The scientific Christians now admit that the Bible is not inspired in
its astronomy, geology, botany, zoology, nor in any science. In other
words, they admit that on these subjects, the Bible cannot be depended
upon. If all the statements in the Scriptures were true, there would be
no necessity for admitting that some of them are not inspired. A
Christian will not admit that a passage in the Bible is uninspired,
until he is satisfied that it is untrue. Orthodoxy itself has at last
been compelled to say, that while a passage may be true and uninspired,
it cannot be inspired if false.
If the people of Europe had known as much of astronomy and geology when
the Bible was introduced among them, as they do now, there never could
have been one believer in the doctrine of inspiration. If the writers of
the various parts of the Bible had known as much about the sciences as
is now known by every intelligent man, the book never could have
been written. It was produced by ignorance, and has been believed and
defended by its author. It has lost power in the proportion that man
has gained knowledge. A few years ago, this book was appealed to in the
settlement of all scientific questions; but now, even the clergy
confess that in such matters, it has ceased to speak with the voice
of authority. For the establishment of facts, the word of man is now
considered far better than the word of God. In the world of science,
Jehovah was superseded by Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler. All that God
told Moses, admitting the entire account to be true, is dust and ashes
compared to the discoveries of Descartes, Laplace, and Humboldt. In
matters of fact, the Bible has ceased to be regarded as a standard.
Science has succeeded in breaking the chains of theology. A few years
ago, Science endeavored to show that it was not inconsistent with the
Bible. The tables have been turned, and now, Religion is endeavoring to
prove that the Bible is not inconsistent with Science. The standard has
been changed.
For many ages, the Christians contended that the Bible, viewed simply as
a literary performance, was beyond all other books, and that man without
the assistance of God could not produce its equal. This claim was made
when but few books existed, and the Bible, being the only book generally
known, had no rival. But this claim, like the other, has been abandoned
by many, and soon will be, by all. Com pared with Shakespeare's "book
and volume of the brain," the "sacred" Bible shrinks and seems as feebly
impotent and vain, as would a pipe of Fan, when some great organ, voiced
with every tone, from the hoarse thunder of the sea to the winged warble
of a mated bird, floods and fills cathedral aisles with all the wealth
of sound.
It is now maintained--and this appears to be the last fortification
behind which the doctrine of inspiration skulks and crouches--that the
Bible, although false and mistaken in its astronomy, geology, geography,
history and philosophy, is inspired in its morality. It is now claimed
that had it not been for this book, the world would have been inhabited
only by savages, and that had it not been for the Holy Scriptures, man
never would have even dreamed of the unity of God. A belief in one God
is claimed to be a dogma of almost infinite importance, that with out
this belief civilization is impossible, and that this fact is the sun
around which all the virtues revolve. For my part, I think it infinitely
more important to believe in man. Theology is a superstition--Humanity a
religion.