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

dlVldual that there Is OOOk I'D Lne WOrlu
which is generally called the Bible. The
word bible, if we follow its chronological de-
rivation, only means book; and we might
with propriety, call any book a bible By
common consent, however, the name bible i:
restricted to particular book. This book
that we call the Bible, is divided into two
grand divisions. One Of these divisions is
called the Old Testament; the other the New
Testament. The first part dates from the
time of Moses-about three thousand three
hundred and seventy years ago-to the time
dred and seventy. five years ago The second
has all been in existence nearly eighteen
hundred years. 1t is clear that the Bible is a
very ancient book. Its antiquity is equalled
hy no other book.
Both parts of the Bible consists of col
lection of books In the Old Testament there
are thirty nine books and in the New Testa.
ment twenty-seven books. The books form
ing this collection we're not written by one
author, but by number of authors. 1t is
true, that several of these books were written
by one individual; but one of the books, at
least, is the joint work of number of indi-
viduals. The subject of some of these books
of the Old Testament is history, of others it
is law, others consist mainly of genealogical
tables Several are poetry, and seventeen are
prophecies.
Four of the hooks of the New Testament
are histories Of Jesus Christ; one is history
of his Apostles; another is a series of proph-
ecies concerning the church to the end of
time; and the remainder are letters written
10y different individuals to number of per-
sons
1t will be seen, at once, that both parts Of
The Bible embrace wide range of subjects
1t treats Of creation, of providence, of the
beasts of the field. of the fowls of the air,
of the fish of the sea, of the sun, moon and
stars; Of the earth and the minerals that lie
embedded in its bosom, and the vegetables
that grow out of it. 1t treats of night and
day, of seed time and harvest, of summer and
winter, of cold and heat, of eternity, of
heaven and he'll, of happiness and misery. 1t
treats of man in four states. As he was,
when he was first brought into existence, of
him as he is in a state Of sin, Of him in a
state of grace, and as he will be in eternity,
either blessed forever or hopelessl y lost in a
world of woe. Not only does the Bible treat
uf all these subjects, but it treats of Angels
and of God himself He whom no eye has
,ver seen is most minutely described in the
book we call the Bible. His natural attrib-
ules, moral pertectiops. inaienable preroga-
tives and Interchangeable purposes, are clearly
defined Surely this is most wonderful
hook There is no other book in the world
that resembles it. Now who is the author of
this book? Who brought it into the world !?
The Bible claims for itself that it is, in all
its parts, revelation from God. In other
words, the Bible claims that God, the great
architect Of the universe is its author. He
who made the world and all that it contains,
is claimed to be the author Of the Bible. The
general teaching of the Bible on this subject
is, that "holy men spake as they were moved
Ivy the Holy Gh"st" Men did the mechan
ical work hut the Holy Spirit moved them
thereto. The common introduction to the
various paragraphs contained in much of the
Old Testament is, The Lord spake" unto
Moses or unto Isaiah, or to some one of the
mechanical authors of the Bible What these
authors record is simply what the Lord spake
unto them. This is what is claimed. Is this
true, or is it not true? Every one should in
vestigate this question. If the Bible is the
word of God, then it must be obeyed, or the
consequence Of disobedience suffered. If it
is not the word of God, then it may still be u
good book =; but like all other books gotten
up by mere men, it is no doubt sometimes
right and sometimes wrong. This heing the
Ease, we are not bound to obey the Bible on
ly in part
Let it be granted that there is Supreme
Being. IF this is denied, we cannot argue
the question We must have some starting
point. The majority of Individuals will
readily grant that there is God. There be-
ing God, we may declare, without fear Of
successful contradiction, that he can make a
revelation to his creatures of whatever he
may desire, them to know. This is very
modest claim. One created being can make
known many things to other created beings.
| The lowest order of creatures can do this.
Men find no difficulty in revealing to each
other, what they have seen, heard or felt.
One man can tell, in variety of ways, anoth-
er man what he must do or say, or must not
10 or say. Men can reveal their thoughts as
we'll as their deeds to each other 1t would
be unreasonable to suppose that the Supreme
Being could not do what all his creatures not
only are able to do, but actually do every
moment of their existence. We may safely
claim that God can, if he sees fit, make q
revelation. This being the case, we may
conclude that revelation is possible.
We may farther inquire whether revela-
'ion is necessary. 1t is conceivable for
thing to be possible, and yet not necessary.
All possible knowledge is not absolutely nec-
essary for all men. Some men know some
things that other men do not know. Those
who are wise are capable instructing the ig
norant; but in many cases the knowledge to
he communicated is not necessary. 1t is not,
under the circumstances, worth knowing.
| The necessity of revelation must depend
upon the character of the knowledge to be
communicated, and the condition of the ndi.
vidual to whom it is communicated.
| Now are there not some things that are
necessary for man TO know, that he cen not
discover by any means within himself? With
out a revelation, man is a mystery to himself.
There are a number Of questions which he
might ask about himself, which cannot be
answered. He might ask for what purpose
he was created; why he was brought into be-
ing; what will become Of him after death, or
why he will die These and a multitude of
other questions spring up, unbidden, in every