The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1911-12-14
01e Bible
The Word g
God
BY Rev. Barry b Hall, Pastor
Of Temple Baptist Church, Min
neapolis Minnesota. -: a.,

All that comes from God must be
perfect complete. No so. Both the
world and man came from God. and
neither II perfect or complete. 80
the Bible came from God, although
parts Of II 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 tooth for TOOTH
10 crude and imperfect. But since
Jesus completed that code no man has
been able either to add to or take
from IT, II Is the only code Of ethics
man has ever known that stands un-
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 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
Ike 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old are obsolete and out Of date.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.
I. is a living. growing thing. It grows
on one; the rereading OF familiar pas
sages gives new light. and impresses
one with the greatness Of the book.
The more one studies II with q 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
,nly 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
nolds and lends itself with freedom
20 every language and dialect 1t
Hone is adapted to all classes and con-
iitions Of people. 1t is a discoverer
Of the human heart. and reveals all
men to themselves. II reveals to all
races Of men their motives. needs and
inns. An educated Hindu, on hearing
4 passage read from the word, said,
That Book exactly describes US Indi-
ms"
The Bible is indestructible, II sur
wives all attempts to destroy It Yet
L is hated as no other book because It
condemns man and claims authority
over him. Rome tried to burn II, and
some Of the greatest scholars of all
he ages have tried to destroy It, 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
hat Darwin's Descent of Man" had
destroyed It at one stroke. but they
we're deceived. Darwin really dis
severed nothing new. for both Moses
and Chris were Theistic evoluntion-
SITS. Evolution does not destroy the
dea Of a Creator: It only gives the
Creators method of creation.
The Bible stands unapproached as
life-giving book. It 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
sention. commerce and discovery.
When the open Bible came into Japan
she awoke. received new life, arose