RATIONAL ORTHODOXY

I

THE SCRIPTURES AS A RULE OF FAITH

THOSE Who believe that the sayings of the Bible are true and are intended to teach the truth are not bound always to take them in a literal sense or without reasonable explanations.

Sometimes Biblical statements are figurative, and should be so understood. When our Savior said, "This is my body broken for you; this is the New Testament in my blood shed for many for the remission of sins," he certainly did not mean that the bread and wine of the supper, were the flesh and blood of himself while he was instituting the sacred feast. They were only emblems on that occasion; and they have been only emblems ever since. A literal interpretation of Christ's words involves an erroneous exegesis, and also calls for an act of faith in which the plain testimony of the senses must be rejected. We know that, literally speaking, we

partake of bread and wine and not of flesh and blood. At the same time our Lord's words were intended to set forth a truth which could not have been exprest in any better way.

BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION

In general the statements of the Scriptures, and especially those of our Savior and of the Apostles, are to be taken literally unless there be good reason for an interpretation of their words differing from the primary and ordinary meaning. When Jesus said to His disciples, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; I go that I may awake him out of sleep," they at first said: "Lord, if he sleep he shall do well." But they understood his words differently when "Jesus said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead." like manner when the disciples, relying on an ancient prophecy, looked for a second coming of Elijah, our Lord told them, "Elijah is come already, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist"; for John came "in the spirit and power of Elijah.'

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In the Bible, as in most books which impart instruction in an interesting way, tropes and metaphors are frequently found; moreover, the sacred writers were specially inclined to figura

tive speech because they were Orientals and were for the most part addressing Orientals.

But a deeper cause for using words with some divergence from their primary signification lay in the nature of those objects concerning which the Scriptures give us instruction. The most important of these, altho connected with earthly objects and affairs and often bearing an analogy with them, have peculiarities which modify our modes of conception and use of terms, when our thoughts are directed to spiritual phenomena. The changes thus produced resemble those which occur when words already employed in one sphere of investigation are made use of in another—a way of speaking which is unavoidable, but which need not cause error if strict attention be paid to the nature of the matters under discussion.

ALL KNOWLEDGE COMES THROUGH REASON

The fundamental and indispensable source of every form of human knowledge may be designated Reason, provided we take the term in a wide sense and as including all man's faculties of cognition. With this definition we can say that no knowledge is possible except through the exercise of Reason. Those, too, whose judgment has not been warped by some skeptical philosophy, will agree that human beings in the exer

cise of Reason are not only capable of knowledge, but also possess much knowledge respecting many matters. Men can say not merely that they believe but that they know this or that beyond any doubt and any possibility of doubt. In regard to other matters they say that they have merely a probable belief or that they are not informed at all.

With respect to divine things it has been held, and we believe rightly, that the human mind is capable of a knowledge of God from a consideration of his Universe, and of his dealings with his creatures. The Apostle Paul refers to such knowledge as a ground for the condemnation of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. "For," he says, "the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are madeeven his eternal power and godhead; so that they are without excuse."

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REVELATION OPERATES THROUGH REASON Because of the insufficiency of "the light of nature," that is, of the ordinary perceptions of Reason, God has revealed himself to us through his Son and through the ministrations of "holy men of God who spake as they were moved by

the Holy Ghost." The teachings of some of these men committed to writing have been carefully handed down by God's people from age to age. This is the origin of the Sacred Scriptures. The instructions thus given to the world have sometimes been collectively named Revelation; have under this term been contrasted with Reason; and have been honored as giving us a special and additional knowledge of God. Our Savior said: "Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of me."

But while the sacred writings impart information beyond and above the light of Nature, it is evident that they do not operate apart from Reason, but rather by means of it. It was in the exercise of rational faculties that the prophets and apostles first received the truth and communicated it to others. The Christians who were thus instructed used their judgment before accepting the teaching and testimony of those who gave proofs that they were sent of God to be his ministers.

Moreover, every subsequent generation of believers on receiving the Scriptures from their predecessors, have not only relied on an unbroken tradition as reasonable, but have been imprest with the marvelous excellence and spiritual