HE Bible, the Book of God, is, without any exception, the most remarkable book in existence. It is the "beau ideal of all subjects that ever engaged the powers of burning eloquence or inspired poetic fire." Carlyle well knew the sublime thoughts as well as the value of this great book, when he said "I call the Bible apart from all theories about it, one of the grandest things ever written with pen. A noble book! All man's book!" This is true. It is unlike all other books. There is something more than human attached to this divine volume. There is a divinity in it, which makes it among books what the diamond is among stones--the most sublime and the brightest; and the most apt to scatter light and make impressions upon the human mind. While secular books have grown old and become obsolete, the teachings of the Bible are just as new and the thoughts contained in it are just as sublime as they were when they fell from the lips of Christ and the inspired writers. What care we today for the work [340] of mythology written in ancient times? There is no room for these morning mists in the bright noonday of this intelligent age of the world. The teachings of Sappho, and the pathos of Simonides are no longer sought after. But the Bible is a book for all ages. And never was there a time when its sacred pages were perused with so much candor as they are today. While the productions of the moralists and philosophers of Greece and Rome are laid away on the shelves--kept simply as monuments of genius or chapters of intellectual history--the Bible occupies a prominent place in all of our social and religious gatherings and is recognized as the one great authoritative book of the present and all future time. We, would not think of going to the works of Aristotle to solve the question: "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?" We would not think of going to the works of Plato to get a solution to the problem, "If a man die shall he live again?" or to the works of Cato to ascertain the relations and dependencies between the celestial world and this. You may look through all the Greek and Roman classics and you will find nothing but dead relics of antiquity which fail to remove the burden of sin from the human soul and lift the veil and point out the glories of that eternal home which lies beyond the shadows of this earthly existence. It is only when. we turn to the Bible, the great text-book, that we find an answer to these questions. This book is the guide for all men and for all time, for the twentieth century [341] no less than the, first, for the world has not outgrown it, and never will outgrow it while the ages roll. I wish now to call your attention to some features of the Bible which make it, pre-eminently, a wonderful book.

      1. It is wonderful in its origin. It is a revelation from God to man.--The term "revelation," from the Latin word revelo, signifies that which is revealed, disclosed, or made known. In a religious sense it is used to denote a supernatural communication of such things as man had not before known, and which he could not discover by natural means. Some of these are: (1) Man's origin; (2) the true character of God; (3) the true relation which should exist between man and God; (4) how man can be saved from sin; (5) the immortality of the soul and the future life. These truths which at first were wholly hidden, or obscurely seen, like a statue before it is unveiled, have been made known, and we call them a divine revelation. It is believed that the living God has made himself known to living men. Miracles attended the utterances of His voice. The infinite is above the finite, and it is possible for God to work by laws above and beyond our comprehension; and men but show their folly when they attempt to set bounds and limits to the Infinite One. All faith in a divine revelation must imply a previous conviction that "there is a God in heaven who revealeth secrets," an Unseen Lawgiver who is capable of making known His will to mankind. [342]

      It is asked, "Can we put implicit faith in the Holy Scriptures as a divine revelation?" This is the crucial question of the theological thinking of the hour. If there is no certainty here, there is doubt everywhere. The Bible at this point is now fiercely attacked. Destructive criticism is doing its work, but God will overrule all attacks made upon His word, for its fuller confirmation. The Bible contains God's revelation to man. If this is not true, then there is no divine communication of truth from God to man. If God has not spoken here, then no man has ever heard His voice. If He has not here made known His will, then we know not what His mind concerning us may be; we know not who or what we are, whence we came, why we are here, whither we are going; existence is an enigma, life a mystery, and death a leap into darkness. No one at all conversant with the Bible will for a moment allow any other book to come into competition with it. The Greek word Biblion, from which the word Bible comes, signifies book, and used to denote that the sacred volume is "the book" as being superior in excellence to all other books. It is the book of God containing the instruction and counsel of the Heavenly Father to his children on earth.

      In the days of Christ and his apostles the Jewish Scriptures were known as the Sacred Scriptures, and were quoted and endorsed by them as such. Jesus says: "Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfill. [343] For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished." (Matt. 5:17, 18.) Again he says: "All things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me. Then opened He their mind, that they might understand the Scriptures" (Luke 24:44, 45.) The apostolic endorsement is given in many ways, but only two conspicuous passages will be quoted. Peter says "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation. For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit." (II. Pet. 1:20, 21.) Paul says: "Every Scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work." (II. Tim. 3:16, 17.)

      That the Old Testament was inspired is attested by the high moral tone throughout. Those who criticise it on the ground that its morality seems low from a Christian standpoint, should remember that its ethical principles and the actual morality of the people are two different things. The Old Testament was beyond the attainment of any actual character of those ages for which it was designed. The best Old Testament saints but partially realized the ideals that were set before them constantly in their law and in the preaching of their prophets. A certain [344] writer has said: "If the moral pitch of the Old Testament were on the same key with the character of the age in which it originated, the book would not be exceptional; but when the tendency of the age was downward, and the thoughts of men gross, and the trend of nations was toward corruption and violence, nothing less than the guidance of a holy and just God could have directed the composition of such a volume as the Old Testament."

