departments  of 
mathematics  and  physics,  and  every  one  of  them  was  the 
offspring  of  some  institution  for  high  learning.  Nearest  to 
an  exception  is  Descartes,  whose  pupilage  ended  early,  and 
who  is  distinguished  among  historic  thinkers  for  having 
wrought  out  some  of  the  most  recondite  philosophical  and 
mathematical  truths  known  to  man  in  a  soldier's  hut  and 
by  a  soldier's  camp  fire.  But  Descartes  could  certainly 
never  have  done  this  had  it  not  been  for  his  eight  years  at 
the  excellent  school  of  La  Fleche,  founded  by  Henry  of 
Navarre. 

The  same,  if  not  a  closer,  relation  exists  between  good 
schools  and  practical  science  in  the  department  of  sociology. 
One  section  in  the  broad  field  of  social  science,  people 
nearly    always    forget    when    speaking   of  human  progress, 


MORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  VALUE  OF  HIGHER  EDUCATION.  357 

though  it  is  most  closely  related  thereto,  I  refer  to  law.  In 
discussions  upon  the  rise  and  evolution  of  culture  among  the 
Romans,  we  always  make  great  note  of  Roman  law,  but  it 
seems  to  be  taken  for  granted  that  elsewhere  culture  has 
been  built  up  nearly  or  quite  independently  of  legal  insti- 
tutions and  reforms.  So  far  is  this  from  being  the  case  that 
one  may  well  doubt  whether  the  tie  between  legal  systems 
and  the  progress  of  civilization  was  ever  so  close  as  in  mod- 
ern times.  Few  men  in  the  last  hundred  years  have  done 
more  for  human  advancement  than  Savigny,  Bentham,  John 
Austin  and  Sir  Henry  Maine.  All  of  these  were  lawyers, 
and  all  were  also  university  graduates,  whose  influence,  but 
for  their  special  training,  the  world  would,  in  all  probabil- 
ity, never  have  felt.  If  possible,  even  more  than  theology, 
law  derives  its  progress  and  power  from  professional  study 
and  teaching.  Of  course,  learned  institutions  cannot  claim 
all  the  credit  for  the  beneficial  influence  exerted  by  those 
whom  they  educate.  Schools  cannot  create  genius,  but  they 
do  what  is  quite  as  important,  they  call  it  out  and  train  it. 

The  same  high  utility  attaches  to  learning  in  the  domain 
of  culture.  This  is  in  fact  an  aspect  of  the  good  of  education 
which  peculiarly  exalts  it.  It  is  more  vitally  important  than 
aught  else,  save  character,  to  the  perfection  of  civilization. 
Mere  material  resources  do  not  constitute  or  create  fine  civ- 
ilization. Wealth,  unaccompanied  by  what  is  higher,  breeds 
Philistinism,  which  can  be  naught  but  degrading  to  a 
nation's  character.  Things  can  never  take  the  place  of  men. 
Trade,  commerce,  business,  industry — these  are  important 
factors  in  human  culture,  but  by  themselves  they  have  in 
no  case  yet  made  a  nation  great.  The  exaltation  of  a  na- 
tion's rank  has  never  come  alone  or  mainly  through  the  op- 
eration of  commercial  motives.  It  requires  a  certain  ele- 
vation of  spirit,  a  devotion  to  ideals,  a  philosophic  com- 
posure, to  which  the  atmosphere  of  the  market  is  a  deadly 
foe.     Now,  while  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  school  of  learn- 


358  QUESTIONS   OF    THE    DAY. 

ing  is  the  sole  nursery  of  the  sublime  temper  necessary  to 
splendor  of  civilization,  it  is  certainly  a  most  important, 
even  an  indispensable,  one.  Very  much  of  this  higher  life 
of  the  spirit  connects  itself  with  literature  and  religion, 
and  every  observer  of  men  or  reader  of  history  knows  that 
both  these  are  almost  absolutely  dependent  on  schools. 
Very  few  literary  celebrities  are  there  who  are  not  chil- 
dren of  the  schools,  and  the  rest  are,  at  least,  grand-children. 

