{ title: 'The Independent. (New York, N.Y.) 18??-1928, February 14, 1884, Page 3, Image 3', download_links: [ { link: 'http://www.loc.gov/rss/ndnp/ndnp.xml', label: 'application/rss+xml', meta: 'News about NYS Historic Newspapers - RSS Feed', }, { link: '/lccn/np00110001/1884-02-14/ed-1/seq-3/png/', label: 'image/png', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/np00110001/1884-02-14/ed-1/seq-3.pdf', label: 'application/pdf', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/np00110001/1884-02-14/ed-1/seq-3/ocr.xml', label: 'application/xml', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/np00110001/1884-02-14/ed-1/seq-3/ocr.txt', label: 'text/plain', meta: '', }, ] }
Image provided by: University of Rochester
February 14, 1884.] T H E (199) 7 his fam ous volume entitled “ The Saving T ruths of C h ristianity.” I beg leave to call your most serious attention to these words, representing, as I suppose, the forem o st evangelical culture of G erm an theological circles. “ W e m ay deceive m e n , we m ay d e lude ourselves, but in God’s presence every deception vanishes and all self-delusion ceases. “ W ho will b e a b le to bear the presence of God,the presence of indexible tru t h ? Only they who have here becom e th e friends of God ; f o r the great dis tinction will be betw e e n those who have been his friends and those w h o have lived w ithout him . But this is decided in this life. 4 I t is appointed u n to all m e n once to die, but after this the ju d g m e n t.’ (Heb. ix, 27.) T h a t is to sa y : the decision takes place in this life. We are not to comfort ourselves with the hope of being able to retrieve there what we have neglected here. The very purpose for w h ich this life in the desh is bestow e d upon us is th a t our lot m ay be therein de cided. The design of the m a n ifold trials a n d duties of this life is th a t through them and in them we m ay seek and And God. Though the m oral con sciousness o f a m a n m a y seem to have been ever so slightly developed , though the life o f a n individual m a y have been passed i n ever so dream-like a manner, there is s till that in the depths o f every m a n ’s heart which is decisive. It is the f a c t w h e ther God has or has not been the portion of his soul which will determ ine his eternal lo t; for hewho has not fo u n d com m u n ion irith Ood here, will not attain i t there.” (L u thardt. 44 T h e Saving T r u th s of C h ristianity.” L e c ture X., p. 300. Published by T. & T. Clark, E d inburgh.) 9. 44 W hat a re the p rospects of the New D e p a rt ure?” The New D e p a rture is an old failure. [Ap plause.] The history of the Broad Church in Europe has been one of spiritual barrenness. If a great revival occurs in the American churches, the prospects of Broad C h u rch lati- tudinarian theology will be exceedingly poor. In a torpid, chilled, liberalistic s ta te of the churches these p rospects m ight be good. Professor Hodge asks, significantly: 44 W here are the revivalists and the missionaries of the New D e p a rture?” Of the seven theological sem inaries of the Congregational denom ination in the United States, th a t one (and there is but one) which lies under suspicion of favoring th e New De parture has the least num b e r of s tudents in pro portion to the num b e r of its instructors. Ac cording to the official s tatem e n t in the 44 C ongre gational Year Book for 1884,” which I hold in my hand, there were in 1882 and 1883 twelve professors at Andover Theological Seminary, and a total of b u t 25 students. Meanwhile, Chicago Theological Sem inary had 7 theological profess ors and 43 s tudents : H a rtford, 7 p rofessors and 48 stu d e n t s ; Oberlin, 7 professors and 40 stu dents ; Yale, 7 professors a n d 94 students. Lord Bacon said th a t the best m a terials for prophecy are the unforeed opinions of young men. There is reason to believe th a t a few, and but a few, persons are engaged in a vigorous a t tem p t, as yet largely secret, to com m it the Con- gregationalist body to a creed consistent with the hypothesis of probation after death, or with the toleration of the assum p tion th a t the issues of the final judgm e n t are n o t determ ined by the deeds done in the body. One of the forem ost editors favoring the New D e p a rture is believed to be an annihilationist, and to be laboring for the adoption of such a creed as may harm onize with the exegetical lunacy of this position, ju s t now a p assing fashion in certain circles am ong Congregationalists in England. 10. 4 4 Why has Professor P a r k ’s pam p h let on the Associated Creed of Andover Theological Sem inary not been answered?” Because it is unansw erable. Even Professor Hodge, of P rinceton, publishes the opinion that this argum e n t on the legal aspects of the Andover controversy is wholly irrefutable. He says the reading of i t is an education. This opinion prevails widely am o n g the most pow erful m inds inside the denom ination and outside of it, E a st and West. Grave legal o p inion is disturbed by even the sus picion of m alfeasance in the adm inistration of trusts, and is made indignant w h erever there is proof of it. P h ilanthropic opinion is in the same attitude. Every endowed institution in the land is concerned in having tru s ts adm inis tered s trictly according to legal and m o ral obli gation. W ho will give bequests if it cannot be know n what will become of