      Inspiration is also seen in the exalted conception of God found in these writings. Only a slight familiarity with the ideas of deity prevalent among the nations surrounding the Jews, and the base submission with which the Jews themselves yielded to the religious influence exerted upon them by other people, is sufficient to demonstrate the superhuman origin of the divine character portrayed in this volume. "The just and righteous laws, the pure and harmless worship, the wise restraints placed upon the excesses of corrupt human nature, the introduction and exemplification of such vital principles in the process of ennobling humanity as repentance, obedience, mercy, and benevolence, all these prove that a divine character was being revealed to the Jews which surpassed their own power of invention. It was the peculiar office of those writings contained in the Old Testament to set forth this divine character. If the character be superhuman, the writings which first present that can not be wholly of man." [345]

      We may still further trace the divine hand in the Old Testament by the unity of its purpose. The student of the history of the Jews and influence exerted by the sacred writers and teachers upon their people, easily discerns one purpose pursued throughout all the works of their instructors. That purpose is, to bring man nearer to God and his inestimable blessings. That one writer should have followed a single purpose throughout one book, or even all his works, is not to be regarded as remarkable; but that many men, living in ages distinct from each other, under circumstances wholly different, should have pursued one principal object, and that object contrary to the tendencies of their times, is not only extraordinary, but is indicative of supernatural direction. To appreciate this strong argument for the divine origin of the Bible, try this test in a supposed case: Imagine another book, compiled by as many writers, scattered over as many centuries! Herodotus furnishes an historical statement of the origin of all things; a century later Aristotle adds a book on moral philosophy; two centuries pass and Cicero writes a valuable treatise on law and government; another hundred years elapse and Virgil's pen gives to the world a sublime poem on ethics; in the next century Plutarch supplies some biographical sketches; two hundred years after, Origen adds essays on religious creeds and conduct; a century and a half later, Augustine writes a treatise on theology, and Chrysostom a book of sermons; then seven [346] centuries pass away and Abelard completes the compilation by a splendid series of essays on rhetoric and scholastic philosophy. And between these extremes, which, like the Bible, span fifteen centuries, let us imagine all along from Herodotus to Abelard thirty or forty other contributors whose works enter into the final result, men of different nations, periods, habits, languages, and education; under the best conditions, how much moral unity could be expected, even if each successive contributor had read all that preceded his own writings?

      Have you heard Sousa's grand orchestra? You have noticed how that as the baton rises and falls in the hand of the master musician, from violin to bass viol, cornet and flute, trombone and trumpet, flageolet and clarinet, bugle and French horn, cymbals and drum, there comes one grand harmony! You are convinced at once that there is one master mind which controls all the instrumental performers. "But God makes his oratorio to play for more than a thousand years, and where one musician becomes silent another takes up the strain, and yet it is all one grand symphony--the key is never lost and never changes, except by those exquisite modulations that show the composer; and when the last strain dies away you see that all these glorious movements and melodies have been variations of one grand theme! Did each musician compose as he played, or was there one composer back of the many players? "One supreme and regulating mind" in this Oratorio of [347] the Ages? If God was the master musician, planning the whole and arranging the parts, appointing player to succeed player, and one strain to modulate or melt into another, then we can understand how Moses' grand anthem of creation glides into Isaiah's oratorio of the Messiah, by and by sinks into Jeremiah's plaintive wail, swells into Ezekiel's awful chorus, changes into Daniel's rapturous lyric, and after the quartette of the Evangelists, closes with John's full choir of saints and angels!"

      The New Testament was quite generally accepted by the Apostolic Church as of divine authority. Before the close of the second century there was an essential agreement to the fact that the New Testament Scriptures, as we have them today, were clothed with the authority of heaven, and were written, according to the promise of Christ, by inspired men. In confirmation of this we have the testimony of Christ and his apostles. Christ did not himself organize his church, but gave to his apostles all authority for this purpose. In terms the most complete and unqualified he confers upon them the power to speak and act in his name, and to be his witnesses, to organize, legislate, and even forgive sins, and that, too, because of the aid of the Holy Spirit and his own perpetual presence. As correlated with these promises and their fulfillment, the apostles constantly claim and assert this divine authority and guidance. John declares that the Apocalypse was a communication "in the Spirit." Peter, in his first [348] epistle, asserts that the things testified beforehand by the Spirit of Christ in the prophets "have been announced through them that preached the gospel by the Holy Spirit sent forth from heaven." Paul declares that the gospel which he preached was not after man, nor received from men, but made known by the revelation of Jesus Christ. And again, in the First Corinthian epistle, referring directly to his writing, and vouching for all the apostles, he said "Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; combining spiritual things with spiritual words." (I. Cor. 2:13.) It is evident from these Scriptures that inspiration is claimed on the part of the sacred writers of the New Testament and if we accept them as honest witnesses, we must admit that they spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

      No one can intelligently affirm that the apostles were not competent witnesses, neither will anyone dare say that they were dishonest or fanatical. Their lives were singularly transparent and beautifully consecrated. The sobriety and naturalness of their narratives are as apparent as their simplicity and honesty. In matter, effect, and motive the New Testament record is beyond all comparison superior to all other literature of its own day or any other time. In many respects, in its thought and expression it is totally opposed to the entire spirit of the age in which it was written, and to the opinions of the [349] people to whom it was primarily given. "The development of literature in different countries," says MacArthur, "is recognized among all literary students; but the New Testament, in its pure thought, heavenly atmosphere, and divine influence, stands apart from all the law of movement, of progress, and of attainment among uninspired writers of every century and country. The volume possesses a unity, a singleness of purpose, and an elevation of tone which stamp it as a work alike of human genius and of divine inspiration. Its calmness, comprehension, reticence, and majesty differentiate it from all the literature of the world." Well may Van Oosterzee say: "He who will acknowledge in Scripture nothing higher than a purely human character comes into collision not only with our Lord's word and that of his witnesses, but also with the Christian consciousness of all ages. It is impossible to account for these exalted qualities on any other hypothesis than that the writers of this uncommon volume were under the special influence of God in thought and speech."

