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WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE

By
David James Burrell, D. D.
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cheer the spirit. His faith helps and strength
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WHY I BELIEVE THE
BIBLE

BY
DAVID JAMES BURRELL
Pastor of the Marble Collegiate Church, New York

Nbw York Chicago Toromto
Fleming H. Revell Company
London and Edinburgh

Copyright, 1917, by
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY

New York: 158 Fifth Avenue
Chicago: 17 N. Wabash Ave.
Toronto: 25 Richmond St., W.
London: 21 Paternoster Square
Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street

THIS BOOK
IS DEDICATED TO
OUR OLD-FASHIONED MOTHERS
WHO, WITH ALL THEIR KNOWING,
« JUST KNOW THEIR BIBLES TRUE "
AND LIVE THAT WAY

V.ht%fitgrmh ps)A>i^3lsmtt0 ^»»wll

CONTENTS

Foreword ....

,

II

I

The Antecedent Presumption .

15

II

The Claim: Is It Verified?

18

III

An Unaccountable Unity

26

IV

Its Completeness .

¦ 31

V

Its Sufficiency

' 35
VI
Its Literary Value
¦ 43
VII
Its Up-to-date- ness
• 57
VIII
Its Tone of Authority
. 66
IX
Its Trustworthiness .
73
X
Its Influence on Personal Life
77
XI
Its Influence on National Life
87
XII
Its Place in the Forefront oi
Events 
94
XIII
It Is Christ's Book
106
XIV
Excursus ....
125
XV
It Is the Church's Book
135
XVI
It Is Everybody's Book .
144
XVII
Its System of Doctrine
150
XVIII
Its Moral Code
156
XIX
Its Plan of Salvation .
164
XX
Its Enemies .
168
XXI
Its Indestructibility .
183
Afterword . . ....
190
I might almost say to the Lord,
" Here is a tribute to thy Word,
Written out with much toil and pain :
Take ,it, O Lord, and let it be
As something I have done for thee."
— Adapted from Friar Pacificus.

FOREWORD
A BOY who had been dedicated to the ministry
at birth and constantly kept in remembrance of
that fact by a pious mother left home at sixteen
to 'prepare himself for the work before him. On
being exposed to the adverse winds of current un
belief he drifted from the moorings of faith little by
little until, at the conclusion of his college course, he
found himself without chart or compass on an open
sea. '
The choice of a profession was then before him.
Not without an inward struggle he resolved to enter
upon a theological course in the hope of regaining
a sufl&cient measure of faith to warrant his going on.
It was a foregone conclusion that the experiment
would fail. No man in such a quicksand can recover
his footing by a dead lift; any more than a planet
which has swerved from its orbit can automatically
save itself from exile in infinite space.
Those were dreary years; four miserable years of
evasion, of compromise with conscience, of vain efforts
to travel in " the middle of the road." It was a hope
less case. There is no middle of the road. If Christ
was not what he claimed to be but only a man, justly
condemned to death for " making ^imself equal with
God " ; if the Bible is not what it claims to be but a
mere book among books, to be laughed out of court for

12 FOREWORD
assuming to have been " written by holy men as they
were moved by the Spirit of God " ; if the manger and
the Cross and the open sepulchre are to be explained
away as figments of the imagination, without basis
in fact or any practical bearing on the life here or
hereafter; what need is there of the ministry or what
excuse can be offered for entering it?
So the young man reasoned within himself that,
with all the avenues of strenuous life open before him,
he would obviously be a fool to choose a ministry
without a message and a knave to assume vows which.
were better kept in the breach than in the observance.
Thus doubting and questioning this " candidate for
holy orders " stood at the crossing of the ways.
Just then he was unexpectedly called to minister at
a deathbed. An old Scotchman, who had been trained
at a Highland fireside but had wandered far from
the landmarks of truth and righteousness, was look
ing into the dark with frightened eyes. All night long
he kept saying, " Tell me how to face Gbd ! Is there a
God? Was Christ his only-begotten Son? Did he
die for me? Can his blood cleanse from all sin?
Read me what the Bible says about it. — But wait; is
the Bible true? They say it's no better than any other
book. What do you think? Man, I am dying! Don't
trifle now. Tell me."
All night long! Put yourself in the place of that
young man. What would you have done? At day
break he found himself on his knees, humbled and put
to shame by the manifest interposition of a loving
God. In trying to tell a sinner how to die he had
himself found out how to live. At daybreak, by the

FOREWORD 13
side of the dead, the living stood up and praised God.
The doprway into the ministry was now open be
fore him. With Christ as his Saviour ahd the Bible
as an infallible rule of faith and conduct, he could
assume the vows of his ordination with the clear con
science of an honest man. He had his message to
deliver as an ambassador of Christ; a message in
volving the issues of eternal life. Whether he would
preach or not was no longer an open question: he
must preach, because he had something to say, some-
. thing worth while, something with the sanction of a
Thus saith the Lord behind it.
Half a century has passed since these things hap
pened. The young preacher in the meantime has at
tended many deathbeds and ministered to multitudes
of the living; nor has he ever wavered in his cpnvic-
tion that Christ is faithful and that the Bible is a de
pendable book to live by and die by.
D. J. B.
New York

THE ANTECEDENT PRESUMPTION
IF I regarded the Scripture as a mingled tissue
of truth and falsehood or as merely "contain
ing " a less or greater modicum of truth, I could
not as an honest man say that I believe it. But I do
believe it : and I mean precisely what I say. To my
mind the Book is not true in spots, but true and trust
worthy from beginning to end.
And this is the historic faith of the Christian
Church all along the ages. The enemies of the Bible
make so much noise at times that old-fashioned be
lievers are moved to lament as Elijah did under the
juniper-tree, " They have forsaken thy Covenant and
thrown down thine altars; and I even I only am
left " ; but battles are not won with wind instruments ;
and neither faith nor reason builds its altars under
jimiper-trees. There are multitudes in Israel who
have not bowed their knees to Baal. The shouting
and the tumult cease ; but truth and righteousness
fight on to certain victory in the long run.
It is a great thing to be a conservative: not inac
tively, like reservoirs of still water, but progressively,
like rivers that keep within their banks while rolling
on toward the sea. We are bound to move with the
moving world, providing we do not move away from
the immovable faith which was " once for all deliv-
15

16 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
ered to the saints." We must needs keep open house
for Truth but by the same token we are bound to
double-bolt our doors when Falsehood knocks and
, cries, " Let me in ! "
Whether a man believes his Bible or rejects it, two
things may be fairly required of him. On the one
hand he must frankly and truthfully state his posi
tion, without mumbling or mouthing; and on the
other he must be able always to give an answer to
every man that asketh him a reason for it.
There is something to be said, before we go a step
further, about the reasonableness of looking for a
Revelation of some sort. This, while it proves noth
ing, will prepare the way for positive propositions
further on. ^
The presumption runs on this wise. If there is a
God anywhere in the universe, and if that God is our
Father, he would certainly not leave us in doubt as
to the great problems in which are involved the issues
of eternal life.
If it is reasonable to expect an earthly father to
comfort his children in distress by assuring them, of
his wise purposes concerning them, our Father in
heaven would certainly do no less. (Matthew 7: 11.)
If a well disposed king puts up finger-boards to
guide wayfarers through the dense forests and along
the perplexing roads of his domain, the King of kings
would assuredly not leave his subjects to wander at
their wits' end.
Plato lamented that he was adrift upon a raft with
no rudder at hand nor guiding star before him; yet
even he, pagan though he was, ventured the hope that

THE ANTECEDENT PRESUMPTION IT
the gods would some time "give us a good staunch
boat to sail in." This was the expression of a uni
versal instinct. Assuming a God, it would appear
that somewhere there must be a clear and distinct
Revelation not only of himself but of his beneficent
plans and purposes concerning us.
So much for the^ antecedent presumption. We
shall now place over against it the Claim of the Bible
itself to be precisely such a Revelatiofi as would be
expected of a just and loving God.

II
THE CLAIM: IS IT VERIFIED?
THE claim of the Book is threefold; and it is
expressed in no uncertain terms :
First: it claims to be inspired. Nor does
it leave us in the least possible doubt as to what it
means by " inspiration." The word is theopnustia,
literally, "breathed of God." (II Timothy 3: i6.)
I breathe upon a window on a frosty morning and
leave there a lace-work picture of turreted palaces and
landscapes and armies marching to battle with dia
mond-pointed spears. So God once breathed through
human lips upon a series of parchments which are
called the Scriptures. The deposit left upon those
original parchments was the very breath (pneuma)
of God. Wherefore it must have been inerrant truth ;
since it is unthinkable that God should breathe a lie.
Second: the Book claims to be inspired in a definite
and singular way : namely, " The prophecy came not
at any time by the will of man; but holy men of God
spake as they were moved (or borne onward) by the
Spirit (pneuma, 'the breath') of God." (II Peter
1 :2i.) It thus appears that the sacred writers were some
thing more than mere amanuenses. While free to ex
press the divinely-revealed truth in their own words
and according to their own mental processes, they were
18

THE CLAIM: IS IT VERIFIED? 19
so " borne onward " by the Holy Spirit as to be safe
guarded, on the one hand, against all possible error
and directed, on the other, into a clear statement of
truth precisely as God would have it.
Third: this singular claim is made for all Scripture,
as it is written, " All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the
man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished
unto all good works." (II Timothy 3: 16.) '
In other words, there can be no picking and choos
ing from among the Scriptures, as when one orders a
dinner a la carte saying, " I like this " and " I do not
care for that." The table is divinely spread and all
its viandsi are nutritious; not all alike or equally so
for the building up of the same parts and processes
of life, but some for doctrine, others for reproof and
correction, still others for instruction in righteousness ;
none being without its distinct and definite uses.
The words quoted from II Timothy 3 will bear
a little further looking into. They were addressed to
the young pastor of the Christian Church in Ephesus.
He was surrounded by divers temptations. Ephesus
was the chief emporium for a considerable portion pf
the trade of Asia ; a resort for fashionable people who
wished to lose themselves in the whirl of vicious in
dulgence ; and also a distinguished seat of pagan learn
ing. The young pastor had, therefore, to meet all the
allurements incident to the prevalent vogue of sordid
business, carnal pleasure and worldly wisdom. But
against these he wa? fortified by the training which
he hqd reiceived; not merely from Paul, his spiritual"

20 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
foster-father, but from his mother Eunice and from
another eledt-lddy, his grandmother Lois. By these
he had been instructed in the Holy Scriptures, which
are able to make men wise unto salvation and to
enhearten them for the stress of daily life.
In this letter Of Paul's, full of faithful counsel and,
admonition, he bade the young minister be mindful
of those rudiments of faith and morals which had,,
thus been imparted to him : " Continue thou in the
things which thou haSt learned and hast been assured
of." How many a youth in the hurly-burly of metropoli
tan life has need of similar counsel in these days'!
Never in the history of the world has there been a
time when the young and unwary were confronted
by temptations more alluring than now. The 'life of
commerce makes its vociferous claims; the life of
pleasure beckons from doorways and windows along
the way ; and presumptuous Folly, arrayed in the garb
of Wisdom, stands at the corners of the streets crying
aloud that the old truths are superannuated, that the
Bible is untrustworthy, .that religion is but a refined
' form of superstition and that " the spirit of the age "
is more important than the Spirit of God.
Now let the hallowed past stand forth to help and
strengthen! Let memory recall the voice of the dear
mother who, aS' Cowper says, " just knew, and ktjew
no more, her Bible true ! " Let the voice pf the vil
lage preacher, far away in the glamour of the van
ished past, be heard again, commending the Cross, the
old-fashioned Book'and the precepts of a holy life!
O men and womenj let us continue in the things

THE CLAIM: IS IT VERIFIED.? 21
which we have learned and been assured of ! Why
should we be swept from our moorings by every
contrary wind of destructive teaching? Let us stand
by our principles, if we have any. Let us hew to the
line of our convictions. So shall the truths which have
commended themselves to the thoughtful world for
centuries be ours, to serve as an anchor of our souls,
both sure and steadfast, taking hold of that which is
within the veil. Unless we are fully persuaded that
our' forbears were simple folk and that the Church of
the centuries bas been imposed on by a system of
"cunningly devised fables," it behooves us to respect
the ancient landmarks and, chiefest among them, the
Bible. To abandon that is to be without an ancl^or in
the storm : adrift upon an open sea.
But the question now confronts us. Does the, Book
verify its claim?
Suppose we treat that question precisely as if it
were pending in a court of justice. The evidence is
to be submitted to a jury of fair-minded men. Two
things are necessarily assumed at the outset. One is
that the minds of these jurymen shall be clear of
prejudice. Otherwise, to proceed with the argument
would be as hopeless as was Galileo's attempt to prove
the existence of the moons of Jupiter to a body of
inquisitors who refused to look through his telescope
for fear they should have no case against him.
The other prerequisite on the part of these jurymen
is that each shall do his own thinking. The jury
system is rightly regarded as one of the necessary
pillars, of any Commonwealth founded on tjie rights
of man. It has been said that "the entire Con-

22 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
stitution of England, with its balances and complica
tions and delicate adjustments, was framed for the
main purpose of impanelling twelve honest men and
true." The business of the presiding judge is to hold
the balances and interpret the law. The attorneys are
in honour bound to argue the case on its merits. The
witnesses are sworn to speak " the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth." And the twelve
honest men and true are enjoined to find a verdict in
accordance with the law and evidence bearing on the
matter in hand. The ideal is perfect; its object being
to secure equal and impartial justice for all sorts and
conditions of men.
In practice, however, the system does not alway¥
attain this end. It frequently happens that a jury
cannot agree. There is a difference of opinion as to
the application of the law or the weight of evidence
in the case. The foreman advises the court accord
ingly and is instructed to return and inform his asso
ciates that they must agree. Thereupon the majority
argue with the minority and perhaps succeed in " talk
ing them around " — all but one. This stubborn fellow
holds out. The result is a " hung jury " ; and the case
is set for retrial or given up.
I sing the praises of that stubborn man. Many a
life, trembling in the balance has been saved by him.
He is true to himself and to the right of the matter,
as God gives him to see it. He does his own thinking ;
declines to farm out his brain and conscience to others.
He is a true man, an independent man, a necessary
man, a mighty man.
His value has been approved in many of the great

THE CLAIM: IS IT VERIFIED? 23
crises of history. In the beginning of the Christian
Church a man of this character was needed to antag
onize the false teachers who, under the leadership of
Anus, assailed the deity of Christ. The man appeared
in the person of Athanasius, the Bishop of Alexandria,
who was repeatedly exiled and ceaselessly persecuted
for his unswerving devotion to reason and conscience.
The errorists of the Church were against him; the
influence of many in ecclesiastical authority was
against him; the power of the Empire was against
him. On being advised by certain of his friends that
" the world was against him," he made the memorable
reply, " Then I am against the world ! " Who shall
estimate the influence of that lone juryman? The
time-servers who weakened are forgotten; but Atha
nasius contra mundum is immortalized in the poetic
justice of history. His monument is the Athanasian
Creed, in which millions of Christians pay tribute to
the heroism of one who would not " bow the pregnant
hinges of his knees that thrift might follow fawning."
All honour to such men !
There has never been a time when the call for such
independent thinkers was louder than just now. This
is true not only in social and political affairs but
pre-eminently in the province of religion. And back
of all religious problems in this province is that of
Biblical authority: because if the Scriptures are not
reliable we have absolutely no ultimate standard by
which to determine the truth or falsity of any re
ligious thesis.
What we want, then, for the business immediately
in hand, is a panel of unbiased and independent jury-

24.. WHY I BELIEVE- THE BIBLE
men. In other words, they must be " honest
doubters."
Let there be no mistake at this point, however ; for
many a man who thinks himself an honest doubter is
in fact a confirmed and stubborn unbeliever. It has
been said that " doubt is either the agony of a noble
soul or the frivolity of a fool." An honest doubter' is
one who, realizing the importance of a right settle- ¦
ment of an important issue, rests not day nor night
until he arrives at the truth concerning it. He puts
away all preconceptions and, with a clear conscience
and a single purpose, addresses himself to the problem
before him.
Is the reader thus prepared to canvass the evidence ?
Is his mind free from bias and open to conviction?
If not, he is peremptorily challenged; because no
amount of argument based on facts can enable him to
pass an ,honesf; judgment upon the merits of the ca.se.
If, however, he is sure of his unbiased sincerity in the
serious quest of truth, he is competent to hear the
evidence and pass upon it.
One of the great discourses of Christ, in which he
stated the authority of his teaching, is recorded in the
seventh chapter of John. He was speaking in the
Porch of the Temple to a company of people who were
divided in their opinion concerning him. There were
some who believed that his teaching was true and that
he was what he claimed to be. There were others,
including the Scribes and Pharisees, who were so
opposed to him that they were even then plotting to
kill him. The Teacher himself put the case calmly
ctnd dispassionately before them on this wise: " If any

THE CLAIM: IS IT VERIFIED? 25
^man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the
teaching, whether it is of God." ,
Are we thus willing to follow the direction of the
divine will in order that we know whether the teach
ing is of God ? If so, we may proceed with the hear
ing of the case; otherwise we might as Well call a
halt here and now ; because " a man convinced against
his will is of the same opinion still."

Ill
AN UNACCOUNTABLE UNITY
IT is difficult if not impossible to account for the
singular unity of the Scriptures without according
to them a divine origin.
Here is a volume made up of sixty-six books, on
a large variety of themes, composed by forty odd
writers of various tongues and nationalities, writing
at intervals along a period of sixteen hundred years
and representing all degrees of racial development
from semi-barbarism to the highest degree of culture ;
yet, strange to tell, these sixty-six books when bound
togther constitute a harmonious and consistent whole ;
yielding one system of doctrine, one code of ethics
and, thus, one " rule of faith and practice " for all
the children of men.
Shall we call this a fortuitous circumstance? The
folly of such a statement would immediately be rec
ognized in any other province. If forty odd persons
of different tongues and degrees of musical educa
tion were to pass through the organ-loft of a church
at long intervals and, without any possibility of col
lusion, strike sixty-six notes which, when combined,
should yield the theme of an oratorio, it is respect
fully submitted that the man who regarded that as
" a fortuitous circumstance " would by universal
consent be regarded as — to put it mildly — sadly defi
ne

AN UNACCOUNTABLE UNITY 27
cient in common sense. The conclusion from such a
harmonious combination would be irresistible, namely,
that one controlling mind, and that of a great tone-
master, was behind it.
The Bible is in two volumes. The first of these is
called the Old Testament and the second the New.
In certain quarters there is a disposition to accept the
latter while practically rejecting the former as having
little or no value for modern readers. Not long ago,
in a convention of Sunday-school teachers, a clergy
man is reported to have said: "The Old Testament
is out of date : let me have a few of the Psalms and
a chapter or two of Isaiah and I have no further use
for it." There are not many ministers or laymen,
probably, who would be willing to speak so frankly;
but an impression of this sort has gone abroad, and
the consequent neglect of the Old Testament is sp
preyalent that a consideration of the subject in this
connection may not be unprofitable for us.
Let us affirm, therefore, th&t the Old Testament is
not only an essential and inseparable part of the
Bible but that it perfectly accords and symphonizes
with the New Testament. The plot of a connected
story runs through both volumes, to wit, the story of
the Cross: and so connectedly that no coherent or
consecutive view of the divine plan of salvation can
be gained without an understanding of both. The
New Testament is woven into the Old Testament like
the warp of a fabric into its woof: or, to use the
words of Augustine, " The New Testament is en
folded in the Old and the Old Testament is unfolded
in the New."

28 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
The sum and substance of both volumes is briefly'
comprehended in the saying, " God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten Son that who
soever believeth in him should not perish but have
everlasting life."
The story opens at the gateway of Paradise where,
at the moment when our first parents sinned against
God, the protevangel was given, " The Seed of
woman shall come in the fulness of time to bruise the
serpent's head." The red trail of the atoning blood
can be traced thenceforth through all the pages of the
Book. The plot thickens, as we read on and on,
through Chronicle and Psalm and Prophecy, until,
with Israel's abandonment of the Messianic hope, the
lights in the Temple go out and the darkness deepens
into an Egyptian night of four hundred years — a night
which is broken at length by the shining of the Star
of Bethlehem and the angels' song, " Glory to God
in the highest, peace on earth and good will to men ! "
By this it is evident that the worthies of the olden
time were saved precisely as we are. The Old Testa
ment, known as The Book' of the Law, was a "school
master to lead them to Christ." The first sinner
had a foregleam of the Saviour. The patriarchs
" rejoiced to see his day." The faithful who gath
ered about the brazen altar were sufficiently initiated
into the mystery of the sacrificial Lamb of God.
Such ancients as Abraham and David and Isaiah were
Christians as really as we are; only they looked for
ward to the sacrifice while we look backward to it
as an accomplished fact.
The first volume of the Book is, indeed, a neces-

AN UNACCOUNTABLE UNITY 29
sary key to the second. How shall we understand
the words: "Behold the Lamb of God," unless we
are familiar with the tragic incident of the Passover
and the prophetic ritual of the altar? How shall we
comprehend the saying of Jesus to Nicodemus : " As
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoso-,
ever believeth in him should not perish but have
eternal life " unless, like Nicodemus, we are familiar
with the story of Ezion-Geber? Thus in order to
enter the Holy of Holies we must pass through the
outer court.
The Gospel in the New Testament glows with the
light of " the most excellent glory " that shone
above the Tabernacle of the Old. The mercy seat is
sprinkled with the blood of Calvary and the open
sepulchre in Joseph's garden echoes with anciept
prophecies of life and immortality brought to light.
The importance of studying the Old Testament is
obvious, therefore, if we would understand the full,
broad, glorious significance of the divine plan of sal
vation from the penalty and power of sin.
As there is only one God so there is only one
authoritative Book of God ; and the Bible is that one.
Its parts all hold together as a coherent and con
sistent though complex unit: all alike being inspired
and profitable for the making of a man.
It is not meant by this, however, that all portions
of the Book are equally profitable. The law with
respect to the robbing of a bird's nest is obviously not
so important as the precept, " Thou shalt not kill."
It is not so essential that we should familiarize our-

30 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
selves with the catalogue of names in Genesis lo —
though in point of fact this furnishes' the basis of
ethnological science — ^as that we should know the
riches of divine grace. But there is a good and suf
ficient reason for every portion of it. Not a chapter
is negligible or dispensable.
It is true also that much of the Bible is not designed
to be read in the public services of the sanctuary or
even at the family altar. In a book intended to touch
life at every point in its circumference there must
needs be many passages fit only for conference be
twixt a man and God alone: unveilings of carnal rot
tenness in the secret imaginations of the heart ; flashes
of a two-edged sword that cuts to the very dividing
of the bones and marrow. These are to be read only
in those private chambers where the soul sits bare
and naked before God.
But the supremely important point to remember in
the study of the Scriptures is that their nexus is the
divine plan of salvation. Omit that and the whole
fabric is reduced to threads and thrums. It is only,
with the Cross as our golden key that we so enter the
Book as to perceive not only the unity of its various
parts but the profitableness of every part for some
of the diverse uses of life. All Scripture is thus seen
to Tie contributary to the far-reaching purpose of God
in our redemption and building up unto the measure
of the fulness of the stature of a man.

IV
ITS COMPLETENESS
THE Bible is a comprehensive summary of all
spiritual truth, so far forth as a knowledge of
spiritual truth is necessary to our temporal
and eternal well-being. It is so characterized by Paul
in one of his letters to Timothy, where he says
" Abide thou in the things which thou hast learned
and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou
hast learned them, and that from a babe thou hast
known the Sacred Writings, which are able to make
thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in
Christ Jesus. Every Scripture inspired of God is
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." (R. V.)
It thus appears that, in the opinion of Paul at
least, all spiritual truth, so far as needed for our
guidance, is summarized in the Scriptures; This fact
is worthy of emphasis in view of what is being said
about "progressive revelation."
Do we affirm, then, that there is no such thing as
progress in the understanding of truth? By no
means ! But we do insist that all progress in spiritual
knowledge is within the circumscription of this Book;
as John Robinson said, when bidding farewell to the
31

32 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
Pilgrims, who were embarking at Delft Haven: "I
pray you to remember that new light will be ever
breaking forth from the Word of God ! " New light,
ever; but no new Sun of Righteousness. It is a sin
gular fact that, despite the philosophic research of
centuries, no truth within the province of spiritual
things has ever been discovered beyond the bound
aries of Scripture: by which it would appear that
Scripture contains the ultimate and adequate sum
total required for the supply of human need. There.
are no limitations in God but there is a definite limit
to our knowledge of him. '
As there is no new force in the material universe,
though there is no end of new adjustments and ap
plications of force, so while there are no new prin
ciples in the spiritual province, there are continually
new interpretations and larger uses of them. The
sun, which is our source of light and energy, is not
changed to meet the demands of a progressive world,
though there are many "new things under the, sun."
The Bible, in like manner, though closed and finally
sealed long centuries ago, was divinely adjusted to
the progress of all succeeding ages.
The uninspired word " Finis " on the last page pf
(the Bible is as true as though it were incorporated in
it. The meaning of that word is that the revelation
of truth contained therein is so comprehensive that
there would never be need of an addendum. It stands
like a challenge to the progress of the future, saying,
" Supplant me or supplement me if you can ! "
The last words of the last chapter of the last por
tion of Scripture are significant ; " I testify unto every

ITS COMPLETENESS 33
man that heareth the words of the prophecie's (i.e.,
teachings) of this Book; If any man shall add unto
them, God shall add unto him the plagues which are
written in this Book • and if any man shall take away
from the words of the Book of this prophecy, God
shall take away his part from the tree of life and out
of the holy city which afe written in this Book."
I am not unaware that those who deny the integrity
of the Scriptures are accustomed to say that the
warning referred to was intended to apply only to
that particular portion of Scripture which contains
it, namely "the Book of the Revelation of John."
But this does not relieve the situation, for two rea
sons : first, because it is not easy to perceive the
grounds upon which this limitation is based or how
its originators discovered it; and second, because,
even granting it, they would probably be as reluctant
(putting it mildly) to consent to the full inspiration
and trustworthiness of John's account of his apoca
lyptic visions as of any other portion of the Book.
The only escape from the dilemma on their part i%
to deny the singular truth of the Scriptures in toto:
which, frankly stated, is precisely what they dp.
At this point attention is called to a fact which is
difficult of explanation on the part of those so-called
" Biblical experts " who deny — and not infrequently
deride— the plenary and inerrant inspiration of the
original autographs ' of Scripture. The business of
textual criticism is to purge all current versions of
unwarranted changes and additions by careful and
scholarly comparison with the earliest manuscripts,, so
as to arrive, as nearly as possible, at the original text.

34. WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
But why so? If this Book is to be classed as " mere
literature " and treated accordingly, why not seek for
the latest instead of the first edition ? The text books
in use when we were children at school are all obso
lete. Such as are now being studied by our boys and
girls must presently be revised and " brought up to
date." The last editions are required in every case.
Why, then, should the first edition of the Scriptures
be in such universal demand? Is not this a practical
concession that the original manuscript of Scripture,
if found, would prove to be the highest authority in
spiritual things for this and every age? In other
words, marvellous to tell, the Bible, written so many
centuries ago, must have been intended to abide
through all generations as an unalterable Book; and
this because it is full and complete, measuring out to
the entire race its supply for all moral needs from
the beginning to the very end of time.

