Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-08-11

book. Mind you, not contradiction or coli
sion, but variety. Just as in the song yol
have the basso and alto and soprano an,
ftenor-they are not in collision with eacl
other but come in to make up the harmon,
$50 it is in this Book; there are differen
parts of this great song of redemption. Th
prophet comes and takes one part, and th,
patriarch another part, and the evangelist
another part, and the apostles another part
and yet they all come into the grand har
mony-sthe song of Moses and the Lamb
If GOD had inspired men of the same tenn
permanent to write this book, it might hav,
been monotonous; but David, and Isaiah
and Peter, and Job, and Ezekiel, aud Paul
and John were men of different tempera
ments, and SO, when God inspired them te
write, they wrote in their own style.
God prepared the book for all classes o
| people. For instance, little children would
read the Bible. and God knew that: SO Ht
allows Matthew and Luke to write sweet
stories about Christ with the doctors of the
law, and Christ at the well, and Christ al
the cross, so that any little child can under
stand them. Then God knew that the aged
people would want to read the book, so He
allows Solomon to compact a world of wis.
dom in that Book of Proverbs. God knew
that the historian would want to read it,
and so He allows Moses to give the plain
statement of the Pentateuch. God knew
| that the poet would want to read it, and SO
He allows Job to picture the heavens as a
curtain, and Isaiah the mountains as weigh
ed in balance, and the waters as held in
| the hollow of the Omnipotent hand; and
God touched David until i'll the latter part
| of the Psalms, he gathers a great choir
| standing in galleries above each other
| beasts and men in the first gallery; above
them, hills and mountains; above them, fire
and hail and tempest; above them, sun and
moon and stars of light; and on the highest
gallery arrays the hosts of angels; and then
standing before this great choir, reaching
from the depths of earth to the heights of
heaven, like the leader of great orchestra,
he lifts his hands, crying, praise the Lord.
Let everything that hath breath praise We
the Lord" and all earthly creatures in their
song, and mountains with their waving CO.
dars, and tempests in their thunder and
rattling hail, and stars on all their trembling
harps of light, and angels on their thrones
respond in magnificent acclaim: ''tPraise ye
the Lord. Let everything that hath breath
praise the Lord"
God knew that the pensive and complain
ing world would want to read it, and so he
inspires Jeremiah to write: ooh, that my
head were waters and mine eyes fountains
Of tears!" God knew that the lovers of the
wild, the romantic, and the strange would
want to read it, so He les Ezekiel write of
mysterious rolls, and winged creatures, and
flying wheels of fire. God prepared it for
all zones-for the Arctic and the Tropic, as
we'll as for the Temperate zone. Cold
blooded Greenlanders would find much to
into .,,l.a L.
the Equator would find his passionate ma
ture boil with the vehemence of heavenly
truth. The Arabian would read it on his
dromedary, and the Lapander seated on
the swift sled, and the herdsman of Hol-
land guarding the cattle III the grass, and
the Swiss girl reclining amid alpine crags.
ooh, when I see that the Bible is suited in
style, exactly suited, to all ages to all con-
ditions, to all lands, I cannot help repeat
ing the conclusion of my text: "The statutes
Of the Lord are right"
Ill. | remark again: The Bible is right
in its doctrines. Man. a sinner, Christ, d
sayier-tbe two doctrines. Man must come
down-his pride, his selfrighteousness, his
worldliness; Christ, the Anointed, must 90
up. If it had not been for the setting forth
Of the Atonement, Moses would never have
described the creation; prophets would not
have predicted; apostles would not have
preached. It seems to me as if Jesus in the
Bible were standing on platform in great
amphitheatre, as if the prophets were be-
hind him, throwing light forward on His
sacred person, and as if the apostles and
evangelists stood before Him, like footlights
throwing Up their light into His blessed
countenance, and then as if all the earth
and heaven were the applauding auditory.
The Bible speaks of Pisgah and Carmel,
and Sinai, but makes all mountains bow
down to Calvary. The flocks led over the
Judean hills were emblems of ''the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sins Of the
world;' and the lion leaping out of it's lair,
was an emblem of ''the lion of Judah's
tribe" will in my next breath recite to
you the most wonderful sentence ever writ
ten: "This is a faithful saying and worthy
of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners" No won
der that when Jesus was born in Bethlehem
heaven sympathised with earth, and wave
of joy dashed clear over the battlements
and dripped upon the shepherds in the
words, ''Glory to God in the highest and on
earth peace, good will towards men," In
"God so loved the world that He gave his
in Him should not perish, but have ever
lasting life." Show me any other book
with such doctrine, so high, so deep, So
vast.
". Again: The Bible is right in its ef-
fects. do not care where you put the BIZ
BILE, it just suits the place. You put it in
the hand of a man seriously concerned |
about his soul. I see people often giving
to the serious soul this and that book. It may
be very well, but there is no book like the |
Bible. He reads the commandments and
pleads to the indictment, "Guilty." He
takes up the Psalms of David and says:
"They just describe my feelings" He flies
to good works; Paul starts him out of that
by the announcement: "a man is not
justified by works." He falls back in his
Encouragement; the Bible starts him up
with the sentence: Remember Lot wife,
"Grieve not the Spirit, "Flee the wrath |
to come" Then the man in despair be- |
gins to cry out: "What shall I do? where
shall | go?" and a voice reaches him say
ing: Come unto me all ye who are weary
and heavy laden and will give you rest.'
Take this Bible and place il in the hands
of men in trouble. Is there anybody here
in trouble? All, I might better ask are
there any here who have never been in trou-
BILE. Put this Bible in the hands of the
troubled. You find that as some of the best
berries grow on the sharpest thorns, so some
Of the sweetest consultations of the Gospel
grow on the most stinging affliction. You
thought that death had grasped your child.
Oh, no! 1t was only the heavenly Shepherd
taking lamb out of the fold. Christ bent
over you as you held the child in your lap,
and putting His arms gently around the lit
tie one, said: "Of such is the kingdom of
heaven"
Put the Bible in tue school. Pal sled be |
the hand that would take the Bible from |
the college and the school. Educate only |
q mans head and you make him an inidel.
Educate only mans heart and you make
him fanatic. Educate them both togeth-
or and you have the noblest work of God.
An educated mind without moral principle |
is ship without helm, rushing rail
train without brakes Or reversing rod to
control the speed. Pat the Bible in the
family. There it lies on the table, an un-
limited power. Polygamy and unscriptural
divorce are prohibited. Parents are kind
and faithful, children polite and obe-
dient. Domestic sorrows lessened by being
divided. Joys increased by being multi