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Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3953, 30 August 1881, Page 3

(To the Editor of the Evening Stak.)

Bie. —The revision of the Scriptures

must be a great blow against the infallibility dogmas. After being taught for hundreds of years that it is the Word oi God, now we are told it is not correct., and wants revising. But any one may see that God's word never could want revising, any more than His works wanted revising. The notion about in fallibility. baß caused more bloodshed aud done more to prevent the progress of man than any other thing. Infallible men, infallible books, aud infallible churches: there never was any proof that there ever were or are such things. But when men have agreed to take this little bit of falsehood for a foundation, they have been able to build upon this sandy foundation a huge, ugly structure, which is a mass of falsehood. No man has ever been able to prove that there ever was such a book written that was infallibly correct, and the arguments they use to prove it are so weak that there is no need for an attempt to refute them, if it had not been for this absurd notion to com-

mence with, they never could have upheld '^many of the foolish dogmas that are **^^li'-. as, for instance, the following: T!"v s:ij that threo are not three, but one, .inri that one is not one, but three. Again, they say that God had a Son, and He was God also ; that this God the Son was the only begotten of the Father, and eternally begotten. He was begotten of the Father : hut there never was a time when He was begotten, for He was eternally begotten. And this same God was born, and was once a baby ; ai d this same God died. They say it is a mystery : all the Immortal dies. Again, they tell us that an unjust man can be made just by faith, and an unrighteous man can be made righteous on the same principle. You can hare another person's righteousness, andput it on as a cloak. The poet says : " Jesus. Thy blood aud righteousness my; beauty is, my glorious dress; 'midst naming worlds, in these arrayed, sball I lift up my head." Ihese are samples of the religious teachings of the day. I defy any man, or any number of men, to invent anything more absurd and ridiculous than the above dogmas ; and no one could, or would, attempt to prove them only on the ground of infallibility. And yet what a large quantity of books have been published on all the above subjects ; what learned ignorance is required, wh«n reason and common sense ■ are laid aside. And yet this is the advice given to the young men in Christian .'associations: not to reason with those dangerous men. And so it is with those that hold the above doctrines. But to give up reason and common sense would be .more wicked than for us not to use our eyesight by closing our eyes. The above dogmas constitute the staple articles dealt in by the orthodox churches, and offered as spiritual food for intelligent people ; and they find fault that so many thoughtful people reject their teachings, and turn out unbelievers. The pulpit has had it all its own way for a long, long time, and if it had not been for the press I do not know where we should have landed. The notion of infallibility has always been the greatest enemy to progress. You cannot take a step forward in any direction but this barrier comes in and crimes your path. When the Bible has said it, or the Pope has said it, or the Church has said it, that closes up every enquiry, and not a step forward must you go, whether it is true or not, if it contradicts reason, common sense, science, facts, and all experience. And why should thia infallibility be exalted above God and truth, I ask ? Why should intellect and the noblest aspirations of the soul be crushed by this infallibility ? Let us have the courage to be men, and brush all this rubbish out of our path ; and let us have room to breathe, grow, and march on. Lee us burst the bonds of the captires and be free. Let us rise above the mist and cloud of orthodoxy into God's pure sunshine, where all ii so beautiful. —I am, &c,

J. Hoen.