      II. The Bible is a Wonderful Book on account of its antiquity. "For many centuries," says Dr. A. H. Sayce, "it was possible to describe the Pentateuch as the oldest book in the world. There was nothing with which it would be compared; it was the last relic that had survived to us out of the wreckage of the oriental past. But all this has been changed by the spade of the excavator and the patient labor [350] intimately bound up with the art of writing. We have learned that long before the days of Moses, or even of Abraham, there were books and libraries, readers and writers; that schools existed in which all the arts and sciences of the day were taught, and that even a postal service had been organized from one end of Western Asia to the other. The world into which the Hebrew patriarchs were born, and of which the Book of Genesis tells us, was permeated with a literary culture, whose roots went back to an antiquity of which, but a short time ago, we could not have dreamed. There were books in Egypt and Babylonia long before the Pentateuch was written; the Mosaic age was, in fact, an age of widely-extended literary activity, and the Pentateuch was one of the latest fruits of long centuries of literary growth."

      "And yet there is a sense," says Dr. Sayce, "in which we may still say that the Pentateuch is the oldest book in the world. The books of Egypt and Babylonia have, for the most part, come down to us in a torn and fragmentary condition. And of those which are complete, there is none which can compete, either in length or unity of plan, with either the Book of Genesis or the Pentateuch as a whole. For the books of Moses have been written in accordance with a definite plan which has been worked out consistently from their beginning to their end. It [351] is just this plan that gives them their literary form and stamps them as the first known literary example of a literary conception of history."

      These early books of the Bible furnish us with the only authentic history we have of the world before the flood. They take us back to the very dawn of human life and to the beginning of all the great movements which have culminated in the civilizations of all the races of men. Moses has given us an account of the creation, brief, vivid, comprehensive, and majestic. The book of Genesis is one of the oldest trustworthy books in the world, containing about all we know of the race for more than two thousand years. Tatian, one of the Greek fathers, tells us that "Though Homer was before all poets, philosophers, and historians, and was the most ancient of all profane writers, yet Moses was more ancient than Homer himself."

      Tertullian of Carthage was born about the year 160. He was bred to the Roman law, and gave himself to political and forensic labors until he reached his maturity. He then renounced paganism, embraced Christianity, abandoned his profession, and became a Presbyter. He gave his great learning, vigorous mind, and original genius to the defense and exposition of Christianity. In speaking of the antiquity of the Bible he says: "The pagans themselves have not denied that the books of Moses were extant many ages before the states and cities of [352] Greece; before their temples and gods; and also before the beginning of Greek letters."

      The authorship of the book of Job has been assigned to Moses by Jewish tradition as represented in the Talmud, and by such comparatively recent writers as Ebrard (1858) and Rawlinson (1891). The style has a "grand character," which has been recognized by almost all critics. But if it was not written as early as some claim, and we take the date--the time of Solomon--assigned by the consensus of modern scholarship, it must be admitted that the events, the scenes, the drapery, the facts it records, and the whole tone of the book, are Patriarchal. Scientific men now turn to its allusions as the only recorded evidence we have of the state of the arts and sciences four thousand years ago. A modern writer has collated from its passages illustrative of the then existing state of knowledge respecting astronomy, geography, cosmology, precious stones, writing, medicine, music, hunting, zoology, and the military art. Surely such a book, that gives to us the state of these sciences and arts thirty or forty centuries back, ought to be hailed as a treasure worthy of a nation's purchase.

      III. The Bible is a Wonderful Book because of its safe transmission to us from the earliest times, without being corrupted and mutilated. This fact rests on the most satisfactory evidence. The original manuscripts of the Old Testament were preserved with the utmost care by the Jews, who were famed [353] for their faithful guardianship of the Sacred Books. This fact is confirmed by the eminent William Greenfield, who tells us that the Jews were remarkable in this respect. They not only devoted much time in copying their sacred books, but most carefully compared them with the originals, and went so far as to even number the words and letters. "That the Jews have neither mutilated nor corrupted these writings," says Greenfield, "is fully proved by the silence of the prophets as well as of Christ and his apostles, who, though they bring many heavy charges against them, never once accuse them of corrupting one of their sacred writings; and also by the agreement in every essential point, of all the versions and manuscripts amounting to nearly 1,150, which are now extant, and which furnish a clear proof of their uncorrupted preservation."

      The New Testament portion of the Bible was, of course, written after Christ's coming, and within the first century. The preservation of this in its essential purity is also established by many excellent proofs, and especially by the discovery of three ancient manuscripts, one now in the British museum, bearing indubitable evidence of having been written in the fifth century; another, now in the Vatican at Rome, written in the fourth century; and the third, found at a convent on Mt. Sinai, and now at St. Petersburg, also written in the fourth century. These documents have been providentially preserved through all the dangers of fourteen or fifteen centuries, [354] and are now delivered safe in our hands, wonderful witnesses of the general and essential accuracy of our common English Bibles.

