La Junta tribune., 1909-11-27

| discarded or altered or supplemented
according to the new knowledge and
the new needs of men. The religious
consciousness OF men. perennially
quickened by the divine spirit. is for
ever testing every spiritual dogma
and ideal, and is continually elevating
the intellectual and neral standard
of the race"
What Inspiration is.
Inspiration is n personal quality. "A
power or aptitude of the human mind
II provokes a capacity of seeing and
expressing ideas and relations. 1t has
a certain authority, but ii is not in
/ fallible. The Bible gives much eyi-
dence of inspiration 1t contains ex-
pressions Of minds sensitive to the
spiritual relations of mankind. These
expressions are not of equal worth,
nor do they come from minds of
equal power The Bible is not one book,
from one mind. and for one purpose.
uul " NaAiS iioii many ptlSoHS, VI
many minds, for many purposes.
| These expressions. or human crea-
tions, were long in leing brought to-
gether Our Bible was at least 900
years in forming. That is to say,
men were / 900 years gathering from
one and another source the material
which was finally unified into the
volume we call the Bible. The Bible.
( therefore. is growth rather than a
alton made by men, recording the ex-
periences. thoughts. hopes. fears and
understandings OF men. AS unitari-
ans We are not afraid to say that
the Bible is human book. or rather.
collection OF human books. Each
of these books is to be judged on its
own merits. One book Is no better
or no worse. because 1t Is bound with
some other book. Because book
is In the Bible does not necessarily
make il worthy or true. There is,
of course, some reason for its getting
there. and that reason is that 1t was
judged by those who put IL there to
be worthy. But 1t does not follow
that our judgment must agree with
theirs. There are worthier books out
of the Bible than some that are in 1t.
I The apocryphal Wisdom OF Sol
omon." and 'Ecclesiasticus. which
were not put into the Bible, are more
worthy and are much more richly
freighted with thought and truth
than the Song OF Solomon" and
Esther which are In the Bible.
There are Looks OF ''profane" or sec
ular" literature more worthy than
some Bible books.
books with open mind. searching them
for the truth and help We can find.
but this truth must be sensed by our
own understanding. and tested by
the principles and facts that are
known In other words. We are free
to bring our critical reason. our full
intelligence, our most searching In
tellectual power TO the Interpretation
OF these writings, and when We find
anything that contradicts our under
standing. or that is opposed to the
facts OF our intelligence. we have to
declare such statement has not al.
solute authority for us. Truth. right.
the will OF God. has a personal re.
lation to my mind, and | am bound
to accept and ac, upon what Is re-
yealed TO personal experience. and
what may have been a revelation to
some one else is not necessarily one
to me.
Authority OF Revelation.
Even II the contents ~ the Bible
were revealed to others. 1t does no,
follow that | must accept that reye.
lation as authority for me. DR. Chan.
ming said. II am more sure that my
rational nature is from God than
am that any book Is the revelation
OF his will" This represents the
Unitarian view In regard to the
authority and revelation OF scripture.
The deciding authority is In man
not In the book. Hence we open the
Bible To the fullest criticism. Not
that all criticims is alike or just Cri.
ticism Is no more infalliblc than that
which II cri,icises. There IL a cri,i,
cism as well as a defense. which is
nippant. shallow and insincere. but
such has little effect. II rebounds
by It's own elasticity. and affects not
what 1t is thrown against. But there
is criticism and 4 use that II rev.