The Penn's Grove record., 1912-01-19
VITALITY
OF THE
BIBLE

MN XAl 49, CSOAS A-E jung. lLGAI
kEZMTM books are dead already
MWNH when they are born. There
RNgAN is 10 demand for them.
EOT They contain nothing that
men want. They are not
read. They make no impression even
on the community where they are
published. They are like a feather
which futters through the air and
no n hears it pass, n no one
knows when or where It falls.
Some books come into the world
with agreat flourish Of trumpets.
They are highly commended by re-
viewers and critics. They leap 4
prominence in the literary world at
a single bound. They create a SEN
sation for a time and are the talk OF
every town. But after a few years
the demand for them declines. they
slowly die, and are soon out OF print.
A few books have lived through many
generations The Iliad Of Homer, the
history OF Herodotus, and the Repub-
lie OF Plato, the orations and S OF
Cicero, written thousands OF years
ago, still live. They contain something
which men a and will not willing
ly permit to perish.
But the Bible, which is one Of the
Oldest books in the world, is the most
vigorous book on the globe. Many
efforts have been made 10 kill 1t. IL
has been burned, shut up in prison,
bound with chains, pelted with rhe-
toric and logic and eloquence and
ridicule. Again and again its enc
mics have pronounced it dead. They
fondly hoped that intelligent people
would no longer read it. But it still
lives. It's enemies have persisted.
Their weapons have decayed. But the
Bible lives on.
Not as the works of Homer and
Plato live does the Bible live. They
are read only by a small circle
Of admirers and students. Their
influence on this generation Is
feeble indeed. But the Bible is the
most popular book in the world and
the most potent factor in modern
thought and civilization. Its enemies
have not been able to kill it, time has
not destroyed it, and advance OF
learning and science has not affected
its influence.
Few boks a survive Transports
ton. They show signs Of life while
they remain at home where the at
mosphere is congenial, but carry
them owe the sea, where educational,
social and political conditions are diff
ferent they wither and die. They
are like trees which viii net e1d1rW
transplanting from one soil to anoth-
er. But the Bible has crossed all seas
and all continents; it has o%verleaped
the boundaries Of all nations; It has
gone from island to island, from
zone to zone; and everywhere IT is
the same fresh, vigorous, living book.
Translation is a sever test OF the
vitality of a book. 1t is almost i'm
possible for a book to carry with il
the vigor and freshness OF the origin
al into a new language. Translated
into a foreign tongue, it seems like
another book 1t has lost some OF
the fragrance aud richness of its
thought and feeling. But the Bible
has been translated into four hundred
different languages. and sometimes
under most unfavorable conditions,
and still it carries with it into every
language the sweet SAVIOR OF its
truth and life. 1t is a tree for all
climes, a message for all hearts. a
song for all tongues, a book for all
people. The grass withereth, n
the flower fadeth, but the word of the
Lord endureth forever."-Christian
Advocate.