DAILY CAPITAL JOURNAL, SALEM, OREGON, SATURDAY, JULY 30, 1904.
THRES
DISCOVERED NEW WRITINGS OE CHRIST :
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Lodo, July 30. The following ar- returned In February last to their old
Rclo has .been wrltttu by the bishop haunt at Oxyrhynchus, and there, by
I Itlpen: ' what they call a "curious stroke of
It -win be remembered that some good fortune," came upon a manu-
px y.earB ago public Interest and curl
ilty were- aroused fc(y the announce
ment that there had been discovered
script which1 contained some further
sayings of Jesus. These, together
with a "fragment of a lost gospel,"
Egypt a manuscript containing what they have now given to the world In
ilaimeo 10 do some sayings or our a popular lorm abridged from the pub-
3rd. The discovery was mad on the llcatlon of the texts In the Oxyrhyn-
lte of -Oxyrhynchus, a chief city of jchus papyri part 4; thus we are once
Indent Egypt. The discoverers were
br. Orenfell and Dr. liunt, who have
Revoted so much time and patience
io mo nooie rasrc or enncning tne
present with the spoils of the past.
This Interesting discovery was Boon
Iven to the public, and within a year
ae large quarto volume was Issued,
containing facsimiles not only of the
precious manuscript of the sayings of
lrist, but upward of 150 texts se
lected from 1200' on 1300 documents,
In the following year (1899) a second
volume appeared, containing 193
selected texts. The documents were
theological and classical, and belonged
lo various dates. It was, however, to
the manuscript containing the sayings
ar login of Jesus Christ that popular
attention was chiefly directed; and
perhaps the Interest in this manu
script was not lessened when two edi
tors, lb their Introduction, expressed
their opinion that similar Interesting
finds were not very probably. "It Is
not very likely that wo shall find an
other poem of Sappho, still less that
we shall come across, another page
of the logla."
A Stroke of Fortune.
But those Indefatigable excavators
! after having spent some time In
searching for documents in the Fayum
more indebted to the editors both for
their untiring labors and for the way
In whlchi they enable so many to share
the difficulty attending their work at
Oxyrhjynchus "may be formed from, the
statement which tells us that the
mounds which need to be cleared are
scattered, over a site more than a mile
In length. The ground to be explored
In thus large in area and rich intreas
ure. The newly discovered manuscript of
the sayings of Jesus differs In form
from the earlier one. The earlier manu
script consisted of a leaf belonging,
so it was thought, to a well-written
volume. The recently discovered
manuscript has a less worthy setting,
and the new sayings are written on the
back of another manuscript.
The fragment, for it Is but a frag
ment, though a very precious one, con
sists of forty-two incomplete lines.
They were found written on the back
of what proves to be a land survey
list. The survey list, according to
the opinion of the editors was prob
ably written at the end of the second
or early part of the third century. But
It Is the manuscript on the other side
which will Interest us; this the dis
coverers are inclined to assign to the
middle or end of the third century; a
Theo. M. Bar'r
Successor to Borr & PetzeJ.
-and
SALEM,
Hot Air, Hot Water and
Steam Heating a Specialty.
OREGON
later date than A. D. 300 Is, in their
view, most unlikely. If these conclu
sions should prove correct, the present
sayings of Jesus are about the -Bame
date as the logla, or sayings, dis
covered In. 1837. The final settlement
of the question of date and of authori
ties must be left to experts.
One is tempted to quote some In
deed of these "sayings." They may
be authentic, or they may not; but
they are charged with a spirit which
is tin harmony with the spirit of our
Master; they are like his sayings, in
being simple, and, as Wordsworth
wouiu bay, niovuauio; xney provoKO n
fiympnthetlo acqulesence; they chal
lenge obedience; they Instruct and
they Inspire; they possess a happy
power of paradox; for they are of ub,
and yet above ua. We know them to
be true, and yet they shame us be
cause they convince us that we are
not true to what Is so obviously true.
One of the Sayings.
We ano tempted to illustrate by
wholesale quotation from this precious
fragment; but it would not be fair
to do so. We must confine ourselves
to one perhaps the most beautiful
of them) all. It Is fresh with the fresh
ness of the sky and the earth ; it
sounds new, and yet, as we read It, '
we know that the old spirit is in it.
It echoes tho deep spiritual teach
ing which Is familiar, to us, and It
leads us into the field of nature as
the Lord was wont to lead his hear
ers. The sentences are Incomplete In
the fragment, but I give them as re
stored b'y the editors. This Is the
saying:
"Jesus salth (Ye all? who are those)
that draw us (to the kingdom1, If) the
kingdom is in heaven? tho fowls
of the air, and all beasts that aro un
der tlje earth or upon tho earth, and
the ffshes of the sea (these are they
which draw) you, and the kingdom of
heaven Is within you; and whoever
shall know himself shall find It.
(Strive therefore?) to know your
selves, and ye shall bo aware that ye
are tho sons of the (almighty) Father;
(and?) ye shall know that' yo aro In
(tho city of God) and yo aro (the
city?)
It will be seen by tho numbers of
brackets and queries which are here
introduced that the task of restoring
the saving to completeness1 is difficult,
and the result by no means certain;
but tho editors have not mado their
conjectural restoration without auth
ority; they have worked their way to
it by the application of a principle of
parallelism; they have been led to the
reconstruction by the hints which the
perfect portion gives, aided by tho an
alogy of other authentic sayings of
our Lord.
The Wltnes of Nature.
The general Idea of the whole say
ing "seems to be that tho divine cle
ment In the world begins In tho lower
stages of animal creation, and rises
to a higher stage in man, who has
within his the kingdom of heaven."
Or shall we not rather say that be
cause man comes from God, and has
come also to his manhood through the
lower stages he has within himself
tho capacity of response to all that
bears the touch or dwells in the care
of his Heavenly Father's hand?
For man therefore the fowls of the
air, the beasts of tho field, tho fishes
of tho sea have a voice, and the voice
witnesses of God and his loving care;
but tho divine voice Is not there only;
for when man penetrates into the
deeps of his own being and questions
his own soul, there, too, will an answer
meet him, and In knowing himself he
will find the kingdom of heaven In
finding himself he will find God. To
know all of arjy one thing Is to know
all things. To know the flower In the
cranny of Uie wall Is to catch n
glimpse of God; but to know our own
nature, In Its wide significance, Its
complexity, and its capacity, is to
k'now something more of God who not
only gave beauty to the earth, but
moral and spiritual powor, reflec
tions of himself, to man, mado in his
own Image.
Here I must stop; Tho reader who
would read this stimulating and sug
gestive little fragment must consult
tho work edited by Doctors Grenfell
and Hunt. It will repay him by its
contents, and it will arouse his curi
osity and gratitude for he will realize
that there are plenty of unexplored
mounds and undeclphered manu
scripts, and he will bo grateful to men
who. In a somewhat mercenary age,
aro devoting their tlmo and their rare
gifts to the discovery of treasures
moro precious than gold.
W. B. RIPON.
Books By William J. Longi
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Wilderness Ways 75c
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Bear, t. $1.50
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