Born: Sparta, Tennessee, 1824.
Died:
Mr. Nelson's mother was a devout Presbyterian and his father a member of the same church. When William was about eighteen years of age, he attended a union revival, in which Methodists, Baptists and Presbyterians participated. During this meeting those who "got through" laughed immoderately. But William failed of "the blessing." Then he betook himself to his father's office, who was an attorney, to pray. It was not long till he, too, was laughing; whereupon, the minister assured him that he was accepted by the Lord.
He then united with the Presbyterian Church, and he became quite "a respectable member." However, he was disquieted about his baptism. Shortly, a "Campbellite" preacher named Hooker passed that way. But the sheriff locked the courthouse against him. Then the preacher took to the woods. William was inclined to hear him, although he thought this minister had no more religion than a horse. That sermon on "Rightly Dividing the Word" set him to thinking and to reading the Bible.
Seven years later, another preacher of the same fellowship passed that way. Nine miles north of Sparta, he preached in a schoolhouse to just four people--a man and his wife who were simply Christians, the negro janitor and young Nelson, who had gone out on horseback to hear the sermon. There he halted the formal closing of the meeting to make the good confession. Shortly thereafter, he was immersed in a creek. His mother cordially encouraged her son in his chosen course.
Mr. Nelson came to Decatur in 1857. During all the years of his virility he was an active and helpful member of the church. His custom was to read one or more books of the Bible through at a sitting and every week; thus his knowledge of the Scriptures came to be comprehensive and profound. He was elected a circuit judge in 1876 under the new law, but failed of a re-election in a district that was overwhelmingly against him politically. In 1886 he was chosen county judge, in which position he served eight years.
Mr. Nelson is probably the most widely known and best loved man in Macon County. In 1912 the city of Decatur named one of its public parks for him. The experiences of eighty-nine years have not frozen the cheerful humor and keen wit out of him. At his eighty-eighth birthday he wrote the following:
VERBAL INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE
Numerous articles have been written to prove the verbal inspiration of the Bible, all of which make numerous quotations from the Book itself to prove the proposition. For instance: "The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel, saying." The fault of this method is apparent in that it makes the Book itself the witness, but it must he remembered that a good many persons do not accept the Book as from God. In the matter of a divine revelation two factors must be considered: First, God, who knew the truth concerning facts unknown to man, was sovereign, and had power to make promises and keep them and man, who did not know and was to learn and obey, considering the powers of his reasoning, and capability to understand. In considering these factors, the nature of both must be taken into view. God had created man, and, being omniscient, knew that man had ears and a mouth, and could speak and receive and communicate with ideas in the use of language composed of words.
Knowing this, God made his revelation to man in words that the man could understand. If he did not, then His revelation misleads instead of improving. This we can not believe with our idea of God's omniscience and goodness, and the very purpose he had in view in making the revelation. Hence the words were chosen by Him with the view to man's information and must have been selected by God as suitable and apt to convey to man God's idea. This is the common-sense view and is the simple argument for verbal inspiration. It is irrefutable in man's reason and proves verbal inspiration without the Book as witness. It appeals alone to man's capability to reason--an argument addressed to man's common sense.