THE RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Evening Star, Issue 11858, 11 April 1903, Page 7

THE RELIGIOUS WORLD.

THE KAISER AND THE HIGHER

CRITICISM

A great sensation was caused in Berjm on the publication of the Emperor William’s letter In Admiral Hollrauuu, in which His Majesty criticises the views of Professor Delitzsch. The Emperor says in a postscript;—“ You may moke entensive use of these lines. Whoever cares to read them may do so.” The letter itself, which is dated Royal Castle, February 15, 1905, is too long to reproduce in extexmo, but the more important passages are as follow ;—“ My dear Hollmann, —At one of •our evening parties, Professor Delitzsch had an opportunity of conferring and debating for several hours witli Her Majesty the Empress and General Superintendent Dryander, whilst I myself listened and remained passive. On that occasion I regret that he left the standpoint of the strict historian and Assyriologist to launch into theological and religious theories and conclusions which were really very nebulous and risky. When, however, lie touched on the New Testament, it’soon appeared that he held such very different views' about, the person of our Saviour that not only could -I no longer follow him, hut 1 had to state my standpoint, which was diametrically opposed to his. He does not recognise the Deity of Christ, and he says the Old Testament does not contain any references to IJis future advent as the Messiah. Now, this is no longer Assyriology, but theology. On this ground lean only advise him to proceed very carefully, and to, ventilate his thesis in theological circles only, but to spare us laymen, and above all the Oriental Society. . . . lam sorry that Delitzsch did not keep to his original programme, as developed last year; that is, to investigate, from the Babel inscriptions found by our society, the question how far Babylonian life influenced the Israelites, and thereby effect a sort of whitewashing, inspired by mere human feeling, of the Babylonians, who are depicted in the Old Testament in a very ugly light. Unfortunately, Delitzsch has gone beyond this object. The excavations at Babylon have brought to light things wliich also touch on the religious side of the Old Testament. Facts of this kind, and any coincidences he struck on, he might have pointed out and explained, but without drawing purely religions conclusions from them liimself. Instead of this, he approached the question of Divine revelation polemically; more or less denying it, or rather reducing it to a liistorical and simply human aspect. This was a great mistake, for he thereby touched cn the innermost and holiest feeling of some of Ills hearers; and overthrew, or at least pushed aside, many a favorite notion with width these people combine holy and cherished ideas. . . . This is a deed which only a potent genius may venture on; and for which the mere study of an Assyriologist affords no justification. Goethe once said the same, in his admonition never to destroy a prevailing belief before a lar£e public audience. The worthy professor lias omited to discern what suits the place and the audience to which he is speaking. I should now like to define my personal standpoint in regard to the doctrine of Revelation, as I have, at various times, exexplained it to you, mv dear Hollmann, and to other gentlemen. X distinguish between two different kinds of Revelation—namely, a continuous, that is to say, historic, one and a purely religions one, which prepares the way for the later advent of the Messiah. As to the former, I do not entertain the slightest doubt that God reveals himself permanently in mankind, created by Himself. He has breathed the breath into our nostrils; that is to say, He bus given us a part of Himself—a soul. With fatherly love and interest He follows the development of piankind; and in order to lead it further and promote its welfare He reveals Himself, now in tills, now in that, great' sage, priest, or king, be he Heathen, Jew, or Christian. Hammurabi was one of those; Moses, Abraham, Homer, Charlemagne. Luther, Shakespeare, Goethe, Kant, and the Emperor William the Great were others. The-e He has chosen and deemed worthy of His grace, to perform sublime, and eternal things according to His will, for their people. both spiritually ' and materially. How often has my grandfather liimself expressly said that he was merely an instrument in the hand of the Lord. The works of great minds have been presented by God to the nations as a gift, so that through them they may further develop and feel their way through what is still unexplored here below. The second kind of Revelation, the more religious one, is that which leads up to the advent of our Lord. Beginning at Abraham, it has been prepared slowly, hut with foresight, all wnse and all knowing, for else mankind was lost. . . . The progenitors of Abraham, and the people who sprang from him, regarded as their most sacred tiling, and with iron consistency, the belief in one God, whom they had to worship. Split during the. Egyptian bondage into divisions, they won; a second time bound together by .Moses, and were still eager to retain their monotheism. It is the direct intervention cf God which let this people rise again, it went on through the centuries, until the Messiah announced and indicated by the Prophets and the Psalmist- at last appeared.”

