in the wilderness till the sun,
air and rain had bleached it white, we can not appreciate the
expression, 'though thy sins be as scarlet, yet shall they be washed
white as snow.' Until we realize that the ideas and language as well as
the customs and rites of barbarous and ignorant heathendom influence
every page of the Bible, we shall not know how much allowance to make
for the revelations of the Divine, and the suppositions and possible
mistakes of the human. Until we know that the Bible has gone through
many hands since its words were first spoken or written, we can not
realize the possible loss of its most spiritual meanings.

"Moses, Isaiah, David, John, Paul had the grandest revelations possible
to man, experiences not 'lawful to utter,' not possible to clothe in
words. The unspeakable can not be put into speech. To attempt it is to
color it with finite meanings. To describe the Infinite is but to limit
or confine God.

"When we consider that no very ancient writings have reached us without
the marks of many pens; when we consider the impossibility of exact
translation, the difficulty of perfect copying all the years before the
art of printing, the method of canonizing the books and formulating
creeds, we must know that something besides God's message has come down
to us. And yet a message is there notwithstanding.

"Yes, the authors of the Bible were inspired. Whatever of Truth they
revealed is infallible, but as men with finite conceptions and
abilities, they could not comprehend nor reveal _all_ of God.

"'God is the same yesterday, to-day and forever,' and talks to man face
to face to-day even as with the immortal Moses.

"'I know that the Bible is inspired, because it finds me at greater
depths of my being than any other book,' said Coleridge.

"All candid students of sacred Scriptures agree that there is a
spiritual meaning back of the literal. The question with us is, how can
we get at this spiritual or esoteric interpretation.

"If you will let the spirit of Truth guide you, it will bless you with
keener discernment, and clearer understanding, than has been possible
for you heretofore. It is when you look for the spirit of religion that
you find it and understand it, and the fact that so much has been said
against our Bible as a book, does not and can not detract a particle
from its value.

"'There is a light that lighteth every man!' Every one of God's children
has the power to distinguish truth