p. 136 | PLENARY INSPIRATION by T. E. Bowen

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 2, 1893

PLENARY INSPIRATION.

By T. E. Bowen

BY T. E. BOWEN.

A GREAT stir is being made in religious circles by the trial of Prof. Henry P. Smith, a clergyman of Cincinnati, belonging to the Presbyterian Church, for alleged heresy. He is charged with publishing that holy men were not so fully inspired but that mistakes can be found in the word of God. While Professor Smith's position may be deserving of censure, still his sentiments, although the charge against him may be substantiated, are in perfect keeping with the policy of the teaching not only of the Presbyterian, but all other so-called orthodox churches of the land.

Doctrines are sacredly held in their creeds that have no foundation whatever in plenary inspiration, and to an outside observer it appears a little inconsistent to reign up one minister for heresy, when all the rest quibble and crook around plain statements of Scripture. To illustrate: God says: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Every minister, nearly, in the land will tell you that this seventh means first day, by a certain line of curious reasoning. Didn't the Lord say the seventh day?—Yes, he did. Do you not suppose God knew what he said? Think you he could not as easily have said the first day "is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God" if he wished to make it so, as to say the seventh day? If we are to square our belief by plenary inspiration, let us do it, and be consistent and sincere.

Rev. Johnston Myres, a Baptist clergyman of the same city of the prosecution, in preaching about the trial, is reported as saying:—

A great many so-called liberal men have asked why so much should be made about so trifling a matter. But it is not a trifling matter. The inspiration of this word of God is at the very foundation of the religion of Christ. If this word is inspired only in part, if even some parts of it are false, then we have no authority. If one man can teach that some parts which he cannot harmonize or understand are false, then another man has the same right, and what is the word of God becomes merely a matter of human opinion. If the Presbytery were to put before the world the assertion that this Bible is in part fallible, that it contains errors in the thought which it intends to convey, then the power of every Presbyterian pulpit in this city is weakened. Doubt and uncertainty would spread in every congregation as it never has before. I believe that we can trust them, and that lovingly and kindly they will remove from the ranks of their instructors one whose views have unfitted him for a religious teacher.

If this loving wish of Rev. Myres should be executed justly, according to the premises here laid down, a vast army of religious teachers would lose their credentials, and, with Professor Smith, be judged as unqualified for the position of religious teachers. This would be inevitable, unless there was a mighty revolution among creeds which contradict the plain truths and thoughts inspiration "intends to convey" by the words used. To virtually say one statement is false, by teaching another doctrine that contradicts it, is to make the word "a matter of human opinion." Then why not take it as it is? Why not be consistent, and stand in a consistent light before a sinful world? If God has spoken, why not listen to what he says? If we take the Bible as the foundation of religion, why not stand upon it? If God says plainly the seventh day is the Sabbath he claims as his, why quibble around to make it mean the first day? When God says of a man who dies that he is dead, and "in that very day his thoughts perish" (Ps. 146:4), why spend so much valuable time in explaining (or trying to explain) how his soul is immortal, and therefore he cannot die? Who knows best the thoughts inspiration intended to convey, man or God?

There are many other points in which plenary inspiration does not accord with religious teaching, yet the fact remains that we have a complete inspiration. Let us believe it and rest upon it. Instead of the prevailing custom of trimming Scripture to fit our beliefs, may God grant we shall have wisdom enough to trim our theories by his sure and living word. Remember Jesus has said: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets [Old Testament]; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matt. 5:17, 18.