IN GRAVER MOOD.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 17624, 8 October 1921, Page 4

IN GRAVER MOOD.

(J3v Arrangement* with rhe thuunl ol Churches .)

A NEW BIBLE

Readers of Air H. 0- WelLs so«:,al religious, and political, works nmst b« rendered somewhat breathless , C n rapidity with which he rushes tl cm o from one scheme to u nothin lo t ■ world’s salvation A lew years .go le was “all out” lor the he ague ot Nations; now, in his latest work, Ihe Salvaging ot Civilisation. he abandons the idea of the League ns bopclessb' i«adequato, and bids us push boldly for a World State. . , . . . ~ We mav not agree with him as to the possibility of arriving at such as stage in our own life time, and we may perhaps think that the encouragement ol tentative efforts for the unity ot the world such as the League of Nations mav lie more helpful lor the Imal amvafof Hi at which he desires, than the vast conflict with the present local loyalties as the immediate attempt to realise a World State would cause. * * * *

As Christians, we must sympathise with the spirit of loyalty to mankind which inspires Mr Wells, for that is pi the essence of our religion. However, it is not to the main purpose ot the hook that I wish to draw your attention, hut to that which Mr Wells considers essential for the fulfilment of Ins ideal —namely, a new Bible. He says ot the present Bible: “It has been the Book iwhich has held together the fabric of western civilisation. It. has been tho handbook of life, to countless millions of uion oud women. It has explained the world to the mass of our people, and it has given them moral standards and a form into which their consciences could work.” But ho goes on to add: “It has lost hold, it no longer grips the community, - • - but nothing has risen, to take its place”; and. because, of that “our modern communities are no longer cemented; they lack organised solidarity; they are not, prepared to stand shocks and strains; they have become dangerously loose mentally and morally, This I believe is the clue to. a great proportion of the present social and political troubles of the world. We need to get hack to a cement. We need a Bible.” . , Air Wells also believes in the necessity of sucl\ a book for the correction of our present educational system, to the defects of which he is not blind, as ho suvs: “There lias been a great, extension of wlmt we call education in the past hundred years, but while >we have spread education widely, there has been a sort of shrinkage and enfeehleiuent of its aims. Our young people are taught to read and write. They are taught book-keeping and languages that are likely to bo useful to them.. They are given a certain measure of education, and they are taught to shove, and then we turn them out into the world to on. Our test of a college education is Hock it make a successful business man? Well, this, I take it, is the absolute degradation of education. . . - We" have been letting the essentials of education slip back into a secondary place in our pursuit of mere equipment, and we see the results to-day throughout all the modern States of the world in n loss of cohesion, discipline, aud co-

operation.” * * • AVhat form will this new Bible take, and of what, is it to consist? “We shall follow the Old Bible precedent exactly. We shall have a new story of Genesis written in the light of modern scientific research. It will also contain a universal liistorv of man on the lines of Mr Wells’s recently published “Outlines ot History” which “in substance will he very 'much the same. history, only robbed of ancient trappings and symbols, and made real and fresh again for our present ideas. It will still be a storv of conditional promises, the piomises of human possibilities a record ot sins and blunders and lost opportunities of men who walked not in the ways of righteousness, of stiff-necked generations/ and of merciful renewals of h °The new Bible, according to Mr Wells, will also contain rules of health, and of life, including sexual morality, on the lines of Deuteronomy and Leviticus, as explicit as they «.» e ’. -“- leaving as little to the imagination, only, while the originals were suited to an ago living under much cruder conditions than our own, the new ones are to be suited to the needs ot the ( day complex civilisation. Also ptoh lems of property, trade, and lahu n mil be dealt with as they are J » JJ® Bible but in & form and accoidm o to the needs of our own times. Ao-ain, following on the lines of Hi Old Alible, poetry and literature must have their place m it. Air W'ells would include most of the Psalms, certain passafes from the IBooks of the liophets, the four Gospels', and a largo part ot the Dpi sties. But the works of bhakespeare and of our greatest poets, novelists, and writers he would place m an Apocrypha, as books to be read, but not ot sufficient greatness to find their place in the Bible. * * * *

Tlie last part of Bible is to consist of a Book oi torecasfcs to' take tlie place of the. Prophecies and Book of Bcvelation in the present hook. This should lie of great value in compelling our politicians to form plans for the future. “It is, T think, reasonable for Americans to ask tho great political personages of America, /whether they think tlie United States will stand alone, in twenty-five years time as they stand alone now.” And it is equally reasonable to ask the great political personages of the British Empire: What will Ireland he in twenty-five years time!' What will India he? There must he a plan, an intended thing, otherwise these men have no intentions: otherwise they must be. in two words, dangerous fools.” This last part of 1 1 is new Bible will malm necessary a periodical revision. as the prophecies become fulfilled or oUienwise, and indeed most of the hook should, according to. Mr Wells, come under revision from time to time.

Mr "Wells’s idea has its fascination; if such a. book as ho conceives could come into existence, and become a part of every child’s education, and a hook or reference in every home, the world would lie infinitely the better for it. But the difficulties of its production would stagger anyone, except Mr Wells. For if it is to be. accepted by all, the committee to formulate it will have to consist of representatives of all races and religions, and one can hardly imagine, such a committee coming to any agreement as to what it shall contain. Hut presuming the difficulties are overcome and tlie book is produced, what effect will it have on tho present Bible? For tho majority of Christians, I should say, none at. all. Most Christians neither read iheir Bibles for history nor science, nor as an example of line literature, hut as a record of God’s character and purpose,, centreing in the perfect revelation of Himself in Christ Jesus. Therefore, supposing that Mr Wells’s hook eventuates, it cannot oust our Bible, because the purposes ot f’ho two hooks are different. They can well exist side hv side, the newer hook helping in fulfil God’s purposes revealed in the Bible. •T, A. JULIUS.