If inspiration were indeed that which it is thought to be by the
orthodox Christians, surely we ought to be able to distinguish its
sayings from those of the uninspired. If inspiration be confined to the
Christian Bible, how is it that the inspired thoughts were in many cases
spoken out to the world hundreds of years before they fell from the
lips of an inspired Jew? It seems a somewhat uncalled for miraculous
interference for a man to be supernaturally inspired to inform the world
of some moral truth which had been well known for hundreds of years to
a large portion of the race. Or is it that a great moral truth bears
within itself so little evidence of its royal birth, that it cannot be
accepted as ruler by divine right over men until its proclamation is
signed by some duly accredited messenger of the Most High? Then, indeed,
must God be "more cognizable by the senses than by the soul;" and then
"the eye or the ear is a truer and quicker percipient of Deity than the
Spirit which came forth from Him."* Was Paul inspired when he wished
himself accursed for his brethren's sake, but Kwan-yin uninspired, when
she said, "Never will I seek nor receive private individual salvation;
never enter into final peace alone?" If Jesus and the prophets were
inspired when they placed mercy above sacrifice, was Manu uninspired
in saying that a man "will fall very low if he performs ceremonial acts
only, and fails to discharge his moral duties"? Was Jesus inspired when
he taught that the whole law was comprehended in one saying, namely,
"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself?" and yet was Confucius
uninspired when, in answer to the question, "What one word would serve
as a rule to one's whole life?" he said, "Reciprocity; what you do not
wish done to yourself, do not to others." Or take the Talmud and study
it, and then judge from what uninspired source Jesus drew much of His
highest teaching. "Whoso looketh on the wife of another with a lustful
eye, is considered as if he had committed adultery."--(Kalah.) "With
what measure we mete, we shall be measured again."--(Johanan.) "What
thou wouldst not like to be done to thyself, do not to others; this
is the fundamental law."--(Hillel.) "If he be admonished to take the
splinter out of his eye, he would answer, Take the beam out of
thine own."--(Tarphon.) "Imitate God in His goodness. Be towards thy
fellow-creatures as He is towards the whole creation. Clothe the naked;
heal the sick; comfort the afflicted; be a brother to the children of
thy Father." The whole parable of the houses built on the rock and on
the sand is taken out of the Talmud, and such instances of quotation
might be indefinitely multiplied. What do they all prove? That there is
no inspiration in the Bible? by no means. But surely that inspiration
is not confined to the Bible, but is spread over the world; that much
in all "sacred books" is the outcome of inspired minds at their highest,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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