Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1903-11-07

all human speculations are the revelations
of the Divine Word respecting the Divine
mind! How majestic such declarations
as these: I'm the beginning God created
mountains were brought forth of ever
Thou hadst formed the earth and the
world, even from everlasting to eyer,ast-
ing. 1nou are Cod" God is SPIRIT"
God is love;" God is light" In mag
niicent treatise on this fundamental ques-
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. 4Aear and weigh these:
~ God is a spirit, existing from eter-
nifty, Creator of heaven and Garth; ~
God is one, yet revealing Himself in the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Is, God is
absolutely infinite in all His attributes
and capacities-in power omni potent, in
knowledge omniscient, in existence omni-
present, in purpose immutable, iii charac.
ter immaculate; the embodiment OF all
of all excellence; ~ cd is providential.
not far off and inaccessible careless Of
se.f-acting laws and untouch.I 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,
|
guards cherubim and seraphm 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 se.f-sacrifice ineffable, to
lift them from darkness to light, from sin
to glory; in short not mere ideal of
Lod co worship but God with whom
every human soul may have personal, con-
scious relations, God to fear. Il God to
love, a God to pray to, Gcd to obey.
q 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
seif-denying atonement., Truly. this
Book that tells so much about God must
be book from God.
Because it is Gods Book, the Dible is
peculiarly mans book. when man would
rise to loftiest conceptions and highest
achievements. 1t is wonderful how our
" loie English literature has Lecome per-
mcnts and expressions from the Hoy
| scriptures. One of the most interesting
studies 10 the student, alike Of the Bible
Ind of Shakespeare, is the indebtedness of
the Bard Of Avon to these oracles Of light
and life. a careful study of Shakes
hundred and fifty biblical quotations and
Len:iments. Here in Richard H." are
forty; then in Richard I'LL" are forty
nine; yonder in Hamlet" alone, eighty.
two. How many biblical books are there?
SiXty-si~. From how many does Shakes
peare quote, or to how MANY does he re-
fer? To iifty-four. How many plays has
shakespeare: Thlrty-seven. In how many
are there Scrintural references? In every
one OF the thirty-seven. A careful study
Of this subject will reveal that Genesis
furnishes the poet thirty-one quotations
or references; Psalms, fifty-nine; Proverbs,
thirty-five; Isaiah. twenty-one; Matthew,
| VT Ink I,fy fwp
three. Nor is this exceptional. A scho-
ar,y American author has declared that it
is as imnossib.e to subtract the Bible from
our moaern English literature as ''to UNI
braid the svnbeams or subtract the vel.
low or vio.et rays from the, tides OF light
that fill the soar system with warmth and
cheer" Each English student knows how
true this is. Without the Bible Milton
cou.d never have written his Paradise
Lost" and ''Samson Agonistes." With
out the Bible Bnnyan could never have
COMPOSED his Pilgrim or Tact ;. his lis
Burns his ''Cotte' Saturday Night" No
wonder John Quincy Adams could ex-
t,aim: "In whatever lipht 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
realm" No wonder that DAME! 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
that the gifted Choate ,e!oqnently eY-
not only for its authority, revelations,
commands and exactness obligatory yes
terday, to-day and forever, but for its
literature, its pathos, its dim imagery, its
savings of consolation and wisdom and
universal truth" Truly this Book Of
| L IL
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.. Storrss well says: ''The
treatise of Patio on immortality is attrac-
tive to the scholar, but obscure and du!! to
the unlettered man; the Veda of the Him
dus is. as a whole, unintelligible; the Kor.
an is said to be sealed book to the ma.
joritv of it's constituents. In contrast to
oil 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
child" Truly, this is universal book,
| answering mans deepest questions, SOW
ing mans most intricate. problems, il
Eliminating mans most darkest hours. CIV
ing. him support in life, peace in death,
ineffsble glory of the eternal world. The
gifted Hallam felt this wnen he said:
''The Bible fits every fo,d and crevice 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
earth's strata but reveal no Rock Of Ages.
! Charles Reade, the litteratsur. writes the
first line of his own epitaph. "Reade. ORA
matst. Journalist. Novelist" but Charles
Reade. the Christian, pens the other line:
81 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 our
deepest questions, solves CIR most intri-
cate problems, ;llumnes our darkest
hours There can be no night when it
gives no song, no desert where it furnishes
no fountain. Its revelations supply sup:
everlasting JOY beyond life. No heart is
too hard for its truths to melt, no sin too
| great for the Bible to Danish, no life too
degraded for the Bible to transform. Only
let a man test Gods Word and he will
have in its favor an argument that no
sophistry can destroy and no skepticism
touch.
! The Hearts Influence.