The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-11-18


and the light thro wn upon it by, the sacred
eloauentiy said, "The Bible maintained the
unity of God amid all tho darkness Of the
Western polytheism; the vivid personality
o: God amid all the sophstry OF the East.
ern panthesm; and ineffnble purity OF
the holiness of God amid all the obscurlty
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
the heavens and the earth; before the
mountains were brought forth of ever
Thou, hadst formed the earth and the
world. even from everlasting to everlast..
ing. Tnou are God:" God is a SPIRIT"
"God is love-" God is light" In mag
ni6cent 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 Garth; ~
God is one, yet revealing Himself in the
threefold distinction and personality,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit: (3I God is
absolutely infinite in all His attributes
and capacities-in. power omnipo|ent, IN
knowledge omniscient, in existence omnl-
present, in purpose immutable. IN charae,,
ter immaculate; the embodiment OF all
of all excellence; ~ God is providential:
not far off and inaccessible, careless OF
se.f-acting laws and untouched by human
woes, but a God of sympathy. compassion,
love: God, who, in all His laws. and be-
hind all His laws. and above all His laws,
and in control of all His laws, not only
guards cherubm and seraphim angels and
archangels, but also marks the, movement
of lily, sparrow and child; and above all,
among men in self-sacriice ineffable, to
lift them from darkness to light, from sin
| to glory; in short not mere ideal OF
| Lod 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, God to obey.
a God so holy that we Inuct abandon sin
| if we would serve Him. and God go lov-
ing that our very sin has moved Him to
| a self-denying atonement. Truly. this
Book that tells so much about God must
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
lole English literature has lecome per-
meated, saturated and elevated by senti'
ments and expressions from the Holy
scriptures. One of the most interesting
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 fve
| hundred and fifty biblical quotations and
sentiments. Here in Richard H. are
forty; then in Richard III" are forty
nine; yonder in Hamlet" alone, eighty.
two. How many biblical books are there?
Sixty-si~. From how many does Shakes
fer? To fifty-four. How many plays has
Shakespeare? Thirty-seven. In how many
are there Scrintural references? In every
one of the thiIty-seven. A careful study
of this subject will reveal that Genesis
furnishes the poet thirty-one quotations
or references: Psalms, ffty-nine; Proverbs,
thirty-6ve: 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 imnossible to subtract the Bible from
our moaern English literature as ito un.
braid the sunbeams or subtract the vel.
low or violet rays from the tides OF light
| that fill 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 Agonistes." With.
out the Bible Bunyan could never have
Jerusalem" or Dante his Inferno" or
Burns his "Cotter's Saturday Night No
wonder John sQuincy Adams could ez-
claim: In whatever lioht We view the
Bible, whether with referene, to ella
ton or history or morality, it is a mine
of knowledge, like which none other has
ever been found in any land or any
realm" No wonder that DAME! Webster,
| prince of forensic orators. could say that
| the per,lsal of the Bible in his early days
impaired to him many of the chief excel
lences of his literary style. No wonder
that the gifted Choate eloquently ex-
claimed: IT would have the Bible read,
not only for it's authority. revelations,
commands and exactness obligatory yes
terday, to-day and forever, but for its
literature. its pathos, its dim imagery, lts
| savings of consolation and wisdom and
universal truth" Truly this Book OF
But we have a higher proof of biblical
| inspiration even than this, and that is
the perfect adaptness Of the Word of God
| to the conditions of all classes and kinds
of men. DR.. Storrs we'll says: "The
! treatise of Plato on immortality is attrac-
| tive to the scholar, but obscure and dull TO
the unlettered man; the Veda of the Hin
dus is, as whole. unintelligible; the hor-
| an is said to be sealed book to the ma
jority of its. constituents In contrast to
all these. the Bible fills the whole cir
cumference of mans endowment; it
| touches every thought and feeling in this
great humanity; it is adapted to inspire
sage. to instruct the savage, to guide the
child" Truly, this is universal book,
| answering mans deepest questions, solv-
ing mans most intricate. problems, IL
| Illuminating mans most darkest hours. CIV
ing him support in life, peace in death,
and song of sweetest melody amid tn the
ineffablc glory of the eternal world. The
the human spirit" Not so philosophy.
education, science. Our astronomers point
ont Uranus and Jupiter, but not the Star
Of Bethlehem. Our geologists unfold
earth's strata, but reveal no Rock Of Ages.
Charles Reade, the litterateur: writes the
first line of his own epitaph. "Reade; Dra-
matist, Journalist. Novelist" but Charles
Reade. the Christian, pens the other line:
"I hope for resurrection, not from any
rover of nature but from the will of the
Lord God Almighty" Whence came that
revelation save through the dome window
of the sky? ne Bible alone answers our
deepest Questions, solves our most intri-
cate problems, illumines onr darkest
hours. There can be no night when it
gives no song, TO desert where it furnishes
no fountain. It's revelations supply sup:
everlasting iov beyond life. No heart is
too hard for its truths to melt, no sin too
great for the Bib'e to Danish, no life too
DEGRADED for the Bible tn transform. Only
let a man test Gods Word and he will