      The last book of the Bible was written nearly 1,300 years before the invention of printing. And when you think how those many centuries horde after horde of heathen barbarians swept like destroying blight over the lands where the Scriptures had a home; when you think of all the great libraries of the world, those for example at Alexandria and Constantinople, and Athens and Rome, were destroyed by fire; when you think of two systematic attempts made by the kings to exterminate the Scriptures by burning every copy in existence, the one by Antiochus Epiphanes, after the canon of the Old Testament was complete, and the other by Diocletian, emperor of Rome, after the entire Scriptures of the Old Testament and New were in the hands of the few Christians, when you think of these and many other dangers you see that it is a wonderful thing that the Bible has come to us in its integrity. How true are the words: "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever."

      Nations have been born and have passed away since the Bible was written. New customs have come into existence and formed parts of the government of the world. Manners have changed, dynasties have crumbled, while the Bible alone, in spirit, has remained the same, fresh, true, and indestructible as its Author. Linguists have assailed its language-- [355] tested, tried, analyzed and weighed in the balance, and yet not an iota of its truth has grown weaker, nor one ray of its light dimmer. Age has failed to affect its power. It has flourished, while its adversaries have been entombed one after another, and it never bade so fair as at present to be the Book of Truth, and the Most High has ever been its conservator and defense.

      IV. The Bible Is a Wonderful Book because of its literary characteristics. It contains the highest literature of the world. It appeals to the aesthetic and intellectual as well as moral and spiritual faculties. In the words of Prof. Huxley, "it is written in the noblest and purest English, and abounds in exquisite beauties of literary form." John Ruskin considered the Bible "the grandest group of writings extant in the rational world." In the words of Theodore Parker: "This collection of books has taken such a hold as has no other. The literature of Greece, which goes up like incense from that land of temples and heroic deeds, has not half the influence of this book from a nation alike despised in ancient and modern [356] times. The sun never sets on its gleaming page. It goes equally to the cottage of the plain man and the palace of the king. It is woven into the literature of the scholar, and it colors the talk of the street." Hall Caine, the eminent novelist, says: "There is no book in the world like it, and the finest novels ever written fall far short in interest of any one of the stories it tells. Whatever strong situations I have in my books are not my creation, but are taken from the Bible." Sir William Jones sums it all up in the following beautiful eulogy: "The Scriptures contain, independently of a divine origin, more true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, purer morality, more important history, and finer strains both of poetry and eloquence, than could be collected, within the same compass, from all other books that were ever composed in any age or in any idiom."

      All good books are only the Bible in dilution. Its influence is seen in all other literature, and shows itself, at length, in golden veins and precious gems of thought. The most brilliant passages of Macaulay's writings are rounded with Scripture quotations. Addison's spectator is watered with the river of life. Pope saturated his writings with quotations from Isaiah and his most successful work was the Messiah. It is also easy to see that Cowper's "Task" drew much of its imagery from the same noble prophet; that the "Thanatopsis" of Bryant could never have been written but for exalted and inspired pages in Job, and that Wordsworth's "Ode [357] on Immortality" is but the echo of glowing and glorious thoughts expressed by the Apostle Paul in his sublime and logical discussion of the doctrine of the resurrection in First Corinthians, the fifteenth chapter. Even a cursory student of Shakespeare must see that his conception of woman, of a Desdemona, and of an Ophelia, would have been impossible had not his mind been prompted by a Bible and a Christian ideal. Without the Bible, Hayden would have never chanted his "Creation," and old blind Milton's eyes would never have been illuminated to see the battle of the angels. Without the Bible, Klopstock's "Messiah" could never have been written, Raphael's master-pieces would be lost in the world, and Keats and Keble and Heber and myriads of other humble servants of Christian song would have been unknown. The Bible is the ring that unites earth with heaven as the long, mild twilight like a silver clasp unites today with yesterday. And if you would destroy this grand old volume and its influence, you must destroy the largest and most valuable portion of the literature of the world. You must tear out the leaves that have any Bible in them from every book--everything that has been quoted, suggested, derived directly or indirectly from the Bible--every allusion to it in history; every metaphor drawn from it in poetry; every quotation and thought in romance, every idea incorporated in philosophy; every passage written to defend or illustrate it in science; every principle taken from it in [358] law; every sentence that indicates any knowledge of the Bible must be cut out.

      The Bible is full of the choicest gems of thought, combining a variety and richness and rareness to be found in no other book. Would you have logic ? Then turn to Paul's letter to the Ephesians or his discourse on Mars Hill, recorded in Acts of Apostles. Would you be moved by the sublime? Where shall we find it if not in Job, Isaiah, the Psalms and Revelation? Would you take time to meditate upon wise sayings or maxims? Where are these to be found, so full of pith and pungency, so terse, so sharp, so vigorous as in the Proverbs of Solomon? For a story of filial affection and devotion I refer you to the book of Ruth--that book which Voltaire said was beyond anything found in Homer or in any other classic writers. Is the heart sad? Does it need tuning? Then read the sweet song of the Hebrew bard:

      And what beauty has been given to true and tender fidelity in those words of Ruth, "Entreat me not to leave thee, and to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried; Jehovah do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me." Paul's account of "love" in his letter to the Corinthians--how it glows and glistens, radiant and beautiful, the one excelling brilliant amidst a remarkable cluster of brilliants. When the gem flashes out in the light it outshines all the rest: "Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil; rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never faileth." Greece, whose air was redolent of song, the land of the passions; sages, heroes, poets, honored in every clime--these all have failed to put [360] into their speech the soul of love imprisoned here in apostolic word and rustling amidst the leaves of the New Testament.

