HIGHER CRITICISM

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 5802, 20 January 1906, Page 2

HIGHER CRITICISM

SPHERES OK RKMOIUN AND SCiE.MCE. Nor .M ck-iKvm-u aio afraid of, or to. Ho- Jlr-ri.or Cnud-rn a.-, to iho boohs ol me .u.O;0. in« . Jiov A. J. Cumpbct., M.A., a jnuwelcr oi ; Uie l hutch ol Sixr.lttiul, Ui j Ibv ojuiso of a ii . v:r icvuuv • *\Sn*;iKc aiui tii-ai’ '.M-!; iti'*; in a b:omi s-l'isit. Vwnlv Jioidin^ ill at theology u a m:ioiico just a* inw.i' u 4 buiau.v lu, ho uicw a aicum-umi Im- ; Iwceu religion uud theology. ‘MA■!*«“■'». | ho “io not a t.i-u’Vei y, ji i■* : a jhm cop:ion; it Jt> not i.nowleug**, biu ; a-i>iraUon, nnu e bnix*;* Umnvictigt-, , but reunion cU*u»icU*i. , itirirfung that ihcJo u> no antagonism be- . UU on science and reijgiou, he pioceodJuki- for example Uie science which bar. keen called tile Higher Cnuciem. U Imt in uf A science. It is a etiouce which lias lor Ho stuuv lint buusa and iln>_ Ills* lory i>i u«s itnjle. il does not tell ns. n does m>i ete.-i to tell Us, whether tutu or that dug ..a is true. It mins wmply ill liiiiiing out what exactly were the cumuuoim under winch this or that book came to take the sorm which it has. It is tans doing a legitimate wort. It i» not a icligums mini or, but a mutter uncut iUdigiou—» very aiflcrcat thing. Ileligious people may tightly be juteieeteu. iiut it is the Height oi dogmatism to assert that because a man accepts tills lonriUsiou or dues not accept that coxiclusioa, he is or is not a HliiisUun. 1 tat uot accept all the eouclusiuus of the Higher I. l tlicioiii.' Hy uo tncaas. Hut ia.lt is not because 1 hold a religious abhorrence, ot these losuilb. Il is because ou examining them—tt is true only alter the lashiou ol au amateur but still with the sciciiuhe spirit, I hud that I cauuot accept them. I'urc ileligiou need nut cate vviiether Mined wrote Uie books of tho Haw, or whether they wero compiled alter fho Captivity. At whatever time these books wore pul together, ao have in them cerium eternal apmtuul truths, which uio ot eternal value, whoever wrote thorn, or whatever their date. JL do not care whether XJuvid wrote hay psalms or live or none; wo have tiio Psalter; and that is audit-lent. X hud as a matter ol tact that llioro are m it cerium spiritual truths m guun or in mil blossom, which have been proved laiiunmeut m human experience; and Uietoiolo I call tho book tho W ord of Uud. Aju 1 proparod to carry Uus principle to tho Now Testament r Ves, I am. X do not cure whether Hebrews was written by Paul or by Apollos or by anybody olio; X lead iu ft unuer any circumstances oi tho X’rioslhcod ot Christ. X do not care whether tho iuurtii Uespel was written by John or by anybody oiso. Whoever wrote it, there is in it a picture of Christ, .which has ns value and its loveliness. Xicro I draw near to very delicate gioiiad. X turn deliberately irom it, not because X am afraid to say more, but because this x>.ipcr is aiioaay too long, and X would icquiro much longer time and much greater space to work it out adequately. Led mo bo content with a very hackneyed illustration, which X am almost ashamed to bring forward. Take tho old, perhaps tho stale, controversy about Genesis X. Hero you have a story about the Creation. Uur lulhcis believed in it to Uie letter. With uio evident* at their disposal they wore bound to to believo it. iiut then new tacts wore made known; and men turned to consider Us statement* ut'rush. The geologists came, uud proved that cither tho world was not made in six days, or else that the Creator must have amused Himself tu a purely sportive loshton. Tne Jailor was, ot course, impossible; so there remained tho tormor. In certain quarters great nervousness appeared. Then there cumo attempts —vain enough attempts to patch up an agreement between Uio geologists and tho writer of Geucms. And presently came tho theory ol involution; and the old theory was gono lor over. And then mou took to apologising tor tho chapter, and saying that wo jjiusii not bo lutrd ou a ixeofdo with no scion tiho knowledge. I’iualiy in tho end oi roe days came tho Critics, who tell us how in the chapter you have a maguiliceiit poem—not u smouuho treatise but a iugulv imaginative poem. And tome ot us begin to think, that this makes the chapter greater and gianuer than over. And Homo oven tell Us—and wo aro not alarmed—that tho writer of this hymn was somo Israelite captive, who had lotincd tho language and tho form of his poem in llabyiun, Horn an ancient imbylonian hymn, is there anything irreligious in such a theory.' XI il is uue, is it not bettor to know itf If it is not true, wo shall bo all the more established in tile truth wueu wo do find it. Surely so long as wo have tho true Religion of Christ, we do not need to cure whether our world was created in six days or in six yoars. or in six thousand billions of immousurablo ages; we need not care whether tho writer learned his lesson among the peaks of llcreb or by the wateiw ol Babylon. Tho groat spiritual truth remains unchanged —'“in tho beginning Uod made “ho heavens and tho earth." The first man who learned that had learned the greatest of all truths. Whether tho world was made in six days or not is a Scientific question, which we leave to the scientist*; hut whether the world was made by God, whether the source of all life is in the Eternal Spirit, is a great Religious question. We may bo called ou to explain and dclcnd our belief; and for this wo' must use the methods of Science. But the spiritual truth remains an everlasting source of moral aspiration.