There  is  a  still  more  important  field  where  it  can  be  seen 
that  learning  enriches  the  higher  life  of  humanity  not  out 
of  its  intellectual  funds  alone.  Ethical  principle  and  prac- 
tice are  stiffened  by  influences  from  the  same  source.  In- 
stance the  love  of  right  for  right's  sake,  the  idea  of  simple 
truth,  irrespective  of  consequences,  which  has  come  into 
being  almost  solely  from  the  inculcation  of  exact  science. 
This  is  a  result  for  which  those  who  love  righteousness 
should  be  grateful  to  the  Positive  Philosophy.  In  this  re- 
spect, the  positivists  have,  without  thinking  of  it,  become 
powerful  ethical  teachers.  They  have  insisted,  as  had 
never  been  done  before,  upon  the  importance  of  laying 
aside  prejudice  and  interest,  and  getting  at  simple,  un- 
alloyed fact.  There  has  been  called  into  existence  thus  a 
new,  distinct  and  most  beautiful  form  of  the  love  for  truth. 
This  noble  phase  of  virtue  is  emphasized  and  nourished 
to-day  in  every  scientific  laboratory  and  class-room  through- 
out the  world.  It  has  come  to  possess  even  theology  and 
will  yet  revolutionize  that  science.  It  has  gone  over  into 
the  study  of  the  past  and  founded  the  science  of  historical 
investigation.  Many  false  but  time  honored  judgm.ents 
touching  the  men  and  things  of  former  times  are  changing 
in  consequence  of  the  truer  historical  apprehension  en- 
gendered from  this  cause.  It  results  that  national  and 
ecclesiastical  animosities  are  becoming  less  intense,  opening 
the  way  for  larger  peace  and  good-will  among  men. 

To  this  ascription  of  a  positive  ethical  value  to  training 


MORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  VALUE  OF  HIGHER  EDUCATION.    359 

in  science  some  demur.  Moral  character,  they  rightly  say, 
ultimately  depends  upon  religious  belief,  and  this,  they  fur- 
ther declare,  science  undermines  and  dispels.  There  is  an 
idea,  as  prevalent  as  it  is  baseless  and  mischievous,  that  the 
doctrine  of  evolution,  in  particular,  so  far  as  it  is  accepted, 
renders  all  theistic  or  properly  religious  belief  unnecessary 
and  stupid.  Nothing  could  be  more  untrue.  The  logical 
necessity  of  theistic  belief  evolution  does  not  so  much  as 
touch.  One  may  admit  all  that  Darwin  himself  ever  asserted 
and  yet  remain  orthodox  as  Athanasius.  Logicians  never 
had  clumsier  fallacies  to  laugh  at  than  those  by  which 
sciolists  have  inferred  a  Godless  cosmology  entire  from 
a  scientist's  proof — itself  far  from  irrefragable — of  one  single 
point,  the  origin  of  species.  Darwin  made  no  pretense  of 
having  explained  the  beginning  of  life.  And  further,  as 
has  been  said,  the  survival  of  the  fittest  does  nothing  to 
explain  the  arrival  of  the  fittest.  In  other  words,  those 
peculiarities  from  those  variations  of  type  that  occur  "  ever 
and  anon,"  as  novelists  say,  and  play  so  famous  a  part  in 
zoological  evolution  by  getting  themselves  transmitted, 
these  are  as  deep  a  mystery  as  life  itself.  Darwin  knew 
enough  to  know  that  he  did  not  know  enough  to  explain 
them. 

One  important  thing  the  great  man  did  suppose  that  he 
had  made  clear,  viz.:  the  rise  of  our  moral  consciousness 
But  he  was  mistaken.  This  is  the  sovereign  mystery  of  all, 
and  it  is  a  commonplace  of  ethical  study  to- day  that,  deftly 
as  Darwin  and  Herbert  Spencer  have  shown  something 
else  to  be  derivative,  Kant  was  correct  in  taking  man's  sense 
of  right  as  an  immediate,  underived  piece  of  human  nature. 

Not  only  does  the  great  generalization  by  Darwin  offer 
no  necessary  offense  to  faith,  but  it  opens  the  way  for  an 
apprehension  of  the  Divine  Being,  and  His  modes  of  proce- 
dure, far  more  rational,  helpful  and  uplifting  than  the  old 
view.     Natural  theology  will  have  to  be  recast,  but   its  new 


360  QUESTIONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

form  will  add  indefinitely  to  its  impre-siveness.  We  shall 
find  it  no  loss  to  have  relinquished  the  untenable  dis- 
tributive teleology  of  Paley,  when  in  its  stead  is  installed 
that  grander  thought  of  a  perfect  cosmic  unity  reached 
through  the  clash  of  forces  energizing  apparently  without 
aim.  Science  is  destined  to  prove  at  this  point  an  immense 
missionary  power. 

Nor  here  alone.  There  is  another  realm  where  theolog- 
ical propositions  stand  up  much  more  boldly  in  conse- 
quence of  what  scierxe  has  done.  The  central  citadel  of 
all  conviction  and  assurance,  which  ancient  philosophy 
evacuated  as  hopelessly  breached  and  forever  untenable, 
modern  science  has  put  in  repair  and  rendered  impregna- 
ble. Radical  skepticism,  which  is  the  bane  of  Greek  phi- 
losophy, can  never  come  back.  One  who  reads  in  the 
Thesetetus  the  logic  whereby  Plato  pulverizes  Protagoras 
and  his  doctrine  of  the  subjectivity  of  knowledge,  wonders 
how  that  pestilential  error  could  ever  have  reappeared. 
Yet  it  did.  It  flourished,  even,  and  by  what  a  skeptic, 
could  he  have  done  so  consistently  with  his  theory,  would 
have  called  a  just  retribution,  it  became  the  distinguishing 
characteristic  of  the  new  academy,  of  the  very  thinkers  who 
hailed  Plato  as  their  philosophic  head. 

The  skeptic's  mind,  like  a  weak  stomach,  could  keep 
nothing  down.  Pyrrho  could  not  admit  that  anything  is 
true  or  certain.  *' Say  not,"  he  bade,  ''This  is  so,"  but 
only,  "This  seems  to  me  to  be  so,"  "It  is  possible,"  "It 
may  be,"  and  the  like.  The  new  academy,  with  a  keener 
insight  than  Pyrrho's,  seeing  that  this  very  suspension  of 
judgment  was  a  sort  of  affirmation,  laid  it  down  that  a  man 
can  know  nothing  save  that  he  knows  nothing,and  that  this 
is  not  proper  knowledge,  but  feeling.  The  utter  impossi- 
bility of  knowledge,  and  the  fatuity  of  all  pretense  thereto — 
these  were  the  invariable  tenets  of  skepticism  as  it  flourished 
of  old. 


MORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  VALINE  OF  HIGHER  EDUCATION.    361 

Well,  science  has  made  these  tenets  impossible  now. 
Thinkers  of  all  stripes  read  of  them  to-day  with  a  smile. 
The  ten  "  tropoi,"  for  instance,  of  which  ancient  skepticism 
made  so  much,  meant  to  provide  that  we  cannot  know, 
are  rendered  ludicrous  by  the  demonstrated  data  of  physics 
and  psychology.  They  all  reduce  to  a  few  logical  puzzles 
and  certain  errors  in  sense-perception.  In  the  merely  log- 
ical part  of  this  triumph  metaphysics  has  had  some  share, 
but  its  physical  and  psychological  part  is  purely  and  distinct- 
ly the  work  of  that  modern  science  which  has  been  so  re- 
viled as  the  foe  of  faith. 

