Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1884-05-14
hooks together when thew are done.


But again, it required fifteen hum
dred years to write this book, and the
man who wrote the closing pages of
it had no communication with the man
who commenced it. How did these
men, writing independently, produce
such book? Other books get out of
date when they are ten or twenty
years old; but this book lives on
through the ages, and keeps abreast
of the mightiest thought and intellect
of every age.
Suppose that thirty or forty men
should walk in through that door
One man comes from Maine, another
from New Hampshire, another from
Massachusetts, and so on from each
State, each bearing block of marble
of peculiar shape. Suppose | pile up
these blocks in order; until have the
figure of man, perfectly symmetrical
and beautifully chiseled, and l say,
"How do these men, who have never
seen each other, chisel out that beau
tiful statue?" You say, THAT is
easily explained. One man planned
that whole statue, made the patterns,
gave the directions and distributed
them around; and so, each man work
ing by the pattern, the work fits accur-
ately when completed" Very we'll
Here is book coming from all quar-
ters, written by men of all classes,
scattered through period of fifteen
hundred years; and yet this book is
fitted together as wondrous and har-
monious whole. How was it done?
"Holy men of God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost" One
mind inspires the whole book, one
voice speaks in it all, and it is the
voice of God speaking with resurrec-
tion power.
Again, | conclude that this book
has in it the very breath of God, from
the effect that it produces upon men.
There are men who study philosophy,
astronomy, geology, geography, and
mathematics; but did you ever hear a
man say, 81 was an outcast, q wretch
ed inebriate, disgrace to my race, and
nuisance in the world, until | began
to study mathematics, and learned the
multiplication table, and then turned
my attention to geology, got me a
little hammer, and knocked off the
corners of the rocks and studied the
formation of the earth, and since that
time l have been as happy as the day
is long; / feel like singing all the time;
my soul is full of triumph and peace;
and health and blessing have come to
my desolate home once more?"
Did you ever hear man ascribe his
redemption and salvation from intem-
perance and sin and vice to the multi
plication table, or the science of mathe-
matics or geology? But l can bring
you, not one man, or two, or ten, but
men by the thousand who will tell you,
~ was wretched; l was lost; / broke
my poor old mothers heart; | beggar-
ed my family; my wife was heart
stricken and detected; my children fled
from the sound of their fathers foot
steps; | was ruined, reckless, helpless,
homeless, hopeless, until heard the
words of that Book !" And he will tell
you very word which fastened on his
soul. 1t may be it was, Come unto
Me, all we that labor and are heavy
laden, and l will give you rest" per-
haps it was, Behold the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin OF the
worId;' 1t may have been, "God so
loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life" He can tell you the
very word that saved his soul. And
since that word entered his heart, he
will tell you that hope has dawned upon
his vision; that joy has inspired his
heart; and that his mouth is filed with
grateful song. He will tell you that
The blush of health has come back to
his poor wife's faded cheek; that the
old hats have vanished from the win
iows of his desolate home; that bis
rags have been exchanged for good
clothes; that his children run to meet
him when he comes; that there is bread
On his table, fire on his hearth, and
comfort in his dwelling. He will tell
you all that, and he will tell you that
this Book has wrought the change.
Now this book is working just such
and is doing it every day. If
you have any other book that will do
such work as this, bring it along The
work needs to be done; if you have
any other book that will do it. for
Heavens sake bring it out. But for
the present, while we are waiting for
you, as we know this book ,oiU do the
work, we mean to use it until we can
get something better.
What we most need is the book it.
self 1t is its own best witness and de-
fender. Christians sometimes try to
defend the word of God. 1t seems like
half dozen poodle dogs trying to de-
END lion in his cage. The best thing
for US to do is to slip the bars and let
The lion out, and he will defend himself.
And the best thing for us to do is to
bring out the word of God, and let "the
sword Of the Spirit" proye it's power,
as it pierces 'even to the dividing
lsunder of soul and spirit"
(ConcLuded Nert Week.
The men who write circus bills