      In the Sermon on the Mount we have the sublimest code of morals ever proclaimed on earth. It is the Magna Charta of Christ's Kingdom. We read: "And Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness among the people. And the report of him went forth into all Syria: and they brought unto him all that were sick, holden with divers diseases and torments, possessed with demons, and epileptic, and palsied; and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan. And seeing the multitudes, he went up into the mountain: and when he had sat down, his disciples came unto him: and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

      "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness' [361] sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you."

      Again: "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment? Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life? And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?"

      There is matchless beauty in these words. They are unlike anything that can be found in all the previous literature of the human race. What sympathy [362] with the loveliness of the outer world! The refined intellects of cultured Athens never dreamed of this. There is but one brief description of scenery in all the "Dialogues" of Plato. It is at the beginning of the "Phaedrus"; and it sounded so odd to the youth to whom Socrates addressed it as to provoke an expression of amused surprise. It was Christ who first taught us to find in the beauty even of little and unnoticed things a sacrament of goodness, and to read in the flowers a letter of the very autograph of the love toward us of our Father in Heaven. Yet in what few and simple words, in what concrete and homely images, is this instruction which was to be so prolific hereafter for the happiness of the world--set forth! and how full of far-reaching and perpetual comfort is the loving tenderness of God's Fatherhood here demonstrated for our unending consolation. The parable of the Prodigal Son forms part of the most beautiful chapter of "the most beautiful book in the world." It may well be called the flower and pearl of parables. It occupies less than a page; it may be read aloud in two minutes. We read: "A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of thy substance that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country; and there he wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent [363] all, there arose a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain' have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. But when he came to himself he said, how many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my Father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight: I am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But while he was yet afar off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight: I am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants Bring forth quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat, and make merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry."

      Dante and John Bunyan have touched thousands of human souls; but this parable has been precious to millions of every age and every tongue, who never so much as heard of the "Divina Commedia" or the "Pilgrim's Progress." It excells all works of fiction [364] in its delineation of character. Mr. Hall Caine says: "I think that I know my Bible as few literary men know it. There is no book in the world like it; and the finest novels ever written fall far short in interest to any one of the stories it tells. Whatever strong situations I have in my books are not of my creation, but are taken from the Bible. "The Deemster" is the story of the "Prodigal Son."

      It is doubtful whether there is any passage in our greatest writers that is sublimer than the adoration of the angels, recorded in the last book of the Bible.

      "Worthy is the lamb that hath been slain to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing.

      "Unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the lamb, be the blessing, and the honor, and the glory, and the dominion, for ever and ever.

      "Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of the ages. Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy; for all the nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy righteous acts have been made manifest."

      And what magic and haunting charm in these words recorded in the last chapter of Revelation:

      "And he shewed me a pure river of Water of Life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the [365] Tree of Life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."

      Not only does the Bible contain these choice gems of thought in poetry and words of eloquence, but it also contains the richest pearls and diamonds of all scientific discoveries. While you are gathering the richest beauties from the fields of botany, enthrone in their midst the Lily of the Valley, and breathe the perfume of the Rose of Sharon. While you are spending your vacation with geologist's hammer do not return without sounding the Rock of Ages and bringing with you "the pearl of great price." which is worth more than all earthly treasures. You may continue to search the vast realms of astronomy--to wander among the princes of the upper deep--but I beseech you not to miss the Morning Star or the Sun of Righteousness. Visit the art galleries of the world and stand in wonder and admiration as you gaze upon the works of the artist, but remember here in this great art gallery--the Bible--we have presented to us one picture compared with which the best work of human genius falls out of notice. Such a picture we have in Jesus, our Divine Lord and Saviour. Truly we must confess that the Bible is a wonderful book--that it is born of heaven--a child of the skies. Have you been unconscious of its worth? Has this book of infinite wealth been neglected? Get it at once and commence its study. Pore over its sacred pages until you have mastered [366] its contents. "No radiant hand will be thrust out of heaven to do that for you; no aureola will play about the book when you take it up yourselves; its characters will be but plain ink and type; no fire gleams will leap from beneath its letters or play over the printed page, and yet when you touch it you hold the greatest divine work visible in the universe of God. Be true to it! and when science has lost its charm, when music ceases to fascinate and poetry no longer stirs you, and the sobs of your friends no longer recall you, this book, having given you the greatest intellectual riches in this life, will fling its golden baldric across the black sea of death and form a hyaline pavement for your redeemed feet up to your inherited home."

      V. The Bible is a Wonderful Book because of its scientific wealth and accuracy. The Old Testament Scriptures abound everywhere in scientific allusions. They treat of biology, ethnology, astronomy, geology, zoology, meteorology, indeed of every department of natural science. And we marvel at the accuracy with which the Scriptures present these various subjects. The history of science has been one of change, and often in opposition to the Bible; but when a true basis has been found, it has been discovered that the Bible, far in advance, had been declaring the same great truth. Let us notice the following conspicuous illustrations:

      1. It took science many ages to reach the conclusion that the present order of things had a [367] beginning. There were ages of investigation, researches in the realms of physics, arguments in metaphysics, conclusions drawn from the necessities of resistless logic, before science made its declaration that there was a beginning. But the Bible from the first, on its early pages, was asserting the same great fact.

      2. Science tells us that creation of matter preceded arrangement. In the beginning all was chaos--void--darkness. But the Bible, in advance of science, asserted that "the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep."

