Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1921-04-27
THE BIBLE

thy word giveth light; it giveth un-
derstanding unto the simple"
Hebrews ,4:12, "For the word of
| God is quick and powerful, and sharp
er than any two-eged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder Of soul
and spirit, and of the joints and mar
row, and is discerner of the thoughts
and the intents of the heart"
1t is hard for us to know, and I'M
possible to estimate, how much of the
, development of civilization we owe
to the Bible. Civilized nations all
have the Bible and their laws are bas-
ed upon it's laws and principles. AS
with nations so with individuals.
Worth while people are governed d.
rectly or indirectly, more or less, by
the sacred book.
Christ said, 81 am come that We
ment is biography Of His life and
work. Reading it you see how he
brought life to whomsoever came I'M
to Him. The book is the light to
guide us to the source Of life. The
Individual who follows the dictates
given, even though he has gone as low
as Harold Begbie's "Old Born Drunk, !"
or 'The Plumber" Twill find that the
light has guided to life. 'Thy word
is light unto my feet" may be truly
rendered, "Thy word is life, etc., !"
Light is naturally the producer Of
life, and the light of the Word of God
will produce in us life, without any
effort on our part, il we will bu. al
low it to shine in, and do not wil!fully
smother the fire kindled.
Jesus said, aye search the scrip
lures because We think that in them
we have eternal life" John 5:39. The
mere searching of the scriptures does
not bring life. That is only the the
DRY of religion. You cannot make a
farmer by studying books on agri-
culture. You cannot become a car
penter by studying books on that
trade. The theory must be put into
spirit giveth life. Continuing the
above speech Christ said, 'These are
they that bear witness of me, and We
will not come to me, that We might
have life" They know the writings,
but they lacked life because they
would not follow the light, or obey
instruction. From this therefore we
understand that it is possible to know
the book yet be dead, because we only
know the theory and have not put it
into practice.
The Bible is Gods autobiography of
Himself. 1t is the story of his pro-
gressive revelation unto the world,
/ teaching men as they were able to
near and understand, eliminating in
the revelation of Jesus Christ, so that
the world might know, through flesh
and blood like unto themselves, that
| God was full of love and mercy and
compassion, those characteristics that
may also be found in those who allow
His word to operate in their lives.
The followers of Buddha may look up
on life as a misfortune and find es-
cape only in blotting themselves out,
those who practice the Bible will re-
gard life as a great opportunity to
|! be crowned by heavenly reward
| The followers of the Arab prophet
may rely upon the sword for prose-
lifting power, yet the Bible student
will still trust in the persuasive in
fluence of love to bring recruits to
the Prince of Peace. The followers
of CONTIGUOUS may be content with
the negative philosophy of their
teacher, but the believer in the Bible
will maintain that the Creator made
man positive force, just like an
overlooking spring. The materialist
may confne his thoughts to things
that the senses can weigh and mea-
sure but the Christian faith takes hold
upon the verities that the mind can
not grasp. The ATHEIST may think
/ that he has driven God out of the
universe, yet the Bible student hears
His voice in himself and sees Him
everywhere.
Many do not read the Bible because
theW do not understand it all. ANY
l. - l. fr1I IOr
stood by it's readers. We may no
understand the miracles but when we
see a person, who has been morally
, dead, changed and renewed, we see
the greatest of miracles. We ma!
not understand the missionary stor!
of Jonah, yet we may read of wonder
full changes taking place in China an(
other places, even as great as in Min
evan. We may not fully comprehend
that the story of Job is being repeat
+ ed with many people even today. w,
may not understand the ascension, thu
work of redemption, and other things
and for this reason we refuse to reat
the book. We do not understand how
the food is assimulated by the bod,
and builds up these bodies, yet we d,
: not refuse to eat. We do not under
stand sleep, yet we sleep when W.
, can. why do we refuse one and &C
, cept the other? Take for grantee
, that there are some things in tn
Bible that we cannot understand, am
lconsider also that there are bones il
, your meat that you cannot eat. d.
you throw the meat away because yo1
cannot eat the bones? You feel hap
Ply if you can eat the meat part. TAX
your Bible the same way. Eat tn
delicious meat of the Word and leav
the bones for some foolish crank Gu
to choke on or quarrel over.
The purpose of the Bible is for tn
: revelation of God to man, which wa
! perfected in Christ Jesus. To d
! this it calls to aid every form of writ
! ing. 1t excels all other works TO
4 history, beginning with creation. Ye
4 it was not written for history. 1t an
: tedates modern science. Job says
' He stretches out the north over emp
: ty space and hangeth the world up
). on nothing" Yet for many years al
e ter this was written people believe
e the earth to be fiat. For poetry
; has no rival. The prophecies ar
wonderful. Isaiah wrote of Baby
v Ions destruction while it was in it
p glory. Nahum declared that Nineva
d was to be destroyed when there wa
no cloud in the sky. Jesus foretol
r the destruction of Jerusalem. !