Lancaster enterprise. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1891-1905, 1899-08-05
The Influence of the Bible.

The following is the address of
Rev. j. l.. Oates delivered before
Tirzah Bible Society on Saturday
July Goth:
Today, as we sit in this house of
with throb, hiss, and roar are dri-
wing the clanking presses; busy en-
ployees are taking the letters of many
languages and placing them in close
columns of type; deft fingered men
and women are taking the printed
sheets and binding them into books
neat and substantial; express agencies
are throwing boxes of these books into
their cars ard whistling them away
with the speed of the wind over
streams and mountains and plains to
place them in every corner of this
broad land; the white winged birds of
the sea are storing them in their
capacious pouches and flying with
them to the marts of trade and to the
lands of sorrow that those who know
no books yet who are book-hungry may
read the story Of peace. Today hun
dreds of consecrated men in almost
every land are going from city to
town, from hamlet to house, from pal
ace to hovel, showing by their work
the marks of their love, and having in
their hands this boOk-selling to those
able to buy, giving without money and
without price to those who have not
that is-in every home and in every
hand, if possible, this book may find
resting place. Today individuals and
societies are pouring their money into
the treasures of these publishing
l,,, a 4
of funds. and the faithful are pleading
with their God for the success of this
book; for this book is the Book of the
Lord, and its words are the words of
the Most High God. As | look at the
enormous amount of money that is
being expended, at the prayers so fer
vently offered, at the work so loving
ly done, and all that this book may be
spread abroad, | ask, "What means all
this 7" and the answer comes back
surely an answer of truth-that at
last the christian people have begun
to realize the enormous influence this
Bible has over the world and that it is
an influence which must be used for
the salvation of sinful men. This
influence is so broad that we can only
mention few Of the ways by which
it is shown.
hhu ohV w " "Oulu Cali
your attention is the influence which
this word of God has over our own
language. Only a few centuries ago
the foundation on which our language
rested seemed so insecure that our
great autnOr had his works translated
into the Latin tongue that they might
be preserved for future ages but the
speech of Rome is dead today while
the tongue Of England grandly lives.
Of all the languages that have eyer
been spoken the English, of the pres
ent, Is the most powerful. Built up
from the words of mauy languages.
holding the best and tH uinating the
worst, it stands pure and strong-the
best medium for the thoughts OF man.
1t embraces in itself the sharp, clear
edge Of the saxon, the mystical march
and the stately pomp of the Latin and
Hebrew, the euphOnious swell and the
rhythmical roll of the Greek, the ele-
giant suavity Of the sonorous Italian,
the crusteOus grace of the Norman,
and the Unborn cultural strength of the
TeutOnic; so that il an orator wishes
to thrill mems blood with mighty
thoughts clothed in rugged speech, he
hndS his material in our language
AS we read SpurgeOn, our hearts
thro as we read Patrick Henry our
right hands are moved to seek the
sound; as we real tarlyle's rugged
lines,we become hero wors hippers with
him-and the medium these men used
was English. Does some great word
painter desire his pen TO Vie with
LimneSs brush, then wi IN words of our
own speech, hr pictures to our minds
the raging sea, the laShing waves, the
shrieklug winds: aS he changes the
sceue, and we hear the birds twiiicr
and chirp, the brook babbliug to the
flowers III ltS bank: We almost feel
the ZephArs flowing or hear the sigh
ing of he pines. Inc boom OF cannon.
the raltt" Of muSkrtrS, the clash Of
arms, the crash Of failing frcr>-aIi
can nc pictured III our English 80 that
Ill our mludS We ~" "DraI h ride upOn
the suIphurOuS -irpr red hdtt /, ,raIuu.
hiS Foot, aud nations trrmblc at ihr
sh"cN.' = IUVc the theme: ThrR in
sOit"nt i"Et"r"Sl TONES may he ran
turoI> lettings % an overflow iny heart
D. IN erruN"d. 'nmparr our Iamyuag,4
with the latin by uu. word. Ihr
Roman youth wouId say, "Amu," ours