The American Presbyterian .
AND
GENESEE EVANGELIST.
AND Man NEWSPAM,
IX FRI XXIX= OP T
Constitational Presbyterian Church,
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY )
AT THE PRESBYTERIAN HOUSE,
1354 Chestnut Street, (24 Story ' ) Philadelphia.
ar r . JOHN W. IMAM, Editor and Publisher.
THEORIES OP INSPIRATION.
This subject, of special importance ai
this crisis in the religious world, is very
fully discussed in the late number of the
American Presbyterian and Theological
Review. No new light is professed to be
offered, but careful and analytic state
ments of various prevalent views on the
' subject aro presented, and particularly
the views of Eleazar Lord are presented,
and his works on Inspiration are dis
cussed at length.
The only important theories of in
spiration may be stated as three in
number. First, the theory which allows
inspirition to belong only to those who
have been recipients of revelation. In
spiration, in the view of such, is only
the subjective effect of revelation.
There is no distinguishable inspiration
of the Scriptures as Scriptures. This is
the view of Schleiermacher, DeWette
and Bunsen. Second, the theory which
regards the Scriptures as containing the
word of God, not as being the word of
God. The writers are inspired, divinely
guided, yet not in such a way that
all the Bible is free from error. This
is the view which the returning
rationalism of Germany had reached
long ago, and which it was ex
pected ere long to pass, as it pressed
forward to the true evangelical faith.
Hence, we waited patiently when such
men as the eminently good Tholuck said
that "the Bible as we have it cannot in'
any case be held to be verbally inspired,
and hence the contents of Scripture
cannot be regarded as verbally guaran
teed;" we waited, expecting such good
men to take still clearer positions, and
hoping that evangelical Christians in
Germany would quite shake off these
old relics of rationalism. Many have
done so; Rothe, Schenkel, Meyer and
others retain them. Olshausen, in his
splendid commentaries, inclines to the
admission of such discrepancies in the
Gospels as this theory of defective in
spiration would allow. And it is now.
41:ie very nexus of the difficulties raised
'by the essayists and by Colenso in the
Church of England. Coleridge, Arnold,
Alford, Stanley and Towett hold or held
to this theory. The great contest into
which we have plunged, is between this
theory of half-abandoned German ration
alism, and the third or Orthodox view;
which regards the Bible, in the form in
which. God gave it, as so inspired as to
be an infallible authority, free from
error. In a certain sense all evangelical
Christians hold to the plenary inspira
tion of the Scriptures—a guarding in
fluence extending even to 'the words.
But not all believe in what has been
called the " mechanical theory," accord
ing to which the very words were dic
tated and therwriters were nothing but
amanuenses. Most take the position
that, besides receiving revelations, such
an influence was exerted upon the
minds of the writers, as to guide them,
in the free exercise of their faculties, to
the true fact, thought, 'or. conception,
and to the use of such language as
would correctly express it. Little is
now heard of the once famous theory of
degrees of inspiration, as suggestion,
direction, superintendence, &c. One
kind of guiding influence is now gene
rally recognized among the orthodox
as sufficient.
Mr. Eleazar Lord, however, adopts
the theory which has generally been
denominated mechanical. He says :" It
follows that He conveyed to the sacred
writers by Inspiration what they wrote
—the thoughts in the words by which
they are expressed." The nature of
inspiration, then, according to Mr. Lord,
is simply this, that it imparts thoughts
and words to the minds of the recipients.
" In the divine act of Inspiration, conse
quently, the agency of the recipient can
in no wise have any participation wimit
ever, any more than in a divine act of
creation, or in the act of one person in
.speaking to another." We do not care
to follow in the line of argument by
which, from Scripture and the nature
.of language, this extreme theory is de
fended. It is like everything Mr. Lord
has over done in theological discussion;
very thorough, earnest and analytical;
very logical in statement ; proving hard
study; but extreme in its conclusions.
The whole," says the reviewer, "turns
npon the question whether Inspiration
is to be defined in relation to the writers
or to what they wrote. Were the men
inspired to write the word, or was the
'word they wrote inspired Alford says:
New Series, Vol. I, No. 16.
g The men were inspired, the books
were the result of that inspiration'
Mr. Lord says : ' The primary error
which pervades the treatises of those
who believe in any divine Inspiration,
is that of regarding the Inspiration as
an influence on the mental faculties of
the sacred writers." We apprehend
that most evangelical Christians are in
error according to the views of Mr.
