Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-11-22

dent appointed the fol3eaing named gen.
tlemen on said committee: John c. Gaut,
Prof. Eve, Thompson Anderson, David
Love and Arson Nelson.
ADDRESS OF REV. DIR. R. A. YOUNG, D. D.
Rev. DR.. Young then delivered an in
teresting and eloquent address, from which
we condense the following synopsis:
After stating that he had only lately
been invited to deliver the address, he re-
marked that he had at first intended to
| speak at length of the operations of the
American Bible Society, founded in the
year 1916. But he had noticed in the
morning papers that the regular Agent of
that Society would be present, and it
would, therefore, not be polite In him
| (the speaker) to traverse any of the ground
that would be traversed by the Agent.
Therefore, as he was not to speak of
the circulation of the Bible, it might be
edifying, at least TO the younger portion
of the audience, to speak of the Bible
itself, book nowso extensively circu-
lated that it enters into the education, or
at least the course of reading of every
man who makes the least pTetenkions TO
accomplished scholarship. This could
not be said of the generation that lived
one hundred years ago; and as an illus
tratiOn of this remark, the Doctor re-
lated an snecdote of johnson, who copied
from the Bible the beautiful story of
Naomi and Ruth, writing it on g piece
of old, dingy paper, and then presented
it to his club as rare old document
which he had discovered; and in which
attempt he was so successful that his
hearers supposed 1t to have been taken
either from the BodIeiGn library, as Sir
Joshua Reynolds supposed, or from some
other rare and valuable collection.
One of the profoundest Englishmen Of
| the eighteenth century, was asked who
were the two greatest uninspired men that
God ever made. He answered instantly,
"Aristotle and Lord Bacou.n And this,
probably, was a correct answer; for in
the case of Aristotle and also of Lord
Bacon it can be seen exactly what the
mind of one man may achieve in the
literary world, especially when the esti-
nation is made on the basis of versatility
] of talent. Aristotle could write of ethics,
of logic, something of mathematics; and
he exhibited the most versatile genius and
talent of any Greek who appeared before
his time, or since. Lord Bacon wrote
concerning laws, science, philosophy,
| history, and no one has gone beyond him
| in the exhibition of ersatility of talent.
| But when we look at the literature of the
Bible, commencing at the beginning of
Genesis and relating it regularly through
to the close of Revelation, and find there
the historical style, and the logical style,
pastoral poetry, lyrical poetry, dramatic
poetry, prophesies, eloquence, biography,
church history, epistolary: correspondence,
and that nameless style that makes up the
book of revelation-when we find all this,
we are perfectly sure, that if Aristotle
| furnishes the best ancient example, 6nd
Lord Bacon the best modern example of
versatility of talent no one man ever
wrote this wonderful book.
The Doctor then proceeded with his
argument, taking the following positions
| to demonstrate the authenticity of the
| Bible and to show its Divine origin:
/. 1t could not have been the work
alone of merely thirty-three men, for
when we find several authors treating
| upon intellectual philosophy, or upon any
other branch, they invariably more or less
disagree For example, in six works on
Moral Philosophy, there can be found six
different grounds of moral belief, and so
with works on other subjects. We are,
| therefore, brought to the same conclusion
with St. Peter, when he said: "Holy
men of God spake as they were moved by
the Holy Ghost.
| 2. The account of the miracles re-
corded in the Bible is true, as many of
them, for instance the crossing of toe
| Isrselites through the Red Sea is proved
by the Jewish institution of the passover,
which is similar in p5incipletO the Amer
icaa celebration of the 4th of July, which
| points back, with more certainty even
than tradition or history, to the Declara-
| ton of Independence made by the Cons
| gress that assembled at Philadelphia. So
also, the Christian Sabbath points to the
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
8. The prophecies are also relied on as
one of the arguments in favor of the in
spired authority of the Scriptures; and
the argument that these prophecies were
written after the events recorded by them
had been fulfilled, can clearly be proved
| false, from the fact that even since the
Bible was printed with metallic types, in
vented by Gutlenburg, several of the
prophecies recorded in the Bible have
been fulfilled.
f. The goodness of the doctrine incul-
Gated in the Bible is another conclusive
evidence of its divine origin.
5. The moral character of the inspired
penmen is another conclusive argument.
In conclusion the Doctor remarked
that though ministers of various denomi-
nations supposed that they were circu-
lating Gods truth, yet when they dis
tributed copies of the Bible, or when this
work was done by colporteurs snd agents,
it was positively certain tina Gods will
was being done and his Word circulated.
After singing
Father Of merces, in thy Word
What endless glory shines"
Rev. c. II. Wiley, Agent of the Amer
can Bible Society for Middle and East
Tennessee, delivered an interesting ad
dress.
Mr. WHY'S ADDRESS.
After stating that he regretted that DR..
Young had not pursued the course of re-
mark he had originally intended, as he
| OR. Wjley) would not now have time to
consider that subject, the agent remarked
that it was proper to remind the audience
of the relations of the churches to the
parent society. The Am. B. S. was the
Board of Publication for the various
branches of the Evangelical Church, for
the publication of the Scriptures. The
design of that society was to place in the
hands of every man, woman and child q
copy of the Bible, aud the Nashville B.
s. was an auxiliary.
The Agent further remarked that since
he had been in this field he had had con-
stantly accommodating evidence of the
hearty good will of the parent society to-
ward the Southern people. During the
past year he had procured from the parent
society the amount of $500, in donations
to his field, and all that he had called for
had been most resdily granted. In addi-
ton to this, he had cancelled 81, 900 in
debts, contracted since the war under the
management of his predecessor-debts
that were embarrassing both societies and
committees. The local societies have
) obliged themselves TO give their surplus
funds to the parent society, as an absolute
gift; but nevertheless, credits have been
entered opposite the names of all the
auxilaries, and to these have be added
the congregational collections. Whent the
Agent came into this field he found some
1850, of anle-war credits He had al
, these credits allowed to the different auxi
liariCs-all except one, and thst was can
Celled because it was understood that thai
auxiliary society was dead. He had haC
, $1,000, of snte-war credits revived, AM
in most cases had obtained bibles upon the
, faith of these credits; aud number Of
= counties had been canvassed with tht