TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 116, Issue 19451, 15 December 1934, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The Old Testament. }. “ A hostile critic can point to elements in the Old Testament which no reasonable man would defend,” writes Dr. Barnes, Bishopf of Birmingham. “How could it be otherwise with the literature of an ancient people garnered through a thousand years? Hence, as \ we warmly praise the Old Testament, we do well to say definitely ; - that savage vengeance never merited Divine approbation. \ “We can, moreover, allow that the naive speculations with j which the book of Genesis opens and the strange expectations of the \ book of Daniel mean little to men who view the past and the future j of the earth in the light of the teaching of modern science. Admit ' all these facts, and none the less you must allow that in the Old J Testament their is to be found spiritual xmderstanding of supreme i quality. In truth, the religion of the Old Testament at its best was j extraordinarily fine, far finer than that which has often passed as / Christian.” : Hands Across the Atlantic. j “I think the welfare of the British Commonwealth of Nations ) and that of the United States are inextricably bound together,” said the Hon. R. W. Bingham, United States Ambassador to Great Britain, I speaking at Birmingham recently. “Neither can be happy nor pros- l porous if the other suffers from poverty and depression. Despite 1 the progress of our own countries, the condition of the world at j large is grave indeed. j “Whatever the advance within Great Britain and the United j States within the last two or three years, I believe that few of us can feel that we are out of danger. All of us mus’t recognise the ( menace of the hostilities and the antagonisms and excesses of \ nationalism existing throughout the world. There are dangers which j confront us beyond the economic situation. We are the protagonists, the very guardians of freedom, of the rights and the dignity of indi- I vidua 1 human beings. “ The welfare and the interests of our countries, in my judg- ! nicnt, arc intimately associated, and, in a large measure, » interdependent. You may lie able to conquer your difficulties alone, and so may we. I am not sure. But I do not doubt that with proper understanding and co-operation we may not only protect and further our own interests, but may play the magnificent role of aiding a world ill nearly unto death.” Cremation. “In common with, I believe, practically all the Bishops of the Church of England, I hold that there are no valid objections from the Christian standpoint against the practice of cremation,” says Dr. Barnes, Bishop of Birmingham. “Further, I believe that in a country like our own, which possesses areas where the density of population is very great, cremation is preferable to earth burial. I trust that especially in our large towns the development of the practice of cremation will be steady and rapid.” ”lu this country,” says Dr. David, Bishop of Liverpool, “the cremation movement is growing rapidly in spite of the prejudice against it which arises from a mistaken belief that in (he resurrection the identical particles ot the earthly body are reassembled and become the ‘body that shall lie.’ But a right understanding of St. Paul’s words (1 Cor. xv, 37, 38) shows that this is not his meaning. He declares that each shall find a body of his own; his identity shall not be lost, lmt as the flower differs from the seed so .shall the new body differ from the old. It is already agreed among the best i educated Christians that the quickest, cleanest and most seemly dis- / posal of the dead is provided by cremation.’* j