8
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
SHESaSffiHSHSSSadbihdhiVbdSiaSSSSBSHSESHSSSHSHScISESHSESSSHSHSESESHSHfESSSaSHbdSaiiiESESHBESESHSEHSSESSSESHSHSHSSSSSHSHSHStlSaSSSESHSESSfn
C o n t r i b u t e d A r t i c l e s
---------- *
— '
g
Tke Bible Contrasted W itk Otker Religious Books BY THE BATE DR. GEORGE F . PENTECOST For many years pastor .of Bethany Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia
most casual reader of the Bible, if he have ’ serious thoughtfulness of mind, must re- rk its unique and extraordinary character, dif- ing as it does in its structure and matter, its
Since then I have found a great many persons who while they are in no sense students or scholars, have read some book or magazine article by which they have been inocu lated with the thought that the Bible is only one of many equally ancient and equally trustworthy religious books. And so it may’ be well just here to have our attention called to the difference between the Bible and these two of the more famous books. The Vedas are a very ancient collection of sacred hymns addressed to the fancied gods of nature, and make no pre tension to be in any sense a revelation.. They are outpour ings of the natural religious sentiment. The Zend-Avesta is an ancient speculation into the- origin of things. It does not pretend to be revelation of-the truth, but only a human effort to account for and explain things that are seen. But the Bible is the revelation of God, and the history of crea tion: it declares the origin of things and of man, showing God to be the creator and author of all, and states our re lation, not to nature, but to Him. Speculation vs. Revelation Now the difference between a speculation and a revela tion is this: One is an effort of the human mind to account for things seen, and so make discovery of the things that are not seen; an effort to leap from the earth outward and upward into the presence and mystery of the unseen and eternal. The other is a positive statement of the truth out and downward from God to man. We notice that the Bible, when speaking of God, never gives an opinion, never specu lates. It always, in: simple and majestic measure, declares — as in the opening sentence of the Bible, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” That is so utterly different, both in matter and manner, from any sentence ever framed by philosopher or religious speculator, that it almost goes without saying that these could not have been the words of man; that they are the words of God spoken by man as he was moved of God to speak, in order that man might have the truth, and have it at once and simply, in a single breath. The majestic sweep of the -first chapter of Genesis is so great, packing away in a compass hardly greater than one page of a small book the entire account of the creation of the world and all things therein, that on its face it bears the stamp of God rather than man. Think, if you can, of any human philosopher dashing off with a few bold strokes of his pen such an account of the creation. If you want to read the finest specimen of human specula tion and argumentation on record, turn to the divinely pre served debate between Job and his three friends recorded in the Book of Job (2 :3 1 ). How the battle between Job and his three friends rages through those thirty chapters, until, weary with the conflict, they give over their arguments, drawn from observation, tradition, and law. Nothing was (Continued on Page 52)
spirit and style, from all other books. Side by side with th e best and most celebrated of them, its incomparable superiority is almost instantly recognized. Here and there there have been found passages from other books that have been thought to compare favorably with some of the sublime teachings of the Bible. But it has been remarked that even when precepts and moral teachings similar to or identical with those of either earlier or later ancients are found in the Bible, especially in the teachings of Jesus, they “receive a different setting, and a more heavenly light is in them. A diamond in a dark or dimly lighted room is not the same thing as a diamond in the track of a sun beam.” The Simplicity andl Naturalness The simplicity and naturalness of the Bible are most striking. Where else can be found such graphic pictures of paternal and domestic life? The straightforward de lineation of its most conspicuous characters; its record of the sins of God’s people with the same impartial pen as is used for the setting forth of their virtues; its lofty moral tone; -its sublimity of thought; as well as its superhuman authority— all bespeak its unique character. For like the Master, of whom it is the constant and consistent witness, its words are with authority. It never speculates or halts in its teaching, but drives straight to the mark in its ever recurring “Thus saith the Lord,” in the Old Testament, and in the “Verily, verily, I say unto you” of the Master, in the New Testament. The Uniqueness of the Bible I met a young man in the inquiry room in Hartford, and said to him, as to others whom I met there nightly, “Well, my young friend, are you a Christian?” He replied, “I am not; but I am an inquirer after truth.” “What is your trouble?” I asked. “Why,” said he, “I do not know which Bible to believe, or whether they are all alike to be be lieved, each one for what it is worth.” What do you mean?” I replied, “I do not understand you. There is but one Bible.” “Oh yes, there are many Bibles. There are the Vedas and the Zend-Avesta and the Koran, but I do not count much upon the Koran; the others, however, are very ancient books, and contain the. religion of the larger part of the inhabitants of the earth.” I found he had been^reading Mr. Max Muller’s studies in comparative religions, and was much taken up with the idea that the Bible, especially the Old Testament, was .only a Jewish version of the “more ancient” religions of Aryan races. I was at first disposed to ignore his difficulties and pass him by, but on second thought I felt it to be my duty to try and meet them.
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker