Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1903-11-12

the holiness of God amid all the oLscurit1
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
of the Divine Word respecting the Divine
mind! How majestic such declarations
as these: I'm the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth; before the
mountains were brought forth of ever
Thou hadst formed the earth and the
ng leon are re0G d Gods to
God is love-" God is light" In a mag
niticent treatise on this fundamental ques-
ton of God and the revelations respecting
1t made by the Scriptures, an Americas
writer has pointed out Ave conceptions
% OF God found in the Bible, and found no.
earth. lear and weigh these:
~ God Is spirit, existing from eter-
nifty, Creator of heaven and earth: IA
God IS one, yet revealing Himself in the
threefold distinction and personality,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit; 81 God is
absolutely infinite in all His attributes
and capacities-in power omnipotent, in
knowledge omnlscient, in existence omni
present, in purpose immutable, in charac-
ter immaculate; the embodiment of all
that is good and great; the impersonation
Of all excellence; a. God is providential-
not far off and inaccessible, careless OF
woes, but 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 cherubim and seraphim angels and
archangels, but also marks the movement
God is a Redeemer, living and dying
among men in self-sacrifce ineffable, to
lift them from darkness to light, from sin
TO glory; IN short not a mere ideal of a
aod to worship but God with whom
every human soul may have personal, con-
sclous relations, God to fear, God to
love, God to pray to, God to obey
a. God SO holy that we muct abandon sin
II we. would serve Him, and God so low
ing that our very sin has moved Him to
a self-denylng 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
wlole English literature has become 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 FIVE
hundred and fifty biblical quotations and
sent sentiments. an Here in Richard H. are
nine; yonder in Hamlet alone, eighty
two. How many biblical books are t6eres
Sixty-s1x. From how many does Shakes-
peare quote, OF to how many does he re-
fer? To fifty-four. How many plays has
Shakespeare? Thirty seven. In how many
are are there "a e Scrintural references? In every
Of this subject will reveal that Genesix
furnishes the poet thirty-one quotations
or references; Psalms, fifty-nine; Proverbs.
thlrty-hve; Isaiah, twenty-one; Matthew,
sixty; Luke, thirty; Romans, twenty
three; Nor is this exceptional. A sehol-
is as impossible to subtract the Bible from
our naouern English literature as s'to un-
braid the sunbeams or subtract the gel
low or violet rays from the tides Of light
that till the solar system with warmth and
cheer. Each English student knows how
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" Ne
wonder John Quincy Adams could ex-
Bible, whether with reference to re+ela-
tion or history or morality, it is mine
Of knowledge, like which none other has
ever been found in any land or anF
realm" No wonder that Daniel Webster,
prince OF forensic orators, could say that
impaired to him many of the chief excel
lencies of his literary style. No wonder
that the gifted Choate eloquently ex-
claimed: II would have the Bible read,
not only for its authority, revelations,
commands and exaetness obligatory yes
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.
But we have higher proof Of biblical
inspiration even than this, and that is
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 whole, unintelligible; the Kor-
an is said to be a sealed book to the ma
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
chlid. Truly, TINS Is universal book,
answering mans deepest questions, solv-
ing mans most intricate problems, IL
luminating mans most darkest hours. Civ
ing him support in life, peace in death,
and song Of sweetest melody amid the
ineffable glory of the eternal world. The
gifted Hallam felt this wncn he said:
1.-THE Bible fits every fold and creviee of
the human spirit Not so philosophy,
education, science. Our astronomers point
out 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-
,natist, Journalist. Novelist" but Charles
Reade, the Christian, pens the other line:
! II hope for resurrection, not from any
power 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 orr
deepest questions, solves our most iatri-
cate problems, illumines orr darkest
hours There can be no night when it
gives no song, no desert where it furnishes
no fountain. Its revelations supply sap
port in life. peace in death and songs Of
everlasting joy beyond life. No heart ID
too hard for it's truths TO met, no sin toe
great for the Bible to Danish. no life toe
DEGRADED for the Bible to transform. On!v
let man test Gods Word and he Will