Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1870-03-22
How to Study the Bible.
ny c. BusIlBY.

/ opibAOh Va WTlbSI . 5SubltHSutS3 VI
pronounce a well-poised judgement
concerning the matter Of fact decla-
ration OF an author, it is necessary ia
ascertain the object tor which the
book was written, the central idea
around which all others are to re-
volve in reflective subordination.
By so doing, the reader is enabled to
enter into the spirit Of the book with
out attaching undue importance to
collateral ideas with which the car
iinal doctrine is necessarily more or
less associated.
As familiar illustration, let us
suppose book written on the sub
!iect Of Medicine, for the benefit OF
the learned and unlearned alike it
would necessarily treat of anatomy,
physiology, botany, mineralogy, eli
matology, chemistry, history, bog
raphy, SC, but only for the purpose
of better unfolding the central idea,
that Of restoration TO health, or the
prevention Of disease. Does any one
expect to find in u popular work like
this, an exhaustive treatise on.any OF
the above mentioned sciences, or even
an allusion to them in strictly scien-
tiic terms Such language would
! be- entirely beyond the comprehen-
sion vt the masses, and hence subver-
sive Of the very purpose for which It
was written. Suppose now that q
student OF history, botany, chemistry,
&c, il reading this book discovers
that the language is not scientific,
but popular, the thoughts brief, plain
aud practical, and only used by way
II illustration, has ho ANY right TO
complain Of either the book or its
.uthoI because he cannot learn from
the same all that il movable Il
these sciences Certainly not be
simply disCnVor~ To the World the
lact That ho has u,irely mistaken
Il, avn al The writer
The central idea Of the Bible is the
Sdi0QtioH Of men, the restoration Of the
acc 10 primitive holiness this IL the
soul OF the book while everything
else il collateral and subservient
thereto. In the Bible we find his
tory, biography, geology, astrono-
my, chronology, &c. But when any
person objects to the Scriptures be-
cause they do not contain complete
information on the above mentioned
sciences, and the terms employed are
philosophical, he virtually declares
that he has undertaken to criticise a
book, the very first principle OF which
ne does not understand. 1t was a
favorite remark of Confucius that
1--WE should know what we know and
know what we don't know"
The Bible was written not for the
benefit Of scientists alone, but Tor the
masses for if it contains truth at all
it concerns the illiterate as much as
the more favored few and who can
fail to see that scientific precision
would efiectually seal the Scriptures
to the unlearned, besides it was nc
part Of the original design of the au'
thor, which / have shown to be sal
walton of men.
To object to the Bible because il
does not give complete history o.
the race from its origin, in minute
detail, its geography incomplete, III
geology brief and in general terms
its astronomy comparatively limited
is like Directing to a popular medi
cal work because its language is no
technical, its historical reference
brief, eliminating only what is essen
tial to the authors purpose, its anat
omy, physiology, botany and chem
istry. only partial and for specifi
purpose. A thorough and scientific
treatise on such subjects is the prov
ince Of him whose central idea 10 sci
enco end not religion.
10 the student Of the Bible woui'
say, fret satisfy yourself concerning
the underlying thought of the Who'll
I book and then read carefully, re
J membering the while that every
thing else is explanatory or illustra
tive, gravitating toward that on
Great idea which underlies and SUI
!, tains the whole, and You will fin
yourself proof against scepticism.