Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-03-10

lever perpetrated upon man, whether VIZ
view it as a total falsehOod or a system
of religious philosophy, however ex
allied. The Bible expressly claims fol
itself a supernatural revelation. But
Independent Of this claim, which alone
satisfies faith, the scriptures possess suf
ficient evidences, both internal and ex'
ternal, of their divine authenticity
Like nature, the Bible not only asserts
its author divine, but demonstrates him
| beyond the pale of a reasonable doubt
! Every object in nature, from the least
to the greatest, is stamped with the seal
of infinite wisdom, design, goodness
excellence, justice and mercy, and so is
every page of the Bible-every fact,
doctrine, preeept, or ordinance. It is as
easy to disprOve the God of nature
as it is the God of the Bible.
Epicurus said that nature was a
fortuitous concurrence of particles OF
matter; and Shelly and other atheists
have reasoned, to their satisfaction, that
nothing We behold is the offspring of an
all-wise, and supreme, and selfexistent
| Being. How easy it is for such men to
pervert Gods word and deny its author
to be divine. The faults and imperfec-
tions-so called-of the one are equally
applicable to the other. We could OBJ
ject that God was the author of nature
because of its disease, sorrow and death
its storms, deadly thunderbolts, deluges,
earthquakes and confiagrations; its mi
asmas, pestilences and famines; its
thOrns, thistles and weeds; its scorpions.
vipers and adders; its extremes Of cold
and heat; its tears, sweat and blood
and thousand other things which bur-
den us with dire necessity, and which
make countless millions mourn their
earthly lot. The depravity of man-the
very existence of evil in the universe,
whether by permission or decree-might
be Tationalistic objections why an all
wise and good God should not be the
author of nature, or why such being
should not even exist.
And doth not the infidel heart some
times dart 'scorn at God for such a
creation as this? Does it not feel that.
had we been God, we could have
framed a better world than this?
Hath not the clay SAID 10 the potter,
Why hast thou made me thus?D
Hath not man, with unsanctified foot,
penetrated the most holy place of divine
purpose and wisdom, to insult the God
of nature? Hath not the fool, looking
upon the dark side of nature, said in his
heart, "There is no GOd?n How easy,
when men look not upon the glory side
of nature, to pervert her and to deny
that God is her author at all. They see
not the consistency of nature cursed, to
agree with correspondingly corrupt
humanity-let the detection of man
arise from whatever cause it may.
They see not that fire must
purge the dross from gold; that the
sorrows and pangs of nature purge off
our drops of earth and develope the ends
of our temporal existence. Hence that
infidelity which denies the Bible is not
long in reaching the underlined and
bloodless shores of chaos, where atheism
sees not even the God of nature.
He who seeks for imperfeetiOns, or
follows his own depraVed predictions
in searching the scriptures" will al
ways find darkness, even more readily
than in nature. The Bible is solely
revelation to fallen man, adapted to his
ruined condition, and in conflict with
every principle and vent of his sinful
nature. Like nature, it is a perfect
mirror which reflects God, but which
also at the same time reflects man, and
thus makes him look ugly. It reveals
also sovereign remedy for his ugliness
and depravity; but like true medicine,
it is unpalatable to the diseased heart.
It is only when man realizes by this
glass, in which, by the spirit, he sees
himself, that he is sick unto death, and
that he cries for the physician of souls,
and rejOices in the "Balm of GiIead.';
Men often look into this mirror and flat
ter themselves that they do not look
bad-that they are not sick; and as they
desire an easy and perverted course of
nature, so they desire an easy and per-
verted Bible-or no Bible at all. All the
Bible teaches US our total depravity by
nature, and but for the truth and the
spirit Of God, by practice. Men hate
that doctrine. The Bible teaches nsal-
vation by grace" "withOut works."
That doctrine strips man of his pride
his boasted self-righteousness and self
redemption-and he spits upon it. 1t
teaches us that atonement for sin lies
alone in the blood of Jesus, and that
justification lies alone through faith in
that blood. Men -crucified and still
cruelty that Savior, and claim justifica-
ton without faith in his blood, or by
more worthy than his blood.
The Bible teaches US that the eViden-
ces of christianity are an entrance into
the straight gate,n and the perpetual
pursuit of the marrow way.o But men
desire some easier route-some broader
gauge track-over which to reach the
blissful shore, reposing in palaee-cars
upon downy pillows, with their baggage
Of sin-too precious to lose-checked
through to heaven. 1t teaches us to love
our neighbor as ourselves, and God with
the whole heart; ay, that the Christian
love his enemy and return good for evil.
Human nature reverses the rule. The
Bible reveals an eternal hell, the conse-
quence of sin, ,infidelity and impenitence.
Men repel such doctrine, as the convict
does the law which hangs him on the
gibbet.
There is not, to human nature, a sOli-
tary desirable or popular law, rite, ordi-
nance, doctrine or requirement in the
Bible. Strange to say, Christ crucified
is an unpalatable remedy for sin, unless
sugar-coated; but woe to that system
which prOpagates an easy, fashionable,
popular, or secular Christianity. Men
forget that, as in nature, 50 in religion,
desperate diseases require desperate
and that whatever is valuable
ls gained by the cross, that whatever is
thus unattained is eternal loss. Grace is |
B simple but sovereign remedy: vet the
ire-proOf of the cross is the touchstone
Of Christianity. The trial of our fidel- |
ity to Jesus is ordained of God, to
demonstrate our "calling and election
sure" and our right to the glorious
crown of reward. Hence, sinful hu-
manity hates the Bible and rejects it, |
because its burden is the healing cross.
Nature teaches a cross, and to this ex-
tent the depraved heart rebels against
both revelation and nature-anG some |
lines curses the God of both.
But though abused and perverted, ma
.ure, nevertheless, stands immutable to |
Every attaek-and so does the Bible. |
No Archimides has yet found a pur-
,hase for his feet by which to wrench |
he world from its fOundations-an so |
With the Bible. A man out in San |
Francisco proposes to destroy the world |
ly setting the ocean ON fire; of course
We wait the issue with dread suspense |
The giants Of old assailed the gods, pill |
ng Pelion upon Ossa to scale the empy- |
-eal throne of the fabled deities; but we
III know the result of the futile attempt. |
So men have tried to dethrone God |
rom the lofty seats of nature and revela-
ion, and they have been about as sue
,essful as the tabled giants in their bat
les with the gods. The energy and |
nalignity Of infidelity have left no
'tone unturned to destroy the divinity
'f the Bible, and to make even
abused nature a cat's-pAw to mar and
'cratch and contradict Il. The friends
u revelation have often stood and trem-
lled for the safety of it, when the bat
lie has waxed fierce and hot, when the
giants have hurled great rocks, and
rees, and bolts, and bombs at the au-
henticity Of the Bible; but even when
he thunders Of the conflict have died
lway-when the smoke Of battle had