Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1867-10-29
Trae In.niratinn

How do You know that the Bible is inspir-
ed Z, asked .keptio of an unlettered but earn
est Christian woman. Because it inspires me.
when read 1t, with ths divine aspect of every
| view and relation ofiifs If | take up q
| book OF botany says q avorite author. 1t
does not Contain living plants, but only word
descriptions OF thsn; If | would see the plant
Itself, mu,t 20 out ~ the book of nature.
where the plant is living Aud he Bible con-
| tainS only the wordfOrms of truth, God does
not hive In a book. Faith. hope, joy, do net
live III books. But AS book OF botany sus-
gests to the habltual student Off those observa-
tlons IN regard to the structure of plants, their
| order and arrangement, and the thoughts they
are capable OF inspiring, so doe. the Bible teach
us to read nature, and the heart of man not
only In the Bible, but In every page of real life
1t suggests thoughts of the purposes of all the
events that happen to US in this life so that we
read life quite differently when we believe it's
system of accounting for things and when we
try to live as it directs This inspiration of new
faith and hope and joy in life, as it comes to US,
Is the best evidence of Bible truths.
The best proof ofa work on botany being true,
and written by man who had read the Thoughts
OF the Creator, as manifested in the fields and
and woods, Is, that when you close the book and
walk anywhere among them, they teach you
new truths and fill you with new thoughts of
the plans of creation. They give you, with
self consistent view the whole structure OF this
part OF creation, so that new plants not mem
toned In books have au interest for you, In a
word, they inspire YOU So does the Bible in
spire men with new, deaper, higher views of
the purposes of life SO that they never can again
look on life as they once did They have an
inspired view Of Its whole end and purposes
The Book Is the channel of q new inspiration.
The early Church regarded every Christian as
an inspired man, not an infaibe one, but so
inwardly enlightened that he looks on the world
with new eyes; and as the geologlst reads thou
sands OF years of the earth's record in a few
inches of gravel or sand or rock, lying one on
top anOther-as the chemist reads laws of forces
and athnltles and combinations In the simplet
effervescence Or mixture-so the student of the
Bible, amid all mistranslatlons, mistakes of
cOpylsts and commentators, and other difficulties,
reads that in the Bible that inspires him with
new views of all his purposes and lie, making
it part of an harmonious system related to all
other life.
The greatest change that is going on in the
world at the present time Is that from the letter
to the spirit. 1t is the spirit of everything both
In literature and in religion, that is inspired and
in proportion inspires the recipient Time was
when committing to memory the largest amount
of the words of textbook was the test Of
scholarship; long pages of grammars in an nn-
known tongue, especially 10 Latin, were thus
committed, and religious teaching was confued
to the words Of catechsm or so many verses
of the Bible. Even the singing In the churches
was confined to The Psalms of David"
paraphrased in most barbarous style. There
are some sects who adhere to that literally to
this day. 1t needed all the poetic grace, beau
ty, and religious as well As poetic Inspiration of
young Isaac Watts, equally graceful iii psalms
and in hymns, to break down much of this old
feeling. Now poetry, science, art and progress
have led to deeper, truer feeling Of the in
spration Of the Scriptures, lying In this inspir-
ing, Qulckening power, awakening Bible expe-
riences aud thoughts in modern circumstances
an inspiration which lies not in the letter,
which killeth, but In the spirit, which giveth
life.
The new movements of religious bodies all
tend in this direction Chris fianity, as it affects
different classes and differently educated men,
is showing itself out in new forms. The preach
ing in threatres in England by the laity-ln this
country so far by ministers, but without stiffness
Or parade-is one of them. There is religion,
and testimony to its truth and new appca-
tions of it, belonging to every branch of life,
art and science. There Is not SCIENCE not
branch of learning conducted by living, earn
est good man, but teaches him new applications
of truth most needful to the world and the
proper growth Of society. The true and divine
IDEAS thus brought out by a society of we'll
selected men would be most advantageous, and
the place where they inculcated would soon be
crowded with thoughtful hearers. Philadelphia
Ledger