The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-04-18
HER SUBJECT FOR ANALYSIS.
Ida ShepIcr" Discusses n Subject as
Requested of Her.

Dear H. L. c. Friends: us the
old testament scripture symbolicaI
Of mans spiritual development,
or is it a narrative of events?'
The above falls to my lot for analy-
sis in the present month. and il is a
subject which calls for more time and
care than ! possess to fully do it justice.
Long ago this was a subject with
which and over which my youthful mind
was much exercised.
In the words of the poet. could say:
I. when young did eagerly frequent.
Doctor and saint and heard great argu-
About it. and about. but evermore
Wherein l Went came out at the same door.
The spirit of deduction lamely was al
ways getting me in a helpless quandery
Past teaching of inspired infallibility
would not readily conincide with the
present surety. that wisdom and folly
lay recorded side by side. each equally
claiming the divinity of truth. Wicked
ness seemed to pass as virtue, and men
We're saved or called Gods chosen over
that which would be loss of soul to me.
My perplexity was met with the mys-
FERROUS. uneXplainable doctrine that
these were given to teach US a spiritual
good. They were types. A foreshadow-
ing OF that which was to come.
You cannot feed the seeking mind of
child with metaphysical explanations of
this kind, which show no reason of theii
need, or why they should be. / knew
stated as they WERE they were histori-
cal episodes, and as that must simply
be looked upon as history; or If they
were types and given as that, they were
not history; not true, and if allegorical
merely, why not have chosen better
types, better characters. This is the
state of mind that such a meaning given
of these books will leave for any child
Many give it up and never seek TO
know better. / did not. l believe that
/ first mastered all the evidence pro and
con from all sources outside of the
books, as to what they were. Then l let
them Of themselves tell their own story,
and they tell it. and they tell it well.
To rely upon a spiritual meaning for
these books is to never get their real
truth. To rely upon certain ancient rab-
binical theories of their origin, is TO take
a stand upon the side OF ancient cerdul-
ity.
These books have a story to tell; have
statements TO make and these state
ments are dependent many of them
upon the peculiar beliefs and opinions Of
the writers, or masses in the times they
were written.
The old testament is mainly a narra-
tive of events, but underlying these
tain spiritual development dependent
upon a developing civilization.
Civilizations are born and they die
Civilizations in their infancy are crude
are harbarous. are credulous. They ad-
vance as does human life. from child
hood with the fallacies of belief and de-
peRdence of the child, TO the aspirations
and changing knowledge of the man on
Ia the ripe experience of maturity. And
this ancient record Of the Jews shows us
plainly they were no exception of this
rule.
That which was considered divinely
right as TO use. or belief i'm one gener-
alton, fell into disuse as wrong in sue
ceeding generations.
These written records show us i'm their
time Of record just where we must place
the Jew in the scale of civilization. And
these events narrated in this time win
forever bear the imprint of civil laws
and interviewer spiritual belief COM
mensurate to that scale; be those laws
those spiritual beliefs reasonable or in
famous, be the character of Deity incon-
sistent, or be it not
These are problems of human life ana
human rights slowly unfolding them
selves under all the details of this his
tory, and the historian writing i'm the
fourth century 3. G. did not interpret
history as did the historian of the tenth
century Il. G.
Historians are influenced by the par
ticular advancement Of knowledge OF
their day and a special coloring given by
their own private opinions. whether re-
ligious or national. and generally both.
The Egyptian hierarchy at the time
OF the exodus was beset on all points by
rival nations. and the oppression of her
slaves at this time, held an underlying
purpose. dependent upon these outside
would-be intruders. But Egypt over
reached herself here. This exodus. so
great in the eye of the jew. has puzzled
the historian Of other nations by it's
snlallness in the eye Of the masters of