MODERN LIGHT ON CHRISTIANITY.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 10967, 5 June 1903, Page 5

MODERN LIGHT ON CHRISTIANITY.

TO TEX XDITO&. Sir,-^-I,am much obliged to the Her, Mr . Compton for so kindly advertising my booklet, and none the less because'his' remarks are based on misapprehension. He says the contents arc not modern/ because similar statements were made 60 yeare ago by the German critic Baur. Sixty years is modern compared with 1500. which .haro elapsed sines the views^ still taught by the clergy, arid accepted by the ignorant, were formulated. I never- saw. Baur's writings. My knowledge of them is, derived' from criticisms in English > papers when ' the . works we,r,e translated into English, ' and .references. /in later publications: "and I;_ ' never them in my booklet. My ['ac.quaHJ.t&#<i£- ( iWith Kuenen, Wilhauseli,, an q. .tlie Tubingen writers is of another . .character.. T&e; earliest 'w^otfc'iroitf which x " I v quoted iw,"as, r ;0»nly published about 15 M . years . ago,' ■ and it" "was ■ Simply impossible for Bawr.f to .borrow statements from ptib- " licatidns ;of fdr more recent date, > re|6rt- ; , ing quite new -discoveries; so '• that Mr' > Compton's assertion ' is '' clearly iricbrrecC, '* c But the original date of a Statement docs not matter. The important point is, is it correct,' and as Mr Compton does 'not dispute them> he tacitly admits- £ha£ the statements quoted by me. are so. It is an easy > and common trick to call inconveiu-, ent - utterances "heretical." The :^Jey Sydney Smith said: . "Orthodoxy. ( ,ia m* doxy ;' heterodoxy is the "other "felloTr^i doxy"; and I freely admit it; is' very 'in^ . convenient to the clergy, that educated >■ laymen should presume to judge -for .themselves what is orthodox . or the reverse. Ar>d the same with argument 0 . E.g., Origen, the greatest Christian writer who ' ever lived — one _ whom Dean Farrar' calls "the holiest man" since the dayß ofthe apostle's"- — said: "It is absurd to suppose that. a serpent or an ass ever actually, spoke, and mo sane man could 'believe that r 'God actually pjdnted trees, and ' then- forbade , the fruit to be eaten." He also asked: "How could .-there be -light <on -the Hpit • three days of creation, when -there were neither sun, moon, nor. stars fto* giVe, it? 1 * His, criticism is none the lisa jusi\.f6r having been written some 1700 years ago. My reference to Papiaa is ffiypti, "«p nearly as I could recollect, in the t words, of Bishop Lig-hrf oot, as they appeared' in •. a magazine article by him some years ago'; and the. passage quoted by Mr Comptoii bears them out. Bishop 'Lightfootj-.Hiip Bishop Westcott-and Dean Farrar; wished to make it appear th^t the Gospels we*» really, written by those wh'ase^nalnes tjifj b'ear;"but %he}T arguments were calculated to produce a- directly, '-opposite ,ie'l£ef.."jO3t course, so long as .we badlfota'cppy\ojf^j» (ireek translation of the nqt<js of pji|ip£i sayings 1 which Papias mentioned aiif written by Matlhew.in,.He>jew,,..thejre^^(ki. . some justification tor tjie. .belief '-th^^j^l formed the- basis of- theAGsspel; out,Hffy that we have them from £ffri}t,''ita&tiefe fectly evident 'that the /teacMhgVol ; '"Jfthti ' was utterly opposed to, ,wha^.id/reptes.el^d in the ' Gospel; Again, the 7 vei*y. passiae quoted hy Mr % Compton proves conclusivelythat the Gospel which 'bears t"h.B aafCgUpf John was not written" by the anofitle,^ |or in .that, case Papia's ■ would have' ' said ,-ipr and not that he "asked others, wb^t/Jjiiilnji said..'