Show CHANGED HIS BELIEF another prominent ecclesiastic seems to have suffered buffered shipwreck of faith being cast ashore ash or on 00 the dangerous rooks rocks of modern criticism of the bible As announced to ID the dispatches or dr richard smith professor of greek hebrew and sanskrit at a methodist college in west virginia has ban resigned hi hie chair on account of a change of religious views the learned scholar ie 18 inclined to doubt the inspiration of certain portions of the bible and where be grants inspiration at all he believes the scriptures are inspired in no other sense than the hymn book for instance paul and other authors of the he bible were inspired men only as were martin luther or jiho wesley in later times this being from a methodist point of view heresy the pro professor feor resigned his position in that chat denomination it is ia perhaps only natural that among biblical scholars who chiefly are concer concerned about the languages lu which the sacred books were written and who as an a matter of fact act pay principal attention to a critical study of the text and the variations in readings etc there should be a tendency to doubt as regards regard inspiration just as abw tb u is a tendency tand 93 materialism au aber forms of infidelity among a large ian glass of students of the physical sciences they are so BO absorbed in the abe phenomena of the perceptible universe that they have no eye for the opi spiritual ritual forces on which they depend with the noted professor who told hla his audience he had been studying anatomy for fitly fifty years without being able to discover the slightest trace of a soul in the human body they are in dined to think that what they 0 annot see flee does not exist I 1 in a the same way critical scholars of the bible are apt to find themselves tortured by doubts because they encounter difficulties in the presence ofa of a divine element in a text that abac bears soo iso many marks of bum n imperfections As stated this tendency to skepticism on an important point is easily accounted for it is very plain that it in owing to the fact that the various divisions of the groat great churches of the world are all in error regarding the personality and the spirit of the supreme being an ai well as his relation to the children of men and the revelations given were these points clear the doctrine of inspiration would cause but little difficulty in one sense it to is undoubtedly true that men like martin luther jluther and john wesley were inspired As fr as an they were instruments in the hand band of providence Providen ceto to perform the work to which they mey were devoted they were under the influence of the divine spirit so were numerous others in different parts part of the world with all their feebleness of perception and other imperfections but on that account to Is the conclusion In avoidable that paul and other biblical authors possessed inspiration to in no higher degree than ban these theme certainly not neither JLii blither ther nor wesley claimed the authority with which paul spoke when announcing we be will of the lord turning to the bible it is evident that both old and now new testament authors claim that their writings art ar composed om posed under the guidance or the spirit the scriptures scripture therefore ano this applies equally to the records of the Lama ou on anim continent and the revelations given to the cauich in this thi axe age are the utterance of tile the divine will ex Dressing the ideas des the holy spirit intended as near as this coul hooulu be done to in human language by tb thip human instruments employed the au authors thorr bad the special rift pitta of abu reflecting the divine will this thib lu it however in the lanau lanarae ae of a prominent theologian admitted lo in the elored writers of diligent and faithful research of the expression of the same game thought in different borit of such differences between the ac counts BB as would be likely tj ti ariae from the different tanu stano a ot of ouch each author of quotations quotation from inspired and uninspired documents document and or peculiarities of style arising from ot of intellectual structure aud and rom from buu ecu oat national ional and other influenced these facts aota are all stated by the inspired authors themselves and d not appear to present any serious difficulties but when an attempt Is made to foam a theory embody embodying log those these facts obstacles will arise until the chief fact la Is admitted that inspiration and revelation are iu af much a part of t te ie christian religion in this age as lu in former it lope beatt ane it is an evidence against agai the theology of the world that its most profound students stumble and fall over one ot of the fundamental lund truths of the christian religion |