HARVEST GLEANINGS III

Pittsburgh Gazette'Oct. 16, 1905

"THY WORD IS TRUTH"

Sound doctrine, the foundation of correct hopes and honest living, is very essential.

His text was: "Your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." -1 Cor. 2:5.

So-called "higher criticism" is rapidly effacing all Bible doctrines, discrediting them and claiming that they are unnecessary to the Christian life. We hold, to the contrary, that the sound faith is essential to a proper Christian living. The unchristian persecutions of the dark ages were founded upon false doctrines, the traditions of men, which made void the word of God. With the clarifying of the faith came proportionately better Christian living and proportionate cessation of persecutions.

The tendency today is to the opposite extreme toward the loss of all scriptural faith, hope and love. The claim that education will take the place of a divinely inspired faith, and will promote righteousness and love, is a misleading one. So long as selfishness constitutes the basis of the fallen human nature, that long it cannot be trusted to lift itself above selfishness into the realm of loving righteousness. The calamity of this error will be manifested to the world within a decade. It will manifest itself in selfishness and lawlessness anarchy.

THE OLD PATHS

Meantime it is expedient that all true Christians shall seek earnestly for the old paths and for the "faith once delivered to the saints." As our text declares, our faith shall not stand in the wisdom of men, however conceited they may be of their own wisdom as Higher Critics, Evolutionists, etc. The true Christian, if at all logical, will quickly discern that granting that the Bible is a divine revelation its testimonies should be received absolutely. If its divine inspiration be denied, it should be accredited [HGL302] no more honor than another book, but as the eyes of our understanding open more and more widely we discern internal evidences in the scriptures which demonstrate to their truthfulness and establish the believer's faith more and more firmly its records do stand investigation. The difficulty with many is that they do not investigate the old book on its own merits, but persistently they present to their own minds and to those of others the erroneous theories of the dark ages instead of the divine word. Thus they misrepresent the word of the Lord, and unintentionally hoodwink themselves and others.

FAITH'S FOUNDATION STRONG

We propose a series of discourses setting forth the credibility of the scriptures, and showing wherein various doctrines common to the creeds of Christendom, and gradually becoming more and more unreasonable and nauseating to the intelligent mind, are in reality perversions and misrepresentations of the divine message. As step by step we shall establish confidence in the word of God by exposing the unreasonable and false doctrines of sundry creeds, it will be our hope that thus we shall strengthen the faith of God's true people, with the result that, in the words of our text, their faith shall not stand hence-forth in the wisdom of men but in the power of God as revealed to us in the word of God.

AN INTELLIGENT CREATOR

The Bible does not attempt to prove the existence of a first great cause; on the contrary, it assumes and declares that the whole universe demonstrates God's existence and intelligence. It declares that "day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge, and there is no place where their voice is not heard." (Psa. 19:2, 3.) Furthermore it declares, and mankind universally admits that the one who at heart denies the existence of a God is silly'non compos mentis. The declaration is, "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." (Psa. 14:1.)

If we knew no Bible, no revelation of the divine plan in connection with our earth and its inhabitants, we should instinctively look for one. Reason would teach us that the great system, the universe of which we are a part, could not have come by chance, and that the one so great, so powerful, must be correspondingly wise, correspondingly just, correspondingly loving. Such being his character he must have created our race with some good, just, wise, loving intention, which he would not be ashamed to have his creatures know.

Moreover, having endowed us with mental powers and aspirations, he must know that some at least of the human family would be deeply interested in every feature of his plan, however satisfactorily other minds might be able to satisfy themselves with the earthly things of yesterday, today and tomorrow. May we not assume, then, that the Almighty would be pleased to note the interest of some of His creatures in His plans, and that He would have pleasure in making known to them, from time to time, such features of His program as would be for their comfort and welfare? The very attributes of divine character, as we might conceive those without any revelation, would seem to imply that divine justice, wisdom, love and power would provide a revelation, a Bible. Our question then should be "Does the Bible furnish satisfactory proof of its divine authority, so that we can rest our faith upon its testimonials?"

EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF THE INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES

Unbelief usually assails the Bible from the outside, claiming lack of evidence that it came from God, asserting that it is merely human production. We will not discuss this phase of the subject in detail, but will go rather to the internal evidences, remarking by the way, however, that no other book bears stronger outward evidences of the sincerity of its writers, and that the complete harmony, the oneness of these writings, spreading over a period of eighteen centuries, well corroborates their testimony that they spoke and wrote under divine inspiration. What other collection of writings covering so long a period could be found in absolute accord, one with the other? We know of none, and assert that this harmony of the sacred writings corroborates their old claim that they were all indited by the one spirit the Holy Spirit.

True, there are other books, heathen books, from which wise and just sayings may be quoted, but we believe that no one thoroughly acquainted with those writings would for a moment claim for them a parity with our Bible. Those, for instance, who claim that the Genesis account of creation is not sufficiently ample and scientific, will not appreciate the reasonableness and simplicity of the record until they begin to compare it with the statements of the heathen Bibles. Take for instance the teachings of the Chinese Bible upon this subject as an illustration. It represents the great God and His Son in a skiff. To prevent grounding, the Son-God put out His hand to push off from the shore and shallows and incidentally caught a handful of pebbles and mud, which he shaped into a ball and tossed out upon the waters, and which grew and grew until it became the present earth. The most obstinate critic who will turn from this record of creation to the one given in our Bible will cheerfully admit that the Genesis account is sublimely grand, clear and explicit in comparison.

THY WORD IS TRUTH

It is when we examine the internal evidences of the Bible respecting its credibility as the word of God that we find ourselves astonished. Happily astonished, because its testimony is so satisfactory and so far superior not only to the creeds of the dark ages, but towering high above the theories of its modern critics. Even its opponents must admit that it has been a torch of civilization and liberty. Its influence for good in society has been recognized by the greatest statesmen, even though they for the most part have viewed it through the various glasses of conflicting creeds, which, while upholding the Bible, grievously misrepresent its teachings.

The central figure of the Bible is Jesus of Nazareth. Every promise and every prophecy of the old testament points to Him as the one through whom comes hope for a fallen and condemned race. Every testimony of the new testament points to Jesus as the one through whose sacrificial death atonement alone has been effected, and they all point also [HGL303] to Him as the coming one, at whose second advent the blessing of God will be poured out in harmony with all the prophecies of the past. They give us the assurance that the work of this gospel age has been the selection from amongst believers of a "little flock" of fully consecrated followers of Jesus who through disciplines and trials shall ultimately be perfected in the first resurrection, constituting with their Lord Jesus the long promised kingdom of God, through whose just and loving rule all the families of the earth shall be blessed, and as many as will come into heart accord with righteousness shall obtain eternal life.

We hold that a plan of salvation so deep, so broad, so just, so kind, so far beyond the scope of human ingenuity, demonstrates that those who promulgated this gospel with such absolute unanimity and with such absolute faith in it themselves were indeed supremely directed. The sincerity of the prophets and the apostles is demonstrated by the fact that their faith was not to their earthly advantage, but, contrariwise, brought to them trials, testings and in many cases persecutions even unto death. The apostle Paul sums up the experiences of Abraham and of all the faithful who walked in his steps down to the time of Jesus, saying, "They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy." (Heb. 11:37, 38.) The writers of the new testament give similar evidences of their sincerity. Their advocacy of Jesus as the Messiah brought them not wealth and influence and honor of men, but self denials, persecutions, etc.

According to all reasonable rules of evidence such men must be considered truthful, honorable, upright, witnesses of the highest character. No other history in the whole world stands upon such unimpeachable foundations, and we may therefore properly enough go on with our investigation. Let us examine the character of the writings claimed to be inspired, to see whether their teachings correspond with the character we have reasonably imputed to God, and whether they bear internal evidences of their truthfulness.

HISTORICAL AND DOCTRINAL DIVISIONS-THE BOOKS OF MOSES

The first five books of the new testament and several of the old testament are narratives of histories of facts known to the writers and vouched for by their characters. It is manifest to all that it did not require a special revelation simply to tell the truth with reference to matters with which they were intimately and fully acquainted.

It in no way invalidates the truthfulness of certain books of the Bible, such as Kings, Chronicles, Judges, etc., when we say that they are simply carefully kept histories of prominent events and persons of their times. When it is remembered that the Hebrew scriptures contain history, as well as the law and the prophecies, and that their histories, genealogies, etc., were the more explicit in detailing circumstances because of the expectancy that the promised Messiah would come in a particular line from Abraham, we see a reason for the recording of certain facts of history considered indelicate in the light of this nineteenth century.

