Show AT THE ILIFF CHURCH I Discourse by Rev Frank < Lock i wood Last Evening HIS THEME WAS THE BIBLE I BOOK OP BOOK FO A CHRISTIANS CHRIST-IANS STANDPOINT Its Claims to Attention and Regard Carlyle On the Book of Job Seal Purpose of the Scriptures I to Enlighten Mankind Rev F C Lockwood spoke at Iliff church last evening his theme being The Bible the Book of Books He took his text from I Timothy 31G and 1 Every Scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for Instruction whloh is i righteousnesaj that the man of God may be complete furnished completely unto every good work In our time the Bible is very much talked about and very little read The sceptic assails i and the Christian neglects neg-lects it I is not difficult to account for the fierce assault ot the critics for the scientific spirit youthful lusty and fearless is abroad I raps at every door and insists upon credentials from those who abide within and I guards e every frontier demanding passports of each stranger that enters the king dom ot knowledge Nor should we find fault with the critical spirit I honest and devout it is timely and legitimate le-gitimate But why is i the Bible desertedby its own friends Why is It treated with contempt or neglect by those who contend con-tend most hotly for Its infallibility This is not as it should be I is a book of such importance as to attract the scholarly investigation of the best minds of the age I is a book that uught to be familiar to every man woman and child who can read however how-ever humble their lot Its claim to our attcni > a and regard can scarcely be overstated Viewed simply from the standpoint of literature i Is i incom paral Ii Where are we to find such beauts s of diction such grace of imagery im-agery uch depth and subtlety of senti ment such grandeur of moral precept Thp Io test themes that can engage the human heart and brain are here treat d in the most engaging and at the sam time the most profound mann man-n ° r The hest literary men of this as well as of other ages pronounce upon its merit in the most unqualified termr says Carlyle I call the Book of Job airJp from all theories about i one t th grandest things ever writ ten with Tjrn There Is nothing noth-ing wnttT I think in the Bible or out of it If > qual literary merit Sir W nliani Jones one of the most Varnfd ar 1 ole men that the world has enr itnown wrote these words upon the flyleaf cf his Bible I have iiularli c nd attentively read these Holy Sf r inures and am of opinion that this v bme 1 independently of its divine di-vine origin contains fore sublimity and brauty more pure morality more important t1 im-portant history and liner strains of V poE and eloquence than can b collected col-lected from all other books in what ever ar or language they may have 0 been written Rossi au the great French writer did not hin self accept the sacred Scrip ture hut he left the following incon istcnt record concerning them This divine nook the only one which is in Jospensable to the Christian need only to be read with reflection to Inspire love for its author and the most ardent desire to obey its precepts Never did virtue speak so sweet a language never was the most profound wsdom expresed with so much energy and simplicity No one can arise from its perusal without feeling himself better bet-ter than he was before S S S Is it possible that a book at once so simple and sublime should be merely the work of man Is it possible that the sacred ppfsonage whose history i contains should himself be a mere man Do we find that he assumed the tone of an en buslast or ambitious secretary What sweetness what purity in his manners What an affecting gracefulness in his d < ler What sublimity in his maxims max-ims What presence df mind what suolimity what truth in his replies How great the command over his passions pas-sions Where is the man where is the philosopher whr ould so live and die without weakne and without ostentation ostenta-tion When Plato described his imaginary imag-inary good man loaded with all the shame of guilt yet meriting the highest high-est rewards of virtue he describes ex arty the character ot Jesus Christ the I resemblance was so striking that all the fathers percieved I ali The manifest neglect of the Bible by those who profess the greatest attachment I attach-ment to It seem still more wonderful when we begin to look about us to see begn what Influence it has had upon the development of society We find that 1 I is wrought into the very foundation and fabric of modern civilization There is scarcely a phase of life scarcely a Institution or an enterprise that does not show how profoundly It ha been influenced by the Bible The innocent child and the dying Saint the prince I and the pauper the soldier and the scholar feel its influence and acknowledge acknow-ledge its superior merit Homes caurche collges hospitals and asylums asyl-ums arc the flowers that spring up in its paJhvay The most perfect and prosperous governments in the world are founded < upon its principles Except j f for its potent spell a Raphael never ould ptent painted his immortal masterpiec a Von Rile never would I i have reared a Cologne cathedral a I I Handel ould have been without a Messiah and the world without itsf t noblest sympathy Miltons Paradise Lost an imperishable product would never have been dreamed of Victor t Hugo would forever have been deprived de-prived of that illustrious child of fiction i fic-tion Jean Val Jean England would