Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1875-03-25
&eadina fur the Sabbath.
CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
(original.l
THE BIBLE.

A revelation being necessary, and also pos
sible, the next thing to be inquired into is,
whether the book that is commonly called the
Bible, is that revelation. Bya revelation, we
are not to understand good book written by
pious men in the sense that good men of the
present day write religious books. When it
is claimed that the Bible is revelation from
heaven, it is meant that God is its author.
He composed it, Men we're used to do what
might be called the manual labor Of writing
but God indited every word. In other words,
God dictated, and the different individuals
whom he chose to do the manual labor OF
writing, simply wrote down what God dictated
to them. 1t will be seen that there is vast
difference between this process and the pro
cess by which religious books are gotten up
God certainly guides and directs good men
still, and always guided them in writing good
books; but not in the sense that he guided
those who wrote the Bible. 1t is claimed
that the writer's of the Bible could not make
an error, whilst it is readily admitted that
the writer's of religious books not only may
err, but also do make grave errors.
Remembering the definition of the word
revelation, we may inquire, is the Bible a
revelation? In book claiming to have God
for its author, we might reasonably expect to
find many things which we would not find in
book written by mere man. We might
expect it to speak with degree of authority
which no other book dare speak. This we
find to be the case with the Bible. Its his
torical parts are remarkable in this particu-
lar. The history Of creation is given with a
degree of positiveness which no historian ever
used. The whole Bible is written with an
authority which no mortal man ever assumed
Men are obliged to explain and give authori'
ty for what they say but the only authority
which is given for any fact that is stated in
the Bible is, "Thus saith the Lord" We
would expect book made by God to be like
his other works. In other words, we would
expect the Bible, if it is revelation made
by God, to be like the world which God has
created. In the works of creation, there is
this noticeable feature That order which
men are forced to use in every thing which
they make, is not observed in the work oi
creation. Man is obliged to classify, divide
and subdivide and arrange, so that similar
things may be in connection. In the works
of creation we do not see this rigid observance
of order. Out of the same soil grows the oak
and the pine. In the same meadow spring
the grass and the deadly night-shade. The
former affords food for the beasts of the field
and indirectly for man; the latter is deadly
poison. There is no book in the world like
the Bible. No man can initiate the style
The mode in which subjects are treated is
totally different from anything we find in any
book that has ever been written. 1t is with
out preface introduction, middle or end
Great truths are scattered all through it, just
as great beds of gold, silver, iron and precious
stones, are scattered all over the earth's sur
face.