Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1878-12-19
&eadiua fur the Sabbath,
CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
(Original.l
THE BIBLE.

REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
[orginal
THE BIBLE.
Having seen that revelation is possible
and necessary, the next question in order il
to inquire whether the book that is known al
the Bible, is revelation. Clearly, the Bible
is either the production of men or of the Su'
preme Being. No one would be so foolish as
to conclude that its author was good angels OF
evil spirits. 1t is not claimed that the me-
chanioal part of the Bible is of God. Men
at first penned the letters that formed the syl.
lables and words written, and men still per,
form similar work in printing the Bibles
that are circulated in the world. The Bible
claims that those who did this mechanical
work connected with the Bible, simply wrote
"as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" II
is claimed, in other words, that these men
we're inspired. Is this true? This is the
question before US at present.
We are at liberty to put the Bible on trial
and subject it to the most rigid examination
God having endowed US with reason, not only
allows us to use it, but demands that we do
use it. We are commanded "to search the
Scriptures" for all the purposes for which a
revelation can be designed. It is perfectly
legitimate to search the Bible, in order that
we may discover that it is or is not revela.
tion from God.
The first thing that impresses US with res
pect to the Bible, is its style. 1t is true that
we can discover difference in the style OF
the different books of the Bible, and, so far,
it is like all other books. The style of Moses
is different from that Of Isaiah that OF
Isaiah is different from that of David and
so with all the other agents who we're selected
to fill up what is called the canon of Scrip
lures. Apart from all this, however, there is
something very peculiar about the style of
the Bible. 1t is said that Jesus spake as
never man spake, and it may be said that the
Bible, in all its parts, is written in style that
no man ever successfully initiated. As q his.
torian, Moses has no equal. In the book of
Genesis, we have the history of creation, the
fall of man, the food, and minute history
of the whole human family for period of
more than two thousand years. The chain
of history is complete. The same is true
with regard to the other historic portions of
the Bible The descriptions of battles, of
civil connections, of particular individuals,
and of the whole Jewish nation, is minute,
yet so brief that the whole may be compress.
ed into an ordinary sized pamphlet.
The attentive reader of the Bible may
learn more about the history of the world,
and of the Jews in particular, in few months
reading, that he can know about his own
country BY laborious search of lifetime.
What man ever had such powers of conden-
sation as we find in the Bible? We call it
condensation, but it is not. The periods are
as round and as smooth as those of Homer or
Virgil. They are more so. There is no USE
less verbiage-no words thrown in for the
sake of sound. Another thing peculiar about
the style of the Bible is, that there is no am.
biguity about the words used. Either the
word itself or the connection in which it
stands, determines its meaning. This is not
all. The words have a peculiar power that
the uvrtls in uu vth1r bvvh havo. THO style
of even the best speakers and writers may be
improved in a variety of ways; superauous
words may be left out; some words may be
changed for more appropriate ones. Let any
one try this with the Bible. The translation
sometimes, no doubt. can be improved; but
let some scholar make the attempt to correct
the original Hebrew of the Old Testament, or
the Greek of the New Testament, and he will
find that he has undertaken task for which
he is in no way capable. Let him try to cor
rect the style of the gospel by John. This,
scholars say is the worst Greek in the New
Testament. Let some learned man-some
man whose life has been spent in poring over
the Greek language-try to say what John
said, better, or as we'll, as John has. He will
find that although John wrote bad Greek, he
wrote as no other man ever did or ever will
write Greek.
Peter must have been a very unlearned
man. By nature, he was most impulsive
mortal When not under the influence of
Gods spirit, he, no doubt, said great many
very foolish things. We see evidences of this
during the whole of Christ's ministry upon
earth. No disciple of Jesus was so ready to
speak as Peter. No matter what came up,
Peter was first to give his opinion. His style,
no doubt, was regular 6sherman's slang.
Read his epistles, and you will find the ma
jestic dignity of a man who is more than a
scholar. 1t involves mental impossibility
to suppose that Peter, an unlearned fisher
man, could have written the two epistles which
bear his name. The style is not that of an
ignorant man. If he was not inspired, some
one wrote them for hin; ; but no uninspired
man could write them. The very style shows
that whoever wrote them, was inspired by the
Holy Ghost.
Another proof that God and not man is
the author of the Bible is that many of the
subjects treated of in the Bible are such as
men know nothing whatever about. jacob
before his dissolution, pronounced this bles-
sing upon his son Judah: "The sceptre shall
| f,o,, T,dob fho Ia upi oar from