Wilmington journal., 1875-01-15
EauNDAY READING

prisoner at the final trial. Now,
| said he, "if you bail the prisoner, be
knows very well that his life is in
great danger ;hence he is very likely to
| sbscond and leave his sureties to for
| felt the bail; for the Good Book tells
| us, All that q man hath will he give
| for his ife.'"
These words ara found In Job Il: 4.
It seems to be generally believed that
| this text is Scripture, and that 1t as
| serts . truth. The words are often
| quoted as if they were OF inspired
| authority. The impression seems gen
| erally to prevail that . quotation from
| SCRIPTURE will commonly settle any
| question of doctrine, of morals or OF
| fact. The text is selected in order to
| show tho serious error involved in this
| very common view.
| rTHn, TEXT IS NOT sCRIPTURn.
The fact that the words are found In
| the Bible, does not necessarily give
| them the weight of 5criptursl author
ity. The author of the Book OF Job
whoever he was) simply tells u
that Satan said these words; and the
author is responsible only for tbs &C
curacy of his report of the devils
speech. The statement that the devil
said these words, Is Scripture; but
there is no indorsation Of the truth OF
the DEVILS assertion.
In John tx, 1898, we have an argu-
ment for the Divin mission of Jesus.
That argument is made by an unin-
spired man; and John does not indorse
lG, but simply states 1T, just "a be
states the false statements, and the so
phisticaI dodges of the Phariseas.
The argument there stated is 1ot
sound. It proceeds upon the false
premise, that God does not hear sin
| ners. The Scriptures that God does hear
| sinners. Besides, the speaker assum"s
that man who worked (what IS ca!icd)
q miracle, is necessarily a messenger
| from God, and that he must be ac-
| creditsd as such. The magicians Of
Egypt, Balaam, Judas Iscar'ot, to sas
| nothing of Simon Magus, EIymas. the
| woman of Endor. ard (shau we say?)
| some of the modern Sp'ritualists,
| ought to be evidence enough of the
| unsoundness of this view. 1t would be
unfair to hold an author respon-tble
Tor the sayings and d'iugsof his
| characters Shakepears is not re-
| sponsible for the low vulgarIty of Fal-
| staff, and the villa,nou> maxims Of
Iago. Dickens is not responsible 'or
the meanness of Heep, the hypocrisy OF
Pecksnitf, the villainy Of Squeers. the
| brutality of Sykes, or the devlllshness
| of Bosa Dartle. Wiikie Collins is not
responsible for tho horrible GOODNESS
of Fosco's rascality, or for the ehock-
ing principles Of Captain Wraggo, or
for the deadly hate of Manning, or for
the loose morals of Mrs. CAtherick.-
| Neither is the author of the book Of
Job responsible for the sentiments
which he puts into the mouth Of the
father of lies.
In deciding npon the doctrinal, or
the moral weight to be given to quo
| tations from the Bible. 1t is well tO
know, not only sph0t is said, but who
said it when. where, how, to whom,
and asa aUh0t connection it WAS said,
before We settle our views as 10 it,
authority
lII-THR TEXT STATES WHAT u Eo7
TRUE.
Job himself, of whom Satan was
| speaking, proved by his subsequen.
life that the devil lied, when he utter
ed the words Of the text He preferred
death to the sacrifice of his religion,
principles. The wife of his bosom
could not persuade him to give up his
integrity. The taunts of his mis-
guided and blundering friends coulG
not shake him.
| Besides, every martyr who has died
for the truth; every brave man wht
has died for his country; nay, every
fanatic who has died for crotchet
and every duelist who has foollshly
sacrificed his life to his false views Of
honor, has given the lie to this vii.
slander upon the human race.
There are many statements in the
Bible which are not true. But" i
will be said. ''if they are net Scrip
ture, and not true. why are they in th.
Bible?"
We reply, that the Statements tina
certain men, under certain circum
stances, did utter certain foolish, fsls,
and even wicked words, IS Scripture
It pleased God to tell US in His word
that wicked men called Jesus . glut-
ton, and a wine bibber, and a deceiveY
and that they said that John the Bap
tist and Jesus were both possessed o.
demons. It was worth while for tht
book of Job to tell us what imperfectly
enlightened, or wrong headed mel
did say. The lesson to US is obvious
I "0 dIc uOG W OdIhcA CouASc Dy "OIO'
without knowledge. And this is .
lesson for all the ages; because the
great questions scussed \ the b )ol
OF Job were not settled in that book
and they have never been settled since
nor do they seem to be any nearer to &
settlement now than they we're then
Yet they are questions which perpet-
ually cbtrude themselves upon every
thoughtful mind They puzzled Job
they puzzled Lucretius; they puzzle
DR.. McCosh
That some such view as this must
be taken of much that is said by the
various characters OF the book of Job
no careful and intelligent student of
the book will be likely to deny, even
though he should doubt the reality oi
some of the conversations recorded
and should be inclined to regard the
book as an inspired drama-a view
which the present writer is not pre-
pared to defend, though much may
be said in its favor. And vet we often
have quotations from Zopilar the Naa-
mathlte, as if his authority settled any
religious question; and we sometimes
posed to be Scripture, but really fur
nlshed by Eliphaz tn, Tenamite We
think that light is needed on the ques
tion Of the eztent to which We are to
regard Jobs friends as inspired-if.
indeed, they we're inspired at all. The
same is true of Elihu, and perhaps of
Job himself. We are told that the
Scriptures teach that the stars are not
pure in Gods sight. Bildad said it.
and We doubt it, for it seems to con-
t1lct with the statements made in Gen
esis j. 81, that in Gods sight the heav-
ems were Every good" We must be
careful how We read and interpret our
Bibles, lest the Devils lies be accept
ed as part of our religion. Prove
all thin0s i: hold fast that aOhich IL
good. J. @. H1plx.
WILMINGTON, N. @.
The Salisbury Watchmsn says: The
smallest reptile ever put on exhibition
is now to be seen at Mr.. Theo. F,
Kluttz's drug store in this city. It is