TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
November, 1940-
438
NOTES on Christian Endeavor
By M IL D R E D M . C O O K
little about sin and its penalty. But apart from divine revelation, he would know absolutely nothing of: 1. God’s love. 2. God's provision for pardon, recon ciliation, and a new life in Christ. 8. Immortality and future rewards and punishment. H. HOW the Bible Came to Us. In Old Testament times, God spoke through His prophets (2 Pet. 1:21; Lk. 1:70; Acts 3:21; Rom. l.T, 2). Later, He spoke through His. Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Heb. Ill, 2), and the message was “confirmed . . . by them that heard” (Heb. 2:3, 4; Acts 26:13- 19). IH. THROUGH WHOM the Bible. Came to Us. The Bible has one Author, the Holy . Spirit (John 14:26; 16:13; 2 Tim. 3:16). But it has many writers — probably about thirty-five in all — and the Spirit of God actively directed the writing of each one, so that the composite work is, in very truth, the Word OF GOD. The Bible, as a whole •or in part, has been translated into over; 1,000 lan guages and dialects, and t^ie work of translation still goes on. But there are an estimated 2,796 languages and dia lects in the world,* so that the task is not even half finished! IV. How the ENGLISH BIBLE Came to Us. The Bible is to us what the star was to the wise men, but if we spend all our time in gazing upon it, ob serving its motions, and admiring its splendor, without being led to Christ by it, the use of it will be lost to us. —THOMAS ADAMS. When you have read the Bible, you tdll know it is the Word of God, be cause you will have found it the key to your own heart, your own happi- ness, and your own duty. —WOODROW WILSON. There are no songs comparable to the songs of Zion; no orations equal to those of the prophets; and no politics like those which the Scrip tures teach.—JOHN MILTON. *French Academy Report.
DECEMBER 1, 1940 HOW OUR BIBLE CAME TO US I saiah 34:16; 2 P eter 1 :20, 21 The Leader’s. Opening Remarks
A little study of the colorful history of the English Bible will furnish a wealth of material with which to enrich the meeting. The following is a list of books that will be helpful: Leach, Charley, Our Bible: How We Got It. Bible Institute Colportage Ass’n, Chicago, 111. Paper. Price 20 cents. Riley, W. B., My Bible: An Apolo getic, ch. 1. Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., Grand Rapids, Mich. Price $1.00. Material also may be obtained from the American Bible Society, Bible House, New York, N. Y. A most inter esting account of the work of Bible translation and distribution, together with facsimile specimens of texts in different.languages, is presented in a beautiful publication, The Book of a Thousand Tongues, by E. M. North, of the American Bible Society. Price $2.50. DECEMBER 8, 1940 USING THE BIBLE WHEN IT COUNTS H ebrews 4 :12 ; 2 T imothy 3:16 The Leader’s Opening Remarks Imagine any one’s discussing “using electricity when it counts” ! It/always “ counts.” Man finds it destructive or I have read thè Bible through many times, and now make it a practice to read it through once every year. It is a book of all others for lawyers, as well as divines; and I pity the man who cannot find in it a rich supply of thought and of rules for conduct.—DANIEL WEBSTER. All that I am I owe to Jesus Christ, revealed to me in His divine Book. ‘ —DAVID LIVINGSTONE. In what light soever we regard the Bible, whether with reference to revelation, to history, or to morality, it is an invaluable and inexhaustible mine of knowledge and virtue. —JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
The story is told of a young woman who wore a particularly brilliant em erald, of great value. It had been her mother’s, and her grandmother’s and her great-grandmother’s before her. She delighted to tell thrilling incidents of how it had been preserved in the fam ily from generation to generation, since the time, more than three hundred years, earlier, when a young man had given it to his bride and had said, "Let it speak to us and to our children’s ch. !ren of what real love is.” Thus it is with the Bibl^. The ac count of its compiling and preservation is absorbingly interesting. But back of it all is the love of God which fur nishes for us this blessed means of knowing Him. It will do us good to spend a little time considering: If the Bible HAD NOT come to us—what? For one answer, we have only to look ate the heathen na tions of the world which lack an under standing of God’s Word, and we see that many o f their practices are foully corrupt and that the people themselves are unable to better themselves by their own strength (cf. Rom. 1:21-32; 3:9-18; 1 Cor. 6:9-11; Eph. 2:1-3, 11, 12; 4:17-19). Horrible things have been done and are being done in the name of religion by men and women who are untaught in the Word of God (cite il lustrations taken from life in Africa, India, China, etc.). Only in the Bible— a revelation from God—can one learn how to be freed from "ignorance, su perstition, cruelty, and impurity” (Psa. 19:7-11; 119:9, 11, 105; Eph. 1:13). How great would be OUR lack, if the Bible had not come to us! (For a fuller treat ment of this point, and for develop ment of the outline which follows, see General Biblical Introduction, ch. 1, by H. S. Miller.) The Speakers’ Outline' I. WHY the Bible Came to Us. It is true that by means of intuition and reasoning, sinful man may know a
As Men View the Bible
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