BIBLE QUESTIONS

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 85, 16 May 1914, Page 5

BIBLE QUESTIONS

(Edited by AQUILA.) Bible questions will be answered here if sent to the Editor of this column, accompanied by the names and addresses of the senders. Q. Arc the following common sayings Scriptural?:—l. In the multitude of counscllers there is wisdom. 2. In the midst of life wc are in death. .'>. Money is the root of all evil. 4. Let us now praise famous iiieit., 5. Like giants refreshed with new wine.—E.W.R. A. "By wise counsel thou shalt make thy war, and in the multitude of counsellors there is safety" (Prov. xxiv., 6) is correct. "In the midst of life," etc., is in the burial service, but not in the Bible. St. Paul savs (i. Tim., vi., 9-10). "They that will" be rich fall into temptation and a snare. . . . For the love of money is the root of all evil; which Avhile some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows." "Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us," is in the Apocrypha (Eccl. xliv., 1). "Like giants refreshed," etc., is a kind of folk saying. It is not in the Bible, nor in the Apocrypha, nor has it been traced in any old author. Q. What is the meaning of the curious passage in Hebrews vii., 3, where it is said (Revised Version) that Melchizedek was •*' without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of davs nor end of life?"—A.M. A. The meaning would probably be brought out if we were to add, -'as far as the records are concerned." A contrast is being drawn between the priesthood of Aaron and that of Christ. Aaron was in a succession. We know his genealogy and the names of his successors. The particulars of his life and death are before us. Christ was

not of that human order. He was a priest'' after the order of Melchizedek,'' wJio was one to himself, as far as we know. He flashes across the scene (Gen. xiv., 18) like a meteor, without whence or whither. No predecessors lead up to him. No successors immortalise his line. He bursts upon us full-blown, '' the priest of the most high God.'' Christ was after that order. One of the most curious of archaeological discoveries is that among Tel el-Amarna clay tablets (a.d. 1, 400) are some letters from the king of "Uru-salim" (Uru means 'city,' and Salim means 'peace.' Melehizedek was "king of peace," Heb. vii., 2) to his over-lord, Barneses 11., asking for aid against his enemies. In each letter lie recites his title, claiming a divine right, as who should say, "The most high and mighty Prince James, by the grace of God, king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland." He writes: —"Ebed-tob, king of Uru-salim, not from father or from mother I received it, not from thee, but from the Mighty King.'' This is Sayce's interpretation. Hommel has disputed it, but he admits that "Mighty King" may be equivalent to "Most High God." It is no.t likely, however, that the words "without father, without mother" iu the Epistle to the Hebrews have any reference to this ancient boast. The explanation given above is amplv sufficient without it.

Q. The cable reports that a committee on "Faith Cures," which a conference of clergy and of doctors set up some time ago has reported in favour of such cures, and recommends a cooperation between faith and physic, between doctors and the clergy. 1. Is not this a mere compromise, in which each profession agrees to recognise the other? 2. What is the Scriptural basis for faith cures? o. Does that basis admit of such a compromise as the above—lncredulous.

A. I do not think it is a compromise, for the clergy were not competing as healers; whereas many experienced doctors have long admitted the value of confidence and hope in the patient, and have welcomed the assistance of judicious clergy in bringing about this state of mind. It is rather an attempt to induce the clergy to recognise their power, than a compromise between two opposed callings. 2. The Scripture basis is, first, the miracles of healing in the early Church; and, secondly, such passages James v., 14: "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith shall the sick." '6. There is no indication of co-operation with the healing art in this and some other passages; but there is evidence elsewhere that means were used by the apostles, them,-, selves. ..'..' '...•

. Q. (Eeferring to the same cable about faith cures). How can faith be said to have, anything to do with cases whore there is a limitation, and a distinction made between "functional" and "organic" diseases? The Bible says that "faith moves mountains." The committee of clergy and doctors add, "If they do not weigh more than so maiiv tons." —Faith.

A. More mountains are moved by faith nowadays than ever before — mostly by tunnelling them when they are in the way. This, you say, is simply art and work. But engineers, governments, aud capitalists must be brought to believe earnestly in the possibility and usefulness of it before it can be done. The committee, for whom, by the way, I hold no brief, does not contemplate out and out miracles in the old sense, but aims at using all available forces on behalf of suffering humanity. It does not believe that faith will remove an inflamed-appendix, or set a broken leg, but only those disorders that are stimulated by anxiety, brooding, and worry can be alleviated by a hopeful and expectant frame of mind. This appears to me to be common sense, which is no great evil even in religion.

Q. What do you think of the dictum of the Bishop of Norwich, who has been saying that "Mothers and children no longer read the Bible together, as the Bible has now so many competitors. Besides, people do not like to read a book that condemns the life they lead?''—('ha rit v.

A. Both the '' competitors" and the "life they lead" are true causes of the decline of Bible reading, but they are not. the main causes, neither is "the life they lead" the cause in more than a minute proportion of cases. The chief causes are, firs*, in the Book itself. It is encumbered with a great amount of repealed and obsolete matter, which is of no interest except to specialists. Second, the kind of reading that people are expected to give to the Bible. Other books they read and have done with; but Bible reading means going over ami over the same things. It cannot do the Bible any harm to look the causes of its neglect in the face. Q. The matter of early communion and of fasting communion is again to

the fore. I see that Bishop Julius has forbidden evening communion, and is alleged to have called those who desire to have it "lazy swine." Now, is it not universally recognised that the Lord's Supper was instituted at night? Does not the service in the Prayer Book itself, "on the same night that he was betrayed?" (2) Was it not instituted also immediately after a meal? Does not the service itself say, "likewise, after supper," and does not St Paul say (1 Cor. xi. 34), "If any man hunger, let him eat at home"—i.e., before coming to the Lord's table?— Protestant.

A. The Churches that contend for fasting communion and morning communion do not pretend to defend these on the bare words of Scripture. That would obviously be impossible. They say, "It was not the. Bible that made the Church, but the Church that made the Bible. The Bible is the history of the early life of the Church, and was never intended to prevent growth. Even in ; the short time covered by the New Testament there is considerable development recorded. Later developments were as true and as important as the earlier ones, so long as they express the life of the spiritual organism. It would be a foolish proceeding for any man to insist that the newly burst acorn is the ideal oak, and that all later developments are departures from the Creator's idea, and that the noble trees of five centuries' growth are not oaks at all, but monstrous abortions. Yet, say they, this is precisely what those people do who determine to try every growth of reverence and devotion during 19 centuries, by a book that records the story of two or three decades of the first century. The Church is the Church's chief authority, and the Church ordained fasting communion for the better expression of reverence,' as the meaning of the rite became clearer."