The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-11-22
VIEWS CONCERNING TIE BIBLE.
the OLD AND THE New cUS1RAs1lu.
ADl,cOurss Delivered 10 The Church Of The
Disciples, Boston, BY lanes Free.
man Clarke.

and propose to describe and contrast the
old and new views Of the Bible. IShAl
Try 10 show you that the free, broad and
human views Of the Bible, long held by
UnilarlAns, are now largely held by the
best scholars and thinkers Of all demon
nations, would also show that they arr
higher, nOblOr more spiritual, more telig'
ious, than the old orthodoxy. But, before
doing this, will state tue facts concerning
the Bible in which all agree,-to which al
scholars, whether TrinitarianS, or Uni
Larians, Orthodox, or ksterodox, would
assent,
All then agree that tho Bible Is not one
: book, written at one time, and on one sub
: jeCt; but whole encyclopedia Of religious
literature, There books arc written by al
least lorty different authors, and during {
period Of at least q thousand years. By
whom they were first gathered together
We do not know. Atwhat time they came
together we cannot tell. On what princi
I pie they were selected Ia matter OF con
, lecture. Who tho real writer's were |,
, doubtful Their manuscripts have lonp
since persisted. The oldest manuscripi
we have Is three hundred Yeas later than
, the time when tho last book Of the New
Testament was written. Down TO the
time Of tho invention Of prirI y, In the
. 18th century, the books Of III Bible were
copied by hand. The result was that d
, large number Of errors crept In, and We
have no means Of deciding with certainty
what the original text OF the Bible was,
, Our present English version was made by
order OF King James ], and printed Ia
1911. Neither the translators were 10.
spired, nor the printers, nor tho proof.
readers; nor did they possess u good q
] Hebrew aud Greek text from which 10
translate as We have now.
These are simple matters OF fact, 10
which oil scholars will agree, no matter
how orthodox they are. On the other
hand, Nll--even the most heretical-
" hose opinions deserve any respect, will
admit that the collection Of Jewish and
works which We call the Bible, stands al
the head OF the religious literature OF Inc
world. There is no book like Il. or second
toit, All the other sacred books Of man.
kind-the VGdas, the Kings, the Zend
AveStA, the writings Of ConfuCius, the
Koran, the Eddas-however much they
may contain OF sound truth and moral
beauty, are fiat and tame when compared
TO the depth, sweep, variety, picturesque
character and heavenly charm Of the
books Of the Bible. The book OF Job IA
probably the noblest poem In any li,era.
ture; the book Of Ruth, by the testimony
Of such critics as Rousseau and Goethe. Ii
the tenderess idyl; the book Of Ecclesi.
astes is more terrible in It's desperate de.
spair than any tragedy Of Eschylus or
Shakespeare. The stories OF patfiarChal
lie in Genesis, and OF antique mannersin
the book OF Kings, surpaSs even the un.
dying charm Of those In IIerodotus. The
book OF Psalms goes 80 deeply into the
spiritual experiences OF mans nature his
faith, his doubt, his reason, his hone, his
tender trust, his ardent aspiration-tbat Il
will always remain the best manual OF dc.
votiOn for the human race. The prophet.
10 literature Of the Bible stands absolutely
alone, making class by itself in The pro.
duCtion OF human genius, Those straiHs
mount up Into the sky like the larks on
the plains Of Normandy, who ascend
higher and higher till they go out Of
sight IN the heavens, while their notes
still ill the air with music dropping from
above. The writings Of Paul contain oc.
casionSl bursts Of fiery elOquencc, OF ten.
der affection, OF concentrated thought.
without parallel in human writings,
And the words OF Jesus, preserved in the
four gospels, stand forever alone. For in
them we see harmony OF qualities every
where else separate and divorced. They
show us u reiorner free to the verge OF
radiCallsm, yet y conservative unwilling
that q iot Of the old law should pass away
until the good In II had been carried IN 10
something better; philanthroplst, In
whose mind all barriers between man and
man had fallen away; one with zeal so
determined that he went directly 10 death
as martyr to the truth; and with q char.
ity so large that 1t included In its embrace
all who wished TO do the will OF his father
in heaven, however sunk in misery, sin
and shame; piety so high and 50 con-
slant that II enabled him 10 say what no
other saint or sage could ever dare 10 ut
ter, u and my Father are one." And all
these powers Of soul, heart, mind, are In
such perfect harmony that not one OF
them Is prominent, and that we never
think Of Jesus as reforiner, phIlanthropist,
saint or martyr, but only as diyinely
pure brother, teacher and friend. Even
the Roman Catholic church has, we think,
never ventured to say'"Saint Jesus"
The book which contains all this, and
vastly more, Is Justly called 1.-THE Bible"
or 1.-THE Book" There are two diamelri.
Cally opposite views, however, taken OF lis
origin, inspiration and authority. One Of
these ! call the theology Of the spirit and
the other that Of the letter.
The theology OF the letter says OF the
Bible that 1t is "the word Of God" In
such a sense that every part OF II pro.
ceeded by direct revelation from God, Ill
Is supernatural revelation OF Gods
truth, containing everything necessary for
the religious life Of man; for his hapni.
ness here and his hope hereafter. The
writers were approximately aud miracu.
lousy inspired, 80 that they could not
make any mistake and have not made any,
There are no errors and no contradictions
IN the Bible. 1t Is inialhbIy, verbally,
literally true from end 10 end. All be.
tween its lids is the word Of God, Its Ve.
ology, astronomy, chronology, are perfect
and leave nothing to be desired. ItsGreat
men are all saints TO be admired and imi.
tated, their crimes excused and explained
away. It's Jewish part and its Christian
part are in exact and entire harmony; and
he who questions or denies anything in IL
Is an infdel, who had better have never
been born,
This view oil the iniallibility Of the let.
ter OF the Bible-or, Us 1t was once called,
It's "plenary inspiration" is not so very
ancient, after all, ltCame up, In It's OK.
IRENE form, since the Reformation. Tho.
luck, the German thROlogian, a scholar
highly esteemed in all orthodox circles
tells us, in his essay on inspiration, that
this doctrine arose In thelcontroversy with
the Roman church. The Jesults said,
I'VE, in our church, have unity, conf.
dence, assurance. We have an outward
intallible church 10 lem upon; an Out.
ward authority TO which all can appeal:
an outward judge TO decide all question:
You PrOtestants have no such authority:
nothing infallible; nothing sure, Yon
have only your own inward emotions,
different opinions, changing moods,I
Pressed by this argument. says Tholuck,
the ProtestRnts came, by degrees, to main.
tain that they also had an outward infalll-
bic authority, namely, the iniallible letter
OF the Bible, aud at last were driven, by
the heat Of controversy, to assert that not
only the sense Of the Bible, but the words.
the letter, tho Hebrew vowel points and
the very punctuation proceeded directly
from God; and that the writer's OF the
Bible were merely the amAnuenses Of the
Holy Splrit-thO pen with which he wrote,
the flute through which he breathed,
Now | will call your attention 10 the
fact that tho writers OF the Bible lay no
claim to any such iniallibIlity as this.
They nowhere say that they were inspired
to write books. Luke, for instance, gives
his reason for writing tho gospel. He
ualist, that "he wrote under influence, !"
or that This hand began To write by an
Irresistible poweF.N He simply Ssys, inst
as you or might say In the dedication 10
the biography Of friend, 'tFor d much
1 tab L.. 4 u