Christian Chronicle (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 8, No. 14, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 30, 1950 Page: 2 of 8
eight pages : ill. ; page 18 x 14 in. Digitized from 35 mm microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
AUGUST 80, IMO
THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE
Al
PAGE TWO
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK
N<
♦
o
■T
ity
set
ai
Volume VIII
August 30. 1950
Number 14
Science and The Bible
of
it
is
bet1
. Yi
Juljfes to higher values
a
BRING YOUR CHILD TO BIBLE
STUDY
Entered as second-claw matter October 18. 1944. at the Post Office at
Abilene, Texas, under the Act of March 3. 1879.
in <
the
Send all communications and articles to Box 1158. Abilene. Texas.
OLAN L. HICKS Editor
82.00 Per Annum In Advance
82.50 Outside United States
Each wnk the editorial article which is adjudged most
timely and valuable will be printed on this page
of CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE
W
by
wq
ini
to
plei
the
man
any
We
an
lea
to
Ce
lac
Th
Gd
ass
to
me
in
det
by
Ne^
bas
mei
worN
ed. N
dical
the I
J. v|
of tl
artic]
h|
“Wei
withl
the ■
be a
sinci
shot
serk
1
ton
like
insl
cea
nos
L MWWUAl
♦
Published Wednesday of each wook except the last week in June and
the last week in December kt Abilene. Texas.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Do Not Forgot To Send In Your
order for 4thQuarter of your Gold-
en Treasure Graded Bible Les-
. I*"* M otfe Don't FalL
Marlin Reports On
Tenn. Meetings
By J. T. MARLIN
I recently conducted a meeting
at Frinedshlp, where Brother Billy
Fielder preaches. They have
around 60 members. Most of our
audiences exceeded 500 by actual
count. This is a rural congregation.
August 13 to 20 I preached at
Beech Grove in Maury county, j
Seven were baptized and one re-
stored. The audiences were large
throughout the meeting Brother
Jarreff Is doing a good work with
thit congregation. .»■ .....i ....... 1
shid
mat I
thin
By PAUL HIMES
There is no conflict between true science, scientific facts,
and the Bib e. It is a shame that some over zealous scientists
have in times past seized on half-baked theories, as weapons
to attack the Bible. Some examples of this will be given from
time to time in these articles. Until theories have become
facts, scientists should not begin too hurriert!y*TB attack the
Biblo with them, nor should Christians begin to harmonize
the Bible with them. Just wait till the smoke clears away,
till the excitement over a new .theory has faded, and it will
be seen that God’s Truth in His Word (John 17:17) and in
nature are always one.
The following quotation is taken from Life on the Mississippi, by
Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain'. It is a take-off on some of the scien-
tific theories then prevalent and is not only interesting, but it has
a moral—men should never draw hasty conclusions from present
phenomena to prove what happened in ages past. The article is given
exactly as it appeared in the book, so I assume no responsibility for
the accuracy of the facts involved.
“Since my own day on the Mississippi, cut-offs have been made
at Hurricane Island; at island One Hundred; at Napoleon, Arkansas;
at Walnut Bend; and at Council Bend. These shortened the river 10
miles or more.
‘‘Therefore, the Mississippi between Carlo and New Orleans was
1215 miles long 176 years ago. It was 1180 miles long after the cut-off
of 1728. It was 1040 miles long after the American Bend cut-off. It
has lost 67 miles since then. Consequently, its length is only 973 miles
at present.
"Now if I wanted to be one of those ponderous scientific people,
and ‘let on' to prove what had occurred in the remote past by what
had occurred in a given time in the recent past; or what will occur
in the far future by what has occurred In late years, what an oppor-
tunity is here! Geology never had such a chance, nor such exact data
to argue from! Nor ‘development of species’ either! Glacial epochs
are great things but they are vague—very vague. Please observe;
"In the space of 176 years the Lower Mississippi has shortened
Itself 242 miles. That is a trifle over 1 and 1-3 miles per year. There-
fore, any calm person who is not blind or idiotic, can see that in
the old ‘Oelitic Silurian Period, just a million years ago next Nov-
ember, the Lower Mississippi was upwards of 1,300,000 miles long
and stuck out over the gulf of Mexico like a fishing rod. And by
the same token, any person can see that 742 years from now the
Lower Mississippi will be only 1 and 3-4 miles long and Cairo and
New Orleans, will have joined their streets together, and be plodding
comfortably along under a single mayor and a mutual board of
aidermen. There is something fascinating about science. One gets such
wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment
of fact!”
cam<
will
cont
socle
ning
therr
the I
regai
izatit
men!