For instance, a clear record of Judah's children is given, of whom came David, the king, through whom the genealogy of Mary, Jesus' mother, as well as that of Joseph, her husband (Luke 3:23, 31, 33, 34; Matt. 1:2-16), is traced back to Abraham. Doubtless the necessity of thoroughly establishing the pedigree was the more important, since of this tribe (Gen. 49:10) was to come the king of Israel, as well as the promised Messiah, and hence the minutiae of detail not given in other instances. -(Gen. 38.) Similarly in the archives of the royal families of Europe records are kept of the illegitimate offspring, that there may be no doubt as to the true heirs to their thrones. It is well, furthermore, to remember that the same facts may be more or less delicately stated in any language; and that while the translators of the Bible were, rightly, too conscientious to omit any of the record, yet they lived in a day less particular and pure in the choice of refined expressions; and the same may be surmised of the early Bible times and habits of expression. Certainly the most fastidious can find no objection on this score to any expression of the New Testament.

The omission of the positive statement that these books were written by Moses is no proof against the thought; for had another written them to deceive and commit a fraud, he would surely have claimed that:

Thus it appears that the distinguished law-giver Moses, so far from seeking to perpetuate or increase his own power by placing the government of the people under the control of his direct relatives of the priestly tribe, to use their religious authority to fetter the rights and liberties of the people, on the contrary introduced to the people a form of government calculated to cultivate the spirit of liberty. The histories of other nations and rulers show no parallel to this. In every case the ruler has sought his own aggrandizement and greater power. Even in instances where such have aided in establishing republics, it has appeared from subsequent events that they did it through policy, to obtain favor with the people, and to perpetuate their own power.

MOSES A CHAMPION OF FREEDOM

So completely was the government of the people put into their own hands, that though it was stipulated that the weightier cases which those governors, could not decide were to be brought unto Moses, yet they themselves were the judges as to what cases went before Moses- "The cause which is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it." Deut. 1:17.

Thus seen, Israel was a republic whose officers acted under a divine commission. And to the confusion of those who ignorantly claim that the Bible sanctions an imperial rule over the people, instead of "a government of the people, by the people," be it noted that this republican form of civil government continued for over four hundred years. And it was then changed for that of a kingdom at their own urgent request.

The instructions given those appointed to civil rulership as from God are a model of simplicity and purity. Moses declares to the people, in the hearing of those judges: "I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger (foreigner) [HGL304] that is with him. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's; and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it." -(Deut. 1:16, 17.)

In view of these facts, what shall we say of the theory which suggests that these books were written by knavish priests to secure to themselves influence and power over the people? Would such men for such a purpose forge records destructive to the very aims they sought to advance records which prove conclusively that the great Chief of Israel, and one of their own tribe, at the instance of God, cut off the priesthood from civil power by placing that power in the hands of the people? Does anyone consider such a conclusion reasonable?

Again, it is worthy of note that the laws of the most advanced civilization, in this nineteenth century, do not more carefully provide that rich and poor shall stand on a common level in accountability before the civil law. Absolutely no distinction was made by Moses' laws. And as for the protection of the people from the dangers incident to some becoming very poor and others excessively wealthy and powerful, no other national law has ever been enacted which so carefully guarded this point. Moses' law provided for a restitution every fiftieth year, their jubilee year. This law, by preventing the absolute alienation of property, thereby prevented its accumulation in the hands of a few. -(Leviticus 25:9, 13-23, 27-30.)

All the laws were made public, thus preventing designing men from successfully tampering with the rights of the people. The laws were exposed in such a manner that any who chose might copy them; and, in order that the poorest and most unlearned might not be ignorant of them, it was made the duty of the priests to read them to the people at their septennial festivals. (Deut. 31:10-13.) Is it reasonable to suppose that such laws, and arrangements were designed by bad men, or by men scheming to defraud the people of their liberties and happiness?

In its regard for the rights and interests of foreigners and of enemies, the Mosaic law was thirty-two centuries ahead of its times if, indeed, the laws of the most civilized nations of today equal it in fairness and benevolence. We read: "Ye shall have one manner of law as well for the stranger (foreigner) as for one of your own country; for I am the Lord your God." Leviticus 24:22; Exod. 12:49.

"And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him; but the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." Leviticus 19:33, 34.