In the concluding paragraph of the letter the Emperor says:—“Do not let us blindly cling to dogmas which science has shown to be superannuated, merely from the fear that iu abandoning them our faith iu God and in true religion may be injured. Let us recollect that everything mortal is in a state of ebb and flow, and that standing still is equivalent to death. Only consider the. pulsating power with which the German Reformation filled every sphere of labor and human progress! And yet the Reformation was but a stage m the pursuit of truths implanted in us by God, and subsisting in God. These let us. follow humbly and at the same time joyfully, hearkening to the battle cry which has been given to the world from the watch tower on high for the furtherance of religion.”

WHAT YOU CAN DO. ‘‘l think a Christian can go anywhere,” said a young woman who was defending her continued attendance at some very doubtful places of amusement.

“ Certainly she can,” rejoined her friend ; “but I am reminded of a little incident that happened last summer when I went with a party of friends to explore a coal mine. One of the young women appeared dressed in a dainty white gown. When her friends remonstrated with her she appealed to the old miner who was to act ns guide of the party. “ ‘ Can’t I wear a white dress to go down into the mine?' she asked petulantly. “‘YesTn,’ returned the old man. ‘There’s nothin’ to keep you from wcarin’ a white frock to go down there, but there’ll be considerable to keep you' from wcarin’ one back.’ ”

There is nothing to prevent the Christian from wearing his white garments when he seeks the fellowship of that which is unclean, but there Is a good deal to prevent him from wearing white garments afterwards.

GLEANINGS. As a sequel to the announced determina-

tion of the Bishop of London, early in February, to institute proceedings against the vicar of St. Michael’s, Shoreditch, for advanced ritualism, the vicar (Rev. H. M. M. Evans) announced on February 1. from his pulpit, that he had placed' his resignation in the hands of the bishop, and he left the parish the following week! According to the ‘ Missionary Review of the World, the number of ordained and lay missionaries employed by the various Foreign Missionary Societies of Protestantism is 13,282, and the number of native helpers 71,458. There are 1,515,544 communicants reported, and 4,046,503 adherents. The total income of these societies is said to be £3,829,671 per annum. A churchman of Leeds (Mr W. H. Baxter) has decided to present an organ—the seventh largest in tire world—-to the new Anglican Cathedral at Cape Town as a peace offering. The cost, including transfer and erection, will be over £3,000’ Principal Fairbairn has taken the degree of Doctor of Literature at the University of Oxford. The degree was awarded by