Lord, which would not be remarkable,
judging from the attitude of Mr. L. on
other mooted questions.
From these opinions, which border
very closely on bigotry, we gladly turn
to the broader and more genial views of
such a comprehensive Christian thinker
as Dr. Candlish. In his preface to the
new edition of his " Reason and Revela
tion," the Presbyterian divine addresses
himself first to the Bishop of Natal,
repelling his gross misrepresentations,
and then to the Duke of Argyll, who
had given a meaning to the doctor's
word's which they would hardly bear.
Dr. Candlish teaches that God took an
" oversight" of the very words in which
the record is framed. Whatever may
be said of the nature of the things con
stituting the record, the fact that any
of them is there, results from inspira
tion. Parts Of the Bible may be more
or less essential; but there is neither
more nor less inspiration implied in
their appearance upon the sacred page.
Says Dr. C.:
I maintain strongly that all that is in
the Bible is, in the strict and proper
sense, the Word of God. It is God's
inspired and infallible record of His
Revelation, and of the human affairs—
the sayings and doings of men—with
which it has pleased Him that His
Revelation should be mixed up. I have
argued that God, giving to us a revela
tion of His mind and will in the manner
in which it has seemed good to Him to
give it—that is, mixed up with mundane
affairs and the sayings and doings of
men—secures its full and accurate con
veyance to us—and can secure that—
only by himself taking : , the oversight
througho4t ,of Abp_yea...w.iikrda-iu
the whole complex - record is framed.
Hence, there are purely mundane
matters, and there are evidences of an
imperfect order of things in the record;
but as God's system of Revelation in
cluded these secularities and these im
perfect dispensations, the writers were
just as truly inspired to record them as
they were to record purely spiritual and
wholly true things. But were they
inspired to record errors of fact as if
correct, trivial though they might be ?
Were they inspired to assert false views
of natural phenomena as true, according
to the imperfect notions of their own
age ? Dr. Candlish may answer for us.
" I put it as a problem which only the
Omniscient can solve—how a revelation
which is to range over centuries of corn
parative ignorance on matters of secular
and mundane science—and is necessa
rily, according to its plan, to mix up
these matters freely with its higher i
themes—is to be so constructed and so
recorded that it shall not anticipate
human discoveries, and yet shall be in
entire harniony with them as in the
course of time they emerge. I maintain
that this precise problem is found ac
tually solved, in point of fact, in the
Bible. And I draw the inference that
this implies its plenary, verbal inspira
tion. The reason is plain enough, ac
cording to my view. Only one seeing
the end from the beginning could so
adjust the language used as, on the one
hand, to make it tell the men of the
existing. generation no more than they
otherwise knew of astronomical, or
geological, or other natural truth; and
yet, on the other hand, to make it such
that the men of all future generations
should be able in the long rnn, and
without violence, to explain it satisfac
torily in the light of their clearer and
fuller information, and their more ad
vanced and accurate science."
Dr. C. rather imagines that " The
Duke of Argyll is prepared to admit,
not only apparent, bat real discrepancies
between the statements of the Bible
andthe facts of science. In my opinion,
the admission is unnecessary. All past
experience, I think, goes to prove it to
be unnecessary. Always hitherto it has
been found that, after a little time, and
a little patience on both sides, apparent
discrepancies have turned out not to be
real. I am preparing to expect that
the same final harmony will come out
of passing discord, in the future pro
gress of 13iblical study and scientific
research, independently conducted and
with Baconian modesty on both sides,
without rash or premature dogmatism
or, generalization on either. In that
confident expectation I can calmly await
the issue.
" I close with one remark. It is the
policy of our opponents on this question
to run us up to untenable positions.
They insist on our maintaining certain
extreme and absurd views, such as have
PHILADELPHIA, THIJRSD4Y, APRIL 21, 1864.
no doubt sometimes found supporters
among theologians writing before the
subject was much discussed. And they
raise a shout of exultation when any
rational explanation is given on our side,
as if it implied an entire abandonment
of the whole doctrine. We have to
thank Coleridge and Arnold for having
led the van in this unworthy mode of
assault. They, however, I believe, did
it ignorantly ; not knowing, or not un
derstanding, the real orthodox belief, as
expounded by its intelligent advocates.