      3. It took science a long time to demonstrate the fact that light existed before the sun. Laplace was the author of the nebular hypothesis. According to that theory, the condensation of gaseous matter was accompanied by intense heat-emitting light. Thus is made known only what Moses declared, long before Laplace, that light existed before the sun.

      4. Science has discovered the truth that the strata of the earth were formed by the action of water, and the mountains were once under the ocean. But the Bible long ago declared: "Thou coverest it with the deep as with a vesture; the waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. The mountains rose, the valleys sank down unto the place which thou hadst founded for them."

      5. The wisdom of man for ages held that the world was flat. A long and bitter controversy took [368] place before the sphericity of the earth was generally accepted as true. Meanwhile, God was saying, century after century, of himself, "It is he that sitteth above the circle of the earth."

      6. Science, for thousands of years, has been trying to count the stars. Hipparchus counted one thousand and twenty-two. Ptolemy counted one thousand and twenty-six. Modern appliances, including the space-penetrating telescope and taximeters, reveal so many stars, that the best authorities tell us that the stars are innumerable to man. But long before there were any telescopes to make it known, it was declared upon the pages of inspiration that the stars were as the sands of the sea, "innumerable."

      7. The discovery made by Torricelli, that the air had weight, was received with great incredulity. For ages the air had propelled ships, thrust itself against the bodies of men, and overturned their works. But no man ever dreamed that weight was necessary to give momentum. Galileo, in his day, knew, but did not dare in prison to say, that the reason why a certain pump of that day did not lift water higher than thirty-two feet was because the "weight" of the atmosphere is only fifteen pounds to the square inch. But thousands of years before Torricelli or Galileo, Job had enunciated the fact in this brief sentence "God maketh a weight for the wind."

      8. The fluctuations and variations of the weather have hitherto baffled all attempts at unraveling them. [369] This comes under the science of meteorology. But the Bible clearly stated the fundamentals of this science long ago: "The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it turneth about continually in its course, and the wind returneth again to its circuits. All the rivers run into the sea, yet, the sea is not full; unto the place whither the rivers go, thither they go again."

      It is Herschel who says: "All human discoveries seem to be made only for the purpose of confirming more strongly the truths that come from on high, and are contained in the sacred writings." The book of Nature and the written Revelation, teach but one set of truths. How was it possible that the writers of the earlier Scriptures described physical phenomena with such wonderful sublimity and penetrative truth? There is but one explanation. He that planned and made this vast universe inspired the Bible. It is a reliable book. In a declaration of eight hundred scientists of Great Britain, signed by such men as Thomas Bell, Adam Sedgwick and Sir David Brewster, these words are found: "We conceive that it is impossible for the Word of God, as written in the book of nature, and God's Word written in Holy Scriptures, to contradict one another." Matthew Dontaine Maury, in his physical Geography of the Sea, says: "I have always found in my scientific studies, that, when I could get the Bible to say anything on the subject it afforded me [370] a firm platform to stand upon, and a round in the ladder by which I could safely ascend."

      VI. The Bible is a Wonderful Book because of its historical accuracy. This has been repeatedly confirmed by modern research. That minor errors have been inserted by copyists and interpolators is not denied; but the very fact that the mistakes of the Book are chiefly confined to that class, is the strongest argument in favor of its credibility. No, other work of antiquity will stand the test to which it has been exposed. The writings of the Old Testament Scriptures touch the land and the people on every side, in the midst of which the writers lived. The story is told of a weaver in England, who had finished a beautiful piece of cloth and had taken it from the dye and stretched it upon the tenter hooks to dry. It was stolen and supposed to be lost. At last the weaver heard of a sale of valuable cloth in a remote part of the kingdom, and resolved to attend. He found there a piece of cloth he felt sure was the one he had lost. But how could he prove it 9 At last he thought of the holes in the selvedge and the tenter hooks on which they had hung. The cloth was taken to the hooks, and to 1 each was found to fit in a corresponding hole. No one doubted the weaver's claim. So the hills and mountains, the valleys and the plains, the rivers and the seas, as well as the people who once lived among those scenes, are God's immovable and imperishable witnesses for the truthfulness of His word. [371] All other chronicles--those of Caesar, Herodotus, and Thucydides--are but the records of an episode or period of events, but the Bible is the one universal history. It carries us back through the nations, past the earliest communities, beyond the primitive chaos, to the remotest origin of things. The earliest history of the human race, as recorded in the book of Genesis, perfectly harmonizes with modern historical research. Canon Rawlinson, the great orientalist, and the celebrated geographer, Dr. Carl Ritter, declare that of all the writings of antiquity none are receiving such confirmation from the modern researches in geography and ethnography as the tenth chapter of Genesis. The very names of the earliest peoples and countries are monumental testimony to the truth of the chapter. Here we have the genealogy of the sons of Noah. At a glance it is seen that these families expanded into nations and gave their names to the countries which they inhabited. These names and this distribution of the nations in the ancient world are confirmed by all we know from other sources. The ethnic affinities given here are in harmony with the testimony of modern science. All the various races of men are classified under three heads--the sons of Japheth, the sons of Ham, and the sons of Shem. Modern ethnological science, after a careful analysis of race peculiarities, language, and history, has agreed on a triple division of mankind, and speaks of all races as neither Semitic, Aryan, or Turanian. There is truth in this chapter also concerning [372] what were the earliest civilizations. The valleys of the Euphrates and the Nile were the homes of the most advanced nations. And all the lines of history centre back upon these lands, and there we find the most ancient ruins. Every discovery of the archaeologist among these ruins and the monuments of the past throws light upon the Bible narrative, and confirms the truth of God's Book.

