Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-07-11

w I'LL Iue SLOW, laDOFlOuS pen,
Pfling up their works of learning
Men Of solid, deep discerning.
Widely famous as they taught
Systems of connected thought
Destined for all future ages;
Now the cobwebs bind their pages;
All unread their volumes lie,
Wondering so peaceably,
Cofined thoughts of coffined men,
Never more to stir again
In the passion and the strife, !.
In the 1eeting forms of life:
ALI their force and meaning gone
as the stream Of thought flows on
Ancient Manuscripts.
One unique exception to this power
Of time meets us. Four hundred years
before Troy was besieged, 800 years
before Homer sang of the battle Of the
gods, Moses lived and wrote. Nine
hundred years before Thales. Pytha-
goras Confucius, those sages of Greece
and Asia lived, Pentateuch was com.
pleted. Heroditus is the first profane
historian known to us and he was con.
temporary with Malachi. The Old
Testament writer's had slept with their
fathers a century before Caesar, Hor.
ace, Cicero and Virgil lived and wrote.
These ancient manuscripts, with the
New Testament books added to them,
have entered increasingly into the life
OF the world. Around them have cen
tered the worlds struggles. Out Of
them have come the worlds light and
lie, Never in any age have there
been 50 many studying its pages as
now. The number of its disciples has
increased since the long ago in geo.
metrical progression. More copies of
this collection of books will be printed
in the year 1905 than in any preceding
year
Rugged old Carlyle's estimate is
true in this general sense: There
never was any book like the Bible and
there never will be such another
And Walter SCOTS deathbed request
is the estimate Of the ages. Read me
something from The Book said this
maker of books. Which book?' asked
the attendant. The dying man an
swered, There is but one Book No
one who carefully and reverently stud.
les this history and the indications of
today can fail to see that the Bible
will extend it's power over all the earth
and through all the centuries. / call
this influence, growing through the
centuries bringing life to men and ma
tons, victorious over the forces that
tend to oblivion, The Divinity of the
Bible
Divinity In Teaching.
This divinity is seen in it's teach.
lngs.
''In it's revelation of God. AS the
clouds in the sky determine the color
Of the water on the earth, so does the
view men have of God, determine the
complexion of their earthly lives. Co
back to the world of 1900 years ago
and behold it bowling down to image
and reptile and river. A God for ey.
cry passion. Their life the indulgence
and degradation that passion uncon-
trolled. always bring. Turn now to
the Bible and read there the outline Of
It's God; perfect in power, knowledge,
mercy and love. Tell me not that hui
man pen, impotent and imperfect, ig-
norant and sinful, could draw the out
line OF Perfect Being. Tell it not
unless to feeble or unbalanced minds
that the Christ or the Bible is the pro.
duct of human forces and thought.
God-outside of the Bible-in the
books of other religions-is a poor
mud doll that at best would be only
chtld's toy, and at its worst reeks with
suggestions filthy and immoral. God,
In the Bible, is Father infinite in
power, justice, knowledge and love.
Revelation of Man.
TN It's revelation of man. And
what was man outside the words of
the Bible. At best poor, despairing
question mark. Usually only a zero.
In liberty, nothing In morality, i'm
morality. In vision of his possibilities
and God given place, nothing In this
life, traveller lost in the forest. In
the next life, shipwrecked sailor,
drifting out into an unknown sea.
An infant crying in the night:
An infant crying for the light:
And with no language but cry
Now, behold the vision of man in
the Word; made in the image of God;
lost through self sought sin; sought
by prophets and by the Son of God;
saved by Saviour's death; called as
ambassador Of heaven to win the
earth; assured of all power and hence
final victory; called to Godlike per.
lection of character; promised the
presence of God always; and at last,
when this body of clay drops away
yes at last to be with the Lord for