I am not prepared to be quite so chari
table in my judgment of some, at least,
of the tribe who have so eagerly caught
up the weapon wielded by these great
men. For our part, we must beware of
being too much moved by the taunts
of such adversaries. And, in particular,
we must beware of permitting them to
drive us into asserting more than Scrip
ture itself and sound reason fairly war
rant and require. It is on this account
that I am not myself very sensitive on
the score of being charged by hostile
critics with surrendering the high views
of inspiration commonly held in the
Evangelical Churches, because I endea
vor to make some small contribution
towards a fair and candid exposition of
what these views, when candidly looked
at, really are.
"And for myself, I claim the justice 1
of Ming believed when I avow it as my I,
sole aim to advocate, as best I may, the
great truth on which the religion of
Christ'and the hopes of Christians de- b
pend—that, not only is the Word of t
God in the Bible, but that the Bible is
itself, in the strictest and fullest sense, 11
in every particular of its contents, and
in every expression which it uses, the in- a
fallible Word of the one only living and
true God." s.
DR KIRK AND MR E. S. TOBEY AT
THE FRONT.
These two distinguished Bostonians
have been spending a few days at the
front of the Army of the Potomac, in
quiring for themselves into the religious
condition of the soldiers. On their way
home, they consented to remain in this
city, while a nnmber of the clergy and
laity of the different denominations
were called _together at theraoms of the -
C&litian Commission, ti : heatfitreir--re
port. Although the whole affair was
almost impromptu, the brethren having
made no preparation to address the
meeting, it was one of the most deeply
interesting occasions that we have ever
enjoyed. The cautious Boston merchant
had gone with considerable doubt on his
mind, as to the actual basis of fact in
the high-colored accounts of the relig
ious condition of the army, which have
been current of late, and was in no mood
to be easily deceived. He was attended
by a Unitarian friend, a man with at
least as little religious tenderness, as is
usually found in connection with that
faith ; but the effect of what they saw
at the variovs chapel tents, stations
of the Christian Commission and other
gathering places for religious pur
poses, was overwhelming. They came
back too full for utterance; declaring
many wonderful things of the work
of God in the army, but assuring us
that the half has not been told. The
universal readiness of the men to hear
the word; the crowded congregations ;
the eager hearers; the great, rapid, and,
to human appearance, thorough trans
formations of character ; the evident
nearness and power of the Holy Spirit,
in connection with the labors of the
Christian Commission, are features
everywhere joyfully witnessed and tes
tified to by these brethren. They come
away deeply stirred at the sight of a
field so vast, so important, so ripe for
the harvest. In the very spirit of our
article of last week; "A Great Home
Missionary Field," they declared their
conviction that the churches were not
half-awake to the amazing character of
the work thus providentially brought
before them in the army. They felt
that instant measures of a greatly en
larged character were demanded of the
church; and especially, that the Chris
tian Commission should immediately
take measures, by a more expanded or
ganization to adapt itself to, the de
mands of the field. The Commission is
universally welcome among the officers
and soldiers. Its agents are respected
and the way is opened for them prompt
ly everywhere. The only Sabbath ser
vice held at the Head Quarters of the
army, and attended by Gen. Meade and
staff, is under the direction of the Com
mission.
The one, great, paramount duty of
Christian people in reference to our
army at the present time, was, in the
judgment of these speakers, to keep in
view the condition of our soldiers' spiri-
Genesee Evangelist, No. 935.
tual , \n erests, and to sustain, in the
most 'beral and effective manner, the
Christian ommission. The happy har
monious orking of the Commission
hithertd, 4ugh composed of, and em
ploying mep. of every evangelical de
nominaon, 'was adverted to; never
did a hoe missionary effort so success
.ii
fully co mine the energies of the entire
body df Cristian people.
ii
Prof. B t
rrows, of Andover, who had,
on a' se rate occasion, visited and
labored it
, the Army of the Potomac,
i
was also resent and fully corroborated
the 6tat ents of' the two principal
ta
speakers
Thesembly, containing, with the
/s
lergy, s me of the leading laymen of the
ity, -was • deeply moved by these state
., ents. 1 , Most of them had heard fully of
he godd work going on inthe army, be-
Ire; some had taken part in it; but all
• ere stirred with an unusual sense of
~.