---5Tlc
born
near
So
the 1
are a
folio’
open,
in. It
__ withl
instr
church or who has listened to the gospel being
preached realizes that these people do not use
the instrument in worshipping God. This poses
an important and interesting question—WHY?
Is it because they are “narrow”? Is it because
they are too poor to afford them? Is it because
of delight in being “objectionable"? These are
some of the unkind things often said. But what
is the answer? Let us investigate seriously and
see.
Everyone admits that the church in New Testa-
ment times did not use the instrument in its
worship. If the church did not use the instrument
to worship then, is there any reason why We
should do so now? Under the Jewish religion
the instrument was used, for it suited the very
character of that religion. The offering of animal
sacrifices, burning of incense, practice of circum-
cision—everything that appealed to the external,
the colorful and physical senses of man—went
into that worship. The using of the instrument
fitted perfectly the dispensation.
But when the Jewish religion was abrogated
and superseded by a superior religion given by
the Son of God, those acts of worship which
appealed to the sensual side of man all passed
away. The prfactice of circumcision, offering of
animal sacrifices, burning of incense and the use
of instrumental music died with that religion of
which they were a part.
The superior spiritual religion established by
our Lord Jesus found no place for the adoption
of these acts of worship which appealed to the
senses. The use of the instrument of music was
no more adaptable to the character of the religion
of Christ than was the burning of incense as an
aid to worship. He who afdopts the use of the
instrument in worship reverts to the inferior in
place of the superior; he goes back to the law
designed for man in his undeveloped sensual
state in place of the superior law of the spirit.
But if the instrumental music were not found
in the New Testament church, when did it first
make its appearance in the worship of God?
While scholars differ as to the exact date when
this occurred, there is little question but that
it arose back in the dark ages at the same time
that paganism and Judaism were being so
freely introduced into the church to corrupt its
practices---—--—----- — —--—
The American Cyclopaedia says, ‘Pope Vltal-
ian is related to have first introduced organs into
some of the churches of Western Europe, about
670; but the earliest trustworthy account is that
of the one sent as a present by the Greek em-
peror Constantine to Pepin, king of the Franks,
in 775.”
The Schaff-Herzog Encyclopaadia of Religious
Knowledge says, "In the Greek Church the or-
gan never came into use. But after the eighth , ‘
century it became more and more common in
the Latin Church; not, however, without opposi-
tion from the side of the monks . « . . The
article proceeds to say, “The Reform Church dis-
carded it; and though the church of Basel very
early introduced it, it was in other places ad-
mitted only sparingly and after long hesitation."
Thomas Aquinas, whom scholars know as the
Angelic Doctor and who lived in the 13th cen-
tury, said, “Our church does not use musical in-
struments, as harps and psalteries, to praise God
withal, that she may not seem to Judaize.”
The history of the introduction of instrumental
music into various churches is almost entirely
one of division and discord. It is a historical
fact that some of the strongest men in religious
circles have bitterly opposed its introduction.
Erasmus, a contemporary of Martin Luther, and
unquestionably one of the most profound classi-
cal scholars the world has ever known, wrote:
—“We have brought into our ehureli— a MffiffT
operoee and theatrical music; such a confused,
msornerty chattering Of some words as I hardly
think was ever heard in any of the Grecian or
Roman theaters. The church rings with the noise
of trumpets, pipes, and dulcimers; and human
voices strive to bear their part with them. Men
run to church as to a theater, to have thetr ears
tickled. And for this end organ makers are hired
with great salaries, and a company of boys, who
waste all their time In learning these whining
tones.” ~
John Calvin, the founder of Presbyterianten,
refused to allow the church at Strassburg, where
■
"Minds are not born, they are
I acquired by training. Personality
is not bom, it is developed by prac-
tice. The greatest textbook on per-
sonality is still the Bible. The Sun-
day School and the church help
to establish the basic belief in God
and a divine moral order. They
are, therefore, of gfeat assistance
to parents and society In giving
children the necessary founda-
tion for developing good character
and personalities ... When parents
decide not to send their children
to the church school until they are
old enough to know what it is all
about, they are adopting a prtn
clple which, If generally applied,
is ruinous. For by the time chil-
dren have learned what It is all
about it is often too late for them
to do much about it. The strategic
time to tea<^<efcildren to subordin-
L \ ate thelr
p is when they are too young to
L understand, but not tee young to
accept.”--Henry C. Link, author of ’
’The Return to Religion”
I
_
The Use of Instrumental Music
By EARL WEST
Everyone who has attended a service of the he preached, to use the instrument. He said,
“Musical instruments in celebrating the praises ..........
