Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1877-08-15
REV. D.. NJ. CROrHERS' SUNDAY
EVENING LECTURE.
why We Can Prov Anything from
the Btble.

CtAA AR's- wi ~ aoAG ailA u
teresting exposition of the subject:
I'd Peter. Ill, l0-"whicb they that are un.
learned and unstable wrest. MS they do tn,
other Scriptures, to their own destruc'
ton"
One Of the g~restest of disappointments il
for a person TO make some great discovery
and then, just az he is about to %electrify tn,
world with the announcement. find that tn,
world refuses to be electrified. The scanda
monser knows no greater disar pointmeni
than to find that his choice piece of gossip i.
already twice-told tale. Many a would-bC
Columbus has been disgusted to find hi,
newly discovered island already on the
charts; and many an incipient Franklin ha.
wept to see his great invention al .oady on
the shelves Of tho Patent Office. while many
a mute inglorio1s Milton" has become n ore
mute and more inglorious when he finds his
original thoughts IN the Dictionary OF Quo
tations. Whatthen must be the disappoint-
ment Of those people who have just dlscov-
cred the fact that you can prove anything
from ths Bible; that il has been the source
of many dangerous doctrines; that Bible
texts have been used to light the martyrs
fagots and 10 serve as wadding for the assas-
SINS weapon Brigham Young quotes the
Bible IN defense OF polyga my; Plus TX ia de-
fcnse Of infallibility: the Mountain Meadows
iu utlcUSc OF muIutT. snakes
peare made his worst villain. Gloster, say,
And 80 l clothe my naked viiiainy with old
odd ends, stolen forth from Holy W rit."
Now all this is true. every word Of it. You
can prove almost anything from the Bible;
but then the thought is not original. The
Bible itself gives us the same idea when IL
says, they thst are unlearned and BILE
wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction
Now here 10 tho fact frankly admit;cd-a
book claiming to be infallibly true is yet
used Ia defense OF error; a book claiming to
give one system of doctrine is yet quoted by
every teacher Of error. How do you account
for the fact on the principle that the Bible is
after all what II CLAIMS? Peter gives an ex-
PLANTATION. Tho first reason why the Bible
has so often boes used TO support error /.
ixnorance; the nnlearned. the i~gtorant wrest
II to their own destruction. And is not this
tru ? Is not II a fact that most errors which
claim their origin In the Bible really origin
ate IN gross IsnoTanes of the Bible? This is
proved oy ths fact that they are generally
held by ignorant and not by Intelligent per-
sons. The fset that ignorant persons will
misconstrue IL does not initiate against its
clearness. 1t il not the fault of n book that
there are persons who do not know now to
read: II Is not the sault OF the solar system
that ignorant people naturally suppose that
the sun goes round tho earth: il is not the
iault Vt the laws Of Aature that ignorant
persons continually wrest thcm to their own
destruction. Thsyery vastness and compre-
hensiyeness of the BibIc renders it liable to
DO misconstrued. 1t gives us both sides Of
every qnestioD-an and ignorance always mis-
construes inpartiality. This accounts for a
part OF the errors claiming their source in
the Bible; but ii does not account for all. 1t
Is a case where doctors disagree. Many
learned Bible students. have adduced from il
views which have proved pernicious. p ter
accounts ior tins aiso. Not only ignorance
but insta bility IL u esuso of error. Not only
the unlearned but the unstable "wrest the
Scripture to their " destruction" lnsta-
bility Of the mind may be, d fined as the
preference Of novelty to truth-lhe type OF
character represented By Paul's audience in
Athens. who did nothing hear or tell some
new thing" Now you can not always find
new truths; so these unsts BILE persons are
easily led TO adopt new fal schools. This
sort Of character was photographed by Pope:
The vulgar minds through imitation err so
oft: thu learned by being singular, so much
thoy hate the crowd that II the throng by
chance go right, they purposely go wrong"
These parsons are Always lab! to peTvert
and distort the Bible, for IL show5 origin
atty TO find something nobody else found be-
fore, TIE great truths are so plain that "a
wayfaring man, III ugh "A fool. would not err
therein" and so 1t happened that the way
farirg man who wants 10 show that be is not
n fool purpos,ly does err thorvin. These,
then, are the two classes that "wrest the
Scripture" and cause the errors aud divis-
IONS Of the Church. But why was not the
Bible written so plainly that y u could not
psrvert it? Tbs answer is. a book whose
meaning ecul not be perverted would be as
~ vi hie rs N \ uONuALtHts M
simple language can be perverted. Take the
political Statement, IAN moi are created Tree
and equal" livery body can understand that.
But suppose as many inducements were Of
tercd to pervert that "a to peryert Scripture,
how many doctrines could be derived from
It? Here comes a man who opposes womau's
rights, and he reads "all men were created
free and equal" therefore all women were
not Then an adberent Of absolute despOt-
ism. and he reads, "all men wero created free
and equal" Yes; all men, "at creation
were free and equal, but 1t is implied that
they are not so now. A communist sees in il
the statement that all men are free" and
argues for the opening Of all Jails. Another
sees only the declaration of equality, and
argues from thence for a redistribution OF
property. Now tits is a tair specimen OF the
way persons continually wrest Scripture; and
Is II any wonder that so many errors can dis.
tort a text for their support? Another way
10 which it is thus perverted is a neglect to
appreciate the different styles in which it is
written. Poetry is interpreted as history:
theology as philosophy; simple statement of
facts for precept. 1t might be asked why
was not this guarded ag iinst-all the history
together, and all the poetry by itself-and 1t
would have saved all difference Of interpre-
tation. Wei, why was not the universe con-
structed on tbs Same methode 1t would have
saved trouble to scientists If the elements,
instead OF being scattered over the universe,
had been divided and each one accurately
labeled. Or, If they must bo formed with
compounds let il be done according TO some
easy division. Let all the water be gathered
into one tank. and plainly labeled; let all the
copl be placed in one bin; lot all tho wood be
n,atly stacked in n big woodpile. and then
there would be no mistakes. Ii would have
saved trouble If all the gold had been formed
into one solid nugget; and il would have
saved all mining litigation if the silver. in
stead of being scattered in ill-defned veins,
and slowed away in underground pockets,
and hidden in out of-the-way assures, had
been placed in some secure place already
coined into trade dollars. As ii il, you can
prove anything frsm geology, but according
TO this p an you would have had all the world
very plain and very dull. And so God formed
tho universe, with glorious unity made more
glorious by variety. And SO he made the
Bible. Not a park, with well shaver sward
and well kept paths, and notices staring us
in the face. keep TO the light under PEN
atty Of the law keep of the grass" and
This leads to the Golden Gate;;' but he
gave us a world, with mountains Of proph-
ecy, and hills of poetry, and tabie-lands Of
high 6 experience, and lowlapds Of every day
life. 1t is vast: il is grand! and for this
reason people often get lost in il. But none
the less would we prefer it to the park where
nobody could get lost, because il is so small.
But even here we are not left alone. We are
promised the guidance of the spirit that we
may read aught; and through it all are land
marks so plain that the honest traveller can