If  asked,  then,  why  I  love  academic  life  and  work,  I  reply: 
Because  in  it  we  have  the  privilege  of  delightfully  exercising 
our  minds  in  the  pursuit  of  truth,  a  joy  doubly  rich  in  that 
the  work  can  be  carried  on  by  many  of  us  in  common;  that 
our  activity  is  useful  as  well  as  agreeable,  not  only  aiding 
the  race  to  live,  but  refining  and  carrying  forward  civiliza- 
tion, widening  the  skirts  of  light  and  forwarding  all  the  high 
interests  of  humankind,  being  vital  to  the  advance  of  the 
material  and  of  the  social  sciences  alike;  and,  lastly,  that  it 
is  a  pronounced  and  positive  force  in  a  strictly  moral  and 
religious  way,  establishing,  not  weakening,  rectitude  in  con- 
duct, promoting,  not  withstanding,  faith  in  a  spiritual  world 
and  a  living  God. 


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The  New  Illustrated  GIFT  BOOK,  in  Prose  and 
Poetry,  by  over  400  best  authors,  including 

T.  L.  Cuyler, 
H.  Crosby, 
H.  Bonar, 
Spurgeon, 
T.  Guthrie, 
Bish.  Janes, 
Bish.  Haven, 
John  Todd, 
Joseph  Cook, 
D.  L.  Moody, 
Wm.  Cowper, 
John  Hall, 
Talmage, 
W.  M.  Taylor, 
Tennyson, 
Longfellow, 
H.  Bushnell, 
T.  Campbell, 
J.  G.Whittier, 
W.  C.  Bryant, 
J.  G.  Holland, 
Montgomery, 
Macaulay, 
J.  R.  Lowell, 
Walter  Scott, 
Thos.  Carlyle, 
C.  F.  Deems, 
F.  W.  Faber, 
and  others. 

tntrodnction  by  Rev.  THEO.  li.  CUYLER,  B.B. 

This  volume  contains  the  ripert  thoughts  and  utterances  of  ^the  best  and 
wisest  minds  upon  the  "  three  dearest  names  to  mortals  gi^^en. 
"  It  cannot  be  vahied  with  pure  »rold."-r7iOS.  Armiknje,  D-J). 
"This  book  is  valtiable  for  its  rich  seUctions.    It  isfuU  of  wisdom,  good 
cheer,  and  instruction. "—J.  H.FinmiM).D.  „  ,x„vt„  »„  u=  B^.fUnc 

•'The  outside  of  this  book  Is  golden,  the  Inside  e^"*^^«  tf'/fs  Betting 
Some  of  the  most  precious  things  ever  said  are  here,  and  its  sentiments  are 
worthy  to  be  cherished  in  every  heart."— BJs/ioiJ  £!.  O.  Uave>i. 

Elegant  Steel  and  Wood  niustrations.  454  Quarto  pages. 

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TheBOWintheCLOUD; 


on, 


WORDS 


COmFORT 

For  those  in  Bereavement,  Sickness,  Sorrow,  and 
the  Varied  Afflictions  of  Life. 

EDITED  BY 

REV.  J.  SANDERSON,   D.D., 

Editor  of  The  Treasury  for  Pastor  and  People. 

The  messages,  which  this  book  conveys  lo  the  sorrowing 
and  tried  ones,  come  as  sunshine  in  tiie  darkness  of  life's 
experience?,  from  the  hearts  and  pens  of  those  who  have 
known  what  afflictions  are,  and  who  have  been  comfotted 
by  the  precious  truths,  through  which  they  wculd  liere  seek 
to  console  ohers.  Its  contents,  by  over  200  contributors, 
in  Poetry  and  Prose,  comprise: 

CONSOLAiION  FROM  THE  BIBLE.  "Thus 
sailh  the  Lord," — which  abideth  forever. 

COMFORT  FOR  PARENTS  Bereft  of  Children, 
with  Assurances  of  Infant  Salvation. 

FOR  BEREAVED  ONES.  Various  ages  and  condi- 
tions considered. 

