FAMOUS; AND FOR WHAT?

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 19, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 12.

FAMOUS; AND FOR WHAT?

Prof. Charles W. Pearson has become famous all at once from one cause. He has been for thirty years connected with the Methodist Episcopal Northwestern University of Evanston, Ill., as professor of English literature. Still he was not famous. But there is a famous Old Book which men have loved for centuries, which has regenerated men, changed the face of the world, brought hope to unnumbered souls; and lighted the dark valley into which so many of God's trusting saints have entered. Its every word has been cherished by the pilgrim, its every infallible promise has proved a staff and stay to some soul on life's rough journey. And this professor has become famous because he denies the infallibility of the Old Book. He tells us, according to the Des Moines Daily News of Feb. 12, 1902, that if theologians wish to regain their lost intellectual leadership or even to possess an influence on the thoughtful part of the community, co-ordinate with that of poets, philosophers, and men of science, they must throw aside the dogma of an infallible Bible as completely and frankly as Protestants have thrown aside the dogma of an infallible pope.

He ridicules the stories of the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace and of the ravens' feeding Elijah, terming them myths, allegories, or fancies; he does not believe in the division of Jordan by Elijah, nor the miracle of the multiplied meal and oil, or the miracles wrought by Elisha, some of which he denominates "crude and childish;" and he places in the same category the miracles of the New Testament, among which are mentioned the feeding of a multitude by Jesus, the restoration to life of the son of the widow of Nain. He pronounces as "incredible" the giving of the Ten Commandments on the tables of stone. This attack by the professor upon a famous Book has made him famous—for a little while. The fame of the Book will continue.

But notwithstanding these pronounced ideas concerning the Bible, the university retains him till a successor is found and continues his salary to Jan. 1, 1903. Surely this indicates either a strong sympathy with the professor in his views, a weak conception of duty toward God's cause, or both. One who is teaching soul-destroying error better go at once, even if his whole department should be forced to close.

The whole Bible, its giving, its story, its mission, its work, its central figure, Jesus Christ, are all manifestations of the mighty, and to fallen man, miraculous power of God. He who denies the miracles of the Word will deny at last its every essential, saving truth.