ITS SUFFICIENCY
THE Bible would not be a complete book did it
not supply all the moral and spiritual needs of
all sorts and conditions of men. '
Does it meet that requirement?
In the so-called "parable" of Dives and Lazarus
we are given to understand that our Lord thought
so. It runs on this wise : In a certain town there lived
six brothers, all eminently respectable men. They
obeyed the laws, paid their honest debts and minded
their own affairs. As to spiritual things they were
non-committal; why should they trouble themselves
about God and the future when they were so com
fortable in the enjoyment of the world here and now?
The worst that could be said of them was that they
were living a self-centred life. But that was bad
enough, as we shall see.
One of these brothers had a luxurious home where,
clothed in purple and fine linen, he fared sumptuously
every day. The fact that a certain beggar, sick and
forlorn, was accustomed to sit before his gate may
have annoyed him; but he satisfied his conscience by
giving the poor fellow the crumbs that fell from
his table. He probably felt that he was magnanimous
in not ordering him off the premises.
Now it came to pass, in (he course of events, that
35

36 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
the beggar died — as all beggars do — and being a
worthy man, in spite of his poverty he went to
heaven. He was there received into that innermost
place of happiness which the rabbis were accustomed
to call " Abraham's bosom," a term borrowed from
the custom of reclining on couches at banquets. By
this we are given to understand that his faithfulness
admitted him to the near presence of the father of
the faithful, where a feast of spiritual viands was
spread before him.
And then it came to pass, in the course of events,
that " the rich man also died." What ? Yes, they
all do. He died "and was buried." No doubt he
had an imposing funeral and his virtues were com
memorated in a glowing epitaph. What then? He
" went to his own place." Where else could he go
but to the place for which his character had fitted
him? That place is called Sheol in the Hebrew, and
in our translation by a word not to be mentioned in
ears polite; yet Christ used it without mouthing or
mumbling. It is the place appointed for all sordid
and selfish souls who live for self and die without
God. The two places thus designated were far apart;
yet the distance could not be measured in terms of
space; for the rich man in hell could see what was
transpiring in heaven and was within hailing distance
of it. Shall we wonder at this ? Did you never know
a husband and wife who, living under the same roof,
were yet infinitely separated from each other by the
fact that they were hopelessly at odds concerning
vital things? So here, the rich man is represented

ITS SUFFICIENCY 37
as holding a conversation with Abraham, though he
could not approach him.
Let it be observed that in this colloquy he makes no
complaint with respect to his own condition in the
final adjustment of things. He was doubtless aware
of the saying, " As a man soweth, so also shall he
reap," and apparently he recognized the fact that jus
tice was being meted out to him.
But he had a request to make, namely,, that Lazarus
might be sent, with a finger dipped in that River of
Life which flows through the midst of heaven, to cool
his tongue which was burning with thirst, the consum
ing thirst of vain regret for opportunities unheeded
and gone by.
To grant that request was impossible in the nature
of the case. The water which he craved was riot
among the " good things " which he had chosen and
enjoyed in his lifetime. What he now really wanted
was not a draught of the water of life but of Lethe,
the river of forgetfulness. Alas, he could not forget.
" Son, remember ! " The Persians have a proverb,
" The remembrances of past happiness are the wrin
kles of the soul." What shall be said, then, of the
remembrances of past privilege and lost opportunity?
" And besides this,"^ said Abraham, " between us
and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that there can
be no passing to and fro." Who fixed that gulf?
Not God; for it is written that the twelve gates of
his heaven are wide open forever. Why, then, does
not this rich man pass in? For the same reason that
so many homeless, friendless, cheerless folk pass by
our church doors without a thought of entering. <

38 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
However disconsolate their condition in the outer
darkness, they are more comfortable there than they
would be in a praying, psalm-singing company like
ours. So with the rich man in the parable: nothing
but his own choosing excludes him from the fellow
ship of saints. He hears them singing over yonder,
" Holy, holy. Lord God Almighty " ; but to dwell amid
the praises of a holy God would be torture to him. He
hears them praising the Saviour in such glowing terms
as these : " Worthy art thou to receive honour and
glory and power and dominion for thou hast washed
our robes and made them white " ; but what cares he
for Christ or for the righteousness of saints? He
sees them going on their Lord's errands as minister
ing spirits; but he has never learned the generous
pleasure of kindly deeds. Oh, no ; heaven would have
been a more insufferable place than hell for one
whose life of self-pleasing had so utterly disqualified
him for it. He was thirsty, but not for water like
that. He was unhappy, but not with any longing for
the felicity of saints. What he wanted was not a
change of character but merely a surcease of pain.
His choice had been made in his earthly life and was
still made. He would not choose otherwise. The
gulf was fixed and he himself had fixed it. His char
acter had been crystallized by death ; which is the end
of probation ; for so it is written, " He that is unjust
let him be unjust still and he that is holy let him be
holy still." And what could change it?
He had, however, another request to make : " I
pray thee, father, that thou wouldSt send Lazarus to
my father's house; for I have five brethren! that he

ITS SUFFICIENCY 39
may testify unto them lest they also come into this
place Pf torment." By this we are given to under
stand that his brothers were still living in the selfish
enjoyment of wealth and sensual comfort and with
out troublesome thoughts of death or of that which
follows it. There is an intimation in this request
that, in the opinion of Dives, they were not having
a fair chance. It is as if he said " My brothers do
not know! If they were sufficiently informed as to
the reality of eternal things they would surely change
their manner of life."
But would they? Now mark the answer; for here
is where the sufficiency of Scripture comes in. The
answer was, " They have Moses and the Prophets;
let them hear them."
The term " Moses and the Prophets " was one of
the current phrases used to designate the Scriptures.
The intimation is that these brothers had in the Bible
all the light that was necessary for their guidance
and admonition, however they might persist in run
ning on the bosses of the shield of God.
At this point the rich man remonstrates : " Nay,
father Abraham ; but if one went unto them from the
dead they would repent." This sounds reasonable;
but in point of fact there was nothing in it. The time
came when one did actually rise from the dead — when
Christ himself, who had been crucified before their
eyes, came forth from his sepulchre, as was certified
by " above five hundred who saw him at once," — and
still we are left to believe that they were unconvinced
and w.ent living right on in the same way.
So comes the final word : " If they hear not Moses

40 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
^nd the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded
though one rose from the dead." Here is the cli
macteric of the Parable. It has pleased God to re
veal himself in the Scriptures as a God of infinite jus
tice and infinite love. He has made himself known
in this manner so that sinners might repent and seek
salvation. In this Book the plan of salvation is made
perfectly clear. All that need be known is here made
known; so that any man, with the Bible in his hand,
though his sins are as scarlet, may set himself right
with God.
Let it be observed in. this connection that Abraham
himself had no Bible. The divine will was communi
cated to him in dreams and visions and angel visits.
He was born a pagan, the son of an idol-maker, and
was taught to bow before gods of wood and stone.
But the time came when he heard a Voice, calling
him to " leave his father's house and go forth into a
country that he knew not"; and he followed that
Voice. He lived up to the full measure of his light;
and in the light thus given he read the Gospel: as
Jesus said " Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he
saw it and was glad." He was thus saved — a pagan
born, two thousand years before the Advent — by
faith precisely like oUrs in the Christ who said, " I
am the Way; no man cometh unto the Father but
by me."
Observe, again, that the five brothers referred to
had the Bible. True, it was only the Old Testament;
but that was enough for what was required of them.
It contained the Law, and " he that keepeth the law
shall live by it." But suppose they broke the law?

ITS SUFFICIENCY 41
Then they had the Gospel in the prophecies ; for the
Prophets all conspired to speak of Chpst, who in the
fulness of time was to be " wounded for our trans
gressions and bruised for our iniquities, that by his
stripes we might be healed." The Gospel is recorded
in the Old Testament as really as in the New. The
tragedy of Calvary runs through it like a scarlet
thread. The birth, life, character, vicarious death
and resurrection of Jesus are there so plain that he
who runs may read. Wherefore the five brothers
were without excuse if they did not believe in him.
But how about us? We have the voice of nature,
as the heathen have it, "the invisible things of God
being clearly seen and understood by the things that
are made " ; so that we are " without excuse." We
have the Voice that speaks from heaven, as Abraham
heard it; and if we refuse to hear the Voice of the
Spirit or fail to live up to this measure of our light
we are again "without excuse." We have the Old
Testament with its Messianic prophecies and the New
Testament with its Evangelists pointing to CJhrist
and showing how all those prophecies were fulfilled
in him ; wherefore, again and most obviously, we are
" without excuse." We have, in addition tp all this,
the record of nineteen centuries of Christian progress,
in which the majestic figure of Christ is seen in the
forefront of all the great enterprises of civilization
transforming the home, the workshop, society and
government, and ever enlarging and extending the
borders of Christendom with a sure promise of ulti
mately bringing in the Golden Age. What more could
we ask? Or how shall we escape if we neglect so

42 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
great salvation? Will not the five brothers of Dives
rise up against us in judgment should we sin against
our noonday sun ? Alas, " this is the condemnation,
that light is come into the world and men love dark
ness rather than light ! "
Is it to be imagined that if one rose from the dead
to admonish us the result would be different? If
Christ himself were to appear at this moment, with
the glory of the resurrection shining in his face and
a troop of archangels following him, would that con
vince the unconvinced? The chances are they would
regard it as a hallucination. The light might dazzle,
bewilder, affrighten; but surely it would not remove
the unbelief of any who refuse to accept the testimony
of the authoritative Word of God.

VI
ITS LITERARY VALUE
THERE are those who say that the Bible is
mere " literature " and must therefore be sub
ject to the common canons of criticism. For
the sake of the argument let us concede this. Waiv
ing the fact that, unlike all other literature, it is di
vinely inspired, let us proceed to scrutinize its char
acter as a mere book among books.
And here, as in our last chapter, we shall be -
helped by a consideration of one of our Lord's para
bles, to wit, the brief Parable of the Householder and
his Treasury. It is recorded in Matthew 13:52;
" Therefore every scribe who is instructed unto the
Kingdom of heaven is like unto an householder who
, bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and
old." A traveller is here represented as coming to an
Oriental home at eventide for entertainment. His
host, desirous of showing his importance, brings out
his treasures and spreads them before him. There
were no banks or other places of safe deposit in those
days. One's wealth must be buried in the ground or
kept in a recess in the wall. The householder goes
to his treasury accordingly and brings out things new
and old; antique coins; necklaces worn by princes of
long ago; golden shields bearing the dint of old-time
43

44 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
battles; precious stones plucked from the crowns of
captive kings ; the loot of the campaigns of ages. All
these are spread before the eyes of his wondering
guest. Now, says Jesus, the scribe is a custodian of the
Oracles of God. The key is at his girdle. His busi
ness is to bring forth the wealth of Scripture, new
truths and old, to dazzle and .enchant the beholder's
eyes. There is a select coterie of scribes in our time who
arrogate to themselves the title of " Biblical Ex
perts " : and they will brook no trespassing on their
prerogative. Over the gateway of the Scriptures they
have placed the caveat,
" N. B. No thoroughfare.
This preserve is for the use of duly accredited
Scholars. Ministers and laymen alike are warned off.
By order of The Erudite lunto."
But ministers and laymen are not to be frightened
so easily. They insist upon the right of personal
judgment in these premises. The words of Jesus
" Search the Scriptures " were not addressed to any
pedagogic clique but to the people all and several.
The search-warrant is in the hands of every man.
A Biblical critic is, to a minister of the Gospel, as
an apothecary's apprentice to a physician. The
'prentice makes the pills and lotions, knows their con
stituent parts, and possibly feels himself a master of
the Materia Medica ; but it will probably be conceded
that the physician, whose business is not merely to
know what pills and lotions are made of but how to

ITS LITERARY VALUE 45
apply them to the necessities of physical life, is some
what the wiser of the two. Certainly the young
knight of the pestle has his place, but in the practical
uses of the pharmacopoeia the practising physician is
master of the situation.
So a minister of the Gospel, despite the admonition
of the Erudite Junto, must insist upon his preroga
tive in the exposition of the word. It is his place to
know not merely those Scriptural infinitesimals, the
jots and tittles, which men discover with microscopes,
but to know what the Scriptures are good for. It is
claimed, therefore, in behalf of ministers of the Gos
pel, that they are quite competent to speak advisedly
regarding the composition of the Scriptures and their
uses. But when it comes to the literary value of the
Scriptures neither learned professors nor ministers
in holy orders can enter any claim superior to that
of the average man. These succulent pastures are
open alike to all lovers of rhetorical style and beauty.
When Paul, a man of liberal culture, graduate of
the University of Jerusalem, was a prisoner at Rome,
he wrote to a young friend at Ephesus, " Give dili
gence to come shortly unto me. The cloak which I
left at Troas with Carpus bring with thee when thou
comest, and the books but especially the parchments."
The cloak was for winter days in the Mammertine
jail. The books, probably Greek and Oriental trea
tises, were such as would cheer a scholar's lonely
hours. But the parchments, the scrolls of Scripture,
were desired above all. "Especially the parch
ments ! " He could, if need be, endure the cold of

46 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
winter without his cloak; he could get along without
the classic poets and philosophers; but the Bible, ah,
he must have that ; for the treasures of life were in it !
When John Bunyan was a prisoner in Bedford jail
he found solace for his loneliness in the companion
ship of books. His library, however, was in point of
numbers a very meagre one. His books were only
three ; but, as Mr. Froude significantly says, " One of
these was the Bible, which is of itself a liberal edu
cation." In view of the glowing tributes paid by scholars of
the centuries to the literary value of the Bible, it be
hooves the dilettanti of letters to speak with reserve
in disparagement of it.
"A glory gilds the sacred page
Majestic like the sun;
It gives a light to every age.
It gives but borrows none.
The Hand that gave it still supplies
The gracious light and heat:
Its truths upon the nations rise.
They rise but never set."
Let us now for the purpose in hand, erase the name
of Jehovah from the title page of the Bible and view
it simply as literature; as one of the volumes in the
world's library. What other volume is to be com
pared with it?
I. To begin with, as to its Poetry.
One-third of the Old Testament is in poetic form.
The earliest of its poems, and probably the oldest
scrap of poetry in existence, is the Song of the Sword
in Genesis 4: 23. It seems to have been commemora-

ITS LITERARY VALUE 47
tive of some primitive feud. A man named Lamech,
going out to avenge himself returns with a song:
"Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
Ye wives of Lamech, hearken to my speech !
I have slain a man for wounding me,
A young man for smiting me.
If Cain was seven times avenged.
Then Lamech seventy times seven ! "
It is scarcely necessary to observe that there is no
intimation of a divine approval of this sanguinary
outburst. The record stands without comment, as in
many similar cases. It is greatly to be deplored that
the martial spirit of the Sword Song has been per
petuated along the succeeding ages.
A most stirring paean of righteous victory is that
of Deborah. The Marseillaise, God Save the King
and the Battle Hymn of the Republic are flat, stale
and unprofitable beside it. She summons the princes
of Israel to the fray. We hear the footfall of the
multitude rushing to the high places of the field. The
stars in their courses fight against Sisera. The river
Kishon, that mighty river, sweeps past in tumult,
bearing the terror-stricken enemy in utter rout towards
the sea. And above the hoarse artillery of heaven,
the roar of torrents and the affrighted cries of the
vanquished we hear the song of the prophetess inspir
ing the victors and invoking retribution upon the
cowards of Israel who had lingered among the bleat
ing flocks: " Curse ye Meroz,
Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof;

48 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
Because they came not to the help of the Lord,
To the help of the Lord against the mighty!
Through the window looks
The mother of Sisera.
'Why lingers his chariot in coming?
Why tarry the wheels of his chariot?'
Thus let them perish,
All thine enemies, O Most High I
O my soul,
Thou hast trodden down strength ! "
Of this memorable battle song it may be said as
Carlyle wrote of " Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled,"
that it " should be sung with the voice of the
whirlwind." And where is there an)rthing like Habakkuk's vision
from the watch tower ? He sees the Almighty march
ing through history:
" God came from Teman,
And the Holy One from Mount Paran;
His glory covered the heavens
And the earth was full of his praise ! "
Before him goes the pestilence and burning coals are
under his feet; on either side the hills are bowing
and the mountains are scattering. The ocean utters
his voice and lifts his crested hands on high. Sun
and moon stand still in their habitations at the flash
of his speeding arrows and the shining of his spear.
With flail in hand he strides through the centuries
threshing the nations in righteous indignation.
The most familiar Hymn of the Springtime is that
of Solomon. All the poets have sung of vernal
beauties and the renewal of life but never one so
sweetly as here:

ITS LITERARY VALUE 49
" My beloved spake, and said unto me,
Rise up, my love, niy fair one, and come away I
For lo, the winter is past, i
The rain is over and gone:
The flowers appear on the earth,
The time of the singing of birds is come
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
The fig-tree ripeneth her green figs.
And the vines are in blossom;
They give forth their fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away ! "
The New Testament opens with the song of the
herald angels, "To you is born this day a Saviout,
which is Christ the Lord. Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth peace, good- will among men! "
Shall we search for anything to equal it? Nowhere
shall we find it save in the culminating song of adora
tion, "Thou art worthy to receive honour and power
and riches and wisdom and strength and glory and
blessing for ever and ever : Amen ! "
These are but a few examples of the inspired
poetry which moved John Milton to say " There are
no songs like the songs of Zion." There are other
singers like Virgil and Homer and burning Sappho,
Goethe and Schiller and Shakespeare, but how they
dwindle beside the bards of Scripture ! They are as
twittering swallows in a field of warbling larks.
Never have poets sung like those who dipped their
pens in " Siloa's brook that flows fast by the orac|e
of God.''
II. Let us visit the treasury again and bring forth
some of its masterpieces of Eloquence.
We begin with Judah's plea for his brethren at the

50 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
Egyptian court, probably the oldest example of oratory
in existence. He was a shepherd at court, a stranger
in a strange land, arraigned with his brethren on a
criminal charge. The possibility of death confronted
them. Over them brooded the memory of a dreadful
secret sin. It was under such conditions that Judah
presented his argument in their behalf, earnest and
pathetic almost unto death. " His fancy," says Dr.
Guthrie, " plays with rare delicacy around the venera
ble form of that patriarch who in the distant home is
waiting for Benjamin, and whose very life is bound
up in the life of the child." For Benjamin and that
aged father he supplicates with tearful fervency : " And
it shall come to pass that when we come to thy servant,
my father, and he seeth that the lad is not with us, he
shall die! We shall bring down his grey hairs with
sorrow to the grave ! "
The brief of Aaron's plea for the emancipation of
Israel is in evidence. Day after day, sixteen times
successively, he comes before the tyrant Pharaoh,
wielding the rod of Jehovah and in his name demand
ing that the chains of his people shall be broken. How
puny seem the forms of such abolitionists as Wilber-
force and Lloyd Garrison in the presence of this
mighty liberator ! " Thus saith Jehovah, Let my peo
ple go ! " Pharaoh refuses. The river of Egypt rolls
red as blood, reptiles infest the land creeping up even
into its kneading-troughs ; the sun is veiled in dark
ness, the pestilence stalks abroad, the harvests are
beaten down by furious storms of hail, until — sorrow's
crown of sorrow — the lament for the first-born rises at
midnight from every home. Then the people march

ITS LITERARY VALUE 51
forth ;' three millions of slaves delivered by the irre
sistible voice of a single servant of God !
The time would fail me to tell of Nathan and his
parable of .The Little Ewe Lamb, of John the Baptist
crying in the wilderness, " Repent ye, repent ye, for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand ! " of Stephen court
ing death in his eager passion to uhveil the frightful
sin of the people in crucifying their long-looked-for
Messiah; of Peter at Pentecost preaching with such
power that three thousand souls are pricked to the
heart and fall sobbing at the feet of the Saviour; or
of Paul on Mars' Hill, setting forth the doctrine of
human rights in words that were destined to be the
foregleam of all subsequent manifestoes in behalf of
civil and ecclesiastical freedom : " God hath made of
one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face
of the earth ! "
But the crowning eloquence of the Scriptures is that
of the Master himself. No wonder the common peor
pie heard him gladly. He spake as one having
authority." They " marvelled at the gracious words
which proceeded out of his mouth." A Roman guard
was sent to arrest him; they paused to listen, were
captivated and returned without their prisoner. , ," Why
have ye not brought him?" demanded their mas
ters. Was ever so strange, an answer given by
men of battle, proof against sentiment, hardened to
merciless tasks. " Never man spake like this
man!" . These are some of the displays of oratory which
moved Daniel Webster to say, " If there is aught of
power on my lips it is because of my acquaintance

52 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
with the eloquence of the Scriptures which I learned
at my mother's knee."
HI. We go again to the treasury and bring forth
some of its Historical wealth.
Here we have the only authentic record of events
running back to the infancy of time. All other
chronicles are fragmentary. Csesar and Zenophon
wrote episodes; but here are universal annals. This
is a deep river, flowing backward in its course past the
ruined cities of antiquity, in tortuous windings whose
roar and thunder are as the confused noise of battle ;
through the quiet pastures of peace, through the soli
tudes of primeval ages, past the confusion of tongues,
the deluge, the creation of man, past that remote
period when the earth was without form and void,
onward still beyond the floating nebulae^ and still
beyond to the ineffable glory where its source is found
beneath the heavenly throne ; as it is written, " In
the beginning, God ! "
This Book of Events has triumphantly passed the
ordeal of centuries of adverse criticism. In these last
days the archaeologists, digging among the ruins of
ancient cities, have unearthed many confirmations of
Holy Writ. Voices have come from mummy crypts
and buried forums and sculptured obelisks saying,
with one consent Yea and Amen to it.
IV. A passing glance. at the Scientific propositions
of the Book.
It is needless to remind the reader how persistently
these have been assailed. It is a common thing to hear
it said, " The Bible was not intended to be a scientific
book," giving the impression that it makes little dif-

ITS LITERARY VALUE 53
ference, therefore, whether its i scientific affirmations
are correct or not. This, however, is not a matter of
small moment. If the book is not veracious in this
particular, what ground have we for committing our
selves to its spiritual guidance? A minister who
proves himself unreliable in Secular matters, whose
word cannot be trusted anywhere except in the pulpit,
woiild not for a moment pass unchallenged as a
spiritual counsellor. The question is not whether the
Bible was intended to be a scientific book or riot, but
whether the Bible is true. It is not true unless it is
true and reliable every way.
The Old Testament Scriptures abound everywhere
in scientific statements. They treat of biology, eth-.
nology, astronomy, geology, zoology, indeed of every
department of natural science. Yoii would have to
tear the Book to tatters in order to eliminate such allu
sions. But neither in general nor in particular have
they been successfully impugned. The substantial dis
coveries of science (observe, I do not say dreams and
\ hypotheses) are continually indorsing and verifying
them. It is not to be denied that multitudes of um
devout scientists are clamorous against them. But the
Bible which has withstood the hostile criticism of cen
turies, is not likely to be affected iij this way.
V- Now as to the Ethics of the Scriptures.
By common consent the Bible is accepted as the
standard of universal morals. We take our position
between Sinai and Olivet, the two mountains pf the
Law and the Gospel, and find here the source of the
world's jurisprudence and the sanctions of all civil and
social peace and order.

54 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
And along with these ethical precepts of Scripture
we find here a portrait gallery of worthies in whom
they have been practically illustrated, such as Enoch,
Abraham, David, Elijah, Ruth the virtuous, the three
Marys, Paul and the Sons of Thunder. What a roll
call of mighty and virtuous ones is found in these
inspired pages ! Yet all alike are avowedly " concluded
under sin," and all join in the confession that they
" come short of the glory of God."
There is One among them, however, whose face
shines as the sun shineth in his strength. Over his
head we write, " The Wonderful," and under his feet,
" Verily this was a righteous man." How it helps us
"struggling men and women to have an ideal so glorious
before us! In him we behold the perfect consumma
tion of duty, holiness, manhood, character. He is the
only one who ever lived on earth of whom it could
be said. He was as good as the law. Of him the
Nonesuch Professor aptly says, " He brought the bot
tom of his life up to the top of his light." In him
all graces were combined, precisely as all colours blend
in the white solar ray — the golden glory of the sunrise,
the deep blue of the heavens, the emerald of the sea.
Thus Christ, illustrating in himself all virtues and
excellencies, stands forth in history as the Ideal Man.
VI. Once more, let us bring forth from the store
house its wealth of Doctrine. For the Scriptures are
of pre-eminent value in their clear solution of the prob
lems of the spiritual life.
There are some things which all earnest souls are
eager to know. We can get along without science, we
can live without the lower forms of knowledge, but

ITS LITERARY VALUE 55
we must somehow be advised respecting the problems
of our origin and destiny. Whence came we and
whither do we go? Is there a God? Shall we stand
before him in judgment ? Is there a heaven ? Is there
a hell ? Can a man be delivered from the shame and
penalty and power of sin? These are questions that
will not down. They demand an answer.
All such uncertainties are involved in that old ques
tion, " What is truth? " The Academy by the Ilissus,
the painted porch of Zeno, the Garden of Epicurus,
represent vain efforts to answer it. Canst thou by
searching find out God? The despair of the world was
expressed by Pilate when he satirically asked, " What
is truth ? " But it has pleased God to ^ake known in
the Scriptures the things which are beyond our un
aided reason.
Other books have poems, but no pther sings the song
of salvation and gives the troubled soul a peace that
floweth like a river. Other books have eloquence, but
no other enables us to behold God stretching out
pierced hands and pleading with men to turn and live.
Other books have history, but no other tells the story
of divihe love reaching from the remote councils of
eternity to its consummation on Calvary, " the old, old
story of Jesus and his love." Other books have science,
but no other can give a man such definite assurance
with respect to the future that he can say, " I know
whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I have committed unto him
against that day." Other books set forth philosophy,
but no other makes us wise with respect to all those
great doctrines which centre in the living God,

56 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
Let us remember then, the word of the Master how
he said, " Search the Sciriptures." The word is
ereunate, meaning to search like a hound On the trail.
Search them as for hid treasure! Blessed, thrice
blessed is the man who, by such searching, finds the
secret of eternal life.
This is the field where hidden lies
The pearl of price unknown;
The merchant is divinely wise
Who makes that pearl his own.
In our childhood we were led by fairy guides into
^subterranean caves, where Vaulted roofs and fretted
walls sparkled with precious stones. Thus, to the
reader whose eyes are opened by the touch of the
Spirit, do the Scriptures glow with the unspeakable
riches of truth. But amid their countless splendours
there is none so wonderful as Christ himself. He is
the Kohinoor, the crown jewel of them all.
These being the literary marvels of the Book is it
in , anywise surprising that it should be "the best
seller " in the book markets of the world to-day ?