j heve had no Gladstone I America no j j Webster Abraham Lincoln would have been a gaunt voice in the wilderness I and Africa would have had no Living into stone to Twing light and salvation I UH rtarkent borders n un A book that has thus so affected society so-ciety an in particular a book that occupies so large a place in thE Christian Chris-tian life deserves to have its claims set forth and more fully explained Some of us used to have very crude notions oincernins the Bible We believed be-lieved that it was written in heaven l and in some iruracuioT way dropped 1 down Into our midst exactly as we find it in our pulpits But we have outgrown I out-grown this childish view together with j many other false conceptions about 1 religion We believe now that the I Bible has both a natural and a supernatural super-natural history The Bible ha been i handed down to us through a human medium It was not written all at once I At least a thousand years Intervened between the time when the first wrier I indited his portion of the Sacred Scriptures to the time when the last I author wrote There are in the compilation at least fifty books I written by not less than 3 men who j he in different ages pursued differ t lived in widely diverse cat occupations led widey divere reions of th ° country and were entirely en-tirely IgtlOant o one another But while I t nas thus its natural history side Just as every other production that Is known to man it has also and preeminently I supernatural side a no other book in existence has It is I oer truly inspired I of God it is the word of I J J fp God as no other production In the world is cYan its purpose and in its moral and spiritual intent it is a unity ani 1 i has been providentially guarded handed down and preserved I The purpose Iyf the Bible is not to o I gratify the critical and speculative intellect of morbid scholars I is a lovely temple Into which men are invited I in-vited to enter for the purpose of worship wor-ship and praise Its pillars its arches and its ceiling are such as to Inspire I a reverential spirit the mellow light that streams through its stained windows win-dows subdues and quiets the restless heart and the deep solemn tones of the organ a they roll out upon the air voices the prayer that the lips are unable to utter What now shall we say of the man who enters this holy place with his tapeline to measure its length and breadth who scrutinizes tho quality of the lumber and inquires the cost of the windows and the organ Such a proceeding would be absurd and yet it i just this task that a certain cer-tain school of critics have set themselves them-selves The object of the Bible is not to teach natural science Some men approach ap-proach it as though it were a textbook text-book of universal science The man who is writing a letter to his wife will in all probability use good grammer and be correct in any allusions that he may make to geography or history but he Is writing a love letter to his wife and is not engaged in teaching grammer or geography and just BO the Bible is Gods love letter to man What would we think of a hungry man w5io sat down to a wellIilled table of savory and delicious food yet who began inquiring about the chemical constituents of each dish that was offered him positively declining to eat until each article should be analyzed I has been wpll ascertaIned that the Bible is most excellently adapted for the needs of the perishing soul and since it perfectly answers the purpose it would seem rea to avail ones fo of its blessings and waive matters of a purely scientific character temporarily at least Yet some foolish men are determined to find in the Bible an infallible in-fallible guide In all questions of science or failing in this to cast i aside a worthless The Bible Is not intended for a book of argument or controversy How it has been misinterpreted and misunderstood misunder-stood Tat debates have taken place concerning i What wars have arisen over i Vat inquisitions have thriven under its name and what martyrdoms have been inflicted through erroneous views concerning f I makes ones heart bleed to see how the race has fought over that which God meant for a peaceoffering I > WS given us a an olive branch e how we have torn each other In its name Its texts meant like dewtipped fragrant rosebuds to blossom Into perfume and beauty have been used us leaden bullets to pierce an opponent through the heart Its promises iV ge firges ju nting h a trr di J have been made into stilietos I 11 directed toward the breast ot an enemy And Its teachings which were meant to be white peaceful sails to waft us to the better land have been turned into blood red banners to head opposing op-posing armies as they g forth to trample eacii other in the dust The real purpose of the Bible is to enlighten man concerning his origin his duty and his destiny and to tell him of Gods gracious purpose that Is slowly being manifested toward the afflicted sons of men Its theme is salvation I is a chart to guide man through life and to anchor him at last In the haven of rest We are therefore to come to the Bible for food for comfort for guidance and for inspiration It deals with moral and spiritual themes purely and 110 word is binding or final that is not borne out by the life of Christ who is the theme central figure of the entire Bible the consumation of revelation God and the peerless and flawless Son of e P 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