Practical Religion Part 8

But I believe them to be G.o.d's own truth, and I should like myself and all I love to feel them more.

I want the times we live in to be praying times. I want the Christians of our day to be praying Christians. I want the Church of our age to be a praying Church. My heart's desire and prayer in sending forth this paper is to promote a spirit of prayerfulness. I want those who never prayed yet, to arise and call upon G.o.d; and I want those who do pray, to improve their prayers every year, and to see that they are not getting slack, and praying amiss.

V

BIBLE-READING

"_Search the Scriptures._"--John v. 39.

"_How readest thou?_"--Luke x. 26.

Next to praying there is nothing so important in practical religion as Bible-reading. G.o.d has mercifully given us a book which is "able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." (2 Tim.

iii. 15.) By reading that book we may learn what to believe, what to be, and what to do; how to live with comfort, and how to die in peace. Happy is that man who possesses a Bible! Happier still is he who reads it!

Happiest of all is he who not only reads it, but obeys it, and makes it the rule of his faith and practice!

Nevertheless it is a sorrowful fact that man has an unhappy skill in abusing G.o.d's gifts. His privileges, and power, and faculties, are all ingeniously perverted to other ends than those for which they were bestowed. His speech, his imagination, his intellect, his strength, his time, his influence, his money,--instead of being used as instruments for glorifying his Maker,--are generally wasted, or employed for his own selfish ends. And just as man naturally makes a bad use of his other mercies, so he does of the written Word. One sweeping charge may be brought against the whole of Christendom, and that charge is neglect and abuse of the Bible.

To prove this charge we have no need to look abroad: the proof lies at our own doors. I have no doubt that there are more Bibles in Great Britain at this moment than there ever were since the world began. There is more Bible buying and Bible selling,--more Bible printing and Bible distributing,--than ever was since England was a nation. We see Bibles in every bookseller's shop,--Bibles of every size, price, and style,--Bibles great, and Bibles small,--Bibles for the rich, and Bibles for the poor. There are Bibles in almost every house in the land. But all this time I fear we are in danger of forgetting, that to _have_ the Bible is one thing, and to _read_ it quite another.

This neglected Book is the subject about which I address the readers of this paper to-day. Surely it is no light matter _what you are doing with the Bible_. Surely, when the plague is abroad, you should search and see whether the plague-spot is on you. Give me your attention while I supply you with a few plain reasons why every one who cares for his soul ought to value the Bible highly, to study it regularly, and to make himself thoroughly acquainted with its contents.

I. In the first place, _there is no book in existence written in such a manner as the Bible_.

The Bible was "given by inspiration of G.o.d." (2 Tim. iii. 16.) In this respect it is utterly unlike all other writings. G.o.d taught the writers of it what to say. G.o.d put into their minds thoughts and ideas. G.o.d guided their pens in setting down those thoughts and ideas. When you read it, you are not reading the self-taught compositions of poor imperfect men like yourself, but the words of the eternal G.o.d. When you hear it, you are not listening to the erring opinions of short-lived mortals, but to the unchanging mind of the King of kings. The men who were employed to indite the Bible, spoke not of themselves. They "spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." (2 Peter i. 21.) All other books in the world, however good and useful in their way, are more or less defective. The more you look at them the more you see their defects and blemishes. The Bible alone is absolutely perfect. From beginning to end it is "the Word of G.o.d."

I shall not waste time by attempting any long and laboured proof of this. I say boldly, that the Book itself is the best witness of its own inspiration. It is utterly inexplicable and unaccountable in any other point of view. It is the greatest standing miracle in the world. He that dares to say the Bible is not inspired, let him give a reasonable account of it, if he can. Let him explain the peculiar nature and character of the Book in a way that will satisfy any man of common sense. The burden of proof seems to my mind to lie on him.

