Origin of the Bible. James H. Brookes, D. D.
the people for more than fourteen hun- dred years from the rightful and benign authority of Jehovah, their rejection and crucifixion of the Redeemer, their contemptuous defiance of the Holy Spirit in His manifested presence and power, nought excusing nor extenuate ing. Man never wrote this history of himself and his nation. 5. While faithfully recording the evil deeds of man and the shameful apostasy of Israel, it makes no allow- ance for sin. On every page is written, " B e ye holy." It does not lower its standard to suit our inclinations, but everywhere thunders out its -stern com- mands, ' ' Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet, Love your ene- mies, Besist not evil, Do good to all men," cutting athwart the natural dis- position of the human heart without sparing. Man never framed such a code of morals, nor could he. 6. Although more than fifteen hun- dred years passed in its composition, and about forty writers of every grade of rank and intellect and learning and occupation were engaged on its ¡pages, it maintains the most perfect unity in its teachings from beginning to end. It is the same God, the same Christ, the same Holy Spirit^ the same condemna- tion of man for sin, the same redemp- tion by the blood, the same reward of the righteous, the same punishment of the wicked, without a single jarring note. Man could never have been so harmonious with his fellow man, as shown by the whole history of litera- ture, philosophy and science. 7. For many hundreds of years the fierce light of unfriendly criticism has beat upon it, but it has stood the test triumphantly, and as Archdeacon Farrar deliberately wrote in his better days, *' Nor has the widest learning, nor the acutest ingenuity of criticism ever dis- covered in it one single demonstrable error of fact or of doctrine." It is absolutely impossible that such a book could be the work of man, uncontrolled by a superior power. 8. For eighteen centuries it has been believed and loved by the best men and women who have ever lived. What- ever may be said about hypocrites in
Thi,s very ancient book, more ancient in some of its parts than any other book of which we have any knowledge, carries within itself the evidences of > A its supernatural origin. He who reads it attentively and intelligently can be- lieve that man made the world as read- ily as he can believe that man made the Word. 1. Compare the views it gives of the Supreme Being with the conceptions of the deity put forth by all other re- ligions—that of Egypt, or Greece, or Bome, or China, or India, or of Pagan- ism anywhere. It represents to us a Person eternal, self existent, omni- potent, omnipresent, omniscient, im- mutable, infinite in holiness, justice, goodness and truth. Man, unaided and unguided, never had such a thought of God. 2. From first to last it reveals to us a personal Messiah, or Christ, both di- vine and human, filled with power and love, who meets the demands of a righteous and unchangeable law by dying in the place of sinners, and then ascending to the right hand of the Majesty on high as the representative and great high priest of all who accept His grace. Man could never have in- vented such a Saviour. 3. From its opening to its closing chapter it sets forth a •divine and per- sonal Spirit, who regenerates, and abides with the believer forever to comfort and help and teach him, and to bear his infirmities, and to quicken his mor- tal body at the second coming of Christ. Man never dreamed of such a Parac- lete. If in the history of the race there has been even an approximation to the doctrine of the Bible concerning the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, let it be shown. 4. Throughout it portrays the most repulsive picture of man, his preference of the devil's lie, his deliberate sin, in- gratitude, unbelief, rebellion, idolatry, his entire and universal depravity, the falsehood of Abraham, the treachery of Jacob, the founders of the Jewish na- tion; the adultery and murder com- mitted by David, their greatest king; the cowardice of Elijah, the revolt of
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