VII
ITS UP-TO-DATE-NESS
THE Bible is the oldest book in the worid. A
considerable part of it was old enough to be out
of date — ^had it not been immune against the
ravages of time — when Cecrops founded Egypt. ' We
speak of Chaucer as the father of Anglo-Saxon litera
ture ; but the book of Job was current three thousand
years before Dan Chaucer opened up the " well of
English undefyled." Dr. Johnson read the sweet
pastoral of Ruth aloud in a literary club, at a time
when infidelity was rife : and great was the amazement
pf his hearers when, in answer to their exclamation,
"Where did you find it?" he answered, "This was
written twenty-five hundred years before Columbus
was born ! "
Yet, strange to say, this oldest of books is the
freshest of all. No other will bear reading over and
over again with " new light ever bursting from it."
Dr. Elliot sitting by the window with a Bible on his
knees, on being asked by his daughter what he was
reading, replied, " The news, my dear, always the good
news ! "
The poet Goethe said, "The Bible becomes more
and more beautiful, the more I study it." There are
millions of people who are searching the Scriptures
year in and year out and finding them as fresh as the
57

68 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
break of day. This is because the Book was so con
structed, by divine wisdom, as to anticipate progress.
Its truths, its ethical precepts, its exceeding great and
precious promises, are like Oriental spices which, the
more they are rubbed, give forth the more of fragrant
sweetness. The Gospel is indeed the last tidings from
the heaven of a loving God.
There are men posing as " liberal " and " progres
sive "' who speak patronizingly of the Bible as a " back
number," good enough perhaps for its time but far
behind the days we are living in. The trouble with
them, however, is that they themselves have failed to
keep abreast of progress. They are like the Danites
who, defaulting in loyalty to the Ark of the Covenant
and its Book of the Law, were condemned to " go
hindmost with their standards." (Numbers 2: 31.)
There have always been Danites in the church, self-
sufficient, arrogant, heedless of authority and disloyal ,
to " Book of the Law." In our time they call them
selves " liberal," because of their liberalism toward all
but loyalists; and "progressive," despite their rejec
tion of the Scriptures which ever lead the van. In
point of fact they are themselves behind the times ; and
despite their clamorous insistence on leadership they
do go " hindmost with their standards " in the proces
sion of events. ^
They say they " love the Bible " ; but their devotion
to it is like that of Abner for Asahel, who while greet
ing him affectionately was fumbling for his dagger
that he might " smite him under the fifth rib." They
profess loyalty to the Church; but like a serpent by
the way they " bite the heels " of the Lord's cavalry

ITS UP-TO-DATE-NESS 59
as it pursues its evangelistic march toward the Golden
Age. They profess a profound reverence for Christ :
yet they insist that those who follow his teaching and
example in the defence of the Scriptures are far and
away behind the age. Are they right? If so, Christ
and his apostles, and the ministry generally, and the
great body of believers in the Universal Church
throughout the world are desperately wrong in follow
ing the Ark of the Covenant with its Bopk of the
Law. (i) All loyalists maintain, to begin with, that
the Bible as a book of science is abreast of the
age. Let us open it and straightway we come upon these
words: "In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth." Here are three scientific propositions
in a row, all dealing with the origin of things.
To begin with, God: not law, nor energy, nor a head
less, heartless, heedless " soul of the universe " ; but '
One to whom we can lift our eyes and say, " Our
Father " ; a Father with eyes to see, and a heart to
pity and an arm to make bare in our behalf, " when
the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the
wall." Then " God created." This scientific proposition is
set over against three counter propositions; namely,
the Eternity of Matter, Autogenesis and Evolution.
The first of these is a grotesque attempt to cut the
Gordian knot. The second is a dogma without a
scintilla of evidence, since nobody is able to exhibit so
much as one self-producing midget or grain of sand.
And the third is a pure hypothesis, which many of the

60 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
leading 'scientists have avowedly abandoned on the
ground that it " does not afford a working theory of
origins." Still further, God created the heavens and earth
and all things therein in a definite order. And the
order of creation as here laid down is confirmed by
leading cosmologists. It is a singular fact that a book
written so many thousands of years ago should have
anticipated the researches of the later centuries. How
shall we account for it ? There was a time when those
who called themselves " advanced thinkers " insisted
that there was a mistake in the Genesis statement as
to the existence of light before the sun; but nobody
says so now ; because everybody knows that f rictional '
or electric light must have existed in the confusion of
chaos before the appearance 61 the sun. Thus the
scientific propositions of the Scriptures — called in
question one by one — ^have survived criticism and
emerged as proven facts.
So if any of us are posing as "progressives," it
would be well to take heed lest we may be found hind
most in the ranks. Let us put our ears to the ground
and listen to things that are going on.
(2) Now with reference to the Bible as a book of
history. It is worth noting that those who call them
selves "liberals" and "progressives" and "higher
critics" and ." advanced thinkers" ("There is a gen
eration, O how high are their eyes and their eyelids
lifted up!") while insisting that the Scriptures were
really " intended to show historically the evolution of
a Nation," yet, in the same breath, affirm that their
historicity is not to be depended on ! But all attempts

ITS UP-TO-DATENESS 61
to cast reproach on their historical veracity are uttferly
vain. ,
The Pentateuch, made up of the, Five Books of
Moses, has naturally been the, centre of attack. It has
been stigmatized as a collection of myths and fables
and folk-lore, little better that the preposterous Tales
of Baron Munchausen. There ai-e theological profes
sors who frankly hold that view.
It was not long ago that certain " progressives "-
were wont to affirm boldly that there never was any,
such person as Moses, because no mention of him
could be found in other records ; and, anyway, allow
ing that there was such a man, he couldn't possibly
have written the Pentateuch, because the art of writ
ing was unknown in his time. Then along came a
man with a spade and, digging among the ruins of
Tel-el-Amarna, he unearthed a whole library of cor
respondence' carried on by the Kings of Babylon be
fore Moses was dreamed of !
They said that Expdus was a myth ; for how could
there have been such an emeute of millions of slaves
without some mention of it in contemporary annals?
Then along came the man with the spade and began
digging in the valley of the Nile; and presently he
came upon a burial crypt from which was taken a
mummy of the Pharaoh of the Exodus, wrapped in
byssus bands on which was inscribed the going forth
of the fugitives!
But, in any case, it was insisted that there were no
Hittites, no such formidable nation as the Israelites
are said to have encountered in the subj'ugation of
Canaan; for surely so important a nation would haye

62 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
been mentioned somewhere else. The man with the
spade appeared again; and in the vaUey of the
Euphrates he unearthed seals and cylinders and ruined
cities which certified not only to the fact that the Hit
tites existed but that they conquered Egypt and
flourished — at the very time indicated in the Pentateuch.
— as the greatest of the Great Powers of those days !
Let the Danites take heed and beware of this man
with the spade! For it has pleased the God of the
, Scriptures to leave a Trial Ledger in the deep places
of the earth, by which the arrogant claims of those
who deny the historicity of the inspired records may
at any moment ,be put to an open shame.
(3) Now let us revert again to the Bible as a mas
terpiece of literature.
It is, as I have repeatedly said, the oldest book in the
world. How shall we account for its existence to-day?
Old books die. Where are " Novum Organum," " Hy-
driotaphia" and " Eikonoklastes " ? You do not even
recognize their names ? Yet these were the three epoch-
making books of their time ! " Novum Organum," by
Lord Bacon, introduced with new emphasis the induc
tive system of philosophy. " Hydriotaphia," by Sir
Thomas Browne, was regarded as the most comprehen
sive thesaurus of knowledge produced thus far, And
" Eikonoklastes," by John Milton, was the monumental
defence of popular rights as against the divine right
of kings. Where are they now? Yet the old Bible
still lives and is " the best seller " in the book markets
of the world.
But if the Bible has such surpassing merit, from
the literary point of view, why should there be such

ITS UP-TO-DATENESS 63
a prejudice against it? Can it be that our "progres
sive " friends have been so busily engaged in studying
its outside that they are actually ignorant of its con
tents? Such things have been known.
There never was a more " progressive " body of men
than the free thinking members of the Encyclopedia
in France a hundred years ago; yet when Benjamin
Franklin read to them a chapter of Scripture begin
ning, " God came from Teman and the Holy One
from Paran," they exclaimed with one accord, " Won
derful! Wonderful! But who wrote it?" On his
replying, "This is the prayer of Habakkuk," they
cried, " Habakkook ! Who is Habakkook ? We never
1 ' '
heard of him."
It is a matter of common fame that young men are
going out of certain of our theological seminaries
armed with all sorts of information against the
authenticity of the Bible, who, on examination, prove
to be hopelessly ignorant of what is recorded in it.
(4) Finally, consider the Bible as a religious book.
And just here is the real secret of the opposition to
it. " The carnal mind is enmity against God " ; and
the moment you open the Bible you come upon some
tremendous truths that centre in him.
The first of these is God himself; whom the
Athenian mind so far explains away that no altar is
left but one inscribed " To the unknown God."
The second is man ; made in God's likeness but lost
in sin, his birthright gone and Ichabod written on his
forehead : " The glory hath departed." This is attrib
uted to an incident known as "The fall." But the
fall is denied. One of our leading " liberals " said

64 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
forty years ago that " if man ever fell, he fell up."
He would scarcely say so to-day, hpwever, because the
last forty years have witnessed the formulation and
general acceptance of a scientffic doctrine known as
" heredity " which is almost literally a paraphrase of
original sin.
The third of the religious truths of Scripture is the
Reconciliation of sinful man with a holy God. Here
emerges the Cross. " God so loyed the world that he
gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish but have everlasting life." As
the vicarious atonement is practically denied by all
so-called " progressives," it surely devolves upon them
to show how the wayward child and the offended
Father can be brought into an at-one-ment in some
other way. But the Bible way is the only way. " The
Jesus road," as the Apaches call it, is the only road
back to God. There is no suggestion in the Koran or
any other of the sacred books, in science or philosophy
or anywhere else, of any other plan for blotting out the
mislived past. It is only the blood of Jesus Christ that
cleanseth from sin.
These are the doctrines that are most strenuously
objected to; yet these very doctrines are abreast of
foremost thought. The arguments adduced against
them are so old that I marvel at the foolhardiness of
the man who reproduces them. Celsus redivivus, and
Porphyry, Julian the Apostate, Spinoza, Diderot, Jean
Jaques Rousseau, Voltaire, Thomas Paine, Strauss,
Ernst Renan and Theodore Parker — ^behold them pa
rading in many of our pulpits and professor's chairs !
Up-to-date, forsooth ? Not among such Danites, bring-

ITS UP.TO-DATE-NESS 65
ing up the rear o1 the procession, will you hear the
bugle call of progress in these days.
In one of the battles of our Civil War a regiment
was commanded to charge upon a Confederate battery,
which they proceeded to do. But, meeting with unex
pected opposition, they were ordered to retreat. The
colour-bearer, however, not hearing the order,
marched straight on. " Bring back that flag ! " called
the colonel. " Bring up your men ! " replied the colour-
bearer. The Ark of the Covenant hears no order to
retreat. The Book of the Law " floateth like a ban
ner" in the vanguard of Israel. It tarries not for
Danites who abide at home. " The royal standards
onward go ! "
The Bible has come to stay. The old challenge of
Isaiah holds good, " The voice said ' Cry ! ' And I
said * What shall I cry ? ' — ' All flesh is grass and all
the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field ; the
grass withereth, the flower fadeth; because the Spirit
of the Lord bloweth upon it. The grass withereth, the
flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand
forever.' "
Thus it is written and thus it must be ; for the mouth
of the Lord hath spoken it.

VIII
ITS TONE OF AUTHORITY
THERE are three lines of evidence in favour of
Christianity ; namely, oral testimony. Scripture
and personal experience. These when com
bined are conclusive and irrefutable. " A three fold
cord is not easily broken."
First: As to Oral Testimony.
Peter says, " We have not followed cunningly de
vised fables, when we made known unto you the power
and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye
witnesses of his majesty. For he received from God
the Father honour and glory, when there came such
a voice to him from the excellent glory, ' This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ! ' And this
voice which came from heaven we heard when we
were with' him in the holy mount."
The Apostle was here speaking to those who had
not seen Jesus in the flesh. He himself had heard his
sermons, seen his miracles, witnessed his wonderful
life. In particular, he had been with him in the
Mount of Transfiguration, had seen his homespun gar
ments flutter aside for a moment revealing the royal
purple, and had heard the Voice saying, " This is my
beloved Son ! " All this was no dream, no fable, no
hallucination; he had seen and heard it. And there
were others who, as eyewitnesses, were prepared to

ITS TONE OF AUTHORITY 67
testify in like manner as to the divine character and
mission of Christ. This sort of testimony is still
offered to sustain the Gospel claim.
But you say, " This is mere hearsay." We answer :
( I ) Such hearsay has valid weight as evidence. In
fact we are all the while accepting evidence of this
sort without a murmur. How do we know that light
travels at the rate of 186,000 miles a second? Only
because certain persons, after investigation, have said
so. How do we know that melancholy remnants of
the British and German fleets are lying at the bottomi
of the North Sea? Men who were present have told
us so. How do we know that Croton water is fit to
drink? We rest on the assurance of scientists who
have analyzed it. I suppose that ninety-nine per cent.
of our knowledge comes by hearsay. We receive the
testimony of eye-witnesses, as a matter of course, un
less there is some definite reason for rejecting it.
(2) Such evidence, in favour pf Christianity, has
a cumulative value for us. In Peter's time there were
only a few witnesses who could say, " That which we
have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon and our hands have handled of
the word of life, declare we unto you." We, on the
contrary, have the testimony of a great multitude
which no man can number. For the little procession
of eleven men who originally came down the outer
stairway from an upper room in Jerusalem has in
creased along the centuries from hundreds to thou
sands, from thousands to hundreds of millions. They
have passed by the light of fagot-fires and under the
shadow of dungeons and gallows-trees, declaring the

68 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
testimony of Jesus and singing his praise in hosannas
that blend like a chorus of many waters and mighty
thunderings issuing from the heavenly gates. Hun
dreds of millions of Christians living to-day are pre
pared to testify as to their personal experience in the
truth of the Scriptures. They certify with one accord,
"We were sinners, troubled with a certain fearful
looking-for of judgment. We came to the written
Word for knowledge as to the Incarnate Word; and
finding Christ we have found salvation through faith
in him. Thus the peace that passeth all understanding
has come into our hearts. We have not followed cun
ningly devised fables. We speak from experience.
We know whom we have believed and are persuaded
that he is able to keep that which we have committed
to him until that day."
It is submitted that so great a body of testimony is
of overwhelming weight. To a reasonable man it must
be quite conclusive, unless some definite rebuttal is
forthcoming. Certainly no court of justice would re
ject it.
The Second line of evidence is Scripture itself.
Of this Peter goes on to say, " We have also a more
sure word of prophecy (i.e. more sure than hearsay),
whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light
that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and
the daystar arise in your hearts: knowing this first,
that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private
interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time
by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
The fact that Scripture is "more sure" than oral

ITS TONE OF AUTHORITY 69
testimony is thus clearly based upon its ultimate
authority as the inspired and veritable Word of God.
It is obvious that there must be somewhere a final
criterion of truth. There are standards of weight and
measure at Washington for the testing of every pound
and yardstick in our country. It cannot be supposed
that the Heavenly Father would set his children
adrift without a trustworthy chart for their direction.
This is the rationale of the Scriptures. They were
intended to be an ultimate and infallible rule of faith
and conduct. And they are so received, despite all
controversy, by the Universal Church. The man who
rejects them is bound, in justice to himself, to discover
some other court of final authority, where he may
seek, amid the noise of conflicting voices, a confirma
tion of spiritual things.
The apostle justifies his confidence in the Scriptures
by adding that they " came not by the will of man ;
but through holy men who spake as they were moved
by the Holy Ghost." If this means anything, it means
that the men who wrote the Scriptures did not sit down
of themselves, with stylus and parchment, saying, " I
will write an account of the Creation," or, " I will
write the history of Israel," or, " I will write a predic
tion of the Messiah," or, " I will write doctrine and
ethics;" but they proceeded to their work and per
formed it under the immediate direction and control
of the Spirit of God. The figure is that of a vessel
under sail. They were "moved" by the divine
Breath as a ship is borne onward by the wind filling
its canvas. In other words they wrote what they were
directed to write by the Spirit of God.

70 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
Still further, the apostle says that the Scriptures so
written are not " of any private interpretation." The
word here rendered "private " is idia, literally " one's
own." This means that no man is his own interpreter.
When we speak of " the right of private judgment "
with reference to Scriptures, we mean to exclude all
human interposition between the soul and God; but
alas for one who apprpaches Revelation in the dim
light of his own unaided reason. The finite cannot
grasp the infinite. " Spiritual things are sj^iritually
discerned." God, who gave the Scriptures, must help
us to understand them. Wherefore the Holy Ghost,
by whom the sacred page is illuminated, is represented
as " anointing our eyes with eyesalve " that we may
wisely read it.
The chancellor of Queen Candace, riding in his
chariot, with the sacred scroll of the prophet Isaiah
before him, knit his brows in perplexity as he read the
Messianic prediction, " He is led as a ^sheep to the
slaughter; and, like a lamb dumb before his shearers,
so he openeth not his mouth." Philip, the evangelist,
walking alongside and hearing him, asked, " Under-
standest thou what thou readest?" He answered,
" How can I, except some man shall guide me ? " He
was then guided by the Spirit; and straightway the
truth flashed upon him.
The Third line of evidence is also named by Peter;
to wit, Personal Experience.
We are like wanderers in the night; voices are
heard about us, saying, " This is the way, walk ye in
it;" better still, the Bible is given us as a lantern
" shining in a dark place ; " but, when yonder we see

ITS TONE OF AUTHORITY 71
the light of the morning, our perplexity is over. Thus
personal experience adds final confirmation to oral
testimony and Scripture. Peter says we do well to
listen to the word of eye-witnesses and to give heed to
the lamp-light of prophecy " until the day dawn and
the day star arise in our hearts."
A woman once came running into the city of Sa
maria, saying, " I went out to Jacob's well to draw
water ; and a wayfarer met me who spake as never
man spake of spiritual things; he told me all things
that ever I did. Is not this the Messiah for whom
we have been looking? Come and see ! " Her frierids
and neighbours followed her back to the well and
heard him. They besought him to be their guest and
he abode with them two days ; and many believed be
cause of his word. Then they said to the woman,
" Now we believe, not because of thy saying ; for we
have heard him ourselves and know that this is indeed
the Christ, the Saviour of the world." Thus in the
last reduction a man is savingly convinced only by
personal experience ; when he can say, " I have met
Christ, have made his acquaintance, have reasoned
with him by the way, and have learned to reverence
and love him."
It is evident, however, that the final reference
with respect to spiritual truth is to the Bible itself.
Hearsay is not infallible; personal experience is con
fined to the purview of a single soul; but the Scrip
tures are the Court of Final Appeal because they speak
with the authority of a supreme and omniscient God.
It might be supposed that a book like this, dealing
with spiritual truths all of which lie beyond the

72 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
bailiwick of the physical senses, would speak with
some measure of reserve or uncertainty ; but there are
no ifs or perhapses or peradventures here. How
could a divine book speak that way? We want no
guesses about life and immortality. We must know.
We want authority; and there can be no final au
thority with respect to such problems except that of
a divine ipse dixit. Wherefore the Book says always,
" Yea and Amen," and " Thus saith the Lord," and,
" Verily, verily, I say unto you."
Put an " if " into the Decalogue and you lay a
charge of dynamite under the morality of men and
nation^. Put an " if " under the manger at Bethlehem,
and you destroy the happiness of a million homes.
Put an " if " under Calvary, and you make us Chris
tians of all men most miserable. Put an " if " under
the empty sepulchre in Joseph's garden, and straight
way our visions of life and immortality vanish into
thin air. But blessed be God, there are no ifs in the
Bible. It gives no uncertain sound. It speaks as be
comes the Oracles of God.

IX
ITS TRUSTWORTHINESS
NO claim of inerrancy is made for the King
James version of the Scriptures, nor for any
other of the multitudinous versions current in
the world to-day.
It is claimed, however, first, that the original manu
scripts, as they left the hands of " holy men who wrote
as they were moved by the Spirit of God," must have
been free from error in the necessity of the case ; and
' second, that the errors in existing copies are of such a
character as to convince an unprejudiced mind that
the origifials were without a flaw.
Whether or no the assurance of such inerrancy in
the original autographs is worth while is another
question. There are those who say, "What matters
it to us whether the writings on sheepskin scrolls
which perished long centuries ago were flawless or
not ? We never saw them and liave practically noth
ing to do with them."
To whom we answer; first, our belief in their in
tegrity has a vital bearing not only on our opinion of
the veracity pf God but also of the character of those
who claimed to be moved by his Spirit in declaring
his holy will. It is possible to conceive that a man
whose mother died before he set eyes upon her might
be wholly indifferent as to the questioiji whether she
73 , ¦ ,

74 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
was a good woman or not, but most of us would feel
differently about it.
Our second answer to the man who cavils at the
importance of believing in the integrity of the original
autographs is that our view with respect to that mat
ter cannot but influence our attitude toward the trust
worthiness of current versions. A thirsty traveller
will readily drink from a brook by the wayside if he
can trace its flow upward to a clear fountain in the
high hills. He knows that the slight impurities due to
the wearing of its banks have not impaired its whole-
someness. If, on the other hand, he were uncertain
as to whether its origin were in a spring or a cesspool
he would hesitate until he found out.
Our third answer is, that the discrepancies in cur
rent versions are of such a character as to furnish pre
sumptive proof of the entire correctness of the origi
nals. It would naturally be supposed that a book of
such antiquity and of such complex composition would
suffer all sorts of disastrous changes in coming down
the ages. Think of the tens of thousands of hands
through which it has passed; of the copies made by
the ancient Scribes with infinite pains; of the number
less transcriptions by mediaeval monks in their lonely
cells; of the translations into half a thousand lan
guages and dialects. What possibilities of error ! For
be it remembered, all these transcribers and translators
were fallible men. Think of the temptation on their
part to interpolate their personal views in the body of
the inspired text, or to eliminate what did not please
them. Think what sort of a Bible we would have
if these transcribers and translators had been such as

ITS TRUSTWORTHINESS 75
the " higher critics " of our time ; such, for example,
as those so-called " Biblical experts " who, travailing
once like, the mountain in the proverb, brought forth
that grotesquerie known as " The Polychrome Bible."
Think of these possibilities, and then look at the Scrip- .
tures as they are in the current versions of to-day.
The marvel is not that there are variations and dis-
, crepancies here, but that they are so trivial and insig-
/ nificant. They are indeed of such a character as to
convince any candid mind that they had no place in
the original autograph but have crept into the text in
the process of transmission along the ages.
Singular to relate, there is none that affects in the
slightest degree the integrity of the doctrine and
ethics of the Book. If the destructive critics are taken
at their word the Bible is full of frightful errors; its
prophecies have failed, its history is unhistorical, its
science is unscientific and its chronicles are myths. It
need scarcely be said that, so far from being a true
statement of the case, not a single error has yet been
indicated which cannot be most reasonably explained
as either purely imaginary or unimportant. But here
is a marvellous thing: these enemies of Scripture are
themselves insistent with one consent, that the errors
in the Bible which they so loudly exploit, do not in
any degree impair the integrity of its doctrinal system
and ethical code!
These things being so, we are warranted in conclud
ing that the inspired Book has in some manner been
singularly safeguarded in its transmission along the
centuries. The same gracious God who protected his
secretaries — ^those " holy men who wrote as they were

76 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
moved by his Spirit " — from all possibility of error
in the original autograph, has apparently by a special
Providence so protected the flying scroll in its journey
down to us, that transcribers and translators have left
an " infallible rule of faith and practice " in the ver
sions now current among men.
If it be urged again that we are not practically con
cerned with the original autograph, inasmuch as no
living man has ever seen it; we observe that a like
objection could be offered against Christ himself with
equal force on precisely the same grounds. The objec-i
tion proves either too little or too much. No living
man has ever seen the Incarnate Word of God. He
lived only thirty-three years in this world of ours and
then vanished from sight. The only knowledge that
we have of him, apart from the Scriptures, is through
his followers; for every Christian is, so to speak, a
current version of the Incarnate Word. Christ, like
the Bible, has suffered by transcription through the'
ages. It is nevertheless of supreme importance that we
should believe that Christ, as he once lived on earth,
was the perfect Son of God. The very mistakes of
believers, in their earnest yet inadequate efforts to copy
his life and character, are evidences of his perfection.
We are ever striving to get back to the original
Christ ; precisely as reverent students of the Scriptures
seek, by both textual and historical criticism, to reach
the " original text," that is, the " first edition " of the
written Word of God.

X
ITS INFLUENCE ON PERSONAL LIFE
THE ultimate test of life and character was aptly
set forth by our Lord and Saviour in the
words, " Ye shall know them by their fruits."
And the question which followed was one that appealed
to the common-sense of all, "Do men gather grapes
of thorns, or figs of thistles ? "
Certainly not. If a man wants a cluster of grapes
he will go to a vineyard for it and not to a thicket of,
thorns. Or if he is searching for figs he will go not
to Scotland, " the land of the thistle," but to Arabia,
the garden of figs.
Why so? Because like produces like. This is one
of Nature's laws. "And God said. Let the earth
bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed and the fruit
tree yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in
itself ; and it was so."
Here is the criterion by which we determine between
brambles and berry-bushes, i.e. between the false and
the true. The law works invariably, in every depart
ment of human life and observation : and it furnishes
a canon of judgment by which to test infallibly the
moral quality of things.
Suppose now the Bible be judged in that way.
There are millions of books in circulation. At a
table so munificently furnished the judicious reader
77

78 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
will not eat at random but pick and choose, selecting
what is best for him. The test question is, " What
is the fruit of this or that book ? Does it lighten life's
burdens with innocent mirth? Does it inform the
mind? Does it clarify the conscience? Does it
strengthen the will that makes for a noble life? Will
it enable me to contribute to the betterment of the
world I am living in? And does it furnish the right
sort of preparation for the life further on ? "
It has been the fashion of late to publish lists of
" the World's Greatest Books " ; that is, of those which
have most deeply and broadly influenced life and char
acter. It might be supposed that all would agree on
Chaucer's " Canterbury Tales," Raleigh's " History of
the World," Sir Thomas More's "Utopia," Locke's
" On the Human Understanding," Bunyan's " Pil
grim's Progress," Newton's " Principia," Walton's
" Compleat Angler," Sir Thomas Browne's " Hydrio
taphia," Milton's "Paradise Lost," Butler's "Anal-.
ogy," Boswell's " Life of Johnson," " The Letters of
Junius," Spenser's " Faerie Queen," and Gibbon's
" Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire " ; but there
is a wide difference of opinion concerning even these.
Here, however, is a singular fact: no matter how
many such lists are prepared or who prepares them
you will invariably find them including one book,
namely, the Bible. This fact is worth emphasizing,
because it indicates a practical consensus of opinion
that this particular Book is likely to do good, inasmuch
as it has been doing good and only good all the days
of its life thus far.
It is frequently said of the Bible that, in order to

ITS INFLUENCE ON PERSONAL LIFE 79
arrive at a fair judgment respecting its merits, we
must criticize it like other books. For the sake of
the argument again, so be it. Here is the criterion:
" By its fruits ye shall know it."
And fortunately its fruits are known. History
furnishes abundant data for a comparison of its influ
ence with that of other books. The fact that it exists
at all is an illustration of the survival of the fittest
and therefore a tribute to its excellence. The reason
why it survives is because it is the one book which
the world and the centuries, familiar with its power,
would not willingly let die.
What is its influence on individual character? In
other words, what sort of men and women does it
make? Call the roll of the mighties; the noble army
of martyrs; pioneers of truth; philanthropists; public
benefactors like Howard and Wilberforce; philoso
phers like Locke and Bacon; scientists like Newton
and Faraday; reformers like Luther and Knox; mis
sionaries like Xavier and Livingstone; statesmen like
William the Silent and Washington and Lincoln;
poets like Milton ; historians like Guizot ; scholars like
the learned Grotius. The time would fail me to tell
of those who, drawing their inspiration from this
Book, have written their names in the memory and
gratitude of men.
But we, being humble folk, are more concerned with
the fruit of the Bible as tested in the life and character
of the average man. How about your own father and
mother, who loved' the Book and adjusted their lives
to it? Or how about your friends and neighbours
who profess to believe and practise it? Do they seem

80 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
to be helped or hurt by their devotion to its precepts ?
Did you ever hear of a man or woman who was
demoralized by it ? Are there any better people in the
world than those who consistently live up to it? Do
you know of anybody who ever plucked apples of
Sodom from the branches of this tree ?
" By its fruits ye shall know it."
Suppose we apply this criterion of judgment to other
so-called sacred books.
If you would know the influence of the Analects of
Confucius look at the Chinese. One who has lived in
that country for many years says, " There is no mode
of deception or fraud in which these people are not
adepts. Lying is so common that they have almost
lost the consciousness that it is wrong. Quarrelling,
slandering and cursing, intrigues and brawls, are uni
versal. Theft, extortion, robbery and piracy, suicide,
infanticide and murder, lotteries, gambling shops and
opium dens are common everywhere." How could it
be otherwise when Confucianism, distinctly a moral
and not a religious system, avowedly takes no cog
nizance of God? '
If you Would know the fruits of the Vedas look at
the Brahmans of India, among whom there is an open,
shameless and prevalent disregard of practically all the
deep-founded and eternal distinctions between right
and wrong. The Abbe du Bois says, " I have never
seen a religious procession in India without its pre
senting to me the image of hell." The holiest of
Brahmans is the twice-born Yogi, who sits by the
roadside naked, with hair uncombed and the Vedas
before him. His body is smeared with ashes and dung.

ITS INFLUENCE ON PERSONAL LIFE 81
Ask him what he is doing, and he will tell you he is
" losing himself in the ineffable One." His cabalistic
sentence is " I am God! I am God! " He lives use
lessly and dies stolidly with that blasphemy on his
lips. , *
If you would know the fruits of the Tripitaka be
hold them exemplified in the life and character of the;
Buddhists. The central thought of their philosophy is
expressed in the term Nirvana, which means the ulti
mate extinction, of personality, as the perfume of the
lotus flower is exhaled in ,air or as a drop of water
sinks into the sea. They thiis profess to believe in
immortality; but who cares to be immortal when he
does not know it? The result is apparent, says, a
writer, " in the cities of the dead, where tens of thou-
sandS'lie unburied waiting for a lucky day ; in the ring
ing of gongs and discharging of fireworks to keep
away the evil spirits; in the incantations over the sick
and honours paid to dead beggars to propitiate their
ghosts ; and in the pampering of monkeys and sacred
pigs, as a work of merit, while men and women die
of starvation in the streets."
Would you know the character pf the Koran? Read
it in the light of the recent massacres In Turkey. The
three outstanding facts of Islam are War, Slavery and
Sensuality. The Sword, the Auction Block and the
Harem ! What would you expect to pluck frpm Mo
hammed's tree ? Its legitimate fruit is barbarism. Its
mosques are planted in the regions of darkness and
the shadow of death.
Would you know the Bible, now? Test it Under the
same law of fruitage.

82 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
It proposes to save men from the penalty arid power
of sin. Of, all the religions of the world this is the
only one that suggests the possibility of blotting out a
mislived past and so removing the handicap of hope
and aspiration.
It proposes also to sanctify the forgiven sinner or,
in other words, to build up his character ih truth and
righteousness. And this it does by placing him under
the transforming power of the Spirit of God.
Thus the Bible develops character. Who shall ex
plain the subtle metaphysical force in this Book which
somehow gets hold of the lingering possibilities in the
soul of a reprobate and transforms him, changes his
heart and conscience and will, so making a new man
of him?
Has any other book such power? Does the Koran
or the Zendavesta transform men in this manner and
set their faces toward righteousness and heaven and
God? An old Highlander once said to Claudius
Buchanan, " I cannot argue with you ; I cannot present
theological facts or reasons; I cannot explain the
philosophy of revelation; but I know this, that when
I was a man of evil character the Bible got hold of
me and quelled the tiger in me ! " There is the master
fact; this Book makes men. The best people, here,
there, everywhere and alwatys, are those who believe
in the Bible and live that way.
If this fact be called in question let us put it to a
practical test. Take the " Charities Directory of the
City of New York." This is a compendium of above
ten thousand organized forms of charity; and the
singular fact is that these beneficences are practically

ITS INFLUENCE ON PERSONAL LIFE 83
all carried, on by friends of the Bible. The exceptions
are so few that they can be enumerated on the fingers
of a dozen men.
. The critics of the Bible and of religious people pro
fess to be doing wonders for the regeneration of so
ciety, but they are doing nothing of the sort. Words,
words, loud boastful words! By their fruits ye shall
know them. ' '
. Not that the friends of the Bible are above criticism. '
On the contrary they are vulnerable at many points and
nobody knows it better than themselves. They do not
claim to be good people, but only trying to be good and
finding it no easy task. The really " good " people are
all outside pointing their fingers at them. And mean
while these derided folk are serving the world fairly
well.- This is a point to be emphasized in view of the
frequent strictures which are passed upon religious
people for their alleged indifference to the demands
of social service. It is not an uncommon thing to hear
outsiders say, " You churchmen and Bible folk are so
devoted to Other worldiness that you care little or noth
ing for the sufferings of people here and now. While
you are sending Bibles to Borria-boola-gha the needy
are clamorous all about you. Why don't you feed the
hungry and clothe the naked and do Something to make
this world a better place to live, in? "
It would naturally be supposed that people who talk
that way would themselves be very busily engaged in
advancing the temporal welfare of i their fellow-men;
but statistics and observation do not point that way.>
There are, it is true,'individual cases of philanthropy.

