The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1891-05-19
THE RULE OF FAITH.

According to the fundamental PFlncl'
pies Of all Protestant churches the
Bible, as containing the Word Of God,
is the supreme rule Of faith and duty
and the final tribunal in all theological
controversies. But God reveals himself
also in nature in the teaching OF the
Church, in the reason and COINCIDENCE OF
man. God is the only source of truth
and authority, and He cannot contra
dict himself in his various modes OF
decentralization.
There must be way OF reconelling
the teaching OF the Bible, the Church
and the including conscience
and religious feeling. This has been, the
labor of centuries, and every age makes
contribution toward the solution OF
this great problem. The Bible is not
unehurchly or anti-churchly nor IRA
tional. Itinspires the Church and en-
lightens reason. 1t is explained by the
.teaching Of the Church and apprehended
by reason.
Professionalism, Romanism and Ra-
tionalism make use OF all three means
to ascertain the truth, but with this diff
Ference, that Professionalism asserts the
supremacy Of the Bible, Romanism the
supremacy OF the Church, Rationalism
the supremacy OF reason. It Is nota
question of coordination, but OF subor-
dination.
INSPIRATION AND 1NERRANCY.
There is difference between the fact
of inspiration and the mode of inspira-
ton. The former is asserted by the
Bible and the creeds of the Church, the
latter is a matter of human theory and
speculation. The Bible simply asserts
that "holy men OF God. spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost" or, as
the revised version has it, "Nfen spake
from God, being moved by the Holy
Ghost" UpO pREttmaiOs agiou pkeTone'loi
elqleun apo deon al,dropoi- IL. Peter, j.,
2l). It does not say how they were
moved nor to what extent they were
moved. It asserts divine factor and
human factor; it makes the Bible both
tho work Of men and tho work OF God,
but it does not explain the relationship
OF the two factors.
The Spirit of God acts upon the. hui
man spirit in different ways and in
accordance with different constitutions
and tempers. "God, who at sundry
times and in divers manners sphke in
time past INTO the fathers by the
prophets, hath in, these last days spoken
unto us by His Som (Heb. l., ~ THE
action of the divine mind. upon the
human is as mysterious as the action
Of the human mind upon the. body. The
fact is undenidble, but the mode and
degree are inxplicable.
THEORIES or INSPIRATION
There are chieHy.three theories Of
inspiration, the verbal or literal, the
plenary and the dynamic. The last
two arc reasonable and tenable. The
first is impossible in the present state
of exegesis and not held by any com
mentator OF note, ,l,,-a.. ~
The verbal or mechanical theory iden,
titles inspiration with dictation and
makes the sacred writer's mere clerks or
penmen OF the Holy Ghost. This theory
was elaborated by Lutheran and Cal
whistle divines Of. the seventeenth CEN
tury in CONTROVERSY with the Roman
Catholic Church, who insisted upon an
infallible church as necessary to guide
men in the way OF salvation. a paper
oracle was set up. against the living
oracle in the Vatican.
But this theory was not held by the
Reformers, who combined the greatest
reverence for the Word Of God with
very free views on the letter of the
Bible. 1t has long since been discarded
as theological fiction. tits absolutely
inconsistent with recognized facts such
as the obvious differences of style and
mode Of reasoning, the numerous varia-
tions of the existing text, the discrepan-
cies between the Hebrew text and the
Septuagint. hlgs
4 literal inspiration would be Of no
use unless God had provided at the
same time for infalEble transmission
and preservation-tha is, for infallible
transcribers and infallible translatorS;
for the great mass OF men depend upon
TRANSACTIONS which are made by imper-
feet, fallible men, and differ very much.
Nobody claims inerrancy for the revised
version, or tho King James version, or
the Bishops Bible, or Wycife's version,
or Luther's version, or the Vulgate, or
any other version, old or new. 1t has
been stated that there are thirty-six
thousand departures Of thereyised New
Testament from the authorized version,
including six thousand changes in the
Greek text used by the reyisers.
AN AMERICAN INVENTION.
To escape these facts the advocates of
inerrancy are forced to confne inerrancy
to the Hebrew and Greek autographs.
This is a modern American invention
and a mere hypothesis in the air.
It is scarcely worthy OF q moment's