Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1886-08-28

days journey to go around. Besides, it
could not be destroyed by fire and water
they are antagonistfc elements" But Lay
ard. Botta and Keith go out, and by their
explorations they find that city of Nineveh,
and they tell us that by they own expert
ment it is three days journey around, ac-.
cording to the old estimate of a days jour
ney, and that it was literally destroyed by
fire and water-two autagonistic elements
part Of the city having been inundated by
the River Tgris, 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 calcined slabs of
gypsum Who was right, the Bible or in
fidelityi
Moses intimated that they had vineyards
In Egypt absurd" cried hundreds of
voices; ''you can't raise grapes in Egypt; or,
If you can, it is very great exception that
you can raise them" But the traveller goes
Town, and in the underground vaults of
Eilithya he finds painted on the wall all the
process OF tending the vines and treading
out the grapes It is all there, Familiarity
sketched by people who evidently knew all
about it, and saw it 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 it grows there now or not
Thus, you see, that while God wrote.the
Bible. at the same time He 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 table
and in the jeweled vase of the sea. In authen-
ITCHY and in genuineness the statutes of the
Lord are right.
2. Again, the Bible is right in style know
there are great many people who think it
is merely collection of genealogical tables
and dry facts. That is because they. do not
know how to read the book You take the
most interesting novel that was ever written,
and If you commence at the four hundredth
page to-day, and tomorrow at the three
hundredth, and tie next day at the first
page, how much sense or interest would you
get from It'll Yet that is the very process
to which the Bible is subjected every day.
An angel from heaven reading the Bible in
that way could not understand it. The
Bible. like all other palaces, has a door by
which to enter and door bv which to
go out Genesis is the door by which to go
in and Revelations the door to go out
The Epistles of Paul the Apostle are merely
letters written, folded up and sent by post
men to the different Churches Do you read
other letters the way you read Paurs lettersl
Suppose you get a business letter, and you
know that in it there are important financial
propositions, do you read the last page first,
and then one line of the third page. and an
other of the second and another of the first2
No. You begin with Dear SIR and end
with yours truly" Now. here is a letter
written from the throne of God to our lost
world; 1t is full of magnificent hopes and
propositions, and we dip in here and there,
and we know nothing about it. Besides that,
people read the Bible when they can not
do anything elss. 1t is dark day and they
do not feel well, aud they do not 60 to bust
ness, and after l0unging about a bit they
pick up the Bible-their mind refuses to en-
T1r~k H.
from the store or shop, and thew feel, if they
do not say, it is a dull book. While the Bible
is to be read on stormy days and while your
head aches, it is also to be read in the sum
shine 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
hook Every word is packed full of truth.
Every sentence is double barreled. Every
paragraph is like an old banyan tree with a
hundred roots and a hundred branches 1t is
great arch; pull out one stone and it all
comes down. There has never been a pearl
diver who could gather up one half of the
treasures in any verse. John Hnlsebach, of
Vienna. for twenty one years every Sabbath
expounded to his congregation the first chap
ter of the Book of Isaiah, and yet did not get
| through with it. Nine-tenths of all the good
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 Millions para
disc Lost" is part OF the Bible in blank verse.
Tassos Jerusalem Delivered" is borrowed
from the Bible. Sponsors writings are im-
tatioIs from the Parallels John Bunyan saw
in dream only what Saint John had seen
before in Apocalyptic vision. Macaulay
crowns his most gigantic sentences with
Scripture quotations Through Addison's
spectator there elances in and out the
stream that broke from the throne of God
clear as crystal. Walter SCOTS best
under different names, as Meg Merri-
lies. the Witch of Endor. Shakespeare's
Lady Macbeth was Jezebel. Hobbies stole
from this Castle of Truth the weapons with
which be afterward assaulted it. Lord Byron
caught the ruggedneSs and majesty of his
style from the prophecies. The writings Of
Pope ara saturated with Isaiah, and he finds
his most successful theme in the Messiah
The poets Thompson and johnson dipped
their pens in the style of the inspired Orien-
tai. Thomas Carlyle is only splendid dis.
tortion of Ezekiel; and wandering through
the lanes and parks OF this imperial domain
OF Bible truth, find all the great American,
English, German, Spanish, Italian poets,
painters, orators and rhetoricians
Where is there in the world of poetic de-
scription anything like Jobs champing,
neighing, paving, lightning footed, thunder
necked war horsess Dryden's, Millions, Cow
pef's tenpests are very tame compared with
David's storm that wrecks the mountains of
Lebanon and shivers the wilderness of
Kadish. Why, it seems as il TO the feet of
these Bible writers the mountains brought all
their gems and tho seas all their pearls, and
the gardens all their frankincense, and the
spring all its blossoms, and the harvests all
their wealth, and heaven all its grandeur, and
eternity all its stupendous realities: and that
since then poets, and orators, and rhetoricians
have been drinking from exhausted foun-
tains. and searching for diamonds in a realm
utterly rif1ed and ransacked.
This book is the hive of all sweetness. It
Is the armory OF all well-tempered weapons
1t is the tower containing the crown jewels
Of the universe. IL is the lamp that kindles
all other lights It is the home of all mn les
ties and splendors It is the marriage ring
Tint unites the celestial and terrestrial, while
all the clustering white-robed denizeus of the
sky lowering around rejoice at the nuptials.
This book-it is the wreath into which are
twisted all garlands: 1t is the song into which
are struck all harmonies; il is the river into
which are poured all the great tides of halle
luJah; it is the armament in which suns and
moons, and stars and consultations, and uni
verse and eternities wheel and blaze and tri-
umph- Where is the young mans soul
with any music in it that is not stirred with
Jacobs lament, or NahuInis dirge. or Habak-
Esahaf - A.