i e necessity for action on a much larger
pale than heretofore. The meeting,
ikitsh lasted three: hours, did not break
until some practical measures were
Lugu r rated, and some most encourag
; announcements of liberality on the
rt of the friends of the Commission had
in made. It is hoped and expected
It Dr. Kirk and Mr. obey will avail
1
raselyes of an early opportunity to
their interesting statements before
11 meeting of the Christian people of
city, and without making further
,esnients, which might be premature,
ilda we may announce to the nu
lons friends of the Christian Commis-
sio s and of the spiritual Welfare of our
sol v ers that the good work of evange
lizi i the army, will from this time be
pus j." 4 forward, with greater vigor than
at a • time before.
Si e.wrting the above, we have re
ceive. from the office of the S. S. Times
containing a fall report of Dr.
vadAress, *hich we print in an
ottierivp,dit, of the paper.
THE SEPOYS AT FORT PILLOW.
There are some passages in the his
tory of oui war that should be written in
ommon modes of expression
scarlet
vloy our - judgment of the
of the conduct of the rebels in
noes. We have already been
*th details of their savage mal
of the dead bodies of our
cannot c
enormity
these inst
sickened
treatmen
Bull Run and Chickamauga ;
soldiers
as a matter of course that
we ()ape
they wi starve and nearly kill with
ill-treat at ent such of our men as they
j r
capture their terrible treatmenirof such
of - thei r neighbors as were guilty only
of a peceable preference for the Union
—rivalling the persecutions of the six
teenth 'i t
century in : vindictiveness and
ferocio s cruelty—has come to be an
oft-tokla tale ; and now, as we wait
amazed, indignant, ashamed for our
e,onunim humanity, wondering what
new developement of the frantic spirit
of theiSouth is to appear next, we are
ansrred by the massacre of the garri
son 44; Fort Pillow by Forrest and his
' 1 This took plane on Tuesday, the
,
f April, just three years from the
rdment of Fort Sumter, and waft
- -
ed with circumstances unparalle -
our history, since the massacre of
arrison of New London by the
h, who captured it in the Revolu
-7 war.
bom
atten
ed. in!
the
Briti
tion
account received from Cairo,
describing the rebel attack, in
they twice gained advantages in
jon by an unfair use of a flag of
goeri, on to say :
mediately upon the surrender,
ensued a scene which utterly baf
• escription. Up to that compara-
few - of our men were killed; but,
insa iate as fiends and bloodthirsty as
dev . s incarnate, the Confederates com
me a ced an indiscriminate butchery of
the ' , bites and blacks including those
of b th colors who had been previously
wo ded.
e dead and wounded negroes were
piled. r §n heaps and burned, and several
citizens who joined our forces for pro
tection' were killed or wounded.
Tge black soldiers becoming demor
ali4ed; rushed to the rear, their white
:officers having thrown down their arms.
Bolh. white an black were bayonetted,
shot or sabred, and even dead bodies
were horribly mutilated. Children of
seven or eight years of age, and several
negro women were killed in cold blood.
Soldiers unable to speak, from their
wounds, were , shot dead, and their bod
iestrolled down thebanks into the river.
Out of a garrison of 600 men only 200
remained alive.
Every honed, and Christian fibre of
our hearts must tingle with indignation
at such a deed. Every true man and
woman will be stirred up to labor and
to pray, that, for humanity's sake, no
peace shall be made with such civilized
savages; such •specimens of modern
chivalry ; until they are utterly discom
fited and humbled by the power of the
Nation. Every right-feeling man must
crave at the hands of the Government,
some surety for the condign and exem
plary punishment of those tie connived
at, commanded, or perpeTrated such
atrocious murders,, as soon as it is in
our power to do it.
The contrast between an enslaved
race and its former masters, in regard to
humanity and general Christian princi
ple, is turning out more and more to the
advantage of the former every day.
