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TÏJE KING’S BUSINESS
We take the Bible in hand and read, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God,” that is to say, “All Scripture is God- breathed,” the breath of the Almighty is in it. To illustrate what this means, let us go back in thought to the garden of Eden and witness the creation of man. Here before us we see the inanimate form of man lying on the ground as lifeless dust. We she Qod breathing into that form of clay th e . breath of Jife, and,/ behold, we have a living soul, a man! What is man? Dust inbreathed by deity—that is man. And when that divine breath is withdrawn from' man you have nothing, but dust, yea, corruption. Just so is it with the Word of God. There is a human element in it. The divine mind is expressed in human- words. Men wrote the Scrip ture—^not ordinary men, but men inbreathed by God the Holy Ghost. And when you take that Divine inbreathing out of the Word of God you have nothing left but literature—good literature to be sure, the best literature, but only literature. It is the supernatural and divine element in its composition that differentiates the Bible from all other books in the world, that places it in a class all by itself, and gives to it a spiritual quality which no other book possesses. --------- —O—:-------- ' ' Record of Industry D. V. Methvin, a student of the Insti tute during 1913, has been engaged since last August as one of the home mission aries and colporteurs of the American Bap tist Publication Society. His field in Cal ifornia is about 400 miles square. During his 240 days of service he has delivered 118 sermons and addresses, visited 20 churches, held 70 prayer meetings, visited 2890 families, led 38 persons to profess their acceptance of Christ, visited 25 Sun day Schools, gave out 1278 pages of tracts, 15 books and 181 Bibles and New Testa ments, sold 311_books, found 17 families and 186 individuals who did not have a Bible.
people as true, then what becomes of His honesty, or of His claim to being “the truth” ? (John 14:6). Is it not much better, yea, and much easier, and certainly more in accord with what we know of the character of Christ, to accept His statements at their face value as being true to facts? Cer tainly it is. The Bible in its ovyn Behalf —There is a tendency today to look upon the Bible with suspicion whenever it takes its place on the witness stand to speak in it's own behalf. This attitude should not be assumed towards any reputable witness, much less' towards the witness and Word of God. Its testimony should be listened to" without prejudice and with an absence pf or any predisposition to doubt its verac ity. It should at least be given credit for being honest in its statements. Yet how seldom is such a hearing given to the Bible today by the critics. It is looked upon with suspicion. Its veracity is challenged ere it takes its place upon the witness stand. It is called upon to do what no witness is asked to do—prove its own integrity and its right to be heard. The Bible’s own claim to inspiration, veracity and histor icity ought to be considered .-yvith presump tion of sincerity and honesty at least in its favor. What has the Bible to say about itself? Does it claim to be an inspired record of God’s mind and purpose, a final authority in matters of faith and practice? Does it claim reality and historicity for the facts it records? Does it claim to be a writing by men who were inspired by God and thus fitted to accurately convey the thought of God to man in words he could understand? Here is an account the Bible gives of itself: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” . . . “No scripture is of any private interpretation (or origin) . . .“ holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20, 21). It calls itself “the Word of God” (Mark 7:9, 13; 1 Thess. 7:13), “the words of the' Holy Ghost” (1 Cor. 2:13); the '“Revelation of (given by) Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:1).
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