The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1918-08-31

llclu WcIS CdIACoI
acknowledged Christians"
Belief in the Bible is not a leap in
the dark. 1t is not attempting to be-
lieve it when we have no evidence
whether it is true or not. Belief in the
Bible rests upon evidence which to
those who believe in the Bible is suf-
fcient for them to accept it as the
Word Of God or man.
l. One evidence upon which our be-
lief in the Bible rests, is its own testi-
mony. Believing it is unfair to judge
it without hearing what it may have to
say for itself we listen to it's own tes-
timOny.
One does not read far in the Bible
before he comes to such statements as
these: "Thus said the Lord" or
'aThe Lord said" These phrases, or
like ones, occur over five hundred times
in the first five books of the Bible, and
over twelve hundred times in the
prophetical books. In addition to this
we find that the men who wrote the
Old and New Testaments claim their
utterances to be divinely inspired. And
the New Testament tells us that "hOly
men of old spake as they were moved
by the Spirit of Cod" and that "all
Scripture is given by inspiration of
God" that is, God-breathed.
Besides this, the book assumes to
speak authoritatively from God to man.
Now with this testimony before us, we
are shut up to one of two conclusions;
either it is what it claims to be, or it
is a fraud. Having examined, studied
and tested the book with the acid test
of experience, we are persuaded that
it's lofty claim is established.
+ II. Another evidence which has led
us to this conclusion and upon which
we rest our belief is the unity.
While it is a library of sixty-six
books, it is nevertheless n single
book and while it was written by about
forty different writer's, it has a single
ness of plan and purposes This in the
face of the fact that its authors wrote
over a period of something like ff-
teen hundred years. There is only one
way to account for this unity and
that is by believing that there was a
great architectural mind that designed
and executed his plan.
III. Again an evidence upon which
we rest our belief in the Bible is it's
teaching.
1t is the one book that tells us about
God; who he is and what he is; that
tells us about man, whence he came,
what he is, and whittier he is going.
1t reveals the love of God in the plan
and purpose of redemption through
Christ. Without the Bible, we should
by searching try to find out God and
by guessing to discover ourselves. BY
1t, we have conn to know God, whom
to know Alright is life everlasting, and
to know ourselves.
What was said of our Lord can be
said of the Bible: No book ever
spake like this book. 1t is, indeed, a
lamp unto our feet and a light unto
our path and shows us the way to that
city whose builder and maker is God.
w. A fourth evidence upon which
u belief rests is fulfilled prophecy.
Take for instance the prophecies
concerning Christ of which there are
three hundred and thirty-three in the
Old Testament. All the prophecies
concerning his first advent have min
utely been fulfilled. These prophecies
stand the severest tests, so that we
know that we are not deceived as to
their fulfillment so there was no pos
sible way for the prophet to have
known how thew were coming ont. Rut
they came out as predicted. This is
only one of many lines of prophecy,
which we would examine. Those con-
corning the Jews which led a court
preacher, when asked by his sovereign
to prove the Scriptures, in n word
to answer 'The Jews, your majesty,
the Jews" And the prophecies con-
corning the great political systems of
the world such as Babylon, Medo-Per-
sia, Greece, and Rome.
Let anyone, who is in doubt about
the Scriptures study the evidence of
prophecy and he will find ground for
faith in the Bible.
v. Then finally, the evidence of what
the Bible does is ground for our be-
lief in it. BY its fruits it can be
judged. 1t has civilized nations, trans
formed the lives of millions, given
hope to the hopeless, cheer to the
d~ownhearted, comfort to the sorrow
ing, consolation to the dying and taken
hell out of life and put heaven in.
What the Bible does gives US ground
to believe it must be of God.