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THE BIBLE, THE WORD OF GOD.
It may seem an undisputed question at
this time, yet it is the basal question of all
theology, for, if God has not spoken to us
in an infallible way in this book we call the
Bible, then we are hopelessly at sea; ever>
man's mind is his own Bible and when every
one does only what is right in his own eyes,
we are in the midst of chaos.
It is not a vicious begging of the question
when we say that the Bible itself affirms
its infallible nature. Even a criminal is al
lowed to testify for himself, and the Bible
is no indicted criminal.
When we find a book that has always told
us the truth; always fitted fact and experi
ence, statement and fact, we are certainly
within the laws of evidence when we give
credence to its other statements. The Bible
has been proved truthful and reliable in every
case.
Some years ago a brilliant infidel went up
and down this country proclaiming his spleen
in a lecture called "The Mistakes of Moses."
About that time the Eastern countries of the
Bible began to unearth their story from papyri,
pottery and other imperishable testimony; and
behold they revealed the mistakes of the in
fidel, and the truthfulness of Moses. The ac
cumulation of evidence has become so great
that a man must shut his mind to the plainest
evidence to doubt the truthfulness of the
Word.
If "false in one, false in all" is an axiom,
surely, truthfulness in everything is proof
enough that the Bible will continue to tell the
truth.
The Bible says it is inspired, God-breathed,
such has been the steady blowing of the Spirit
on the hearts and minds of the writers that no
possible error has crept into the original manu
script.
The famous verse in 2 Tim. 3:16 is often
quoted. It seems a pity that the Revised Ver
sion should have rendered that "Every Scrip
ture inspired of God," etc.
There are several things to note about the
original. The term Scripture has a fixed and
technical meaning, just as when we speak of
"The Declaration of Independence," we mean
that immortal document promulgated in Phil
adelphia July 4, 1776. This does not mean to
imply that the Canon of Scripture was in
some places inspired and in others not. The
expression "all" means "every part of." So
Paul means to state that every part of the
Obi Testament was inspired.
This is further strengthened by the close
union of the two adjectives. They must be
taken together; they must both be epithets and
read in this way, "All inspired and useful
Scripture," etc. This makes it tautological and
hence foolish. Or, taken as predicates, "All
Scripture is inspired of God and useful for,"
etc.
The absence of the word "is" is impressive,
making the expression so general that it eovers
the future, at that time, as well as the past.
The Canon of Scripture was not closed. As
to the verbal inspiration.
It seems that there can be none other.
Words are but the clothing of thought. They
may either conceal or reveal. As the object
of Scripture is to reveal the will of God for
our salvation, then the words themselves must
be assured.
The argument in many instances turns on
the meaning of the word. Jesus refutes the
Saddueees who denied the Resurrection and
the immanent immortality of the soul by quot
ing the words from Exodus, saying "I am the
God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob. God is not the Go<l of the
dead, but of the living." lUire the whole
argument turns on the use of a word, "am"
rather than 44 was."
Jesus evidently thought that God inspired
Moses to write 44 am" instead of 4 4 was."
We must confess we do not see how a book
can be God-inspired if the words are not.
The Spirit moved upon the hearts of holy men
of old, so that they chose the right word to
express the divine thought. They were as
truly free agents in the use of a style and
words as men are free agents in accepting the
offer of grace.
All error goes back to an explicit or silent
denial of the infallible character of God's
Word. Believe in the Book. A. A. L.
Contributed
MODERNISM ON THE CHINA MISSION
FIELD.
By Rev. Donald W. Richardson, I). D.
(Continued from last week)
If all that has been written 011 the subject of
unorthodoxy in the mission body in China were
literally true, no member of the Bible Union or
of our Southern Presbyterian Mission would be
found willing to hold communion with those
individuals who have been condemned or to
go-operate in those union efforts, organizations
and institutions, which have been assailed. In
writing of Union and Orthodoxy in China a
few ? very few ? individuals have seemingly
tried to convey the impression that the Bible
Union and all "evangelicals" were opposed to
the China Continuation Committee; and ?
what is of present interest ? to the National
Christian Conference which was recently held
in Shanghai, and also to the National Chris
tian Council which grew out of that Confer
ence. The China Continuation Committee
was a creation of the Edinborough Interna
tional Conference on Missions. The writer has
never championed this committee, principally
because it was an unrepresentative organiza
tion. The newly-erected National Christian
Council, however, is a representative organiza
tion, and is a far finer attempt to unite all of
the many bodies working in China in a great
co-operative effort for more effective evangel
ism and for the building up of a self-support
ing, self-governing Chinese Christian Church.
