THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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I am, Yours sincerely, Solomon, King over Israel in Jerusalem .
one.” My dear sir, it is indeed, as I say in my book, “ God made man up righ t, b u t he has found out many inven tions,” and one of these inventions is w hat you critics call “literary modesty.” The w riter uses poor me or my fath er David or our countrym an Moses or th e Apostle P eter for th e stalking-horse of his endeavours. Everybody knows th a t we, poor we, could no t w rite such won d erful things, b u t we have a name to conjure by, and, forsooth, th e g reat Un known will use our name. This is not “ literary modesty,” b u t to my thinking “ literary impudence.” I am reckoned a wise man, and as clever as most, .and no t righteous over much, b u t I don’t, like these subter fuges in th e Word of God. And when you get here, you won’t like them , either. God h as hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes. Be more simple, much learning makes you mad. Be lieve me, th e obvious meaning of Scrip-' tu re is th e rig h t one. We mean w hat we say. When I said, “ I was king over Israel in Jeru salem ,” I m eant it. Be lieve w hat I say. Let th a t be your principle w ith the Bible— believe what it says. I understand w hat you mean, I can follow all your reasoning. I ap preciate literary devices and half- though ts as much as most people, more, indeed, th an any of my fellows in the Bible. I should enjoy what you call th is d ram atic-study of Ecclesiastes, bu t I should no t th ink very much of it, unless it were real, a real sob. I t is my sob. I died, like your g reat Queen E lizabeth, G loriana, of “ care,” like as ■it were a moth fre ttin g a garment. This is th e fre tte d garm ent of my soul. T h at is why it is in th e Bible. We are in th e Bible, in th e first instance, because of our frankness and openness and sin cerity, even when we are wrong. Eccle siastes is n o t perfect, b u t it is penitent. It does no t hedge nor hide. There are no double meanings, no impersonations.
LET ’EM TRY IT L et th e ath eists an d th e ’m aterialists produce a b e tte r B ible th a n ours, if th ey can. Let' them collect th e best of th e ir school to be found among the g raduates of universities— as many as they please and from every land. Let th e members of this selected group tra vel where they will, consult such li braries as they like, and employ every modern means of sw ift communication. Let them glean in th e fields of geology, botany, astronomy, biology and zoology, and then roam a t will wherever science has opened a way; le t them take ad vantage of all th e progress in a r t and literatu re , in o rato ry and in history-— le t them use to th e full every in stru m entality th a t is employed in modern civilization; and when they have ex h austed every source, le t them embody th e resu lts of th e ir best intelligence in a book and offer it to th e world as a sub stitu te for th is Bible of ours. Have they the confidence th a t th e prophets of Baal had in th e ir god? W ill they try ? If not, w hat excuse will they give? Has man fallen from his high estate, so th a t we cannot righ tfu lly ex pect as much of him now as nineteen centuries ago? Or does th e B ible come to u s from a source th a t is h igh er th an m an—w hich ?—W m. J. Bryan. HIS ANOINTED IS APPOINTED God’s Anointed is appointed, and shall no t be disappointed. Look back through all the ages of infidelity, hearken to the high and hard th ing s which men have spoken against th e Most High, listen to th e rolling thund er of e a rth ’s volleys again st th e Majesty of heaven, and then th in k th a t God is saying all th e while, “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.”— Spurgeon.
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