It proves nothing against inspiration, as some have a.s.serted, that the writers of the Bible have each a different style. Isaiah does not write like Jeremiah, and Paul does not write like John. This is perfectly true,--and yet the works of these men are not a whit less equally inspired. The waters of the sea have many different shades. In one place they look blue, and in another green. And yet the difference is owing to the depth or shallowness of the part we see, or to the nature of the bottom. The water in every case is the same salt sea.--The breath of a man may produce different sounds, according to the character of the instrument on which he plays. The flute, the pipe, and the trumpet, have each their peculiar note. And yet the breath that calls forth the notes, is in each case one and the same.--The light of the planets we see in heaven is very various. Mars, and Saturn, and Jupiter, have each a peculiar colour. And yet we know that the light of the sun, which each planet reflects, is in each case one and the same. Just in the same way the books of the Old and New Testaments are all inspired truth, and yet the aspect of that truth varies according to the mind through which the Holy Ghost makes it flow. The handwriting and style of the writers differ enough to prove that each had a distinct individual being; but the Divine Guide who dictates and directs the whole is always one. All is alike inspired. Every chapter, and verse, and word, is from G.o.d.

Oh, that men who are troubled with doubts, and questionings, and sceptical thoughts about inspiration, would calmly examine the Bible for themselves! Oh, that they would act on the advice which was the first step to Augustine's conversion,--"Take it up and read it!--take it up and read it!" How many Gordian knots this course of action would cut!

How many difficulties and objections would vanish away at once like mist before the rising sun! How many would soon confess, "The finger of G.o.d is here! G.o.d is in this Book, and I knew it not."

This is the Book about which I address the readers of this paper. Surely it is no light matter _what you are doing with this Book_. It is no light thing that G.o.d should have caused this Book to be "written for your learning," and that you should have before you "the oracles of G.o.d." (Rom. iii. 2; xv. 4.) I charge you, I summon you to give an honest answer to my question. What art thou doing with the Bible?--Dost thou read it at all?--HOW READEST THOU?

II. In the second place, _there is no knowledge absolutely needful to a man's salvation, except a knowledge of the things which are to be found in the Bible_.

We live in days when the words of Daniel are fulfilled before our eyes:--"Many run to and fro, and knowledge is increased." (Dan. xii. 4.) Schools are multiplying on every side. New colleges are set up. Old Universities are reformed and improved. New books are continually coming forth. More is being taught,--more is being learned,--more is being read,--than there ever was since the world begun. It is all well. I rejoice at it. An ignorant population is a perilous and expensive burden to any nation. It is a ready prey to the first Absalom, or Catiline, or Wat Tyler, or Jack Cade, who may arise to entice it to do evil. But this I say,--we must never forget that all the education a man's head can receive, will not save his soul from h.e.l.l, unless he knows the truths of the Bible.

A man _may have prodigious learning, and yet never be saved_. He may be master of half the languages spoken round the globe. He may be acquainted with the highest and deepest things in heaven and earth. He may have read books till he is like a walking cyclopaedia. He may be familiar with the stars of heaven,--the birds of the air,--the beasts of the earth, and the fishes of the sea. He may be able, like Solomon, to "speak of trees, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows on the wall, of beasts also, and fowls, and creeping things, and fishes."

(1 King iv. 33.) He may be able to discourse of all the secrets of fire, air, earth, and water. And yet, if he dies ignorant of Bible truths, he dies a miserable man! Chemistry never silenced a guilty conscience.

Mathematics never healed a broken heart. All the sciences in the world never smoothed down a dying pillow. No earthly philosophy ever supplied hope in death. No natural theology ever gave peace in the prospect of meeting a holy G.o.d. All these things are of the earth, earthy, and can never raise a man above the earth's level. They may enable a man to strut and fret his little season here below with a more dignified gait than his fellow-mortals, but they can never give him wings, and enable him to soar towards heaven. He that has the largest share of them, will find at length that without Bible knowledge he has got no lasting possession. Death will make an end of all his attainments, and after death they will do him no good at all.

A man _may be a very ignorant man, and yet be saved_. He may be unable to read a word, or write a letter. He may know nothing of geography beyond the bounds of his own parish, and be utterly unable to say which is nearest to England, Paris or New York. He may know nothing of arithmetic, and not see any difference between a million and a thousand.

He may know nothing of history, not even of his own land, and be quite ignorant whether his country owes most to Semiramis, Boadicea, or Queen Elizabeth. He may know nothing of the affairs of his own times, and be incapable of telling you whether the Chancellor of the Exchequer, or the Commander-in-Chief, or the Archbishop of Canterbury is managing the national finances. He may know nothing of science, and its discoveries,--and whether Julius Caesar won his victories with gunpowder, or the apostles had a printing press, or the sun goes round the earth, may be matters about which he has not an idea. And yet if that very man has heard Bible truth with his ears, and believed it with his heart, he knows enough to save his soul. He will be found at last with Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, while his scientific fellow-creature, who has died unconverted, is lost for ever.

