Dr. Briggs has had the honesty to say
that there was some trouble about taking the Bible as absolutely
inspired in word and punctuation. I do not think, however, that
he can maintain his own position and still remain a Presbyterian
or anything like a Presbyterian. He takes the ground, I believe,
that there are three sources of knowledge: First, the Bible;
second, the church; third, reason. It seems to me that reason
should come first, because if you say the Bible is a source of
authority, why do you say it? Do you say this because your reason
is convinced that it is? If so, then reason is the foundation of
that belief. If, again, you say the church is a source of authority,
why do you say so? It must be because its history convinces your
reason that it is. Consequently, the foundation of that idea is
reason. At the bottom of this pyramid must be reason, and no man
is under any obligation to believe that which is unreasonable to
him. He may believe things that he cannot prove, but he does not
believe them because they are unreasonable. He believes them
because he thinks they are not unreasonable, not impossible, not
improbable. But, after all, reason is the crucible in which every
fact must be placed, and the result fixes the belief of the
intelligent man.

It seems to me that the whole Presbyterian creed must come down
together. It is a scheme based upon certain facts, so-called.
There is in it the fall of man. There is in it the scheme of the
atonement, and there is the idea of hell, eternal punishment, and
the idea of heaven, eternal reward; and yet, according to their
creed, hell is not a punishment and heaven is not a reward. Now,
if we do away with the fall of man we do away with the atonement;
then we do away with all supernatural religion. Then we come back
to human reason. Personally, I hope that the Presbyterian Church
will be advanced enough and splendid enough to be honest, and if
it is honest, all the gentlemen who amount to anything, who assist
in the trial of Dr. Briggs, will in all probability agree with him,
and he will be acquitted. But if they throw aside their reason,
and remain blindly orthodox, then he will be convicted. To me it
is simply miraculous that any man should imagine that the Bible is
the source of truth. There was a time when all scientific facts
were measured by the Bible. That time is past, and now the believers
in the Bible are doing their best to convince us