The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-02-07
The Inspiration Of the Bible.

Charleston, preached sermon on the
Of the Scriptures, of which
the following is a careful abstract:
The Bible: is it from God or man?
Tim, iii:16. 1t is not possible to |
discuss more vital and important
question than the one chosen. The
treatment must be simple and practi-
cal, and easily within the reach of all
minds, and hence that which is OBJ
truse and technical must be left out.
The Bible is the peoples book. For
the most part it was written by men
who came from the crank and file,"
and nothing is clearer than the fact
that it is put within the grasp of the
average mind. The inspiration of the
Bible is fundamental truth, and it is
we'll sometimes to examine the foun-
dation of the splendid temple of
Christianity. 1t is reassuring to find
that the superstructure does not rest
on myriads of piles driven into the
yielding soil, but that it is supported
by the eternal rock.
/. We speak first of the necessity
for the inspiration Of the Bible.
Man needs revelation on account
Of his ignorance and imperfections.
Unaided by Divine wisdom man could
not write the historical portions of
the Bible without many and egregious
errors. Macauley, blessed with an al
most faultless memory, made many
mistakes in his history of England.
So abundant are the geographical re-
ferences in the four gospels that Re-
nan has called the land of Palestine
"the fifth gospel" and yet no mistakes
are found in the descriptions given by
the writer's. There must be errors in
the moral teachings of an uninspired
man, however good or great he may
be. Socrates, the best of the heather
world, once advised a man to do an
unvirtuous deed and justified the act.
The Vedas, the holy books of the
Hindoos, permit thieving, and the
Koran, the second book of the Mo-
hammedans, teaches salvation by
works. The best of the Greeks saw
nothing wrong in exposing cripple
children to die in the mountains,
while the Spartans taught that steal
was a virtue, providing the thief was
not caught up with. Contrast with
these with the teachings of the Bible.
Any correct knowledge of a spiritual
life and of spirit world must be re-
vealed by God. While these truths
could not be found out by man, still
they can be tested by his experience.
Many reject the Bible because they
have not Incorporated its truths into
their lives. Emerson exclaims "Tis
curious we only believe as deep as we
live" A wiser man than Emerson,
said: 'The natural man receiveth not
the things of the spirit of God.
2. Consider now the proof of the in
spiration of the Scriptures.
I am much impressed by what Je-
sus thought of the Bible. He greatly
loved and honored this book. Proba-
bly, he was too poor to own Bible in
that day, when it was so expensive,
but he pondered over it's pages, and
how often he quoted its words He
quoted with approval from nearly
every book in the Old Testament. My
whole soul accepts the splendid life
and character of Jesus, and since he
received the Bible as a divine book /
do too. 1t is significant fact that
Jesus wrote nothing himself or caus-
ed nothing to be written while he lived
about the Christianity he came to
bring to earth. No book of the New
Testament was written nearly twenty
years after his death. How do you
account for the fact that he was Sc
renely Indifferent about his words and
deeds being put on record ? We
know how importants it is for facts to
be set down promptly and accurately.
Every court has its stenographer and
the enterprising reporter takes down
the words as they fall from the speak
ers' lips. Robert Burns said truly
that line of fact set down on the
spot is worth a CARLOAD of reminis-
cences. Though Jesus spoke words
that have fired humanity's heart and
revolutionized society he said never
word about their preservation. All,
me! You know there is but one ex-
planation for this course of Jesus,
namely: He knew that the Holy Spir-
it would look after the writing of the
New Testament.
3. Notice some of the objections
made to the doctrine of theinspiration
or the Bible.
1t has been claimed by. some that
there are errors in the historical state
ments. Some of these are mistakes
of copyists. No one supposes that
scribcs have been supernaturally
saved from blunders. The spade is
proving to be a great friend to the
Bible. Recent excavations in the
East are confirming Scriptural state
ments. Some have charged the BIZ
Bile with errors in morals. It does not
sanction immoral actions, but it faith
fully records the evil deeds of a good
man. Remember the Bible does not
palliate Noah's drunkenness, nor ia
cob 8 duplicity, nor David's crimes,
but on the contrary it points out
Gods disapproval and punishment.
Nor do we admit the existence of sci
entifc errors in the Scripture. The
Bible does not undertake to teach sci
ence. 1t is worth while to remember
that no accepted scientific princi-
pie contradicts any fact taught in the
Bible.
TLo oro,+oct man of this earth have