84 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
among the non-religious; but the exceptions are rela
tively so few and individually so conspicuous as merely
to prove the rule referred to.
Christian philanthropy,, however, is differentiated
from secular philanthropy by the fact that it does not
concern itself exclusively for the temporal welfare of
men. It does not confine itself to that small arc of the
great circle which is called time, but deals with man
as an immortal being. It reasons on this wise, " While
it devolves upon me to smoothe the earthly patl\wa,y
of inan as far as possible, my supreme effort must
always be devoted to his preparation for the unending
aeons of existence that await him. Wherefpre, while
I minister to bis physical needs I must never forget
the demands of his immortal soul." This is the
philosophy of " a loaf of bread wrapped in a tract."
This is why the call, " Come to Jesus " can never lose
its timeliness. One who accepts. the teaching of the
Scriptures must needs believe that eternity is longer
than time and formulatt his life accordingly. There
fore the reproach of " other worldiness " ii not well
taken. The best man is the man who lives with eternity
in view ; and that not only for himself but for the
next man. And this is the sort of man that the Bible
makes; a far-seeing, right-living, man-lPving man.
The friends of the Bible, take them by and large,
are the bpst people in the world. If that statement be
' challenged, again let us test it. Take a hundred at
random from among those who profess to believe in
the Bible and strive to conform their lives to it ; then
take another hundred at random from those who re
ject the teachings of the Book ; and place them ih oppo-

ITS INFiUENCE ON PERSONAL LIFE 85
site lines for comparison. We will cheerfully abide
;the issue. . '
On the one hand, among the uribeHevers you will
certainly find many who are nbtoriously wrong livers.
Horace Greeley once remarked that while all the mem
bers pf the opposing political party were riot horse-
thieves he was prepared to say that all horse:thieves
belonged to it. In like manner while it is not daimed
that all those who hate the Bible are conspicuously
disreputable, it goes without saying that all notoriotf^
I reprobates of every §ort — rogues, rum-sellers, corrupt
demagogues, enemies of society, and government — are
opposed to the Scriptures. '
' ! On the other hand, your hundred lovers of the
Bible 'Stand solidly for; everything that makeS for a
square deal in this present world, for the uplift of the
.corrimiinity and the defence of law and order, for the
betterment of men not only here but hereafter. It is
alleged that there are hypocrites among them. But
why should attention be called to.this jfact? Do we
.ever hear of spurious atheists or infidels? Why no^?
Because imitation in such cases would not be worth;
while. Men do not counterfeit leather medals but
golden eagles. '
And why, when a Christian falls from grace, should
he be pilloried for it ? The fingers of the people are
pointed at him. The newspapers blazon his guilt in
such headlines as "ANQTHER DEACON GONE
WRONG." Are atheists, infidels, Bible-haters treated
in that manner ? If one pf them offends against
morality is, he pilloried for it? Do the newspapers
ever announce "ANOTHER INFIDEL IN THE

86 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
MESHES OF THE LAW"? Why not? Because
the world recognizes the logical fitijess of things. ,It
knows, that when a man without religious principle
offends against the foundations of truth and righteous
ness he does only what is expected of him. But when
a Christian is inconsistent he offends not only against
Christ but against public opinion: since everybody
knows what a Christiaii ought to be.
We do not undertake to explain the metaphysical
force in the Bible^the force that is likened to a two-
edged sword which divides asunder the soul and spirit
of a man — but conversion is a fact, an indisputable
fact. The Chancellor of Queen Candace was converted
by reading the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah; and cen
turies later Lord Rochester, a virulent infidel, was con
verted by reading the same. This sort of thing is going,
on all the time. Has any other book such power ? Do
the Shastras, the Zendavesta, the Koran or the Ana
lects of Confucius turn men about, reform them, trans
form them and set their faces towards the better life?
This then is the master fact; the Bible makes men.
The poet Alexander Pope, himself an unbeliever, on
being asked to define a Christian, made this brief
answer, " A Christian is the highest style of man." If
this be true, it is only rational to conclude that it is
his devotion to the principles contained in the Holy
Scriptures which makes him so.

XI
ITS INFLUENCE ON NATIONAL LIFE
THE three world powers to-day are America and
England and Germany, with others forging to
the front.
As for England it was publicly affirmed by Queen
Victoria that the Bible was " the secret of its great
ness." As for Germany, at the close of the Franco-Prussian
War it was declared by Pere Hyacinthe to his people
that the reason for their calamitous defeat lay in the
fact that they were irreligious, while- every German
soldier had a Bible in his knapsack.
As for America, its whole constitutional fabric is
permeated with the teachings of the divine Word.
Of the other nations now most rapidly coming to the
front Japan stands foremost. A dozen years ago a '
Japanese student asked to be enrolled as a member of
the church to which I minister. His name is still upon
its roster. At the conclusion of his post-graduate
course at Columbia University he received the degree
of Doctor of Laws. On the eve of his departure to
his native country he left with me his Japanese Bible
as a token of friendship. I said to him, " Are you
going back to advocate the teachings of that Book?"
His answer was : " I love my country. We wartt your
light, your freedom, your constitutional rights. We
87

88 WHY I BELlfeVE THE BIBLE
want your western civilization ; and I am satisfied that
we cannot have it without taking the Bible along with
it." That man is now one of the foremost and best
known publicists of Japan, and he still remains a firm
believer in the Word of God.
The consummate fruit of Christianity is Civilization.
Take a map of the world and draw a line around so
miich of its territory as has felt the benign influence
of the Gospel ; and you have enclosed substantially all
its light, humanity and civilization. The lands which
you have circumscribed are significantly known as
" Christendom." This enclosed area is so called be
cause it embraces every region which, having the
Scriptures, has prospered under the luminous shadow
of the Cross. All outside is darkness and barbarism.
All within is light and progress. This is what the
Bible has done ; this is what the Bible is doing.
" By its fruits ye shall know it:"
It will not be amiss to revert more particularly, at
this point, to our own country as one of the consum
mate fruits of the Scripture. It is not enough to recall
its original baptism as San Salvador, " The Land of
the Saviour," nor will it suffice to eulogize our fore- '
fathers as Christian men. The. important fact is that
the great principles which underlie our Government
are Bible principles, so distinctly so that our welfare
and destiny are involved in our loyalty to them.
The first of these principles is the Rights of Man,
as formulated in the word "equality," which is the
antithesis of caste. The proposition which differen
tiates our Republic not only from all monarchies but
from all other so-called " Constitutional governments "

ITS INFLUENCE ON NATIONAL LIFE 89
I ¦ ..,
is laid down in the Preamble of the Declaration of
Independence as a self-evident fact, to wit, " all men
are created free and equal with certain inalienable
rights, such as life, liberty and the pursuit pf hap
piness." Whence came that proposition?
At the time when the King James version of the
Scriptures was put forth the doctrine of hum^n equal
ity was less real than a vision of the night. Man as
man was scarcely thought of. The people were mere
flies and earth-worms in the sight of His Majesty and
the Titled Orders. It is true Magna Charta had been
' signed some centuries before ; but Magna Charta was
no symbol of popular rights. The people had no part
nor lot in it. In fact there . were no People. The
barons made their demands on John Lackland and his
answer was simply a concession of baronial rights.
The last man to recognize the people was the royal,
patron of the King James version. It was he who
exiled Andrew Melville for insisting on the right of
public assemblage in Scotland. All praise to Melville,
who on that occasion dared to pluck his sovereign by
the sleeve, saying, " Sire, thou dost forget that there
hath-been born in Scotland of late ^ ^^^S before whom
all the Stuarts must needs doff their bonnets." And
when James inquired who that might be, he calmly
answered, " King People, Sire ! " To the triith of that
prophecy the constitutional government of Great
Britain bears testimony in these better days.
So far as the rights of the people have been realized
in these centuries it is in pursuance of the teaching of
' Scripture, where every man is represented as being, by
virtue of his divine birthright, the equal of his fellow-

90 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
man. The manifesto of Paul on Mars' Hill, " God hath
made of one blood all nati6ns of men for to dwell
upon the face of the earth," struck the keynote tor the
future. The bell that rang from Independence Hall,
" All men are created free arid equal " was but a clear,
distant echo of it.
The second of the great ideas which underlie our
Republic is the Sanctity of Law, as formulated in the"
word, ".government," which is the antithesis of per
sonal independence.
The basis of social order is the just recognition by
every man of the rights of his fellow-men. One who
dwells alone in the desert may do as he pleases; but
if another join him his .personal freedom is so far
forth abridged as that he is now free only to do that
which does not trespass on the freedom of the other
man. As still others arrive there comes to be a com
pact; that social compact is government, whose basis
is law.
The Scriptures stand for law. The two great ethical
symbols of the world are the Decalogue and the Ser
mon on the Mount. Out of the former has grown the
jurisprudence of all civilized nations ; out of the latter
has developed the true theory of social rights. The
civilization of any people is precisely measured by their
regard for the sanctity of law on the one hand, and
for the well-being of the individual on the other. The
best illustration of good citizenship in the history of
the world was witnessed in the passion of Christ, whp
yielded unmurmuringly to the unjust decree of " the
powers that be," because they were " ordained of
God," and in his vicarious death in our behalf set

ITS INFLUENCE ON NATIONAL LIFE 91
forth the perfect excellence of the Golden Rule,
" Do unto others as ye would be done by:"
The third of our great national propositions is the
Voluntary Principle in Religion: which is formulated
in the word " non-conformity," the antithesis of which
is the uniformity of a political church.
The policy of James I was to require all men to
think alike in religious things. He knew only the
Establishment. He hated the Catholics, despised the
Puritans and consistently maligned the Presbyterians.
He exiled John Robinson and his associates, for refus
ing, to pray according to the prescribed form or kneel
at the lifting of the mass. How far yon little candle
throws its beams! The tinie was coming when that'
same John Robinson would go down to Delft Haven ,
and give godspeed to the Mayflower with her cargo '
of Puritans setting out for the New World in search
of freedom to worship God;
To the mind of James these men were " dissenters."
The word is a reproach to thinking men as it is an
offence to the gracious God. He puts no thumb-screws
on the conscience. We are free to believe or disbe
lieve ; free to obey or to disobey and take the conse
quences ; free to be saved or to be lost. He, draws us
only with "the cords of a man."
" Though God be good and free be heaven.
No force divine can love compel :
And though the song of sins forgiven
Should ring through lowest hell.
The sweet persuasion of his Voice
Respects our sanctity of will :
He giveth day : thou hast thy choice
To walk in darkness still."

92 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
,The fourth of the great Scriptural ideas is one
which has not yet found its realization in our Republic ;
that is the duty of Communication, as it is written,
" To do good and to communicate, forget not." This
finds, its best expression in universal evangelization,
which is the antithesis of war.
There are two means of conquest, and two only :
namely. War and the Word. " Go fight ! Go conquer !
Go slay ! " cry the Great Powers ; and the earth shakes
with the footfall of mobilized armies. " Go preath ! "
says Christ; and behold, how beautiful upon the
mountains are the feet of them that publish peace !
In this great Bible truth we find the secret of the
ultimate restoration of the world to God. " Put up thy
sword into the sheath," said Jesus, " for they that take
the sword shall perish by it." Wrong, error, barbarism
and all the forces that make for impiety and inhuman
ity are destined to yield to the expulsive power of truth
and righteousness, as shadows flee before the rising of
the sun. ' The key to the future is in the promise, " My
Word shall not return unto me void, but it shall accom
plish that which I please and prosper in the thing
whereto I sent it."
At the gateway of America stands a colossal statue
of " Liberty /Enlightening the Worid." If the Bible
were substituted for the torch in the uplifted hand of
the Goddess of Liberty we should have a true parable
of the obligation due from our Christian republic to
the unchristianized peoples of the earth. We speak of
our country as " God's country "; and surely he hath
not dealt so with any people : but the principles which
dominate our national life are like loaves which are

ITS INFLUENCE ON NATIONAL LIFE 93
best enjoyed by sharing them with others. Wherefore
it behooves us to senji the Bible, the divine source of
our prosperity, to the uttermost parts of the earth.
So shall vie, in the spirit of a larger patriotism, justify
the otherwise selfish sentiment of our national hymn :
"Our fathers' God, to thee.
Author of liberty.
To thee we sing:
. Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light;
, Protect us by thy might.
Great God, our King I "

XII
ITS PLACE IN THE FOREFRONT OF EVENTS
THE keynote of modern progress was struck by
Wiclif, A.D. 1380. In the Museum at Prague
there is a symbolical picture of the Reforma
tion as a fagot-fire to which Wiclif is applying the
torch. His watchword was, " Let us get back to the
Bible ! " The search-warrant which Christ himself
placed in the hands of the people when He said,
" Search the Scriptures," had been snatched away and
appropriated by the Pope and hierarchy. So far as the
people were concerned the Bible had long been a
, closed book, kept in cloisters or chained to the high-
altars of cathedrals. When given to the multitudes it
was recited in an unknown tongue. Wiclif said, " I
will translate the Scriptures into the vernacular; so
that every ploughboy may read them as he toils
among the furrows." His Bible on being published
was immediately placed in the Index Expurgatorius.
He himself was persecuted to the death and after ; for
by order of the Council of Constance his bones were
burned and their ashes cast upon the river which car
ried them to the sea. But the keynote of Protestantism
had been struck : " A true Bible and an open one ! "
In that same picture of the bonfire at Prague there
is another man blowing the flame. This is Luther, who
nailed the ninety-five theses of Protestantism to the
94

ITS PLACE TN THE FOREFRONT 96
chapel door at Wittenberg, a.d. 1517. While still in
monastic orders he had happened upon a volume of
the Scriptures. He knew them, only as a forbidden
book. He read it furtively until he came to thei place"
where it is written, " There is none other name under
heaven, given among men, whereby we must be
saved." Meanwhile he had groiVn lean and haggard.
The friars saluted him, " Good appetite, brother Mar
tin " ; but the refectory had no charms for him. He
returned again and again to the forbidden book. Pres
ently he read, " By the deeds of the law shall no flesh
be justified." The peril of his spiritual state over
whelmed him. At length he came upon the words,
" What the law could npt do, in that it was weak
through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in
the flesh." Then the light began to break!
He betook himself to Rome. Great were his antici
pations ; a sore disappointment awaited him. He had
hoped to see the holy brethren serving God in vows:
of poverty and self-denial; he found a company of
priests with round bodies and rubicund faces, dwelling
in sumptuous halls arid imbibing the stores of famous
wine-cellars. He looked for hair-cl6th; and behold,
purple and fine linen, wealth, splendour and luxury.
Here were churches, marvels of architecture, adorned
by the art of Raphael and Titian. Here were Bibles,
in Latin, chained tP the high altars. Here, where he
looked for humble friars, were arrogant prelates de
voted to ambition and political intrigue. They smiled
at him as a simple rustic. Once as he was saying mass
a neighbour elbowed bim with the remark, " While

96 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
thou art saying it once we cpuld repeat it seven times."
Ill at ease he determined on penance. He would climb
the Sacred Stairway on his knees. Half-way up he
seemed to hear a voice saying, " The just shall live by
faith ! " The day broke ! He stood erect, a believer in
the Scriptures and in Christ as his only Saviour. Out
of that experience came the indomitable courage with
which he ever after defended his faith until in the
presence of secular and ecclesiastical potentates, he ex
claimed, " Here I stand : I cannot otherwise ; God
help me ! "
As Protestants we stand as Luther did for an open
Bible and a free conscience to interpret it. In the
forty years prior to the Reformation no less than six
teen hundred " heretics " were burned at the stake.
All of them died for the crime of doing their own
thinking. A man has a right, so far as other men
are coricerned, to be a heretic at will; aye, or an
infidel if he chooses, since each' must answer for him
self before God. Alone I was born into the world,
alone am I called to face the responsibilities and vicisr
situdes of life, alone. must I pass through the Valley
of the Shadow and alone must I finally stand before
the Judge of all.
The men who have taken this position have been
pioneers of progress along the ages. The Bible and
progress ^o hand in hand. The motto of the Papal
Church is Semper idem, i.e., " always the same."
The temperature of Saint Peter's at Rome is said to
be invariable. But true religion is nunquam idem; that
is, it moves with the moving world. There are two
important facts that never change. One is Christ,

ITS PLACE IN THE FOREFRONT 97
who is the same yesterday, to-day and forever; yet the
world is constantly catching new glimpses of the beauty
of his face. The other is the Bible, which remains un
altered and unalterable, because it was divinely sealed
with seven seals. There is no appendix, no addendum.
Nevertheless, as John Robinson said, there are "new
lights ever bursting forth from it." These are the
two unchangeable facts : Christ and the Bible, between
which the Church moves onward in new enterprises
to cumulative conquests of faith.
Such is our religion as outlined by Providence in
the logic of events. Its only pontiff is Christ, whose
name is above every other which is named in heaven
or on earth. Its only hierarchy is the procession of
torch bearers, who go with, his Gospel to illuminate the
dark places of cruelty and the habitations of death,
and the procession of reapers who come from yellow
fields'bringing their sheaves with them. Its only Book
is that which was written by holy men as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost. Its only creed is that which
is framed from the Scriptures by men sitting at the
Master's feet. Its grandest cathedrals are the lives of
righteous men who realize their kingly birth and des
tiny and who know their rights and knowing dare
maintain. Its most fervent litany is this, " From all
tyranny of mind, conscience and heart, good Lord de
liver us!" Its sublimest music is the breaking of
chains and the attendant anthem :
" All hail the power of Jesus' name !
Let angels prostrate fall,
Bring forth the royal diadem.
And crown Him Lord of all."

98 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
We are now prepared to lay down this proposition:
The Bible is at the forefront of every great move
ment making for light and humanity and civilisation
throughout the world to-day.
(i) In supporting that proposition let us affirm at
the outset that the Bible stands foremost in maintain
ing the sanctions of domestic life. This to begin with,
'because all happiness centres in the home and all civili
zation radiates from it. There is no picture to compare
with the love in a cottage, where parents and children
gather around the family altar. Blessed are they who
can look back through the lengthening vista of years
to the training of such a home. Its memory never
fades. I am sorry for the man whose deepest heart
does not respond to the solemn pathos of " The Cot
ter's Saturday Night."
" The cheerfu' supper done, wi' serious face
They, round the ingle, form a circle wide ;
The sire turns o'er, wi' patriarchal grace,
The big ha'-Bible, ance his father's pride;
His bonnet reverently is laid aside,
His lyart haffets wearing thin an' bare :
Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide.
He wales a portion with judicious care;
And ' Let us worship God ! ' he says with solemn air.
" Then, kneeling down, to heaven's eternal King,
The saint, the father and the husband prays :
Hope springs exulting on triumphant wing,
That thus they all shall meet in future days ;
There ever bask in uncreated rays,
No more to sigh or shed the bitter tear,
Together hymning their Creator's praise
In such society, yet still more dear, '
While circling Time moves round in an' eternal sphere."

ITS PLACE IN THE FOREFRONT 99
What riiakes a home like that? The Bible!, The
world knows that this assures the joy and sanctity of
domestic life.
(2) The Bible 'leads the way, also, in the betterment
of social life. It stands for law and order and all the
conditions that make a community a desirable place to
live in.
If you were on your way westward in search of a
desirable place to settle down and " grow up with the
country," and if, in your loneliness ahd uncertainty,
the open door of a wayside house should disclose a
Bible you would instantly say, " I can safely sleep
here to-night." And suppose that, the next morning on
awakening you should hear the ringing of church bells,
would you not say, " This is the village for me ? "
In this connection it may be well to recall the words
of James Russell Lowell : " When the keen scrutiny of
skeptics has found a place on this planet ten miles
square, where a decent man can live in decency, com
fort and security, supporting and educating his chil
dren unspoiled and unpolluted, a place where age is
reverenced, infancy respected, womanhood honoured
and human life held in due regard; when skeptics can
find such a place, only ten miles square, on this globe,
where the Gospel of Christ has not gone and cleared
the way and laid the foundations and made decency
and security possible, it will then be in order for the
skeptical literati to move thither and ventilate their
views.". The Bible builds no dramshops, no bagnios, no gam
bling dens : it builds instead schools and hospitals and
institutions that make for the uplift of all sorts and

100 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
conditions of men. This is a fact so obvious and uni- '
versally conceded that it is quite unnecessary to dwell
upon it.
(3) Furthermore the Bible is at the forefront of
our industrial life. One day last week I watched from
my study window many thousands of striking handi-,
craftsmen marching by. In that procession I observed
a few American flags, a considerable number of others
inscribed with the ominous shibboleths of socialism,'
but not a single one that betokened the remotest ac
quaintance with the industrial ethics set forth in the
divine Book of the Law. Yet these honest toilers —
, foreign born with scarcely an exception — should be
advised of the fact that but for Christ and the Bible
there would be no Third Estate, no wage system, nor
any possibility of striking against oppression in our
country or anywhere else.
At the beginning of the Christian era the only toiler
was a bondslave, with no remuneration but his meagre
board and keep. Then came the Carpenter of Naza
reth with his great manifesto, " The labourer is worthy
of his hire ! " In the process of the succeeding years
the Bible — which was and is the Carpenter's Book —
has carried the same manifesto to the limits of the
civilized world ; so that Christendom to-day marks the
boundaries of the recognized rights of the labouring
class. No doubt there are wrongs to be righted still; but
, point me, if you can, to any land without the Bible
where the protest of the employed against the arbitrary
rule of the employer is permitted in any form. Could
the builders of the pyramids strike against their task-

ITS PLACE IN THE FOREFRONT 101
master with his whip of scorpions? Are there any
strikes in Senegambia or Tierra del Fuego? If not
why not ? Because the Sun has not risen upon them !
The Carpenter with his Book has been marching down
the centuries and urging the square deal of the
Golden Rule, so that wherever he has gone capital and
labour are beginning to see face to face : but nowhere
outside of Christendom is there any such condition of
things. Nowhere else is there a gleam of promise of
the day " when man to man the world o'er shall
brothers be."
(4) Further still the Bible, as we have already seen,
is at the forefront of the world's national life. The
reason why we foreigners are here^for we are all
foreigners at a greater or less remove — is because we
believe America to be the best country the sun ever
shone on. It is a refuge for the oppressed of all na
tions; and they are coming from everywhere. Why
do they turn their steps this way? They are fleeing
from the lands of a chained Bible to the land of an
open Bible ! They are escaping from the oppression
of darkness to mingle with a people whom the light of
truth makes free.
The youngest boy in our public schools knows that
Columbus discovered America in 1492 ; but he does not
know perhaps that America was not peopled for a
hundred years after that. This is a noteworthy fact.
What happened in the interim? A tremendous cata
clysm that turned the world upside down ! A move
ment for the unchaining of the Book. If Luther had
not issued his theses against the closing of the Scrip
tures there would have been — so far as we can see —

102 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
no scattering of the night. If Holland had not fought
for an open Bible the " Half Moon " would never have
sailed this way. If Cromwell and the Roundheads had
not championed the right of personal interpretation the
," Mayflower " and her gallant crew would never have
been heard of. The people came, and the people are
still coming, because a closed Bible means tyranny and
oppression while an open Bible insures life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness.
Our country is a Christian country. It was founded,
we repeat, on the principles laid down in the Ten
Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount ; and it
has developed along the lines marked out in the divine
Book of the Law. In the year 1777 a strange thing
happened. The Revolutionary War had arrested the
output of the printing presses, and the result was a
famine of the Word. Congress was petitioned to re
lieve the situation; and what did Congress do? It
authorized the importation of twenty thousand Bibles
from Holland to be distributed among the people!
Would Congress go so far in these days ? I fear not.
But this is what our forefathers thought of the Book
of the Law.
But if it be true that our Government is founded
on the Scriptures, that its history and jurisprudence,
its freedom and prosperity, its proud memories and
bright prospects are all interwoven with the truths and
precepts of Revelation, will you tell me how it happens
that the politicians in many of our states feel free to
discriminate against the Bible ? The General Assembly
of New York recently turned down a bill calling for
the reading of the Bible in the public schools. Mean-

ITS PLACE IN THE FOREFRONT 103
, while some of the sfchoolhouses on Manhattan Island [
are open every evening of the week for the, propaga
tion of anarchy and socialism. The pernicious doc-
,trines , of Karl Marx are allowed, but the Bible is
taboo. Spinsters are permitted to discuss eugenics
and birth-control but religion is under the ban. Ex-
convicts are welcomed but Christ is ruled out. And
all the while the Christian community makes no prac
tical protest but complacently foots the bills !
(5) Finally, the Bible leads the march in interna
tional affairs. And now you are pointing across the
sea and saying, " Behold'the war of Christian nations !
Is this the best that an open Bible can show for
itself ? " The point is well taken. But Christian na
tions are no more perfect than Christian men. The,
inconsistency would be unnoted were it not for the,
universal conviction that the prevailing war is not the
outcome of loyalty to the Scriptures but in violation
of them.
And will you tell me, in passing, why you point
derisively at France and England and Germany and-
Russia and Austria without a word about Turkey and
other Ottoman states? Because you are aware that
the Bible teaches peace while the Koran, teaches war.
Because all the World knows that "f rightfulness " is
expected of a nori-Christian nation while the very op
posite is expected of those that have the Bible and live
up to it. Thus obviously your acrid criticism becbmes
a glowing tribute to the Word of God.
But there are influences at work that will presently
make an end of war. What and whence are they?
With one consent we say " the principles of justice and

104 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
humanity and universal concord which are laid down
in the Scriptures." All Courts of Arbitration are built
upon those principles. Even in the grapple of the
nations the Bible forges to the front. I hold in my
hand a khaki Testament just received from the Bel
gian firing-line. On its fly-leaf are these words :
" August 2Sth, 1914.
I aisk you to put your trust in God. He will watch over
you and strengthen you. In this little Book you will find guid
ance when you are in health, comfort when you are in sick
ness, and strength when you are in adversity. Roberts."
This message from the beloved " General Bobs " is
being read by the men in the trenches : and the Gospel
which it commends is thus making a reductio ad ab-
surdum of this and every war.
It will be heard from in the Council of the Great
Powers which will presently assemble to determine
upon the conditions of peace. An invisible Presence
will be there, an overtowering Figure, beside whom
Kings and Kaisers and Czars and Emperors will
dwindle into insignificance. The last word in that
Council will be spoken by the divine Man with the
Bible in his hand. The Prince of Peace will ultimately
bring in the Truce of God.
Let us therefore have confidence in the Book. When
the Ark of the Covenant was taken by the Philistines
at Ebenezer the prosperity of Israel went with it. Old
Eli sat by the gate awaiting the news of battle. A
messenger came running with his clothes rent and
ashes upon his head. " What is there done, my son ? "

ITS PLACE IN THE FOREFRONT 105
— " Israel is fled before the enemy ! There hath been
a great slaughter ! Thy two sons are slain, and the
Ark of the Lord is taken!" — And it came to pass,
when he made mention of the ark, that Eli fell back
ward and died.
Woe worth the, day when the Bible — symbolized by
this Ark of the Covenant — shall lose its place in the
loyal hearts of God's people ! But that shall never be.
The divine veracity stands pledged to the perpetuity of
the divine Word until it shall accomplish the purpose
whereunto God hath sent it.
For so runs the promise : "As the rain and the
snow cometh down from heaven and returneth not
thither, but watereth the earth and maketh it to bring
forth and bud and give seed to the sower and bread
to the eater, so shall my Word be that goeth forth out
of my mouth : it shall not return unto me void, but it
shall accomplish that which I please and prosper in
the thing whereto I sent it."
Thus it is written and thus it must be ; for the mouth
of the Lord hath spoken it.

