Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-15
By Rev. DR.. Floyd w. Tomkins.

1t is well that our subject today should
be expressed as it is-not why is the
Bible to be believed" but why do I
believe the Bible While there are
proofs and rules and reasons innumer-
able for everything I'm a general way,
conviction can only come to man when
he knows from personal experience. 1t
is easy enough to prove that the Bible is
the Word of God. 1t has been done
again and again. and so forcefully that
skeptics have made no Roadway and
have hardly had a following. But the
only proof which really satisfies the man
is that which comes from his own per-
sonal knowledge. 1t is we'll to know
something of these general proofs, but
they cannot touch the heart and life and
lead to action until you and / have veri-
fed them. Why do | believe the Bible
that is the question, and the answer lies
deeper than documentary evidence or
theological statement; it cannot be log
ically phrased. nor can it be expressed in
terms Of philosophy. 1t is like the love
We have for our dear ones, our friends,
our sisters or children. Why do / love
my child? The logical answers are many
physiological and psychological and So
clolOg1cal-and they are interesting; but
really the love is mysterious and hid
den thing which deties definition and
eludes analysis. / love my child because
] love him-that is all. So l believe the
cause of what it has done and is doing
for me.
Hence the surest way to prove the
Bible to be the word of God is to use it,
read it, study it. 1t is its own witness.
| was reading lately of a French woman
in Paris into whose hands some one
pressed a Bible. She looked at it and
then, seeing what il was, she tore 1t in
pieces in passion and scattered the
fragments. poor girl picked up one Of
hn mic nf nd tn
Soon she was stirred and, stopping a
man, she asked him where she could get
the book of which this was a fragment.
He directed her to a Bible society. where
a copy was gladly given to her, and as a
result she became an earnest Christian.
You cannot ignore such proofs. Some one
once asked Charles BradIaugh, an unbe-
lever and a member OF the English par
lament. who did not hesitate to fight
Christianity whenever he had an oppor-
tunity. why he did not simply ignore
Christianity. You cannot ignore St.
Paurs Cathedral and the multitudes wor-
Shipping there" he answered: lit Is too
big" So we cannot ignore the fact that
the Bible today--as in all ages-whereverI
it has been read has been the means of
regenerating lives. kindling hopes, chang
ing savages to civilized beings. making
the weak strong and comforting the dy-
ing The whole history of what the Bible
has done in the world is too big a thing
TO be laughed out of court or to bel
scorned. We are faced by a fact a con-
dition, not a theory.
There are three general lines OF evil /
dence to which we may refer. The first
might be called the evidence of probabii- |
ity. Since there is a God who made us
and whose children are, we would
rea sonably expect Him to reveal Himself
to us. to have some message for us telling
us about Himself and about what He
ushes us to do. This natural cXpccta-
ion * met Ia the I:ible, hch is the