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

their fierce eannonade against divine
truth, but as oft their fiery shot, re-
bounding against our "rock fortress"
have recoiled upon their own heads
with crushing weight. Like Moses and
the children of Israel at the Red sea,
we have but to "stand still and see the
salvation of the Lord,n and then Ego
forward" Science and philosophy have
as often lied upon nature as they have
the Bible; and they have as often been
compelled TO retract their errors.
Yes, my brethren, nature stands and
so does the Bible. The simplest child
of grace stands firm as the
Rock upon which he rests. He
looks out sometimes, and they tell him
the very stars are falling; but he turns
his practiced eye TO some familiar plan
ct, some constellation, some fixed star,
with which he has been holding con-
verse from his youth. He knows the
stars are not falling; it is but shower
of deceptive meteOrs which frighten the
deluded world. He looks out yoDder
again, and they tell him the storm is
raging, and all nature seems to be ap-
preaching dissolution. He fixes his eye
upon yon tall summit lifting its head
above the tempest, against which the
lightnings and the blast have
PLAYED in harmless but relentless fury
for centuries. He says, heart, be still;
it is only the thunder and the wind and
the flash, which rage in vain against the
omnipotence of him who laid the deep
foundation of the earth and the eternal
hills. So he gazes, inIthe struggle upon
the word of God, its doctrines blending
like colOrs in the splendid bow of prom
Use, which has spanned the heaven of
christian hope for centuries when the
clouds seemed darkest. He gazes upon
its truths, glittering like stars in the 81
lent dome of eternal truth, and familiar
with their sight, he knows they will
stand fast forever. He gazes upon the
ordinances, ,towering-like mountains, Wis
BILE pillars standing out i'll the waste of
centuries of eternal truth, whose inscrip-
tions of blood and water point alike to
the rock of ages, and that structure
against which the gates of hell
shall never prevail. He sees yon
"Son of righteousness" tracing
his refulgent pathway, amid the alterna-
tions Of cloud and sunshine, for centu-
ries; and he rejoices both in the splen-
dor of his full-orbed glory and the bless
ed hope of that celestial zenith of eter-
nal life, the goal of his triumphant as
cension, not only to himself, but to the
shining and numberless train of his
saints ana angels.
We might adduce arguments, had we
time, to prove TO a demonstration the
inspiration of the Bible, but it would be
as useless as to prove that God is the au-
thor of nature. The infidel is too blind
to be convinced; tEe believer regards it
as self-evident. We might array infidel
arguments-those firebrands of hell
and explode them with their own logic,
but what then? The believer would be
no stronger; the infidel would be of the
same opinion still. 1t is not the best
plan to fight the devil with fire, for this
is his element and his weapon. Admin
lister water to him, for he has the hydro
phobia. Give him the "water of life"
the aqua uitG of the gospel, and he will
invariably run. We don't mean bap-
tize him, for he has Joined the church
and been baptized thousand times
often enough to drown him-and he is
no better still. We mean>to handle him
with Jesus Christ-the word of God
the stsword of the Spirit"-and he
and his agents will ever yield
or run; but they are infinitely su-
perior to US in handling and welding
tirebrands.
But the Bible does not lack for legiti- |
mate arguments to prove its author di-
vine. We might speak of its beauty
and grandeur, which surpass those of
any other book, and out of which and |
beyond which, Shakespeare, Byron,
Dante, Pollock and Milton never SCARED. |
We might speak OF the subjects it treats |
as incomprehensible, much less original, |
to the mind of mortals, unaided by rev.
elation. The creation; the fall of man |
and angels; the covenant of grace; the |
providence Of God, ordering all things |
for good; the sublime revision of Isaiah, |
Ezekial, Daniel and John; the plan of |
salvation through the atoning |
blood of Christ; the work oil
the Holy Spirit; the trinity-aIl these
no man could have dreamed of. We
might speak of the purity of the Bible |
over all Otker systems, its exalted desti- |
nies, its well defined state of immortal |
ity, its honesty in exposing the faults Of
its writers and characters, its simplicity |
i'm which he who runs may read-in |
We might speak of the uniform charac- |
six thousand years. We might speak |
Of the unity of the Bible, in which it |
never contradicts itself, though deliver
ed at sundry times, in divers manners,
by different men, through thousands oil
years, and under all sorts of
and trials, in the most |
broken and fragmentary style, making
up one solid and harmonious structure
Of revelation from foundation to top;
portraying character, Jesus Christ,
from alpha TO omega, without solitary
evil or contradictory trait, or act, or
word in his whole mission, fife and work.
Yes, revelation is a grand system. To
the superficial and the infidel, the scrip
lures seem confused and incapable of
analysis. So does nature, with her di-
hills, mountains, rivers, oceans,
valleys and plains-with the host ofi
stars glittering in wild profusion; but to
the eye of the philosopher and astrono-
mer, there is in all things the most per-
feet system, design and unity. The
scriptures are given like nature; and as
it requires close and systematic study to
levelope the beauty, harmony and unity
0f the one, so it does of the other. We
might speak of thousand other things
which demonstrate God TO be its author,
as clearly as he is the author of nature,
but it is unnecessary here.
But, my friends, love to contemplate
more the external proofs of the power and
of the Bible. We look, to-
lay, with infinite delight upon the tri-
lmphs of Gods word over the earth.
When we look at the struggles of the
Bible against its legions of foes; when
we remember that its triumphs have
been those of peace, without the sword;
when we behold the failures of power,
wealth, state and the wisdom of man to
maintain pure gospel; when we re-
member that Jesus founded his empire
n the lowest strata of human society;
when we remember that the march of
hat irresistible empire across the ages
md the realms has been mainly under
he preaching and propagation of the
the obscure, and what the
world calls weak and H'base,n and
things which are notr-chosen of God
o confound things which are mighty
low deeply we are impressed with the
power and inspiration of Gods word
Philosophy, and science, and combina-
ion, and wealth, and might have as
Dften obscured, and arrested, and distort-
ID the word of God as ignorance, and
poverty. and superstition. Faith and
are the foundation and propa-
yanda of that spiritual kingdom which
,ometh without observation. The
earned and illiterate, the strong and
he weak, the rich and the poor, the
high and the low meet here in the COM
non individuality OF love, and yea, and
nope; and the simple truth, from pure
learts, and clean lips, and honest hands
oils with irresistible power and gran
leur, by the spirit of God, over the
,arth.
The true glory of the earth to-day
prings from the Bible. Even proud