Absolutely nothing, unless thereby its
[honesty] truthfulness can be set aside.
'If error were _cunningly interspersed_ with truth in the Bible, the
case would be different. But it is _not_ so. The Book, as a whole, and
as it stands, is wholesome and useful; each portion of it has its proper
place, and is adequate to fulfil its appointed end. But everything in
the Book does not take hold alike on the heart and conscience. It may be
very interesting, as indeed it is, to trace on the map the various
journeyings of St. Paul, or the wanderings of the children of Israel in
the wilderness; to note a hundred designed coincidences, etc. Yet all
this may be done without the slightest moral or spiritual benefit to the
man who does it. And, of course, all this may be left undone by others
without the slightest spiritual loss or disadvantage.'
The following may be our own.
The great thing is to use the Scriptures as a means of instruction in
religious truth and Christian duty, and as a means of improvement in all
moral excellence and Christian usefulness.
Set the doctrine of Scripture inspiration too high, and people, finding
that the Scriptures do not come up to it, will conclude that the
doctrine is false,--that the Scriptures are not inspired,--that they do
not differ from other books,--that divine revelation is a fiction,--that
religion is a delusion,--and that the true philosophy of life and of the
universe is infidelity.
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