The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-10-29
WHAT INSPIRATION MEANS.
The Relation Existing Between the
Old and New Testaments.
A Definition of Scriptural Inspiration-The
Difficulties Into which the Plenary
Theory Has Led the World.

scure, but shall assume that IL means TO ask
the relative authority of the two portions OF the
Bible known as the Old and the New Testaments
over the faith and the practice of Christians.
That there should be any difference of opinion
on this subject ought to be a matter of surprise,
but there is difference and it grows wholly out
of popular misrepresentation of what the Bible
is, and of what it pretends to be. This misap-
prehension of the Bible, as a whole, leads to
misapprehenson of its parts, and hence these
janglings as to the relative authority OF the Old
and the New Testaments.
The time has fully come for a thorough and
candid denomination of the claims of the Bible.
and the grounds of those claims, and II,
in a careful study of the question, any
devout Hebrew or Christian shall conclude that
some of the commonly received opinions are not
well founded. those of us who are not moved
from our steadfastness should not hastily and
mercilessly drive away, as hypocrites and IN
believers, all who find occasion to modify their
former views They may be just sincere as
we, though not as intellectual. and it may hap
pen that at no very distant future, the verdict
of posterity may be as unfavorable to wis
dom as is now the verdict of universal Christen-
dom against those who denounced and excom-
municased Calico for like offense; and against
those who, within this century, did the same
thing, as far as they dared, against those who
some notifications in the interpretations of
Scripture as to the creation of the world. and
some historic statements connected Herewith.
None of us are authorized to speak ex cathedra
on any of the matters contained in that wonder
full book.
Neither should this REORGANIZATION be left
wholly or chiefly to those who are avow-
edly uufriendy to the Bible. Even il their
untrieneliness should be at the bottom
of their criticism. we who believe the Bible and
believe in also should not hesitate to
thoroughly Investigate every question which
may arise concerning our faith. Indeed the flu
ture trunphs of Christianity depend largely
upon the readiness and candor with which the
friends of the Bible join in all honest investiga-
lions as to the origin and pretensions of the book
for which so much is claimed.
1 Let consider briefly the compound ques-
ton: What is the Bible, and what does 1t pur-
port TO be2 Complementary it claims to be
collection of very ancient writings, probably the
oldest in the world. The oldest of these is more
than 5000 years DID, and the latest nearly D.
600. From the oldest to the latest
not less than ], 600 years elapsed and not fewer
than forty different persons are supposed to have
taken part in the writing, and these were men of
diverse culture and social standing. Some were
kings and some were PEASANTS some prophets
and some priests; but they were all men of more
than average purity, and notably free from the
prevailing vices of the ages in which they lived.
Yet, Notwithstanding these diversities of social
standing, and the lapse of so many centuries,
there runs through the whole one line of thought
and perfect unity of doctrine. Some of these
writings are the simplest of historic narrative
and some the grandest of poetry, while Others
combine with illusions to current events, and
with the lOftiest strains of poetry, glimpses of
events then far IN the future and utterly imprOb-
able, as viewed from mere human standpoint
yet they were minutely fulfilled in the after
ages; and every part from the beginning in Gen
esis to the last word In the book, bears upon one
central fgure-the man Christ Jesus, the won
history of the world, or even of the Hebrew
people. While the authorship of many parts of
: 1t may be in dOubT, the credbity of the whole
is beyond reasonable question, and may ehal-
lenge the most searching investigation. fT is
not at all material whether Moses wrote the
4 Pentateuch, as the books nowappear, whether
1 Ezra, nearly a thousand years later, compiled
and edited the scraps of written and traditional
l history which had survived the many captivi-
l ties of that people, and arranged the whole so
as to make one collection of historic facts, and
I phetic utteranees and thrilling poetry There
4 is no evidence that this man or that wrote this
4 book or Uhat but there is abundant evidence
] that many books of history and prophecy which
Z were once quoted as authority have not been
preserved in this collection. 1t is not material
who wrote the book of Job. Il is probably the
ten before the days or Moses, if
not before the days of Abraham. by
some person in no way connected with the fam
4 ily through which Christ was to come. But,
] though out of the line of Abraham, its senti-
ments are in complete accord with the opinions
] which the chosen seed held concerning the one
4 God, which permeate the writings of Moses
and of all later authors, and IL Is, therefore, most
appropriately preserved in this book of God, if
only rebuke that eXclusiveness which
fonnd often in the Hebrew people, and but little
less in the average Christian churches and to
I teach well as them that there were other
\ sheep, not OF the Abrahamic fold, as good and as
1 orthodox as they were or as we are.
whether we stand by the side of Moses, as he
I leads his peaceful army through the wilderness,
TO the amazement and terror of surroCning
! Ezra, after that people, scattered, peeled
and torn for nearly thousand later
| OF Judea, we easily See that the origin and
history OF such people would be more than
| matter of mere curiosity. 70 answer the ques-
tion satisfactorily, the writer begins at the be-
ginning, and there is nothing like that first SEN
tence in the world of literature ''In the begin
fellow, through all the ages. until the book of
| God Is closed. In the beginning God made man,
| and every scrap of history, every verse of He
I brew Christian song, and every prophecy
| which follow is permeated with the idea of one
| omnipotent Being of infinite purity, andnothin g
y like this Is found elsewhere in the world of
, mythology, or poetry or philosophy. What II, in
the coming ages the dream OF the so-ealled
| scientist shall materiaize, and it shall become
reasonably probable or actually proven that the
man of the Bible was evolved from the lowest
] ages aud endless evolurions, there stands
the sublime truth. ante-datine the lowest
form OF animal life. "In the beginning, God"
Then mark how the historian touches only the
| noun uain-tOps of history. More than two
I thousand years had elapsed between Adam and
Abraham, yet the history of all these years is
told in fewer words than the average campaign
life of a candidate for the presidency. IL In
sense is or puPports to be history 0f the world.
1 The descendants of Adam must have been
4 counted by the millions long before his death,
y yet only enough mention is made of all these
Indicate thar already there were skilfu artisans,
\ extensive herdsmen and famous musicians, and
2 to mention the son of ADAM through whom
Abraham should come. Ana all subsequent his
tory, so far as the Bible goes is only the mereSt
4 skeleton of the genealogy of the worlds Re-
deemer, there being only occasional reference to
u the teeming millions of men when he chosen
| | people had peaceful warlike dealings with
] those most adjacent to the little spot of earth
( only about one-third the area of the State of
Indiana-whleh their special Inheritance;
and very meager are the annals of the He
Z brew people themselves that whole centuries