The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1909-02-05
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BY
Or. DAVID J. BURREll.
Theme: The Christian and His Bible.


by the pastor. the Rev. DR.. David
James Burrell. His subject was:
-The Christian and His Bible" The
text was from III. Timothy 3:14-l7:
But continue thou in the things
which thou hast learned and hast
been assured of, knowing of whom
thou hast learned them; and that
from the child thou hast known the
Holy Scriptures. which are able TO
make thee wise unto salvation
through faith which is in Christ
Jesus. All Scripture is given by in
spiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine. for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness; that
the man of God may be perfect, thor
oughly furnished unto all good
works" DR.. Bur-ell said:
There was trouble in Ephesus. The
church there had fallen on "perilous
times" False teachers had crept in
and were leading away all such as
had Itching ears.
Paul, the founder and former pas
tor OF the church in that city, writes
TO Timothy, his successor, exhorting
him to continue in the truth; and he
suggests as a sure safeguard, for him.
self and his people, profound 10y
atty to the Scriptures as the word of
God
He reminds the young pastor that
he had learned the Scriptures in his
childhood. In his old home at Derbe
his mother Eunice and his grand
mother Lois had instructed him.
Blessed is the man or woman who
can look back TO such training as
this! The father of John Stewart
Mill declined TO teach religion to his
son; the father of David Livingstone
required his son TO commit the One
Hundred and Nineteenth Psalm TO
memory and take the Scriptures to be
"a lamp unto his path; and the diff
ference is manifest in the life and
character of these men.
Paul reminds Timothy also that
the Scriptures had made him wise
unto salvation. through faith in
Christ" No man can search the
Scriptures without finding two things,
namely, Christ and Life; as our Lord
said, Search the Scriptures; for in
them ye think ye have eternal life,
and those are they which testify of
Me" This youth had found Christ
in the pages of the Book and, accept
ing Christ, had been saved by faith
in Him.
Paul assumes, furthermore, that
Timothy as a man of God, >" must be
true to the Scriptures. This ought
tc go without saying, since men Of
God" in or out of the ministry, are
in covenant bonds to be loyal to it.
The question now arises, What
shall a Christian do with his Bible?"
Shall he be satisfied with merely
reading it? Is it enough for him to
talk about it? Shall he approach it
in critical spirit, with the purpose
of finding fault with it? If so, he
must not expect to find much that is
profitable" in it.
In one of Krummacher' fables he
tells OF a society of learned men who
resolved to make a voyage to investi-
gate the properties of the magnetic
needle. The ship being ready TO sail,
they went aboard and, placing a mar
iner's compass in their midst, sat
down to observe and scrutinize it.
Thus they sailed to and fro, watching
the needle and each advancing and
defending his own theory as to the
secret power which moved it. At
length there was a violent crash: the
ship had struck upon a rock, and the
waves rushed in. Then those learned
men. all seized with terror, leaped
overheard and swan ashore. And,
sitting there on the barren rocks,
they lamented one to another that
there was no dependence to be placed
on the magnetic needle!
For a like reason there are "bibli-
cal experts" who can see no protita-
bleness in Scripture; but there are
others who search as for hidden
treasure and find in these pages the
unspeakable gift of life.
The man who reads, ponders and
inwardlv digests will find that the
Word is profitable, particularly in
these four ways
First, for doctrine" AS a rule of
faith it serves, like the mariners
chart. TO sail by. 1t tells us what we
are to believe as to spiritual things;
and truth is the basis of life and
character. For las a man thinketh
in his heart, so is he"
One of the singular characteristics
OF the Bible is this: OF all the So
called sacred books" IL alone pre-
sents a multiplicity of truths which
can be arranged into harmonious
system. Who ever heard of the Mos
lem system of theology? Or of the
Buddhist system OF doctrine? The
other religions make no pretense or
presenting a consistent creed, but the
truths of the Scripture are like
pearls. which can be strung upon a
necklace, having for its central gem
this saying God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlast-
ing life"
Another singular characteristic Of
the Bible is, that all its truths are
set forth under a divine seal of au-
thority. All are not equally "profita-
ble," since it is not so important, for
example, that We should know about
the birth of John the Baptist as II is
that We should know that Jesus Is the
only begotten Son of God. but all its
truths are equally authoritative, since
all alike were written by holy men
as they were moved by the Spirit OF
Cod The entire Book is signed and