Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-01-25
DIVINE POWER
As Reveals1 In the Scriptures-Ths
Last o. the Series Of Critical
Sermons on the
Uses Of the Bible from q Devotional
Standpont-The Love and Wor.
ship Of Goodness.

NEW YoRK, January A-The HerqH re-
ports that AL Souls Episcopal church, in
West Forty-eighth street, was well filed on
Sunday marnipg with those who had come
to hear the last of series of seven sermons
which the Rsy. r. Heber Newton has deliy-
cred upon the wrong and right uses OF the
Eible. Mr.. Henry George was one Of the
most attentive listeners to this discourse.
The preacher took his text from II Timothy,
iii, Is: "Ffcn child thou hast known the
holy Scriptures, which are able 10 make thee
wise unto salvation"
The righl use Of the Bible, he said, is ad.
mirably stat,d BY St. Paul. These books
are not to make one learned in any knowl.
edge; they tre to make one wise in life.
Wisdom Il the supreme benediction in life.
Invaluable as knowledge is il l. as q means
TO an end. Knowledge provides the material
cut OF which wisdom, using the best means
10 attain the best ends" builds a noble life.
To have the mind clear, the Judgment Just,
the conscience true, the will strong, 90 that
We may sight the goal OF life, learn the laws
BY which IL is TO be won, and firmly seek it,
steadfast amid all seductions-this is wis.
dom. The pest books the world Possesses
for the culture of wisdom are found
in the Bible. They reveal 10 eur vision
the best ends in life and point US 10 the
best means of winning them. They
are rightly called the holy Scriptures, the
writings Of holiness. Their charm is the
graciousness Of goodness as she unveils her
self therein. And this genius of gracious
goodness which irradiates the inner court of
this temple lays such spell upon the souls
OF men becanse seen to be the very daugh.
ter OF God; according to the soliloquy over
heard By mortal ears: "The Lord possessed
me in the beginning Of His ways, before His
work OF old. Then / was by Him "a one
brought mp with Him, and / was daily
His delight, rejoicing always before Him.
The Power in whom we live and move
and have our being is revealed 10 these
books as the power Of righteousness. The
moral law is seen to be the throne of the
Most High. Religion becomes the worship
Of the source AID standard of goodness, ths
love of the Eternai, who loveth righteeuS
ness. Morality and religion are made one.
The Bible books as the literature of the peo-
pie of ethical religion become the classics OF
the soul; the handbook which earnest men
intent on building character should use
habitually for ethical culture and for the
ethical worship which is its inspiration.
This is the true use of the Bible.
BOOK OF RELIGION, NOT OF THEOLOGY.
The Intellectual use of the Bible ia Ieriti.
AAA~so anu ASC<Aai 1OA LILO Ic880u8 aife1Qy
given. But when right critical knowledee
is had copcerning these books the best use Of
The Bible awaits US. 1t is the book of
religion, not Of theology, save as it records
the one authoritative epistle of theology, the
Word of God the Christ. 1t is not q body of
divinity; II il the soul of divinity. Religion
Is the orb of the soul, its finest feeiines. its
loftiest imaginations, its noblest enthusi asms.
It's profoundest tragedies thrown out into the
cry OF the human after God. There is q
science in every art, but the sculptor may be
glad that Winckelmann has studied the SCI
ence OF the human form divine in the Apollo
Belvidere and left him 10 enjoy its beauty,
The critical study of the Bible is criticism
alter all, and some must miss its most delicate
aroma. Well speaks our finest Biblical critic
No one knows the truth about the Bible who
does not know how to enjoy the Bible. and he
who takes legend for history and who i'm.
agines Moses or David or Paul to have written
Bible books which they did not write. but
who knows howto enjoy the Bible deeply, il
nearer the truth about the Bible than the
man who can pick it all to pieces, but who
cannol enjoy it and turn il to his benefit ss
The Word of the Eternal" However need.
ful our critical use of it to free the larger
form of Christian thought which is sirup-
Cling now to the birth-the wave light which
waits to break forth out of Gods Word-let
Us not be cheated out of the best use of the
Bible, the feeling Of our religious life. LIE.
rs use 1t so as TO ennoble our wants, to
quicken our aspirations, to deepen our self.
to clear the illusions OF the senses
and the glamour of the world, to purify our
passions, to bring all our powers we'll in
hand to firm will, and through the mystic
laws OF nature and of conscience we thus
seek to obey to have it breathe within our
souls the sense of the Power infinite and
Eternal and loving Righieousues-whom to
knoH Ia life eternal - :. L