THE MODERN ATTITUDE TO THE • BIBLE [To the Editor
of the SPECTATOR.] Sta,--Yon describe Canon Vernon Storr as " a- leader of the Evangelical Group Movement and a distinguished Biblical Scholar," and as such he describes the modern attitude to the Bible. Part of that' attitude is : " nor do we believe in a visible Second Coming of Christ in clouds of glory." As the
Church to which Canon Storr belongs celebrated the very next Sunday as Advent Sunday and, no doubt, thousands of con- gregations sang " Lo He comes in clouds descending," the " popular mind " to which he refers may well feel " perplexed and disquieted." The contradiction is bewildering. Those who write " in defence of the Faith " evidently need to be told what is the faith they are supposed to defend. I read my New Testament, and find in it nothing clearer or more definite than that the " faith once delivered to the saints " included the explicit teaching that the Lord Jesus Christ is
personally and literally to come back to this earth; " This same Jesus shall come in like manner," &e., &c.
A great deal of " the modern attitude to the Bible," Sir, is due to sheer ignorance of it.—I am, Sir, &c., EDGAR TAYLOR, M.J.I.
42 Wharncliffe Gardens, South Norwood Hill, S.E. 25.
[Canon Starr writes :—The writer of the above letter is evidently unfamiliar with 'the' many difficult problems con- nected with the question of our Lord's attitude to the Jewish apocalyptic beliefs of His day. May I make the following suggestions to him ?
(a) That he should -consider Whether the belief in a Second visible coming was not bound up with a cosmography which modern science has compelled us to abandon.
(b) That he should trace the origin of the belief in Jewish apoca- lyptic literature.
(c)-=That' he should compare the outlook of the Fourth Gospel with that of the Synoptics, and ask whether the former does not deliberately- substitute the coming in the Spirit at Pentecost - int. the visible Second coming.
—En. Spectator.]
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