There is much talk in these days about science and "useful knowledge."

But after all a knowledge of the Bible is the one knowledge that is needful and eternally useful. A man may get to heaven without money, learning, health, or friends,--but without Bible knowledge he will never get there at all. A man may have the mightiest of minds, and a memory stored with all that mighty mind can grasp,--and yet, if he does not know the things of the Bible, he will make s.h.i.+pwreck of his soul for ever. Woe! woe! woe to the man who dies in ignorance of the Bible!

This is the Book about which I am addressing the readers of these pages to-day. It is no light matter _what you do with such a book_. It concerns the life of your soul. I summon you,--I charge you to give an honest answer to my question. What are you doing with the Bible? Do you read it? HOW READEST THOU?

III. In the third place, _no book in existence contains such important matter as the Bible_.

The time would fail me if I were to enter fully into all the great things which are to be found in the Bible, and only in the Bible. It is not by any sketch or outline that the treasures of the Bible can be displayed. It would be easy to fill this volume with a list of the peculiar truths it reveals, and yet the half of its riches would be left untold.

How glorious and soul-satisfying is the description it gives us of G.o.d's plan of salvation, and the way by which our sins can be forgiven! The coming into the world of Jesus Christ, the G.o.d-man, to save sinners,--the atonement He has made by suffering in our stead, the just for the unjust,--the complete payment He has made for our sins by His own blood,--the justification of every sinner who simply believes on Jesus,--the readiness of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to receive, pardon, and save to the uttermost,--how unspeakably grand and cheering are all these truths! We should know nothing of them without the Bible.

How comforting is the account it gives us of the great Mediator of the New Testament,--the man Christ Jesus! Four times over His picture is graciously drawn before our eyes. Four separate witnesses tell us of His miracles and His ministry,--His sayings and His doings,--His life and His death,--His power and His love,--His kindness and His patience,--His ways, His words, His works, His thoughts, His heart. Blessed be G.o.d, there is one thing in the Bible which the most prejudiced reader can hardly fail to understand, and that is the character of Jesus Christ!

How encouraging are the examples the Bible gives us of good people! It tells us of many who were of like pa.s.sions with ourselves,--men and women who had cares, crosses, families, temptations, afflictions, diseases, like ourselves,--and yet "by faith and patience inherited the promises," and got safe home. (Heb. vi. 12.) It keeps back nothing in the history of these people. Their mistakes, their infirmities, their conflicts, their experience, their prayers, their praises, their useful lives, their happy deaths,--all are fully recorded. And it tells us the G.o.d and Saviour of these men and women still waits to be gracious, and is altogether unchanged.

How instructive are the examples the Bible gives us of bad people! It tells us of men and women who had light, and knowledge, and opportunities, like ourselves, and yet hardened their hearts, loved the world, clung to their sins, would have their own way, despised reproof, and ruined their own souls for ever. And it warns us that the G.o.d who punished Pharaoh, and Saul, and Ahab, and Jezebel, and Judas, and Ananias and Sapphira, is a G.o.d who never alters, and that there is a h.e.l.l.

How precious are the promises which the Bible contains for the use of those who love G.o.d! There is hardly any possible emergency or condition for which it has not some "word in season." And it tells men that G.o.d loves to be put in remembrance of these promises, and that if He has said He will do a thing, His promise shall certainly be performed.

How blessed are the hopes which the Bible holds out to the believer in Christ Jesus! Peace in the hour of death,--rest and happiness on the other side of the grave,--a glorious body in the morning of the resurrection,--a full and triumphant acquittal in the day of judgment,--an everlasting reward in the kingdom of Christ,--a joyful meeting with the Lord's people in the day of gathering together;--these, these are the future prospects of every true Christian. They are all written in the book,--in the book which is all true.

How striking is the light which the Bible throws on the character of man! It teaches =us= what men may be expected to be and do in every position and station of life. It gives us the deepest insight into the secret springs and motives of human actions, and the ordinary course of events under the control of human agents. It is the true "discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Heb. iv. 12.) How deep is the wisdom contained in the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes! I can well understand an old divine saying, "Give me a candle and a Bible, and shut me up in a dark dungeon, and I will tell you all that the whole world is doing."

