Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-04-10
&eadiua fur the $abbath.
CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
GOrIginal.]
TOlIBIH
THE BIBLE..ITS USE.

existence. In point of antiquity every other
book is of comparatively recent origin when
brought in competitor with the Bible. The
simple fact that all of it is more than eigh'
teen hundred years old, and much of it has
been in existence more than three thousand
years, plainly indicates that there is some
thing about the Bible that is very peculiar
A book that is poor in style, or useless with
respect to the sentiments which it contains
could not have passed through so many sue
cessive generations. Notwithstanding the
fact that the Bible is the oldest book in the
world, and the sentiments which it contains
are less palatable to man in his natural state
than those of any other book, still the Bible
is more highly priced and read by more peo'
pie than all the books in the world. 1t has
fashioned the laws, moulded the manners and
customs, and regulated and controlled the
the literary taste of every civilized nation
under heaven for more than eighteen hun.
dred years. The Iliad and Odyssey, the pro-
ductions of the prince of poets, lie locked up
in hieroglyphics which are deciphered, after
years of toll, by the few; the sentiments Of
Socrates and Aristotle are known only by
few detached sentences which the learned
occasionally quote; but the Bible, the produc'
ton of the Jews, people hated and despised
by every nation on earth, is read in every
language and dialect on the globe, and by all
kinds and classes of people. Thousands and
tens of thousands of copies Of this old book
are yearly published and sold. Why is this
it may with eminent propriety be asked
What is the use of the Bible? What does ii
supply?
These are legitimate questions and demand
a candid answer from every one. Why is ii
that the Bible is in every house and read by
every family throughout the civilized world
The highest official in the State reads and
studies the Bible; the poor denizen of log
cabin reads and studies the sacred pages
This is a strange thing. 1t is adapted to the
refined and cultivated taste of the man Of let
ters, and to the taste of the man who tolls at
the plow or the forge. 1t is admired by the
city belle clad in silks, and loved by her
whose cheek is pale and wan from hunger and
labor. It is the book which is read and
whose sentiments strike chord in the bosom
alike of the slave and the master. The rea'
son of this is that the Bible meets want in
mans nature which no other book in the
world can supply.
Man is a moral being and he must have
something to crafty his moral sense. The
Bible is to man, morally, what the material
world is to him as a sentient being. Deprived
of the FIVE senses, the physical world might as
we'll have no existence, so far as man is con-
cerncd There might be beauty in every.
thing, but without eyes man could not see it
there might be music in every passing breeze,
but without the auditory nerve man could
not hear it.; there might be sweetness in his
food and drink; but without the sense Of
taste, every morsel and every potion would
be insipid. The air might be loaded with
sweetest perfumes, but their sweetness would
be all lost without the olfactory nerve. So
without the sense of feeling, the diamond
might be hard and the down of the elder
duck soft, but man could not discover it.
Without a material world the five senses
could never be gratifed. There would be a
capability to see, hear, taste, feel and smell
but no objects to see, none to feel, and no
sounds to hear.
What the world of matter is to man as a
sentient being, the Bible is 10 him as moral
being. Without the material world there
can be no oscience without the Bible there can
be no theology. Without matter the laws Of
gravitation, sound, heat, light and electricity
never could be discovered. The scientist
must go to the world Of matter for his fact
man, as moral being, must 60 to the Bible
to learn morality.
This, we conceive, is the use the world has
of the Bible. It contains the food upon
which mans moral nature feeds. Blot the
Bible out of existence and all morality must
us certainly cease w pe, us llah "i'iiou' eJ q
must cease to see, or without ears must cease
to hear.
The Bible contains all the facts about man
as moral creature. From no other source
can man learn anything satisfactory concern
ing God The human family need it to teach
them a knowledge of God, the creator and
preserver of the universe, and of their moral
relations and moral obligations to God.
SoUL-STRIyING.-Striv to prayl "Men