them ? The evasive ness of Professor P a r k ’s opponents in this dis cussion is natural, but suicidal. T H E LECTURE. DO W E N E E D A N E W THEOLOGY ? Only a saving theology is w o rth saving. [Ap plause.] The final theology of the w o rld will be w ritten by the iron finger of the law of the sur vival o f the fittest. Perhaps this stern instru m e n t has traced m a n y legible syllables already. In the wide field of the C h ristian contest with unbelief, w h a t a re the positions th a t have seen battle bu t n o t defeat? In the s truggle for exist ence, w h a t theological propositions have ap proved themselves age a fter age in the presence of self-evident tru t h ? W h a t form s of faith and practice, generation after generation, have sat isfied the depths of the hum a n conscience, when it is the m o st thoroughly enlightened and aroused? I hope th a t I am progressive; I know th a t I am conservative ; my wish is to be both progressive and conservative in theology as in everything else. Do we need a New The ology? W h a t shall be the New Theology? W hat are the tests of progress in theology? Who shall lead the New Theology? If we were to sweep away the p a st as so m u c h obstruction, and deliver ourselves from all allegiance to creeds or ecclesiastical organizations and determ ine anew w h at to believe as to religious tru t h , how should we c o n s truct a theology ? I. On what fa c ts m a y legitimate dem a n ds f o r a N e w Theology be founded I Do not be s tartled if I adm it th a t there are facts justifying a call fo r a readjustm e n t of several theological doctrines. I shall ask in a mom ent w h a t a re the fancies on which illegiti m a te dem ands for a New Theology have been based. Allow me first to nam e the circum stances, which, a t the present hour of history, so n ear the opening of the tw e n tieth century, appear to me to call for a theology in some particulars new, not perhaps in its c e n tral positions, b u t in many of the form s of its expression. 1. The p rovidential necessity o f choosing now a religion not for one sect or nation only, but for the whole world. 2. The advance of the study of com parative religion. 3. The progress of Biblical criticism . 4. The appearance of a Revised Version of the Old and New Testam ent in the m o st im p o rtant language now spoken. 5. The grow th of self-governm ent in the Church, and of the free exercise of the r ig h t of private judgm e n t am o ng the masses of C h ristian and non-Christian populations. 6. The u n iversal dem and for the application of the scientific m e thod of definition, and induction to all topics, however sacred. 7. The progress of the physical sciences. 8. The advance of psychological and ethical science. 9. The alleged existence of m o dern evidence of the supernatural. 10. The recent trium p h s of C h ristian scholar ship in the field of research as to the proofs of the historic reality of miracles recorded in the New Testam ent Scriptures. 11. A growing dem and for the application to theology of those tests of tru th which are sup plied by the s p iritual a n d intuitive faculties and the regenerated conscience, in distinction from the logical powers. 12. The necessity of m a k ing theology a bal anced system, n o t fractional but integral, in both its m e thods of research and its inculcations. 13. The aggressiveness of m a te rialistic and ag nostic philosophies. 14. The decadence of strife w ithin the Church as to m any points on which sectarian divisions have existed. 15. The g row ing tendency am o n g evangelical bodies to unite their forces in aggressive relig ious work and to emphasize the hidden half of Christian unity. 16. The certainty th a t C h ristian faith and practice have not yet been lifted into entire har mony with the tone of the C h ristian Sciiptures, and th a t th e w o rk most needed in the Church at large to-day is the C h ristianization of Chris tianity. [Applause.] In th is course of lectures I begin precisely where it was my fortune to close in the last course, and assume now only w h a t I hope was proved then, th a t the whole world is hence forth to be perm eated by its best thought, and th a t there are and can be no foreign lands. The m o st im pressive secular circum stance calling for a read justm e n t of theological doc trines, or a reform of the s tatem e n t of m any of them , is the fact th a t we m u s t now choose a theology n o t for ourselves only b u t for the world. W hatever m a sters the Occident in theology a n d philosophy will m a ster the O rient. W hatever succeeds under the N o rthern Bear will succeed u n d e r the S o u thern Cross. W h at ever really establishes itself on the basis of sufficient reasons on the Rhine, the Elbe, or the Thames, will establish itself first or last on the banks of the Hudson and the M ississippi, the Hoangho. the Indus and the Ganges. Mean while let us not forget th a t w h a t can appear so to establish itself will for a tim e gain wide cur rency. Nothing great can now be done in a cor ner. The m o dern world has no corners. 