The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1919-03-10

The learned and the ignorant alike
recognize today that the foundation OF
all knowledge, of all wisdom and OF
all rrua culture Is the Bible, But
when we attempt to study ii unaided,
Il seems to loom up before rs Ike
some ancient stately Temple Of Truth
Az one has said it is grand, gloomy
and peculiar, wrapt in the solitude OF
fin own originality" And indeed IL ID
q Temple of Truth, for it Is the word
OF God and the King has Himself de-
cIared Thy word Is Truth" Seek
ing to enter and explore its beauties
and mysteries We realize that the door |
seems barred, we must have a Key.
But he who patiently waits and asks
for entrance will presently hear from
the inner recesses of the Temple the
voice of the King Himself giving as
the key that viii open the door. IL
is found i'm John 3:1S: For God 30
loved the world that He gave HIS
only begotten Son that wnosoevsr be
Heveth in Him should not perish but
have everlasting life This indeed
ia the key that unIocks all the beau
ties and all the mysteries OF this sa-
cred book, for read in the light OF
this key its beauties become manifest
and its mysteries become plain
With the key in hand We open the
door and now realize that We must
have guide He is likewise sup
piled by the King Himself The
promise ia written in John 1913:
"Howbeit when He the Spirit OF Truth
is come He will guide you into all
Truth"
With the Spirit for our guide we
enter the Temple and find first the
Entrance Hall in Genesis, the Book
OF Beginnings Here we find the be-
ginning Of life, the beginning ct
death, or marriage OF family life Of
worship, Of government, OF law, Of
custom and, alas, of sin
From the Entrance Hall we pass
into the Library filed with twelve
wonderful books OF history. Genesis
has given US the story OF the first
twenty-five hundred years Of the
worlds history and ia followed by the
record OF the first emigration move
ment that the world ever saw called
Exodus, the first census report called
Numbers, two wonderful books Of Law
called Leviticus and Deuteronomy. a
thrilling war record called Joshua, the
story Of Israel without head called
Judges, a beautifully pastoral prose
poem called Ruth( the story Of gool
mans work called First and Second
Samuel the History Of Israel under
the Kings called First and Second
Kings and First and Second Chroni
cles. Next comes the account Of the
restoring Of the ancient worship
which we call the book of Ezra, and
Of rebuilding the ruined city, called
Nehemiah, and then the thrilling mar
alive Of what one woman could do fol
her people, which we call the boob
Of Esther.
But why do We find history in the
Bible? Because history is HIS
STORY, the story OF the dealing Of
God with the children Of men and
hence it has its proper place in tht
Bible which was written to give u:
the revelation OF His will and Hi.
purpose
Out Of the Library we pass into tht
Hospital Of this ancient Temple which
we call the book Of Job, and find th4
patient, Job, stretched upon his couch
all wounded and bleeding from his
conflict with self, the world and sin
But in the midst OF his agony with {
sublime faith that rises above eircum
stances he looks up into the face O
his Father and says: Tho He sla!
80 vat mill I sr,.of LIfrn
In life the grave and the gay, th'
sunshine and the shadow. smiles ana
tears, are so intimately mixed anG
mingled that We pass rapidly from
one to the other So it is in thi
Temple We pass from the Hospita
into the Music Room OF the Bibl
which we call the book Of Psalms
Here our guide, the Holy Spirit
sweeping His fingers up and dow
the keyboard Of human experience
finds a chord that responds to ever,
need Of the human soul, from the loT
sad vail Of the fifty-hrst Psalm, a
dripping with tears. Have mercy VI
on me. On God. according to Tn
loving kindness. and according to tn
multitude OF Thy tender mercies bio
out all my transgressiOns.' up TO tn
glad Hosannah Of the twenty-fourt
Psalm. Lift up your heads, On y