"'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 from error, and only needs to assert that divine privilege of knowing and acknowledging truth in order to to find it.
"Humanity is so under the yoke of traditional opinions that it has not dared think for itself, but the time has come when 'ye shall of yourselves know what is truth,' when each must prove his individual liberty by claiming it. Is not the wisdom to know and understand God's revelations given to every one who asks, or rather appreciates what he already has?
"There is no reason for depending upon any but the wisdom in ourselves, for searching the meanings of any Scripture. Whatever is true, we shall understand and hold as infallible. That we have a rich storehouse of precious gems, even the most adverse thinkers admit, and above all else we should search for them, prize them, and use them. Study the Bible for the sake of its wonderful and sacred truth, catch the inspiration of its writers, and you will soon discriminate the inspired from the uninspired. With the statements of the true is necessarily more or less error; the Truth we want, the falsity we leave behind. Whatever is good and pure and ennobling is of God; whatever is evil, erroneous, degrading, is from man's misconception of Him.
"Goethe, who highly valued the Bible, said: 'With reference to things in the Bible, the question whether they are genuine or spurious is odd enough. What is genuine but that which is truly excellent, which stands in harmony with the purest nature and reason, and which even now ministers to our higher development? What is spurious but the absurd and the hollow which brings no fruit.'
"If you do not understand, wait. Do not judge hastily or allow yourself to be biased by the opinions of others. What may seem hard, unreasonable dogma, may later prove but a veil over the sweetest, spiritual truth. Reverence to read, patience to learn, wisdom to understand—all these we want, and then, more brightly than before shall shine the sacred diamonds that stud inspired pages.
"We refer again to what Dr. Newton says in his grand essay on the Right Critical use of the Bible: 'Successive generations of men, struggling with sin, striving for purity, searching after God, have exhaled their spirits into the essence of religion, which is treasured in this costly vase.
"'The moral forces of centuries devoted to righteousness are stored in this exhaustless reservoir of ethical energy. At such cost, my brothers, has Humanity issued this sacred book. From such patience of preparation has Providence laid this priceless gift before you. In such labor of articulation—spelling out the syllables of the message from on high, through multitudinous lives of men dutifully and devoutly walking with their God, does the Spirit speak to you, O, soul of man. Say thou: 'Speak, Lord; thy servant heareth!'"