"People imagine that the place which the Bible holds in the world
it owes to miracles. It owes it simply to the fact that it came out
of a profounder depth of thought than any other book."--_Emerson._
"MARLOW, September ----.
"Dear husband: The first thing I heard when I went into the class to-day
was Mrs. Dawn telling how she had treated a severe belief of headache
last evening and how marvelously soon the terrible pain ceased. She was
quite rejoiced because it was the first time she had tried to
demonstrate the principles.
"They all have plenty to tell now, and are growing more and more
interested. Every day somebody has some new experience. Little Mrs.
Dexter, who has been so long treated by the old method, says she fully
believes she will be cured, is feeling much better, and has such an
assurance all the time that she has found the true healing. She has had
several quite remarkable demonstrations with others.
"The whole line of argument is unfolding so naturally and beautifully
that it seems like a piece of fine mosaic, with every form and color
interwoven with the most exquisite exactness. Mrs. Pearl gave us a
lecture on inspiration and the Bible, which I consider one of the most
useful and interesting of any she has yet given:
"In studying the very fountain springs of Truth, and basing our ideas
upon a God who is the unexpressed and inexpressible essence of Truth
itself, with whom is 'no respect of persons,' and to whom we owe _all_
knowledge, it becomes us to inquire a little into the manner and means
of gaining that knowledge.
"That all peoples in all climes and ages have developed similar ideas
and expressed them in like terms, as philology shows, is an indisputable
fact, strengthened and corroborated by our broader conception and higher
understanding of God, the omnipresent Good.
"But how have these ideas come to them? Have they come through what is
known as inspiration or revelation? As the one fountain of Intelligence
is open to all alike, this must be the case, because Truth comes only in
this way. Inspiration means an 'inbreathing,' a breathing in of true
knowledge, and because the omnipresent Good comes into every
consciousness prepared to receive it, there is an inbreathing in
accordance with the readiness to receive. Intelligence is like the air,
to be breathed by every living being. Thus far, humanity has expanded
its lungs of consciousness only enough to have inhaled fundamental
truth, or what is recognized as such, but we are constantly receiving
more, and in proportion as we receive, do we know what we receive.
"All truth is inspired or revealed, because whatever is true is of the
great Truth. This must be so, yet many people consider inspiration as
confined to the authors of the Bible and that with them, inspiration
ceased. The immortal Job said, 'There is a spirit in man and the
inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding.' The inbreathing
of the Almighty, All-powerful Truth, giveth understanding. No truer
words were ever uttered.
"As inspiration is inhaling or breathing in Truth, we can readily
understand that 'God, Truth, Principle, is no respecter of persons.'
That it is a 'miraculous influence which qualifies man to receive and
communicate divine truth,' is in a sense true, for the works of God are
always 'wonderful,' but there can be no setting aside of divine law, as
some erroneously suppose, for the performance of these things that seem
unaccountable to human reason. It is a lack of understanding as to _how_
Truth works, that has caused a belief in supernatural or miraculous
ways. Could a fish judge according to appearances, he would regard the
creatures that walk on land as gifted with supernatural power, because
it would be utterly beyond his conception to know _how_ they could do
so.
"Revelation and inspiration are frequently used interchangeably, but
that which is revealed, is the manifested result of inspiration rather
than inspiration itself. Whenever we are ready to breathe or absorb
Truth into our consciousness, we get a revealment--'inspiration giveth
understanding.' This breathing-in process lifts us above ordinary
knowledge and gives refreshing glimpses of heavenly Truth, it is like
breathing in fresh air, after having been in a close suffocating room.
We say this or that scene, person or object inspires us; we mean that
some beautiful thought or conception of Truth is revealed to us, through
or by our seeing these objects, because they hint of something better
and higher, and the moment we get the higher thought, we are conscious
of knowing higher Truth. This is revelation.
"Revelation and inspiration are the usual terms for expressing spiritual
processes but are necessarily inadequate to express accurate spiritual
meanings. How ideas are born is a question of questions. Whether they
come from without or within, they must establish the oneness of God and
man in mind and idea. The only 'without' there can be is that which is
without the consciousness, the only 'within' is that which is within the
consciousness. Development, growth, unfoldment, better express spiritual
consciousness. What is consciousness but a recognition of itself? Then
would not 'recognition' more fully describe the birth of ideas? As we
grow able to recognize harmony and love, harmony and love are revealed
to us.
"The more spiritual our thoughts and desires, the more spiritual our
revelations. To think and talk of God, to desire knowledge of Him,
creates a receptivity which sooner or later brings the revealment of
more truth, and that of the highest quality. But it is not always by
what we see that we are lifted into this consciousness of new knowledge.
In various ways is the Truth expressed to us, and whether we know how or
why it should be thus and so, matters not if we receive the message.