It should l?e lx>rnc in mind, however, that the
old China Continuation Committee was not a
"radical" organization. A few men in it were
very liberal in their interpretation of the facts
of Christianity; but among its members were
many of the outstanding conservatives in
China, including two from our own mission
and many others whose very names were syn
onymous with conservatism in theology and in
mission leadership. The National Christian
Conference was made up of eleven hundred and
eighty-nine delegates, practically all of whom
were elected directly by the bodies which they
represented, and the overwhelming majority of
whom, both Chinese and foreign, were conser
vative "evangelicals." This Conference elected
a National Christian Council of one hundred
members. A glance at the names of these one
hundred men and women should inspire con
fidence in the minds of those who have been
afraid that the "modernists" were directing the
present-day missionary movement in China- It
is true that there are names in this list sug
gestive of unorthodoxy, but in a council thus
constituted and representing one hundred and
thirty-eight different Christian organizations,
this is not a thing to he surprised at. When our
General Assembly met in Charleston, West
Virginia, in May, correspondence was read and
reference was made to articles which have been
published in our Church papers condemning
the National Christian Conference for refus
ing to make any statement on the question of
the atonement. Two or three members of the
Charleston Assembly wished our Church to in
struct its missionaries to refuse to co-operate
in any way with the proposed National Chris
tian Council, and a cable was read saying that
this National Christian Council had been "rail
roaded through." Naturally the Assembly of
our Church did not allow itself to be stampeded
into the condemnation of tlve National Chris
tian Council because of the charges of one or
two individual missionaries; and without wait
ing to hear from the two missions of our
Church in China. On the floor of the Assembly
an impassioned appeal was made that we con
deinn the National Christian Council and in
struct our missions to have nothing to do with
it because its commission on tho "Message of
the Church to China" had refused to make any
statement with reference to the atonement of
Christ; and even while this appeal was being
made here at home that commission had already
presented its report to the Conference in Shang
hai ? a report written entirely by Chinese
Christians, which is a wonderfully thrilling
statement, of the fundamentals of the Christian
Faith, and which will doubtless go down in
history as one of the really great documents of
the Church of Christ in China. In addition
to this the Shanghai "China Press," .1 daily
secular newspaper, and the official report of
the proceedings of the National Conference
show that the proposal for a National Chris
tian Council was passed by an overwhelming
majority. When one is in the insignificant
minority it may be soothing to think of oneself
as the victim of "railroading." An alarmist
writer in t lie June 28th issue of ^The Presby
terian of the South says of the report of the
committee referred to above, "A Chinese com
mittee appointed to prepare a paper on the
'Message of the Church to China' did indeed
give a ringing call, but the paper not being
presented for adoption it becomes merely pri
vate opinion." This writer, however, neglects
to say that none of the reports presented by
the five different commissions were presented
for adoption ; they were heard by tho Confer
ence and all of them were referred to the newly
created National Christian Council for con
sideration. A great many in tho National
Conference thought that it would be unwise for
the Conference to adopt any credal statement
since this should be left to the individual
churches or denominations making up the Con
ference. Mr. D. E. Iloste, director of the
China Inland Mission, however, presented a
resolution calling for a trilateral theological
statement, to be inserted in the constitution of
the National Christian Council. This resolu
tion, as all other resolutions, was referred to
the Business Committee. This committee in
its repoft presented a far more comprehensive
and satisfactory statement. Mr. Hoste, one of
the strongest conservative leaders in China, an
nounced that he had withdrawn his statement
( which was not rejected), since it never came
lK'fore the Conference for vote, seconded the
statement presented by the Business Coipmit
tec. and urged the members of the Conference
to vote for it. This resolution was passed b>
a rising vote and the singing of the Doxology.
It is as follows.
"We. the members of the Conference, joy
fully confers our faith in, and renew our al
legiance to, God the Father Almighty, Jesus
Christ, His Son, our Lord and Saviour, Who
loved us and gave Himself for our sins, and