The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1894-12-01
THE VALUE OF THE BIBLE.

THE VALUE UF lib BIBLE.
In these days, when so many flip
pant references are made to the Bible,
we are doing our readers service by
placing before them perhaps repeat
ing to some of them, what we'll known
men, and others less known, have
said in regard to the sublimity, sim
plicity, moral and religious beauty,
of the Old and New Testaments. We
find them grouped in recent article
in an English journal:
De Tocqueville, French states
man, said: "Bible Christianity is the
companion of liberty in all it's con-
dicts, the cradle of its infancy, and
the divine source of its claims" Ed
mund Burke said: 81 have read the
Bible morning, noon and night, and
have ever since been the happier and
better man for such reading" Chief
Justice Kent said: "The Bible is
equally adapted to the wants and in
firmities of every hnman being. No
other book ever addressed itself SO
authoritatively and so pathetically to
the judgment and moral sense of
mankind" Similar were the words
of Chief Justice Matthew Hale:
"There is no book like the Bible"
Daniel Webster said: "From the time
at my mothers feet or my fathers
knee l first learned to lisp verses
from the sacred writings, they have
been my daily study and vigilant
contemplation. "There IS no book"
says John Selden, Sin which we can
rest our soul in dying moment like
the Bible" All our best poets, too,
have paid the same homage to Old
Testament and New The works of
Shakespeare are full of quotations
from the Scriptures. Milton says:
81 wish to deserve to be reckoned
among those who admire and dwell
upon the Scriptures for their clear
ness. There are no songs compar-
able to the Songs of Zion" 81 know
the Bible is inspired" says Cole
ridge, because it finds me at greater
depths of my being than any other
book" A whole volume might be
filled with the testimony of the poets.
To another class-that is, of phil
osophers and scientists who keep
open minds for the discovery of
truth-we turn. The words of John
Locke are noteworthy, after many
years of careful study of the Bible:
"The perfection, the fullness, the
comprehension of Holy Scriptures is
truly astonishing. Therein are con-
tanned the words of eternal life" Sir
Isaac Newton was student of the
Bible. He said "We account the
Scriptures of God to be the most
sublime philosophy"
Cuvier's words are: 81 experience
a pleasure in reading the Bible,
which attracts and fixes me to an in
conceivable degree" And the testi-
mony of Lord Bacon is: "There never
was found, in any age of the world,
either religion or law that did so
highly exalt the public good as the
Bible" Robert Boyle adds his word:
"The Bible, indeed, is among the
books what diamond is among the
stone-the most precious and spark
ling; the most apt to scatter light,
and yet the solidest and most proper
to make impressions. Professor
Huxley tells us that "Some of the
pleasurable recollectiohs his child
hood are connected with the study of
the Bible. By the study of
which other book could children be
so humanized7 If Bible reading is
not accompanied by constraint and
solemnity, do not believe there is
anything in which children take more
pleasure. Dickens wrote to his sons:
"The New Testamentis the best book
that ever was" William Hewitt
wrote: "Wherever that book goes,
there goes freedom of spirit and opin-