The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-09-30

PROCESS Of greater scholarship and the
enlargement OF the horizon by greater
knowledge. TIE fact that the Bible con-
tanned true elements, and that the can
did mi2d must equally recognize them
both In other WOrGs, mat just as Truly
as there Is the Biole a divine ele-
ment no Iess truly there Is IN
It a human elem ent- but stead OF
some OF our fathers recognizing that, We
find them avoiding or attempting TO avoid
--or. il I may use 50 ungracious word
evade-the true wisdom TO candidiy rec
ognize If, and recognize the fact on which
o. necessity it must rest. and that IS
that If what we have in the volume that
lies here - The product OF divine Qls.
closures of the divine spirit to man. that
which records all those disclosures
is the hand and mind OF man.
then inevitably the writing must be char
acterized b. human as well as divine
traits and there must be in IT. certain
limitations and certain possibilities as
TO precise statements of facts ana al
the rest which make it. and j think my
self we ought to be guided by the cnolce
which makes it human as wei as
divine literature.
Very well. then one may say, IF
the Bible is not an infalhble book IN the
sense that we may take every sentence
of it as literally true, from the story d
the creation TO the end OF II. tnen Ger
tainly we can afford TO relegate It 70 the
book shelves OF our library with a great
deal OF other literature which has been
oatgrown by time and the progress OF
events
Elements in Bible.
What is it that makes that impossible?
Why il is the human and the divine
element in the Bible. 1t Is that Cuallty
which the more we know 1t makes us
the more profoundly conscious tnat II
is absoIl1teiv impossible for us to com
pare it with any other literature.
know when / was a young man--younger
than my young friend, your rector, mere
many years ago, in the city of New
York there wss a minister in a churcn
on Broadway. which some of you may
hn uwa - m
York a gentleman taking this view OF
the Bible was In the habit of conducting
his services on Sunday mornings, oy
reading as part of the pubic worship 81
the day. not only an extract. as ne Woulo
call it, from the Bible but an extract
from the Koran, an extract from one
Of the Vedas or Shastas of the Indian
religion or literature. and then an eN-
tract from the writings OF ContuGlus-
ard these, we were told, as 1 recOllecI'
with great enthusiasm and nave no
doubt of conviction, were to introduce tne
religion of the future; that we Were -
find by these great books tsorne OF tHen
older than the Bible. one of them, not
great deal Younger messages OF equal
force and hclpfulness and power; and II
wss out of recognition OF such sacred
literature. so uchslarSer than tA&t ~
cluded in the narrow limits OF the blpie'
and development of CIVILIZATION OF tne
highest conceivable order, W ell, tne
gentleman went on with his WORSHIP.
and little by little the congregation
melted AWAY from under his hands, ana
at last the services we're discontinued IL
was not possible to persuade an lntelll-
gent mind that you could put this an
cient religious literature of the eastern
wOrIG-however- much there might pc In
it of beauty and of interest. ana oG-
casiOrally of truth (and there certainly
is)-upon plane with the Bible Why
not2 For the simple reason that the
Bible is the one book in all the world
winch NAV be called a timeless book. In
other words, all these hteratures, par
ticularly the Vedas and Shastas of India,