Litchfield enquirer., 1868-05-07
An Interesting Discussion.

In supplement to tho Willimantic .ou,7,a. of April A we find report of an interesting public discussion which occurred Ut that placo on the evenings of Tuesday and Wednesday, the 21st and 22d ult, regarding the Divine Inspiration of the Scriptures. Hon. A. A. Burnham, late member of Congress from that District, presided, and tho question was argued by the Rev. E. F. Clark in the affirmative and A. T. Foss in the negative. The principal objections made by MT. Foss were the following -.oiln4tz4.ul:-.l 't,1i33n1si -.
 l. To Chron XXI, 12,stating that Jehoram-king of Judah received letter from the prophet Elijah whereas he had been translated somc years before, as appeared from 2 Kings, 2d Chap.
 2. To the miracle of the sun and moon standing still, narrated in Joshua N, 13. Tho only authori- ty for which, the book of Jasher, now lost was written Mr. Foss claimed some 700 years afterward "s af'se~Fea TronI ssIi SIIoSIoIr
 3. To the miricle of the Quails in Numbers x, 32 He computed there were 28 800 length, 40 rods in width and three feet in height of solid quails." ~-@' '45 ' ''-
 4. MT. Foss made citations to show tho untrust- worthiness of tho councils of Laodicea and Nice which settled the canon of Scripture, and claimed that the men composing them were unworthy of confidence. He asserted that the most ancient cop jos of the Bible full of erasures and corrections and swarm with corruptlons. t4!r '4t+5< tt
 To these objections MT. Clark replied in sub stance as follows: ''-. H. -'- E.
 1. That Jehoram and Elijah lived at the same time, and that the letter in dispute did not come after Elijah's translation.
 2. GAS to the authorship of Jasher, he said it was no objection to the authenticity of book of the Bible, that the materials were drawn from oth- CT writings. Parts of Genesis were undoubtedly compiled from other records, but it was no argu- ment against it's Divine inspiration"
 3. "Therc is nothing in the Bibo which com- pells to believe that tho ias lay three feet on the ground. The force tof tho passage is that the quails flew over the camp. Tho Fulgate has, fly ing over tho camp. They worked two days and ono night, and only got little less than bushel of quails ,"
 4. Mir. Andrews denied that the canon of Scrip ture settled by the Councils of Laodcea and Nice, but claimed that they had been long before generally adopted as the Divine rule of faith and practice. "As to the early fathers not being reli- able, tho Bible was disseminated before their exis tence," Although the old manuscripts are full of various readings, few are of the least conse- quence. -G .....s ..s .s
 We heartily wish Christian ministers would pay more attention to thorough instruction in tho evi- dences of Christianity and to tho arguments for and against the authenticity and inspiration of the Scriptures They cannot be aware of the amount of confused belief, half-belief and even disbelief to be found even among those reckoned as sincere rhvrak non to points disputed between different Protestant denominations, excite but little interest in these days but a thorough examination and discussion of the great issues between Christianity and Inf dety, must ever be of tho greatest interest, and, we cannot help thinking, of the greatest benefit to the cause of religion. .a''44s