All these are things which men could find nowhere except in the Bible.

We have probably not the least idea how little we should know about these things if we had not the Bible. We hardly know the value of the air we breathe, and the sun which s.h.i.+nes on us, because we have never known what it is to be without them. We do not value the truths on which I have been just now dwelling, because we do not realize the darkness of men to whom these truths have not been revealed. Surely no tongue can fully tell the value of the treasures this one volume contains. Well might old John Newton say that some books were _copper_ books in his estimation, some were _silver_, and some few were _gold_;--but the Bible alone was like a book all made up of _bank notes_.

This is the Book about which I address the reader of this paper this day. Surely it is no light matter _what you are doing with the Bible_.

It is no light matter in what way you are using this treasure. I charge you, I summon you to give an honest answer to my question,--What art thou doing with the Bible?--Dost thou read it?--HOW READEST THOU?

IV. In the fourth place, _no book in existence has produced such wonderful effects on mankind at large as the Bible_.

(_a_) This is the Book whose doctrines turned the world upside down in the days of the Apostles.

Eighteen centuries have now pa.s.sed away since G.o.d sent forth a few Jews from a remote corner of the earth, to do a work which according to man's judgment must have seemed impossible. He sent them forth at a time when the whole world was full of superst.i.tion, cruelty, l.u.s.t, and sin. He sent them forth to proclaim that the established religions of the earth were false and useless, and must be forsaken. He sent them forth to persuade men to give up old habits and customs, and to live different lives. He sent them forth to do battle with the most grovelling idolatry, with the vilest and most disgusting immorality, with vested interests, with old a.s.sociations, with a bigoted priesthood, with sneering philosophers, with an ignorant population, with b.l.o.o.d.y-minded emperors, with the whole influence of Rome. Never was there an enterprise to all appearance more Quixotic, and less likely to succeed!

And how did He arm them for this battle? He gave them no carnal weapons.

He gave them no worldly power to compel a.s.sent, and no worldly riches to bribe belief. He simply put the Holy Ghost into their hearts, and the Scriptures into their hands. He simply bade them to expound and explain, to enforce and to publish the doctrines of the Bible. The preacher of Christianity in the first century was not a man with a sword and an army, to frighten people, like Mahomet,--or a man with a license to be sensual, to allure people, like the priests of the shameful idols of Hindostan. No! he was nothing more than one holy man with one holy book.

And how did these men of one book prosper? In a few generations they entirely changed the face of society by the doctrines of the Bible. They emptied the temples of the heathen G.o.ds. They famished idolatry, or left it high and dry like a stranded s.h.i.+p. They brought into the world a higher tone of morality between man and man. They raised the character and position of woman. They altered the standard of purity and decency.

They put an end to many cruel and b.l.o.o.d.y customs, such as the gladiatorial fights.--There was no stopping the change. Persecution and opposition were useless. One victory after another was won. One bad thing after another melted away. Whether men liked it or not, they were insensibly affected by the movement of the new religion, and drawn within the whirlpool of its power. The earth shook, and their rotten refuges fell to the ground. The flood rose, and they found themselves obliged to rise with it. The tree of Christianity swelled and grew, and the chains they had cast round it to arrest its growth, snapped like tow. And all this was done by the doctrines of the Bible! Talk of victories indeed! What are the victories of Alexander, and Caesar, and Marlborough, and Napoleon, and Wellington, compared with those I have just mentioned? For extent, for completeness, for results, for permanence, there are no victories like the victories of the Bible.

(_b_) This is the Book which turned Europe upside down in the days of the glorious Protestant Reformation.

No man can read the history of Christendom as it was five hundred years ago, and not see that darkness covered the whole professing Church of Christ, even a darkness that might be felt. So great was the change which had come over Christianity, that if an apostle had risen from the dead he would not have recognised it, and would have thought that heathenism had revived again. The doctrines of the Gospel lay buried under a dense ma.s.s of human traditions. Penances, and pilgrimages, and indulgences, relic-wors.h.i.+p, and image-wors.h.i.+p, and saint-wors.h.i.+p, and wors.h.i.+p of the Virgin Mary, formed the sum and substance of most people's religion. The Church was made an idol. The priests and ministers of the Church usurped the place of Christ. And by what means was all this miserable darkness cleared away? By none so much as by bringing forth once more the Bible.