XIII
IT IS CHRIST'S BOOK
THE storm-centres of religious history are Christ
and the Bible.
As to this Jesus which is called the Christ,
who is he? Is he what he claimed to be, the orily-
begotten Son of the Father, or a trickster and dis
sembler? This is the Chateau Hougomont around
which the Waterloo of the centuries has been waged;
for it is understood on all hands that if Christ could
be disposed of the fabric of Christianity would vanish
into thin air.
, And when the controversy has not been about Christ
it has centred in the Bible. What is this old Book?
Is it what it claims to be, " God-breathed," or is its
distinction due only to certain venerable associations?
Are there any clear characteristics which lift it out of
the category of other books? Can it be received with
confidence as an " infallible rule of faith and prac
tice " ; or are those who so regard it merely a sort of
fetich-worshippers? Is it the Truth, or does it only
contain truth, that is, more or less of it? What
think ye?
These two are the controversial centres of our re
ligion — as they ought to be — and they are really and
substantially one. The porch of Solomon's temple was
upheld by two brazen pillars, thfe names of which were
106

IT IS CHRIST'S BOOK 107
Jachin or strength and Boaz or continuance. A Jew
going' up to the temple, faint and heavy-hearted, felt
his vigour and confidence renewed as he gazed upon
these massive pillars with their beautiful capitals of
lily-work. Thus do Christ and the Bible uphold our
religion. While they remain it is safe. And they are
destined to abide forever ; because " the mouth of the
Lord hath spoken, it."
It is significant that both Christ and the Bible are
characterized as " the. Word of God." How indeed
could God reveal himself to men otherwise than by
his Word? He is seen in nature but not clearly. It
would be difficult for a man to look so far " through
nature up to nature's God " as to be able to say " Abba,
Father ! " He would be much more likely, standing
amid the bewildering glories of the earth and over
arching heavens, to cry aloud in desperate desire, " O
God, if thou art or wheresoever thou art, speak to
me!" And God has spoken : As it is written, " In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God and the Word was God ; and the Wprd was made
flesh and dwelt among us." Language is the medium
through which we become acquainted with each other.
You are discovering what sort of person I am by what
I am saving now. In like manner God makes us
.acquainted with himself through his Word. The in
carnation was, so to speak, the articulation of the
divine Mind. We are not surprised therefore to hear
the incarnate Son claim to be a full and complete
revelation of the Father. On one occasion Philip said
to him, " Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us " ;

108 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
and Jesus answered, " Have I been so long time with
you and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He
that hath seen me hath seen the Father. How sayest
thou then, ' Show us the Father? ' Believest thou not
that I am in the Father and the Father in me?"
But this was not enough. God must speak further
if he would make himself heard by all mankind
through all succeeding ages. Jesus in his earthly life
was hemmed in by a narrow environment of time and
space. His ministry lasted but three years, during
which he canvassed only a small portion of an incon
siderable province in a remote corner of the globe.
Should he content himself with the healing of a few
folk and preaching to some thousands of stiff-necked
and unregenerate Jews ? Nay, all nations arid all cen
turies would be groaning and travailing together for
him. The Word must traverse the world ! The Sun
of Righteousness must go forth as a bridegroom out
of his chamber and no generation must be hid from
the light of it. But how should that be accomplished ?
Enter, the written Word ; which is the reflex of Christ,
his universal and perpetual shining forth. Through
the Scriptures he is made known to all generations, to
the uttermost parts of the earth and to the, remotest
end of time.
The pages of Scripture, like the leaves of the tree
of life, are " for the healing of the nations." They,
flutter forth upon the winds of heaven bearing, the
tidings of redemption to those who sit in da,rkness and
the shadow of death. If Christ is to reign universally
it is because, under the dispensation of the Spirit, the
propaganda is being successfully carried on through

IT IS CHRIST'S BOOK 109
the instrumentality of the written WPrd. This is the'
weapon of the Kingdom ; as it is written, " The sword
of the Spirit is the Word of God." Thus the Bible
is the complement and counterpart of Christ. The
. two Words are one ; and this binomial Word is a com
plete, continuous and universal revelation of God.
Do they, then, " stand or fall together ? " Nothing
is said of their falling. Christ and the Bible stand
together, and standing thus they stand forever ; neither
can fall.
We hear much in these times about a " Christocen-
tric " religion. The word has a very attractive look and
mellifluous sound; but there is reason to fear that
under certain conditions it may be made to serve
Christ himself an ill turn. If it be used to emphasize
the need of a profounder regard for the teaching of
our Lord and Saviour let us cordially assent to it ; but
if ever it serves as a mere subterfuge for rejecting or
minimizing Christ's unswerving loyalty to the Scrip
tures then we are bound to regard it with suspicion.
For nothing is more certain than that Christ himself
would be the very first to reject a Bibleless Gospel, no
matter what sweet adjectives were attached to it. The
ultimate test of devotion to him is faith in the sum
total of his teaching every way.
Let us now observe what the Bible has to say about
Christ: and afterward ^hat Christ has to say about
the Bible. It will thus appear how they stand together
as complementary each to the other.
To begin with, the Book is something more than a
mere biography of Christ. To say that its purpose is
exclusively to outline the scheme of salvation, in its

110 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
narrow sense, may furnish a taking phrase but not a
complete statement of fact. There are many things in
Scripture which have no direct bearing on the way to
escape from the penalty and power of sin. And what
ever the Book contains, whether theological, ethical or
scientific, is absolutely true. Thus it is written, " All
Scripture, given by inspiration of God, is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto every good work," i.e., that
he may have a well-rounded and symmetrical equip
ment for life every way.
It is correct to say, however, that the golden thread
running through all the Scriptures is Christological.
Their central theme is Christ. This is true both of the
Law and the Prophets.
The common title of the Scriptures among the Jews
was " The Law and the Prophets."
The Moral Law as delivered from Sinai is a school
master to lead sinners to Christ. The Ceremonial Law
in all its rites and symbols points directly to him. Its
local centre was the Tabernacle, which, from the
brazen altar at its door to the Ark of the Covenarit in
its remote Holy of Holies, was everywhere typical of
him. Its calendrical centre was the Day of Atone
ment, 'when every occurrence, from the robing of the
priest in fine linen clean and white to the sending away
of the scapegoat to Azazel, was eloquent of him.
The same may be affirmed of the Prophets. The
beginning of prophecy was the protevangel in Eden,
" The seed of woman shall bruise the serpent's head."
As years passed on and men forgot God and lapsed

IT IS CHRIST'S BOOK ¦ 111
into the abominations of the heathen, Abram was
called out of Ur of the Chaldees and " chosen " to
preserve monotheism and hand it down thrPugh suc
ceeding generations until the advent of Christ. To
him was the promise given, " I will bless thee and
make thy name great ; and in thee shall all the families
of the earth be blessed," a promise to which Jesus
himself ascribed a distinct Messianic import. The
Psafms of David are so full of Christ that they furnish
much of the material for our Christian hymn-books.
Isaiah for a similar reason is called "the evangelical
prophet." He foretells Christ as a child, a teacher, a
wonderworker, a man of sorrows, a vicarious sacri
fice, dying, triumphing over death and evermore living
as the Mediator and Advocate of penitent souls.
Daniel saw the great world-powers rising and flourish
ing and passing away tO make room for the universal
dominion of the Messiah. The last of the prophets,
Malachi, in the gathering gloom of the long Egyptian
night of four hundred years which intervened between
the two Testamerits, waved his torch, crying, "The
^night cometh ; but be of good courage, the Sun of
Righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings ! "
Thus Christ is discernible everywhere in Law and
Prophecy, like the theme or undertone of an oratorio;
wherefore it Would be obviously impossible to keep
the Bible and let Christ go.
What now, on the other hand, was the attitude of
Christ toward the Bible?
To begin with, he was familiar with it. He learned
it memoriter in his boyhood; and ever after made it
his " infallible rule of faith and practice." In each of

112 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
his three temptations in the wilderness he used it as
effective foil against the adversary. When urged to
change stones into bread to satisfy his hunger he
answered, " Nay, I cannot ! For I remember what my
mother taught me out of the Book, 'Man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God.' " When urged to cast him
self down from a pinnacle of the temple to prove his
Godhood by his superiority to natural laws, he an
swered again, " Nay, I cannot ! For I remember what
the Bible says, 'Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
God.' " And when urged finally to avoid the agony
of the cross and accept the world's sovereignty in
return for a single act of homage rendered to its
de facto prince, he answered, " I cannot ! For the
Book says, ' Thou shalt worship the |^ord thy God,
and him only shalt thou serve.' " Thus in every case
the Bible was his stand-by. " It is written " was.
enough for him. And blessed is every one of his fol
lowers who can defend himself in like manner with
the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.
(i) But now, to be more specific: Christ declares
the Scriptures to be true. He does not scruple to call
them " truth." He does not say that they " contain "
but that they are the Word of God. In his sacerdotal
prayer in behalf of his disciples he pleads, " Sanc
tify them by thy truth; thy Word is truth." A fol
lower of Christ ought to be willing to follow him in
his indorsement of the Scriptures no less than in faith
ful service. He affixed his seal to the story of the
Deluge, saying, " As it was in the days of Noah so
shall the coming of the Son of Man be: they were

IT IS CHRIST'S BOOK 113
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,
and the flood came and swept them all away." He
believed in the story of the destruction of the Cities
of the Plain by fire and brimstone from heaven, in the
healing efficacy of the brazen serpent, in ^he turning
of Lot's wife into a pillar of salt, and in Jonah in the
whale's belly. He thus gave an explicit assent to the
so-called " fables " of the Old Testament which are so
abhorrent to many modern critics. He was probably
as well advised as most of our Biblical exegetes re
specting the real facts bearing upon the question of
Inerrancy ; and, knowing all, he did not hesitate to
indorse the entire trustworthiness of those very por
tions of Scripture that are most vigorously assailed in
these days.
As to the Pentateuch, he not only endorsed its trust
worthiness but repeatedly ascribed its authorship to
Moses: as where he asked, " Did not Moses give you
the Law ? " And with respect to Deuteronomy, which-
the destructive critics have pronounced to be a sub
stantial forgery, he placed a peculiar sanction upon
it. In his temptation in the wilderness the words with
which he repelled the adversary on each occasion were
from Deuteronomy! A critic of the modern school
has recently written, "The Bible is no better than a
mass-book for stopping a bullet, nor as good as holy
water for putting out a fire," But our divirie Master
evidently thought otherwise when he made this book
of Deuteronomy an effective shield against the ap
proaches of the tempter, putting out his fiercest fire
with water from Siloa's brook. ,
As to the scientific propositions of the Scripturesy

114 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
our Lord endorsed the cosmojgony of Moses and
those early records upon which rest the ethnology and
philology of our time; The assault upon the science
of the Scripture is by no means recent. Julian the
Apostate in his time undertook to cast reproach upon
it. But while the theories of " science falsely so-
called" have passed through no end of kaleidoscopic
changes along the pathway of the centuries, the Bible
continues to hold its own. And when such scientists
^s Dana, Guyot, Faraday and others too numerous
to mention assert its substantial truth, we do
not feel called upon to withdraw or qualify faith
in it.
As to the historical parts of the Old Testament, our
Lord put his distinct sanction upon them ; and the
recent researches of archaeologists furnish a cumula
tive confirmation. Professqr Sayce affirms that no less
than seventy-seven events in Assyrian History as given
in Scripture, have been corroborated by 'recent excava
tions. In any case, however, the iniportant fact is that
Jesus Christ never called these historic annals in ques
tion, but positively as well as tacitly placed his endorse
ment upon them.
As to prophecy. The pastor of one of our evan
gelical churches is reported to have said, " I know of
no one passage in the Prophets which can certainly be
said to point to an event beyond the near future of
the writer." If so, then Jesus was mistaken when he
said, "Moses wrote of me " ; and again, " These are
they which testify of me." He found the Old Testa
ment full of predictions respecting himself and his
redemptive ¦ work and of predictions pointing to his-

IT IS CHRIST'S BOOK 115
tory still in the remote future, even to the events of
the last days.
As to these particular parts of the record which have'
been most bitterly assailed by the modern school of
critics, it should be enough, as already intimated, to
mention our Lord's reference to and implied endorse
ment of the stbry of Adam and Evei Abel, Noah arid
the Flood, Abraham, the destruction of Sodom, Lot's
wife, Jacob's ladder, Moses and the bjurning bush, the
rhanna, the brazen serpent, David, Solomon, the Queen
of Sheba, Elijah raising the widow's son, Elisha and
Naanijan, and Jonah. As to the story of Jonah in the
whale's belly our Lord adventured the validity of \his
entire ministry upon it. The Jews clampured for a
sign ; he said, " There shall no sign be given but the
sign of Jonas the prophet; for as Jonas was ^ three
days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the
Son of Man be three days and three nights ^ in the
heart of the earth." Yet we are told that the story
of Jonah is a fable pure and simple, no more trust
worthy than that of Aladdin and his wonderful lamp.
To what an ignoble anticlimax does this reduce the
confident challenge of Jesus: as if he had said, "As
surely as Aladdin wrought wonders by rubbing his
maigical lamp, so surely shall I rise again from the
dead and bring life and immortality to light ! "
But there are those who are unwilling to, concede
that Christ's authority was conclusive upon this point.
They say, " He had his limitations."
It is granted that our Lord, in subjecting himself
to the conditions of our earthly life, was pleased to lay
aside the full exercise of his divine powers; he held

116 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
his omniscience, omnipotence arid omnipresence in
abeyance; but never so that at any given moment he
could not summon them at will.
His limitations, whatever they may have been, were
certainly not such as to expose him to the liability of
error or to the danger of uttering an untruth. To
assert this would be to say a monstrous thing, for it
would reduce our divine Teacher to the level of
Mohammed and Joseph Smith. It is manifest that this
position is impossible to any follower of Christ. One
of the fathers of modern unbelief was indeed pleased
to say on a certain occasion, when reminded of a divine
statement, " I am not willing to receive that upon the
» authority of any such person as God." It is related,
also that in a recent meeting of evangelical ministers
the question being asked, " If Moses did not write the
Pentateuch, why did Jesus Christ say that he did ? "
a voice replied : " Because he knew no better." It is
incredible however that such views should be enter
tained by any of the sincere followers of Christ.
As if to anticipate the current objection to his testi
mony on the grO'und of human limitations, it was as
serted by our Lord that the Father was himself respon
sible for his teaching. He said : " I can do nothing
of myself " and again : " My teaching is not mine but
his that sent me " ; and again : " I speak not of myself,
but the Father who sent me hath given me a com
mandment what I shall say " ; and again : " The things
which I speak, even as the Father hath said unto me,
so I speak"; and again: "The word which ye hear
is not mine, but the Father's which sent me." So that
to question the teaching of JesUs with respect to the

, IT IS CHRIST'S BOOK 117
Scriptures is not merely to doubt the statement of one
who was subject to human limitations; it is to call in
question the veracity of the living God.*
(2) Then observe the eloquent silence of Jesus with
respect to all those alleged errors and discrepancies
which so vex the souls of certain of our learned folk.
Did he know that these blunders were to be found in
the sacred 'pages ? If the Mosaic cosmogony is f ajiu-
lous how is it that he uttered no word against it ? And
* At this point, having observed our Lord's calm acceptance
of the truth of the Oracles with never a word of adverse '
reflection Upon them in any way, it will be'profitable tomairk'
some of the reckless stfitements mad^ by leaders of the
Higher Criticism with respect to the same Book.
Kuenen says, " In the eyes of the writers everything was
subordinate; to their object, so that they often sacrificed what
we consider very important interests to it, historical truth;
for example. As a rule they concerned themselves very lit
tle with the question whether what they narrated really hap
pened so or not. This is why the Old and New Testaments
are so full of legends."
Knappert: "The Old Testament is rich in legends and
myths. We may take as examples the stories of the first
human pair, the Fall, Cain and Abpl, the Deluge, the tower
of Babel, God's appearance to Abraham, and Jacob's wrestling.
These stories have no historical foundation whatever. When
a prophet or priest related something about bygone, times he
never hesitated to modify what he knew of the past, and
' he did not think twice about touching it up from his own
imagination, simply that it might be mpre conducive to the
end he had in view and chime in better with his opinion.
Our own notions of honour and good faith would never per
mit this."
Wellhausen: " The * historical sphere created by itself is
nowhere found within actual history. Thus it holds itself in

118 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
why did he not denounce those imprecatory Psalms
which are " too horrible to be read " in some of our
modern pulpits ? How is it that he did not expose the
falsity of those prophecies concerning himself which
" have never been fulfilled arid never can be because
their time has gone by ? " '
Surely it is not too much to suppose that Jesus was
an honest man. He seems to have been a fervent hater
of shams and impostures, lying frontlets and phylac
teries, false traditions of the elders and deceptions of
the air by its own waistband. The dislocation of the narra-
. tive by monstrous growths of legislative matter is not to he
imputed to the editor; it is the work of the unedited Priest
Code, and is certainly intolerable."
Dillnian : The Hexateuch is " not an authentic picture of the
legislation of Moses. Where the author had no historical ac
counts he sketches freely an imaginary picture, e.g., Noah's
ark, course of the Flood, tabernacle (after the manner of a
movable holy tent, richly furnished), the order of the camp
and march, the determination of the boundaries of the tribes
by lot under Joshua, the numbers of each tribe in Moses' '
day, the quantity of manna that fell, etc. These are not to-
be taken historically."
Reuss : The Exodus is " a bald fiction : the tabernacle^ the
camp and the arranged parade march in the desert, the large
numbers of the pretended census, and many other things that -
exceed by far the old sagas, and are really not sagas of the
early days but dreams of an impoverished generation."
Holzinger : " The most numerous and worst possibilities in
the Hexateuch are from the sagas. The whole chronology of
the earliest history is worthless ; its name-lists are bare-faced
inventions; it abounds in gross, sheer, mechanically enlarged
miracles; its historical presuppositions of the giving of the
law are whimsies that force a smile."
Smend: "It seems almost a silly trick when the author of

IT IS CHRIST'S /BOOK 119
every sort. Is it possible that his eyes were riot as
clear, in this particular, as those of our recent Biblical
scholars? Or was his soul not so sensitive as theirs
with regard to these ,dreadful things in Scripture?
We are in a dilemma. Was he unscrupulous or merely
ignorarit? Must we put the most severe limitations
upon his knowledge, assuming that he knew no better
than to let these errors pass unchallenged ; or must we
impugn his ingenuousness? In either case we could
scarcely receive him as our divine~ Saviour and spiritual
the Priest Code makes the Sabbath a duty because God rested
on that day. The Israelites received the Sabbath from the
Canaanites. The representation of the Pentateuch proves
itself not historical. A heathen myth is the substance of
Genesis, i.e., a product of Babylonian science. The life of
Abraham is unthinkable and false; there was no covenant of
God with Abraham. That was the invention of a later age."
Piepenbring ; " The Priest Code, the heart of the Penta
teuch, is legend, myth, saga, tradition, and not trustworthy,
a proved historical fiction, bald, transparent fiction, artifice,
fantasy, false history, whimsies that force a smile, absurd, im
possible, contradictory and inconceivable, unthinkable and
false, a bare-faced invention."
Riehm : " Not only did the authors of the Pentateuch com
pose the speeches of the actors, as freely as Thucydides or
Livy, but they also gave themselves to more or less free re
construction of the popular tradition. Their peculiar char
acter makes on the unprejudiced mind the clear impression
that they are not history but saga."
In commenting upon an imposing array of such statements
from the leaders of the Higher Criticism, Professor Osgood
wisely says, "It is not possible on any theory to avoid the
real issue. If the Higher Criticism is true, Christ was the
greatest of false prophets and deceivers. If Christ taught
God's truth, this criticism is absolutely false." <

120 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
guide.. We would surely turn f rbm him to the guid
ance of these Wiser Men.
(3) Let us further mark how Christ adventured
his entire work on the truth and trustworthiness of
Scripture. At the very outset of his ministry he weiit
into the synagogue at Nazareth and opened the scroll
of Isaiah at the place where it is written, " The Spirit
of the Lord God is upon me ; because he hath anointed
me to preach good tidings untO the meek, to bind up
the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound,
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the
day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that
mourn, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of
joy for mourriing, the garment of praise for the spirit
of heaviness." And, having read this passage, he said
to his audience, " This day is this Scripture fulfilled in
your ears."
If we follow him through the three eventful years
of his ministry we shall find him again and again, 'in
the same manner, hypothecating the truth of his teach
ing arid the genuineness of his work on the sanction of
Holy Writ.
After his resurrection, while walking with certain
of his disciples along the way to Emmaus, he " began
with Moses and opened the whole Scriptures concern
ing himself." It would be interesting to know the
substance of that expository sermon. We may be
quite sure that he unfolded the meaning of ancient rites
and symbols, as well as of Messianic prediction, in the
light of things which had recently happened at Jerur
salem. We may be equally sure that he carefully

IT IS CHRIST'S BOOK 121
avoided any suggestion pf the " fact " that " the great
body of Messianic prediction has not only never been
fulfilled but cannot now be fulfilled for the reason that
its own time has passed forever." What he did say
seems to have been of contrary impprt. It was directly
in line with his previous utterance, " Not one jot or
tittle shall pass away until all be fulfilled. Thus it is
written and thus it must be."
So Christ planted himself on the absolute truth of
Scripture and adventured the integrity of his work
upon it. And it is respectfully submitted that what
was good enough for our Lord and Master ought to
be sufficient for those who profess to follow him.. He
stpod as a constant witness to the unqualified truth of
the Scriptures, ever turning to them as a Court of
Final Appeal in verification of his divine nature and
mediatorial work ; saying, " Search them ; f pr in them
ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which
testify of me." '
I do not see, therefore, how it is possible to detach
the Written from the Incarnate Word. They stand
together. They are unreservedly loyal to each other.
How could it be otherwise when they are both revela- ,
tions of the same God ?
Attention is now called to a striking parallel between
the two Words in the following particulars : ' ,
First: Christ as the Incarnate Word and the Scrip- >
tures as the Written Word are both alike called " "The
Truth " and " The Word of God."
Second : They are both theanthropic : that is, divinely
conceived and humanly born. As such the divine and
human are inseparably blended ih them. Christ was

122 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin
Mary; but in partaking of his mother's humanity he
in no wise inherited her sin. In dike manner the
Scriptures were written by certain men as they were
moved by the Spirit of God; and in this case also it
is claimed that the divine-human product was free
from human imperfection. The features of Jesus
doubtless bore a distinct likeness to those of his
mother; just as the pages of Holy Writ are marked
by the mental characteristics of their human penmen ;
but in neither case does this resemblance prevent that
absolute faultlessness which belongs to any Word of
God. Third: it is only in the original that either the In
carnate' or Written Word can be called "inerrant."
We have heard the Higher Critics saying, " What is
the use of affirming inerrancy of an ' original auto
graph ' which is not in existence ? The theory that
there were no errors in the original text is sheer as
sumption, upon which no mind can rest with certainty.
We must take the Scriptures as we have them, with
out reference to a hypothetical original which no living
man has seen." It is a poor rule, however, which can
not be made to work both ways. No living man has
ever seen the Incarnate Word. There is no accurate
portrait of him in existence, — certainly not if the
Scriptures are unreliable. Every version of Christ
which is produced in the life and character of Chris
tians is full of imperfections. Nevertheless we do be
lieve that the original Christ, who for a brief period of
thirty years lived among men and then vanished from
sight, was " holy, harmless and undefiled ; " precisely

IT IS CHRIST'S BOOK 123
as it is claimed the Scripttires were in their original
form. Fourth : Notwithstanding all errors, in transmission,
the Word in both cases remains in such substantial
perfection as to be effective for the accomplishment of
its purpose. A special providence has kept before the
eyes of all generations the image of an immaculate
Christ. A like special providerice has so guarded the
transcription of the Written Word that we may con
fidently hold it to be an infallible rule of faith and
practice. Neither the Incarnate nor the. Written
Word, as we have them, can lead a soul astray; but
will infallibly conduct the believer at last to heaven's
gate. To recapitulate : Our Lord believed the Bible ; spoke
of it as "truth" and as ",the Word of God";
preached it ; practiced it : adventured the integrity and
success of his redemptive work upon its veracity;
stood (Particularly for its record of creation, of the
destruction of the Cities of the Plain, of Jonah's ad
ventures on the way to Nine-veh and of such other
portions as are most frequently called in question;
commissioned his disciples to preach the Bible to the
uttermost parts of the earth, thus making it the deter-f
mining factor in the problem of his kingdom; and
never uttered a single word or syllable to indicate that
he supposed it to be otherwise than true from begin
ning to end.
How shall we account for his consistent loyalty to
the Book? And hoAv shall we explain that eloquent
silence of his with respect to its alleged errors? We
face a threefold alternative. First; there were no

124. WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
such errors in Scripture. Second, the errors were
there but Christ was not aware of them. Third, he
was aware of them but did not choose to tell.
In the first case the Scriptures must of course be
regarded as true. In the second caSe, if Christ was
not aware of the alleged errprs, then the destructive
critic of our time is wiser than he and therefore more
worthy tp be our spiritual guide. In the third case,
if he knew there were such errors in Scripture and
did not tell, he was not an honest man.

XIV
EXCURSUS
JESUS: HIS BOOK
AS I entered the Synagogue a Man had just risen
^ to read the Lesson of the Day. It was obvious
^ that he, though clad in homespun, was no com
mon man ; and, by his reverent handling of the Book,
it seemed that he regarded it as no common book.
The Lesson was from one of the Messianic prophe
cies of Isaiah : " The Spirit of the Lprd is upon me,
because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to
the poor ; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of
sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are
bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
Having read thus far he closed the Book and began
to say, " This day is the Scripture fulfilled in your
ears." In the discourse which followed he advanced
the stupendous claim that he, this Man in homespun,
was the long-looked-for Messiah, " whom kings and
prophets longed to see and died without the sight."
As he proceeded, the eyes of all that were in the
Synagogue were fastened upon him. But the claim
and the Claimant were so amazingly at odds that mur-
murings began to be heard, "Is not this the car-
125 '

126 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
penter's son ? " and presently they rose up with one
consent and thrust him out.
I followed and, on joining him, asked, " Who art
thou?" He answered, "I am the only-begotten Son,
who was m the bosom of the Father before the world
was. I am Immanuel; that is, God dwelling among
men. I am he of whom it is written ' In the beginning
was the Word and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God; and the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us.' "
Then I asked, "What is the Book?"
He answered, "This also is the Word of God;
search it: for therein thou shalt find eternal life, be:
cause it testifieth of me."
But, not knowing the credentials of the Book, I con
tinued, " How may I be assured that this is the veri
table Word of God ? "
Whereupon he said, " By its fruits thou shalt know
it. Come with me down the centuries, and I will show
thee what this Book has done, is doing and can do."
We presently came to the door of a humble Home,
at which he knocked ; and on being admitted he raised
his hands in benediction saying, " Peace be within this
house ! "
On a table in the centre of the living-room lay the
Book, from which the goodman of the house liad
been reading, with his family gathered about him. By ,
the light in their eyes I knew that this was a Christian ,
home, where husband and wife were bound by an
indissoluble tie and the children were knit together by
filial love.
As I looked inquiringly toward my Guide he said.