3apan is nearer to us than E n g lan d was un til the last generation. The works of the forem o st ration alists are being introduced into the college courses of Japan and India, and even of Aus tralia. I t has become one of th e most pressing exigencies of our tim e to decide w h e ther the highest regions of culture shall be given over to rationalism or to C h ristianity, in reorganized herm it nations. This question ought to be de cided w ithin the next half century. Infidelity will have conquered the university life of India and J a p a n before th a t time in such a way as to hold it for perhaps a long period if C h ristianity does not occupy the new field speedily. In this presence I need not dwell on the facts th a t every m a n now thinks in theology for him self, th a t every enlightened m ind dem ands the application of the scientific method to all sub jects, th a t there has been made w ithin fifty years a really large addition to our knowledge in the departm e n t of Biblical criticism , th a t no one I system of theology can claim to be a perfectly balanced scheme of thought, and th a t there is a growing s p irit of C h ristian unity. Perhaps the time has come for us to gain som ething by read justm e n t, not so m u c h of o u r doctrines, as o f the form of their expression. In this course of lec tures I mean to hold th a t question open, not be cause, in the depths of my soul, any doubt exists as to scholarly theological positions, for no such doubt is there, but because I wish to awaken attention to the dem and now heard in so many quarters for a New Theology, and to make use of that dem and for the loftiest p u rposes o f religious reform . II. For what purposes have illegitimate de m a n d s f o r a New Theology been made ? If I m istake not, I shall offend m a n y by read ing this list o f fan c ies; for it contains a de scription of some of the m o st mischievous por tions of religious agitation in our day. A New Theology lias been and is, but ought never to be demanded, 1. To make religion easy a n d fashionable, and lessen the breadth of the distinction between the Church and the world. 2. To satisfy the dem ands of state churches nominally, including the whole population to which they m inister, w h e ther C h ristian or non- Christian. 3. To effect a m u ltitudinist union of believers and unbelievers. 4. To advance merely denom inational and sectarian ideas. 5. To gratify the idiosyncracies of one-sided and narrow minds, w h ether devout or un- devout. 6. To satisfy the literary, or scientific, or p o lit ical, or social s p irit of the hour. 7. To satisfy semi-Universalists a n d Universal- ists. 8. To satisfy A n n ihilationists. 9. To satisfy U n itarians. 10. To satisfy mere theists. 11. To harm o n ize theology w ith raw specula tions in Biblical c riticism . 12. To avoid asserting the supernatural in any sense. 13. To avoid a sserting the s u p e rnatural in any but a N eo-Platonic a n d mystic sense. 14. To gratify the love of change. God deliver us from being so caught by the spirit of restlessness as to allow the fangs of these fancies to eeize and poison our souls ! III. W h a t tests m u st a n y N e w Theology meet in ordei' to deserve acceptance ? 1. I t m u st effect deliverance of individuals and of com m u nities from the love of sin and the guilt of sin. 2. I t m u st have Biblical authority and the Biblical tone. 3. I t m u st b e in harm o n y w ith all self-evident truth . 4. I t m u s t awaken evangelistic zeal. 5. I t m u s t be in an attitude of m e n tal hospi tality to all severe tru th s as well as to all tender truths, to science as well as to revelation, to the Holy Spirit in the conscience as well as to the intellectual laws of the logical faculties, and to the beautiful as well as to the good. IV. W h a t icill be the leading traits o f a n y New Theology that we can adopt in consistency icith the demands o f these tests and o f the w a n ts o f the age? T ru th, Comprehensiveness, Balance, F r u itfu l ness. I am approaching the difficult question as to w h at are the tru e signs of p rogress in theology ; b u t here and now I only open my case a n d state w h at I hope to prove. I t is the business of botn philosophy and theology, as of all life in the Spirit, to echo God. An echo is not divisive o f the voice it represents. It has no selective, self-assertive power. And so the C h u rch ought to u tter and embody n o t a fractional b u t an integral orthodoxy. I t should tell the tru th and the whole tru t h and nothing but the t r u t h concerning religion. My central thought is that orthodoxy is not w o rthy of the name unless it is an echo of God ; not merely the tru th, and nothing b u t the tru th , but the whole of the t r u t h as apprehended by both the ratioual and the spiritual faculties. Can we find in o u r time a theology m eeting these tests? If we cannot find one, can we invent one? L e t n o passing fashion mislead you. Let God be your guide in the building of the vessel in which you expect to cross the ocean of life, and enter eternity w ithout wreck. Use no tim b er th a t will not bear storm . Never sleep while you skirt the reefs. [Applause]. A m y B e l l , a little girl seven years old, en tered the M errimack Savings Bank o f M anchester, N. H., and tim idly said that she would like very m u ch to be shown around the institution as generally as was convenient. As Amy is a very attractive little maid, her request was complied with. It was a dull time of the day, and the treasurer, Ex-G o v ernor Smyth, escorted her all over it, exhibited the w orkings of the big locks, and laughingly introduced all the gentlem en to her. W hen going out Miss Amy thanked them, and said: 44You see, my papa has ’posited five d o llars here