The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1903-11-12
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
A DISCOURSE ENTITLED us THE OLD
BOOK FROM COD2"


Boyce Upper, pastor of the First Baptist
Church of this city, preached a strong SER
mon Sunday morning on rs the Old Book
IRON God!" This is one of the oldest
and strongest churches in the land. 1t
was presided over for thirty years by DR..
George Dana Boardman, who was succeed
ed about eight years ago by DR.. Upper.
Two years ago, at cost of nearly 10000,
magnificent house of worship was erected
and $150,000 endowment laid aside. The
congregations are very large, especially in
the evening. The text for this sermon was
from First Thessalonians ii-l3: 1--WE thank
God without ceasing because when We
not as the word of man, but as it is in
truth, the word of God" DIR. Upper
said:
Ancient history has preserved the ira
dition that when, thirty centuries ago, the
city of Troy was sacked by the Greeks,
the conquerors made the general proclaim
alton that each of the inhabitants thereof
be permitted to save a single article of
property especially dear to his own heart.
Taking advantage of the offer, Aeueas
selected his household gods and carried
them in triumph and for joy to a place
Of safety. So pleased were the Greeks
by this unaffected act OF plety that they
extended to him further indulgence, al
lowing him to save one other thing, when,
shoulders his aged father, whose wisdom
and affection constituted for him a price
less inheritance.
Were the traditions thus related to re-
peat itself in history to-day and the priv
ilege granted every genuine Christian be-
lever, IN a supposed season of calamity
and prlvation, to make selection of that
one possession most higniy priced by him,
both because of it's intrinsic value and its
immortal influence, the truest wisdom
would dictate peculiar and, to thousands,
an inexplicable choice. This choice would
not be silver or gold, military fame or
civic honor, profound learning or match
less eloquence; this choice would not be
even father or mother, husband or wife,
as might be each of these, it would not be
the one thing wisely chosen if the choice
were made both for time and eternity
What then would the one thing be?
Strange as it may seem to many, the
calm, firm. heaven guided, intelligent
choice of the earnest, thankful Christian
in that solemn, sacred hour, would be
certain book-a book ancient and artless,
elevating and ennobling, divine and dur
able.
:. As l utter this sentence you anticipate
the designation [ am about to make. You
need not be told that. This book is no
work OF mere poetry, neither Iliad nor
Odyssey, Millions Odes nor Snarespeare's
plays; no work of mere history, neither
Livy nor Tacitus, Hallam nor Hume; no
work of mere philosophy, neither Bacon
nor. Hamilton, Descartes nor Locke; no
book. of mere biography, neither Plutarch
nor Lamartine, Remusat nor Voltaire; no
book OF mere romance, neither George
Eliot nor Scott, Bulwer nor Thackeray;
no book of mere ethics, neither Plato nor
Seneca, Paily nor Balm; no book of Chris
49,:
Thomas a Kempis' limitation of Christ"
nor Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress" Hook
er's "Homiies" nor Paschal's Thoughts"
great and good as are many II not all
of these, immortal works some of them,
rising like grand and majestic mountain
peaks, catching and presenting to the
world the glorious splendors of the high
all else of mans creation burn into ashes
or buried in the sea, if at their expense
we might save to our hearts and lives
here and hereafter that one single book,
which has an origin and character and
a admission and destiny as far above every
work of mans creation as the skies are
above the clouds-that book whose eau
object is salvation, whose end eternity
that book of which Pollock, in an out
burst of poetic fervor and Christian faith,
so feehngly writes:
This lamp from off the everlasting throne
Mercy took down, and in the night of
time
Stood casting on the dark and gracious
bow,
And forever more beseeching men with
And earnest signs, to hear, believe and
live.
Surely, brethren, this must be the book
of all books, which, while full and rich
with the sweetest strains of poetry, the
most memorable deeds of history, the most
inexhaustible stores of philosophy, the
most thrilling incidents of biography, the
loftiest principles of ethical and moral
tres e e s so Gs but r rather rs t
That for centuries it has gone up and down
this world of ours, relieving human con-
sciences, illuminating human intellects, re.
deeming human spirits, Transforming hui.
man lives, and that, in SO beautiful and
glorious a. degree, that the thinking world
y beginning to accept the statement OF
Sch1eimermacher., ''To abolish the Bible
fob1est and tfuest and divinest in the
worlds civilization"
Oil il 1hare is one prayer that offer J,
up daily with more oonstaney and fervor
Of soul than another in olr age Of theo-
logical fernent and unrest, it is this: God,
keep me as an amDaSSau0r OF CnT1SL anu
the great brotherhood Of Christian behey-
ers, truc now and always to the infalhble
Word of the Internal GOD. AS in the past,
supernatural revelation has had to con.
tend against the sophisms of Hume and
Jne transcenaental philosophy OF Ger
many, SO to-day, ell about us there are
those who battle against the idea of llv-
ing, personal, omnipotent Jehovah, who
can and does freely and fully communi-
cate with His children; and to-day there
is call long and loud for those who ac-
cept the Bible as the full and satisfactory
oracle from heaven, to stand up and out
against all these attacks, and that, too,
with convictions strong and mistaken.
With you to-day come to consider the
question, What are some of the evidences
that the Book we call the Bible has been
given by inspiration of God? [ say some,
for we have no time, even IL we had the
ability, to enumerate them all. That these
sacred writer's themselves believe that
theirs were the oracles Of God is without
question. Hear David sing: ''The spirit
of the Lord spake by me and HIS word
was in my tongue;" and Isaiah, Hear, oh
heavens, and give ear, oh earth, for the
Lord has spoken, the mouth of the Lord
hath spoken" and Ezekiel, s'The Word
of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel,
the priest. and the hand of the Lord was
air,ns1 him >, enn Pntar aftar tho 1aath of