Page:The Bible- Its True Character and Spiritual Meaning.djvu/19

Rh daily increases. There may be more than one such among you; and while there are considerations which might be helpful to such minds, which I am obliged, by the limits of this discourse, to omit, I wish it distinctly understood that I regard such doubts neither with disrespect nor sentiments of hopeless pity. They seem to me, in a certain sense, natural to the time, and a necessary consequence of the declining spirituality of the doctrine and interpretation of the Church. The doctrine concerning the Inspiration of the Scriptures which is currently promulgated in this day is untrue; and interpretations are taught which it were better to disbelieve. But because the Ptolemaic astronomy is exploded, is there no longer a solar system and a starry heaven? Surely, the rejection of a false theory of revelation need not necessarily lead to denial of the existence of revelation. It should rather turn the mind to investigation, and dispose it affirmatively toward the doctrine which announces more rational claims.

1. I begin then with recalling a truth which seems to be well based in human experience; Man's religious instincts lead him to look for and seek a revelation from God. The consciousness of a mind and life which is an