Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-10-06

| SEPARATION are that these antique Jewish
writings were in whole and in every
part, even to the separate words, his
torically true, and that they reflected
faithfully the characteristics of the
Divine mind. In them God has re.
vealed himself fully to man. This all
turns upon a question Of fact. Men
OF science, among whom are some Of
the purest and best men now living,
deny the assertion Of the theologians.
PERSONAL DOUBTS THAT LED TO IN.
CURRY.
Ten years ago / was an orthodox
pastor Of a strictly orthodox church.
My leaving the ministry had nothing
whatever to do with my opinions, but
| was not bigot, and when the doubt
as to the truth of those things which
| had hitherto held to be facts was
brought home to me, ] conscientiously
strove to answer it. | had been taught
that the books making up the Old
Testament constituted the body Of
the earliest literature known to men .
that they contained an accurate and
authoritative account of the begin
ming Of things. But | learned that
great literatures had been created and
destroyed, and that vast empires lad
passed through all the stages OF
growth and decay before the first line
OF Hebrew was written. Since the
Hebrew writings followed so long after
the others, the inference was plain
that these were largely traditional-a
mere flash of primeyal illumination.
Moses was an able man. He made
a nation out of a multitude OF bond
men, but practically the theoratio sys-
tenn which he adopted was not APP
proved by the people Three hundred
years after his death it was rejected
In favor OF q monarchy. But, while
allowing that Moses was a man Of
ability, it must be remembered that be
had rare opportunities of education
under the ripe scholars of oiviliza>
ton the origin of which is unknown.
unless we accept the statement of
Herodotus that before his time the
Egyptian Empire had been in exist.
ence for twelve thousand years. OF
the Egyptian priests Moses learned
not only their science but their supers
stitions. The dim myths which they
taught appear in Genesis. But Moses
wrote little OF the FIVE books that are
ascribed to him. No doubt he wrote
a narrative of the Creation as it had
been handed down to him. He in.
scrlbed the principles Of morality
which he had learned in Egypt upon
tables OF stone, as the priests had
done before him. The effort to re
store the genuine Mosaic writings
from memory, after the language ia
which they were written had become
dead, and after the writings them.
selves had persisted, though eonscien.
tlous, cannot be accepted as trust.
worthy. The stories contained in
these books are themselves sufficient
to prove that they are merely the
written forms of popular traditions.
There is evidence in the astronomical
records Of China and Egypt that the
sun never stood still at Joshuas COM
mand, and that case is only one of a
number.
THE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION BOR>
RoWED.
Historically, then, the doctrine Of
inspiration has no support. 1t is, in
TACT, an opinion borrowed from the
pagans, as exemplifed in the Rig
Yeda, in Kschylus, in the writings Of
Plato and Philo. In its ironclad form
the doctrine was unknown to the early
fathers. 1t was never suggested by
Jesus nor by His disciples. ORR,
gen, who carried it to an extreme, NAV
be said to have originated the modern
Theological idea on the subject. But
the hierarohical system which enabled
Rome to Cypress the world, is the log
ical result Of this theological dogma.
Bold and gigantic fraud as it is against
the human soul, it conferred upon the
theologians the power to make infalli.
BILE their internal priestcraft and to
bring about the prosecutions and tor.
lures which have blaokened the his
tory Of the church. This dogmatic
theology is not wholly papal. The
cold, bloodless, egotistical Calvin, who
thought he had completed the square
Of the Deity, barely hum 40 10 his sym,
pathies, has usurped the place of J Q ,us
in theological teachings. He was a
prosecutor, and the shadow Of his sys.
tenn converted Puritan New England,
not into an asylum Of the oppressed,
but in place Of oppression.
THESE things have passed away, but
dogmatic theology has not give up the
fight willingly. 1t has been driven by
science, by the growth Of civil power,
OF civil law. Even yet it has vast
power over the minds OF men, but
it will become in time mere tradi.
ton, and Thea what will be lefl2 Sweep
the fogs from the sea, aud what viii
be lefI2 The sea. Sweep the clouds
from the sky, and what will be lelt9
The sky. Sweep the fogs and the
clouds from the dome of Christianity.
and what will be left2 Christianity,
and that will remain forever