"The wisdom of our Father has provided that none of His children should
be without a knowledge of Him, without a power to recognize and
appreciate Truth, and in the way or language best suited to the
capacity of each to understand, are the revelations made. Sometimes this
knowledge comes into our consciousness like a direct message from God,
and so vividly are we impressed, that no other words could express the
nearness and clearness of it, than the expression 'walking and talking
with God.' Sometimes wonderful pictures appear before our mind's eye,
and reading their symbolic meaning, we catch hints of higher wisdom that
would otherwise have been hidden.
"By persistently ignoring the spiritual and cultivating the intellectual
faculties, mankind has well nigh lost the highest means of inspiration,
but now that we again, like the prophets and apostles of old, seek for
signs of the Infinite, we are gradually recovering the key by which they
unlocked its mysteries.
"As to the infallibility of what is thus revealed, we must remember that
while truth is always infallible, there is a possibility of its
recognition or conception being tinged to a greater or less degree, with
our erroneous judgements, and as the light, pure in itself, is colored
by the glass through which it passes, so is the divinest truth colored
with the quality of mind through which it comes to the world. As Heber
Newton says, 'Inspiration can not do away with the limitations of the
human individuality.' Thus, in our discrimination of so-called inspired
literature, language or thoughts, we must learn that whatever is
opposite God, the universal idea of goodness, is the chaff that must be
blown away. In other words it is the assumption of mortal thought
instead of absolute knowledge of divine mind.
"It would be an utter impossibility to describe infinite truth in finite
language. Words are inadequate to express the grandeur of sacred
revelation.
"With this view of inspiration, we can readily see how far short we have
come in our conceptions of the Bible, and now that we are to use and
understand this wonderful book as never before, it is well that we
consider it a little more closely.
"There are three general views held in regard to the Bible as an
inspired book. 1. That it is verbally inspired; _i. e._, that every word
is direct from God. 2. That it is partially inspired; and, 3. That it is
no more inspired than any other good book. The first two of these views
have been and are accompanied with the idea that everything going under
the name of inspiration, is infallible, hence the idea that every
statement made throughout the entire book is absolute truth.
"The Bible itself makes no claim to infallibility, though there are
frequent references to inspiration and the influence of the Holy Ghost
in moving men to speak, but the principal text on which is based this
claim of infallibility is II. Tim. iii: 16. At the time this was
written, there was only the Old Testament, including the Apocrypha, that
could be referred to as Scripture, so when we read Paul's assertion
that, 'all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness,' if we take it to be infallible, we have a reasonable
ground for regarding the Old Testament and the Apocrypha as infallible.
But a more literal rendering of the Greek text would be, 'all scripture
divinely inspired is indeed profitable for teaching, for conviction, for
correction,' etc., and by simply changing the position of the little
word _is_, we have a vastly different sentence.
"Regarding the interpretation of scripture, Peter says: 'All prophecy of
scripture is not of its own solution.' The literal Greek is, 'all
prophecy of a writing, of its own loosing not it is,' meaning, of
course, that sacred writings can not always be interpreted literally,
but must be understood according to their spiritual meaning. Great
writings are not confined to any private or local meaning, but refer
more especially to great principles, to universal truth.
"If we consider the origin of the Bible, we shall learn what
comparatively few of us know, viz., how the Bible grew into a book. In a
necessarily brief outline it is impossible to give anything but a
bird's-eye view of this very interesting and important subject.
"As we look back to earlier times, through the various channels, we find
that much of what is considered history is merely legendary; that long
before the art of writing was known, these legends and myths were handed
down from generation to generation, and from age to age. Familiar as we
are with human nature, we may well imagine the additions and
subtractions and divergencies introduced by each succeeding narrator,
copyist or editor in every age. This is a very important feature to be
considered in interpreting ancient scriptures, but there are also
others. History reveals the fact that the books of the Old Testament
were not written nor arranged in the order in which they now appear in
the Bible. For instance, while it has been generally considered that the
first five books were written by Moses fifteen hundred years before
Christ, the best authorities have found at least a portion of them to
have been written, or compiled rather, in their present form 600 to 700
B. C.
"Whether Moses or some one else wrote them detracts not the least from
the value of the truth they contain, for whatever is true, can not lose
its value or be effected by the authorship. This is only one of the many
facts that might be produced to show that the Old Testament came in the
most natural way, and not at all through a miracle or by miraculous
interposition.
"Referring again to the best records we have, we find the books of the
New Testament were written from 50 to 175 A. D., thus showing the
liability to mistakes, and the reason for many of the discrepencies in
the New Testament. That the time between the writing of the oldest and
the latest parts of the Bible covered a period of more than a thousand
years, should have much significance in our judgment of both the writers
and their writings.
"Dr. Heber Newton says: 'We are not to read the Biblical writers as
though they were all cotemporaries. They are separated by vast tracts of
time. The later writers stand upon the shoulders of their predecessors
and see farther and clearer. We are not to view the institutions or
doctrines of the Bible as though no matter in what period of development
of the Hebrew Nation, or of the Christian Church they were found, they
were equally authoritative to us.'
