Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, May 1865 — John Shaqi
Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, May 1865
History
Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, May 1865
Catholic Church -- Ireland -- Periodicals; Catholic Church -- Periodicals
Thus has Dr. Colenso pulled down the whole edifice of the English colonial
episcopate. Like Sampson of old, he has been, indeed, avenged upon his
enemies, but he has been himself crushed beneath the ruins he has made.
Yet, though his jurisdiction as a bishop may be taken away, his moral
power and his influence are increased. He now appears not only as an
eminent leader of the free-thinking and infidel school of theology, but as
a martyr who has suffered in the cause; and this new character gives him
an additional claim to the sympathy and veneration of his followers. When
the youthful plant is checked in its upward growth by the skilful knife of
the gardener, it puts forth new branches on every side, and flourishes
with increased luxuriance. And so, according to every human probability,
the check which Dr. Colenso has received will but promote the rapid
expansion of his views, and their dissemination throughout the Protestant
Church. It is therefore all the more important for those who defend the
cause of truth to refute his charges against the Bible, and to lay bare
the sophistry of his arguments. Let us take the following example:—
“ ‘_And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, ... Gather thou the
congregation together unto the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation. And Moses did as Jehovah commanded him. And the
assembly was gathered unto the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation_’—(_Lev._, viii. 1-4).
“First, it appears to be certain that by the expressions used so
often, here and elsewhere, ‘the assembly’, ‘the whole assembly’,
‘all the congregation’, is meant the whole body of the people—at
all events, the _adult males in the prime of life_ among them—and
not merely the _elders_ or _heads of the people_, as some have
supposed, in order to escape from such difficulties as that which
we are now about to consider. At any rate, I cannot, with due
regard to the truth, allow myself to believe, or attempt to
persuade others to believe, that such expressions as the above can
possibly be meant to be understood of the elders only....
“This vast body of people, then, received on this occasion, and on
other similar occasions, as we are told, an express command from
Jehovah himself, to assemble ‘at the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation’. We need not press the word ‘all’ so as to include
every individual man of this number. Still the expression ‘all the
congregation’, the ‘whole assembly’, must be surely understood to
imply the _main body_ of those who were able to attend, especially
when summoned thus solemnly by the direct voice of Jehovah
himself. The _mass_ of these 603,550 men _ought_, we must believe,
to have obeyed such a command, and hastened to present themselves
at the ‘door of the tabernacle of the congregation’....
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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