I
would no more undertake such a task than I would undertake to prove that
every leaf, and every flower, and every seed, of every plant on earth is
perfect, and that each is exactly like its fellows. God's honor and
man's welfare are as much concerned in the one as in the other. They are
concerned in neither. The leaves, the flowers, and the seeds of plants
are right enough,--they are as perfect as they need to be,--and I ask no
more. And the Bible is as perfect as it needs to be, and I am satisfied.
The following is abridged from a work entitled CHRISTIANITY AND OUR
ERA, by the Rev. G. Gilfillan of Scotland.
Mr. Gilfillan speaks of it as a 'Generally admitted fact, that there is
a human, as well as a divine element in Scripture,' and adds, 'that this
should modify our judgment in considering perplexing discrepancies and
minor objections. There are spots in the sun; there are bogs on the
earth; and why should the perplexities in a book, which is a
multifarious collection of poetico-theological and historical tracts,
written in various ages, and subject, in their history, to many human
vicissitudes, bewilder and appal us? The candid inquirer will be
satisfied if, from the unity of spirit, the truth and simplicity of
manner, the majesty of thought, the heavenliness of tone, and the
various collateral and external proofs, he gathers a _general_
inspiration in the Bible, and the general truth of Christianity.
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