Bad as slavery is for the slave, the op
pressor is, as is just, the greatest sufferer
of, the two. The reaction of a wrong so
great is more terrible than the suffering
of the wrong itself. It was long ago
expected that the slaves would rise
against a wrong so foul; but it was the
masters that rose, without cause, in the
mere excess of their pampered lust of
power, against the most beneficent Gov
vernment in the world. It was expect
ed that when the liberated slaves were
armed and commissioned to fight their
former masters, their long cherished
sense of wrong would lead them to the
wildest excesses of revenge ; on the con
trary, it is the masters of the South,
and their friends, in the rabble of our
Northern cities, that have given loose
to bloody rage against unarmed Afri
cans, and have murdered defenceless
women and children, and savagely but
chered surrendered prisoners, and actu
ally burned wounded and living. men !
These are, the contrasts. The colored
race, in America is undergoing-a-terrible
ordeal; but every fresh developement of
rage on the part of their enemies be
comes afresh vindication of their hu
manity and a new plealor their rights.
MIEMEM!
Mtn of titt 6 ive ,IR:
WESTERN CHITRCRES.—A debt of $5OO
has recently been paid by the church of
Winslow, Ills. This church, long fee
ble, is now enjoying a good meusure of
proSperity. Thhry collection taken for
Home Missions among the Western
churches this year, exceeds that of last
year.—On the 17th of .March, the Bth
Anniversary of the Ladies Mite Society,
ofD Linton, was held. When this Society
was organized, the church building was
unfinished, unpainted and several hun
dred dollars in debt. At this Anniver
sary the report showed that they had
raised, during those eight years, over
fourteen hundred and fifty dollars, in
the expenditure of which the church had
been neatly finished and its entire debt
paid off. As a thank offering, the ladies
immediately started a subscription,
which they raised at once to $l3O, and
probably before this have completed, for
the purchase of a bell.—Presbytery Re
porter.
TRY WORK OF RECONSTRUOTION.—The
Reporter for April contains a letter from
Rolla Mo. It is an important military
post, destitute of any Protestant church.
The population is estimated at 1500 to
3000. A Sabbath School has been organ
ized with 135 members. 12 persons are
prepared to unite in organizing a . Pres
byterian church and quite a number
will aid in supporting a Minister. Rev.
T. S. Reeve is on the ground.
DONATIONS.—Bev. G. D. A. Ilebard, of
lowa City, received a friendly call from
his people in March. Acknowledging
the call in the lowa City Republican, he
says "Should any one have any curi
osity to know how much was received
they can be informed by calling at the
Parsonage."
MINISTERIAL CRANGES.—Rev. C. B.
Barton has resigned the charge of Wood
burn church, 111., and Rev G. C. Clark,
lately of Collinsville, 111., has been call
ed to succeed him.—Rev. John W.
Bailey, late professor in Knox College,
has been called to the church in Bloom
ington, 111. The .Reporto " understands
that he will accept." Rev. Wm. T.
Dickson, late of _ Coultersville, has ac
cepted a call to the church at Wolf
Creek, Mercer county, Pa.—Rev. Wm.
N. Bacon has received and accepted a
call to become the Pastor of the Congre
gational church and Society of Shore,
ham, Vt.—Mr. Joel T. Hough, a lion.
rirMaleCB
- mail, $2.00 per annum, in savanna.
2 60 ,4 after 3 months.
By carrier, 60 cents additional for delivery/
CIATT3E3S.
Ten or more papers sent by mail to' one
church or locality, or in the city to one eddresS
By mail, $1.60 per annum.
By carriers, 2.00 " "
To save trouble, club subscriptions must
commence at the same date, be paid strictly in
advance, in a single remittance, for which one
receipt will be returned.
Ministers and Ministers' Widows supplied at
club rates. Home missionaries at slper annum:
POSTAGE.—Five cents quarterly in advance,
to be paid by subscribers at the once of de.
livery.
tiate of the Third Presbytery of New
York, was ordained to the ministry on
the evening of the 6th inst., in the First
Presbyterian Church, Bergen, N. Y.
Rev. Mr. Hough is at present laboring
as an Evangelist in Delaware, county,
N. Y., his address being Cannonsville,
N.Y. •
REV. L. W. DUNLAP writes to the Re
porter from La Grange, Mo., March 17,
ult. :
We are doing some good I trust, at
La Grange; bat it is hard work and
plenty of it. Rebels are totally depraved
if other people are not. I hope to preach
the Gospel here with the golden rule in
cluded. I fancy it has been left out in
former days. I have commenced preach
ing at Canton, six miles further up the
river. That town contains some 1,50 1 0
inhabitants.
