The Anglo-Saxon Israel theory neither destroys or introduces any new
principle, but discovers and applies that which had been long hidden.
The introduction of steam and electricity did not destroy or produce any
new principle, but simply discovered and applied, in an improved form,
that which had been in the world from Adam down till now.
As men in science, mechanics, and practical life, throw overboard men and
things of the past, so should we in theology, Church life, and
experience, when we can do better. Reverence for persons, and respect
for ideas, should not enslave us. Let us move on, doing better and
better. We do not care to believe all the theology of a Martin Luther.
When we can make an advance on men, or theories, we should do so. Bacon
and Newton are now in part rejected, without intending, or in fact doing
them any dishonour or disrespect. So are Calvin and Wesley, on the same
principle, by every good theologian. If a theory be advanced that opens
up the Scriptures, and especially the prophecies, better than those
before existing, let the pulpit accept it, throwing aside its mawkishness
and age-intrenched stupidity. I have no hesitation to say, after over
twenty-five years of experience with preachers and pulpit, that the
majority of preachers are lazy and indifferent in study. For this reason
many of them are deterred from examining any new theory. Many have said
to me, and written to me, that if they accepted the Lost Tribe theory it
would destroy nearly all their old sermons, and necessitate the making of
new ones—a work they were not willing to undertake. It will, therefore,
be a long time before the pulpit is reformed. In these days there are
many strikes. While in Canada, on my vacation, I agreed to lecture for a
Church choir on the prophet Jeremiah’s visit to Ireland. But some
preachers banded together and stopped it; and, in consequence of it, the
choir struck and refused to sing the following Sunday. Passing by this
strike, I really wish the laymen would strike and call the pulpit to an
account and rouse it from its lethargy, and demand that it should
untrammel itself and be free and equal to the age and demand. I have met
with miserly persons who didn’t believe in beautiful churches, or the
missionary cause, or any cause indeed that wanted money. They would
argue for plainness, and so on. The secret of their peculiar ideas on
these matters was to be found in their stinginess and their love of
money. They advocated such theories because it saved them from
contributing. Like a man I met with on my vacation tour who said that he
saved forty dollars a year by pretending to be angry with the minister or
some of the deacons when they came round collecting money. Some
ministers, no doubt the majority of them, talk about holding on to the
old landmarks and being orthodox for the very reason that to make a move
implies labour, which they are not willing to give, hence they prate
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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