The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1912-09-13
AT THE GOSPEL TENT

THE man who thinks a fool could
write such epistles as Paul's, such
prophecies as Isaiah's, such proverbs
as Solomon's, such psalms as David's
and such laws as Moses, might we'll
try the experiment" said Carlyle B.
Haynes, the evangelist and lecturer,
Sunday at the big canvas pavilion
on Oklawaha avenue, in the opening
meeting of the extensive evangelistic
campaign which is to continue for
two months, and of which he has
charge. A large crowd was in at
tendance at the first meeting and lis
tened with earnest attention to the
forceful presentation that Mr.. Haynes
gave of the subject, rs the Bible a
True BoOk?" This was an address to
establish the inspiration of the Bible
and the speakers remarks revealed
an intimate study of the books of the
Bible, and a close analysis OF the
qualities which have made them en-
dure through the ages Mr.. Haynes
said:
The question of the inspiration of
the Bible is one which is quite widely
discussed. and one Of the utmost i'm
portance for every seeker for truth to
answer correctly.
On the 10Th of May, 1881. the re-
vised New Testament was issued
from the press in London, and the
next day in New York. A month in
advance of its publication the pub
fishers had received orders for one
million copies of this book, which in
fidels had long claimed was out of
date, forgotten, dead, and of no partic-
ular use or value Such a remarkable
record is true of no other book that
was ever written or printed Before
the end of the year one publishing
house alone in New York had sold
365, 600 copies of that dead book, and
fifty American editions came imme-
diately from the press and were scat |
tered from end to end of the land. |
There seemed to be considerable life |
left in thta supposedly dead book, f!
and were one to observe closely he
would see so many indications of life
in it even now as to lead him to con
clude that the time had not yet come, |
even in this our day, for it to receive
its burial
And a strange thing about the APP !
pearance of the revised Bible in 1881
was that it was not a new book at all. |
Those of you who bought one at thati
time soon found that it was the same
book with which you were already ia |
miliar You found in it the story of |
the prodigal son, the lost sheep, the |
true vine, the good shepherd, and the |
sermon OH the mount, and a record
of all the miracles, teachings, won
ders and. adminitions of Jesus. with
which yoI had been for long time |
familiar Aside from a few changes
nor corrections, it was plain that it !
was the same book that had been is !
sued in the year 1911 under the au- |
thority and during the reign of King |
James.
Now, a book issued in 1911 could |
hardly be called a new book. But get
ting back to 1911 does not bring us |
to the beginning of this book. There
are copies in existence which ante |
date that. In the museum at Antwerp
there stands the first printing press
ever made, and alongside of it there |
Is a copy of the first book ever print |
ed, the Latin Bible. But the book is |
older than the art of printing. In the
great British museum is Wyckliff's |
English Bible, translated about 1880. |
And it is the same Bible that you
know Therefore we know that the
book is very old-more than 500 years
old.
But We have not yet reached the
beginning of this book This book
can be found in other languages, in
Coptic, Ethiopic, Syriac and Arme
nian. and also in the Greek. and if
you learn these languages you can
read in these copies the same familiar
things that you can in the copy you
have at home And thes, manuscripts
are very, very old.
The question always arises: How
do you know their age? And it is 2 |
fair question. 1t is not easy to de-
ceive in such matters There are
ways in which an old book may be
told from a new one There is a con-
tinual change in the form of writing,
and We do not use now the peculiar
forms that were in use in olden
times To illustrate: When Pompeii
and Herculaneum were buried in the