National Republican., 1886-08-02


by fire and water. Abeurd,n cries out
hundreds OF voices for many years; "no
such city was ever built that II would take
three days journey to 60 around. Besides,
II could not be destroyed by fire and water;
they are antagonlstic clements" But Lay
ard, Botta, and Keith go out, and by their
explorations they find that city OF Nineveh,
and they tell us that by their own expert
ment II is three days. journey around, ac-
cording to the old estimate OF days
journey, and that II was literally destroyed
by fire and water-.two antagonlstlc elo-
ments-a part of the city having been inuu-
dated by the river Tigris (the brick material
In those times being dried clay instead OF
burned), while in other parts they find the
remains OF the fire In heaps OF charcoal that
have been excavated, and In the caloined
slabs OF gypsum. Who was right. the Bible
or infldellty2
Moses intlmated that they had vineyards
In Egypt. Absurd" cried hundreds Of
voices; "you can't raise grapes In Egypt, or,
II you can, II is a very great exception that
you can raise them.n But the traveller
goes down, and In the underground vaults
Of Eilithya he finds painted on the wall all
the process Of tending the vines and tread
ing out the grapes. IL is all there, famil-
isrly sketched by people who evidently
knew all about IL and saw IL all about them
every day; and In those underground vaults
there are vases still incrusted with the
Settings of the wine. YOU see, the vine did
grow In Egypt, whether 1t grows there now
or not.
Thus you see that, while God wrote the
Bible, at the same time lie wrote this COM
mentary, that "the statutes OF the Lord are
right" on leaves OF rock and shell, bound
in clasps OF metal, and lying ON mountain
tables and in the ieweled vase Of the sea.
in authenticity and In genuineness the
statutes Of the Lord are right.
ii. Again: The Bible is right In STYLE
know there are great many people who
think II is merely collection Of genelogi-
cal tables and dry facts. That is because
they do not know how to read the book
You take up the most interesting novel tb at
was ever written, and II you commence at
the four hundrcdth page to-day and to-mor-l
row OF the three hundredth and the next.
day at the FIRST page, how much sense or
interest would you get from ~ Yet that is
the veryprocess to which the Bible is sub
jected every day. An angel from heaven,
reading the Bible In that way, could not
understand 1t. The Bible, like all other pal
aces, has door by which to enter and a
door by which TO go out. Genesis is the
door to go in, and Revelation the door to 20
out.
These epiatles Of Paul the apostle are
merely letters written, folded up, and sent
by postmen to the different churches. Do
Paul's letters Suppose you get business
letter, and you know that In It there are I'm
portant financial propositions, do you read
the last page first, and then one line OF the
third page, and another OF the second, and
another Of the first2 No. You begin with
''dear sir" and end with ''yours truly"
Now here is letter written from the throne
OF God to our lost world; Il is full OF mag
nihcent hopes and propositions, and we dip
in here and there, and we know nothing
about 1t. Besides that, people read the
Bible when they cannot do anything else.
II is dark day, and they do not feel well,
and they do not go to business, and after
lounging about bit, they pick up the
Bible-their mind refuses to enjoy the truth.
Or they come home weary from the store or
shop, and they feel, II they do not say, It is
a dull book. While the Bible is to be read
on stormy days and while your head aches,
1t is also to he read In the sunshine and
when your nerves, like harp strings, thrum
the song Of health. While your vision is
clear, walk In this paradise of truth, and,
while your mental appetite is good, pluck
these clusters OF grace.
am fascinated with the conciseness Of
this book. Every word is packed full Of
truth. Every sentence is double barreed.
Every paragraph is like an old banyan tree
with q hundred roots and hundred
branches. II Is great arch; pull out one
stone and Il all comes down. There has
never been q pearl diver who could gather
up one-half Of the treasures In any verse.
John Halsebaeh, Of Vienna, for twenty-one
| Years every Sabbath expounded to his con-
gregationc the first chapter Of the book OF
Isaiah, and yet did not get through with it,
| Nine-tentbs Of all the goou literature Of
this age is merely the Bible diluted.
| Goethe, the admired Of all skeptics, had
the wall OF his house at Weimar covered
with religious maps and pictures. Milton's
,s'Parndise LOST is, part of the Bible in
eredn is borrowed fIom the Bible.
Spenser's writings are limitations Of the
| parallels. John lBunyan saw in dream
only what St. John had seen before IN
| Apocalyptic vision. Macaulay crowns
bis most gigantic sentences with Scripture
| quotations. Through Addison's "Specta-
tori there glanees in and out the stream
| that broke from the throne Of God clear as
| crystal. Walter Scott's best characters
are Bible men and women under different
| names, as Meg Merrllies, the Witch OF
| Endor. Sharespeafe's Lady Macbeth was
| Jezebel. Hobbies Btole fIom this castle OF
truth the weapons with which he after
wards assaulted It., Lord Byron caught
the fuggedness md majesty Of his style
from the prophecies. The writings Of
Pope are saturated with Isaiah, and he
finds his most successful theme in the
Messiah. The poets Thomson and johnson
dipped their -pens, In the style Of the In
spired orientals. Thomas Carlyle is only
a splendid distortion Of Ezekiel; and wan
dering through the lanes and parks of this
| imperial domain Of Bible truth, l find all
the great American, English, German,
Spanish, italian poets, painters, orators.
and rhetorlcians.
| Where is there in the world Of poetic
description anything like Jobs ehanping,
neighing, paving, lightning g-footed, thun-
der-necked war horse Dryden's, Mllton's,
Cooper's tempests are very tame compared
with Dayid's storm that wrecks the noun
Gtains OF Lebanon and Bhivers the wilderness
Of Kadish. Why, It seems as II to the feet
of these Bible writer's mountains brought
| all their gems, and the seas all their pearls,
andthe gardens al their !franldnoehse, and
the spring all Its blossoms, and the harvests
all their wealth, /, ana heaven all Its grandeur,
and eternity all its stupendous realities,
and that since then poets, and orators, and
rhetoricians have been drinking from ex-
hausted fountains and searching for dia-
monds in realm utterly rihed and ran
,Backed. s ' rt.
This book is the hive Of all sweetness. 1t
is the arinOry Of lwell.tempered weapons.
II Is the tower containing the crown Jewels
of the universe. 1t is the lamp that kindles
all other lights. II is the home of all
majesties and splendors. 1t is the marriage
ring that unites the celestial and the terres-
trial, while all the clus}eriDg white-robed
deniEens OF the sky lowering around rejoice
at the nuptlals. This book-it is the wreath
into which are twisted all garlands. 1t is
the song into which are struck all harmo-
MES. II is the river Into which are poured
all the great tides OF hallelujah. II is the
armament In which suns and moons and
stars and consultations and universe and
eternites wheel, and blaze and triumph.
Where is the young mans soul with any
music In IL that is not stirred with Jacob'e
lament, or Nahum's dirge, or HabaklSuk's
dithyramblc, or Paul's march OF the resur-
rection, or Johns anthem where the elders,
with doxology on their faces, respond to
the trumpet blast of the arthanQei as he