HISTORIC FAITH.

REV. B. F. AUSTIN'S QUESTIONS.
 (To the Editor " Bathurst Times.")

Sir, — As stated in my letter published this morning, I purpose submitting some of the questions which the Rev. B F. Austin. M.A., D.D., of Rochester, New York (U.S.A.), lists in his " Open Letter, to the Orthodox Clergy." I do not take this action in mere idleness, but as interested in the question of the authority of tho biblical records. I offer no apology, however, as I feel convinced that Bishop Long, after his able discourse on Sunday last, will be able to satisfy my curiosity. Here are the conundrums (the term being Mr. Austin's):—

Does the history of religious dogmas warrant a conviction on your part that your present religious belief is a full and final statement of the religious question ?
 Does not history show an evolution of religious thought; and if so, is your present belief likely to be the one you will hold when you reach a higher plane of development — say, 100 years from now?
 Is there any other safe attitude of mind towards the Truth than a perfect willingness to discard error, however dear it may be from its associations, and to receive new conceptions of Truth, however much against our prejudices?
 Can Truth ever be dangerous to humanity? Can error ever profit either teacher or hearer?
 Is not all Truth equally sacred? Is the Truth written in a rock or in man's nature, not as sacred as anything written in the so-called sacred books?
 Must not all Truths harmonise? Can two Truths ever contradict each other? If the Bible and Nature are both divine revelations to man, can they disagree?
 Do you believe the Bible is "the Word of God"?; an infallible revelation of God's will to men ? ; given because necessary to show men the way of salvation" ?
 If so, why was it not given for 4000 years after Adam and Eve fell into sin? Why was the human race deprived of its light and comfort for 4000 years or more ?
 If the Bible is the infallible "Word of God," how do you account for 157 churches and creeds all teaching different and opposing dogmas, professedly from this one Bible?
 Why is there not a single passage in the Bible which claims for that volume the title,"Word of God" ?— or one which claims for the Bible as a whole, divine inspiration ?
 Who made the Canon of Scripture ? Where did the makers get their authority for rejecting some books and accepting others ? Was the selection infallibly inspired? What proof can you offer the world ?
 Was the Council of Nice, which settled the New Testament Canon, convened by Constantine and presided over by him? a man who murdered his father-in-law, cut the throat of his twelve-year-old nephew, and in the very year he convened the Council (325 A.D.) beheaded his eldest son, and put Fausta, his wife, to death !
 Is the inspiration that would come to a Council presided over by such a monster likely to be "plenary," and "divine," and "infallible"?
 Is it true, that to that Council 2048 bishops came, and that their meeting resulted in a general quarrel, and that Constantine, as moderator, dismissed 1730 of the bishops, and left but 318 to settle the question of the "Deity" of Jesus, and tho Canon of Scripture?
 Are you sure the decision of the Council on these two questions; the "Deity" of Jesus and the Canon of the New Testament, would have been the same had all the bishops taken part ?
 Is it true that there were 50 Gospels submitted and only four accepted, and that Luke had a majority of one vote only? What if the bishop representing that vote had been one of those dismissed by Constantine?
 Are you certain that it is the plan and purpose of any Deity to save man from errors and mistakes in his religious ideas and practices any more than in any other department of human thought and activity ?
 Is not Nature's plan (everywhere apparent) to teach us by Experience, and are not our errors and mistakes our best instructors ?
 Are you sure the truth of your dogma of man's depravity, and that it originated in Adam's transgression?
 How many scientific minds the world over, unbefogged by early Orthodox teaching, believe in the literal story of Adam and Eve, and the record of the "Fall"?
 How do you reconcile this doctrine with the "fore-knowledge of God," the "justice" of God, the "goodness" of God?
 Does not the preaching of depravity produce depravity? Does not the doctrine of hell make hell in human minds and hearts? In view of the power of suggestion, as levelled by psychology to-day, is it not criminal to teach the doctrine of human depravity to children?
 Do not the highest educational authorities to-day (and of past days, as Froebel) assert that human nature is inherently good in itself?
 Which of the churches and creeds represents to-day the teaching and practice of the Nazarene?
 If the Bible came from God and is a revelation of His will and love to men, how do you account for the evident mistakes, errors, contradictions, myths, fables, barbarities, obscenities, &c, which are found in its pages?
 Do you really believe that the Old Testament Jehovah, who was described as "a man of war," and whose record throughout Jewish history is that of a blood-thirsty tyrant, is really the same God that Jesus proclaimed as our "Father in heaven" — the same as Faber sings about :
 " There's a wideness in God's mercy
 Like the wideness of the sea."
 Is it true or false that this Old Testament Jehovah ordered the indiscriminate slaughter of the Canaanites: men, women, and innocent babes?
 Is it true that He required, through His accredited mouthpiece, the murder of the Midianites, for alleged wrong-doing of their ancestors 400 years before ?
 Is it true that his altars reeked with blood, and that unnumbered innocent victims were slaughtered and burnt as a "sweet-smelling savor" to Jehovah?
 Were not human sacrifices offered to him in the case of Jephthah's daughter, and Agag, and others, whom Samuel, his prophet, hewed to pieces "before the Lord"?
 Is it a sufficient reply on the part of Orthodoxy to these charges against the inhumanity and bloodthirstiness of Jehovah, to say the Israelites were at that time barbarous and uncivilised (remembering that this Old Testament economy is supposed to have come down from Jehovah's own lips)? Was Jehovah at that time a barbarian?
 Is there not a striking parallel between the histories of Jesus and Buddha; both having their births foretold, both being virgin born, both being heralded by stars, both suffering for men, and both reappearing after death?
 May not this parallel be extended to tho founders of other great religions? As Buddha preceded Christ, is it not evident that the story of Buddha could not be copied from that of Christ ?
 Is it not true that in the Assyrian and Babylonian records there are stories of Creation, the Fall, the Deluge, &c., similar to, and antedating, those of the Bible? Does not this account more rationally for the Bible narratives, than any supposed revelation to Moses ?
 Is it true that the Higher Criticism has shown most of the books of the Bible to be without known date and authorship, in many cases compilations from previous records, and in all cases such as can easily be accounted for as of purely human origin?
 Is it true that a publisher was actually convicted and fined for sending obscene matter through the United States mails, who had only circulated some selections from the "Holy Bible?"
 Did Jesus teach Presbyterian, Methodist, Anglican, Baptist, or Roman Catholic doctrine? How many articles were in His creed? What were they? Did He ever teach Adam's fall, human depravity, vicarious atonement or salvation by faith?
 There is little need to here refer to the many works on the same lines which have a wide circulation to-day. I shall anxiously await answers to the preceding queries before proceeding further with the subject. — Yours, &c,
TRUTH-SEEKER.
 Bathurst, March 28, 1913.

Bathurst Times (NSW : 1909 - 1925), Saturday 29 March 1913, page 6