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A n Age of Bible Study Rev. David James Burrell, D.D., Pastor Marble Collegiate Church, New York City
JHEY say we are living in an age of Bibles. The best seller in the book markets of the civilized world is the Bible. You can buy it for a song or, lacking the song, you can get it for nothing. So ' far so good. Better still, they say, we are living in an age of Bible study. Bible Institutes, Bible Conferences, courses of Bible Instruction in our Schools and Colleges are welcomed as signs of Christian progress but, that depends. The study of the Bible may be undertaken with the purpose of discovering whether it is what it claims to be or not. So far, so good. One wants to know whether a pro fessional guide is reliable, before engaging him. Having ascertained from internal evidence that the Bible is really the inspired and wholly trustworthy word of God and there fore to be relied on as an infallible rule of faith and prac tice, its further,study may be pursued as a labor of love and with a view of living up to it. So runsi the evolution of a Christian. The Master said “Search the scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and these are they which testify of me.” Or one may have made up his mind from hearsay, or otherwise, that the Bible is not at all that it claims to be but a fraud, a mingled tissue of truth and falsehood, made up most largely of fable and folklore, and may enter upon its study with a view to exposing the alleged errors, which his prejudgments have prepared him to find. In this case, if he presumes to teach, it is to lead astray; and if his attitude is that of a pupil, the less he absorbs of the in struction given the better .for him. It is.thus apparent that Bible Study may be either a savour of life unto life or of death unto death; so that the multiplication of schools and classes for the study of the Scriptures may not be an unqualified source of congratula tion. The probability is that in many cases, particularly in certain of our colleges, they are taught with a deliberate purpose of undermining the faith. What is It? The first question that occurs to an unprejudiced mind as to the Bible is, What is it? Is it what it claims to be? In some quarters it is quite the fashion to investigate that claim without so much as opening the Book except so far as the teacher may think necessary in order to discover its chronology and “redactorship.” If the instructor chances to be a higher critic, as is frequently the case, he can pre sent his “Yea,-hath-God-said” with such specious and in sinuating force as to do no end of lasting harm, and with no one in the class-room "to dispute him. It is written, “The serpent is more subtle than any beast of the field.” And when the Book is opened, under such circumstances, it is only to pervert its inspired words or twist their mean ing into base uses, as a “Biblical expert” once did in tempt ing Jesus to cast himself from a high eminence; “Is it not written, He shall give his angels charge over thee and they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone?” The Romans had a proverb, Esurient inpopina, that is, “They starve in a bake-shop,” We have Bibles enough and a vast amount of Bible-study, such as it is; but who cares if, as the mischievous critics are saying, they contain chiefly fakes and forgeries. Better no Bibles at all than Bibles twisted out of all helpful shape. The Anti-Biblical
“experts” in many professorial chairs are doing for the Bible precisely what Joab did for Abner, uttering a greet ing in honeyed phrases while in the very act of cutting his vitals out. One of the results of this sort of Bible study is a wide spread and increasing ignorance of the Scriptures in quar ters where anti-Biblical teachers are allowed to have their way. The people, taken up in the lips of talkers, have carried the argument to its logical end and given the Book a good letting alone. An Age of Bibles; An Age of Bible- study! And an Age of Bible Ignorance! Many a promis ing A. B. can discourse ad libitum about the Bible, its chronology and hypothetical authorship, its atmosphere, historical setting and all that, who would be seriously puzzled if asked whether it was Malachi or Malchus who lost his ear in the Garden of Gethsemane. And to all such the life-giving truths of scripture are as if they were not. “Water, water everywhere, And all the boards do shrink: Another result is a falling off in the attendance at many churches. This complaint is by no means universal. There are multitudes of churches where the Gospel is faithfully preached, and rarely, if ever, will you hear their pastors asking with a lamentable voice, “Why do not the people come to Church?” The words of Priscilla to John Alden, when he made a proposal for his friend, are appropriate at this point, “Speak for yourself, John.” I have yet to learn of any lack of worshipers in churches where the people listen to the old-time religion. But there is abundant ground for this complaint in communities where the gospel has been abandoned for “new thought.” How could it be otherwise? The problem of Church attendance, like all other problems, must be solved by the universal law of demand and supply. As to the Demand The deepest longing in the heart of the average man is for religion. There are three questions that throb for an answer. The first is, “What shall I do to be saved?” and the answer is found in the doctrine of salvation through Christ as set forth in the Word of God. The second is, “How may I be the best possible man?” and the answer is found in the doctrine of Sanctification by the Word, through the Spirit, in the imitation of Christ. The third is, “How shall I majte my life tell?” and the answer is found in the doctrine of service in the kingdom of truth and righteousness which Christ is establishing in tliis world of ours. As to the Supply In churches where these questions are evaded the result is a foregone conclusion. Empty pews are the logical re sponse to an empty pulpit. “I, if I be lifted up,” said Jesus, “will draw all men unto me.” Christ (and there is no Christ but the Christ of the Scriptures) is the great Magnet, the drawing power. “We must make our service more at tractive,” they say, “if we would get the people to attend it; so let us have the hurdy-gurdy, the stereopticon and sacred concerts. You must catch your hare before you can cook it.” Water, water everywhere, And not a drop to drink.” Falling Off in the Attendance
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