The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-06-11

con sonants are ansllterations OF the original
Hebrew letters. which have been lost. and the
vowel sounds are traditional and in many re-
spccts artificial and uncertain. White there Ia
n general correspondence OF these lotters and
sounds. that they give substantially tho
original. they do not give exactly the original
4 The inspiration must therefore. lie back OF the
written letters and the uttered sounds. and be
sought In that which is common alike TO
/ tn" old characters and the new. alike to
tho uttcrance Of the voice and the construction
OF the pen. namely. in tho concepts. the senae
and meaning that they convey So much for
the asserted hearing OF even textunl criticsm
upon the theory OF plcnary and verbal insrira-
ton. Now. for what advanced Biblical schol-
ars declare TO be- the effect OF the higher criti-
cism upon tho credibity Of Scripture. That
there errors and sistencies in the pres
ent texts OF our Bible 1t is vain to deny. No
body denies IT, 1t is not denied by those who
/ insist upon tho plenary nsuiration OF the orig
inal autographs. which we do not possess. and
| cannot hope to secure. There are chronology
cal. geographical and other circumstantal mis-
| takes. such circumstnntial and incidental
| errors. however. as nriso from inadvortcnce
or lack Of Information the part OF an au-
thor are not an Impeachment OF his credl-
| hility. IT We would distinguish between
revelation and inspiration and yet insist
upon ascribing absolute inerrancy to the
do away with any distinction between tho
/ terms. No mere man can escape human
! errors. unless divine revelation shall set even
! the most familiar things in n new and infallible
! light, and also so control him that he cannot
MAKE n slip Of the eye or the hand or commit
| fnult in the Imagination. in conception. in rea-
soning. in rhetorical figure or in grammatical
expression and. indeed. so raise him above
his Fellows contemporary and posterior. that he
shall see through all their errors in science and
philosophy as well as in theology and q ntlcipnto
the discoveries to be made in all branches OF
knowl"dg" hy thousands OF years. Errors Of
inadvcrtcnco in minor details. where the
authors position and character are well known.
do not destroy his credihilty n witness in
any literature or any court OF justice. 1t is not.
then. to be presumed that divine inspiration
| lifted the author above his age any more than
was necessary to convey divine instruction
with infhllibo certainty to mankind. We have
to take into account the extent Of the authors
human knowledge. his point of view and type
Of thought his methods Of reasoning and illus
trnton. The substance OF the teachings con-
v"yod may be inalblc. while. at the same time
the manner in which il is transmitted by the
human intermediary may be Omen to criticism
Now the higher criticism distinguishes be-
tween tho divine substance and the literary
| phenomena which constitute the human me-
| dium. II recognizes faults OF grammar OF
rhetoric and logic in the Hebrew and Christian
Scriptures. TIL" authors Of the Old Testament
used the language with which they were
, familiar; some Of them classic Hebrew others
/ OF them diaectc and corrupted Hebrew. Some
| OF them have n good prose style: others Of them
| have II dull. tedious. pedantic style. Some OF
| them are poets OF the highest rank: others Of
| them write such inferior poetry that one IA
| surprised that they did not use prose Some
| of them reason clearly. profoundly and convinc-
| ingly: others of them reason in a loose. obscure
and unconvincing manner. Some of them pre-
sent truths like intuitons OF light: others labor
| with them. and eventually. deliver them in
crude and undcveloprd form The results Of
| the study Of them show that. in all these re-
| sp"cts the Biblical authors were left to them
selves to their own individualtics or idiosyn-
crasics. All these matters belong to the man.
! ner and method Of imparting instruction.
Errors in these formal things do not impair
| the nfallibility Of the substance. the religious
| instruction itself.
They were men OF God and, IL we may
judge from the results Of their work. they
were guided by the Divine Spirit in their ap-
prchension and expression OF the divine
teaching. But. also. If we NAV Judge from their
work. il seems most probable that they were
not guided 10y the Divine Spirit in their gram
mar, in their rhetoric. in their logic In theirnr
rnngement Of their materials. or in their gem
|
were left to their own judgment and were SUI
terrd to commit such errors even the most
faithful and scrupulous writer will sometimes
commit tulesm we take some such position
we should expose ourselves to the peril of
making the Holy spirit responsible for bad
grammar. for an incorrect use Of words for
| inelrgant expressions and for disordery
arrangement Of materials: an offence VIII eli
was actually charged upon the critics of the
seventeenth century by their earliest ops
pOncntS.
The assumption of literal insriration is not
| needed for faith in the great truths Of CHRIS.
tlanlty a. was pointed out in 1883 by Ri'h.
IN on" Of tho bo5Rs here fcvS SvS'ffe IH9'ra
J. must iril You great and ncedful truth.
wnCE GrS, srt fHnrnE t" Gpf"T do ~
S"rp'nre is f IKE -, mans holy where some
hnT 1 m nr% our 1nT wfn% d" The p%
Is the soul of the Snriptnpe, and tho letters hut
Grcrd ior,i's Prayer and D ecalngue' Ba sane
tism and the Lords supper is tho vital
part and Christianity itself: The old Tesla:
Ezra,s tmol Is that vehicle as the revea-
lion Of ,h h. times was BIT rs, after Chrsts
ahundantiy given. and the revelation more
EoTee5 IT,, ana a. sealed SO II" doctrine is
words. nre less imperfect and more sure to us.
SO That t. he thai dTuh,eth III" truth Of some
cumstaNccs in the New ha, no reason. thera.
fore to doubt Of the Christian religion. wh"r"of
these. writings AZ" but the vehicle or buhy.
sufficient 70 ascertain u, OF the truth OF the
history and doctrine"
When and how. then docs the higher criti.
cclsm come into conflict with the authority of
scripture We are told in reply that il wOuli
come into conflict II it found that the doctr inai
statements OF Scripture are not authoritative
and that ts reveati ions rs to truths of supreme
OF book. considered rs whole. is impenchcd,
s, cxhf hv authority and inspirati9n are i'm
cred!bilty of the substance OF book consid.
erel .fas a whole. however. something more
mlHS be adduced than errors in matters Of de-
tail that do not affect the authors scope OF
argument or his re IL ious teachings. As mat
ter OF Tact. the advocates OF the higher criti-
clsm maintain that it has strengthened rather
nan weakened the credibility Of Scripture II
has studied the human features Of the y "a
anu brought out the variety Of form and color
assumed by the divine revelation. Many Of tho
supposed Inconsistencies have been found 10
r. Inherent modes of representing the same
tninR, complementary to one another. and COM
blhhg TO civ" n fuller representation than any