November 1926
b u s i n e s s
immemorial! How many learned tomes have been written on this question! Yet all human guesses have been inade quate and unsatisfying. But when we turn to the old Bible we find our problem solved in the most simple, beautiful and satisfying way; for its opening verse says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Could anything be clearer than that? Can any one con ceive of a better beginning of the universe than that it was created by an all-wise and all-powerful personal God? Would any one prefer to think that the universe Just hap pens to be, no one knows how or why? Is it hurling and whirling through space without a purpose or a guide? How much better is the Biblicgl view! For if God created the universe, He can uphold it, can prevent catastrophe, and can guide it to its ultimate destiny. The great value of this Biblical teaching is that it assigns an adequate cause for the genesis, continued existence and every phenomenon from the lowest to the highest of this universe of ours, because it places back of it and in it a personal, all-wise and all-powerful God; and an adequate cause of things is the great quest of every rational and philosophic mind. Moreover, the Biblical doctrine solves for us another deep and questful problem of philosophy— that of the unifyihg principle or force in the midst of marvelous diversity. What holds together all these varied elements, making the cosmos a universe (unus, one and verto, to turn)? The Biblical answer is, the one mind and person of God, all-powerful, all-wise. Is ncjt; that solution satisfactory tp both the intel lect and the heart? The Bible is a big light, is it not? The Origin of Man On another foundational problem the Holy Book casts a clear radiance— the problem of the origin of the human family. Again how many erudite books, whole libraries of them indeed, have been written in the attempt to explicate that problem; and how many of these human speculations have been futile! It certainly gives a moral, spiritual and emotional uplift to one who after reading Osborn’s, Conk- Ifn'a W p II r V and Vnn Lnnn’R b ook s a Awlflpln A t man, so crude and so depressing, turns to the old Bible and reads: "And God created man in His own image: in the image of God created He them.” Could there be anything more refreshing? Is not the Biblical doctrine of the gen esis of man the best and most rational solution that can be conceived? The reasonable feature about it is, it gives an adequate explanation of the whole being of man,— of his existence, his personality, his self-consciousness, his moral nature, his spiritual enduement. How else can these characteristics be accounted for? . Could the non-personal evolve into the personal, the non-consclous into the conscious, the. non- moral into the moral, the non-spiritual into the spiritual? No! It is impossible. Something cannot come out of nothing; a greater cannot come out of a lesser. But God, all powerful and all-wise, could very easily cre ate a personal being in His own similitude. The Bible is the real book of science and philosophy. "Thy Word is a light unto my path.” The Origin of Sin And what a clear light the Bible casts upon that other profound problem— the origin of sin. The problem is ever present with us. Sin is here, and so is its consequence, suf fering. ' How came sin into this world? Just turn to the Bible and read the account (Genesis 3 ), and note its depth. Sin came into the world through the wrong choice of a free moral agent. How else could it have arisen, and be sin in the sense of guilt? If sin came by necessity, it would not (Continued on page 636)
CHRIST,-OUR PASSOVER Mary Maxwell Hadden "When I see the blood, I will pass over you." Exodus 12:13. Night and darkness, more than darkness 1 Gloom and chill and damp of death; Sorrow stalking through the shadows; Fear and dread that stifled breath. Such the night. In Hebrew households Hasty plans were made for flight; Hastily the lamb was eaten. . Long, how long, the death-like night? Would the holy God of Heaven, As He passed by, look within?. - Through the windows watch their conduct? Pierce each soul and see its sin? Would the lamb’s blood be sufficient? Just the blood upon the door? Would He, passing o’er the guilty, See the blood and nothing more? Yes, the midnight hour was over; Not a mourning voice was heard For the first-born of the Hebrews. God was faithful to His Word! Such, my night, and such my Saviour. His sufficiency alone Saves my soul from death and darkness,
Just His grace, my soul must own. Not my guilt and not my goodness Does the passing angel see; Just the blood upon the doorway, Just the blood of Calvary 1
—Eagle Rock, California.
me” is the meaning of it. “ What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt understand hereafter." Let us ponder another great passage: “ The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” The Bible Lamp In some respects, therefore, the Bible is “ a little candle unto our feet.” However, there is another important clause in this verse: "And a light unto my path." That means that in some important respects the Bible is a great light; in some ways it illumines our whole pathway from the cradle to the grave, and then on into a blissful and unend ing futurity. In reality the Bible as a great light solves all our funda mental problems for us— the problems that need solution in order that we may live happy and effective lives here, and prepare for the eternal life to come. True enough, it leaves some minor problems unsolved, as is right; for why should God try to satisfy idle curiosity? But on all the major questions of human life the Bible poifrs an undimmed and undimmable light. Oh, its blessed radiancy! It is "the light that shineth neither upon the land nor upon the sea, but that makes luminous the soul of the true believer. Sup pose we note some of the fundamental problems that are irradiated by the Holy Scriptures. The Problem of Origins Solved There is the problem of the origin of our universe. What a problem for the human intellect this has been from time
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