Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-02-07
A LECTURE ON HOLY WRIT
BY REV. H. HA1NswoRrH.

! BY REV. H. HAINswoRTH.
| Delivered at Fort Hill Church, Sunday Eu
| eniRg, January 27th, 1884, Before the
Iron County Bible Society.
L survey of the work accomplished
by the various Bible Socleties:through
out the world since the organization o
the British and Foreign Bible Societ,
in 1904, shows it to be almost stupend
Gus. AT the time referred to it is esti
mated that not more than four mil
| lion copies of the Word were in exist
| ence, while to-day at least fifty million
Bibles, translated into over 800 differ
ent languages and dialects, scattered
abroad in every land, carry the swee,
story of old to the hearths and homes
of humanity in the speech of nearly
three-fourths of the worlds inhabit
ants.
BY this brief retrospect some reflec
tions are suggested, calculated to excite
in Christian hearts feelings of joy and
thankfulness. How secure from ex.
tinction the Holy writings now are
There was time when such was not
the case, when, humanity speaking,
they were not free from this peril. The
papal priesthood were the sole custo-
dams of the Oracles of God. In
churches and in monasteries nearly ev-
cry copy extant was securely kept and
guarded. To the common people, save
rs read from the pulpit or expounded
by monk or priest or friar, the sacred
fountain of revealed truth was sealed.
Yet even here we see the workings
of Gods inscrutable providence. Just
as the Jews, with almost superstitious
care, guarded the books of the Old Tes-
lament, the prophecies destined to be
the credentials of Messiah whom they
deepised and hated and rejected, SO in
gloomy cloisters and dingy cells the
monks and clergy of the middle ages
preserved, transcribed, and transmit
ted those Gospels and Epistles which
gave birth to the Reformation, inspir-
ed Luther and Zwinglius, rekindled
the dying embers of Christianity, un-
earthed from the rubbish of tradition,
the debris of meaningless ceremonies,
and the accumulated innovations of a
corrupt and depraved age, the doctrine
of justification by faith, and with the
stroke of truth dealt to Rom
ish superstition its death-blow.
Doubtless "Mother Church" regrets
now, when too late, the labors of those
through whose instrumentality the
written Word was preserved, and
unavailingly, that she should
have warmed into life what she regards
as the viper whose sting she so keenly
feels. The burners of printed Bibles
to-day deplore the preservation of the
from which they were
made. It is Gods Book, and He kept
it, watched over it, guarded it, and
caused the very spirit of Anti Christ
to preserve the truth, that sooner or
later, will prove its overthrow.
"Deep In unfathomable mines,
OF never failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sovereign will"
To-day we have free, an open Bible.
From the hour when Faust from his
printing press struck off the
first copy, the Bible was safe and Sc
cure. Instead CT thousands of written
there were myriads of printed copies,
and although inquisitions and the con-
fessional have consigned shiploads to
flames kipdied by hellish malice and
hateful bigotry, vet has every rolling
year rendered the task of destruction
more tremendous-and to-day-to say
nothing of the so or so millions of copies
in actual circulation, SO pervaded with
scripture facts and illusions, is our lit
SO written on the page of
memory and inscribed on the fieshly
tablets of the great heart of humanity;
and the holy lessons, the precious prom
lses, the comforting doctrines, the SOL
emn warnings, the stern rebukes. the
awful threatenings, the sublime poesy
and inspired prophecy; SO fraught with
scriptural hope and principle is the
Christian world, so bright with Bible
knowledge is our modern moral atmos-
phere, that it were easier to close the
portals of the east and shut out the day
sprin e which ushers in the coming day
az attempt to exclude the morning
beams of Gods truth, the Sun of Bible
which now shines upon
and illumes with peaceful ray serene.
the moral universe. Yes, easier to
Drain the bed Of the rolling Atlantic
and make it like another but vaster
Haarlem Lake, than to drain off from
the Old and New worlds that knowl-
edge of the Lord which is destined to
cover the earth as the waters cover
the face of the great Deep"
Not only has the Bible been multi
piled SO amazingly, but the evidences
Of it's Divine origin and truth have
present age is one characterized by
ulknt{ upACot 0Aos Oy WANNA A1oAASo VI i
error have been overthrown, and preju-
iices grown hoary by the flight of time
have been consigned to merited OBJ
ivion. Much that previous to the
present century was regarded as cred
BILE history has beer stripped of it's
lress and coloring by the merciless
hand of scientific criticism, and made |
% appear in its true light and charac- |
of fable. But while revolu-
ions in the world of thought have
shaken the temples dedicated to inn
posture and superstition to their very |
BASE, it has been noble time for the
Bible. Lynch floating down upon the
Iacred tide of Jordan and exploring
hat natural wonder, the Dead Sea, by |
lis sounding-line has brought up from
is hitherto unfathomed depths scien-
ific proof of the dread catastrophe by
which the proud and sinful cities of the
Plain were destroyed. Laborde open
ng up the wonders of Arabia Petrea
las cansed the very stones to cry out,
Is'on them he deciphered many a word I