Part 13 (2/2)

When I first heard an Unitarian say, ”Supernaturalisave him to understand that I did not feel easy in his coard to such extreme views: preach your own old-fashi+oned practical doctrines” This entleman who spoke to me thus, as I afterwards found, was himself on anti-supernaturalist But he saw that I had to be dealt with carefully,--that I was not to be hurried or argued, but led gently and unconsciously, into ultra views This was the gentle subscriptions towards the steam press He professed to like my supernatural beliefs much better than the anti-supernatural views of the extremer portion of his brethren And perhaps he _did_ like theh he had lost the power to believe them himself But whether he liked theained an influence over me, which an honest avowal of his opinions, and especially an open attempt to induce me to accept theain

Strange as it may seem, I still retained many of my old methodistical habits, and tastes, and sensibilities My ious feeling My head had changed faster thana nuious books And I had no disposition to indulge o to a theatre, or even to a concert I would not play at draughts or chess I hated cards And all this time I held myself prepared to defend, in public discussion, what I considered to be the substance of Christianity An arrangement was actually made for a public debate on Christianity about this time, between me and Mr Holyoake It was to take place at Halifax, and I attended at the time, and stated my views in two lectures; but Mr

Holyoake did not attend He was prevented fro so by illness, it was said

Some of the publications which I issued about this time, in reply to one sent forth by the Rev W Cooke, led to a public discussion between entleman, in the Lecture-room, Newcastle-on-Tyne Mr Cooke was a minister--the ablest ed The list of subjects for debate included the following:--”What is a Christian? What is the Scripture doctrine with regard to the Atone Faith? What do the Scriptures teach with regard to Original Sin, or Natural Depravity, The Trinity, The Divinity of Christ, The Hired Ministry, and Future Punishht the room was crowded to its utmost capacity The excitement was intense And it pervaded the whole country There were persons present froh Miller, the Scotch geologist, was there one night As usual, both parties considered theht Neither the truth nor the error was all on one side; nor was the argu different fro more and better It was ether My opponent, though soian He was committed to a system, and could not see beyond it, or dared not accept any views at variance with its doctrines Hence he went in direct opposition to the plainest teachings of the Scriptures, and the clearest dictates of common sense

He found it necessary also, to spend a portion of his time in foolish criticisms on Greek and Hebreords, and in efforts to make the worse appear the better reason As fordoards at the time, at a rather rapid rate, and was not to be turned back, or even ical vanities I regarded with the utmost contempt, and I had cos as nothing reat foundation truths of religion, and to the general principles of Christian truth and duty, and, I will not say, defended them, for they needed no defence beyond their own manifest reasonableness and excellence,--but stated them both with sufficient clearness and fulness

But neither party was in a state of mind to learn from the other War, whether it be a war of words, or a war of deadlier weapons, tends generally to widen the differences and increase the antipathies of the combatants And so it was here And one party certainly went further and travelled faster in the way of error after this exciting contest than he had done before

And greater extre in my opponents One man wished me dead, and said to a near relation of mine, ”If there was a rope round his neck, and I had hold of it, I would hang hieneral, for his entleness Another said he ”should like to _stick_ me:” but _he_ was a butcher Another person, a woood for hih for hi my relations that would not speak to arded me with pride At soanized and plotted to do me bodily injury, and in some cases they threatened me with death On more than one occasion I had narrow escapes with my life Once I was struck on the head with a brick, which al an end to my life On another occasion I was hunted by a furious mob for hours, and had repeated hair-breadth escapes from their violence One man advocated my assassination in a newspaper, and the editor inserted the article, and quietly gave it his sanction

All this was natural, but it was not Christian, nor was it wise ”The wrath of hteousness of God” Hard bricks have no tendency to soften a man's heart These attempts to force me into subnation to the highest pitch, and fearfully increased my hatred of the churches and their creeds, and ainstand eternal war

CHAPTER XIV

THE BIBLE QUESTION INSPIRATION, INFALLIBILITY HISTORY OF MY VIEWS ON THE SUBJECT

A PRAYER

Help me, O Thou Great Good Father of my spirit, in the work on which I areat and solemn subject on which I am now to speak, to separate the true from the false, the doubtful from the certain, the important from the unimportant And may I be enabled totoo far Let h May I not, through needless fear, or through any evil ht to be said I a to Thy will, for the service of Thy Church, and for the welfare of the world I am every moment accountable to Thee; help me so to speak that I may be at peace with my own soul, and have a sweet assurance of Thy approbation Fill my soul, O my Father, with the spirit of love, of truth, of tenderness, and of all goodness Guide Thou my pen, and control ood and no harm May Thy people endeavor to do justice to what I say If any one, through error or evil disposition, should do , help me to bear the trial with Christian th coion of Christ, so full of truth and love, shall be understood and embraced by allpower the earth shall become the abode of purity, and love, and bliss AMEN

It one at this tiard to my views on the Bible

1 I remember a time, when I believed that the Bible in which my father read, came down direct from God out of heaven, just as it was I looked on it as simply and purely divine

2 I afterwards learnt that the Bible was printed on earth, and that it was a translation from other books which had been written in Greek and Hebrew

3 But I still supposed that the Greek and Hebrew Bible holly divine, and that the translation was as perfect as the original

4 I next learned that the translation was _not_ perfect,--that the translators were soinal, and put one in,--that in other cases they had iven erroneous translations I soes, and when I caical works, I found the authors doing the sa

5 I then found that there were several translations of the Scriptures, one by Wesley, one by Campbell, and others by other men, and that they all differed froarded as wholly correct When I read the Notes of Adam Clarke on the Bible, I found that he often differed from all the translators, and that in some cases he differed froinals were perfect; that in them we had the words of God just as they came from His own mind

7 But I afterwards found that there were several originals,--or at least several Greek and Hebrew Bibles,--and that they also differed from each other to some extent, and that none of them could be said to be entirely free from error

8 I learnt from Adam Clarke and others that the printed Greek and Hebrew Bibles had been compiled from _manuscripts_,--or from Bibles, or portions of the Bible, written by the hand, before the art of printing was known

9 I also found that those reat many places, and that in some cases they differed on points supposed to be of considerable importance, and that it was impossible to tell which of the manuscripts weremanuscripts were copies of other inal books, the books written by Moses and the Prophets, and by the Evangelists and Apostles, were all lost, so that it was impossible to tell, with absolute certainty, whether any of the manuscripts were absolutely correct,--that when the best and ablest men on earth had done their utmost, there would still be roo, as well as to the correct , of various portions of Scripture