THE REVISION OF THE BIBLE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3076, 2 April 1892, Page 3

THE REVISION OF THE BIBLE.

TO THE EDITOR. Sin,—When I was a hoy, we Scotchmen know all the traditions of that grant hern, patriot, and martyr, Sir William Wallace. Well did we know tho trout_ pool where being surprised by fivß Englishmen, and instead of being slain he with his fishing rod slew tho five Southerners. Well did we know the hill of Burnweil, where after sacking and destroying tho English in Ayr in his retreat and when on [this hill, he turned round and said "the barns of Ary burn weil," and so the hill was named. Now the such naming of Barnweil inay be accepted as fact or it rmy be taken as fiction, but there can be no doubt the killing of the five Englishmen with his fishing rod, however much believed sixty years ago, will not and cannot ho believed now. Yet withal, it will not be denied that Sir William Wallace did exist and did for the deliverance of his country that which entitles him to the love, gratitude, and admiration of all haters of oppressors. So it was with the great Swiss patriot, William Tell. It will not be denied that he existed, and was a true patriot for his country, but it now will nob be accepted that tho apple incident was true, simply from the fact that no matter how good William Tell may have been with the bow, the string tension on his nerves would have been so much that it would have been impossible for him to perforin the feat accredited to him. The truth is, that in by-gone times from the very nature of events and circumstances along with the enthusiasm which is for great and good men a certain amount of fiction was added to, and mixed up with truth in recoiding their lives. One can easily see how that could bo. Mr Editor, if it was so in tho history of these two and all other patriots so must it be with the history of Christ. In fact it must bo greater in tho history of Jesus as handed down to us, because as Christ was pre-eminently greater by far than either of these two patriots or any other great or good men, so would the mistakes be also greater. There is not the least doubt that many incidents as recorded in tho life of Christ will not and are not now accepted as facts. It is all very well to say we should accept them as facts, what should bo is not t > be taken as to what we in this instance should consider, what we have to t ike into consideration is what is and what will be. The truth is men now do not and will not accept the Bible and New Testament word for word in their literal menninr, and to meet this a new ordering and revising of the Bible and New Testament will have to be. In the interest of religion this must be, for it will not and cannot bo denied that mankind all over is becoming infidel. It is so with both Protestants and Catholics : look at France, the so called eldest daughter of the church. This eldest daughter has such a bitter hatred to religion and to her mother church that she is trying to destroy both church and religion. On the other hand, take Protestant Germany, sho is full of philosophic thinkers, whose thoughts are all destructive to the Bible, while in England the be?t that can be said of the masses are that the mass of the people are neither hot nor cold on the subject. They are beyond and are outside of religion altogether. Mr Editor, it is not necessary for a man to be religious that he should believe that David was a man after God's own heart; a man may be a truly religious man and at the same time think that David was a very devil. Many sayings in the New Testament n:ay be disbelieved by religious men and the same men be still religious. The true foundation of religion is goodness. In fact, goodness is the whole sum and substance of religion, and as time goes on, the more will Christ be hold as entitled to the torm of ''Our Saviour." for in His sermon on the mount,and in Hi.; other sayings and in his wonderfully grand and irreproachable lifo Ha has given us a true foundation to build up a truo religion, a religion of love, and duty of man towards his fellow man, and of love and adoration to the great incomprehensible Supreme Being. Mr Editor, it may bo said that I nm cutting at the foundation of nil religion. It may be said that to religion wo are indebted for all tho good and progress that is in man. That lis true and it is not true. No doubt it is to religion that we are indebted for having the Ton Commandments, and without the whole of these commandments we would still have been in a mannei and to a certain extent barbarians. Re ligion confines a man to having only one wife,and one can easily see that if polygamj was allowed women would descend to a verj low level, and as a matter of course, sc would man. But it is also not true that w( are indebted to religion for the advance ment of humanising feelings simply from the fact that religion never has been in practice, and therefore what cannot liavi been in forco can have no effect. Will an'i man say that the Christian religion has beet in practice ? Never has it been so. Hai tho golden rule ever been in force? I never has been so. Tho tnilleninm will bi when that law will be in active operation Till that law be in force, our religion wil only be a sham.—Yours, truly, Harapepe.