"Though the prophets and apostles were inspired, we must remember that
they necessarily had to use the language and methods of speech prevalent
in their time in giving their divinest revelations to the people. The
language was rich with Oriental imagery, strong figures of speech, and
allusions to manners and customs of other nations. Unless we understand
something of the literature and customs, the religious ceremonies and
laws alluded to, we are very much in the dark as to the original
meaning.
"For instance, unless we know the custom that prevailed in ancient times
of putting the sins of the people, figuratively speaking, into a white
cloth, dipping the cloth into blood, tying it to the horns of the
scapegoat, and turning the animal loose in the wilderness till the sun,
air and rain had bleached it white, we can not appreciate the
expression, 'though thy sins be as scarlet, yet shall they be washed
white as snow.' Until we realize that the ideas and language as well as
the customs and rites of barbarous and ignorant heathendom influence
every page of the Bible, we shall not know how much allowance to make
for the revelations of the Divine, and the suppositions and possible
mistakes of the human. Until we know that the Bible has gone through
many hands since its words were first spoken or written, we can not
realize the possible loss of its most spiritual meanings.
"Moses, Isaiah, David, John, Paul had the grandest revelations possible
to man, experiences not 'lawful to utter,' not possible to clothe in
words. The unspeakable can not be put into speech. To attempt it is to
color it with finite meanings. To describe the Infinite is but to limit
or confine God.
"When we consider that no very ancient writings have reached us without
the marks of many pens; when we consider the impossibility of exact
translation, the difficulty of perfect copying all the years before the
art of printing, the method of canonizing the books and formulating
creeds, we must know that something besides God's message has come down
to us. And yet a message is there notwithstanding.
"Yes, the authors of the Bible were inspired. Whatever of Truth they
revealed is infallible, but as men with finite conceptions and
abilities, they could not comprehend nor reveal _all_ of God.
"'God is the same yesterday, to-day and forever,' and talks to man face
to face to-day even as with the immortal Moses.
"'I know that the Bible is inspired, because it finds me at greater
depths of my being than any other book,' said Coleridge.
"All candid students of sacred Scriptures agree that there is a
spiritual meaning back of the literal. The question with us is, how can
we get at this spiritual or esoteric interpretation.
"If you will let the spirit of Truth guide you, it will bless you with
keener discernment, and clearer understanding, than has been possible
for you heretofore. It is when you look for the spirit of religion that
you find it and understand it, and the fact that so much has been said
against our Bible as a book, does not and can not detract a particle
from its value.
"'There is a light that lighteth every man!' Every one of God's children
has the power to distinguish truth from error, and only needs to assert
that divine privilege of knowing and acknowledging truth in order to to
find it.
"Humanity is so under the yoke of traditional opinions that it has not
dared think for itself, but the time has come when 'ye shall of
yourselves know what is truth,' when each must prove his individual
liberty by claiming it. Is not the wisdom to know and understand God's
revelations given to every one who asks, or rather appreciates what he
already has?
"There is no reason for depending upon any but the wisdom in ourselves,
for searching the meanings of any Scripture. Whatever is true, we shall
understand and hold as infallible. That we have a rich storehouse of
precious gems, even the most adverse thinkers admit, and above all else
we should search for them, prize them, and use them. Study the Bible for
the sake of its wonderful and sacred truth, catch the inspiration of its
writers, and you will soon discriminate the inspired from the
uninspired. With the statements of the true is necessarily more or less
error; the Truth we want, the falsity we leave behind. Whatever is good
and pure and ennobling is of God; whatever is evil, erroneous,
degrading, is from man's misconception of Him.
"Goethe, who highly valued the Bible, said: 'With reference to things in
the Bible, the question whether they are genuine or spurious is odd
enough. What is genuine but that which is truly excellent, which stands
in harmony with the purest nature and reason, and which even now
ministers to our higher development? What is spurious but the absurd and
the hollow which brings no fruit.'
"If you do not understand, wait. Do not judge hastily or allow yourself
to be biased by the opinions of others. What may seem hard, unreasonable
dogma, may later prove but a veil over the sweetest, spiritual truth.
Reverence to read, patience to learn, wisdom to understand--all these we
want, and then, more brightly than before shall shine the sacred
diamonds that stud inspired pages.
"We refer again to what Dr. Newton says in his grand essay on the Right
Critical use of the Bible: 'Successive generations of men, struggling
with sin, striving for purity, searching after God, have exhaled their
spirits into the essence of religion, which is treasured in this costly
vase.
"'The moral forces of centuries devoted to righteousness are stored in
this exhaustless reservoir of ethical energy. At such cost, my brothers,
has Humanity issued this sacred book. From such patience of preparation
has Providence laid this priceless gift before you. In such labor of
articulation--spelling out the syllables of the message from on high,
through multitudinous lives of men dutifully and devoutly walking with
their God, does the Spirit speak to you, O, soul of man. Say thou:
'Speak, Lord; thy servant heareth!'"
* * * * *
"Thank God, Marion has at last found the key to the Bible," murmured Mr.
Hayden, as he finished the letter.