The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-06-08
RELIGIOUS READING.
rs The BIBLE INSPIRED OF GOD?

rs THE BIBLE INSPIRED OF GOD
Says one. II think that the Bible may be
true history, but that is no proof OF lts IN
spiraton. 1t does not require divine lnsplra-
ton to write true history" so you
think it an easy matter to tell the truth DO
YOU: wish you could make other people
think so. Suppose you go and read ti'e OF
the newspapers published just before the last
election. and see il you do not think it re-
quires divine inspiration to tell the truth, or
even to find it out after it is told. truth Is
mighty hard to get at, as you can see oy per-
using the daily papers on the eve OF an eiec-
ton.
There are certain things in the Bible W hich
to my mind, bear the impress OF DlVlnlty;;
A skeptic will tell you what race OF oiu
sinners we read about in the BLDG: moan
got drunk; David was guilty OF adultery
and murder; Solomon was an i1olater' ana
wrought folly Peter denied bis Lord, and
Judas sold him for 80 pieces OF silver; all
these people that the Bible talks about 80
much to US, are pretty set OF men!
Very well; what kind Of men do you e1-
pect to read about In Il e Bible? Noah got
drunk. Is that strange? Did no one else
ever get drunk? Peter cursed and swore:
Are there not other men who curse and
swear? Judas. an apostle, sold bis Lore,
who said be had chosen twelve, and one Oh
them was devil. DO you not sometimes
find Judas in the church even nowaoays!
One in twelve was thief and traitor tnen ,
and we need not be surprised II We hnd ABOUT
the same average now.
But YOU seem to think that when you read
about man in the Bible he is sure to be free
from all kinds of errors, frailties. faults Bnd
sins. You have formed this idea OF men
from reading in Sunday-school books about
good children, who usually die young; OF
perusing excellent biographies, which as you
read them cause you to exclaim II Wisn l
could be as good as that person was, out -; l
never SHALL" No, presume you never Will,
and if you knew the whole story about the
person you might not feel so deeply on tne
subject.
Do YOU suppose that if the Bible had been
written by some learned doctor. reViseh ny
a committee Of eminent divines. anu pup
l,sbed by some great religious society, we
should ever have heard of Noah's drunken
ness, of Abraham's deception, OF Lots dis
grace, OF Jacobs cheating. of Paul and Bar
nabas's quarrelng, or Of Peters lying, ours,
ing, or assembling? Not at all. The gooo
men, when they came to such an incident.
would have said, There is no use in saying
ANYTHING about that. 1t is all past and
gone; it will not help anything, and Will
only hnrt the cause" If a COM
Dlttee or Sucn elDlnenL uisiheo
had prepared the Bible you would have
had a biography Of men whose characters
were patterns Of piety, and proprlety, IN
stead Of poor sinners, as they were. Some
times a man writes his own diary and hap
pens to leave it for some one to print after
he is dead; but he leaves out all the mean
tricks he ever did, and puts In all the good
acts be can think Of; and you read the
pages, filled with establishment, and think,
:'What a wonderfully good man he wa! =
But when the Almighty writes mans life
he tells the truth about him; and there are
not many persons who would want their
lives printed II the Almighty wrote them.
You find man who will tell the, truth
about kings, warriors, princes and rulers to-
day, and you may be quite sure that he has
within him the power of the Holy GHOST.
And book which tells the faults OF those
who wrote it, and which tells you that
''there is none righteous, no, not one," bears
in it the marks of true book; for We al
know that men have faults, and failings, and
sins; and among all the men whose lives are
recorded in that book, each man has some
defect some blot. except one. and that IL
'the man Christ Jesus."-[H. L. Hastings.