EXCURSUS 127
"All homes are thus hapipy when governed by the
principles which are written in the Book."
" But is there no sorrow here ? "
' ' " Oh, yes; once and again the shadow of death has
crossed the threshold ; but the Book gives beauty for
ashes, the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness. The members of
the household, do not sorrow as those that are without
hope: there is a rainbow in every |:ear, for when they
say, ' Farewell ' they only meari, ' Until we meet
again.' "
And I said within myself, " Surely a Book that radi-
..^ ates such happiness must have come from God."
He then brought me to a Workshop. As we entered
I saw men toiling at (the bench. Some of them were
,, indolent, some slighted their tasks, and some spoke
angrily of other workmen and conspired against their
employers. These were embittered and discontented
with their lot: But there were others who applied
themselves industriously to the business in hand, think
ing of labour less as drudgery than of serving othei-s
in doing their bit.
I asked of my companion, " What makes the dif
ference ? "
He replied, " The principles which are written in the
Book. For therein is the primal law, ' Thou shalt eat
thy bread by the swe^t of thy brow ' ; and there also
is written the Golden Rule, ' Whatsoever ye would
that others should do unto you, do ye even so to
them.' "
And again I said within myself, " A Book that
teaches us to live and let live, to be industrious and

128 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
content, and to regard the welfare of others wjiile
makirig the most of ourselves, is worthy of the mind
of God."
He led me from the Workshop to an Exchange,
where capitalists were dealing in bonds and mortgages
and planning great enterprises. Here also I perceived
a difference. Some of them had worshipped the yellow
god so long that they had grown yellow with the jaun
dice of gold. They were sons of the horseleech, with
hands like outstretched talons and fevered lips cry
ing, " Give ! Give ! " They were money-sharks, miserly,
extortionate, grinding the faces of the poor, shrewd
bargainers, usurers, ambidextrous over-reachers. They
were dying of " the sacred hunger of gold " and knew
it not. But others there were, equally rich and enter
prising yet open-handed, magrianimous and ever
"ready to communicate." They believed in fair-
dealing and consented that the labourer is worthy of
his hire. For them wealth had no value except for
what it could do: and the best it could do was to
make its possessor rich toward God. In the use of
their wealth they regarded themselves as stewards,
holding all in trust and at the divine call.
" Isthis," I asked, " the teaching of the Book?"
He answered, " It is : the treasure that lies buried in
the bosom of the everlasting hills is the Lord's: and
whatever he has committed to these stewards is a
solemn trust, to be used for the advancement of his
kingdom of truth and righteousness on earth and in '
doing good as they have opportunity unto all
men." And again I reflected that the presumption is in

EXCURSUS 129
favour of the superhumari origin of a Book with such
an influence among the children of men.
We then visited an Institution of Learning, where
many students were bending over their books; books
of art and science and philosophy. I knew that these
men were seekers after truth ; but would they find it ?
Some were pursuing the knowledge of earthly things
as an end in itself and not as a means to an end ; and
by their knit brows they were finding " much study
a weariness to the flesh." By these the Book of all
books was neglected ; and with all their wisdom they
knew not God. Others, while knowing the value of
all truth, searched the one Book for a solution of the
great problems in which are involved the issues of
eternal life. These put the emphasis on character and*
usefulness and immortality; and they seemed to be
living in the hope of living forever. For them, tinie
was a school of preparation for eternity and death the
great Commencement.
" It is a wonderful Book," said I to myself, " that
can thus overarch life with promise and lofty hope and
aspiration." And a voice beside me seemed to be
saying : " This is the lamp whose steady light
Guides the lone traveller in the night.
'Tis God's own Word! Its beaming ray
Can turn a midnight into day."
My Guide said, " We will now visit a Hospital " ; but
even as he spoke the skies were overcast and the earth
began to rumble with the footfall of armies. Kings
and rulers could be heard taking counsel together

130 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
and saying, " Let us break God's bands asunder and
cast his cords away from us ! "
My faith began to shake and tremble; whereupon
a voice beside me said, " Listen ! " and lo, above the
roar of cannon and clash of steel I heard a burst of
laughter out of heaven ! " It is God," he said, " laugh
ing at the folly of the Great Powers who conspire
against him. Behold how he has them in derision!
For the decree has gone forth, ' Thou art my Son ; to
thee will I give the uttermost parts of the earth for
thy possession.' Thus it is written and thus it shall
be ; but alas, for the sorrows by the way ! "
As we approached the Hospital I saw over its gate
way the words Hotel Dieu. Ambulances came roll
ing up with wounded and dying men, and on every
ambulance was the symbol of the Cross. We entered
and walked through the wards of the Hospital; and
again I saw upon the arms of the nurses who min
istered to the wounded the symbol of the Cross. I
asked the meaning of it.
The Man beside me said, " This is the Spirit of the
Gospel, which is written in the Book. The Red Cross
stands for self-sacrifice in the behalf of others."
On one of the cots lay a soldier facing the great
mystery of death; but he was unafraid. By his side
lay the Book and, as he passed on, he murmured, " I
will fear no evil : thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Then said I to myself, " This is a wonderful Book,
to live by and to die by."
As we still journeyed we came to a Church and
entered it. The service having been opened with

EXCURSUS 131
prayer a lesson was read from the Book and the con
gregation sang, "Blest be the tie that binds our
hearts in Christian love."
I asked my Guide if all in this assembly were saints.
" By no means," he answered, " There is not a saint
among them. They are all sinners, but sinners saved
by grace. They are reaching forth and pressing on,
not without much stumbling, toward the prize of the
high-calling of God. Meanwhile their business is to
co-operate with the King in setting up his Kingdom
of truth and righteousness on earth."
" The wheels of the royal Chariot," he continued,
" move all too slowly, by reason of the half-hearted-
ness of the King's subjects ; but in the fulness of time
he that shall come will come and will make no tarry
ing; and on that day every knee shall bow before
him." On a Map suspended over the pulpit I observed a
red line, drawn around a third portion of the world.
" The part thus enclosed," said my Companion, " is
called ' Christendom,' because the glory of the Book
has fallen over it. Within that charmed circle are in
cluded all the light and humanity and civilization of
the world. Beyond it lie darkness and the shadow of
death." How is it," I inquired, " that Christians have not
carried the Book to those regions beyond ? "
" They have been so unmindful of their commission,"
was his answer, " that after the lapse of nineteen cen
turies there are still twelve hundred millions of people
who have never seen the Book or heard its Good News.
Meanwhile, vain is their prayer, 'Thy Kingdom

132 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
come ' ; for the Gospel must first be proclaimed
throughout the whole world ; then shall the end be."
We next entered a great Assembly Hall. Above the
chair of the presiding officer were the words, " Lib
erty, Equality, Fraternity." A man was on his feet
presenting a Report which concluded with these words,
"Resolved, that there is no God." The Report was
adopted with one consent. The streets were straight
way filled with a surging mob who echoed the cry,
" There is no God ! " On their shoulders they carried
a courtesan to Notre Dame, where she was enshrined
above the high altar as the Goddess of Reason. The
Terror had begun! There were tumbrils hastening
with victims to the guillotine. The gutters were run
ning red. The new-born Republic was tottering to its
fall! Then in a moment we seemed to be transported to
another Legislative Hall. On a bell above the door
way was inscribed the legend, " Proclaim liberty
throughout the land and to all the inhabitants thereof."
As we entered a venerable man was invoking the
blessing of God. On the desk of the presiding officer
lay the Book, which was to furnish forth the laws
and jurisprudence of this Republic.
I asked, " What will be the outcome? Will the Re
public last?"
His answer was, " So long as its people are true to
its landmarks." And as we came away there was
an Anthem full of promise sounding through the air:
" Our fathers' God to thee.
Author of Liberty,
To thee we sing!

EXCURSUS 133
Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us by thy might.
Great God, our King."
Thereupon I found myself praying that our coun
try, founded in the principles of right and justice
which are written in the Book, might ever be loyal
to it.
We were now in the open street. Men hurrying by
in the mad pursuit of wealth and pleasure seemed quite
unmindful of the great verities of the spiritual life.
There were some who who even railed at the Book and
profaned the name of God. At this I marvelled, and
would have questioned my Friend about it; but even
as I turned he said, " Farewell," and, placing his Book
in my hand, vanished from my sight.
I opened the Book; on its initial page was written,
" Jesus : his Book," and on the next, " Search the
Scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal life,
and these are they which testify of me."
Finding where the Red Trail began I read on and
on, following it as one who follows a Guide with bleed
ing feet, until I seemed to stand before a great gate
whereon was written this benison, " The grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ be with you all : Amen."
And recalling the way I had come with my wonder
ful Guide, and the wonderful things I had seen along
the way, I found myself saying, " The Book that
makes happy homes, contented workmen and capi
talists rich toward God, scholars wise in the problems
of eternal life, institutions of mercy, governments
founded on the principles of mutual justice, and

134. WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
churches whose spires are like index fingers pointing
to a holy and happy heaven, is surely the Word of
God." Then, turning once more to the inscription, " Jesus :
his Book," and remembering how he knew and loved
it, preached and practiced it, commended it to his fol
lowers and never mentioned it except in terms of
highest praise, I held it reverently next my heart and
said, " The Book that was good enough for my Lord
and Saviour is good enough for me."

XV
IT IS TPIE CHURCH'S BOOK
IN Paul's letter to the Christians of Ephesus he
speaks of the Church as being " built upon the
Apostles and the Prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building,
fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in
the Lord."
A few years ago, the engineers of the Palestine
Exploration Fund, by sinking shafts and opening gal
leries along the walls of the temple, came upon its
original foundations. They were seventy feet below
the surface, resting on the rocky slopes of Moriah. At
the lowest angle of this temple area they discovered
the corner-stone. It was four feet thick and fourteen
broad; and the fine original finish of its surface was
almost unimpaired. It is not improbable that the
prophet Isaiah had this very stone in mind when he
uttered the Messianic prediction, " Behold, I lay for a
foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner
stone." It thus appears that the most important place in the
church,, deepest down, and most rudimental, is re
served for Christ. The " rock " to which Christ
referred, when he said, " Thou art Peter, and upon
this rock will I build my Church," was not Peter but
Peter's good confession, " Thou art Christ, the Son
135

136 WHY I BELIEVE THE BLBLE
of the living God." If this be questioned let Peter
himself be heard: "Ye, also, as living stones are
built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer
up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus
Christ. Wherefore it is contained in the Scripture,
' Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner-stone, elect,
precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be
confounded.' Unto you, therefore, which believe he
is precious; but unto them which be disobedient ' the
stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner,' and a stone of stumbling and
a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the
Word, being disobedient." (I Peter 2:1-9: Cf.
Acts 4:8-12.)
(i) But if Christ is the chief corner-stone of the
Church, the Bible is its foundation. Paul says, " Ye
are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and
Prophets," this being a common and well understood
phrase used to designate the Scriptures in those days.
I wonder whether the destructive critics who are
engaged in undermining the popular faith in Scrip
ture are aware what they are doing? "If the founda
tions be destroyed, what shall the righteous do ? "
The only Christ we have is the Christ who is revealed
nowhere else but in the Scriptures. To impair their
credibility, is to impugn the only historical witnesses
that bear testimony to our religion. Some of these
destroyers are among the professed followers of
Christ ; but surely they do not follow him in this ; for,
as we have seen, he never uttered a word in contra
vention of the plenary truth of the Bible but on the
contrary was ever ready to vindicate and uphold it.

IT IS THE CHURCH'S BOOK 137
But how do the Scriptures serve as the foundation
of the Church? In furnishing all that is necessary
for its organization and effectiveness every way.
Herbert Spencer says that two things are necessary
in order to a working Church, namely, creed and
cultus. The Scriptures furnish the creed or system of truth ;
they also furnish the cultus, or mode of worship. The
latter, as given by inspiration, is intensely simple. The
beauty of holiness is the service of the heart ; its form
being relatively of slight import. To ask, " When I
offer my prayers, shall I sit or kneel or stand upon
my feet ? " is precisely like the question asked of Sir
Thomas More by his executioner : " Sir, does your
head lie right upon the block? " to whom he answered,
" It matters naught about my head so that my heart
be right." Let us abide by Scripture in this matter,
avoiding all unnecessary form and ceremony which is
but " superfluity of naughtiness." For Whatsoever is
not of faith is of sin.
But something more than creed and cultus is needed
in the making of a Church. For one thing we must
have a perfect Code of Morals. And this we find in
the Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount, plus the
personal example of Jesus as the Ideal Man.
We need also a program of life, or a plan of cam
paign, if you will ; and this also is clearly marked out
in the Scriptures. What is the business of those who
belong to the Church ? It is to seek " first of all the
kingdom of God and his righteousness." As we walk
along the street we mingle with two classes of peo
ple, who look alike but are really separated by an im-

138 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
measurable gulf. On the one hand, there are some
who are wholly absorbed in the pursuit of wealth,
pleasure or other personal emolument; who neither
know nor apparently care to know anything beyond
the things of this present life ; who, " forever hasten
ing to the grave, stoop downward as they run." On
the other hand there are not a few who believe in the
coming of the King and mean to do all in their power
to hasten it. They, also, are engaged in bread-and-
butter-work; but the things of the kingdom are su
preme, and their prime purpose is to hasten its coming
on earth and in the lives of men.
(2) The Church is not only founded on the Scrip
tures but is their depository, holding them in trust for
safeguarding and world-wide dissemination.
In one of Paul's letters — already referred to — ^he
enjoins Timothy, his successor in the pastorate of the
Ephesian Church, to " guard that good thing which
was committed unto him, through the Holy Spirit
which dwelleth in us."
The reference is distinctly to the paratheke or body
of Revelation which had been " once for all delivered
to the saints." Wherefore the Church is characterized
as " the pillar and ground of truth." The word
" Church," or ekklesia, means " called out." The
Church is a body of men called out of the world for
the specific purpose of preserving and utilizing this
deposit of Scriptural truth until the whole world shall
became acquainted with it.
The original germ or nucleus of Scripture was the-
Moral Law, together with the Civil and Ceremonial
Law which complemented it. God's jealousy for the

IT IS THE CHURCH'S BOOK 139
maintenance of his Word is shown by his command
to the Levites : " Take this Book of the Law, and put
it by the side of the ark of the covenant of Jehovah
your God, that it may be there for a witness against
thee." In the course of time there was added to this
original nucleus a further set of revelations, known as
" The New Testament " ; and these together with the
foregoing constitute the Oracles as they are com
mitted to us.
The Jews were set apart as a Church or " chosen
people " for the express purpose of keeping their
Oracles unimpaired and passing them on to the com
ing ages. In the course of Paul's great argument on
Justification by Faith, where he shows that Jewish
rites and ceremonies had no power to save, this objec
tion is interposed, " What advantage then hath the
Jew ? " to which he answers, " Much every way ; first
of all that they were entrusted with the Oracles of
God." This then was the singular privilege and pre
rogative of the Jews ; they were " chosen " to be cus
todians of the Word. Alas, they proved false to their
trust ! They rejected their Oracles and crucified " the
Hope of Israel." Wherefore, " their candlestick was
removed out of its place,"; so that every wandering
Jew in the world to-day is a living monument of the
divine jealousy for the Scriptures as the palladium of
revealed truth.
The Christian Church, as lineal successor of the
Jewish Church, has a like mission. To it are entrusted
the Oracles for safe keeping, for exposition and for
propagation to the uttermost parts of the earth. Tnis
trust is expressed in " Missions." To save souls is a

140 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
divine prerogative; but to disseminate truth, the
Gospel of The Oracles through which souls ai;p saved,
is the distinct business of the Church. When that is
attended to God promises to do the rest. A clear
understanding of this fact with a corresponding zeal
in Missions would speedily bring in the Golden Age.
When Christ was asked by his disciples for a sign of
his second coming, he answered, " The end is not
yet. The Gospel must first be preached to all nations :
then shall the end be."
The body of truth thus deposited with the Church
has been placed in the special care of its ministers.
In the Jewish Church the prophets were charged
with the special duty of safeguarding the oracles and
teaching them. In process of time there arose within
their number a new order known as Scribes, that is,
transcribers of Scripture. They were the Biblical
experts of those days, who assumed to be able rightly
to divide the word of truth. It was not long, how
ever, before they began to take undue liberties with
the Word; for which our Lord denounced them,
saying, " Full well do ye reject the commandment of
God that ye riiay keep your tradition." And again,
" Woe unto you, mask-wearers ! , Ye shut up the
kingdom of heaven against men; for ye enter not in
yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering
in to enter. Woe unto you, blind guides, that strain
out the gnat and swallow the camel ! ye serpents, ye
off-spring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judg
ment of hell ? " All this because they were false to
their Oracles, adding to and subtracting from them,
overlaying them with their traditions and thus set-

IT IS THE CHURCH'S BOOK 141
ting at naiight their commission to safeguard and dis
seminate them.
The call to the Christian ministry is a divine call.
It is a summons to the sacred trust of protecting, de
fending and disseminating the truth as contained in
the Oracles ; and fidelity to that commission is solemnly
pledged in its ordination vows.
In the early Church there were ministers who were
recreant to their trust. Paul was moved to warn
Timothy against such false teachers as " creep in "
among the people to make shipwreck of faith. He
warned the young pastor of Ephesus against their
specious inroads and with pathetic earnestness en
joined him to be faithful; "O Timothy, guard that
which is committed unto thee ! "
Are there such false teachers among us? It is an
open secret that not a few have insinuated themselves
into evangelical pulpits where they, sometimes bra
zenly but more often with covert cleverness, not only
undermine the written Word but deny the Incarnate
Word. What care they for ordination vows? Honesty
and veracity are cast to the winds. " Oaths are but
straws ! "
What is the result? The question is frequently
asked, "Why are there so few candidates for the
ministry?" The wonder is that there should be any
candidates at all when there are so many ministers and
theological instructors who reduce the Gospel to nil.
Why should a young man consecrate his life to
preaching when there is nothing to preach? In Ger
many, where the pulpits are largely given over to ra
tionalism, the supply of candidates is less than one-
\

142 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
third what it was fifty years ago. In our own coun
try there is a smaller but still lamentable falling off.
Why ? Inquire at the doors of Yale, Harvard, Prince
ton, Cornell and other great institutions of learning,
notably our State Universities, where rationalistic
science and philosophy — usually not only " made " but
worn out " in Germany " — ^are taught in direct con
travention of the Scriptures. Is it to be expected that
young men will be moved by such instruction to devote
their lives to a profession which is solemnly pledged
to the teaching of propositions which they must not
believe in?
A further result is the breaking up of the founda
tions of common morality. Faith and conduct go
together. One who is more liberal than the doctrine
of Christ must needs be broader than the Moral Law.
It would not be just to say that all " liberals " are on
the wrong side of all current questions of reform;
but it is quite within bounds to say that ministers and
laymen who stand by the evangelical faith can always
be depended on to support the sanctions of the Sab
bath, temperance, the marriage relation, and every
other proposition which concerns the welfare of so
ciety. When the question of opening our saloons on
Sunday was pending recently in our Legislature, the
State of New York was ransacked to find ministers
who would advocate it. A few were found — eleven
to be exact — and naturally all " liberal." There was
not one among them who stood for the integrity of the
Written and Incarnate Word of God.
It is worth while for those who thoughtlessly de
claim against creeds and clamour for ethical sermons

IT IS THE CHURCH'S BOOK 143
to remember that truth and morality walk hand in
hand. There is no sound and dependable morality
which does not find its base in obedience to revealed
truth. To abandon that truth, as a whole or in any
essential part, is to loosen the sanctions of right and
righteousness ; for " as a man thinketh within himself
so is he."
(3) But this is not all. The Church is not only
founded on the Scriptures and put in charge over
them as a solemn trust, but as already intimated it is
enjoined to promulgate them to the uttermost parts of
the earth.
The Command is, " Preach the Word." The
Church, we repeat, is not expected to regenerate men:
God himself does that; but every member of the
Church is, up to the full measure of his influence,
charged with the responsibility of carrying the in
spired Book with its glad tidings to the regions beyond
until it has reached the last man.
It is because the Church has been culpably slow in
realizing this responsibility that the coming of Christ
has been postponed so long. Sporadic efforts have
been made to bring the nations to a saving knowledge
of' religion in other ways ; but God's way is the only
way. The Spirit works through the Word for the
salvation of men. Wherefore, preach the Word!
When that is done we can safely and hopefully leave
the result with God.

XVI
IT IS EVERYBODY'S BOOK
ONE of the most convincing arguments for
the divine origin of the Scriptures is their
singular adaptation to the needs of all sorts
and conditions of men.
Here is a Book for young and old, for rich and
poor, for lofty and lowly, for wise and unwise, for
all who feel the burden of sin and the need of One
who hath power on earth to forgive sin, for all who
realize the cramping limitations of this present life
and long for an outlook into life further on, for all
and several of every tribe and nation of the children
of men.*
There is no point in human experience where this
Book does not touch us. In pain, sorrow, poverty,
discouragement, loneliness and in the article of
* It is greatly to be regretted that the English-speaking
world has no approved version of the Scriptures in the cur
rent vernacular. The King James Version is not in the
language of our time but in that of three hundred years
ago, and none of the authorized revisions has brought it up
to date. A foolish reverence for the dignified phraseology
of the Westminster divines has left some hundreds of mil
lions of people without a Bible in the current tongue: and,
in view of the fact that Christ himself spoke to the people
in the language of their daily life, this is without excuse.
144

IT IS EVERYBODY'S BOOK 145
death it lends a hand to upHft and support us.
Wherever we are, whatever we do, however we suf
fer, as Coleridge said, " The Bible finds us."
This is due, in large measure, to the fact that it
reduces to their simplest terms all the profound prob
lems which it undertakes to solve. And it does this
by scrupulously avoiding the terminology of the
schools and appealing directly to common-sense.
I. Take, for example, the doctrine of the Atone
ment. What labyrinths of argumentation have been
constructed about this vital truth! Listen to the ob
jections : " Is it to be supplosed that God would
scourge his only-begotten Son ? " " Can the innocent
suffer for the guilty ? " " Is there any expiatory
value in suffering and death ? "
Ask the child at your knee to answer these objec
tions; for, indeed, the argument must ultimately be
solved by the intuition of innocency; as it is written,
" Except ye become as this little child ye shall in no
wise enter thie Kingdom of God."
" Will the Father scourge his beloved Son ? "
Surely not unless some commensurate end requires
it: nor unless the Son himself, in view of that high
purpose, should with a glad heart consent to it. But
listen to his words : " Lo, I come ! In the volume
of the Book it is written, ' I rejoice to do thy
will.' "
"Can the innocent suffer for the guilty?" What
a question! The innocent are all the while and
^very;where suffering for the guilty; kings for their
rebellious subjects, parents for their wayward chil
dren; everybody for his sinning forbears. Nor is

146 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
there anything finer in human nature than the volun
tary "suffering of one for another-; that is, sympathy,
which Webster defines as " the quality of being af
fected by the affection of another." If it be true
that we are by nature the children of God ; what sort
of a God would he be who did not suffer vicariously
for us? By this token the highest note in the his
tory of humanity is struck at Calvary. Here is the
supreme expression of divine love. It is just like
God. It is just what we should expect of him.
" Is there any expiatory value in suffering and
death ? " That depends. It must not be overlooked
that there is a Covenant to be reckoned with in these
premises; and to that Covenant there are three
parties, namely, God the Father, the only-begotten
Son and the sinner, that is, myself. If the Father
be willing to send his Son ; if the Son be willing to
suffer in my behalf ; and if I, " the party of the third
part," be willing by an obedient and appropriating
faith to have it so, where in all the universe is there
any who, without impertinence, can object to it?
Such is the simple logic of Grace as the Bible
teaches it. Alas, that in the process of the years we
are so prone to drift away from the wisdom that
was in the mind of Jesus when he said, " Except ye
become as little children." '
" Tell me the story simply, as to a little child.
For I am weak, and weary, and helpless and defiled;
Tell me the story often, for I forget so soon !
The early dew of morning has passed away at noon.''
II. Or take the doctrine of Justification by Faith,
which Luther called " the article of a standing or a

IT IS EVERYBODY'S BOOK 147
falling church." It is easy to propound such ques
tions as, " If Christ died for all, then what need-^of
believing in him ? " or, " What saving virtue can
reside in faith ? "
Ask these questions of the schoolmen and they will
lead you into philosophic labyrinths of confusion
v\forse confounded: but go to the Oracles and, like
children in a kindergarten, you will be answered by
picturesque figures of speech, such as these:
The ground is covered with manna, "white and
plenteous as hoar frost." Whosoever will may sat
isfy his hunger by eating it. But eat he must or
famish for want of it. And Jesus said, "I am the
living bread that came down from heaven, of which
if a man eat he shall never die. And except ye eat
the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man ye
have no life in you."
The water is gushing from the rock at Rephidim.
Whosoever will may drink and live! But, though
the stream at Rephidim were as broad and deep as
the Amazon, a man, refusing to drink would perish
of thirst. And Jesus said, "Whosoever drinketh of
the water that I shall give him shall never thirst ; but
it shall be in him a well of water springing up into
eternal life.'
Thus the faith that justifies is represented as a
simple appropriation of the benefits of divine grace.
It is a glad hand stretched out to take the gift of
God. Could any requirement be more reasonable?
But we entangle our feet in elaborate sophisms
which prevent our running up the heavenly way.
Note bene: all that the Scriptures require for our

148 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
personal ^salvation is that we shall accept Christ as
our Saviour and prove our sincerity by living accord
ingly. " Only believe ! " " ByJifian " is the thing we
live by. Christ on his Cross saves nobody. It is
only when Christ crucified is received by faith as
" my Lord, my life, my sacrifice, my Saviour and my
all," that I am saved through him. This is not
philosophy; it is common-sense; and wise men do
not hesitate to act upon it.
If we would ever arrive at a solution of these or
any other of the great problems of the spiritual life
it must be along Scriptural lines ; not by following
blind leaders of the blind in vain excursions into the
bewildering mazes of " fixed fate, free will, fore
knowledge absolute," but by pursuing the plain and
simple paths marked out for us.
Much of our education is like arboriculture in
Japan. An oak tree is taken from its place on the
hill top where, buffeting the storms, it fastens its
roots upon the everlasting rocks and lifts its arms
triumphant in the air; and it is reduced by elaborate
cultivation to the small dimensions of a plant in a
pot. In like manner, as to our attitude toward the
great spiritual facts, we move further and further, by
a process of mental dwarfing, from the clear and sim
ple light of Scripture into a narrow and hidebound
scholasticism which makes us unconsciously but
disastrously averse to truth.
It was thus with Nicodemus, to whom Christ pre
sented facts which should have commended them
selves to him at once; but, being a rabbi educated in

IT IS EVERYBODY'S BOOK 149
hair-splitting schools of philosophy, he must needs
cry, " How can these things be?"
It has pleased God to give us the Scriptures for
our guidance on the pathway of life. They are, — as
we should expect of a divine chart, — so plain that a
Wayfaring man, however foolish, need not err therein.
If more were needed we have it in the vouchsafed
aid of the Holy Spirit of whom it is written, " He
will lead you into all truth."
But all guidance is vain for those who refuse to
follow it. Not even common-sense, in these premises,
that is to say, the universal instinct of the race with
reference to spiritual things, is adequate for perfect
guidance to such as, by wilful and habitual wrong-
thinking, have been diverted from the King's High
way: for so it is written, "Ye shall know the truth
if ye follow on to know it."
In the interpretation of the divine Word common-
sense plus the illumination of the Spirit affords all
necessary help. " The light which lighteth every
man which cometh into the world " is like a lantern
in our hands. If we prefer, we may pursue our
journey along the dark and perilous ways of life, so
absorbed in discussing the qualities of the caloric and
actinic rays as to stumble into no end of pitfalls ; but
if we are willing to follow the guidance of the Book,
with the aid of the divine Spirit, who both illuminates
its pages and anoints our eyes with eyesalve that we
may see, we shall find the light not only sufficient
for each passing hour but growing brighter and
brighter unto the perfect day.

XVII
ITS SYSTEM OF DOCTRINE
SO much has already been said about the doc
trinal truths of Scripture that this chapter is
likely to be brief. There are, however, some
additional facts that call for emphasis, by reason of
their contributary value in an argument like this for
the divine origin of the Book.
(i) One of these is the comprehensiveness of its
doctrinal system.
It would be difficult, indeed impossible, to suggest
a single problem in the entire province of religious
thought which does not find a satisfactory solution
here. And this — considering the antiquity of the
Book, its limited proportions and the vast diversity
of its readers — is a remarkable fact. If this Book
be ¦ only " literature " where in all the literature of
the world is there another like it? We find herein
an answer to all questions as to God a.nd immortality,
the life here and the life farther on.
(2) Another fact worthy of note is that the
emphasis which the Scriptures lay upon these spirit
ual truths is measured precisely by their relative
value in practical life.
For example, the personality of God, together with
all those attributes which must combine to form the
150

ITS SYSTEM OF DOCTRINE 151
perfect symmetry of a divine character, is so con
stantly iterated and reiterated as to leave no room
for the faintest shadow of doubt concerning it.
The same is true of the doctrine of sin, which is
always yoked up with retribution which, unless di
vinely averted, is sure to follow it.
A like emphasis is put upon the doctrine of Justi
fication by Faith in Christ, and of Sanctification
through the Word by the power of the Spirit.
These are not only vital but eminently practical
truths, inasmuch as the issues of life and immortality
are wrapped up in them.
It is sometimes affirmed that Immortality is not
taught in the Scriptures. This, if true, would show
a fundamental defect; but it may fairly be said that
no other doctrine is more clearly inculcated. It is
not only explicitly taught but — which is more sig
nificant — it is assumed as the very postulate of all
spiritual truth. If death ends all then the Bible is
of less consequence to me, or to any other thoughtful
man, than a Treatise on Wholesome Foods. In that
case Epicurus was right: "Let us eat and drink: for
to-morrow we die." But the man whom we meet at
the very doorway of the Scriptures has God's breath
in his nostrils and is therefore as immortal as Gpd
himself. For what can quench this spark of infinite
fire ? A man created in the divine likeness cannot die
as a beast dieth. He lives forever! So runs the
postulate. What need of laboured argument to prove
it? As well ask Euclid to postpone his excursion in
the higher mathematics until he has demonstrated
the axioms; or a Professor of Applied Dynamics to

152 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
turn aside from his curriculum to prove the existence
of force. Wise men waste no time in philosophizing
about self-evident facts. Like the writers of Scrip
ture they assume them and pass on.
But while the more vital doctrines of the inspired
Book are deeply emphasized, the non-essential or less
important are more lightly dwelt on; not indeed so
lightly as to give the impression that any truth is
negligible, but only so as to throw the more signifi
cant truths into bolder relief. Thus room is left,
even in the Lord's household, for a difference
of opinion as to certain verities which, while
revealed, are not explained, because they belong to
God. Such, for example, are " fixed fate, free will, fore
knowledge absolute." Here Calvinists and Armin-
ians may agree to differ, because a full understand
ing of the divine decrees is not necessary to salva
tion. So, also, the denominations may excusably be
at odds with reference to ecclesiastical forms and
polities: since, important as these may appear, they
are not fundamental in the building of life and char
acter. The significant fact is that a sufficient answer
is given in the Scriptures to all questions, whether
essential or non-essential, which have any bearing
whatsoever on life here and hereafter.
(3) Another fact in this connection has already
been referred to; namely, the universal adaptation of
Scriptural truth. In one of Augustine's Sermons he
remarks that " the Scriptures are so deep that an
¦ elephant can drown in them and shallow enough to
be forded by a lamb." The problems considered are.

