Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1877-11-22

CONDUCTED BY
REV, ROBERT LATHAM.
Orlginal.1
SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. John s: 80

| orginal]
SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. John s: 80.
The word Scriptures means anything that
has been written; but, by common consent,
it is applied, iu every civilized land, exclusive
" to the Bible. The words which We have
quoted may be command, or they may be a
simple statement of fact. In other words,
the verb which is correctly translated search,
may be in either the indicative mood or in the
imperative. Those who prepared the transla-
tion of the Scriptures in general use among
those who speak the English language, regard
ed it in the imperative mood but some learn.
ed commentators regard it as in the indica-
tive mood. The majority, perhaps, are of the
opinion that the verb is in the imperative
mood. What we have to say will be with
this understanding 1t is command and
states duty which all are bound to discharge.
1t will be taken for granted that the Scrip
lures are the word of God. This has been
proven 80 often that there remains no doubt
on the subject in the minds of the mass of in
telligent persons in all civilized countries. If
then the Bible-or the Scriptures, as it is here
called-is the word of God, common sense
teaches US that it is both our duty and our in.
terest to make every effort in our power to
learn what God has communicated in his
word. Common soldiers and subaltern off,
GERS discharge their whole duty when they
obey promptly the orders of the commanding
general. In order to obey the commands of
their chief officer, they must know what his
commands are. Clearly, the duty of every
creature is summed upin the single word obe'
dence. No one who admits that there is a
God who made the world and governs all
things, will deny that it is the duty of all
Gods creatures to obey him. How can the
creature learn the will of God except from
his word? 1t is certainly true that man, at
present, cannot learn fully the will of God
either from the works of creation or from the
works of providence. Take from us the Bi-
BILE, aud we are at once enveloped in moral
night. The darkness is 80 intense that we
are liable to call virtue vice, and vice virtue
right, wrong and wrong right.
If there is Supreme Being and the Scrip
lures are the word of that Supreme Being, it
is manifestly our duty to search the Scrip
tures In practice, every pious man and wo.
man does search the Scriptures. In other
words, it is fact that the best persons in the
world not only search the Scriptures as du-
ty, but as delightful and precious privilege.
1t may be inquired, "How are we to search
the Scriptures We eanswer, honestly. Mul.
ttudes search the Scriptures in dishonest
way. They have selfish ends in view or sell
fish purposes to promote. A book is read or
studied dishonesty when it is read or studied
for the purpose of distorting its authors
meaning, or making him teach what he OBJ
viously does not teach. This is the way many
in6dels search the Scriptures. They mis-
quote the language of the Scriptures or do not
give the language of the Scriptures an honest
Interpretation. No profitable results can be
expected from such a dishonest searching or
dishonest Interpretation of Gods word.
The object which is sought by every honest
mind is truth. In quest Of truth, scientific
men spend nights and days in laborious study.
With nothing short of truth will this class
of men be satisfied. There are not few men
who have no higher ambition than to produce
sensations. These men spend their time and
rack their brains in devising new and strange
theories. The sensation theories Of these SCI
enti6c men, falsely so called, rarely outlive
their authors. Truth is unchangeable-al.
ways the same. The object for which the
Scriptures are searched, should he truth.
What do the Scriptures teach, and is what
they teach true, are questions which should
never be forgotten by all who search the Scrip
lures.
If the Bible is the word of God, it should
be our guide, both as to what we should be-
lieve, and what we should do. Right here
many persons make serious mistake. They
get up theory of religion which is in harmo-
nv, either with their education or the feelings
of their natures, and instead of searching the
Scriptures to learn, whether or not, their the.
cries are correct, they begin their search of
the Scriptures with the full determination to
make the Scriptures prove that they are right
in their notions about religion. Some pas.
sages of Scripture are quoted without any re-
gard to their connections; other passages are
distorted, and by dishonest and unmanly
process, the individual finally reaches con-
clusion which commends to our favorable re.
gard neither his head nor his heart. 1t is as
tonishing how much Scripture some people
can quote, or rather misquote to prove that
their notions are right. Theorists, absolutely
antagonistic to each other, each appeal to the
Bible. Their logic runs thus: 81 believe so
and so, and the Bible must teach so and so. T"
The Bible is searched, not that they may come
to knowledge of the truth but, according
to their notions, they have, without the Bible.
attained knowledge Of the truth, and the
Bible is searched to prove that their theories,
however foolish and absurd, are correct 1t
would not be too much to say that no sensible
student ever studied any other book in this
way. What would be thought of the student
who would take up the notion that three, mu-
tiplied by three, is greater than three multi
piled by four, and then resort to his arithme-
tic to prove that such is the case and, in
spite of all the principles of arithmetic, still
believe that three multiplied by three is great
er than three multiplied by four, and that he