TriE  AGED  AND  INFIRM  here  find  a  balm  for 
every  wound. 

TO  THOSE  IN  VARIED  AFFLICTIONS;  Earth 
has  no  sorrow  that  heaven  cannot  heal. 

".'\n  appropriate  gift  to  all  who  are  in  any  trial." — VJ  m.  M.  Taylor, 
D.D.  "May  that  'Bow  in  the  Cloud'  span  every  bereaved  liome." — 
T  DeWitt  Talmage.  "A  token  of  loving  sympaihv."— National 
Baptist.  "Full  of  sunlijiht."  -  Wesleyan  Methodist.  "A  treas 
ury  of  consolation."— N.  Y.  Evangelist.  "This  should  be  a  won- 
derfully popular  book." — Baltimore  Methodist. 

452  pages.  Square  i2mo,  with  Frontispiece  and  Presen- 
tation Page  from  Special  Design.   Price,  post-paid,  $|,75. 


FAMOUS  WOMEN 


SACRED  STORY. 

A  SERIES  OF  LECTURES 

Comprising  Faithful  Delineations  of  the 
most  noteo  Characters  in  all  History. 

By  REV.  M.  B.  WHARTON.  D.D. 

Pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church,  Montgomery,  Alabama. 
Late  United  States  Consul  to  Germany. 

THE  CONTENTS,   IN  TWO  VOLS.,  INCLUDE  : 

OLD  TESTAMENT.  NEW  TESTAMENT. 


JEVE,    I'he  Mother  of  the  Hu- 

m<in    Family. 
SARAH,  The  Mother  of  the 

F-iiihful  in  every  age. 
KEBEKAH,  The  Beautiful 

but  Deceptive  Wife. 
RACHEL,  The  Lovely  Wife 

of  Jacob. 
mi KI     M,  The  Grand,  Patri- 
otic. Old  Maid. 
RUTH,  The  Lovely  Young  and 

Honiircd  Widow. 
DEBORAH,  The  Strong- 
Mi  tided  Woman. 
JEPHTHA'S   Daughter; 

Consecrated  Maiden. 
DELILAH,     The     Fair    but 

Deceitful  Wife. 
THE    WITCH    OF    EX- 

dor,    Enchantress  of  Samuel's 

Ghost. 
HANNAH,  The  Praying  and 

Devoted  Mother. 
ABIGAIL,  The   Wife  of   the 

Shepherd  King. 
THE   aUEEN   OF   SHE- 

ba,  Solomon's  Royal  Guest. 
JEZEBEL,  The  Bloody  Mary 

of  Scripture. 
THE  UOxTIAN  OF  SHU- 

nein,  Elisha's  Friend. 
E»^THER,  The    Deliverer    of 

Her  People. 


J^IARIAITINE,  The  Jewess, 

Wife  of  Herod  the  Great. 
ELIZABETH,  The  Mother 

of  John  ihe  Baptist. 
]TI  A  R  \ ,  The  Virgin  Mother  of 

Je-ii>  Christ. 
MARY,    The   Mother    of   the 

Gofl  Man. 
ANNA,  The  Prophetess  in  the 

Temple. 
HERODIA9,    The    Wicked 

Instigator  of  Her  Daughter. 
JO  AN  N  A, The  Wife  of  Herod's 

Steward. 
WOMAN    OF   CANAAN, 

Nameless,  but  Full  of  Faith. 
W^O.TIANOFSAITIARIA, 

The  Adultt  ress.  but  Saved. 
DAUGHTER    OF    JAI- 

rus.  Dead  but  Raised  to  Life. 
MARY  OF  BETHANY, 

The  Anointer  of  Jesus'  Feet. 
MARY  MAGDALEN, 

Jhe  Victim  of  Seven  Devils. 
DORCAS,The  Disciple  Raised 

to  Life  by  Peter. 
SAPI»HIRA,     The      Lying 

Partner  of  Her  Husband. 
L  YDI  A,  Paul's  First  European 

Christian  Convert. 
THE  ELECT   LADY,  to 

whom     John      Addiessed     an 

Epistle. 

