, 1879-06-29

Of: printing and reprinting, >translatins an
retSanslating the Scriptures, the liability 9
important and necessary documents being los
before the Bible canon was formed: and last
but not least, the absence OF the Indispensable
element ut uDlycrsality. The lack oi ibis rae
ment alone, apart from all other considerations
would constitute sueh q revelation most dis
most terrible Impeachment upon the chAracte
of its author. Think OF how small Fraction
OF the human rare hare any knowiedg
of the Hebrew or Christian Revelation; thinl
ss9s OF the Orthodox scat,n assumption Ehe tina
s'Word Of God'' vouchsafed to morta
man; consider the logical sequence of this as
sumption,-ll,at the Infinite Father has disin
| herlted by far. the greater portion Of His of
spring, and left them 10 lonely orphanage upot
breakers upon tie bleak and barren rocks 0
doubt and darkness, fear and fate which sKir
The distant Shore without compass or char
| to guide The :,roptng nations on their way, o.
the golden glory OF u grander day. and ye
| this is the painful spectacle protruded upor
human consciousness To the assumption THU
the Bible Is the only 'Word of God" It i
! said, however, that the foregoing objections dc
not affect the question Of the original plenar,
| guments against It's availability and usefulness,
| We'll, let it BE- SO. for tbs is just where the
phllosophic force of the argument plies with
| prodigious effect upon the main question Ut
bal inspiration aro fully sustained; FOR it is a
| fact that language has changed, GOSPELS and
| Eotstlcs have been forged and corrupted.
| interpretations .haVe been inserted by pious
| bur not oyerscrupulous copyists and compilers,
! errors have been made in translation, pucon-
| sciously,-resulting from IGNORANCE, AMI con-
sciousiy--in the interests Of dogma, and Justly,
| but small portion Of The human race are aware
OF such revelation. In the textbook under
review there is no attempt to answer this im-
peachment Of the .practicabflity Ut plenary in
spiration based upon the foregoing array OF
1acts. hisimportant phase Of the subject Is nor
approached, and consequently its vital bearing
upon the question is not brought to an ISSUE
And this constitutes the weakness and the ruin
OF tile authors argument. The failure to notice
these objections is an admission Ut ilteir validity
aud amounts to q virtual "surrende. OF the
fort.n Tie potency Of these objections being
admitted, it follows, as the night the day. That
the defenders of the little "lastness u Of an
another dilemma. Concedns to them the fact
(Which We do not except Tor sake Of the argu-
meut) TINT the. Scriptures were originally
pfenarily inspired, they must either admit that
such inspiration, confined as It Is within the
narrow limits Ut hook-for the most part un-
known to the worlds q very partial, unjust,
aud unavailable affair, unworthy Of God; OF
they must abandon their puerile position to
savc the character Of their Deity from the de-
grading I'm putatlon.
The obvious injustice and unW1sdom. OF such
Revelation Oor the fcw) Is IN allsufticient
ansWer to those who foolishty affirm It, The
Maker OF the universe uud the Father of all
men could never have dropped into lsraers
little camp AZ infaIlfb1e record OF His will, and
left 1t in the precarious keeping of urIettered
men, subject to the Vicssrudes OF time the
mutations OF human thought aud earthly
fortune, all OF which are slammed indeibly
upon the Bible OF TO-DAY. There are no
original MSS. OF the Bible in existence. All We
have are copies OF copies, With no assurance
that e;en these are free from the errors of
ignorance and the interpretations Of designing
dosmatists: Among the many. Mss found
there have been discovered tens Of thousands ot
affect disputed points OF dogma II the de-
Tenders of plenary inspiration expect their
theory to gain place in rational thought, they
must first decide bcrond dispute which copy
is the correct one. They must also demonstrate
the record Is the one originally given By God,
and that under His divine guardianship It. hos
been copied by fa!iibie beings and yet preserved
its infalli0iiity, passed through clouds OF igno-
rance and yet escaped error. been formulated
OMISSION mud translated by ordinary mortals
without mistake.
Having reached the conclusion TINT the theory
OF iufallible inspiration IS uot defeusible on
grounds Of reason, or de,nonstrable on grounds
Of Scrinture. it nav be we'll to set forth what Il
conceived to be the true theory OF Bible iusuira-
tion,-one. that Is in harmony with reason and
the record, II consonance with tie facts OF his-.
tory and the reGutfemeu Mot. sound LOGIC. We
find 10 study Of tue Scriptures es-e,peclally the
New decentralization OF m. elevated in
spuatIon or Insight into spiritual thiugs not
common to mortals under ordinary circu,n-
stauccs, This insight was a revelation of Divine
truth within the souls Of living men in a pecul-