      The bondage of Israel in Egypt, the Exodus, and the conquest of Canaan are strongly confirmed by profane historians. The route of the Israelites from Egypt to Sinai, as given in the Bible and by modern explorers, is in perfect harmony. Nearly all of the camping places of the Israelites have been identified -thus showing that the Bible history is genuine and not mythical. The history of the Israelites from their settlement in Canaan to the close of the Old Testament history, is nowhere contradicted by profane historians, but it is strongly confirmed in many points. The Jewish people were so situated that they came in contact with all the great historic nations of antiquity, so that the great facts of their history are being continually illustrated by the ethnologist and archaeologist. This line of history is very long--forty centuries--with many turns and windings in and out. How ample the opportunity to detect errors. But no errors have been discovered; not a single landmark has been changed. There stand the mountains outlining the progress of the nations, and there lie the historic continents, teeming with the art, [373] science, laws and customs of ancient times. The Bible is, indeed, a wonderful book; venerable as the high antiquity whence it comes; and marvelous in its vitality which keeps it fresh and vigorous in the midst of perished literature and mouldering superstitions.

      VII. The Bible is a Wonderful Book because it is incomparable as a book of ethics. No height of intellectual culture can purify the heart and make it what it ought to be--an altar of sweet incense to the Eternal One. It remains for the Bible alone to purify and ennoble man's nature. Christ presents the first and highest example of the purest teaching and holiest life in perfect harmony. His advent was a new moral creation. The extant and depth of His influence upon all future ages is beyond calculation. "The simple record of His three short years of active life," says Mr. Lecky in his History of European Morals, "has done more to regenerate and soften mankind than all the disquisitions of philosophers and all the exhortations of moralists."

      Let us now examine some of the ethical teachings of the Bible. We can only glance at a few. So lavishly are the great truths of God scattered over these sublime pages, that the study of the most learned has hardly touched the theme. Every age throws a brighter light over this volume; and time's ages, and earth's greatest scholars, will be exhausted before it will be known in all its length and breadth and fulness. Those who love its truths, never get [374] wearied in its study. Books written by the most gifted of earth's geniuses, after two or three readings fatigue us; and we push them away, and sigh for something new. God's Book, like Himself, is inexhaustible; the deeper we go the brighter and richer the ore; the higher we soar into the heavens the more brilliant becomes the burning blazonry of God. Let us commence our study:

      1. The duties man owes himself are clearly defined and forcibly elaborated. The decalogue forms the ethic basis of the religion of the Old Testament, and requires the suppression of inordinate ambition and lust for honor or power; also, the extinction of covetousness or the desire to amass wealth from selfish motives. In the 15th Psalm David asks, "Jehovah, who shall sojourn in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?" His answer is "He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh truth in his heart." From the New Testament we have many passages of Scripture, such as these: "Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?" "Keep thyself pure." "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service." A man upon whose heart these Scriptures are engraven will be likely to make the most of his body without allowing it ever to be uppermost. They demand the denial of every vice and the practice of every virtue. They require humility, temperance, [375] and purity of heart and life, and declare that without holiness no man shall see the Lord.

      2. The duties man owes to others are, also, clearly set forth. In the decalogue we read, "Thou shalt not kill. Neither shalt thou commit adultery. Neither shalt thou steal. Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbor." Another precept in the Bible is, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." The question, "Who is my neighbor?" is answered by our Saviour in the parable of the good Samaritan. He there teaches us that our neighbor is man as man. And in the Golden Rule he says, "All things therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even 'so do ye also unto them." The precept teaches us to estimate the rights of others by the consciousness of individual right in our bosoms. The Apostle Paul gives us these beautiful words: "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. In love of the brethren be tenderly affectioned one to another; in honor preferring one another; communicating to the necessities of the saints; given to hospitality." And what can be more beautiful than the words of the apostle when he speaks of the mutual affection between husband and wife: "Wives, be in subjection unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the Church, being himself the Saviour of the body. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave [376] himself up for it." Parents are exhorted to "train up a child in the way he should go." Paul says, "Fathers, provoke not your children, that they be not discouraged." The relation of children to parents is just as explicit. We read, "Honor thy father and thy mother." Again, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right." These are only a few of the passages that might be quoted setting forth the duties that man owes to others.

      3. The duties man owes to God are specifically enjoined. We read, "Thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." The Psalmist says: "Make a joyful noise unto Jehovah, all ye lands. Serve Jehovah with gladness: come before his presence with singing, Know ye that Jehovah is God: it is He that hath made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: give thanks unto Him, and bless His name."

      The degree of enlightenment in the world is in exact ratio with the prevalence of these ethical principles. Are England, Scotland, the United States, and Germany in the lead ? it is there you will find an open Bible and an efficient Christian ministry who are holding up before the people, the Christ in all of His glory and excellence of character. Are Italy, Spain, Austria, and the states of South America scarcely half enlightened ? there the Bible is kept from the people, and the currents of religious [377] thought are obstructed and corrupt. Are large portions of the earth in the darkness and crime of paganism? There as yet, the Bible has not been opened and Christ has not been made known to the people. The religion of Jesus Christ is the only religion that can lead our race to the highest forms of civilization. "The Bible," says William Magill, "stands forth in its integrity, the palladium of moral freedom, the only true spring of individual and rational excellence, the conservatory of all the roots and fruits of divine virtue, which alone has power to cleanse the earth of Paganism, and restore man to himself and to God by the science of right and truth."