\ The passage also prdyej8 t \cppci«h sively that Mark onjiy" wrote "..'detac^ip^ memoranda, riot ■- the connected Goippl • which, we. have; though^ they -might, l}4f« formed ' its basis. The . fragment of P»pia«f work is no doubt authentic, but the^-jlfb^J oiisly incorrect, misleading' lejtter',, attacne;^' is. clearly of much later date. Mil Comptoii asks my authority for saying that -tjftl epistles which bear St. Paur&r.name twere not his? In '-my booklet I- have cised -paEßages which critics point out as pjoviii^ that St. Paul never w r rote the dbqumentaj and I left it to my readers, . to- ( judge whether the objections wer« -well 'founded or not., -Mr' Compton- obiectp to my c)amiing Dr Harnack as a "defensive cyjtid, and then quotes' passages from the, doctor^ writings which,, standing alone> would make him appear; far, more defensive evein than . I described, bini' as being. -, The human mind- is always. prone, to. run "iiitaextremes; and thus, it, was natural ;th«,t early critics ''like .Bans shdufd rather J overstate, the case* against the* authenttcity^of the New. Testament writings';, and {hat later 'ones like Dr Hainack-and' Delitscn sliould modify , views. „ B\s ; -,itr- qb,e» n,ot really nmtter. TJie discrepancies ;be^ tween.r the Epistles and Gospels aroiso great that "any attempt to . uphold " the authenticity of the former, still more discredits the letter. ' Mr 'Compton.' asserts that the Epistles contain' proof of ? th'©reality of the., resurrection-. There ii "not ' in them- a particle of evidence of it' as :an * historical fact. All that, theyi prove 'is^ that, when they were written, the Resurrection .dogma, was being taught, but Tiot . those of. the Virgin-birth and Ascension, which .are clearly of later- date? M* Comp- '' ton, like many other persons, seems, not io Tcnbw what evidence is.- The great. tfidubl'e to scholars is, the enormous amount bf forgery and interpolation, which a study of ancient writings reveals. Copyists evidently felt at liberty, to alter and 'add to documents as they pleased. Though Mir Compton evidently found the' little pills unpalatable, I hope they will do him good mentally and ministerially.,- .Mir Gomptoh writes as if he knew my theological view*; but he does not, foj I never -met -him, an«l . carefully avoided expressing theni cither hi my booklet or letter; but I. may tcli ' him that they are strictly in accordance , with the teaching of the Bible,' as I underi stand it; and are shared by many' of- the , best men in the English • Church; ' For; nU stance, this very day, I- read an arti«l<*. in tlie Nineteenth 'Century. , Revie- by" 'the. R»v Hubert Handky, an English, cle>£j-> man,, in which. Jte^jgay* that- -the .'-r«tfilfi[l(^ Christianity is "inevitable.' .and. .imperatively, necessary" ; and .that^ .the^efojse-.a^aV is* inl possible 1 / at, -present; lt-'.isr'tjijp'. &v*% o£- every Christian to. pxepW>,.Xoi\ ;th4 change." My booklet, which ptl^zerffcii of riiore than 60 years' 'ihou^hKul>readin'|f ou /religious" ■ subjects, is meant iileredy ttst t$ give clear information in'a concise "foam. to those . Christians who 1 from various causes Kavc not gathered it for themselves! and as my mite towards such a 'pfepara- , tion as Mr Handley mentions;? aid -while stating facts arid arguments, I purposely left my readers to draw their own'-eon-* • clusfons from them. For some years fee,* fore I came to the colony I had access to. the British "Museum Library, and if I»tsU had it I could have made my booklet fay more complete. As it- Ss^-- my'/inf orniiatirin for many, years ;' has hem mo.otlj^ piiriiWfl-' frbfft 6ur y Public , LtbrdrJ Jterei 1 iwiiej;e . Me, Compton wpuld also doweH l^ bring his ■ - i! re r a;dtng r "sit) i:; t<>-aate. If "He oi&hhis 1 to!-' >e^?ues>;»?d theiT fluty : iri- -seeking v , fpr; truth and imparting 1 it to thelf"Bbcks\ TrojA - woSld'*nofc have caused me^fo^afeel i^' i^f. ' cumbeii^ on me in my old age to write "oft such matters for the information of ray fellow Christians, and particularly , fellow "' churchmen. Mr Comptoii seems to ap*v prove the "keep it dark" .policy of Afchr deacon Fancourt; but as my booklet watt written ' with ,the view which I, have, just expressed, the' most natural place in whiclv to advertise it was obviously the Chiircli organ of the Diocese. — I am, etc., ' •- /' 'H.-C' FIELD.-

The Rudee-Whitworth Company hare just had, the honour of delivering io H.R.H. the Prince of Wales an AREO SPECIAL R^DGE-WHITWQUTH Bicycle, making the fourth' Rudcre-Whitwortb machine pins * chased by His Royal Highness for his ipefsonal use during the last few years.' — Cycle and Motor Trader, 13tb March, 1903,