Ellsworth American., 1911-10-11
CHRISTIAN ENDEAvOR
Prayer Meeting Topic For the Weak
aeoinnino Oct. is, 1911,

Prayer Meeting Topic For the Weak
Beginning Oct. IS, 1911.
Topic.-wby 1 believe the Bible.-Rom
T. II: XIV, 4. "a memory meeting.) Edited
by Rev. Sherman Fl. Doyle d. D.
Personal belief in the Bible as the
divinely inspired word of God is an
absolute essential to faith in the
Christian religion. He who doubts or
denies that the Bible is the infallible
word of God has no sure foundation
upon which to rest his faith. 1t Is
therefore a matter Of profound satis-
faction and worthy the deepest graft
tude to God that the proofs Of the In
spiration Of the scriptures are so COM
prehensive and SO convincing. In no
heart need there be any doubt THE
testimonies of the Lord are sure
The Bible claims to be the divinely
inspired word Of Ged. This claim Is
made for both the Old and New Tes-
lament scriptures. THUS saith the
Lord" is a very common preface to
the words of the Old Testament by
the writer's themselves. New Testa-
ment writer's also ascribe inspiration
to the Old Testament OF these writ
ings 1t Is said. Holy men Of God
spake as they were moved by the
Holy Ghost" Paul speaks of 'all
scriptures" (the Old Testamenp "giv-
en- by the inspiration Of God" and
the author of the book of Hebrews re-
fers to God as having Of old time
spoken unto the fathers in the proph-
ets." Christ. being divine as well as
human, spoke as God, and the Holy
Spirit revealed unto the apostles what
they have written In their epistles.
To deny this claim is to cast reflection
upon the truthfulness of the Biblical
writer's themselves. Moreover, this
claim to inspiration has been con-
clusively proved by every test OF
faith and Of reason. Because God
spoke to men through men it is no
less the voice of God that speaks in
His word, and it should be accepted
and obeyed, because 1t Is the infalh-
BILE word of God.
!. The fulfillment Of prophecy sus-
tains the Biblical claim to inspira-
ton. The New Testament repeatedly
calls attention to the fulfllment of
Old Testament prophecy, and in the
history of the Christian centuries we
see the prophecies of the New Testa-
ment fulfilled But God only could
know what would transpire hundreds
Of years before the event, and He
alone could reveal these events to
man.
2. The unity Of the Bible substan-
tiates its claim to inspiration The
Bible consists Of sixty-six books, writ
ten by men Of various professions and
positions. extending over a period Of
$500 years. Yet 1t is essentially
one book. The directing influence of
one mind is apparent from Genesis to
Revelation. But that one mind could
not have been human. 1t must have
been divine. and it was the mind of
God
8. The Bible has stood the test Of
centuries of criticism. No other book
has had so many powerful enemies.
No other book has ever been so seri-
ously attacked. Emperors, kings. athe-
lists. philosophers, skeptics, have as
sailed 1t with the desire Of destroying
it, but every attack upon 1t has only
increased its popularity. No merely
human book could ever have withstood
the assaults that have been made upon
the Bible, and hence the fact that the
Bible has withstood these attacks is
proof that It Is more than human-in
other words, divine.
4 The Bible meets all the needs Of
the human heart. 1t II universal in Its
application. It finds a response in
every land and under every cline It
Is reasonable to suppose that divine
revelation would be suitable to all
men, and since the Bible is Of such a
character and is the one book in the
world that is we may accept it. as it
claims to be. the inspired word of God