of these views
have been and are accompanied with the idea that everything going under
the name of inspiration, is infallible, hence the idea that every
statement made throughout the entire book is absolute truth.

"The Bible itself makes no claim to infallibility, though there are
frequent references to inspiration and the influence of the Holy Ghost
in moving men to speak, but the principal text on which is based this
claim of infallibility is II. Tim. iii: 16. At the time this was
written, there was only the Old Testament, including the Apocrypha, that
could be referred to as Scripture, so when we read Paul's assertion
that, 'all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness,' if we take it to be infallible, we have a reasonable
ground for regarding the Old Testament and the Apocrypha as infallible.
But a more literal rendering of the Greek text would be, 'all scripture
divinely inspired is indeed profitable for teaching, for conviction, for
correction,' etc., and by simply changing the position of the little
word _is_, we have a vastly different sentence.

"Regarding the interpretation of scripture, Peter says: 'All prophecy of
scripture is not of its own solution.' The literal Greek is, 'all
prophecy of a writing, of its own loosing not it is,' meaning, of
course, that sacred writings can not always be interpreted literally,
but must be understood according to their spiritual meaning. Great
writings are not confined to any private or local meaning, but refer
more especially to great principles, to universal truth.

"If we consider the origin of the Bible, we shall learn what
comparatively few of us know, viz., how the Bible grew into a book. In a
necessarily brief outline it is impossible to give anything but a
bird's-eye view of this very interesting and important subject.

"As we look back to earlier times, through the various channels, we find
that much of what is considered history is merely legendary; that long
before the art of writing was known, these legends and myths were handed
down from generation to generation, and from age to age. Familiar as we
are with human nature, we may well imagine the additions and
subtractions and divergencies introduced by each succeeding narrator,
copyist or editor in every age. This is a very important feature to be
considered in interpreting ancient scriptures, but there are also