The record-union., 1899-05-23

is? We admit the existence Of intel
lectual geniuses. We know that the
range and power of some human in
tellects is immeasurably greater than
other intellects. You and l could not
write the dramas of Shakespeare or
the poems of Tennyson. But, thank
God, we can read with pleasure ana
profit the results of their high ana
sublime thinking. We are thankful
that God gave them their superior IN
tellectuality, and that these high gifts
are for our helpful service. So we. are
thankful that there have been spiritual
| geniuses on this earth, men with SOULS
| capable of apprehending divine splr-
| itual truths and making these truths
the common property of the race. AS
one has said: Inspiration does not
| separate David and Paul from the hu-
man race; it lifts the human race to
| high pinnacle of honor and expecta-
| tion The divine inspiration OF one
man presupposes a degree of divine IN
spiration, actual or possible, in all oth-
er men, It is true that few men are
| inspired to speak the Word, but all
| have been and are inspired to receive
and profit by the Word when spoken
Therefore we. are thankful that Coo
| revealed His truth and grace TO
prophets and apostles, and that in the
Bible we have the record of that rev
elation = the Holy which
are able to make us wise unto salvation,
through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
/ | believe in the divine authorship and
authority of the Bible l believe it was
written by men inspired of God. To
deny the inspiration of the Bible is TO
deny Christianity. He who rejects the
Bible as a book of revealed religion
has no right to call himself a Chris
tan. 'fThe Bible has a unique place
in the literature of the world. 1t has
comforted the Sorrowing, guided the
perplexed, strengthened the weak, and
called to practical repentance the sin
| full and the erring. No theology can
| be true which takes the Bible out of
human life, makes it less valuable as
an inspiration and guide, reduces it to
the commonplaces of the worlds
thought, and degrades it and deprives
it of it's life giving power"
! The Bible is a test of a mans char
acter. If a man finds no interest or
delight in the study of this book, the
pres umption is that there is great
| lack somewhere in his mental or moral
make up. The man who speaks sneer-
| ingly of Homer as poet, of Raphael
as an artist or of Handel as musi
clan condemns himself in his criticism.
| The man who speaks disparagingly or
sneeringly of the Bible advertises the
| shallowness of his intellect or the rot
| tenness of his morals, and perhaps botn.
| My brother, what you think about the
| Bible in one light, is small affair.
| The real question, the question that
| ought to keep you awake nights, is.
what does the Bible think of you? What
you have got to say about the Bible
| is dross and chaff compared with what
| the Bible has got to say about you.
While you are judging the book, the
! book is sitting in judgment on you.
| God, who spake in time past, is still
speaking to men in this book. If you
would learn who God is, and what He
would have you do and be, you must
| study these sacred writings, which are
able to make you wise in the knowl-
edge of Him whom to know is life
eternal.
The writers of the Bible do not claim
originality for their utterances. They
never say we have thought this thing
out, and have come to this conclu
| sion. On the contrary they confess
that the message they deliver is not
theirs, but Gods. David says: THE
spirit of the Lord spake by me, and
His Word was in my tongue?" You
constantly meet with such phrases as
/ THE word that came to jeremiah
from the Lord" The Lord spake unto
Moses, saying" Paul made the same
claim. To the Thessalonians he said:
For this cause also thank we God
without ceasing, because when ye re-
ceived the word of God which ye heard
of us, ye received it not as the word of
men, but as it is in truth the word Of
| God which effectually worketh also in
you that believe" 1t is not mans wis
dom which we have in the Bible It
is the wisdom and word of God Man
did not originate or invent the truths
contained in the Bible, any more than
| the phonograph originates or invents
| the sounds it gives forth. Man must
! breathe or speak into the phonograpn
before it can utter anything intelli-
gent or edifying. So God must breathe
His spirit into man, must reveal Him
self to man before man can speak
| aught concerning God.
There is no electrical power in a tele-
graph wire. The 10000 wires that
make a vast network over our heads
and which reach out their long fingers
| to gather news from every corner of
the world, have no power in themselves
| to originate or communicate ideas
They are useless, voiceless, powerless
until they are charged by that mys-
teriOCS and invisible something that We
call electricity. 1t is the electrified
wire that communicates facts and
ideas from the brain Of the sender to
| the brain Of the receiver. So it is the
inspired man, the man surcharged with
the Divine Spirit, that becomes the
medium of the divine communication.
THE prophecy came not in old time
by the will of man, but holy men Of
! God spake as they We're moved by the
Holy Ghost" The Bible is an inspired
! book because it was written by inspired
men. In all discussions concerning the
/ Bible bear in mind, not that it is an
| inspired book, but that it was written
| by inspired men, by men chosen, of God
| for that purpose. 1t is my firm faith
! that God selected and qualified Moses
and Isaiah and Paul and John and
others to be the recipients of a divine
revelation that was to be made known
/ to the whole world. The Bible reveals
/ God to US, as He was seen and felt and
loved by men who We're under the i'm
mediate influence and power of the Di-
vine Spirit In their inspired moments
the souls of these holy men were open
to truth, which was divinely revealed,
| and the Bible contains the record of