"If thou, meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, wouldst thou cease to leave thy business and help him? Thou shalt surely leave if, to assist him." Exod. 23:4, 5, margin.

Even the dumb animals were not forgotten. Cruelty to these as well as to human beings was prohibited strictly. An ox must not be muzzled while threshing the grain, for the good reason that any laborer is worthy of his food. Even the ox and the ass must not plow together, because so unequal in strength and tread; it would be cruelty. Their rest was also provided for. Deut. 25:4; 22:10; Exo. 23:12

PRIESTHOOD NOT PRIVILEGED CLASS

The priesthood may be claimed by some to have been a selfish institution, because the tribe of Levites was supported by the annual tenth, or tithe, of the individual produce of their brethren

of the other tribes. This fact, stated thus, is an unfair presentation too common to skeptics. It was, in fact, founded upon the strictest equity.

When Israel came into possession of the land of Canaan, the Levites certainly had as much right to a share of the land as the other tribes; yet, by God's express command, they got none of it, except certain cities or villages for residence, scattered among the various tribes, whom they were to serve in religious things. Instead of the land, some equivalent should surely be provided them, and the tithe was therefore this reasonable and just provision. Nor is this all; the tithe, though, as we have seen, a just debt, was not enforced as a tax, but was to be paid as a voluntary contribution. And no threat bound them to make those contributions; all depended upon their conscientiousness. The only exhortations to the people on the subject are as follows:

"Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou livest upon the earth." (Deut. 12:19.) "And the Levite that is within thy gates, thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee" (in the land). Deut. 14:27. The evidently pious and noble law-giver, Moses, denies that the laws were his own, and attributes them to God. (Exo. 24:12; Deut. 9:9-11; Exo. 26:30; Leviticus 1:1.) In view of his general character, and his commands to the people not to bear false witness and to avoid hypocrisy and lying, is it reasonable to suppose that such a man bore false witness and palmed off his own views and laws for those of God? Although bad men were among Moses' successors, who did seek their own and not the people's good, it is evident that they did not tamper with the sacred writings, which are pure to this day.

THE PROPHETS OF THE BIBLE

Glance now at the general character of the prophets of the Bible and their testimonies. A rather remarkable fact is that the prophets, with few exceptions, were not of the priestly class; and that in their day their prophecies were generally repugnant to the degenerating and time-serving priesthood, as well as to the idolatrously inclined people. The burden of their messages from God to the people was generally reproof for sin, coupled with warnings of coming punishments, intertwined with which we find occasional promises of future blessings, after they should be cleansed from sin and should return to favor with the Lord. In some instances it was years after their death before their true character as God's prophets was recognized.

We should remember that in the giving of the law to Israel there was no priestly intervention; it was given by God to the people by the hand of Moses. (Exo. 19:17-25; Deut. 5:1-5.) And, furthermore it was made the duty of every man seeing a violation of the law to reprove the sinner. Thus all had the authority to teach and reprove; but since, as in our own day, the majority were absorbed [HGL305] in the cares of business, and became indifferent and irreligious, the few comparatively fulfilled this requirement by reproving sin and exhorting to godliness; and these preachers are termed "prophets" in both the Old and New Testaments. The term prophet, as generally used, signifies public expounder, and the public teachers of idolatry were also so called. Out of the large class called prophets, Jehovah at various times made choice of some whom he specially commissioned to deliver messages, relating sometimes to things then at hand, at other times to future events. It is to the writings of this class, who spoke and wrote as they were moved by the holy spirit, that we are now giving attention. They might with propriety be designated

DIVINELY COMMISSIONED PROPHETS OF SEERS

When it is remembered that these prophets were mainly laymen, drawing no support from the tithes of the priestly tribe, and when, added to this, is the fact that they were frequently not only the reprovers of kings and judges, but also of priests though they reproved not the office, but the personal sins of the men who filled it, it becomes evident that we could not reasonably decide that these prophets were parties to any league of priests, or others to fabricate falsehood in the name of God.

Let us next inquire whether there exists any link, or bond of union, between the records of Moses, those of the other prophets, and those of the New Testament writings, writers. If we shall find one common line of thought interwoven throughout the law and the prophets and the New Testament writings, which cover a period of fifteen hundred years, this, taken in connection with the character of the writers, will be a good reason for admitting their claim that they were divinely inspired, particularly if the theme common to all of them is a grand and noble one, comporting well with what sanctified common sense teaches regarding the character and attributes of God.

