Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-06-29

~~-NNN
FROM the heart Of Christ. and 1 am
ready TO believe the prophecies. The
evidence is beyond all dispute. But
you must remember" says my friend
that the prophecies are only small
part or the old book, You don't ex.
pect US TO believe all the old book" II
you found one of your good. honest
letters in an envelope with 10 or %
cruel. lying. filthy letters. how long
would you allow that honest letter 10
stay there? In a half minute you
would either snatch IL out OF the en-
velope or you would destroy the whole
envelope. Now. 60 YOU suppose the
Lord God would allow these pure
prophecies. these prophecies which. you
admit must have come from the hand
OK God. from divine inspiration-do
YOU suppose God would allow these
pure prophecies 70 be bound up and
put in the same envelope with the
book of Job. and the book OF Psalms,
and the book of Deuteronomy. and the
other books. Il those books were not
good books?
stood the Fire OF Centuries.
Besides all this. you must remember
that the most of the writer's of this
book were uneducated men. How can
you account for the fact that when
Thomas Darlington Macaulay. staud-
ing in the house OF parliament in Lon
don, wanted to finish Off n magnificent
sentence. lie quoted from the fishermen
of Galilee, or. sitting i'm his house.
wanting to finish one of his great par
aSraphs OF history, he quoted the words
of the fishermen of Galilee? Why is it
that those uneducatcd men have more
influence on modern times than all the
icholars of antiquity? Because they
were divinely inspired. because God
stood back of them. They were not
educated and scholarly. Ii was not
10y force of rhetoric that they triumph
ed, but today those humble fishermen.
those uneducated fishermen. WELD
more Influence i'm all our modern cities
than any - men living in this genera
ton and day. They must have been
inspired. There must have been n d.
vine influence behind them and before
them and above them and within them
Besides that. you must remember
that this book has been under fire for
centuries. and after all the lombard
inent OF the Skeptics OF all the centu-
ries they have not knocked out of this
Bible piece as large as the small end
of sharp needle. oh, how the old
book sticks together, Unsanctifed
biologists try to pull away the book
of Genesis. They say they do not be-
lieve it. 1t cannot be there was light
Ia q, 4.
this story about Adam aud Eve, and
they pull at the book of Genesis. and
they have been pulling Il great while.
yet where is the book of Genesis?
Standing just where il stood all the
time. There is not n man on earth
WHO has ever erased it from his Bible.
Tnen all the undevout astronomers
went 10 work to pull away the book of
Joshua. They say: THAT cannot be
true, the suns hating above Gideon
and the moon over the valley of Ala
lon. Ii cannot be possible. We must
pull that book OF Joshua away" And
they pull away ut it. and they pull
away nj II. and yet what has become
or the book of Joshua? Like the sun
above Gideon and like the moon over
the valley OF Ajalon, IL stands still.
All the undcvout anatomists and phys
biologists get hold OF the book OF Jonah.
and they pull away, and they say,
That story about Jonah and the whale
can't bc true" Every infidel carries
harpoon especially FOR that whale.
and they pull away Mt the book of Jo-
nah. But where is the book OF Jonah
today? Just where IL has been all the
time-the grandest thing that was ever
written 10 prove that when God sends
man TO Nincvch he cannot get TO Tar
shiSh. IL God to stop him has TO upset
the Mediterranean sea with n cyclone
Miracles stu triumphant.
And so the infidels have been trying
TO pull away the miracles. pulling away
ut the blasted zig tree, Mt the turning of
the water into wine, at the raising of
Lazarus from the dead. Can you show
me Bible from which one OF these
miracles has been erasedl How mar
velously the old book sticks togetherl
All the striking ut these chapters only
driving them i'm deeper until they are
clinched on the other side with the
hammers OF eternity. And the book
is going 10 keep right on until the fires
OF the last day are kindled Some OF
them will begin on one side and some
on the other side OF the old book They
Will not find n bundle OF loose manu-
scripts easily consumed by the fire.
When the fires of the last day are
klndled. some will burn on this side.
from Genesis toward Revelation, and
others will burn on this side, from
Revelation toward Genesis, and in all
their way they will not find n single
chapter or single verse out OF place.
That Will be the first time we can afs
ford 10 do without the Bible. What
will be the use OF the book Of Genesis.
descriptive OF how the world was
made, when the world is destroyed?
What will be the use of the prophecies
when they are all fulfilled? What will
be the use of the evangelistic or Pau
line description OF Jesus Christ when
we see him face TO face? What will
be the use OF his photograph when we
have met him in glory? What Will be
the use OF the book OF Revelation,
standing. as you viii, with your foot
on the CLASSY sea and your hand on the
ringing harp and your forehead chap
leted with eternal coronation amid the
amethystine and - gated glories OF
heaven? The emerald dashing its green
against the beryl and the beryl dash
ing its blue against the sapphire and
the sapphire throwing its light on the
jacinth and the jacinth dashing its fire
against the chrysoprase and you and
standing in the chorus of 10000 sun
sets.
But do not think we will give up
the Bible even AT that time. | think
we will want the Bible in heaven.
really think the fires of the last day
will not consume the last copy, for
when you and | get our dead children
out OF the dust we want to show them
just the passages, just the promises.
which comforted US here in, the dark
day OF inte.ment, and we win want
to talk over with Christians who have |