The Globe-republican., 1897-12-16

How We Knew the Bible II the
Word Of God.
Sunday evening, December 9Th. DR.. ].
d. Krum addressed his congregation on
the subject 'sHow we Know the Bible is
the Word of God" He chose the text
from Hebrews 1:1-2: s'GUd who at
sundry times and in divers manners
spake in time past unto the fathers by
the prophets, hath in these last days
spoken unto US by His son. DR.. Krum
said: The text does not call for any
proofs of the being and existence Of
God. Neither does my subject. The
word Of God itself does not offer any
proofs Of these facts. Always and every
where it rightly assumes-takes for
granted-the facts Of the divine being and
existence. And if any one says ''there
is no God," whoever he may be, this
word gives him place among the class
Of fools to which few will acknowledge
that they belong, and so they say it only
to themselves, in their hearts-never
aloud.
Neither does my text nor my subject
require that should show that tho men
whom God used, in part, in giving His
word to the.world, were under the influ-
ence Of what is known as In,fsration; :
or in other words, that they were placed
20 fully under the divine control and
made % perfectly acquainted with tho
divine mind that when they spake they
spoke the thoughts Of God, without 1t be-
ing possible that they should make any
mistake.
Without touching upon the subject Of
Inspiration. this text takes us BY short
and straight line to God, and declares
that He has spoken. He has spoken to
the fathers in times past, at sundry times
and in divers manners by the prophets.
He spoke at many different times. Every
period of the past had been lighted up by
some truth that was flashed upon them
just as it was needed. No man could say
with truth that he had been left to take
one step Of his way In darkness; or that
there was one subject of which he needed
knowledge that it had not been given
him. He had not limited Himself to any
one way of giving His word to them.
Sometimes He spoke it directly to them.
Sometimes He used the mightiest forces
in the natural word to make it known
and impress it most deeply upon them, as
when with quaking mountains and amid
the rolling thunder, and the play of
lightning He made known the words of
the law by which mankind are to be gov
erned through all the worlds long ages.
Sometimes He made it known by giving
them an object lesson, as when by the
hot flames in which bush was held, but
not burned up, He taught the world the
truth that no power should destroy the
church which He had founded in this
world for home for His people. Some
times it was in the dreams and the visions
of the night He spoke to the fathers.
And then at last He spoke to the world
once more by His Son, whom He made
the heir of all things. And all this is
most natural and reasonable. The chill
dren 20 out from the home and get
homes for themselves in many different
parts of the country. But the father can
always hold communication with them.
sometimes he uses the mails and sends
them letter. II sickness or death enter
the household he uses the telegraph. If
there is something more important than
common he sends servant with his mes
sage. II there is something to be made
known to them that is of the greatest
importance and demands the greatest care
he sends q son who has remained At
home to bear it to them. So God has
made His word known to His children
here, there, everywhere out in the world
in divers manners.
The Bible, which is the foundation Of
our religious teaching, is made up of
the words which God had spoken directly
Himself to mankind or by the prophets.
or by His Son or by the Apostles. Upon
this claim DR.. Krum said rests . substan-
tial foundation of fact God employed
these means by which His words should
be preserved. The means He used was
writing. The evidence Of the existence
of writing Is found in the very 6rst book
Of the Bible. Its preservation was not
trusted to the spoken word handed down
from father to son or to tradition, but -
truth after truth was made known 1t was
at once reduced to writing. The books
written were known - sacred writings
or books. The multiplication and the