Taking this view of the world, of life and mankind, I felt that the greatest thing in the world a man could do would be to devote his life to warning men of their danger and pointing the way to safety. I wanted to sound my voice in warning men to "flee from the wrath to come." Believing that all men were lost if they did not follow the prescribed course laid down by my church, I felt that if I did not do all in my power to direct them in the way of eternal life their blood would be on my hands. While I did not feel that I would be "lost" if I failed in this—for the doctrine of my church was, that once being converted all the devils in hell could not keep one ultimately from heaven—yet I felt that my future happiness in heaven would be diminished just in proportion as I failed to do my best in this behalf. This was interpreted to be a "divine call to preach." I accepted it with profound earnestness and deep conviction, and began early to exercise my gifts.
In due course of events I went to college to "prepare for the ministry." I was in love with the work and happy in its prospects. I was ambitious to be thoroly efficient in my work in the future and pursued my studies with diligence accordingly. Incidentally I learned much that was not in the books, as most college students do.
I little knew what was before me. Here in a "school of the prophets," where I was supposed to be thoroly trained, rooted and grounded in the faith of my church, I was to learn the first lessons that ultimately led me entirely out of the orthodox faith, into a broad, rational liberalism! A few of these it will be necessary to state here, not so much because of any immediate effect they produced, as to show the working of the leaven that years afterward "leavened the whole lump."
The first shock I got was in the study of Geology. When I began it I saw at once that it was out of harmony with the Bible account of Creation, the origin of the earth, and organic life upon it. While no one told me so, I somehow conceived the idea that we were not studying it because it was recognized as truth, but just the opposite. Being rooted and grounded from my infancy in the belief in the absolute literalness, and infallible truth of the Bible; and supposing that I was in college only to be more thoroly instructed in this divine truth, I conceived the idea that this book we were studying was merely the "guess-work" of some modern infidel, and that our real purpose in studying it was to be the more able to refute it when we got out into our life work; all of which would fully appear before we finished the book.
One day when we were perhaps half thru, the professor, himself a Baptist minister, catechised the class individually, as to their opinions as to the length of time the earth was in process of formation, previous to the appearance of life upon it. I noticed, with surprise, that the answers varied from a few millions to hundreds of billions of years, until the question came to me, when I answered promptly, "Six days!" Everybody laughed, professor and all. Of course I felt "cheap"; but insisted on the correctness of my answer "because the Bible said so," notwithstanding Lyell and Dana to the contrary.
The professor complimented me on my "loyalty to the Scriptures," but explained that the story of creation in Genesis was to be interpreted "figuratively"; that it referred to six great geological epochs in terms of days; and that what we were studying was to be accepted as scientific truth in its general principles, subject, however, to possible revision in some of its details as further geological discoveries were made.
This was a revelation to me. I know the intelligent reader of today will be provoked to laugh at my native, inherent "greenness." But it must not be forgotten that this was thirty-six years ago; and besides this, there are still, in this year of grace 1919, literally millions of men and women, long past the age of student life, who still hold substantially the same views concerning the relations of science to religion and the Bible that I held then. The simplicity of faith is often sublime. And I am not sure that it is not often the truth that, "Ignorance is bliss where it is folly to be wise"; especially where the "wisdom" is just sufficient to disturb the mind but not enough to settle it. But I had a revelation,—two of them.
First, that modern science is to be taken seriously; and second, that much of the Bible must be interpreted figuratively. The latter was the most disturbing to me. The question that confronted me was this: If the Bible is partly literal and partly figurative, when I get out into my life work as a minister, how am I to be able to always determine correctly just what parts are literal and what figurative; and how to interpret the figures? But the answer came as quickly as the question: This is just what I am here to learn, and before I am thru I will doubtless know it all! Some time after this a discussion arose among the divinity students, about the doctrines of inspiration—as to whether the Bible was literally and verbally inspired, word for word, or was merely an inspiration of ideas, the writers being left to write their "inspirations" in their own language and manner. My idea had always been that of the former, that the Bible was inspired word for word, just as it reads. But I found the more progressive and better educated class among both students and professors had abandoned this idea, and accepted the doctrine of the inspiration of ideas only. It was strange to me that God could not have dictated the words as easily as the ideas, and thus have made sure of their correctness. But it set me to thinking. I had never had any doubt about the inspiration of the Bible, yet I could give no reason for it, except that I had always been told so. Now as progress and education were going to compel me to revise my opinions about the manner of inspiration, I began to wonder what evidence we really had that the Bible was inspired at all. I really had no doubts about the fact. I supposed, of course, the evidence existed somewhere, but that they had never been specifically pointed out to me; and I wanted to know just what and where they were. I confided my inquiries to a senior student in whom I had great confidence. He told me the devil was whispering doubts in my ear and I should not listen to him! That there could be no possible doubt about the fact of inspiration; that this question had been definitely and finally settled over eighteen hundred years ago by the wisest and best men of the world, and there had never been a shadow of a doubt about it since; that the evidences of inspiration of ideas instead of verbal inspiration were found in the many different styles and manner of writing found in the Bible itself as represented by the different writers. But as to the fundamental fact of divine inspiration itself, there had never been a shadow of a doubt! So I accepted the new idea of inspiration and said "Get thee behind me, Satan," and after that for many years I did not permit myself to doubt the fact of inspiration. Yet occasionally I could not keep from thinking, and many years later this question arose again in my mind with tragic force and effect.