The Penn's Grove record., 1903-11-06

"nois circle OF religious truth from centre
70 circumference, is not only touched, but
MED 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 DIR. Stuart I.obinson has
eloquently said, "The Bible maintained the
unity of God amid all the darkness of the
western poiytheism; the vivid personality
o, God amid all the sophistry OF the East
eTn ,pantheism; and ineffable 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 speeulations are the revelations
OF the Divine Word respecting the Divine
m1nd! How majestic such declarations
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 e~verlast-
ing. Tnou are God;" ICED is a spirit"
God is love-" "God is light" In a mag
nihcent treatise on this fundamental ques-
ton OF God and the revelations respecting
1t 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:
~ God is a spirit, existing from eter-
nifty, Creator of heaven aad Garth; f2l
God Is one, yet revealing Himself in the
threefold distinction and personality,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit; (3) God il
absolutely infinite in all His attributes
and capacItles-in power omnipotent, in
knowledge omnxcient, in existence omni-
present, In purpose immutable, in charac-
ter immaculate: the embodiment Of all
that is good and great; the impersonation
4 of all ayoollpneo.- IA 4 Od - ,e1r.Io.f1
not far off and inaccessible, careless Of
sei-acting laws and untouched by human
woes, but a 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 s~eraphim angels and
archangels, but also marks the movements
God IS a Redeemer, living and dying
among men in self-sacrifice inefabIe, to
lift them from darkness to light, from sin
to glory; IN short not a mere ideal Of o
Tod to worship but a God with whom
every human soul may have personal, con
scious relations, a God to fear, a God to
love, a God to pray to, a God to obey
a God so holy that we muct abandon sin
If we would serve Him. and a God so low
ing that our very sin has moved Him to
a self-denying atonement. Truly. this
BOOK that tells so much about God must
be a book from God.
Because it is Gods Book, the Bible is
peculiarly mans book, when man would
rise to Hottest conceptions and highest
achievements. 1t is wonderful how our
W iole English literature has leceme per-
meated, saturated and elevated By senti-
ments and expressions from the Holy
scriptures. One Of the most interesting
studies to the student, alike of the Bible
and of Shakespeare, il the indebtedness OF
| H. no-1 II 49, l. II>-. 1910 II LIZ
and life. A careful study OF Stakes
peare's life reveals no fewer than five
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-sv. From how many does Shakes
peare quote, or to how many does he re-
fer. To fifty-four. How nan plays has
Shakespeare? Thirty-seven. In how many
are there Scriptural references? In every
one of the thirty-seyen. A careful study
OF this subject will reveal that Genesis
furnishes the poet thirty-one quotations
or references; Psalms, fifty-nine; Proverbs,
~thirty-fve; Isaiah. t~wenty-one; Matthew.
sixty; Luke, thirty; Romans, twenty
three. Nor is this exceptional. A sehol-
arly American author has declared that it
is as imDossible to subtract the Bible from
our modern English literature as ito I'M
braid the sunbeams or subtract the yell
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
composed his Pilgrim" or Tacit his
Jerusalem" or Dante his Inferno" or
Burns his ..Cotter's Saturday Night No
wonder John Quincy Adams could ex-
claim: "In whatever light we view the
Bible, whether with reference to revela-
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 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
@lencies of his literary style, No wonder
claimed: az would have the Bible read,
not only for. its authority, revelations,
commands and exaetness obligatory yes
terday, to-day and forever, but for lta
literature, its pathos, its dim imagery, its
sayings of consolation and wisdom and
universal truth" Truly this Book OF
books must be the Book OF God. .,,r.,
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 well 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 a whole, unintelligible; the kor'
an is said to be a sealed pooh to the ma
iority of its constituents. In contrast to
all these, the Bible fills the whole cir.
conference Of mans endowment; II
touches every thought and feeling in this
great humanity; 1t is adapted to inspire
sage. to instruct the savage, to guide tbs
child" Truly, this is a universal book
answering mans deepest questions, soiv'
ing mans most intricate problems, II
Illuminating mains most darkest hours. CIV
ing him support in life, peace in death,
and a song of sweetest melody amid the
ineffable glory of the eternal world. Tbs
gifted Hallam felt this wncn he said;
"The Bible fits every fold and crsviee o.
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: ORA.
matist, Journalist, Novelist" but Charles
Reade, the Christian, pens the other line:
"I hope for a resurrection, not nom am
power of nature, but from the viii Of the
!; Lord. God Almighty" Whence came that
revelation save through the dome window
of the sky? Inc Bible alone nswers ouI
deepest questions, solves our most intri
cate problems, illumines our darkest
hours. There can be no night when il
gives no song, no desert where it furnishes
no fountain. Its revelations supply sup
port in life, peace IN death and songs Of
everlasting joy beyond life. No heart il
too hard for its truths to melt, no sin toe
great for the Bible to Danish, no life toe
degraded for the Bible to transform. Only
let a man test Gods Word and he will
nave in it's favor an argument that nc
sophistry can destroy and no skepticism
touch.
Responsible For Expression.
Life really consists in little things. This