Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-03-18

Timothy iv, 13.
This Is an age Of exploration and of
missionary activity. Men like Living
stone and Stanley have sought out the
darkest corners of Africa, and tropic
fevers and densest jungles and widest
men have not deferred them. The riv-
ers, lakes and mountains of the Celes-
tial Kingdom have been viewed by the
men of the Occident, and Lassa, the
forbidden city Of impenetrable Thibet
has been visited by the white man.
Even the Arctic regions have been pen
etrated, and midst the everlasting
SHOWS, the pole itself has been discov-
cred. This is an age Of missionary ac-
tivity. Cody men and women, living
In enlightened lands, have given freely
of their means; and other godly ones
have waved farewells to their native
lands, and gone forth to teach all ma
tions, until the Hindoos are singing the
Redeemer's songs, and the isles of every
sea are clapping their hands. But with
south of us, about which we know so
little, that geographers find il difficult
to give us a full and accurate map, and
many Of its people are in spiritual
darkness. We call it South America,
the neglected continent"
This is literary age. "Of making
many books there is no end" Every
year thousands of books, tens Of thou
sands of magazines, and hundreds Of
thousands Of weekly and daily papers
are being produced and scattered over
the world. They are not produced in
vain, for this Is reading age. Every
body has some books; many have their
own private Libraries, and in addition
to these, we have our Sabbath school
libraries, our school libraries, and our
public Libraries. But with all this, We
have in our homes Book which Is
read so seldom. and about which we
know so little, that we may well call 1t
THE Neglected Bible" In urging you
to give attendance to reading this
Book, l might tell you that in 1t Is the
only full and clear revelation OF the
character of God, or tnat in 1t
Is given the only way by which
God can be just and yet justify
the ungodly; but / prefer to give
you a poorer reason than this, and to
appeal to a lower motive; and with
this object in view, have selected as
subject for this sermon, The Bible
as Literature" with the hope that
some who may be induced to read it
for its literary excellencies, may be led
to find in it their Lord and their God.
Men who make study Of such things,
tell us that the words and writings Of
men are divided into two classes:
Literature Of knowledge, and literature
Of power. Let us make study Of this
Word of God this evening with our
thoughts devoted to these two divi-
sions.
l. The Bible as literature of knowl-
edge.
writings, which have the imparting Of
knowledge, pure and simple, the en-
Tightening Of the mind, or the broa n
ing Of the understanding as their OBJ
ject are rightly known as literature Of
knowledge. In considering the Bible
from this STANDPOINT, we shall be able
to arrive at a more correct idea of its
merits, by taking up some of the great
problems of knowledge, which confront
us. and comparing 1t in these problems
with the literature produced by men.
One of these questions which confront
thinking men, Is the origin of the solar
system. We see our own central. sun
burning in all his fiery splendor, and
ruling as veritable king of day. We
feel our own earth beneath us. and
looking off into space. we see the plan
cts i'm all their grandeur. The question
can but arise in our minds, prom what
source comes that sun and all its at
tendant planets" Some Of the NIGH
eiest intelleCts of the world have at
tempted 10 answer lIldl uuCSllpH' hoie
than one has been led to say. 20 God,
| think thy thoughts after Thee but
after all their study and all their ef-
forts, they present to US the spectacle
of two opposing camps, each affirming
what the other denies, and neither
one OF them claims to present us any
thing at last, except theory. Tired
of such fruitless researches as these,
turn to the Bible and then | read on
it's first page, God created the heavens
and the earth" And feel that when it
says that tine earth was without form
and void. and darkness was upon the
face of the deep"-that there we have
a truth that scientists have long sought
in vain.
Another fact for which we seek In
this world. is the origin Of life. We see
life all about us. The insect on its
gauzy wing. the eagle cleavinS the up
per air, the aboundins life. surging