of God would be no more suitable than the burn-
ing of incense, the lighting of lamps, and the re-
storation of the other shadows of the law. The
Papists, therefore, have foolishly borrowed this,
as well as many other things from the Jews.”
More than a century ago a movement was
launched here in America which looked toward
the restoration of primitive Christianity. Leaders
of this movement proposed to return to the
scriptures as the only basis of their religious
beliefs and practices. But in the process of time,
men grew tired of the will, word and way of the ‘
Lord and found they had a greater affinity to
human philosophy and human devices in relig-
ious matters. They first abandoned God’s plan of .._d
the church doing missionary work and esta-
blished a human society—a product of human
planning and scheming—to do the work God
gave the church. Not satisfied with altering the
plan of God regarding the work of the church,
they sought next to “improve" God’s plan as it
respected the worship of the church. Thus, the
instrument of music was added.
When someone wrote Alexander Campbell and
asked his opinion of the use of the instrument,
Campbell replied, “That all persons who have
no spiritual, discernment, taste or relish for spirit-
ual mediations, consolations and sympathies of
renewed hearts, should call for such aid is but
natural. Pure water from the flinty rock has no
attraction for the mere toper or wine-biber ....
So to those who have no real devotion or spirit-
uality in them, and whose animal nature flags
under the.oppression of church service, I think
that instrumental music would be not only a
desideratum, but an essential prerequisite to fire
up their souls to even animal devotion. But I
presume to all spiritually-minded Christians, I
such aids would be as a cowbell in a concert.”
The movement to return to the primitive order
had no greater advocate than Ben Franklin. I
When someone asked his opinion on the use of
the instrument, Franklin responded that its use
would be permissible under the following cir-
cumstances: “(1) Where a church mever had or
has lost the Spirit of Christ .... (2)If a church
has a preacher who never had, or has lost the
Spirit of Christ, who has become dry, prosing
and lifeless speaker, so as to be entirely incapable
of commanding and interesting an audience, as
it is thought that instrumental music would draw
out and interest the people.... (3) If a church
only intends being a fashionable society, a mere
place of amusement and secular entertainment,
and abandoning all idea of religion and worship,
instrumental music would be a very pleasant ana
agreeable part of such entertainment."
It goes without saying that men lost faith I
in the divine arrangement for the church and I
fell in love with their human planning, as was
evidenced by their adding instrumental music
and missionary societies to the work and wor-
ship of the Lord's church, a division ensued. I
Only a few years ago a Baylor University Ms* I
torian said that had it not been for the division
caused by the instrumental music, the cause I
for which these people plead would have taken
America. To those who added the instrument I
belongs the shame and remorse that goes with
this failure.
But if it is wrong to use instrumental music in I
the worship of God, why is it so? What prin- I
ciple does it violate?
The New Testament presents to us the picture I
of the church. This church was built as God
wanted it to be. This church Was pleasing to I
God. Everyone admits that if we can have .the I
same church in the world today it would be 9
pleasing to the Lord. Indeed, it would be the I
only church that we positively can know would |
pl.ca.se ihe Loid. In the wnatoueUen of toe-4aber« 1
nacla, the Jews were told to ‘build according to 1
-----toe pattom." They were warned that a fatrare ~ 1
to do this would indicate disobedience to God. —--1
In every age God has required implicit obed- I
fence from man based upon faith. The enemy of I
faith has always been man's tendency to follow I
human wisdom. God forbade Adam and Eve to I
eat of the fruit of a certain tree. At the sugges- I
t-new** Satan,^they ^conceived the idea that thejf |
opinions instead"of God's* re ve^
sirtned. As mentioned before,
t^-b^ildTecSii^to toTSSte
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Hicks, Olan L. Christian Chronicle (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 8, No. 14, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 30, 1950, newspaper, August 30, 1950; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1306100/m1/2/: accessed May 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.