Bible for about fifty years, or sometime more than that, but, of course, I have studied it more as I have become older than when I was but a boy.
Q—Do you claim that everything in the Bible should be literally interpreted?
A-I believe everything in the Bible should be accepted as it is given there; some of the Bible is given illustratively. For instance: "Ye are the salt of the earth." I would not insist that man was actually salt, or that he had flesh of salt, but it is used in the sense of salt as saving God’s people.
Did Jonah Swallow the Whale?
Q—But when you read that Jonah swallowed the whale—or that the whale swallowed Jonah—excuse me please—how do you literally interpret that?
A—When I read that a big fish swallowed Jonah—it does not say whale.
Q—Doesn't it? Are you sure?
A—That is my recollection of it. A big fish, and I believe it, and I believe in a God who can make a whale and can make a man and make both do what He pleases.
Q—Mr. Bryan, doesn't the New Testament say whale?
A—I am not sure. My impression is that it says fish; but it does not make so much difference; I merely called your attention to where it says fish—it does not say whale.
Q—But in the New Testament it says whale, doesn't it?
A—That may be true; I cannot remember in my own mind what I read about it.
Q—Now, you say, the big fish swallowed Jonah, and he there remained how long—three days—and then he spewed him upon the land. You believe that the big fish was made to swallow Jonah?
A—I am not prepared to say that; the Bible merely says it was done.
Q—You don't know whether it was the ordinary run of fish, or made for that purpose?
A—You may guess; you evolutionists guess.
Q—But when we do guess, we have a sense to guess right.
A—But do not do it often.
Q—You are not prepared to say whether that fish was made especially to swallow a man or not?
A—The Bible doesn't say, so I am not prepared to say.
Q—You don't know whether that was fixed up specially for the purpose.
A—No, the Bible doesn't say.
Q—But do you believe He made them—that He made such a fish and that it was big enough to swallow Jonah?
A—Yes, sir. Let me add: One miracle is just as easy to believe as another.
Q—It is for me.
A—It is for me.
Q—Just as hard?
A—It is hard to believe for you, but easy for me. A miracle is a thing performed beyond what man can perform. When you get beyond what man can do, you get within the realm of miracles; and it is just as easy to believe the miracle of Jonah as any other miracle in the Bible.
Q—Perfectly easy to believe that Jonah swallowed the whale?
A—If the Bible said so; the Bible doesn't make as extreme statements as evolutionists do.
Mr. Darrow—That may be a question, Mr. Bryan, about some of those you have known?
A—The only thing is, you have a definition of fact that includes imagination.
Q—And you have a definition that excludes everything but imagination, everything but imagination?
Gen. Stewart—I object to that as argumentative.
The Witness—You—
Mr. Darrow—The witness must not argue with me, either.
Q—Do you consider the story of Jonah and the whale a miracle?
A—I think it is.
Did the Sun Stand Still?
Q—Do you believe Joshua made the sun stand still?