In  Two  Vols.,  318  piges  each.     Illustrated.    Sold  sepa. 
rately.    Price  each,  $1.50. 


THE  NEW  CYCLOPEDIA  OF  FAMILY  MEDICINE. 


A  NEW  AND  POPULAR  GUIDE  TO  THE 

Art  of  Preserving  Health  and  Treating  Disease  ;  with 

Plain   Advice  for  all   the   Medical  and  Surgical 

Emergencies  of  the  Family.     Based  on  the 

most  Recent  and  the  Highest  Authorities, 

and  brought  down  to  the  Latest  Dates. 

By  GEO.  M.  BEARD,  A.M.,  M.D. 

Formerly  Lecturer  on  Neivous  Diseases  in  the  University 
of  New  York  ;  Fellow  of  the  New  York  Academy  of 
Medicine  ;  Member  of  the  New  York  County  Medical 
Society,  etc. 

Assisted  in  its  Several  Departments,  as  follows  : 
Diseases  of  the  Eye  and  Ear,  by  D.  B.  St.  JOHN  ROOSA,  M.D., 

President  Ne7u  York  Fost  Graduate  j\ledical  School. 
Diseases  of  the   Skin,    by  GE(3.  HENRY    FOX.  M.D.,     Professor  oj 
Skin  Diseases,  Colles^e  of  Physicians  ntid  Surgeons^  Neiv  York. 

Diseases  of  Women  and  Children,  by  J.  B.  HUNTE'R,  M.D.,  Surgeon 

to  the  New  i  ork  State  ll^oinans  Hospital. 

Surgery,  by  BENJAMIN  HOWARD,  M.D.,  foritierly  Professor  in 
the  L.  I.  College  Hospital,  Brooklyn. 

Dental  Surgery,  t)y  N.  W.  KINGSLEY,  M.D.,  Dean  of  New  York 
College  o  r  Dentistry. 

Materia  Medica,  by  LAURENCE  JOHNSON,  M.D.,  President  of  the 
Xt-'o  York  County  Medical  Society. 

General  Eevision,  by  A.  D.  ROCKWELL,  M.D.,  Electro-Therapeu- 
tist to  the  New  York  State  IVoinaii's  Hospital. 

Ind  upwards  of  170  other  widely  known  American  and  European  authorities, 

With  an  appendix  giving 

Homoeopatliic  Keiuedios  and  Treatment.  By  SAM- 
UEL LILIENTHAL,  M.D.,  Professor  in  the  New  York  Homce- 
opat/tic  College,  Editor  of  the  ^^  North  Amf.rican  Journal  of 
Homoeopathy,''^  etc. 

It  IS  written  for  the  people,  in  plain,  common-sense  language,  giv- 
ing causes,  symptoms,  and  reliable  remedies  for  every  ill,  lis  ever- 
ready  coun'^cl  will  dispel  anxious  fears,  doubts,  and  uncertainties,  and 
will  prove  a  Good  Samaritan  in  every  family  that  has  it.  in  promoting 
health,  happiness,  and  long  life. 

Over  1500  Royal  Octavo  Pages.  Illustrated  with 
nearly  400  Chromo  Plates  and  Wood  Cuts,  carefully  excluding  such 
as  would  offend  good  taste  and  propriety.  AGENTS  AV ANTED. 

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*'The».  words  go  Straight  to  the  mark  fike  builets.  "-t  mersc.n 

PEN 

PULPIT 

AND 

PLATFORM. 

By  T.  DeWitt  TALMAGE,  D.D. 

AIMED  AT 

'vVrongs  To  Be  Righted.  Burdens  To  Be  LIghteiied 

Errors  To  Be  Corrected.  Follies  To  Be  Shunned- 

Dangers  2  B  Avoided,  Sorrows  2  B  IVIitigated. 

