Inspiration y, Orthodoxy.

Otago Witness, Issue 2293, 10 February 1898, Page 23

Inspiration y, Orthodoxy.

TO THE EDITOR.

Siß,— Through, the kindness of a neighbour t frequently have the opportunity of perusing you* inteiesling journal, and am as much diverted by the contents of your Religious column, as of that headed " Fun and Fancy. ' I notice in your issue of December 30, 1897, a par conceraing boypreachers, 11-year-old young Cooke in particular, who has had a. home training, "!i»s never been <o -chool," and yet is (as was Jesus at the ase of 32) a match for the theologians ana hairsplitters of Manchester (Eng.). As no elucidation of this phenomenon accompanies the bsre facts 1 , wiil you permit me, Sir, to give my improiivioiis anent this subject ? Being a spiritualist, I may be expected to take a very different view of -cclesiastical and scriptural matters from t.h<t subscribed to by college-educated religious teachers. Master Ja 'k Cooke is truly a lad in whom inspirational speaking iv being developed. Soi^-j vise spirit finds, in him a suitable instrument tfuough. whom he can address and enlighten modern ears and minds. It may be the spirit of a philosopher or ancient sage, or possibly that of a parson who is anxious to counteract the evil effects or the error.-s he promulgated while an occupant of the pulpit ! In either case the boy is posbeased of one of the spiritual gifts so earnestly commended to the Corinthians by Paul in chap. xiv. Ah a contrast 'to this refreshing spiritual ray <•{ light fiom ou high, your readers are from time to time treated to the learned but shadowy platitudes of p. correspondent who tuns the risk of becoming a juonomaniac. You will guess to whom I refer— one who has " the atonement" on the brain. His scientific diseoutses remind one of patent mediciuo ads. — v^ty entertaining till you arrive at the denouement.

It, mi,;iit do " A B mkei " a world of good to sit at the feet of a boy-medium like Jack Cooke, for theu lie might see the beauty and significance of the verse, " Out of the mouths of b.-ibes and sucklings hast Thou perfected praise." Evolution has done away with the fall of man, so the Goddishououring doctrine of punishing the innocent fov the guilty has no logical locus standi " Woi'lc_ out your own salvation " is the order of the day.' Your contributor is evidently a bibliolatov from his concluding words, "And will live up to the rules of that Holy Book." It would occux>y too much space, Sir, or it were easy to prove the utter impossibility of doing so. One fact xnusb strike an itupaitUl inquirer forcibly— i.e., thit huu« dreds of sects with contradictory creeds eK : .&t, and justify their existence by appeals to " that Holy Book," which certainly contains many a chapte? unfit to be seen or heard— proof positive that not all of it is " the Word of God " I The priests may say, j Your money p*y And take your choice— • Nasty or nice. — Youvs, etc., VOX SriJUWe,, Ballarat, Victoria, January 25,