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T HE Bible, settled in its source (Psa. 119:89), is in its reach a Book above and beyond all books as a river is beyond a rill. The Bible, so sure in its promises (Jer. 1:12), is above and beyond all books as the sun is beyond a tallow dip in brightness. The Bible, so satisfying in its contents (Jer. 15:16), is in strength above and beyond all books as the wings of an eagle are beyond the wings of a sparrow. The Bible, so secure in its guidance (Psa. 119:105), is in fruit bearing above and beyond all books as an orchard is beyond a roadside weed. The Bible, supreme in God’s esti mation (Psa. 138:2), is in glory above and beyond all books as Niagara is beyond a mud puddle. T HE Bible, drenched in tears of multitudinous contritions, is the Book our fathers touched with reverent hands. The B i b l e , worn with the fingers of agony and death, is the Book our mothers stained with grate ful tears. The Bible, coming to us steeped in the prayers of myriads of saints, is the Book against which tyranny has issued its edicts, against which infidelity has loosed its blas phemous tongue, a g a i n s t which agnosticism has hurled its anathemas. The Bible, coming to us fragrant with the faith of little children and rich with the wisdorp of the greatest in tellects of all time, is the Book which knives of s o m e godless scientific anatomists attempt to dissect and against which some pulpit and college snipers aim their ill-grounded proposi tions and which they summon to ap pear at the bar of human reason. B UT this marvelous Book is still “the Word of God” that “ liveth and abideth forever.” All its enemies of yesteryear and today have not ex tinguished one spark of its holy fire or diluted one drop of its honey. They have not torn one holfe in its beauti ful vesture, or broken one string of its thousand-stringed harp. They have not weakened its vitality by one pulse beat, or s h o r t e n e d its march of triumph by one step. Today this Bible walks more bypaths and travels more highways and knocks at more doors and speaks to more people in their native tongue than any book this world has ever known. T HE Bible, possesing the wonder of self-authentication, is infinite in height and infinite in depth. While men have come, and do come, to at tack and destroy its teachings, the Spirit of Christ comes to validate and to confirm with divine conviction and with a divine certainty that •is in communicable by reason, and im pervious to the assaults of doubt. Time is too short for it and the universe too narrow for it. It is as deep as the foundations of eternal justice, as high
mere understatements. For it is the living Word of a living God—the Book supernatural in origin, eternal in.du ration, inexpressible in value, im measurable in influence, infinite in scope, divine in authorship, human in penmanship, regenerative in power, infallible in authority, universal in in terest, personal in application, in spired in totality. Today, wherever it is read and treasured, it breaks the fetters of the slave, removes the heat from life’s fierce fevers, robs death of its sting an'd parting of its pain. As in the centuries forever departed into the tomb of time, it unbars to the soul hastening onward to eternity the gates of everlasting delight beyond the grave. As in ages agone, the dying martyr cools his face in its fountains. Multitudes of saints still find this Book the softest pillow upon which a dying head may rest. L ET us beware that we do not forget that the Old Testament and the New Testament alike tell of Jesus. It can be truly said of the Bible, “the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.” The name of Jesus, the supreme personality, the center of a world’s desire, is on every page—in figure of speech, in symbol, in prophecy, in psalm, or proverb. Throughout the Bible, the name of Jesus runs like a line of glimmering light. The thought of Jesus, literature’s loftiest ideal, philosophy’s highest per sonality, criticism’s supreme problem, theology’s fundamental doctrine and s p i r i t u a l i t y ’s cardinal necessity, makes its way through the Book as a crystal river winds its way through a continent. The living Word of our living God, Jesus, is the star of the Bible. You cannot hold Christ and give up the Bible. You cannot believe in the Cross and surrender the infallible authority of the Scriptures. Faith in the deity of Christ is married to faith in the inspiration of the Bible. A LL of the Bible’s analogies, all of its types, all of its pictures, all of its truths, are so related to Christ that He alone explains them. They are filled with perfection of harmony in every detail; the relationship between them and our Lord Jesus Christ is strikingly self-evident. One ought not to be obliged to argue to get folks to see that the diversified and systematic sacrifices of the Jews, the significant shadows of redemptive entity still ahead, the adumbrations of a sub stance yet to come, were elemental, preparatory, rudimental, introductory, and that unmistakably they pointed to Christ, the propellant center to which the faith of mankind, before and since His coming in the flesh, has ever gravitated. The promises to fallen man in Eden and the ceremonies of (Continued on Page 23Ó)
as the throne of the Infinite, as wide as the moral government of God, as enduring as the life of the Almighty. Inexhaustible! Volumes have been written on single chapters—yea, even about single verses of it. C ONSIDER the wonders of the Bible. It is wonderful in its inspiration, in its translation, in its preservation, in its unification, in its salvation, in its sanctification, in its consummation. Addressing itself to the universal con science as does no o t h e r book, it creates lives and a l t e r s destinies. Speaking with binding c l a i m s , it inaugurates world-wide movements and gives birth to immortal works. Commanding the obedience of man-
A MOTHER’S LOVE FOR A SON There is an enduring tenderness in the love of a mother for a son that tran scends all other affections of the heart! It is neither to be chilled by selfishness, nor daunted by danger, nor weakened by worth lessness, nor stifled by in gratitude. She will sacri fice every comfort to his convenience; she will sur render every pleasure to his enjoyment; she will glory in his fame, and ex ult in his prosperity— and if misfortune overtake him, he will be dearer to her from misfortune; and if dis grace settle upon his name, she will still love and cher ish him in spite of his dis grace; and if all the world beside cast him off, she will be all the world to him. —Washington Irving.
kind, it comes into communities of unrighteousness as > the leaven of re generative force. The plot of Heaven- blessed and vitalized soil out of which has blossomed every social and na tional blessing, it produces philan thropic and redemptive enterprises which, together with educational and therapeutic institutions, stand as a tribute to its vitalizing power. rpHE best that man can say, with -*- tongue or pen, is but a paste jewel in this casket of God’s pure gems. Our best efforts to praise the Bible are
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