Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1903-11-05

pages OF TINS more tnan human Dooh,,
teachings respecting God and man, hoA'
whole circle of religious truth from centre
to circumference, is not only touched, bus
filed up by the revelations of this inspired
Word.
Take the one question of the Godhead
and the light thrown upon it by, the sacred
Scriptures. AS DR.. Stuart I;obinson has
eloquently said, "The Bible maintained the
unity of God amid all the darkness OF the
Western polytheism; the vivid personality
OF God amid all the sophistry, OF the East.
ern pantheism; and inetfable purity OF
the holiness of God amid all the obscurity
of Egyptian theories and Canaanitish idol,
airy; the omnipresence of God amid all
the theories of gods many and lords
many" How infinitely above and beyond
all human speculations are the revelations
of the Divine Word respecting the Divine
mind! How majestic such declarations
as these: "In the beginning God created
mountains were brought forth of ever
Thou hadst formed the earth and the
world, even from everlasting to everast..
ing. Tnou are Cod" God is a spirit"
God is love-" God is light" In mag
niticent treatise on this fundamental ques-
ton of God and the revelations respecting
it made by the Scriptures, an American
writer has pointed out five conceptions
of God found in the Bible, and found no.
where else among all the religions OF
earth. near and weigh these:
nifty, Creator of heaven and earth; (2l
God is one, yet revealing Himself in the
threefold distinction and personality,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit; g. God is
absolutely infinite in all His attributes
and capacitics-ln power omnlpotent, IN
knowledge omniscient, in existence omnl-
present, i'll purpose lmmutable, In charac..
ter immaculate; the embodiment Of all
that is good and great; the impersonaton
not far off and inaccessible, careless OF
se.f-acting laws and untouched by human
woes, but God of sympathy, compassion,
love; a God, who, in all His laws, and be-
mind all His laws, and above all His laws,
and in control of all His laws, not only
guards cherubim and seraphim angels and
archangels, but also marks the movement
of lily, sparrow and child; and above all,
God is Redeemer, living and dying
among men in sef-sacritce ineffable, to
lit them from darkness to light, from sin
to glory; in short not mere ideal OF
God to worship but God with whom
every human soul may have personal, con-
scious relations, a God to fear, God to
love, God to pray to, a God to obey
a God so holy that we muct abandon sin
if we would serve Him, and God so low
ing that our very sin has moved HIN to
self-denying atonement. Truly, this
book that tells so much about God must
be book from God.
Because it is Gods Book, the Bible is
| peculiarly mans book. when man would
rise to loftiest conceptions and highest
achievements. 1t is wonderful how our
iole English literature has become per-
mcated, saturated and elevated by sentl-
ments and expressions from the Holy
:, ,rptures. One of the most interesting
studies to the student, alill Ike of the Bible
and of Shakespeare, is the indebtedness OF
the Bard of Avon to these oracles of light
and life. A careful study of Shakes.
peare's life reveals no fewer than hive
| hundred and fifty biblical quotations and
sentiments Here in Richard H. are
forty; then in Richard ILL., are forty
nine; yonder in Hamlet" alone, eighty.
two. How many biblical books are there?
| SiXty.slv. From how many does Shakes
pcare quote, or to how many does he re-
fer: To tifty-four. How many plays has
| Shakespeare? Thlrty-seven. In how many
are there Scrntural references? In every
one Of the thirty.seven. A careful study
| of this subject will reveal that Genesis
| furnishes the poet thirtyonc quotations
or references; Psalms, fifty-nine; Proverbs,
! thirty-tive; Isaiah. twenty-one; Matthew,
sixty; Luke, thirty; Romans, twenty
three. Nor is this exceptional. A schol-
arly American author has declared that 1t
is as mnossble to subtract the Bible from
our mouern English literature as TO un'
| braid the sunbeams or subtract the yell
| low or violet rays from the tides OF light
| that ill the solar system with warmth and
| cheer" Each English student knows how
true this is. Without the Bible Milton
could never have written his "Paradise
Lost" and Samson Agonlstes.' With
out the Bible Bunyan could never nave
composed his Pilgrim" or Tacit his
Burns his ''Cottel's Saturday Night, No
wonder John Quincy Adams could ex-
claim: "In whatever light we view the
Bible. whether with reference to revea-
| ton or history or morality, it is mine
OF knowledge, like which none other has
ever been found in any land or any
realm No wonder that Daniel Webster,
prince of forensic orators, could say that
| the perusal of the Bible in his early days
impaired to him many of the chief excel
lcncies of his literary style. No wonder
that the gifted Choate eloquently eX-
claimed: 81 would have the Bible read,
not only for its authority, revelations,
commands and exactness obligatory yes
terday to-day and forever, but for its
literature. its pathos. its DIM imagery, IT'S
savings of consolation and wisdom and
books must be the Book of God. =,
But we have a higher proof OF biblical
inspiration even than this, and that IS
| the perfect adaptness of the Word OF COO
to the conditions of all classes and kinds
Of men. DR.. Storrs well says The
treatise of Plato on immortality is attrac-
tive to the scholar, but obscure ana duI1 10
the unlettered man; the Aeda OF the I'm
| dus is, as a whole unintelligible; the hor'
an an is said to be a sealed book to the ma
ioritv of its constituents. In contrast 10
all these, the Bible fills the whole cir. cIr!.
conference of mans endowment; u
touches every thought and feeling in tins
great humanity; it is adapted TO INSPIRE
sage, to instruct the savage, to guide the
child" Truly, this is universal po1k'
answering mans deepest questiohs, soiS.
Illuminating mans most darkest hours, gly'
| mg him support in life, peace in death,
and n song OF sweetest melody amid i, the
neffable glory of the eternal world me
gifted Hallam felt this wncn he said :
HThe Bible fits every fold and erevice o. OF
toe human spirit" Not SO phlosopnv,
education, science. Our astronomers Potns
of Bethlehem. Our .geolo9gists untold
earth's strata, but reveal no Rock OF ages.
Charles Reade, the ltterateur. writes the
first line of his own epitaph, "Reade; G ORA, IRA.
matst, Journalist, Novelist;, but Charles
Reade the Christian, pens the other line:
81 hope for resurrection, not IRON any
Lord Lord Cod 20 Almighty" Whence came that
revelation save through the dome window low
of the sky? me Bible alone answers our
deepest questions, solves our most, lntrl.
cate problems, illumines our darkest y
hours There can be no night when ~
piyes no song, no desert where 1T furnishes
Hnefs go fonnta;n' nm It's revelations supply sup:
ro port in life, peace in death and songs OF 81
Everlasting eve JOY beyond life. No heart is
too hard for its truths to melt, no s.. sin too too
creat ere for the Bible to Danish, no life too 70
dcpraded for the Bible to transform Only
let man test Gods Word and ne. he vii, MI
b,ve in its favor an argument tnab hu