Victories  To  Be  Won, 

This  book  is  a  Treasury  of  the  best  things  that  have  ema- 
nated from  the  brain  of  its  distinguished  author.  All 
who  become  familiar  with  its  contents  will  agree  that  it  is 
wisely  named.  The  varied  ills  of  life,  as  targets  subject  to 
these  unerring  shots,  cover  nearly  every  phase  of  disordered 
humanity.  The  young  will  appreciate  its  warnings  and  in- 
structions, and  delight  in  its  incidents  and  anecdotes,  and 
the  aged  will  welcome  it  as  a  companion,  for  its  wise  and 
soothing  counsel.  Hearts  that  ache  with  nameless  burdens 
will  be  soothed,  victims  of  folly  and  error  will  be  admon- 
ished, the  sorrowing  will  be  comforted,  and  all  struggling 
souls  will  be  inspired  wilh  new  faith  and  hope,  determined 
to  remain  in  the  field  of  conflict  uutil  the  last  shot  i?  fired 
and  the  final  shout  of  victory  is  heard. 

Open  the  book  where  you  will,  the  eye  rests  upon  some 
passage  of  rare  beauty,  some  truth  painted,  some  sorrow 
deoicted,  or  some  joy  unfolded  as  if  every  lost  one  was  found. 

No  one  ever  tires  of  what  Dr.  Talmage  writes. — Lutheran  Visitor, 
He  is  dead  in  earnest,  and  every  blow  tells. — N.  Y.  Independent. 
[t  may  be  termed  a  literary  Gatling  %\xvl.— Christian  Hour. 
Packed  with  live  thoughts  from  a  live  man. — Evangelical  Messenger. 
Faithful  in  wounding,  skillful  in  healing. — Christian  Herald,  \cate. 
An  exhaustless  mine  of  thought  and  iJustration. — Christian  Adr'o 

^»e:eilts  Wanted.      704  crown  ^vo pages  Illustrated,  $2.50. 

E.  B.  TREAT.  Publisher,  5  Cooper  Union,  N.  Y. 


New  Bookfor  Teachers  and  Bible  Readers. 


BIBLE 


PtKTAINING   TO 


Scripture  Persons,  Places  and  Things, 

COMPRISING 

Over  10,  000  Prize  Questions  and  Answers,  Bible 

Enigmas,  Acrostics,  Quotations,  Facts,  and 

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WITH  KEY,  includiufT  Blackboard  nr  Slate  Illustrations,  Bible 

Studies.  Concert  Exercises,  and  Prayer  Meeting  outlines, 

designed  to  incite  in  old  and  young  a  greater  desire  to 

"Search  the  Scriptures."— 3 OHti  v.  o9. 

BY  A  NEW  YORK  SIDAY  SCHOOL  Sl'PERmENDENT, 

W^TH   AN   INTRODUCTION   BY 

REV.   J.    H.  VINCENT,  D.D. 


This  collection  of  treasures,  new  and  old,  is  the 
grand  summary  of  a  large  experience  in  devising 
methods  and  incentives  to  interest  children  and 
those  of  older  gix)\vth  in  Bible  study.  It  contains 
only  such  questions  or  exercises  as  are  founded 
upon  the  Bible  and  answered  in  it,  and  such  as 
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ers after  truth  a  curiosity  to  know  how,  when, 
where  and  under  what  circumstances  they  occurred. 

To  secure  these,  a  vast  range  of  Biblical  literature 
has  been  searched,  and  the  leisure  hours  and  pains- 
taking labor  of  many  years  have  been  devoted  to 
the  undertaking. 

"  An  ingenious  help  and  a  pleasant  guide  to  an  acquaintance 
with  tbe  Bible." — Chrisiinn  at  Work. 

In  one  large  12mo  volume,  866  pages.    Price,  $2. CO. 

E.  B.  TREAT,  Publisher,  5  Cooper  Union,  N.  Y. 


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