ITS SYSTEM OF DOCTRINE 163
indeed, profound; but their solution is adjusted to
the capacity of all sorts of men.
Contrast, for example, the Scriptural teaching as
to the being and nature of God with the scholastic
method of clarifying the same truth. The students
in our Theological Seminaries are 'drilled in the
Ontological, Cosmological and Teleological modes of
demonstrating that the world is not a fortuitous con
course of atoms but a creation with a Creator behind
it. Open the Book and straightway the whole argu
ment confronts you ; " In the beginning God ! " If
the Bible had been made for theologians it, too, might
have dealt in sesquipedalian phrases; but this is the
universal highway, and no such polysyllabic terms as
"Ontological," "Cosmological" or "Teleological"
shall be found there. The King's Road was not ma(ie
for philosophers but for wayfaring men.
The Bible does not attempt even a formal defini
tion of God. This was left for the Assembly of
Westminster Divines, who, summoning their highest
wisdom, produced this spkndid labyrinth of words;
"God is a spirit (What is Spirit?) infinite (What is
infinite?) eternal (What is eternity?) unchangeable
(Think of unchangeableness, if you can!) in his being
(As to ' being ' let Herbert Spencer speak, ' Life is a
definite combination of heterogeneous changes, both
simultaneous and successive, in correspondence with
external co-existences and sequences!') wisdom
(Who can comprehend omniscience?) power (Will
you measure omnipotence with a yard stick?) holi-.
ness (The white solar ray!), justice (Let Sbylock
and Portia cross lances here!) goodness ('As far

154 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
as the East is from the West!') and truth." (Here
Pilate speaks for all the schools, " What is truth? ").
Thus the most reverent attempt to define the great
Mystery ends in a succession of teratologies. Now
open the Book and hear the words of the Great
Teacher, " When ye pray say. Our Father." Enough !
God is defined. The plummet of philosophy can
sound no deeper depths : the dreams of prophecy c^n
reach no loftier heights : and a little child can under
stand it.
(4) It remains to consider the important fact that
the Bible alone, of all the so-called Sacred Books of
the world and of the centuries, so presents the multi
farious truths of religion that they can be arranged
in a coherent system.
Who ever heard of the doctrinal system of the
Koran or of the Zendavesta or of the Analects of
Confucius? There is no claim of consistency here;
but consistency is the crown-jewel of the Scriptures.
the oecumenical creeds of Christendom are the logical
expression of our Scriptural faith. The many divi
sions of the Evangelical Church — however far apart
they may be in minor points of order — are all agreed
as to these formularies. A heretic in one of these
denominations is a heretic in all. To deny that God
is holy, that man is a sinner, or that the only
at-one-ment is wrought by the God-man, is to be an
Ishmaelite among all the tribes. The vital truths are
thus recognized as a system, whose doctrines hold
together like the links of an anchor-chain. Break one
link and your ship is adrift. For this reason a man's
safety lies not in accepting so much of Scripture as

ITS SYSTEM OF DOCTRINE ,155
may please him, but in adhering to the whole " with
out sciscitation." For its truths go together, as if
intended to be, in George Herbert's words, " a neck
lace of pearls for the adornment of the bride of
God."

XVIII
ITS MORAL CODE
THE average man is inclined to do right; but
obviously he must have a reliable rule to live
by. Where shall he find it?
Can tradition afford such a rule? Is it enough for
one to do as his fathers were accustomed to do? On
the contrary, the law of heredity, when applied in
the sphere of ethics, is a ball and chain rather tlian
a door opening into life. There is many an inebriate
who justifies his loss of self-respect on the ground
that a strain of alcoholism runs in his veins. But
if he would remove his father's decanter from his
own sideboard and put up a brave fight for the re
covery of his manhood with a firm reliance on divine
help he would surely win out. The sour grapes
which our forebears have eaten can not relieve us of
personal responsibility. Every man muSt answer for
himself before God.
Is it safe, then, to follow fashion? Shall we do
as others do; attend church because church-going is
popular or riin with the multitude to do evil, as the
case may be? Fashion is a fallacious guide at best,
since it changes with shifting time and circumstance.
There are some portions of Switzerland where goitres
are so much in vogue that a man who has not such
an excrescence is called " goose-necked." One is sure
156

ITS MORAL CODE 157
to go wrong who merely follows the precept, " When
you are in Paris, do as Parisians do."
Or shall we follow conscience? If we cannot find
a standard by " comparing ourselves with ourselves,"
shall we look for it within ourselves? Nay; let no
man boast of being " a conscientious man " ; since
conscience may be seared by sinful habit as with an
hot iron. It may be twisted out of its normal direc
tion as the magnetic needle is deflected by the iron
in a ship's hull. Saul of Tarsus persecuted the Chris
tians " in all good conscience." Philip the Second
followed his conscience in expressing a desire to
" ride up to the bridle in Protestant blood." It is
not enough, therefore, to follow the inward voice.
Where, then, is the standard? Nowhere, unless
God himself, the God of right and righteousness, shall
reveal it. " If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask
of God who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth
not and it shall be given him." The answer to that
asking is found in the Scriptures; and a clear
understanding of the Scriptures is afforded by the
Spirit of God. One of the official functions of the
Holy Spirit is to regulate the conscience in that way.
The prime object of prayer is to arrive at that
which the perverted and unaided conscience cannot
give, to wit, a clear expression of the divine will.
We are bound to do right, not merely what we believe
to be right. We are bound to live as God in his
Word enjoins us to live. It is not enough to say
that our lives are adjusted to the requirements of
conscience; they must be adjusted to the divine law
as an enlightened conscience enables us t6 see it.

158 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
And this enlightenment is through the divine Word;
precisely as a skipper corrects his compass by taking
an observation of the stars. This Word, therefore,
is uhimate, inasmuch as it is the medium through
which God speaks to those who are cordially disposed
to hear and obey him.
In the Ten Commandments, which were the origi
nal nucleus of the Old Testament (Deuteronomy
25:31), we have a brief compendium of the Moral
Law. The ancient Covenant with Israel, known as
"the Covenant of Works," provided that whosoever
kept that Law "should live by it"; but perfect
obedience was required, in the necessity of the case,
. since " whosoever offendeth in one point is guilty of
the whole law." One offense makes a man an out
law; just as the deviation of a planet from its orbit
by so much as a single inch makes it a wanderer in
infinite space. Hence the need of a universal remedy
for sin; inasmuch as "all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God."
This remedy was provided under the Old Economy
in the prophecy of Christ, which was known as " the
Hope of Israel." No sooner had Adam sinned than
he was pointed to Christ as " the Seed of woman "
who should come in the fulness of time to " bruise
the serpent's head." When Cain killed his brother
he was informed that " the Sin-offering lay at his
door." Thus the Saviour was revealed, and pro
gressively revealed, in the prophecies of the Old
Testament for the deliverance of ancient sinners; so
that all who believed in the coming Christ might live
by faith in him.

ITS MORAL CODE 159
Then the day broke. The Messiah came; and with
him another Covenant, which is characterized as " a
new Cpvenant " by reason of the clearer emphasis
which it puts upon the same Covenant of Grace
which was originally made with Adam for all the
children of men. The Seed of woman was at hand,
with his face set steadfastly toward the Cross on
which he was to bruise the serpent's head. In him
behold "the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation
of the world."
He said that he had come not to destroy the Law
but to fulfil it; i.e., to pay the ransom due to justice
by bearing our sins in his own body on the tree.
Thus he magnified the law while casting up an high
way over which the lawbreaker might enter into life.
Never was justice so vindicated as in the vicarious
death of Christ, by which it is made manifest that
God can be just and yet the justifier of the ungodly,
and through which a man can be just with God.
Nor was ever the Law so honoured as in his life
and teaching. The Sermon on the Mount is his ex
position of the Ten Commandments: and in that
Sermon there is no mollifying of sin. As an expose
it burns like acid; it blisters like fire; it searches
out the secret imaginations of the heart. It pro
claims that the law is good, and that it must be kept
even to the last jot and tittle of it. But if broken,
what then? "Go, sell all that thou hast, and come
and follow me ! " Why follow him ? Because he
alone " hath power on earth to forgive sin."
In following him, we shall find him honouring the
Law l)y reducing it to its simplest terms. The Ten

160 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
Commandments now become two : " Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy soul and with all thy
mind and with all thy strength; this is the first and
greatest Commandment. And the second is like
unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two Commandments hang all the Law and
the Prophets."
Out of these two commandments proceeds the Rule
of Social Service. All right-thinking men and
women are desirous of making this world a better
place to live in. We hear the cry for help on every
hand. How shall we answer it? What shall we do
for the army of neer-do-weels ; for the indolent and
ignorant ; for " the submerged tenth " ; for God's poor
and the devil's poor; for the sick and suffering, for
widows and fatherless? Hear the bitter cry!
We get together in Sociological Conventions. We
collect statistics, compare communities and measure
ourselves among ourselves. We write about civic
reform and prison reform and reforms without end.
We build schools and hospitals and reformatories.
We contribute for soup-kitchens, employment bu
reaus, art exhibits, entertainments, university settle
ments. So far, so good; but all this falls infinitely
short of the requirements of the situation. Our
measurement of the case is too narrow and super
ficial. We are treating man simply as an unfor
tunate animal for whom death ends all. We are
estimating his needs by the cry of his appetites. '' He
is hungry, let us feed him ! He shivers, let us clothe
him! He cannot distinguish between a chromo and
a masterpiece of Raphael; wherefore let us cultivate

ITS MORAL CODE 161
his aesthetic nature ! Is man then no better than a
sheep? Is he nothing more than a stomach and its
appurtenances? Is the problem of his welfare to be
solved by the argument of a full dinner-pail ? Is
physical comfort the sum total of happiness?
God be praised for all that is being done to allevi
ate the sufferings of the poor and destitute; but the
Epicurean tendency of current sociological effort is
greatly to be deplored. We blame the sickly senti-
' mentalism of women who carry jellies and nose-gays
to Murderers' Row; but what better is it to supply
the present needs of the unfortunate while ignoring
the profounder needs of their spiritual nature? Is
this our boasted " progressivism ? " Is it not rather
a reversion to barbaric type ? " Let us eat and
drink," quoth Epicurus, " for to-morrow we die ! "
But we do not die to-morrow; we live on and on
through interminable to-morrows. Man is more than
an animal ; he is a child of God, created in the divine
likeness and facing the blessed possibility of a divine )
heritage. His life here is only an handbreadth; so
1;hat however sore his present afflictions may be they
" endure but for a moment " ; while his life hereafter
stretches on forever and ever.
We err, therefore, in measuring immortal needs by
physical standards. We fall infinitely short of
philanthropy in seeking to meet an eternal need by
the betterment of temporal conditions. Man is in
deed an animal; so far forth that when he hungers
he must eat and when he shivers he must be clothed.
But somehow in our beneficences we must get
eternity into the reckoning. There is no true kind-

162 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
ness which does not see beyond the narrow horizons
of the here and now : " for what shall it profit a man
if he gain the whole world and lose his lif6?"
Is there anywhere a perfect standard of such com
prehensive humanity? Is there a satisfactory gauge
by which we may measure our efforts to " do good
as we have opportunity unto all men ? " Is there a
" good work " anywhere in history by which all other
works may be measured?
Aye; Open the Book and behold the Cross! Here
is the ultimate standard of philanthropy. The Cross
stands out in history as a divine announcement of the
only effective plan for the deliverance of the whole
man. It saves the soul by blotting out sin. On the
one hand it disinfects memory by Erasing the past;
and on the other it glorifies hope by preparing the
soul to meets its destiny. Thus it saves a man, body
and soul, for time and eternity. For the man who
finds salvation in Christ is put in the way of a holy
endeavour to quit himself like a man. Bring him to
Calvary, and you insure his temporal as well as his
spiritual good. He is no longer content with base
pursuits and companionships; the wastrel is ashamed
of his profligacy and ambitious to live as an honest
man among men. His whole life is revolutionized
by a vital apprehension of the Gospel of Christ.
It is a small matter to feed one who is doomed to
the gallows. Esau may be willing to trade his birth
right for a mess of pottage but alas for the Jacob
who becomes a party to it. An artist, desiring to
paint a picture of The Prodigal's Return, engaged a
beggar to sit as his model. The next day at the

ITS MORAL CODE 163
appointed hour the man appeared dressed in his best.
His appearance was improved; but he was actually
more .worthless than before, since he had unfitted
himself even to serve as a model for the prodigal.
It is proposed in some quarters by those who are
- engaged in philanthropic effort to treat all prodigals
in this way ; to furnish them with \ soap and water,
a change of raiment and something to eat, and leave
them in the far country. No ! No ! Let us get the
wanderer well on his way to his Father's house,
knowing that once there he shall have food and
clothes in plenty, sitting at a well-filled table and
wearing the best robe.
This is the method of the Scriptures, as illustrated
by the philanthropic Christ. He healed the sick and >
alleviated the miseries of the poor and suffering; but
these were mere by-products, of his redemptive work.
His face was set steadfastly toward the Cross; and
on his way he consistently preached the higher life
of reconciliation with God. Let the mind that was
in Christ Jesus be also in us.

XIX
ITS PLAN OF SALVATION
THE Bible is like a drama, with a distinct pur
pose running through it from beginning- to
end. It is clear, progressive and climacteric.
A thin red line, as distinct as the theme of an
oratorio, can be traced from The Protevangel at the
gateway of paradise to the last vision of the Apoca
lypse, where the saints redeemed are represented as
glorifying God for their robes washed and made
white in the blood that cleanseth from all sin.
We follow this crimson trail through Chronicle and
Psalm and Prophecy with ever-increasing interest,
perceiving more and more in the light of multiplying
altars and watch-fires that some supreme event ap
proaches. Suddenly there is a gush of music from
the Judean hills : " Glory to God in the highest ;
peace on earth and good will among men ! " The
denouement is at hand! Yonder on Calvary the Hope
of Israel, the Desire of all nations, dies in anguish,
bearing the world's sin in his own body on the
tree. Then another burst of music from the heav
enly heights, " Worthy art thou to receive honpur
and glory and power and dominion forever and
ever, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us by
thy blood ! " This is the plot of the tragedy ; this is
164

ITS PLAN OF SALVATION 165
the crimson path that runs from the gateway of
Paradise to the City of God.
And the singular fact is that the story, thus related
with a divine picturesqueness, makes a personal ap
peal to every man. It must needs be so ; since every
man is conscious of sin, of a certain fearful looking-
for of judgment and of a desire to escape from it.
" What shall I do to be saved ? " is the cry of the
sin-cursed race. And just here is where the Gospel
oi the Bpok " finds us."
. Let it be said with all possible emphasis, that this
Scriptural plan of salvation stands solitary and
alone. There are other religions and other philoso- '
phies which undertake with less or greater success to
solve important problems and suggest plans of right
living; but there is no religion or philosophy outside
of the Scriptures which suggests a i-ational mode of
escape from the guilty past. All others are inef-
, fectual at this point. Indeed not one of the Sapred
Books of the false religions gives the slightest hint
or intimation of any method of erasing the record of
past sin. Here the Scriptures stand alone. We are
saved by faith in the atoning blood ; and without this
shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.
And what shall be said of the Central Figure of
this drama? Has the adverse criticism of the cen
turies robbed us of Christ? Nay; he remains by
common consent the peerless One. His name is
" Wonderful." Wonderful in his birth ! Wonderful
in his life, a life condensed in the brief monograph,
" He went about doing good." Wonderful in his
death: as the infidel Rousseau said, " If the death

166 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
of Socrates was that of a sage the death of Jesus
was that of a God!" And wonderful, surpassingly
wonderful, in his influence through all the succeed
ing ages.
A Hall of Fame was recently dedicated in connec
tion with one of our Universities, and many illus
trious names have been inscribed upon its walls; but
who would think of comparing any of them with
Him? A company of English writers were once dis
cussing the relative greatness of the world's famous-
teachers. " If Plato or Socrates or Epictetus or
Marcus Aurelius or Sakya-muni were to enter here,"
'said Charles Lamb, " we would immediately uncover
in their presence; but if Jesus of Nazareth were to
appear, we would all with one consent fall upon our
knees before him ! "
In his exile Napoleon said, " My life once shone
with the brilliance of a diadem, but now who cares
for me? Caesar, Alexander and I dreamed of uni
versal empire. Caesar and Alexander, where are
they? And I shall soon be forgotten. But Jesus
stretches a dead hand across the centuries and rules
the world-. He was crucified eighteen hundred
years ago, after founding an empire upon love; and
at this hour millions would die for him ! " It is true
that the glory of his name increases with the passing
of the years. His praises are sung by a multitude
whose voice is as the sound of many waters:
"All hail the power of Jesus' name!
Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the. royal diadem.
And crown Him Lord of all ! "

ITS PLAN OF SALVATION. 167
It is no marvel that a Book with such a plot and
such a Hero should have withstood the fiercest at
tacks of its bitterest foes. The " impregnable rock
of Scripture," as Gladstone called it, stands like
Gibraltar with the wreck of many hostile fleets scat->
tered about its base. It stands like Eddystone, despite
all swirling tides and buffeting storms, casting a
steady light for the guidance of perplexed mariners
on dangerous seas. It stands and withstands, this
round-tower of the King of kings, while over it floats .
with ever-increasing splendour the red banner of the
Cross, which is the franchise and prophecy of the
Golden Age.

XX
ITS ENEMIES
IT is not claimed for the friends of the Bible
that they are perfect, only that they are trying
to adjust themselves to its demands. They
know, far better than their most censorious critics,
how far short they fall of the splendid ideal set be-,
fore them. But they keep on trying, like hill-
climbers who make their weary way with much
stumbling tpward a palace on the distant heights.
Thus trudging on, amid adverse judgments and with
much confusion of face, they confidently hope for
better things some day. Not counting themselves to
have apprehended as though they were already per
fect, they forget the things which are behind and
reach forth unto those which are before and press
toward the mark for the prize of their high calling.
Theirs is no easy task — let those who think so try
it — ^but the end' crowns the work. "Eye hath not
seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man, the things which God hath prepared
for them that love him."
So much for the friends of the Bible. On the
other hand, who are its enemies? The Book stands
willing to be judged by the enemies it makes. It is
undeniable that among them are many whose out
ward lives are beyond reproach : but it is equally un-
168

ITS ENEMIES 169
deniable - that their ' clan includes all reckless and
notorious evil-doers, all notorious thieves and adul
terers, all habitual liars and blasphemers, all Sabbath
breakers, all midnight revellers, all wilful opposerS
of law and order, all confirmed criminals, all incor
rigible tramps and professional neer-do-weels. All
these can, without fear of contradiction, be reckoned
as enemies of the Bible. If an exception.be found it
occurs so rarely, and the exposure of its insincerity
is so obvious as merely to confirm the rule.
But these are not all. Among the avowed or
clandestine foes of Scripture are many who occupy
honourable positipns in society, places of authority in
political life, college professorships, even pulpits and
theological chairs. They are scrupulous in their
observance of all the common proprieties and conven
tionalities. The astute cleverness of a score of sUch
respectable men is more disastrous to the faith of
the unwary than the blasphemous mouthings of a
legion of disreputables. Nevertheless, they do not
prevail. God's Word has come to stay; and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it.
One of the provisions of the ancient code of
Deuteronomy had to do with the preservation of
fruit-trees ; as follows : " When thou shalt besiege a
city a long time, in making war against it to take it^
thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing
an axe against them. Thou mayest eat of them; but
thou shalt not cut them down (because the tree of
the field is man's Jife) to employ them in the' siege:
) only the trees which thpu knowest that they be not
trees for meat shalt thou destroy."

170 WHY I BELIEVE, THE BIBLE
Our purpose in this reference is to draw a parallel
between the anti-biblical critics of our time and those
ancient destroyers of fruit trees. The world has al
ways been divided into two hostile camps, — defenders
of the Bible and its enemies. The fiercest wars in
history serve to illustrate this division; as in the
Crusades, where the clash of steel under the walls
of Jerusalem was really a conflict between the
Koran of the false prophet and the veritable Word
of God.
This destroyer is always abroad in the land. No
believer is allowed to rest in undisputed possession
of any revealed truth. The poet Whittier's picture
of " The Reformer " is full of suggestion :
"All grim and soiled and browned with tan
I saw a Strong One, in his wrath.
Smiting the godless shrines of men
Along his path.
" The Church beneath her trembling dome
Essayed in vain her ghostly charm;
Wealth shook within his gilded home
In strange alarm.
"Yet louder rang the Strong One's stroke.
Yet nearer flashed his axe's gleam;
Shuddering and sick of heart I woke.
As from a dream."
It were well if this woodman had designs only
on "the godless shrines of men"; but unfortunately'
his axe is oftentimes laid at the root of 'the' life-
giving truths of our religion. He has invaded the
Lord's orchard, despite the ancient rule of humanity

IIIIIII

ITS ENEMIES 171
in war; and the goodly trees, under whose shadow
our fathers took delight and whose fruit was sweet
to their taste, give back the echo of his blows. In
this however there is no occasion for alarm. The
war against the Scriptures is as old as the memory
of man. Voltaire's words, uttered more than a hun
dred years ago, have often been quoted; "I will go
through your theological forest and girdle every tree ;
so that in! a quarter of a century not a sapling shall
be left to you." Where now is that axe-man? But
the forest is standing and. at last accounts the Lord's
trees were still " full of sap." So Whittier continues :
"Take heart! The Waster builds again;
A charmed life old Goodness hath.
The tares may perish, but the grain
Is not for death.
"-God works in all things. All obey
His first propulsion from the night.
Wake thou, and watch. The world is grey
With morning light ! "
The Bible is that Tree of Knowledge under which
men of reverence sit to contemplate the great verities.
If there be no standard of authority there can, obvi
ously, , be no certainty as to any truth. Jason in
search of the \Golden Fleece must be able to direct
his going by the North Star, else all is "dead reck
oning " and his ship drifts at the mercy of the winds.
There are only three conceivable seats of authority
as to spiritual things:
One is "the infallible Church;" but the Church,

172 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
divided as it is and speaking with diverse tongue^,
must prove its infallibility before any thoughtful
man can concede it.
Another is the Bible, our " infallible rule of faith
and practice." We have laid down an antecedent pre
sumption that God — assuming that there is a God —
would not leave His children without some sort of
trustworthy revelation of His holy will. The Bible,
as we have seen, claims to be such a revelation; say
ing of itself • that it was " written by holy men as
they were moved by the Spirit of God."
Now suppose the Church and the Bible alike to be
untrustworthy, what remains? The only other
standard of authority is Reason or " the inner con
sciousness." But observe where this lands us; every
man becomes an ultimate law unto himself. Could
presumption further go ? "I am Sir Oracle, and
when I ope iriy lips let no dog bark ! " ' We have
rejected the infallible Church and the infallible
Book, only to affix our faith to an infallible Ego I
In any event, however, they say the Bible must
go. This is the logical conclusion of the anti-
Biblieal criticism of these days.
Farewell, old Book! The inexorable censor sits,
like Jehoiakim before the fireplace in his summer
house, Bible on knee and penknife in hand, calmly/
mutilating the only reliable franchise of our Christian
hopes ! Has it not occurred to those " snipers " who
from behind their pulpits and theological chairs are
accustomed to aim ill-grounded propositions against
the Scriptures that — however insignificant the effect
upon the impregnable rock — immortal souls are in

ITS ENEMIES 173
the range of their poisoned darts? They have turned
the rejoicing of many a weak believer into tears of
hopeless doubt, and taken from those who are
abroad in the bleak wilderness of temptation their
"only weapon of defense, to wit, "the sword pf the
Spirit which is the Word of God."
Such axe-men are to-day the most zealous foes of
Scripture. They do not depend upon the methods
of open warfare. The troops of Ulysses ate no
longer hurled against the walls of Troy; it is the
enemy in the belly of the wooden horse that menaces
the city. The truth is no longer opposed with a chal
lenge but with a rising inflection as in Genesis 3:1,.
" Yea, hath God said ? " The argument is urged
with a more or less equivocal and left-handed denial
. . of the supernatural factor* in both the written and
the Incarnate Word. Such a method of procedure
is disingenuous, of course, and admittedly so; since
along the lines of common honesty there is no serious
effort to defend it.
This is precisely what Jesus foretold : " Many
false prophets shall arise and shall deceive many ; "
and again, " Beware of false prophets which come
to- you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravening
wolves ! " The teaching of the apostles abounds in
like admonitions, as where Peter says, "There shall
be false teachers ampng you, who privily shall bring
in damnable heresies; and many shall follow their
pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of
truth shall be evil spoken of." This being so, it is
the manifest duty of all Christians to be on their
guard, and of all Christ's ministers to speak plainly

174 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
of the axe-men whp thus subtly and treacherously
oppose the truth.
To speak thus is not intolerance ; else Christ and
his apostles would not have led the way. Nor can
it offend the faithful; since he who takes offense by
putting on the garment pleads guilty, ipso facto,, by
confessing that it fits him.
The false prophet, as Jesus says, may be " known
by his fruits ; " not merely ,by his moral misde
meanors but by his way of putting things. The old-
time infidel would have frankly thrown down his
gauntlet on this wise, " The Bible is a fraud and
Jesus is an impostor." Not so our modern strate
gist: he commands a large vocabulary of equivocal
words and phrases. One touchstone, however, will
always betray him. He denies that God has truth
fully revealed himself either in the Scriptures or, by
logical sequence, in Christ.
(i) He will tell you that he " believes the Bible" ;
but, pursuing the subject further, you discover that
he is juggling with words. When he says " the
Bible is true " he means only that it is occasionally
so. When he calls it the " Word of God " he means
only that it is one of many such words. When he
talks about " inspiration " he means simply an in
spiration common to the world's literature. And
when he ascribes " divinity " to Christ, it is only the
divinity which he shared with all others who are
created in the image of God.
If words were coins such men would be liable to
arrest for counterfeiting: and presumably they are
thus liable in that Appellate Court where the term

ITS ENEMIES 17^
honesty is not restricted to commercial transactions
but has to do with the secret imaginations of the
hearts of men.
I (2) And if you still insist on the veracity of the
Scriptures, this clever adversary will inquire with a
lifting of his eyebrows, " Is your religion then the
religibn of a Book? " To this we may safely answer,
" Why not ? " It is the religion of the Bible as
, the ultimate and only authority concerning Christ
and his. Gospel. Suppose you ask him vvhere he
finds his standards of authority. If he rejects the
Book which is the only accepted • authority as to
Christ, his only alternatives are to take either an
infallible Church or an infallible ego. Out of this
dilemma no escape is possible, except into the
camp of the agnostics whose shibboleth is " I know
not."
- (3) Then he will probably ask why you lay such
emphasis on " the question whether Moses wrote the
Pentateuch or not?" And that will further disclose
his utter disingenuousness: for nobody knOws better
than he that the question is not, "Who wrote the
Scriptures ? " but, " Are they true and trustworthy
as coming from God ? " The question is not as to
the amanuensis who held the pen but as to the Divine
Mind that moved it. It is indeed of slight moment
who wrote the Pentateuch or Isaiah or any other
portion of the Scripturesi, except so far as their au-
, thorship is definitely stated in the Book itself ; but it
is of vital importance to know whether the claim
which the Bible makes for itself is correct or not, to
wit, that it was " inspired " (literally, God-breathed)

176 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
and transmitted through holy men who were moved
by the Spirit of God.
(4) Next, this mask-wearer will ask " what differ
ence a few unimportant mistakes can make with the
broad doctrinal and ethical teachings of Scripture?"
There again he is disingenuous. In fact he does not
limit himself to " a few unimportant mistakes ; " he
really holds that Genesis is a compilation of myths
and legends; Deuteronomy a wholesale forgery; the
prophesies of no significant value, and the entire
Book a mingled tissue of truth and falsehood. It is
not a question of infinitesimals but of wholesale es
sentials. It is not a question of " specks in the
marble of the Parthenon," but whether there ever
was a Parthenon and, if so, whether it was really
built of marble or only of wood, hay and stubble.
The Bible as interpreted by such mischievous teach
ers is not " the best of books ; " nay, so far from
that, if one hundred of the most reliable volumes
of current literature were placed beside it, the critics
themselves being the judges, the Bible would be the
least trustworthy of them all!
(5) You may then expect this ingenious, disin
genuous disputant to inquire with an air of amaze
ment, whether you " really believe there are no
mistakes in the Bible ? " To which you may safely
answer, " No, there are no mistakes in the Bible ;
though there are mistakes such as might naturally
be expected in the process of transmission and trans
lation, in the King James version and in other cur
rent versions of it." Whereupon he will be pretty
certain to say, " Oh, you mean you believe in the

