The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1869-03-09
Correspondence.
For THE REGISTER.


say that you do not propose to be lei into a dis
cusson on the subject, but will answer our civil
question &c." Now if you had answered us by
simply stating that Mr. Miller rejected certain
portions of the Bible as literal truth, we could
have dropped the subject far relates to MIR.
Miller, and simply agreed to disagree with you in
the opinion Of what constituted Infdelity, But
inasmuch you have bolstered up yonr opinion
with deductions which to us seem very erroneous,
aud by so-doing have placed, not only Mr.. Miller
but those who sympathize with him in their relig-
ious opinions, in false light before the world,
(allowing your deductions to be correct,) we feel
it incumbent upon us to take exceptions to such
deductions, an the first place you say that by
rejecting any portion Of the Bible necessarily
invadate (Which means to DESTROY the whole
system of revealed reg on" Here we discover
at least, two very fatal mistakes for from this
we are TO infer that, That Infinite Spirit, which we
call God has not revealed himself or ITSELF in
any other way except through the Bible, or the
writings therein contained a position which we
consider untenable. We will rest this part by
saying that God and religion have BEEN and are
being revealed in numerous and various WAYS be.
sides through the revelations contained ia the
Bible. Another error to which ne would call at
tention is, the inference that rejecting any portion
oil book, necessarily destroys the whole it may
preclude the possibility oil believing the Book las
Book,) inialible. but it does not destroy any
known truth, nor does it hinder any one from be-
lievi"g any thing contained in it which they can
perceiv to be truth. For instance il you should
tell us that the edifce owned by the Episcopa
Church, or the Church ediice Of that denomination
oil Christians in Middlebury, was composed wholly
OF stone, we might, il we knew nothing to the con-
trary, take take your word, and believe that it
was all stcne; but would your assertion or our
belief change the facts in the case ; supposng we
take sufficient interest in this matter to examine
the building critically for ourselves, what would
he the resultI as everyone knows, it would result
in the discovery that while large portion of it
was stone, still another portion was actually and
Enthusiastically rood Now what shall We infer
shall we infer, that there is no stone in the build
ing or shall we carefully, and as accurately as
possible estimate the relative amount of each ma
teral and accept the truth just as we find it after
having been submitted to the test of reason and
science! This is our position relative to the Bible
and we are very confident that we do not differ
very materially with Mr.. NJ. 1t does not seen
possible TO us, that any pers II possessing common
sense could have lis tened to Mr. NJ lecture which
we are aware you did not and not have become
convinced that discarding portions of the Bible did
not Destroy or zen impair other portions, which
he not only endorsed, but culogized as beautiful,
sublime, and sacred truths sacred because true
lour next proposition in the form of n
question, YOU say, sit part Of the Bible is false
what assurance have we that the whole IS not
fabrication" To this We reply that if you ignore
the process by which we arrive at the conclu sion
that portions are may be true aud other por-
ions may not be true Literally, Chat is the ordea
Of submitting it t. the test ., human reason there
is no assurance that il i. not fabrication in toto
Nor does it help the provided YOU swallow The
whole lids and all for unless YOU come to our
test YOU are just as lame on the whole as you
would be on part We throw ont the above
hints as simple axioms, hopi & that il they are
not SO received, you or some other good orthodox
friend will condescend to take up the matter and
show us wherein they falacious.
Your next proposition i, THAT it this guide
(the Bible) were taken away from us, life would
he a miserable failure, thing to he endured
with no hope in the end In the first place we
would say that d. not propos. to take away
the Bible from anyone, but would divest it Of tho
mysticisms with which ignorance and superstition
have enshrouded it. 50 that it may become digesti-
BILE food for the minds OF that great mass Of hu
manity who as yet have been unable 10 appropri-
ate it, in short, we would Spirtualize it before
attempting to use it as spiritual food just as
much as we would clear the chat and other njur-
ious ingredients from grain before using il as
food with which TO sustain physical lie. In the
next place, would inquire, what assurance
have you that we should have no hope at the end
OF this life, were it not for the Bible does the his
terry Of those nations, who have never had the
benefit Of our Bible warrant such conclusion 2
we think at least it comes far short Of proving it
We will take one single instance which will be
sufficient for our present purpose; that Of the
American Indian, Wild unlettered, uncutivated,
savage be is, and ever has been. it is yell
known fact that he entertains quite exalted ideas
Of supreme being (Tbe Great Spirit as well as
ideas of future state Of existence and happiness
quite We'll adapted to his state of development,
as are the Christians ideas TO theirs in fact We
are not prepared to say that the Indians idea Of
reason is not pre- ierrable inasmuch it is based
upon the principle OF eternal justice, or the law
Of just compensation, while that Of the orthodox
Christian is not. In the next paragraph we are
fold that the whole world would soon lapse into
, darkness and violence of heathenism Now VIC
should like to be enlightened upon this point pray
tell us what reason there is to fear such result
inasmuch do not propose to throw away the
Bible, nor did Mr.. NJ, but simply claim the right
TO believe every word in it which our reason will
allow to believe; and reject whatt yer our rea-
son makes it impossible for to believe; one
thug more, although we have no data from which
to make an accurate estimate, we think it safe tc
say that not more than one tenth of the human
family have mp to tie present time, ever had any
practical knowledge Of the Book in question
which fact. Of it be fact,) would seem to pre-
+ clude the correctness Of such a conclusion Their
D again such conclusion presupposes the Bibl,
to be the basis of all science and knowledge, which
is error so papable that viii not at tempt tC