The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-05-06
DR.. BEARD ON THE.
BOOK OF BOOKS
THE BIBLE is "THE STORY or
GODS Way OF WORKING WITH
MAN." SAID THE DOCTOR I'M.
GIVING DEFINITION OF "THE
BOOK

DR.. Beard preached another Of his
deep scholarly yesterday
morning, his subject being The Book
of Books. II Timothy iii:16: Every
scripture inspired of God is also profit
able for teaching, for reproof, for cor
r~ection, for instruction which is right
~eousness."
He said in part:
Sir Walter Scott, just before his
death, desired to be drawn INTO his
library, and placed by his window, that
he might look down upon the river
Tweed. To his son-in-law he ex-
pressed the wish that he would read
to him. From what book shall /
read" said he. and you ask ?" Scott
replied. There is but one
We are all agreed that the Bible is the
Book Of Books. But while this is
true, we do not believe, as many good
people once believed, and as a few APP
pear to believe still. that every word
from Genesis to Revelation, as it
stands, vas dictated by God and writ
ten by men who dotted every l and
crossed every T by divine direction.
We believe that the Bible has a hui
man side as we'll as a divine side, and
because of this we need the assistance
of devout scholars to enable US to weed
out the spurious from the genuine.
When we come to examine this book
carefully we find it is really a coll
lection of books, written by about
fifty different authors. Many of these
authors lived hundreds of years apart
and knew nothing of each others writ
ing.
Nations were born, reared and buried
while this series of books were being
written.
This book contains the most spirit
ual u~tterances of the most spiritually
minded men of the most spiritually
minded race on the globe.
But though the Bible is really a col
lection of books, it is in a very proper
sense n book. A common spirit
and purpose pervade the book from
Genesis to Revelation. This book con-
tains much of law, history, poetry eth
les, philosophy, but the one central
thought through all is that God is in
this world to make it a better, and
God is in the hearts of his people to
make them a better people.
Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous his thoughts; and
let him return to Jehovah, and He will
be merciful to him: even to our God,
for He will abundantly PARDON
Isiah lv:7.
All the questions over which scholars
spend most Of their time, and about
which they are in least agreement
are secondary questions.
AS a library of religious inspiration
and uplift it is what it is whether a
given book was written by one mar
or two men, whether written at one
place and time or at another place and
time. These various questions are in
teresting questions, but they are Sec
ondary questions and not vital ques-
tons.
The poorest text of the Bible, and
the poorest translation of that text
contains every truth necessary for
mans spiritual guidance.
The Bible began with mankind on a
a low plane, and Gods revelation OF
Himself and His methods of dealing
with men had to be adapted to the
limited capacities Of those with whom
He had to deal. AS man developed
Gods methods were changed accord
ingly.
A short and comprehensive definition
NJ tho PihIn ic this. Il t. 49, -A--,
of Gods way of working with men
1t is wonderful how this old book
has stood the assaults of adverse
criticism. 1t was only a few years
ago that it was said that Moses could
not have written the Pentateuch be-
cause the art of writing was not known
in Moses time. And the echo of these
cock-sure declaimers had hardly died
away when a man dug up whole H.
braries that were written hundreds Of
years before Moses was born.
The Bible is a marvellous storehouse
of original and fruitful ideas.
The law of Moses, though suited ir
form to a barbaric age, contain the
principles of political economy and re-
ligious life which are found to be sc
necessary to the true progress Of the
individual or the nation. Every es-
sential principle of the modern christ
ian state exists in seed form in the
Jewish commonwealth which Moses
founded in the wilderness.
The principle of the New England
town meeting was originated by Jeth.
70, the father-in-law of Moses.
Darwin's evolutionary ideas almost
revolutionized human thought, so that
many saw for the first time that al
life is a progress from the lower to the
higher. But the Bible anticipates al
this, and assumes that all life pro.
ceeds according to law, that every
event is unfolded from the event thai
went before.
Herodotus, Xenophon and Tacitcus
wrote history as If it consisted of un.
related events. Macauley, Voltaire
Millman and Green found out that his.
tory was the story of the evolution
Of human life on the earth. But 5000
years before the time Of these -four
great historians the books of Kings and