ITS ENEMIES 177
inerrancy of the Original Aiitograph ! Did you ever
see it? And what have we practically to do with
it ? " At this point suppose you meet him with a
similar question as to the Incarnate Word, " Did
you ever) see Christ ? Did any living person ever see
him? Did you ever hear anybody say that he had
ever seen him? Why then believe in him at all?"
Attention is again called to the singular parallel
between ^Christ and the Scriptures: (o) .They are
both alike called " the Word of God." (b) They are
both theanthropic; that is, the Divine and human
are inextricably blended in their fabric : yet not so
as to prevent their absolute truth and faultlessness.
(c) Both originals have vanished from i sight; and
are transmitted through succeeding ages only through
the lives and labours of fallible men. (d) Never
theless, we believe in the unseen Christ and thus be
lieving "rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of
glory." And, for a like reason, we believe in the
Original Autograph of the Scriptures ,as it left the
pens of those inspired men. Despite all errors in
the transmission of the two Words, written and in
carnate, they both exist to-day in such substantial
perfection as to be " profitable unto every good
work " and wholly effective in guiding and saving
men. (6) But, says the clever controversialist, " What
difference does it make whether the historical and
scientific parts of Scripture are true or not, so long
as its doctrinal and ethical propositions are reliable?
Is not its purpose to save men?" The answer is
plain; to say that the only purpose of the Scriptures

178 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
is salvation is pure assumption. They were intended
to be "profitable in all things, so that a man may
be thoroughly furnished unto every good work."
And if they are not veracious in respect to science
and history, what ground have we for committing
ourselves to their spiritual guidance? Falsus in uno,
falsus in omnibus. If the veracity of your witness
is successfully impugned the only thing for him to
do is to step down and' out of the witness box. The
Bible is not reliable any way unless it is trustworthy
every way.
(7) " But," continues our specious opponent,
" this is a question for experts. The points at issue
are such as can only be determined by the pro-
foundest scholarship. Would you set yourself
against all progress and advanced erudition? Biblical
critics are now engaged in their elaborate investiga
tions; and it behooves the unlearned to patiently
await their conclusions." Is there, then, no erudition
except the microscopic skill to split a hair or analyze
a 'fly-speck in the margin of the text? Or is there
really a broader, deeper, higher, truer scholarship
which can only be gotten in the secret place with
God? But suppose we take these men at their word and
concede that wisdom will die with them, what are
" the unshod people " to do meanwhile, whose souls
are agonizing for a solution of the problems of
eternal life? Must they hold in abeyance the great
question, " What shall I do to be saved ? " And how
long are they to keep themselves in such suspense,
hung up like Mohammed's coffin betwixt heaven and

ITS ENEMIES 179
earth? Have hot "experts" been d^scussihg these
questions since the foundation of the world? And
with what result? No, gentlemen; the Bible is the
Book of the people, and its salvation is intended for
all sorts and conditions of men. " Where are the
wise? Where are the disputers of this world? Hath
not God made foolish the wisdom of men ? "
Specialists have their place; let them keep it. Our
Lord's promise of the Holy Ghost, " He shall lead
you into all truth," was not addressed to Doctors of .
Divinity and Theological Professors only but to all
his disciples. The Bible is removed by that promise '
from the exclusive province of expert scholarship
and placed within the universal ken. Let those who
are open and avowed enemies of the Word pour on
their destructive acids and kindle their hostile fires;
meanwhile it behooves such as feel the just constraint
of covenant vows to vindicate their loyalty to the
Scriptures by approving and defending them. The
people are themselves the jury in this case, as they
were in the Lord's controversy on Mount Carmel
where, as between Elijah and the priests of Baal,
their Verdict was, " The Lord he is the God ! "
(8) " But you are mistaken," says our friend the
enemy, " in asserting that our purpose is destructive.
It may be that incidentally the faith of some has
been shaken; but, whatever may have occurred in
the past while we were clearing away the debris,, we
are now engaged in constructive work." So much
the worse. You are right in your confession thus
far; you have found a lot of lame people walking
with crutches and, having persuaded tjiem to throw

180 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
away their Bibles, it is high time that you should
furnish some other support for their uncertain steps.
But what do you propose? A new Bible? Aye, you
tell us that under the clear blaze of your erudition
the Bible has come to be " a new Book." It is in
deed a new book; full of errors on all points within
the cognizance of the senses, yet heralded by you as
a trustworthy guide in matters beyond sight! The
thinking world derides you. Is this the edifice which
you have been so laboriously constructing? Is this
your " refuge from the storm and shadow from the
heat?" A Bible without ground of confidence? A
religion without the supernatural? A Gospel with
out oracles? A Christianity without Christ? A
Salvation without blood?
(9) "Nay, but we do not deny Christ," they say;
" On the contrary we insist on loyalty to Christ.
Our whole system is Christocentric. Back tP
Christ!" But back to what Christ? To the Christ
of the Bible which you renounce? To the Christ
who affixed his authoritative seal to the so-called
" fables " of the Flood, of Lot's wife and of Jonah in
the whale's belly ? To the Christ who called the Scrip
tures " truth " and never breathed a word or syllable
against their absolute inerrancy ? To the Christ who
said, " Search the Scriptures " (not for the purpose
of disproving them but because) " in them ye think
ye have eternal life and these are they which testify
of me ? " Or, in your process of " construction " are
you giving the world a new Christ, tpo? One of
your leaders recently said from his theological chair,
" The "timeJias come for a re-statement of the doc-

ITS ENEMIES 181
trine of Christ." Timeo Danaos, dona ferentes. We
may be pardoned for affirming that, under the cir
cumstances, it is not enough for you to say that you
believe in Christ.
(lo) However, we are privately advised by cer
tain of these teachers that the truths of the New
Theology are esoteric ; that is, for private consump
tion and not to be declared on the house-tops.
Worse and worse! There are no Eleiisinian' mys
teries in the religion of Christ. " An highway shall
be there and a way; and the wayfaring man though
a fool shall not err therein." Did not the Master
say, " Except ye become as a little child ye shall in
no wise see the kingdom of God?" The man "in
holy orders " who confidentially avPws opinions
which he dare not preach in the great congregation
is false to his obligation to declare the whole counsel
of God. More than that, he is a coward. If not,
let him in vindication of his manhood, not to say
of his Christianity, stand forth in the open and,
(Whether men will hear or forbear, fearless of con
sequences and indifferent to tenure of office, pro
nounce the truth without mumbling or mouthing as
the God whom he professes to serve has enabled
him to understand it.
We are sadly in need of two particular classes of
men in these days. On the one hand we need
infidels, outspoken infidels, who will take their
\ places in the open and lift up their banners against
Zion. What has become of the atheists of former
days? Where are the brave scoffers who defied
Jehovah and ran headlong on the bosses of his shield?

182 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
Where is Goliath with his spear like a weaver's
beam? Where are the fierce wolves of the wilder
ness? Alas, these are the degenerate days of wolves
clad in sheep's clothing and mingling with the flock;
of Doeg the Edomite skulking behind the altar; of
Shimei in ambush throwing stones at the King.
On the other hand we need believers; out and out
believers, who know the truth and knowing dare
maintain. There is no room for epicenes, " middle-
of-the-road " men, Redwalds with the motto, "In
utramque paratus," professing to stand on neutral
ground while practically opposing themselves to Christ
and the Scriptures. Everywhere the call is for men
to follow him; men of conviction and of courage to
speak forth the last atom of it; men who do not
mince nor mumble in their utterance but by faith
proclaim, " These things we know ; " men who to the
full measure of their light shine forth and withhold
not aught of truth as God gives them to see it.

XXI
Its INDESTRUCTIBILITY
AS far back as runneth the memory of man
/¦% there has never been an hour of cessation in
the attack upon the Scriptures as the Word
of God.
The nineteenth century was ushered in amid a
whirlwind of infidelity. In France the Reign of
Terror had swept away all sanctions of the Moral
Law. It was solemnly resolved in the Corps Leg-
islatif that " There is no God." The Sabbath was
erased from the statute books. The friends of The
; Encyclopaedia were chanting requiems at the tomb of
Christianity. All Europe followed the fashion. In
our own country religibn was at its lowest ebb. It
is a matter of record that in the year iSoo there wefe
only three professing Christians in Yale College.
The author of the " Age of Reason," in which were
presented all the stock arguments against the iner- ¦
rancy of Scripture, brought his manuscript to Ben
jamin Franklin for review. " Do not unloose this
tiger," said Franklin ; " for if our people are what
they are with the Bible, what would they be with
out it?" But the tiger was unloosed. Paine and
his confreres appeared to have everything their own
way. A tidal wave of unbelief swept over our
183

184 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
country. It seemed as if the fountains of the great
deep were broken up.
The twentieth century has begun in the same
way. He is indeed a purblind student of the past
who does not perceive that Christianity has made
magnificent progress; yet every step of that progress
-has been bitterly and stubbornly contested. There is,
however, a startling contrast between the former
methods and those of to-day. The assault is now
from within the gates. The open and avowed leaders
of infidelity are gone. Bradlaugh in England and
Ingersoll in America were the last of the Old
Guard. Open warfare has given way to strategy.
The Trojan horse has been wheeled within the walls
of the Church itself; where a body of militant
critics, many of them wearing the sacred garb of
theological professors and ministers of the Gospel,
have been attempting to draw the bolts of the citadel.
Here is a significant fact: there is not a fundamental
truth of the Christian religion which has not re
cently been called in question and assailed by men
in holy orders, that is, by men solemnly covenanted
to uphold and defend those very truths. The objec
tive point of the assault is now as ever the integrity
of Holy Writ. For it is well and rightly understood
that if the citadel be overthrown the city itself must
fall. What is the result? It might easily be supposed
from the blowing of trumpets and beating of drums,
and from the frequent claim that all scholarship is
arrayed against the credibility of the Scriptures, that
the Lord of the Scriptures had himself retired from

ITS INDESTRUCTIBILITY 185
the field. But he that sitteth in the heavens shall
laugh ! The thing that hath been shall be. Despite
the boastful prophecy of Voltaire there are saplings
still growing in the forest of God. ¦ There is a multi
tude of reverent^ scholars who stand for the ancient
landmarks without trumpeting their achievements or
blazoning them on the dead walls, and there is an
innumerable host of devout people who are in no
danger of being taken up in the lips of talkers. The
Lord reigns and the citadel is safe. The heart of the
universal Church beats true to the inspiration and
trustworthiness of the Word of God.
Let us observe how or wherein this continuous as
sault upon the Scriptures has affected their integrity
if at all.
As to the Scientific propositions of Scripture
enough has already been said, so that a word here
will suffice. It is claimed in some quarters, with
much noisy vociferation, that the leading scientists of
recent times are all arrayed against the Book, i This
can be conceded only on the assumption that a
scientist becomes a " leading " scientist merely by
virtue of his unbelief. Otherwise the statement is
denied in toto. What of Descartes and Lpcke?
What of Sir Isaac New,ton and Michael Faraday?
What of Dana and Agassiz and Lord Kelvin? The
last words of Professor Dana to the members of my
class at graduation are worth repeating : " Young
men, you are going out into a world where you must
meet an unceasing assault upon your faith. Let me
ask you to remember, as my parting counsel, that
whenever you are in doubt amid the confused voices

186 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
of scientific controversy you may always with per
fect confidence affix your faith to the statements of
the Word of God."
The one proposition of the Scriptures which has
challenged contradiction is its doctrine of Origins, to
wit, " In the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth." To offset this the doctrinaires have sug
gested a theory of evolution which, it is asserted, is
now " universally accepted." So far is this from
being true that we may safely leave the disposition
of the evolution theory to scientists themselves, since
it is most vigorously opposed in that quarter.
Charles Darwin, head-master of the Guild, was frank
to admit that evolution is as yet a mere hypothesis.
We may be excused for insisting that, under such
circumstances, the shout of victory on the part of
those who deny the Mosaic cosmogony is somewhat
premature. The age-old view of the creation has not
been nor can it ever be overthrown by guess-work.
The guns that batter down the pyramids must be
charged with other ammunition than the stuff that
dreams are made of.
Nbr have the efforts of the experimentalists met
with any better success. They have much to say of
autogenesis, or a beginning v^ithout God. As an old-
fashioned believer I for one am ready to surrender
my faith in the Biblical doctrine of origins so soon
as one of these experimentalists shall create a single
grain of sand. Surely this is not overmuch to ask
of men whose magic deals with worlds and universes !
Let them produce a daisy or a caterpillar, to begin
with. Until some such result shall have been at-

ITS INDESTRUCTIBILITY 187
tained, we may be pardoned for standing by the old
manifesto, " In the beginning God."
The same is true of the assaults made upon the
historicity of the Biblical annals. Attention has al
ready been called to this point. Suffice it here to say
that not a single record of the slightest importance
in the Pentateuch or other historical books of Scrip
ture has ever been successfully impugned; while on
the contrary the researches of archaeologists are con
tinually verifying them.
The Theology of the Book also stands as the valid
philosophy of God. There are no atheists nowadays.
The infidelity of the last half century has not busied
itself in denying the true God so much as in making
new gods. The Pagan world has still its pantheon
of idols formed of wood and stone; bu); of late
civilized idolaters are , industriously making gods out
of the gray matter of their own fantastic brains.
These are none the less idols; since having eyes they.
see not, and having ears they hear not. Any god
except the God who has revealed himself in the
Scriptures will answer for a modern free-thinker.
Law, Force, Energy, the All-pervading Soul of the
Universe, a " Something not ourselves that maketh
for Righteousness," what matters it which of these
you prefer? They are all specters; dull, senseless,
inanimate things. In vain do their devotees cry,
" O Baal, hear us ! " There is no voice, nor answer
nor any that regardeth.
" An immense solitary Specter stands !
It hath no shape, it hath no sound.
It hath no place, it hath no time;

188 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
It is and was and shall be;
It is never more nor less, nor sad nor glad;
Its name is Nothingness !
Power walketh high and Misery doth crawl,
The clepsydron drips, the sands
Fall down in the hour glass,
And the hands around the dial sweep.
The Specter saith ' I wait I '
And at the last it beckons, and they pass.
And still the red sands fall within the glass.
And still the hands around the dial sweep,
And still the waterclock doth drip and weep;
And that is all ! "
The result is precisely what it was in ancient
Greece; in the midst of innumerable shrines and
statues stands an altar representing the consummate
fruit of human wisdom, inscribed, " To the unknown
God ! " And still from Mars' Hill ring out the
words ; " Him whom ye ignorantly worship, declare
we unto you ! " The God of the Bible remains as
the only God who satisfies human need. He alone
controls the destinies of nations and the children of
men. He alone gives beauty for ashes, the oil of joy
for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit
of heaviness. This is the God of the Scriptures; and
there is none other beside him.
The Ethics of the Scriptures are the juridicial
basis of Civilization throughout the world. How
much of its Moral Code has perished in the hot fires
of the centuries? Not one jot or tittle of it!
Its singula,r Plan of Salvation is the only answer
which has ever been suggested to the question,
"How can a man be just with God?" The crux of
the argument is the Cross. It is the one supreme

ITS INDESTRUCTIBILITY 189
unanswerable guaranty of the perpetuity of the
Scriptures as the inspired Word of God.
A century and a half ago Lord Chesterfield, while
visiting Paris, was entertained at the table of a dis-
tiftguished lady of The Encyclopaedia. She said to
him, "My lord, I am informed that your English,
. Parliament is composed of five or six hundred of the
most profound and brilliant thinkers. This being so,
will you explain how it is that, under their authority,
the Bible is still recognized as final authority in the
legislation of your country, and how it is that the
-obsolete religion of the crucified Nazarene is main
tained as your State religion ? " His answer was,
" Ma^am, this is a mere temporary makeshift ; we
are casting about for something better; and when we
discover it, the Bible and Christianity will certainly
give way."
The world has been casting about during all these
centuries for something better and has . not yet dis
covered it. And the thing that hath been, will be.
Dreamers will still dream on; undevout thinkers will
pursue their hopeless quest; kings and potentates will
continue their search for a new and better religion
as they have hitherto done by the light of Smithfield
fires and autos-da-fe; but thoughtful and reverent
men and women will go on loving their Bibles. The
troubled will run for comfort to this shelter as to
the shadow of a great rock in a weary Jand. Sinners
will search the Scriptures , for a clear hope of salva
tion and find it under the Cross. For there is no
weapon in the arsenal of unbelief that can prevail
against the Yea and Amen of the living God.

AFTERWORD
I HAVE one more reason for maintaining and
defending the truth of the Scriptures and it is
a purely personal one. Its value is set forth in
a homely old proverb which says, " The proof of the
pudding is in the eating." No amount of argument
in behalf of Revelation — or of any other proposi
tion, for that matter — will avail for those who de
cline to taste and see for themselves. Philip's argu
ment with Nathaniel as to the Messiahship of Jesus
reached its logical conclusion in the words, "Come-
and see." God himself is practically nothing to one
who refuses to entertain him.
It is five and forty years since the writer, then a
young theologue, found himself and his calling at the
death-bed of a stranger. So long ago did the old
Book "find me" (Thanks, Coleridge, for that word!)
and never once in these five and forty years has it
failed me.
(i) The longer I live and the more familiar I. be
come with the arguments for and against the trust
worthiness of the Book the more firmly do I believe
it. A Christian who stands braced against " the
impregnable rock " (Thanks, Gladstone, for that
phrase!) is not likely to be moved by a procession
of players on instruments trumpeting as they pass.
I have lived to see the former positions of the anti-
biblical critics abandoned, almost without exception,
190

AFTERWARD 191
one by one. The "new ground" which they now
professedly occupy is so far from being new that
their campfires are kindled in the very ashpits left
by Paine and Voltaire more than a century ago. But
there is this difference; whereas the banners that
floated over the old-time encampment wore the bold
legend, "We are infidels," they now read, " We are
Christians." These foes of Scripture call themselves
"progressive." I too believe in progress; but, be-'
cause I have studied the singular habits of the hermit,
crab, I much prefer to call myself conservative.
The comets, doubtless, as they whizz through infinite
space with a freedom that knows no rhyme nor
reason, make sport of the planets that move content
edly in their so ancient orbits; but what care the old-
fashioned planets so long as they laugh last? The
great body of believers in the universal Church ^re
progressive-conservatives, moving on but never so
rapidly as to exceed the speed-limit as indicated by
the progress of the pillar of cloud.
The advanced liberals are relatively few but " be
hold what a great fire a little spark kindleth ! " Not
content to walk in sunlight they propose to drive the
chariot of the sun. To them the lesson of Phcebus
is as meaningless as the " fables " of the Old Testa
ment and the " myths and legends " of the NeW. I
for one can see no reason for falling in with their
views. The company of those who " just know, and
know no more, their Bibles true" is more congenial
for any humble follower of Christ. He believed the
Bible, knew it by heart, loved it, preached it, prac
ticed it, commended it to his disciples as the means

192 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
of evangelizing the world, and never once in all his
ministry spoke a word or syllable against its absolute
truth and trustworthiness. The Book which my Lord
and Saviour thus approved is good enough for me.
I am not unaware of the difficulties which con
front one who thus accepts the Bible with its presen
tations of spiritual truth. The problems which^lie
beyond the purview of the five physical sensed are
not to be cut like Gordian knots. Their solution calls
fdr the exercise of faith; a sixth sense with which
man alone, in distinction from all the lower orders
of life, has been equipped so that he might apprehend
the things which are unseen and eternal. But, " the
carnal mind is enmity against God," and by the same
token against all the truths which centre in him. We
are naturally averse to accepting What we cannot see
and handle. Hence the difficulty which always be
sets us in approaching the verities of the spiritual
life. Nevertheless to my mind it is easier to accept the
Scriptures as inerrant than to believe that a loving
God would leave his bewildered children to wander
in a world of confused voices without a trustworthy
guide. No such guide is found in reason, in con
science, iri hierarchial " infallibility," in the so-called
Sacred Books of the false religions or anywhere
else. There are unimportant diversities and dis
crepancies in each and all of the many hundreds of
Scriptural versions in the world to-day. But what
else should be looked for? It is easier for one — in
comparably easier — ^to believe that God did once
really and authoritatively speak through " holy men

AFTERWORD 193
who wrote as they were moved by his Spirit," and
that the Word thus written has been preserved by a
special providence in essential purity as we now have
it, than to believe in a God who would leav^ us to
blunder on through a labyrinthifte life into the great
unjcnown with no adequate effort to direct us along
the way.
To speak more specifically, now, of the three great,
doctrines of the Book ; namely, a personal God, holy,
just and gpod; a man with a divine birthright, but
fallen into sin and thereby alienated from God; and
the God-man, through whom an at-one-ment is ef-'
fected between Go^ and man.
These three doctrines, containing the sum and sub
stance of Scripture as set forth in the teachings pf
Christ, are all subtly or avowedly denied by th^
advanced liberalism of our time. The personal God
is reduced to an impersonal force which is scarcely
the specter of a god. The man whom the Scriptures
represent as created in the likeness of God^ was not
created at all but evolved from the lower orders of
life and, as the creature of heredity and environ
ment, is an utterly irresponsible being. And the God-
man is no God-man but a mere man posing as GPd
and therefore impotent to save. Thus • the whole
doctrinal system of the Scriptures is more or less
politely bowed out of doors.
Not infrequently this is done by men in holy
orders and under covenant vows. As an honest man
I do not like to contemplate this fact. As a man
of average common-sense I am undble to understand
it. As a Christian I recoil from it. As a conserva-

194 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
tive I find it easier to accept each and all of the
great doctrines referred to than to reject them in
the manner indicated, notwithstanding the mysteries
involved in the necessity of the case.
In order to reject the God of the Scriptures I
should have to believe in effects without causes, in
design without a designer and in law without a law
giver. However great my faith may be — or call it
credulity if you prefer — it is not equal to the strain
thus put upon it.
In order to reject the Scriptural doctrine of man
I should have to believe in a theory of evolution
which is confessedly a mere hypothesis, in the ir
responsibility of a being equipped with a sovereign
will, and — notwithstanding the scientific fact of dy
namic conservation — in the possible extinguishment of
the mightiest of known forces. My progressive
friend, in the name of science I protest that I can
not keep up with you.
In order to reject the Biblical doctrine of the God-
man, I should have to affirm that Christ was either
man alone or God alone. In the latter case I must
follow in the footsteps . of the Docetists whose un
tenable theory was exploded a thousand years ^go.
In the former case I must face an impossible dilemma.
For if Christ was a mere man he must have been
either a good man or a bad one. If he was a good
man how shall I account for the fact that he arro
gated to himself every one of the divine attributes,
accepted the devotion due to God alone and died for
making himself equal with God ? It is equally difficult
to believe that he was a bad man; for the whole

AFTERWORD 195
world pays tribute to his singularly blameless life
and character. But we must believe something about
him. And there is no middle ground. He was either
what he claimed to be or he was a shameless im
postor who was justly sentenced to die on the
accursed tree.
In view of these facts I say it is easier to believe
in the Bible than to follow with those who reject it.
(2) But it is not enough to say, in looking back
over these five and forty years, .that the Bible has
forced itself on my confidence by its intrinsic rea
sonableness. / have seen it making men: and I have
cherished the hope that it might ultimaitely build me,
up into " the fulness of the measure of the stature of
a man." My own many and most lamentable failures
and -shortcomings have served the more to ehiphaSize
its reliability as an "infallible rule 6f faith and
practice." When Jesus said to his disciples, " Search the
Scriptures " he went on to give them a good and
sufficient reason for doing so ; namely, because " in
them ye think ye have eternal life, and these are they
which testify of me." He thus intimated that he
himself is the secret of eternal life ; and so, in my
observation and personal ejiperierice, haive I found
him. The measure of our success in the building of
character is our intimacy with the Incarnate Word
as revealed in the written Word of God.
To neglect the Bible, then, is to invite leanness of
soul. This Book is the lattice from behind which
the Shepherd looks out upon the Shulamite maid.

196 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
His promise is, " Lo, I am with you alway ; " but
there are times when our eyes are so holden that
we cannot see him. We can always, however, catch
the vision by opening the Book. It is in the faith
ful and habitual searching of the Scriptures that we
keep up an unbroken friendship and fellowship with
him. The Rock upon which our faith fastens its.
flukes may be invisible; but, laying our hand upon
the anchor chain, we are assured by the throbbing,
of its mystic current that our faith is still secure,
"taking hold of that which is within the veil."
(3) Nor yet, in looking backward, is it enough to
say that I have believed the Scriptures and have
endeavoured to translate them into the terms of com
mon life and character; it is only fair to add that,
as a minister under bonds to "preach the Word," I
have, in all good conscience sought in this manner
to commend it to my fellow-men.
The temptations to do otherwise are specious and
multifarious. There is no lack of " people with
itching ears " who go about from one sanctuary to
another in search of "preaching for the times"; and
the newspaper announcements of church, services
indicate that they have no difficulty in finding it. The
homiletic shoemaker who, instead of sticking to, his
last, becomes a jack-of -all-trades is certain to be
master of none. His coign of vantage is the Word.
In art, science and philosophy he is only a novice at
best; and when he ventures into politics he is smil
ingly compassionated by editors and others who
make a business of it. The result of such poach
ing on alien preserves is usually not that " foolish-

AFTERWORD 197
ness of preaching " which is the power of God unto
salvation, but the preaching of foolishness which
neither paves nor helps anybody and has its labour
for its pains.
But the minister who stands by his commission
in the preaching of the Word is on his native heath.
Nor — assuming fair ability and reasonable industry —
will he lack an audience; since the deepest longing
in' the soul of the average man is to know the way
of salvation as indicated in the Oracles. The people
who come to church do not care particularly to hear
what the preacher thinks about this, that or the
other thing: but they are deeply concerned in know-'
ing the mind of Gbd.
The prevailing passion for sensationalism h^s much
to do with the decline of pulpit power in these days.
AH sorts of adventitous helps are resorted to m the
effort to gain a hearing; as if an audience were
worth while exfcept for what the preachers can dp
with it. And the flying trapeze is sure to lose in the
long run. The only sensationalism which , is per
missible in the pulpit is that which^ borrows its light
ning from the bolts of heaven.
We profess to believe in God. It is for us to
preach Theology so that our hearers shall realize the
divine personality as vividly as Pharoah did when
Moses proclaimed the name of Jehovah befpre him.
We profess to believe in Man divinely born and.
alienated from God. It is for us to paint sin so black.
that sinners, pricked to the heart, will be forced to
cry, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" If
Nathan the prophet had followed the custom which

198 WHY I BELIEVE THE BIBLE
obtains in some quarters nowadays, he would have
closed his discourse with the Parable of the Little
Ewe Lamb and gone away with the congratulations
of the king and his courtiers on having delivered " a
beautiful sermon " : . but the Parable of the Little
Ewe Lamb was only the feather of a shaft that, flying
from the prophet's bow, smote David in the region
of the heart and sent him staggering to his closet in
the housetop with the cry, " Have mercy, O God, for
I have sinned against thee ! "
We profess to believe in Christ as the only Saviour
from the penalty and power of sin. In pursuance of
that belief we preach the Incarnation: " Great is the
mystery of godliness, God manifest in flesh ! " We
preach the Atonement, pointing' to the Cross as Moses
ppinted the dying Israelites to the effigy of the brazen
serpent with the cry, " Look and live ! " We preach
the Resurrection; that is, life and immortality
brought to light in him whp, rising from the sepulchre
in Joseph's garden, entered heaven in our behalf
with the keys of death and hell at his girdle.
These are some of the truths which we are com
missioned to preach. They open up from a thousand
standpoints in infinite variety but always point one
way. Behold the Cross! And Jesus said, "I, if I
be lifted up will draw all men unto me." He is the
great magnet. His is the drawing power. Is it sen
sationalism we want ? The tragedy of his self-
denying love in our behalf is the sensation of the
ages! What opportunities are here for enchaining the
attention and capturing the hearts of men! The

AFTERWORD 199
Bible presents us with a quivering chain of sensa
tions from ,beginning to end. Alas, the fault is ours !
We preachers are so prone to dulness; and dulness
in the pulpit is an unpardonable sin. What we need
is, not to lead our congregation into pastures new,
but to acquaint ourselves more intimately with the
green fields ^that lie along the water of life. Lord,
open thou thy Word to the shepherds of Israel!
So, in the experience of the years, the power of
the Bible has increasingly taught me the truth of it.
In this little volume I have tried to give my reasons
for believing it, for adjusting my life to it, and for
preaching it. ' If a single reader be led thereby to
place a deeper and sweeter confidence in my Saviour's
Book I shall be glad and happy.
Dear Bible! Book of the Church militant and
triumphant; Book that our fathers touched with rev
erent hands and our mothers stained with grateful
tears; Book that no bonfires have been able to con
sume nor fuming acids to impair; Book of comfort
for the sorrowing, of strength for the weary, of
courage for the living arid hope for the dying; my
Saviour's Book and mine ; if I forget thee may my
right hand forget its cunning! If I preach thee not,
may the living coal no longer kindle on my lips !
May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if
I find not in thy saving truths my chiefest joy!

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