The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-24
BIBLE rs LITERATURE
PRESIDENT BURROUGHS, OF WA
BASH, AT FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.
A Special Song Service-Rev. DIR. Ba-
cons SermOn-At the Spirit
ualist Church.

song service. Among the selections were
professional, March Onward, Soldiers
True" and an anthem, composed by Mr..
Arthur z. Preston, musical director of the
church. and quartet and bass solo, "Life's
Even Song the music by Mr. ]. Fremont
Frey, of this city. In this last number Mr..
Arthur D. Gates sang the solo.
The topic of the evening discourse was
THE Bible as Literature and the Bible as
revelation" President Burroughs said in
part:
Without question the Bible as we to-day
take 1t into our hands is literature Our
Ehsllsn bible IS monument-a rare treas
ure-of English letters. We can trace its
history as seen first in one version and then
IN another, passing up the stream of its
transmission through the territory of En-
glish life and letters We notice on the one
hand the influence of this life and litera-
ture upon the Scriptures; we observe on the
other the more extensive influence which
these Scriptures have had in the formation
and moldlng of the life and letters of the
English race: Macauley well says: "A per-
son VINO processes to be a critic of the deli
cacies of the English language ought to
have the Bible at mis- fingers ends.
mot only is the Bible literature, but in
all our study or even reading OF the
Scriptures either consciously or uncon-
sc1ously deal with them as litera-
ture. We often, indeed generally, do
so, unconsciously, in narrow, made
quate, misleading sort of way. My convic-
ton is that we should consciously, do this
in large, adequate correcting and correct
way. This line of thought, therefore, both
permits and necessitates the making clear
to ourselves the following distinction, all
important and fundamental, regarding Il
possible divine revelation. 1t is the distinc-
ton between a revelation in itself and
revelation as it is received and understood
by the one to whom it may come God re-
Veals Himself we say. Grant the fact The
question then arises, to whom? Let US for
the moment say to angelic beings. Then
that these may receive and understand
this revelation must conform to their laws
of intelligence, whatever these may be. 1t
must be in the thought OF angels, In the
speech of angels ALSO else angels cannot
comprehend. For clearly the reception and
the understanding are conditioned by the IN
telligence which shall receive ana under
stand. But let us say instead that God re-
veals himself to man. Then in order that
man may receive and understand this reve-
lation must conform to man laws OF in
telligence, his thought, his speech. Inc
revelation must enter the limits of human
thinking ana speaking; 1t must be condi-
toned by these, else It cannot be received
and understood by humanity. Any divine
revelation to man, therefore, must hrst, IN
certain true sense, become human; there
divine thought in the form of human
thought But, further, when we have said
God reveals himself to man, Immediately
the further question arises, to what man?
If the revelation come not to each, it 1t is
something other than revelation in con-
science or in that rational nature common
to all, then it must come to this one and
not to that one. To which one, then, we IN
qure. The answer it may be is David, or
1Sa1dn. or Paul.t lSuL II 1t COIut W llcSS cS
individuals it must be received by these as
individuals. Each must receive it in ac-
cordance with his personal limitations OF
thought, of style,i of vocabulary; II must
be conditioned by the laws of each ones
personal thinking and by the literary fur-
nshng of each ones mind.
THE larger portion OF the scripture 1T
erature is historical, and of this no in
considerable portion is biographical. Inc
Bible books are pictures of great lives, the
record of great livers. Here and there along
the line of divine progress in history stands
these great personal forces-great because
they have laid hold, by the humble cholce
of righteousness, upon the force OF the OIL
vine life. These are great centers or I'M
pulse These are epoch-makers. They Gre
ate history. They set IL motion creative
tendencies, ever elevating these TO higher
and still higher. planes Of action And IN
Christ life. Here at length the ideal plan
of life, continually more and more tuily
seen in the living revealed in the Bible, dis
covers itself perfectly in the tullness OF
time in the living of the Son of Man, the
summit and completion of creation. Here
| in the mind of this alone siness one, IN
this therefore normal one, we find that the
scientific man might call the fundamental
datum of all truth in life. he alone a was
He cast his life into society," the matchiess
biography of the gospels became possible
ana the matchiess power Oh nv WI t + ny
page. into present life.
.'And in this biographical. personal ele-
ment is found the foundation and source
of the poetic element of the Bible. 1t is
poetry of soul and not of feet and meas
ures. 1t is personal history biography,
crystallzed in the lyric utterance OF the
heart 1t is the personal expression or
lfe, life uncovers self in the deepest,
most real experiences of humanity-the eX-
periences of sin, of forgiveness, of consecra-
ton to better things. 1t is the poetry or
holy realism, utterly removed from all sur
face and false aestheticism. 1t becomes the
norm of all true poetry.
THE literature of prophecy gathers to-
gether in wonderful fashion the literature
of ha of hiOpran1V the
! literature of poetry. The poet mind sur
rounded by a great historical situation, re-
ceiVing into it's great personality the dimly
seen truths and anomalies of the present,
bGrdened by the fears, the doubts the
weaknesses, the sins of self and brother
n en-, looking inward and upward 70 the IN
| seen God, discovers His imperishable truth,
thinks with Him his thought, and thus
guided weighs past and present and sees
strengthens dominates, the tire burns. The
truth must express itself, and the overbur-
Zation OF both judgment and mercy, gives
forth utterance. with the very authority or
truth seen known ma, ardently yielded 10 ana
ness is, so to say, the core of biblical reve-
lation and it is at the same time, and equal
ly, the core of biblical literature. See how
the true conception of the prophet, the
speaker for the unseen God and
His unseen but eternal truth IN,
sacred library. The founder and
head of the Hebrew race is the prophet
ADIdndH. Inc IOuIOeI anu itdu w the
Hebrew constitution is the prophet Moses,
the man of Cod The founder of the He
brew kingdom is the prophet Samuel. The
founder of the Hebrew Messianic dynasty
is the prophet David, and all along the
pathway, prophets men of God, speakers
for Him, act valiantly, utter nobly,
sing deeply, guide righteously, hero
| ically, lead upward the inner, better
national life. until out of the
ton is evolved the church. Then comes
the man of Nazareth. He is the prophet of
phophets. He speaks that which He has
seen with God His followers are the proph-
cts of the new covenant days and the New
Testament epistle continues and completes
Old Testament prophecy.
The Bible, rightly viewed as literature,
is the best evidence of Christianity. The
Bible, rightly viewed as literature, is the
best apologize The Bible, rightly viewed
as literature, is the best treatise on ma
tional theology, the best textbook of the
ism. the best philosophy of conscience, the
best treatise on ethics.
THE Bible, rightly appreciated as liter
ature affords in the most natural manner
the surest, most comprehensive, most sat
! jsfying guarantee of authority in religion.
1t gathers together the authority of natural
| law. the authority of human experience.
the authority of conscience. the authority of
consciousness, natural and Christian, the
! authority of the normal, Sinless One-all
| these comprehended in the authority of rev.
citation found in the word of God, written
because first spoken by himself to man."
/
LEAVEN IN THE BREAD.
Rev. DIR. Bacon on the Universal
oragatiOn of the GosDeI.