The Indianapolis journal., 1885-07-20

nature. Over against the statement of Mr..
Beecher | set this statement of Moses, willing to
leave it unargued.
The new Interpretation of inspiration must be
noticed, although that now used goes to the in
tegrlty Of the sacred canon. The speakers exact
and clear definition of inspiration is as follows
The Bible is the record of the progressive
unfolding Of knowledge in respect to social and
spiritual things through vast ages and the in
spiration of God consisted in that impulse of
natural law, of social institution, of reflection,
OF experiment and of fndings-out of life and a
record OF 1t by men competent to understand
and give it the largest form. They were men
above their day. able to concentrate in their own
consciousness the meanings of all these things
that had been found out by the myriads of men,
and give them authentic form"
This is not inspiration. The element that
creates inspiration is not found here. A record
made up of the elements here named will never
be accepted by the world as inspired. Wewoud
never take this definition for inspiration, except
that he who formed it exercised creators priv
ilege, and named it. 1.-The impulse of natural
law, of social institution, of reflection; of expert
ment, and Of indings-out of life." are human
experience they are the very elements of eX-
perlence, and no name can give them
more authoritative form than experience
of a part of humanity This de fini
tion makes the Bible record
of mans findings out Of God and calls it inspi-
ration, whereas the record says that man by
wisdom cannot find out God
True, an effort is made to atone for this, by
having an impact Of Gods spirit moving on all
mankind The current of philosophy in which
Mr. Beecher had been caught, was rapidly carry
ing him out of sight of God This he could not
endure; the foundations of his great nature are
laid deep in God; whatever fantastic turns his
genius may take, he is always found bearing love
to God and man, whole hearted and broad souled.
Dame Nature appears at his birth to have taken
laughter and tears, JOY and sorrow, asperation
and abnegation, consistency and inconsistency,
fart and inf itu oil
hate, and set them down in him by pairs, so close
together they iostle each other. Hate was
missed and Of him it may be. truly said he is
curiousy and wonderfully made, high priest
in the temple Of humanity. So he returns ana
joins to God by universal inspiration.
Morals home, social order, all the blessings Of
life. are made the result of the upward impress
of the spirit on all men. This theory sinks into
discredit because it fails to hold its subjects up
to degree of excellence. Onehaf the human
family are yet uncvized. If it is universal
impact, it is the nature Of man,
for that which is universal is natural,
and therefore cannot be inspirational. Inspira
tion is a miraculous influence which specifically
qualities one for given work.
We are told that any honest man. believing
verbal inspiration, will go headfrst into infdel
lty. This is severe saying, and | suppose the
savagery of its criticism has been evolved from
ere this Opinions are of no value in deciding
this question; what does the record say about its
inspiration! The public knows nothing of the
how of inspiration; it reverently accepts the
Bible as given by the authority of Almighty
God And that is inspiration TO do thing in
inspiration is to do it by the authority and under
the control of God. Verbal inspiration means
that the writer's mind is uneXerciSed, his con-
scious volitions are silenced, and the very words
and forms of expression he pens are poured
through him by the divine influence This true,
every Bible thought is cast in the same mold
and expressed in the same literary style. Does
the internal evidence of the Scriptures reveal
this! Examine Moses, his style is purely mar
rative; then Isaiah, his sentences move like
splendid PROFESSIONS Their styles are as distinct
as Homer and Macaulay. The Savior speaks in
a style singularly his own Peteris rugged like
the fighting preacher; John tender, Ikea loving
disciple and Paul the logician and orator, raised
at the feet of politician and lawyer. is the man
to face the mob for two hours from the stairs of
Diana's Temple. attack the SaSes on Mares Hill.
and with bewildering zeal, storm the throne of
the Caesars. Each writer does his own thinking,
and is free in his style as Chaucer Longfe!low.
Whenever God speaks throughout the volume,
there is no mistaking the style-it is Gods. The
internal evidence does not reveal verbal inspira-
ton.
When men were caused by the Holy Spirit to
record occurrences and ideas for the Bible. they
did so manifestly after the mold of their own
thought and in their own style, being always
under a miraculous influence which kept them
in harmony with truth Miraculous influence
was necessary to give facts to Moses, and ideas
for prophecies and apostolic letters. The over
shadowng of the spirit enabled them to tell the
truth; the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Jesus promised the spirit should lead the apostles
into all truth. This pledged heaven to keep them
from all error The Bible is record of Gods
revelation Of himself. and his designs concern
ing humanity, penned by man; its detail giving
the unfolding OF religion to one race of people,
an atonement for all men, system Of morals,
vast prophecies, and history of the past anG
future-God presiding over the recording, so that
If the recorder was without knowledge of
given event or principle, the record was never
theless accurately made; thus furnishing a
record in authentic form from God, each of the
writers disclaiming authority in himself. This
is the great records teaching concerning it's own
inspiration, and with this view have reason to
believe the mai lor portion of Christianity agrees.
The Bible is not the result of human ex-
perience, it is an inspiration from God. On all
its surface no other fact is so palpable. This is
its seal of authority; it is before this sceptre we
bow. Break it. and the civilization of Europe and
America starts downward
Will evolution in religion" be generally re-
ceived! No. few men who have been disturbed
by modern progress will embrace it for day,
but they will not go out and establish church.
Every new Interpretation that has overthrown
the old land marks has, if it lived, at once organ
lied church, and begun the work of subjugation.
Such was the effect of Luthers Interpretation;
likewise with Calvin, and Wesley, and Camp
bell. This one is more revolutionary than any
of these When it fails to have enough divine
energy to raise standard of its own, its friends
will realize the mistake Of the claim that it re-
tains all that is valuable and divine in religion.
No amount of confident assurance can remove
the fact that the effect of this new theory is to
unsettle the personality of God, destroy conf
dence in the Bible, overthrow the church, and
cast man onto a sea of endless findings out,
instead of permitting him to retain system
which is perfect, and in every part fixed and
final, where his evolution may be upward by
known laws, into grace and godness, the forms
of which are forever before his face.
And now. because of the eternal necessity of
our condition, this book will go forward until
its gospel has filed the whole earth. It must be
so, for the the mouth of the Lord hath spoken
it. Ages hence, when we with our partial views
are forgotten, sin will still be in the world but
the church will be here in its power, and the
heralds of redemption, on the walls of Zion, will
tell tho oil cAo md roin l,rrxr &c