August 1929
367
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
guarded Isaiah from the foolish notions of his time, concerning the shape of the earth, and caused him to w rite: " Thou art He who sitteth upon the circle of the earth”? Isaiah was not a college professor, yet he seemed to know enough to keep from being the laughingstock of the generations that followed him! Who put it into the head of the Bible writers to say: “The life is in the blood,” and “Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues o f life”? The facts concerning the blood and its circulation were here written down long before the dis coveries of modern science! They anticipated the discov eries of modern science in more than a score of instances. There is not another book that has been in existence for ten years or more, dealing with a third of the number of scientific matters referred to by Bible writers, that does not contain foolish statements concerning known facts of science! Not one science textbook that I used in college, would bring five cents on the open market! The Bible is like Pat’s stone wall. He made it four feet high and four feet thick, so it would be the same height, should it be blown over. The infidel scientist has upset the Old Book many times, but it always stands, “An Impregnable Rock of Sacred Scripture” ! The conclusion is, that “holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit,” of they could not have spoken jn such perfect accord with true science. III. T h e B ible S atisfies T h e D emand of T h e H eart There is a longing in every heart to know the answer to some important questions that cannot be answered with out divine revelation. I want to know who God is. If there is no divine revelation on the subject, I have no means of knowing. I see no reason why I should blame the pagan for wor shiping idols. It is an innocent pastime! If “the Bible is simply and only the history of man’s search for God,” why cannot he search for a god among his .idols, since there is no prospect of him finding a satisfactory god? “Can a man by searching find out God?” I want to know if God can forgive sin- How God can be just, and a justifier of sinners, is a problem that has never been settled outside of revelation. When your Gov ernor pardons a man convicted of a crime, there is some thing wrong with the law, something wrong with the execution of the law, or something wrong with the Gov ernor. If there is a God, He must be just, and justice for bids the condoning of sin in any form. Socrates once said to Plato: “It may be that the gods can forgive sin, but how I cannot tell.” Neither can any other human being solve the problem! I want to know what I am worth. Without a revela tion the only logical answer to the question is, what I will bring in the open market. If there is no revelation, Dr. Osier was right. Some of us are getting painfully near the age.for chloroforming! Why not? Why a Board of Ministerial Relief? Why not chloroform the old preacher? Why pay taxes to support institutions for the care of those who no longer produce to the wealth of society? Chloroform them! • You say you have higher ideals than that? Where did you get them? I think you stole them from your mother’s Bible; but the Bible, they tell us, has no authority as a revelation from God; therefore you have no right to use it in estimating the worth of a man. If there is no revela tion from God on the subject, then our- worth must be expressed in terms of dollars and cents.
I once saw men sell a sheep for $3,000. I was but a boy. I had read in the Bible, “How much better is a man than a sheep!” I thought of some of the bqys at school whom I did not love, and I made up my mind that if the statement was true, God must have seen something in man that was beyond his worth in the market! I am told that you can buy girl babies in India for twenty-five cents apiece. They are not worth it, so far as human wisdom can estimate! I want to know where I am going. If God has not spoken on that subject, I do not care for the opinions of men. They tell us God has not spoken- Then we are in the dark. Sir Oliver Lodge tells us that death does not end all. Why should I believe his guess, rather than any other man’s guess ? Looking into the window of a second hand book store, I once saw three books lying together: “Some Recent Discoveries In Psychic Phenomena,” by Lodge; “Will There Be Another War?” by Jordan; and “How I Discovered the North Pole,” by Dr. Cook! I went in and congratulated the bookseller on his splendid classification! If God has not spoken concerning the hereafter, Robert G. Ingersoll has said the last thing, -and the best thing, that can be said at the graves of our dear ones. Standing over his brother’s casket, with tears streaming down his face, he said: “Life is but a barren vale between the cold and ice-clad peaks of two eternities. We strive in vain to look beyond the heights. We lift our trembling voices in the silence of the night, only to hear the echo of their cry” ! . Will God leave the questions of my soul unanswered? Will He create man with a longing and make no provi sion for the satisfaction of his longing? If I am not the creation of an intelligent, personal God, where did I get the longing? If I am, why should I not expect a revela tion of the answers to the great questions of my heart? If I can find a revelation that will satisfy my heart, why should I not accept it as from God? I have found such a revelation! The Bible satisfies! I want to know who made all things. The Book tells m e: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” That is reasonable! That does not ask me to believe something I cannot believe. The lit tle child and the old philosopher have both accepted that statement. Something must have existed from all eternity. If not, whatever exists now must have created itself. That is unbelievable. If matter alone existed through all eternity, intelli gence must have been added, and it must have existed before it was added, or, you are forced to admit that mat ter is infinitely wise, and infinitely powerful. That is unbe lievable, for there is no will-power or purpose in matter. But I see the evidence everywhere of will-power and purpose, that compels me to believe that there is a God. “The heavens declare His glory, and the firmament show- eth His handiwork.” The first verse of the Bible satisfies! What is God? George Gillespie has boiled down the Bible answer to this: “God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.” No one can analyze God, but the Bible satisfies m e! Can God forgive sin? I cannot think of a Supreme Being without the attribute of perfect justice. If God is, He is just. How then can God forgive sin and be just? This Bible tells me: “He gave His only begotten Son, that'whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life.” “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” “In this was manifested the
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker