The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-01-24
The Inspiration of thr Bible


David ". Ramsey, complying with
the request Of the Bible Society of
Charleston, preached sermon on the
inspiration Of the Scriptures, Of which
the following is careful abstract:
The Bible: is it from God or MANI
Tim, iii:16. It 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. It 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.
i. 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
'tthe 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 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 hook 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 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
curio 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 its 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 l
do too. It 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
wears 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 tor facts to
be set down promptly and accurately.
Every court has it's stenographer and
the enterprising reporter takes down
the words as they fall from the speak
ers' lips. Robert Burns said tru'J
that a line of fact set down on the
spot is worth cartload of reminis-
cences. Though Jesus spoke words
that have fred humanity's heart and
reyolutionized society ne said never a
word about their preservation. All,
me! You know there is but one e1-
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 the inspiration
or the Bible.
It 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
scribes have been sup ernaturally
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
| LIZ r;+b orrora in rnora1s IT, does not