The Brookhaven leader., 1886-08-12

~
phur, remnants Of that very tempest that
swept Sodom and Gomorrsh % ruin Who
vas right, the Bible that announced the
destruction Of those cities or the skeptics
who for ages scoaed 81 ftf
Moses intimstsd that they had vine
yards in Egypt Absurd" cried hun
dreds Of voices; you can't raise grapes in
Egypt; or, IL you can, il is 9 very great
exception that you can raise them" Bat
the traveller goes down. and in the under
ground vaults Of Eiithya be finds painted
on the wall all the process Of tending the
vines and treading out the grapes. II is
all there, familiarly 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
encrusted with the settings Of the vine.
You see the vine did grow in Egypt,
whether it grows there now or not.
Thus you see that while God wrote the
Bible. ct the same time He wrote this
commentary, that "tbe statues 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
geuuineness, the statutes Of the Lord are
right.
2 Again. the Bible is right in style. !
know there are a great many people who
think il is merely e collection Of genoa.
logical tables and dry facts. That is be-
cause they do not know how 70 read the
book. You take up the most interesting
novel that was ever written, aud II you
commence a. the four b nd red 18th page to-
dav, and Tomorrow al the three-hpn-
dredtb. and the next day at the first, how
much sense or interest would you get
from it' Yet that is the very process TO
which the B ble is sul jected every day. An
angel from Heaven, reading the Bible in
that way, could not understand it. The
Bible, like all other palaces, has door by
which 70 enter and door by which % go
out. Genesis is the door 70 20 in and Rev
elation the door 70 60 out
These epistles Of Paul the Apostle are
merely letters written, folded up and sent
by posUmen 70 the different churches. Do
you read other letters the way you read
Psul's letters: Suppose you get busi-
ness letter. and you know that ia Il there
are impor ant financial propositions, do
YOU read the last page first and then one
line Of the third pGge, and another o. the
second, and another Of the first: No.
Yo1 begin with Dear SIR AMI end with
Yours truly" Now, here is Z letter
written from the throne Of God % our lost
world: IL is fan OF II IN fc=at hopes and
propositions. AMI we dip IN here and
there, and We know nothing sbout il Be-
sides that, people read the Bible when
they can not do anything else. 1t Is
dark day. and they d. not fesi well, and
they do not 60 70 business, and after
Longing. about q hit they pick up the
Bible-:heir mind refuses 70 ENJOY the
truth. Or they come home weary from
the store or shop, and they feel, If they do
not say, il is q dull book. WuIs the z tie
is = be read on stormy days AMI while
your head aches it e also 70 be read il the
sunshine AMI when your nerves ike harp
strings tbrgm the song Of healts. While
your vision is clear, walk N this paradise
Of ruth, and while your mental appetite
is good. pluck these clusters o. grace.
an fascinated with tue condolences Of
This bgok. Every word is packed fall Of
truth. Every Sentence is doutle-harrelsj.
Every sentence is like an old banyan tree
branches. 1t is great s-ca; pull out ose
stone and it al comes down. There has
never been pearl diver VINO could gather
up one-hslf Of the treasures in any verse.
John Halsebsch, Of Vienna, for twenty
one years every sabbath exp uuded 70 bis
con. regation the first chapter OF the Book
Of Isaiah, and yet did not get through
with II. Nin--tenths Of all the good lit
erat ure Of this age is merely the Bible
diluted.
Where is there in the world Of poetic de-
scr ption anything Ike Jobs cnamping,
neigbing, paving, lightning fo0te1, thun-
der neckei war horse: Dryden's, Millions,
Cowper's tempests are very tame COM
pared with Dayii's storm that wrecked
the mountains OF Lebanon and shivered
the wilderness Of Ksdjsh. Why, il seems as
if 10 the feet Of these Bible writers noun
tains brought all their gems, and the seas
all the III pearls, and the gardens all their
frankinc-nses, aud the spring all its blos-
SONS. and the hargests all their wealth,
and Heaven all its grandeur, and eternity
all its stupendous realities, and that since
tn en- poets and orators and rhstoricians
have been drinking from exhausted foun-
tains. aud searching for diamonds in a
realm utterly rif1ed and ransscked.
am also amazed at the variety Of this
book. Mind you, not contradicticn or
collision, but variety. Just as in the song
you have the basso and alto and soprano
and tenor-they are not in collision with
each other, but come in TO make up the
harmony-so it is in this great book; there
~ Of
redemption. The prophet comes and takes
one part, and the patriarch another part,
and the evangelist another part, and the
disciples another part, and yet they all
come into the grand harmony-''the song
of Moses and the Lamb, If God had in
spired men of the same temperament TO
write this book ii might have been monot-
onous; but David and Isaiah, and Peter
and Job, and Ezekial, and john were men
of different temperamsnts, and so, when
God inspired them to write, they wrote in
their own style.
Got prepared the book for all classes Of
people. For instance, litcle children
would read the Bible, and God knew that;
so he allows Matthew and Luke to write
sweet stories atout Christ with the doctors
of the law, and Christ al the well, and
Christ at the cross. so that any little child
can understand them. Then God knew
that the aged people would want to read
the book, so he allowed Solomon to COM
pact a world of wisdom in that book Of
Proverbs God knew that the historian
would want to read it, and 30 he allows
Moses to give the plain statement of the
Pentateuch. God knew that TO picture the
heavens as a curtain, and Isaiah the
mountains as weighed in balance, and
the waters as held in the hollow of the