Article September 4, 1902 Issue

An esteemed contemporary has recently well said that,...

An esteemed contemporary has recently well said that, "Many of our church methods and practices which have grown venerable with age, need to be treated as Hezekiah treated the brazen serpent that Moses had made. When he found that the Israelites were worshiping it he broke the venerable relic in pieces and called it a thing of brass. Undoubtedly that made a great sensation, and many thought that Hezekiah was destroying religion, whereas he was really purifying it and saving it. (2 Kings, 18 : 4.)

"We must be careful not to attach too much weight to the assumption that what has lasted a long time is right and wise. There is a certain presumption in its favor, but it is not controlling against the conclusions of fresh examination. We have no continuing city here. Our best plans and methods are but the tents of a night, and we make the best use of them by being willing to abandon them at short notice when better ones are to be had. New occasions do not teach new principles, but they certainly teach new duties."

To recognize Principle as the one abiding thing, is what the world, and especially the religious world, greatly needs to learn. The forms and creeds which have been shaped by a sense which is more or less human, and therefore more or less imperfect, must give place to the clearer vision of the advancing years. New presentations of Truth are not to be tested by the question of conformity to past interpretations and authorities, however venerable, but by practical demonstration of their adequacy to solve our problems and advance the spiritual life. "By their fruits ye shall know them."

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