REVIVAL IN LIMA, 0.-A correspon
dent of the HERALD writing from the
above place says : The church was small,
poor and cold, before the work of grace
began. The first two epithets apply, to
it yet, but by the blessing of God the
heart of the church has grown warmer ;
and more heathfal and larger. Even
as to weakness and poverty, we have
made some advance. Our church build
ing had for sometime been too small, and
we have exchanged it for a capacious
hall, which thus far has been comforta
bly well filled.
On the second. Sabbath of March the
Lord brought twenty-three new mem
bers, and added them to our number.
Six of these come by letter, and seven
teen on profession of faith. Ten'of the
seventeen were baptized. We have
taken up . two collections for benevolent
objects, since the revival began, and they
have each been more than double any
former contributions for the same causes.
There was nothing remarkable about the
the revival, save the largeness of the
blessing compared with the meagerness
of the means used. It was a steady,
quiet work of grace, the result of which,
though not numerically large, we trust
will be manifest among us for a long time
to come.
COMMISSIONERS TO THE GENERAL As
&EMELT.- Third Presbytery of New York:
Ministers—Rev. Wm. W. Newell, D. D.,
Rev. T. Ralston Smith, and Rev. Robert
R. Booth, principals ; Charles Merrill,
Charles A. Davison, and Horatio A.
Nelson, principals. The Fourth Presiy.
tery of New York ;—lteva. Thomas S.
Hastings, Howard Crosby, D. D., Henry-
B. Smith, D. D.; and Elders—Oliyer E. 4
Wood, Tobias D. Lander, and Marcuat
C. Riggs : Presbytery of St, Louis, Prin..
cipals, Rev. Edmund Wright, Elder •
Edwin Barnard.—Presbytery of Monroe, I
Michigan, Rev. George Duffield .Tr. f
C I IIIIROH OF PORT .1 - Eavis, N. Y.—Th , is
church is under the pastoral care j of
Rev. Dr. Fairchild. A debt of s2f 1)00
has recently been paid off, and S% i 230
presented: to pastor and wife. Atj the
last communion season, thirteen per..
sons were received into fellowship--nine
/
by profession bf their faith, and fel •ur by
letters from other churches. Of / these,
eight were beads of families, the , others
young people, mature, and fi zetiAlous of
good works." - i
THE CHURCH AT RILISDALI) A, Mom,
has cancelled an indebtedness . I at $3500.
CALIFORNIA.—Rev. 0. 0. WlAllace,com,
missioned by the Assembly's,/ Committee
of Home Missions to Placenl.rille, arrived
per steamer at San Frani! aisco on the
last day of February.---/—Bev. P. G.
Buchanan has been cor/amissioned to
labor at Watsonville. /
THE PRESBYTERY Or / CINCINNATI, at
its late meeting receivled three candi
dates for the ministryh now at Lute
Seminary,under their cv/ are. $865,85 were
reported as contribute /;d for Home Mis-
Missions by the 01 . ; _lurches last year.
Three licentiates haTiling for more than
two years failed to / report themselves,
their licensures we - ire withdrawn. Five
licentiates reportei i ii their labors since the
last meeting and / their report was ap
proved.
A church reef / mtly organized at Plea
sant View, We//it Va., consisting of 28
members applied to be received, where
upon the folloVing minute was adopted:
Ist. Resaveff,, That said application be
granted.
2d. That D 5. IL Allen, D. D., be a com
mittee to memorialize the General Assembly,
asking them to authorize churches in the
Border States, over which none of our sy
nods extend, who desire connection with
our body, to seek such connection with any
any of our Presbyteries, as may be most con
venient to themselves.
The President of the 'Cincinnati
Branch of the U. S. Christian Commis
sion, A. B. Chamberlain, ba 7 ing present,
on invitation made some Katements re
specting their work, °spaially at Chat
tanooga, Nashville, 7t3ridgeport and
other plates, upon which, resolutions
of commendation. were unanimously
adopt,