for me and I wanted to be sure it was in a real safe place. Thank y o u ” —and out she marched, radiant w ith relief. p b l k a t I t e s t t a v d i . STICHOMETRY. BY J. RENDEL HARRIS. E very one who h as ever h a d the m isfortune to fall into the clutches of the lawyers has recog nized th a t the g eneral w a n t of pace which char acterizes the c raft, the law's delay, a3 Shakes peare puts it, is m uch intensified by the p rolixity of legal form s and legal instrum e n ts, in which the said J o h n Doe puts in his appearance ten tim es as often as is necessary, and all his property and his simplest actions are described w ith a va riety th a t speaks well for the v ersatility o f h u m a n nature and ill for the peace a n d prosperity of the public. One reason for this prolixity over and above the norm a l conservatism of the profession lies in the fact that legal docum ents are paid for by their e x t e n t; the more words there are the more p ay on the p a r t of the unfortunate client. Take u p any ordinary legal docum ent, and you will probably find upon the m a rgin certain signs or notes in pencil which indicate the prog ress of the clerk or copyist w ith his work, and at the close of the instrum e n t, indenture, con veyance, or whatever* it is, another note of a similar character. These notes are the copyist’* count of h is work, and are made according to a regular and recognized custom. Take down W ebster’s dictionary from the shelf, and tu r n to the word F o lio ; and you will find som ething like th i s : 44Folio : (Law) A leaf c o n taining a certain n u m ber of w o rd8 ; hence, a c e rtain num b e r of words or w riting, as in England, in low-law proceed ings, seyenty-two ; a n d in Chancery, ninety ; in New York, one hundred.” W orcester’s d iction ary gives a very sim ilar statem e n t, adding that 44 in England the n u m b e r is seventy-two words in conveyances, eighty in Exchequer proceedings, and ninety iD Chancery proceedings.” So that it is easy to see th a t the notes which may be de tected in pencil on the m a rgin or at the close of legal docum ents refer to the num b e r of folios which the docum ent is reckoned to contain. And this m ethod of m easuring arid paying for docu m e n tary work is, as I said, a piece of legal con servatism which has been handed down from earlier days. All the so-called professions are conservative by nature, w h ether lawyer, doctor or clergyman be taken as a study. If your doc to r places a t the top of h is prescription a curious Bymbol, which was once commonly known as the sign of the planet J u p iter, he confesses by that very symbol that he is a lineal descendant of the alchem ist and astrologer; and I should flatter the craft unduly if I were to assume th a t the traces of heredity were confined, in the present day, to the hieroglyphic at the top of their oracles. B u t I am not g o ing to discuss the pro fessional genealogy of any of these classes, but simply to point out th a t the legal custom to which I have drawn attention is the survival of the ancient stichom e try or verse-m easuring. Precisely in the same way as a legal docum ent is furnished with a m a rginal and final reckon ing, the m a n u scripts of old times were measured and coun ted; and there are not a few of them in which these m e asurem ents may s till be seen as recorded by the original scribe. Now it will easily be recognized that, in the days antecedent to the invention of p rinting,there was so g reat a dem and for scribes and script th a t hand-w riting was ju s t as m u ch an article of commerce as cloth ; a n d precisely as it was found necessary to have s ta n d a rds by which to regu late the sale and restrain the cupidity of the cloth-m e rchant, by means of a uniform measure, yard or ell, so it became usual to pay scribes to copy books according to a regular tariff between the buyer and the seller. The m o d ern legal folio has been conserved to us out of these earlier trade measures. If the m o d e rn English lawyer charges his client both for the script and the skin upon which it is w ritten, he is only doing w h at was custom ary as far back as the close of the third century, when special rules were made by the im p erial governm ent to fix, am ong other things, the p rice of a square sheet o f p a rch m e n t o f g iven dim ensions and the rate of pay of a scribe for a hundred lines of a given length. This custom of regulating w riting by tariff has thu s continued right down to the present day. We find traces of it, for example, in the middle ages in connection w ith the university towns in northern Italy, which were apparently compelled to protect themselves from the scribes whom they employed, by means of a legislative enactm e n t, according which the scribe was em ployed by the piece (pecia or feUa ) ; and this piece was to be equal in extent to sixteen col um n s o f w riting, each colum n containing 62 lines and each line 32 letters. A piece of w riting would, according to a rough calculation, be as m u ch as 100 m o d e rn legal folios. We may say, then, if any one ask us w h at is this Stichom etry of which we h ear, and which is supposed to be such an im p o r tant addition to the resources of the New Testam ent critic in particular, tha Stichom etry is the art of m e asuring m a n u script, and the stichos which makes the first p a r t of the w o rd is the yard-m easure of a w ritten docum ent.
