INGERSOLL'S " MOSES' MISTAKES " CRITICISED, by John Buchanan.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 44, 5 April 1884, Page 4

INGERSOLL'S " MOSES' MISTAKES " CRITICISED, by John Buchanan.

It is not merely a privilege but a duty that lies upon all men in these days to think for themselves ; and if this duty were more generally performed we should oftener meet with such works as the little brochure that now lies before us. If Ingersoll, being an unskilled layman, can dogmatise on religious questions, it may be permitted for another layman to break a lance with him. Ingersoll lays great stress upon reason and common sense being made the sole arbiters in the settlement of theological questions, and his opponent conies forth equipped in the same armour. Mr John Buchanan is known to the people of Auckland as a hard-headed business man, and his pamphlet proves that he is a thinker as well as an industrious worker. He commands, besides, a vigorous and readable literary style, stating what he has to say in short, pithy sentences that create no obscurity of meaning. Looking for comparison to another eminent controversy — that between Colonel Ingersoll and the Hon. Judge Black and Professor Fisher, in the "North American Review" — wo may say that Mr Buchanan follows more the lead of the Judge than the theological Professor. He asks no concession for uncertain translations, interpolations in the original text, or anything of the reserved acceptance of Scripture which Professor Robertson Smith and Professor Fisher hold to be perfectly consistent with a real and vital Christianity. He affirms that Old and New Testament must stand or fall together, and then attempts to give an intelligible and reasonable exposition of those difficulties of the Old Testament which are and have always been the favourite strongholds of the unbeliever, and on which Ingersoll, like Payne, lays so much stress. We think everyone who reads the pamphlet, whether he is convinced by Mr Buchanan's arguments or not, will admit that they are very well stated, and fairly indicate what may be said on that side. They would have been more forcible if less frequently marred by invective, which can neither help nor replace sound reasoning. Those who take the trouble to read Ingersoll's lecture ought to read Mr Buchanan's answer, and even persons who have not sufficient admiration of the American atheist to take his opinions into their consideration, may yet, from the little work under notice, receive useful aid in solving for themselves some of the difficulties that beset the Biblical student. The pamphlet is on sale at all the booksellers.