The Penn's Grove record., 1911-12-15
dc Bible
The Word ST
God
BY Rev. Barry B. Hall, Pastor
of Temple Baptist Church, Min
neapolis, Minnesota. =: -:

All that comes from God must be
perfect, complete. No SO. Both the
world and man came from God, and
neither Is perfect or complete. So
the Bible came from God, although
parts of 1t are crude and imperfect.
The Bible, like all other things. is the
result of development and growth.
The patriarchs were In Gods school
and their ethical code was not com
pleted until Christ came and fulfilled
completed it. Certainly an ethical
code allowing polygamy and an eye
for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
is crude and imperfect. But since
Jesus completed that code no man has
been able either to add to or take
from it. It is the only code of ethics
man has v known that stands I'M
changed and Interchangeable throughout
the ages.
There are but two things in the
visible world that do not dean i'm
mortal soul and Gods word. The Bible
is a living thing. The spirit of Sc.
cession Is dead, but the spirit of union
still lives. So all other ethical codes
are either dead or dying, but the
words Of Jesus, which are increasingly
exercising a greater influence over the
destiny Of both men and nations. I'm
like all other books, 1t never becomes
obsolete. All other books but the
Bible which are a few hundred years
old are obsolete and out of date. The
Bible never grows old; it never dies.
1t is a living, growing thing. 1t grows
o. one: the rereading of familiar pas.
sages gives new light, and impresses
one with the greatness Of the book.
The more one studies 1t with a rever-
ent spirit the more its greatness
looms up before him, and as his capa-
city to see more truth grows, the
more truth he finds In the word. Ev-
cry combination of social conditions
only draws out of the Word new truth
and more light.
All other books flourish best In the
language in which they were written,
but the Bible flows freely into all
molds and lends itself with freedom
to every language and dialect 1t
alone issAdapted to all classes and cor
ditions of people. 1t is a discoverer
of the human heart, and reveals all
men to themselves. 1t reveals to all
races of men their motives, needs and
sins. An educated Hindu, on hearing
a passage read from the word. said,
THAT Book exactly describes US Indi-
ans"
The Bible is i~ndestructible, It sur
wives all attempts to destroy it. Yet
1t is hated as no other book because it
condemns man and claims authority
over him. Rome tried to burn 1t, and
some of the greatest scholars of all
the ages have tried to destroy 1t, but
both alike miserably failed. Thomas
Paine thought his age Of Reason"
would put the Bible out of print in
fifty years, and thousands thought
that Darwin's Descent of Man" had
destroyed it at one stroke, but they
were deceived. Darwin really dis
covered nothing new, for both Moses
cL.c. w5-o rhcirtic evoluatioI-
lists. Evolution does not destroy the
idea of a Creator; 1t only gives the
Creators method Of creation.
The Bible stands unapproached as
a life-giving book. 1t awakens dead
nations and gives them new life.
Christian nations, since the Bible was
opened in the sixteenth century, have
become responsible for all the worlds
advancement in science, literature, in
vention, m and discovery.
When the open Bible came into Japan
she awoke, received new life. arose
and defeated Russia. a land without
an open Bible. The open Bible has
gone into China, and she is at this
moment giving birth to a new republic.
Laboring men, once but beasts Of
burden, under the influence Of an open
Bible. have ceased to be beasts Of bur-
den and have come to be men. The
Bible is also a ife-transforming book.
It revolutionizes the lives Of both ma
lions and men. When Titus took Je-
rusalem, LOO. 900 Of the Jewish peo
pie were put to the sword, many thou
sands were sold into slavery. and
thousands were sold to make sport by
being butchered Or torn into pieces in
the arena. When America took Gu
ba and the Philippines she banished
yellow fever from the island and es-
tablished a republic for the people,
and in one ship she sent 600 teach
ers to the Philippines. Certainly a
marvellous transformation. And It is
also true of the individual; no man
can habitually read the book with a
reverent spirit without becoming a
nobler, a truer and a better man.
Is the Bible the word Of God?
Have the civilizations of earth ever
produced a book that could compare
with it; has any other book ever *
ercised such an influence over the ma
lions Of earth; has any other book
ever transformed the lives of men as
the Bible has; is any other book a liv-
ing book and indestructible as the
Bible is? If this book is a book the
like Of which the civilizations of
earth have not and cannot produce.
then 1t was not produced by man
alone. and therefore 1t must be the
word Of God. given in earthen vessels.
to be sure, but the word of God.
Brandy Affects the Eye.