THE BIBLE ONE AND HARMONIOUS

This we do find: One plan, spirit, aim and purpose pervades the entire book. Its opening pages record the creation and fall of man; its closing pages tell of man's recovery from the fall' and its intervening pages show the successive steps of the plan of God for the accomplishment of this purpose. The harmony, yet contrast, of the first three and the last three chapters of the Bible is striking.

The one describes the first creation, the other the renewed or restored creation, with sin and its penal curse removed; the one shows Satan and evil entering the world to deceive and destroy, the other shows his work undone, the destroyed ones restored, evil extinguished and Satan destroyed; the one shows the dominion lost by Adam, the other shows it restored and forever established by Christ, and God's will done on earth as in heaven; the one shows sin the producing cause of degradation, shame and death, the other shows the reward of righteousness to be glory, honor and life.

Though written by many pens, at various times, under different circumstances, the Bible is not merely a collection of moral precepts, wise maxims and words of comfort. It is more; it is a reasonable, philosophical and harmonious statement of the causes of present evil in the world, its only remedy and the final results as seen by divine wisdom, which saw the end of the plan from before its beginning, marking as well the pathway of God's people, and upholding and strengthening them with exceeding great and precious promises, to be realized in due time.

The teaching of Genesis, that man was tried in a state of original perfection in one representative, that he failed, and that the present imperfection, sickness and death are the results, but that God has not forsaken him, and will ultimately recover him through the Redeemer, born of a woman. (Gen. 3:15), is kept up and elaborated all the way through. The necessity of the death of a redeemer as a sacrifice for sins, and of his righteousness as a covering for our sin, is pointed out in the clothing of skins for Adam and Eve, in the acceptance of Abel's offerings, in Isaac on the altar, in the death of the various sacrifices by which the patriarchs had access to God, and of those instituted under the law and perpetuated throughout the Jewish age.

JESUS IN PROPHECY

The prophets, though credited with understanding but slightly the significance of some of their utterances, (1 Pet. 1:12) mention the laying of the sins upon a person instead of a dumb animal, and in prophetic vision they see him who is to redeem and to deliver the race led "as a lamb to the slaughter," that "the chastisement of our peace was upon him," and that "by his stripes we are healed." They pictured him as "despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," and declared that "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isa. 53:3-6) They told where this deliverer would be born (Mic. 5:2), and when he should die, assuring us that it would be "not for himself." (Dan. 9:26). They mention various peculiarities concerning him, that he would be "righteous" and free from "deceit," "violence," or any just cause of death (Isa. 53:9-11); that he would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver (Zech. 11:12); that he would be numbered among transgressors in his death (Isa. 53:12); that not a bone of him should be broken (Psa. 34:20; John 19:36); and that though he should die and be buried, his flesh would not corrupt, neither would he remain in the grave. (Psa. 16:10 ,Acts 2:31)

The New Testament writers clearly and forcibly, yet simply, record the fulfillment of all these predictions in Jesus of Nazareth, and by logical reasonings show that such a ransom price as he gave was needful, as already predicted in the law and the prophets, before the sins of the world could be blotted out. (Isa. 1:18) They trace the entire plan in a most logical and forcible manner, appealing neither to the prejudices nor to the passions of their hearers, but to their enlightened reason alone, furnishing some of the most remarkably close and cogent reasoning to be found anywhere on any subject. See Rom. 5:12-19, and onward to the 12th chapter.

Moses, in the law, pointed not alone to a sacrifice, but also to the blotting out of sins and a blessing of the people under this great deliverer, whose power and authority he declares shall vastly exceed his own, though it should be "like unto" it. (Deut. 18:15-19) The promised deliverer is [HGL306] to bless not only Israel, but through Israel "all the families of the earth." (Gen. 12:3; 22:18; 26:4) And, notwithstanding the prejudices of the Jewish people to the contrary, the prophets continue the same strain, declaring that the Messiah shall be also "for a light to lighten the Gentiles" (Isa. 49:6; Luke 2:32); that the Gentiles should come to him "from the ends of the earth" (Jer. 16:19); that his name "shall be great among the Gentiles" (Mal. 1:11); and that "the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together." Isa. 40:5; 42:1-7.

