The record-union., 1899-06-05

aovAt sAk.No powpeR co., NEW WORK

From craven stone and written scroll.
From all old flower fields OF the soul,
! And weary seekers of the best,
1 We come back laden with our quest,
| To find that all the ages said
Is In the book our motherS redu
| Some people are seemingly AFRAID
that the Bible will lose its hold upon
the intellect of the world. Such fears
are groundless. You can erase the stars
that glisten like diamonds on the vel
vet background of heaven easier than
you can wrench this divine book from
the affection the Imagination and the
intellect of mankind. Men may dispute
and deny the various theories that are
advanced respecting it's origin, history
and influence, but there stands the
book itself. separate and independent
| of this, that or any theory; book
that has insinuated itself into all our
| highest literature, has given birth TO
our best institutions, has evoked the
sweetest strains of music, and has in
spired the noblest creations of art. 1t
| is fact of history that the Bible mas
| been the great reservoir that has Ieu
the brain and fired the heart and quick
| ened the imagination of our great
poets, painters and musicians. Dante,
Shakespeare and Milton; Emerson,
Ruskin and Carlyle; Michael Angelo,
Raphael and Corregio; Handel. Mozart
and. Bach, are all debtors to this book
for the conceptions and creations that
have given them Immortality. To de-
stroy the Bible and the Bibles lnfiu-
| ence, what must you do? You must
rae to the ground the great cathe-
drals, the nobiest specimens of archl-
| lecture on the face Of the earth; you
must ruthlessly burn to ashes the best
and richest literature to be found on
the shelves of the great libraries; you
must with vandal hand demOlish the
masterpieces that adorn the walls OF
the great art galleries; you must throw
the black pail of death over the world S
| great organs and forever silence the
sweetest strains of music that earth S
listening ears have heard since the
morning stars sang together. What
would our literature and art and music
be worth if you eliminated from them
all that they owe directly or indirectly
to the Bible? In Kaulbach's cartoon
of the Reformation Luther is standing
in the center of the picture holding
aloft an open Bible Grouped around
him are the inventors. explorers,
thinkers, writers, reformers Of modern
Europe That picture is true to fact
and history. Wherever you find the
open Bible you find freedom of thought
and progress; you find the things that
elevate and refine mankind.
The study of history and life around
US show that wherever the Bible goes it
produces a unique type of civilization.
Every civilization is built on some basic
IDEA or principle. The civilization of
Assyria was reared on militarism. Her
warriors brought the world under sub
lection. They worshiped strength. They
said their prayers to colossal idols of
stone They built magnificent palaces.
But the people We're not moral and the
lnation that took the sword persisted by
the sword. The civilization of Egypt
glorified wealth. Her kings amassed
the riches of the nations. They built
the pyramids and reared the obeisks.
But the people were slaves and the ma
ton degenerated to extinction. The
civilization of Greece was founded on
culture. Greece excelled in literature
and art. Her poets sang the sweetest
songs, and her artists carved the mar
BILE into forms of exquisite beauty. But
the people were not developed in moral
| power and her glory became thing of
/ the past. Rome built civilization on
flaw. Her armies carried her authority
| to the corners Of the world. She put
her heel OH the neck of humanity and
ruled the nations with a scepter of iron.
But the people We're icentious and
frivolous and the proud empire passed
out of existence.
The civilization of the Bible is based
on and provides for the moral elevation
of manhood and womanhood It's ideas
of greatness are ethical and spiritual.
1t emphasizes justice, liberty truth and
mercy. While this book exalts God, it
lis equally insistent ON the exaltation of
man as a being made in the image of
God. This book teaches that all forms
of government, all political economies.
all institutions of every kind are to be
subservient to the welfare of man.
Huxley saw this truth and frankly ac-
lknowledged it, saying: 1.-THE Bible has
been the relief of the poor and the OPP
pressed down to modern times. No
State has had a constitution in which
the circumstances and interests of the
count, in which the duties much more
sisted on as in that drawn up for Israel
Nowhere is the fundamental truth that
the welfare of the State in the long
run depends on the welfare of the peo-
pie, SO strongly laid down. Read the
legislation of Moses, the orations of the
prophets, the sayings Of Jesus. the let
tiers of the apostles, and see how
from beginning to end they exalt the
| greatness of man as being made in
the image of God and redeemed by the
Son of God This book has helped man
reach the highest levels of moral and
intellectual achievement. 1t enabled
| Milton to write Paradise Lost" 1t
gave Handel the Messiah and
Raphael the "Sistine Madonna 1t
made Cromwell the champion of civil
and religious liberty, and created for
England constitutional government It
fguided the Mayf1ower across the At
lantic and made possible the republic of
America. 1t has inspired our most hui
name reforms and created our many
sided philanthropies. Without it Shat
tesbury could not have legislated for
| factory operatives, or Lincoln have
written his proclamation of emancipa-
ton. This book sent Florence Nightin-
gale as an angel of mercy to the Crimea
and made Frances Willard an eloquent
apostle of social reform. Wherever it
goes it inculcates the highest morals
and proclaims the tenderest mercy. 1t
reveals what is divinest in God, and in
vokes what is noblest in man. It's ideals
are tha HIGHEST IRIS motives the unrest