The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-07-12
Discourse by Rev. Frank c. Lock-
wood Last Evening
HIS THEME WAS THE BIBLE
BOOK OF BOOKS FROM A CHRIST
IAN's STANDPOINT.
Its Claims to Attention and Regard
Carlyle On the Book of Job-Real
Purpose of the Scriptures Is to
Enlighten Mankind.

church last evening" MS tHSLiS D~---5
ssThe Bible, the Book OF Books He
took his text from II Timothy, 3-16
and II.
EVERY Scripture inspired of God is
also profitable for teaching, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction which is
in righteousness that the man of God
may be complete, furnished completely
unto every good work
in cur time the Bible is very much
talked about and very little read. The
sceptic assails it and the Christian neg
lects it. II is not difficult 10 account
for the fierce assault of the critics. for
the scientific spirit, youthful, lusty and
fearless, is abroad. 1t raps at every
door and insists upon credentials from
those who abide within; and it guards
every frontier, demanding passports of
each stranger that enters the king
dom of knowledge. Nor should we
find fault with the critical spirit. If
honest and devout, it is timely and le-
Ultimate.
But why is the Bible deserted by it's
own friends? Why is it treated with
contempt or neglect by those who con-
tend most hotly for its infallibility2
This is not as it should be. 1t is
book of such Importance as TO attract
the scholarly investigation of the best
ought TO be familiar TO every man,
woman and child who can read, how
ever humble their lot. Its claim to our
attention and regard can scarcely be
Overstated. Viewed simply from the
standpoint OF literature, it is incom-
parable. Where are we to find such
beauties of diction, such grace OF i'm
agery, such depth and subtlety of senti-
ment such grandeur of moral precept?
The loltiest themes that can engage
the human heart and brain are here
treated in the most engaging and at
the same time the most profound man
ner. The best literary men of this as
we'll as of other ages pronounce upon
its merits in the most unqualified
terms Says Carlyle: I call the Book
of job, aside from all theories about it,
one Of the granGest things ever writ
ten with pen. There is moth
ing written. I think, in the Bible or out
of it, OF equal literary merit"
Sir William Jones. one of the most
learned and able men that the world
has ever known, wrote these words
upon the fiy-leaf CT his Bible: 4 have
regularly and attentively read these
Holy Scriptures, and am of opinion that
this volume. independently of its di
vine origin, contains fore sublinity and
beauty. more pure morality, more i'm
portant history and finer strains of
poetry and eloquence than can be col
iected from all other books, in what
ever age or language they may have
been written
Rosseau, the great French writer. did
not himself accept the sacred Scrip
lures, but he left the following incOn
sistent record concerning them: This
divine book, the only one which is in
despensable TO the Christian, need only
to be read with reflection to inspire
love for its author, and the most
ardent desire TO obey its precepts.
Never did virtue speak so sweet a
language; never was the most profound
wisdom expressed with so much energy
and simplicity. No one can arise from
its perusal without feeling himself bet
ter than he was before. Is IL
possible that a book at once so simple
and sublime should be merely the work
of man? Is it possible that the sacred
parsonage whose history II contains
should himself be mere man? Do we
find that he assumed the tone of an en-
thusiast, or ambitious secretary? What !
sweetness, what purity in his mannersi |
What an affecting gr2cefulness in his /
delivery What sublim9ty in his max
inns, What presence of mind, what !
sublimity, what truth in his replies! !
How great the command over his pas /
sionsi Where is the man, where is the !
philosopher, who could so live and die /
without weakne-s and without ostenta- (
tion2 When Plato described his mag (
mary good man loaded with all the |
shame of guilt, yet meriting the high
est rewards Of virtue, he describes eX- /
actly the chara cter of Jesus Christ the /
resemblance was so striking that all /
the fathers perceived it
The manifest neglect of the Bible by /
those who profess the greatest attach /
mant to It seems still mere wonderful /
when we begin to look about us TO see
TIA ]
DEVELOPMENT of society. We find that
It is wrought into the very foundation
and fabric of modern civilization. There
is scarcely a phase of life, scarcely an
institution or an enterprise that does
not show how profoundly 1t has been
influenced by the Bible. The innocent
child and the dying Saint the prince
and the pauper, the soldier and the
scholar feel its influence and acknow-
ledge its superior merit. Homes.
churches, colleges, hospitals, and aSyl-
uIns are the flowers that spring up IN
its pathway. The most perfect and
prosperous governments in the world
are founded upon its principles. Except
for its potent spell, a Raphael never
would have painted his immortal
masterpieces, a Won Rile never would
have reared d Cologne cathedral,
Handel would have been without
.sNIessiah." and the world without its
Lost" an imperishable product, would
never have been dreamed of; Victor
Hugo would forever have been de-
prived OF that illustrious child OF fic-
ton. Jean Val Jean; England would
have had no Gladstone. America no
Webster; Abraham Lincoln would have
been a gaunt voice in the wilderness,
and Africa would have had no Living
stone to bring light and salvation into
its darkened borders.
4 book that has thus SO affected So
ciety. and in particular 4 book that
occupies so large a place in the Chris
tian life deserves 20 have It's claims
set forth and more fully explained.
Some of US used TO have very crude
notions concerning the Bible: We be
lfeved that il was written in heaven, :
and in some miraculous way dropped
down into our midst exactly as we find
IT in our pulpits. But We have out :
grown this childish view together with ,
many other false conceptions about !
religion. We believe now that the
Ribie has both q natural and a super
natural history. The Bible has been
handed down 10 US through a human
medium. i was not written all at once.
Al least a thousand years interviewed
between the time when the first writer
;ndited his portion OF the Sacred
Scriptures to the time when the last
author wrote. There are in the c
compilation al least fifty books :
written by not less than 30 men, Who !
lived in different ages. pursued differ
euq occupations. lived in widely diverse
regions Of the country, and were en-
tirely igresdnt Of one another Bur