The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1903-11-12
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
A DISCOURSE ENTITLED us TIE CID
BOOB: FROM COOP"

Some of the Evidences That the Book We
Call the Bible Has Been Given to Us
by the Inspiration Of God-.It is Pecu-
- larly Mans Book.
PHILADELPHIA. - The Rev. DR.. Kerr
sBoyce Upper, pastor OF the FIRST BAPTIST
7 Church Of this city, preached strong SER
mon Sunday morning on us the Old BOOK
from cod" This is one of the oldest
and strongest churches in the land. It
was presided over for thirty years by d..
George Dana BoarGman, who was succeed
ed about eight years ago by DR.. upper.
Two years ago, at cost OF nearly S4Oo,U9V.
a magnificent house OF worship was erected
: and $3.50 600 endowment laid aside. :. The
congregations are very large, especially liz
the evening. The text for. this sermon was
from First; Thessalonians ii-l3:s We thank
God without ceasing because when ye
received the word of God ye received 1t
not as the word of man, but as 1T IS IN
truth, the word of God" DR.. 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 single article or
property especially dear to his own heart.
Taking advantage Of the, offer, Aeueas
selected his household gods and earned
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,
returning in haste, he bore off on his
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 pc
ierer, in a supposed season OF calamity
and privation, to make selection of that
one possession most highly prized by hlm,
immortal influence, the truest wisdom
would dictate peculiar and, to thousands,
an inexpicable 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,
son, or daughter, friend or lover. precious
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 a
certain book-a book ancient and artless,
eleyating and ennebling, divine and dur
able.
As I 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 1llad nor
Odyssey, Milton's Odes nor Snarespeare's s
PLAYS: no work of mere history, neither
tivy 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 oitalre; 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
tian morality and meditation, neither
Thomas a Keaapis' limitation of Christ"
nor Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" Hook.
er's "Homilies" nor PaschaPs "Thoughts
great and good az are many # 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.
est human genius-we could see them and
ali 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
q mission and destiny as far above every
work of mans creation as the skies are
above the clouds-that book whose Eau
thor is God. whose subject is man, whose
object is salvation, whose end eternity
that book of which Pollock IN an out
burst of poetic .fervor and Christian faith,
50 feelingly writes: -
This lamp from off the everlasting throne
Mercy took down, and in the night OF
time
Stood casting on the dark and gracious
And foreve- more beseeching men with
And earnest sighs, 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
inezhaustible stores of philosophy, the
most thrilling incidents Of biography, the
loftiest principles of ethical and moral
teaching, counts no one OF these its fea-
lures Of chiefest glory, but rather this:
That for centuries it has gone up and down
this world or ours, renewing human cpl-
sciences, illuminating human intellects, re-
deeming human spirits, transforming hu.
man lives, and tnat, in SO beautiful and
glorious degree, that the thinking world
Is beginning to accept the statement Of
Schleimermacher, ''To abolish the Bible
is to pluck up ly the roots all that is
noblest and truest and divinest IN the
worlds civilization .- ,-zs..--
Oh! if there is one prayer that l otter
ND daily with more constancy and fervor
of soul than another in our age OF theo-
logical ferment and unrest, it is thus: God:
Keep me as an ambassador of Christ and
the great brotherhood of Christian behey-
ers, true ROW and always to the lnfalllbie
Word of the n1ernal God. As in the past,
supernatural revelation has had to con;
tend against the sophisms of Hume and
1Ae transcendental philosophy of Ger
many, so to-day, all about US there are
those who battle against the idea Of liV-
ing, personal, omnipotent Jehovah, who
can and does freely and fully communi-
cate with His children; and to-day, there
& IS ascaH long and loud sfor those who &C
Ecept the Bible as the full and satisfactory
oracle from heaven, to stand up and ont
against all these attacks, and that, too,
with convictions strong and unshaken.
With you to-day come to consider the
question, What are some of the evidences
that the Book we call the Bible has been
riyea by inspiration of God? say some