p. 4Ladies and Gentlemen,—
I introduce this subject again.
You will pardon me, I am sure. My words were few last time, and I shall not trouble you at great length this time. Few words are sometimes more forcible than many.
The subject is of great importance to us,—how important, it is worth stopping to realize. You and I, in the course of a few years (how very few it may be) must vanish from the circle where we now move, and be known no more. For some reasons, we may not regret this. But surely there are many more reasons why it should be a sorrow. We cannot think of our friends; of thousand-fold fellow-mankind; of the beautiful earth abroad; of the glorious sun, and the magnificent universe all around us; without feeling a great and overwhelming heart-shadow at the prospect of closing our eyes and leaving all. Now, if there is any alleviation for this depressing prospect, it is to be found in the Bible, and in the Bible only, so far as we know. The Bible holds out the prospect p. 5 of a resuscitation of life upon the earth, and a renewal of all its activities and joys under better circumstances, and in a better nature than we now possess: and it tells us that life so renewed will never come to an end. If the Bible is true, we can lie down in death without dismay. If it is not true, there is no hope, and the prospect of death is a terror. Nothing more is needed to shew the importance of the question.
Why should its truth be a matter of question at all? It is in the world as a true Book. It declares itself to be true: and not only is there no reason for doubting its claim, but every consideration that is capable of being brought to bear in the determination of its claim is in harmony with the idea of its truth. You may be aware that Mr. Gladstone has recently expressed an opinion to this effect. He says that the Bible “though long assailed by camp, battery, and mine,” stands upon a Rock impregnable, and that “the weapon has yet to be forged that can interfere with its position.” He thinks, “It is like to wear out the storms and sunshine, and all the wayward aberrations of humanity.” Mr. Gladstone’s acquaintance with human affairs, and especially in the department of Greek antiquity, will give weight to his judgment in this matter—not that it is conclusive, but it will naturally be felt to be a fact of some consideration in the case.
I would like to make myself intelligible in a remark of greater depth than may be apparent at first sight. It is this: If the Bible is only true in the most ordinary sense we allow to common histories, its Divinity follows; for all its doctrines are so interwoven with its history, that the truth of the one follows from the truth of the other. There is very much p. 6 history in it. In fact the Bible is mainly historic, and it differs from all other histories in this, that it is either wholly true or wholly false. You cannot separate one part from another without destroying all. You cannot remove the Divine element without losing the explanation of the human. In the case of Mahometanism, or any other historic imposture, you can separate the legends (such as Mahomet’s journey to heaven, etc.) from the historic facts (of Mahomet’s birth and family quarrels and tribal wars), without in the least degree interfering with the intelligibility and consistency of the history of the movement as a whole. But if you attempt to remove the miraculous from Bible narrative, you will find the whole narrative will crumble to nothing. The Operative Cause and explanation of all its events will have vanished.
Ladies and Gentlemen,—I would recommend you to try this interesting experiment yourselves. Set yourselves seriously to the task of reading the Bible itself—the whole of it—instead of reading so much about it. Try to conceive how such a book could come to be written if it were not true. Judge of it by your own reading, of its own self, and do not come to an adverse conclusion till you have read it all, and read it several times. I have read of an unbeliever who was uninfluenced by arguments till he read the Bible all through for himself. He was convinced by the time he got to the end of the first reading.
There is more in this historic test than you may imagine. On some future occasion, if I do not tire you, I may follow this vein in a brief sententious way, for the purpose of illustrating how impossible the Bible histories are, unless they are simply and frankly true as they stand.