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our grandmothers cherished devoutly: the heathen
Bible, dictated by God to inspired penmen whose
reason and personality were suppressed in the pro
cess of inspiration: the Bible whose very words were
infallible and inerrant upon every subject; the Bible
which could be used as an arsenal of proof texts and
as a diviner’s rod
But have we lost the real Bible.’
Let us see briefly what the real Bible is. The new
knowledge has given us a wider conception of revela
tion and inspiration. Revelation is the unveiling of
God's eternal truth wherever it may be found, There
can be no human discovery of truth anywhere with
out a previous Divine revelation. God's revelation
and man's discovery are but the two sides of flu*
same process. Inspiration is the quickening of an
ear to the hearing of God’s utterances. For instance,
there is God’s revelation in nature. But we not'd
prophets to interpret that revelation to us, and gifted
souls like Darwin. Huxley or Tyndall, inspirt'd seers
in the natural realm, to read to us secrets that have
been hidden from the foundation of the world. The
inspiration is never inerrant, ami the knowledge of
nature is never infallible. The process is progressive.
Year by year, this domain of the revealed truth of
God in nature enlarges.
St> it is in the realm of art. The great musicians,
sculptors ami painters catch the vision glorious and
interpret it to us common mortals. So it is also in
the realm of human life ami experience. It is a
subtle thing, this gift of inspiration: we cannot tie
fine it precisely in logical terms; we cannot measure
it exactly by mathematical degrees; but we always
know it when we see it.
So it is, pre-eminently, in that region where con
science reigns supreme, the moral and ethical realm,
and above all in the sphere of spiritual experience
where man holds communion and fellowship with
God. Here are phenomena as real as those in the
physical world. To the open eye ami ear of the seer
come visions and messages of Divine truth impossible
to lower souls.
Read your whole Bible thus in the light of the new
knowledge, in the light of an honest, fearless, search
ing and yet reverent criticism, and you will find it a
far richer, more inspired and more inspiring Bible
than the one you have lost. Its history shall show
you the patient Divine education and development of
the Hebrew —and the world-conscience; its psalms
shall utter for you as you never could utter them for
yourself, the deep things of your spiritual experience
and the fellowship ami communion of your soul with
God, your penitence and praise, your love and grati
tude, your devotion and consecration: its prophets
shall give you glimpses into the profound purposes
and plans of God's providence' and visions of that
far-off Divine goal toward which the ages march with
unerring feet; and the Gospels and Epistles shall
THE REASON
lead you to that Christ Who is “the Light of the
world." as well as of your own soul, “the bread and
water of life." because He and lit' alone is the final
and complete satisfaction of the commonest and most
persistent needs and aspirations of our humanity.
“He ('an never be exceeded, lb' can never be super
seded. Religions may come and go. the passing
shadows of an eternal instinct. But Christ shall re
main the standard of the conscience. the satisfaction
of the heart. Whom all men seek, in Whom all men
shall finally meet."
Increase the Fertilizer Tax for Schools.
A man who is able to do so but fails to provide
for his family deserves, first, to have them taken
from him. and then paroled out of flic state and
given as little film* as possible in which to leave,
without the privilege of returning unless able to give
bond for tin 1 monthly payment of such sum of
money as word I make his wife and children com
fortable and reasonably nappy. so far as money can
contribute to comfort and happiness in this world.
The discharge of the responsibility of the State
of Georgia toward her children the agricultural
schools -should not be less stringently insisted upon.
\\ hether advisedly or not. these schools have now
been established at an enormous cost to the counties
where located, tin* voters acting upon tin* assump
tion that the State would furnish the nrrcssnrv main
benance fund.
Xow. if the State does not do this it is no better
than tin* man who dodges his taxes or fails to care for
his wife and children, and deserves to be punished
in a like manner. What is sauce for the goose should
be sauce for the gander, and is whenever and
wherever good government prevails. We are slowly
but surely arriving at the conclusion that tin' State
has no more right to violate the terms of any agree
ment it may make with the people than the people
have to break their contracts with the State.
The bill now before the Legislature to increase
the fertilizer tax from ten cents per ton to twenty
five cents in order to raise the necessary fund for
these schools ought to be passed. The manufacturers
of fertilizers will receive more benefit from the edu
cation of the farmer vouth than any other class of
people except the farmers themselves, therefore they
should be made to bear the burden of the expense.
It is the best possible expenditure of their mone\ that
could be made of it. as the increased list* of their
products depends upon the opening of new avenues
for them by tin 1 lessons of science and enlightenment.
There is still another reason why this should be
done for 11m protection of the people from influ
ences that operate against us in other slates depends
upon the raising of this tax. There is not a tertitlizer
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