The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1903-11-12

|
pure and lofty character OF the teaching
tnat stamp and glorify and perpetuate the
pages OF this more than human book
teachings respecting God and man, holi-
ness and sin, death and eternity. How the
whole circle OF religious truth from centre
GO GO circumference, Is not only touched, but
Word.
lake the one question of the Godhead
and the light thrown upon it by the sacred
scriptures As DR.. Stuart Robinson has
eloquently said, mrhe 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 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 speculations are the revelations
OF the Divine Word respecting the Divine
mlndl How majestic. such declarations
as 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 everlast-
ing. Tnou are God;" God is a spirit"
God is love-" Good is light" In a mag
nIlilcent treatise on this fundamental ques-
tlon OF God and the revelations respecting
1t made by the Scriptures, an American
OF God found in the Bible, and found no.
where else among all the religions of
earth. Lear and weigh these:
~ God is a spirit, existing from eter-
NIFTY, Creator of heaven and earth; (2)
God IS one, yet revealing Himself in the
threeIold distinction and personality,
Father Father, Son and Holy Spirit; (5) God is
ABSOLUTELY infinite in all His attributes
and capaclties-in power omnipotent, in
knowledge omniscient, in existence omni-
present, IN purpose lmmutable, in charac-
ter immaculate; the embodiment of all
That is good and great; the impersonation
of all excellence; az God is providential,
not far off and inaccessible, careless of
set-acting laws and untouched by human
woes, but God of sympathy, compassion,
love; 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 self-sacriice ineffable to
MT them from darkness to light, from sin
TO glory; IN short not a mere ideal of
God to worship but a God with whom
every human soul may have personal, con-
ssclous relations, a God to fear, God to
love, a God to pray to, God to obey
Z. God so holy that we must abandon sin
IT we would serve Him, and a God SO low
ing that our very sin has moved Him to
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 lottlest conceptions and highest
achievements. 1t is wonderful how our
Whole 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
sentiments. Here in Richard H. are
forty; then in Richard ILL.," are forty
nine; Iyonder in Hamlet" alone, eighty
two. How many biblical books are there?
Sixty-siE. From how many does Shakes
peare quote, or to how many does he re-
fer? To ffty-four. How many plays has
Shakespeare? Thirty In how many
are there Seriptural references? In every
one OF the thirtyseven. A careful study
OF this subject will reveal that Genesis
L
thirty-fye; Isaiah, twenty-one; Matthew,
sixty; Luke, thirty; Romans, twenty
three. Nor is this exceptional A schoI-
arly American author has declared that it
Is as imDossible to subtract the Bible from
our. aooern English literature as ''to I'M
braid the sunbeams or subtract the yell
low or violet rays from the tides of light
that I'LL 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
Sonder ms john ons satu Adayys Ng go9 No
claim: "In whatever light we view the
Bible, whether with reference to revela-
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
lencies of his literary style No wonder
that the gifted Choate eloquently ex-
claimed: tI would have the Bible read,
not only for it's authority, revelations,
commands and exactness obligatory yes
terday, to-day and forever, but for it's
uterature, It's 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
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 duh to
the unlettered man; the Veda of the Hin
dus is, as a whole, unintelligible; the Kor-
an is said to be sealed book to the ma
jority of it's 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 a universal book,
answering mans deepest questions, soly-
ing mans most intricate problems, IL
Eliminating mans most darkest hours, CIV
ing. him support in life, peace in death,
and a song Of sweetest melody amid the
inefable glory of the eternal world The
gifted Hallam felt this Wnen he said:
"The Bible fits every fold and creyice of
the human spirit" Not so philosophy,
education, science. Our astronomers point
out Uranus and Jupiter, but not the Star
OF Bethlehem. Our biologists unfold