THE INSPIRATION OF THE APOSTLES

The New Testament writers claim a divine anointing, which enabled them to realize the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning the sacrifice of Christ. They, though prejudiced as Jews to think of every blessing as limited to their own people (Acts 11:1-18), were enabled to see that, while their nation would be blessed, all the families of the earth should be blessed also, with and through them. They saw also that, before the blessing of either Israel or the world, a selection would be made of a "little flock" from both Jews and Gentiles, who, being tried, would be found worthy to be made joint heirs of the glory and honor of the Great Deliverer, and sharers with him of the honor of blessing Israel and all the nations. Rom. 2:17.

These writers point out the harmony of this view with what is written in the Law and the Prophets; and the grandeur and breadth of the plan they present more than meets the most exalted conception of what it purports to be, "Good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people."

The thought of Messiah as a ruler of not only Israel, but also of the world, suggested in the books of Moses, is the theme of all the prophets. The thought of the kingdom was uppermost also in the teaching of the apostles; and Jesus taught that we should pray, "Thy Kingdom come," and promised those a share in it who would first suffer for the truth, and thus prove themselves worthy.

This hope of the coming glorious kingdom gave all the faithful ones courage to endure persecution and to suffer reproach, deprivation and loss, even unto death. And in the grand allegorical prophecy which closes the New Testament, the worthy "Lamb that was slain" (Rev. 5:12) the worthy "overcomers" whom he will make kings and priests in his Kingdom, and the trials and obstacles which they must overcome to be worthy to share that Kingdom, are all faithfully portrayed. Then are introduced symbolic representations of the blessing to accrue to the world under that Millennial reign, when Satan shall be bound and Adamic death and sorrow wiped out, and when all the nations of earth shall walk in the light of the heavenly Kingdom the new Jerusalem.

THE BIBLE UNIQUE AMONG BOOKS

The Bible, from first to last, holds out a doctrine found nowhere else, and in opposition to the theories of all the heathen religions, that a future life for the dead will come through a resurrection of the dead. All the inspired writers expressed their confidence in a redeemer and one declares that "in the morning," when God shall call them from the tomb, and they shall come forth, the wicked shall no longer hold the rulership of earth for "the upright shall have dominion over them, in the morning." (Psa. 49:14). The resurrection of the dead is taught by the prophets; and the writers of the New Testament base all their hopes of a future life and blessing upon it. Paul expresses it thus: "If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen; and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain; then they which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept; for as all in Adam die, even so all in Christ shall be made alive." 1 Cor. 15:13-22.

Like a watch, whose many wheels might at first seem superfluous, but whose slowest moving wheels are essential, so the Bible, composed of many parts, and prepared by many pens, is one complete and harmonious whole. Not a single part is superfluous, and though some parts take a more active and prominent place than others, all are useful and necessary. It is becoming popular among the so-called "advanced thinkers" and "great theologians" of the present day to treat lightly, or to ignore if they do not deny, many of the "miracles" of the Old Testament, calling them "old wives' fables." Of these are the accounts of Jonah and the great fish, Noah and the ark, Eve and the serpent, the standing still of the sun at the command of Joshua, and Balaam's speaking ass.

Seemingly these wise men overlook the fact that the Bible is so interwoven and united in its various parts that to tear from it these miracles, or to discredit them is to destroy or discredit the whole. For if the original accounts are false, those who repeated them were either falsifiers or dupes, and in either case it would be impossible for us to accept their testimony as divinely inspired. To eliminate from the Bible the miracles mentioned would invalidate the testimony of its principal writers, as well as that of our Lord Jesus.

MIRACLES WITH US DAILY

Those miracles, not common to our experience, find parallels about us every day which, being more common, are passed by unnoticed. We plant two seeds side by side; the conditions, air, water and soil, are alike; they grow, we cannot tell how nor can the wisest philosopher explain this miracle. These seeds develop organisms of opposite tendencies; one creeps, the other stands erect, form, flower, coloring, everything differs, though the conditions were the same. Such miracles manifest a power as much beyond our own, and beyond our limited intelligence, as the few miracles recorded in the Bible for special purposes, and as intended illustrations of omnipotence, and of the ability of the Great Creator to overcome every obstacle and to accomplish all his will even to our promised resurrection from the dead, the extermination of evil, and the ultimate reign of everlasting righteousness.

Here we rest the case. The depth, the power, the wisdom and scope of the Bible's testimony convince us that not man, but the Almighty God, is the author of its plans and revelations.

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