The claim of the verbal and plenary inspiration of the Old Testament is
denied by many and doubted by others, and the volume is seen and
treated by them as a compilation of works or books in which are
recorded the thoughts and doings of men and tribes and nations that
existed at different periods and flourished or suffered as is the
fortune of mankind.
The early chapters of Genesis were then a faithful history; they are
now a legend. The Book of Job was then an inspiration; it is now a
poem. The reported interviews between Abraham and Jehovah were then
thought to have been real; now they are treated as the visions of an
excited brain. The ten commandments were then believed to have been
delivered to Moses by the Supreme Being; now they are regarded as the
work of a wise law-giver. Kings and Chronicles are now authentic
histories written by honest men; then those records of events were
attributed to the Supreme Ruler of the world.
The domain of prayer has been limited. Prayers for rain, for health,
for mild winters and fruitful summers, were then made in all the
churches. Now, with many exceptions no doubt, health is sought in
obedience to the laws of our being, and the seasons find their quality
in the operation of laws whose sources are in material organizations
that cannot yield to human impulses.
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