the Faculty of Theology in consideration of the high merit of Dr Fairboim’s theological writings. Dr Fairboim ig principal of the Mani£eld Congregational College, Oxford, and a celebrated theologian. Two distinguished visitors are touring Australia just now. Dr C, Warner, A.M., LL.D., of New York, is chairman of the Committee who have the supervision of the 1,200 Young Men’s Christian Associatiens and 600 Christian students’ unions of the United States and Canada; president of the National Congregational Church Building Society, and a member of the Foreign Missionary Band. Dr Warner proposes visiting New Zealand. Mr B. C. Morse, M.A., of Yale University, is the general secretary of the International Committee of the Y.M.C.A. on the North American Continent, including Canada, the United States, and Mexico. He has held this position for the last thirtythree years. The American organisation controls a membership of 500,000, equal to half the total membership of the organisations throughout the world. The latest report frotn the Pope’s physician, Professor Mazzoni, represent His Holiness as being in perfect health. “He is truly a phenomenon,” remarked the professor to a recent interviewer. “He grows older in years—he is now ninetythree—but, paradoxical as it may seem, he appears to gain vigor each year. At the beginning of every new decade of Pope Leo’s life it was prophesied that it would be the last. But it never came true. Mark my words, the Pope will live to be a hundred years old and longer, and even then he will enjoy life as he does to-day. What should the Pope die of, anyway? He has the constitution of a young man, and all his organs are in perfect working order. He leads a regular life, consumes very little alcohol, and it is therefore not astonishing. His Holiness reads without spectacles, walks without a cane, dresses and undresses without assistance, and works about fourteen hours daily. Really one can hardly believe that Leo should ever die. ” The Diocesan Synod of Perth (W.A.), passed a resolution congratulating the Rev. F. J. Price on the result of his recent libel suit against the local ‘ Sunday Times.’ The sum of £53,000 has been locally raised for the purchase of a fresh site for the Brisbane Cathedral (Anglican). j.ne Privy Council, after a delay of two years, has decided in favor of the Salvation Army in Sydney in the case of Jenkins v. Hendy. For certain monetary considerations to the late Miss Jenkins, her brother and nieces, the Manly Estate, comprising about 1,000 acres, was secured by the Salvation Army. Immediately after the demise of Miss Jenkins the nephew attacked the will, together with the Army’s right to the property, on the grounds of undue influence aud mental incapacity. The case was a prolonged one, lasting several days. The Judge decided against the Army, though absolutely acquitting them of the charge of undue influence. The Army appealed to the Full Court, who reversed the finding of the Lower Court, acquitting Brigadier Hendy, the executor, and other officers of the slightest suspicion of wrongdoing, and this view is now upheld by the highest tribunal in the Empire. The Rev. S. Swann, vicar of St. Aidan’s, Carlisle, has hit upon a novel way of making the acquaintance of his parishioners. The rev. gentleman notifies in his parish magazine that he has been busy sharpening 540 pencils, which will be placed with writing paper in the pews of the church, in order that the worshippers may leave behind them their names and addresses, which will constitute a visiting list for the vicar. A censure was passed by Dr Milligan, a Toronto divine, on the Scottish curlers for visiting Niagara Falls on a Sunday, and a neat reply thereto was sent by the Rev. John Kerr, the captain of the team. Mr Kerr pointed out that since the team came to Canada they had regularly attended church, and surely a day off to worship the Almighty at such a magnificent shrine might have been permitted them without their being held up to censure. In concluding his reply, Mr Kerr, transposing a stanza of Wordsworth, added: One impulse from Niagara Will teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good, Thau Dr Milligan. Amraphcl was King of Shinar in the days of Abraham (Gen. xiv.), about 500 years before Moses. He made a code of laws, and wrote it down, and Dr Winckler has just published an account of it It contained 282 statutes, one of which is : “If a woman who sells beverages gives bad value for the money paid to her she shall be thrown into the water.” The Salvation Army carry on their operations in 49 countries and colonies, aud preach in 51 different languages. They have 7,405 corps and outposts, upwards of 15,000 officers and cadets, 45,521 officers in Great Britain, and 16,739 bandsmen. The announcement that a large body (300, it is said) of the congregation worshipping at St. Michael’s, Shoreditch, had attended mass at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, Moorfields, has caused a stir in ecclesiastical circles in England. Cardinal Vaughan's journal, the ‘Tablet,’ rejoices over this indication of a “Revolt to Rome ” ; members of the evangelical school look upon it as a necessary development cf the Ritualistic movement; aud the High Church party in the Church of England, as represented by Mr Athelstan Riley, deplore it as a “catastrophe,” and a practical declaration on the part of the seceders that “the Catholic faith is contrary to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England.” Mr Athelstan Riley concludes a long letter bn the subject with the declaration: “To priests who call on us to be Catholics outside the Church of England, and to bishops who bid us to be Protestants within, we have but one answer to give. Gently, buV most firmly, wo say: As Catholics we and our children have lived within the Church of England; as Catholics, please God, we will die.7 Dr Pitchett (of Melbourne) is this year’s president of the Victorian Council of Churches. Canon D. J. Garland, formerly of Perth, has been appointed Archdeacon of Townsville (Q.). The Revs. R. O. Cook, jun., and Cyril Bavin (son of the president of the New South Wales Methodist Conference) have joined the staff of Methodist missionaries in Fiji.