      VIII. The Bible is a Wonderful Book because it reveals God's plan of human redemption. Sin and guilt are recognized as universal. In the Roman letter it is asserted that all have sinned, Jew and Gentile. In response to this every man is compelled to say, "It is true; I have sinned." Not only so, but there is in human nature the conviction that sin causes suffering, and will continue to do so till it is removed. Hence the whole world is interested in knowing how sin can be blotted out. And man also wants the way of obtaining this pardon to be made so plain that he will know certainly that he is at peace with God. He longs for definiteness and not uncertainty in this most important matter. The Bible is the book, and the only book, that presents the way of escape, or the antidote for sin [378] "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth oil Him should not perish, but have eternal life." In the gospel of divine love we have the remedy for sin. This most blessed book brings to us the manna for a hungry world. Milton grandly describes the Archangel Uriel as descending to earth in a sunbeam. The revelation of the Bible is a beam on which the Father of light descends unto men to dwell with them. Sweeter than the dews of six thousand summers is the living bread which the Bible brings to a perishing world. What though it rained gold and pearls, and king's crowns on our guilty race, it were better to give them the Bible. Salvation! Behold the Lamb of God! Look unto Christ, who, is the Bread of Life. Gaze upon Him, as he hangs upon the cross, bleeding, suffering, dying for you. Love Him, trust Him, accept Him, enter into sympathy with His great heart of love, and know that it is God's heart. He is ready, willing, waiting to be! gracious to you and to save you from your sins. A wonderful Saviour! Words cannot estimate the salvation he offers. "Weigh it against all created things. Measure it by eternity. Lay the plummet of infinity to its blessings. Appeal to Him who weighs the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance to teach you its worth. Climb to the throne of the Eternal, where the Universe collects her glories to decorate the palace of our King, and thence survey [379] all things that are made. Salvation excels all you know and see; for it makes God himself your everlasting portion."

      The following illustration has been repeated many times but it will never wear threadbare. A stranger was seen one day planting a flower over a grave in the cemetery at Nashville, Tenn. A gentleman passing by asked him, "Is your son buried there?" "No." "A brother?" "No." "A relative?" "No." After a moment's pause, the stranger said, "I will tell thee. When the war broke out, I lived in Illinois. I had a large family dependent upon my daily labor for support. I was drafted. Having no means to pay for a substitute, I prepared to go to the war. In the neighborhood was a young man who had heard of my circumstances. On the day I was to start, he came to me and said, "You have a large family to care for; I will go in your place." He did go, was killed, and here in this grave rest his remains." The stranger, with tears of gratitude, told of his long journey to see this grave, and delighted to recall the fact that "he died for me."

      This Wonderful Book, the Bible, tells how the beloved Son of God bore our sins on Calvary's cross to give us life. He suffered in your stead, and in mine. He relieved us from the consequences of an eternal lost and ruined state, and set before us a plain road to everlasting life. Such a Saviour should not be rejected. By his death he has elevated the [380] world, snapped the shackles of doom from human feet, bore the race upon his bosom and carried it to highest plains of purest civilization. This Jesus who reveals Himself from heaven to every weeping eye and aching heart, who reaches down the hand of love and lifts a faltering frame--this is the Christ, the Saviour of men, 'who says: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

      IX. And finally, the Bible is a Wonderful Book because it is the only telescope that reveals the world beyond the grave. "If you destroy my confidence in the Bible," says Dr. Wiley, "where am I? I know I go hence ere long, but what then? I take my place by the side of Socrates. Surely if there was ever a man who never knew the revealed word of God, whose ideas were worthy of my respect it is Socrates. I ask him about the future, and in reply I hear him say: "I am to die, you are to live; but for which of us is the better none can tell. I think the lives of good men continue beyond; but of this wise men are not confident." And that is the very best that the wisdom of this world can do for me. Destroy my confidence in the Bible, and the future which I must face is all darkness. I know well the burden of self-condemnation which I carry. I know where I am according to justice. I need nobody to [381] tell me that. But when I am induced to give up the Bible I know no more. I need deliverance but there is no deliverer. I need help but there is no helper. I have been persuaded to give up the Bible, and I find nothing to take its place. The brightness and blessedness of human life are gone, and the sun of human hope has entered into total, disastrous and perpetual eclipse."

      The poet says:

      Revelation corroborates the sentiments of the poet in declaring that this life is but the morning of existence. It comes to us with no guesses, doubts, or uncertainties, but with facts and living proofs. Jesus, by his teaching and resurrection has made it a certainty. He brought life and immortality to light. "We know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens."

      "Eternity to finite thought is an unfathomable void; here are heights without a summit, depths without a bottom, lengths and breadths without [382] limits of extension. Would mere human philosophy ascend these heights? She soars at best but on conjecture's trembling wing; doubt, uncertainty and despair are the result of her inquiries. Christianity, on the other hand, crosses death's narrow isthmus with firm and undaunted steps; over a pathway of glory she ascends to the summit of everlasting hills, and gazes with open vision upon, to her, a real scene of sublimity and beauty, without a cloud to dim, or limit to obstruct, the sight."

      In John's Apocalyptic vision we have a picture of man redeemed. "And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, These that are arrayed in the white robes, who are they, and whence came they? And I say unto him, My Lord, thou knowest. And He said to me, These are they that came out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the lamb."

[NTC2 340-383]