The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1886-06-18
TIE BIBLE.
Extracts from an Address Delivered Be-
fore the Young Ladie, of Raleigh Fe-
male Seminary. June 1th. $50. by En-
Governor W. W. Holden.


thing In a few years, having been mis-
taken thousand times was not half 50
sure Of most things Is | MAS before. At
present | am hardll sure ot anything but
what God has revealed to man
The source of all truth I'd the best Of
all books, is the Bible nencing with
the creation Of the worl8 furnishes the
most accurate history nf the church Of
God and of mankind, and affords the
clearcst insight into human nature, OF any
book ever written. l. contains. indeed,
the only authentic account of the creation,
Of the promise made Of rcdI mption and its
fuliilmcnt, Of the delugc, of the confusion
and dispersion Of tongues and consequent
peopling Of the earth, Of intercourse be
tween angels and men, Of the Jews, from
Abraham TO this hour, scattered and
peeled" over the whole earth; and II fore
tells events, some of which are now occur
ring on the continent Of Europe OF the
weghtiest import to the human race. In
the dellneatiOnS of the domestic relations
and affections, III the households of the
patriarchs in the narrative OF Joseph and
his brethren: in the love of Jonathan and
David; in the rebellion and death of Abso-
lem and thy grief of King David; in the
story of Ruth and Naomi; in the Affections,
the faith. and the final restoration and
prosperity of Job; in the death Of Lazarus,
and the simple elOquencc with which his
| sisters informed the Savior of that event;
| and in the submission of Christ to his
blessed mother, and his thoughtful pro
vision for her while suffering on the cross,
! it has never been equaled. Its noteworthy
men and women are, for the most part,
| models of chastity, simplicity, integrity,
candor, and unaffected gratcness. The
| pagan, COrnclia, when asked for her
At ~. hnr chi Il, rnp he
| jewels-and happy is the mother who can
| DO so with an honest pride and joy, but
| for long ages the mothers Of Israel, as they
| pressed to the temple to dedicate their off
| spring to the living God, could point to
| theirs also as the fortunate recipients of
| rites to which the pagan was a stranger, and
| which dated from the times when God hun
dered on Sinai or spoke in the ''stlll
small voice" Oh the rock of HOreb. The
men and women of the Bible, superior to
| those of the surrounding nations walked
| in the light of the countenance of God.
| The faithfulneSs of Abraham; the blended
meekness, learning, and courage of Moses;
the lofty and sacred enthusiasm of the
| prophecies, Miriam; the valor and mag
naminlty, and the poetic fire of David; the
provcrbial philosophy of Solomon; the
! prophetic strains of Isaiah, now swelling
in majesty above the everlasting hills, and
now ripping in quiet beauty among the
roses and lilies of Sharon; the frmness
and integrity of Daniel; the intreped cour-
| age OF Judith, who slew in his tent the
| ASsyrlan captain, and saved her country;
| the simplicity in narrative Of the four
| evangellStS; the logic, the comprehensive
ness, and the commanding eloqucncc of
Paul; the low, sweet tones Of John; the
fiery ardor and rugged strength Of Peter;
and the wonderful revelations of the exile
! Of PatmOs, have found elsewhere in prOfane
history no adequate parallel.
! We are accustomed to think of the univer-
salty of Homer, Virgil, Shakespeare and
Milton; but the psalms of David have been
read and chanted in thousands of places
and by thousands of tongues where their
language is unknown. In the broad high
| spaces Of the Jewish temple; i'll the halls
of Zion; by the waters o. babylon; on the
Mount of Olives; by the brook Kedron;
by the river Jordan, rolling It's sacred
waters to the sea; on the plains of Bethle-
hem, where the shepherds watched and
where, one balmy night, most glorious in
the record of perpetual years, the voices
of the angelic hosts were heard. annOunc-
ing the birth of the Rcdeemer, and the
landscape and the faces Of the watchers
were irradiated by the flashing crowns of
| Heaven, as their WearcrS, shedding music
| from their wings, swept by; throughout
| Palestine and over all Asia; in the seven
churches, whose affairs have vanished and
| whose can, lie sticks have been removed; in
the armies of the crusaders, mingling with
| the heroic shouts of innumerable warrior
pilgrims; upon the SUBMITS and in the
valleys of the Alps; amid the forests OF
Germany; among the followers Of Luther
Calvin, Knox, Wesley, and Whitfield; by
the Scottish covenanters, the English dis
senters, and the English churchmen; il
the Cathedrals of Italy in the infancy OF
the Roman Catholic Church; beneath the
frescoed temples Of Tuscany and France
upon the Danube, the Rhine, the Ganges
the Nile, and the Amazon; in the balmy
islands of the Southern and amid the eter
nal glaciers of the Northern seas; in the
depths Of Australia; in the wilds of Amer
lea; clear as crystal, and pouring il
beauty from the heaven-touched lips o
the royal singer along the harp of ages, il
every land and beneath every sky, hav'
these glorious, heart-reviving canticle
been said and sung.
: In touching tenderness of nara
tive IN its tendency to enlarge tn
ideas and elevate the mind, in it
portrayals of the human heart, will
! its weaknesses, its passions, its hopes an'
its vanities, in sublimity of style, and il
such book as the Bible in the world. How
tender, how sublime, how touching tn
? music of its words of hope and salvation
What more tender language, for example
! than that of Christ, ''Come unto ne, all y
that labor, and are heavy laden, and | vii
give you rest" And what picture like that
glowing on the forefront of the eterna
ages, of the impersonation of God himself
bending towards Jerusalem and exclaim
e | ing, 80 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou tha
! killest the prophets and stonest them whic
l are sent unto thee, how often would hav
e gathered thy children together, even as
t hen gathereth her chickens under he
wings; and ye would not" And what scene
4 since the world began, since the univerS
9 was fashioned, has surpassed in awfl
suhlimity and binding terror that seen
d Of which Mount Calvary was the centre
l. When the sun was darkened, and the stal
e went out, and the earth quaked and shi'
r cred as it sped on in space, and when tt
Il dead got up from their leaden slumber
l. and stalked into the presence of livin
n men.
h But aside from the divine spl.it whit
:e inspires il IN its beauty and subllmity
j. style, and the great events which glo
?, upon its pages, the Bible furnishes lessor
It III faith, fortitude, sagaclty, humlit
le thoughtfulness, oheerfulneSa courage, p
W tience and charity, which no other boo
lie contains. In the language of the wi
r young man in Esdras. LAS for truth
.1r,ypN l. 1,,1.l