by pricking pains over all the surface of BIBLE-Adaptation of the. truth and Divine origin of the sacred If the Christian, through worldliness, or any other cause, has contracted any sins which are clinging to him and threatening death, let him awake up to the fact, but not attempt to destroy them in his own strength, or he may produce serious consequences. Let him go to the fountain of the Saviour's blood; there is a remedy which will cleanse them all away; will be destruction to his sins, but life to him. BESETTING SINS-Danger of. John Bate. A man who had gone to California to seek gold was returning with his gains in the Central America," when she took fire on her passage to New York. Wishful to preserve his hard-earned treasure, he disrobed himself of all his clothing, and tied his precious gold-dust round his waist. With this he plunged in the waters to escape the burning ship, with the hope of reaching land, which was not far away. But, alas! he had not swam far before he found his gold too heavy for him. He could not bear up with it, and as a consequence he sank into the deep waters, never to rise again. So it will be with those Christians who try to get to heaven with besetting sins about them. Whatever else they give up, if these cling to them, they will ultimately sink them into hell. Ibid. BESETTING SINS-Influence of. Esquimaux, the untutored inhabitant of The rough Greenlander and New Zealand, or Otaheite, the wandering North American Indian, the superstitious and degraded Hindoo and Chinese, the Hottentot of South Africa, the negro and Malagassee-ignorant and uncultivated have all been found capable, with the aid man in almost every part of the worldunderstanding the Holy Scriptures, so far of the most simple Christian teaching, of that of instructing us in the knowledge of as relates to their main purpose-I mean God and of Jesus Christ our Lord; and the same book has been the means of imparting the same knowledge to the polite and civilised Greek and Roman, as well as to the Bacons, Lockes, Boyles, Addisons, and Newtons of the modern times-the most refined and philosophical of our species. J. J. Gurney. his condition may be, whether in prosperity There is not a son of Adam, whatever or in adversity, in temptation or deliverance, in health or sickness, but he may find in this Book some balmy comfort to the quieting of his conscience, and to the advancement of his salvation. In short, the Holy Bible is the great light to our paths, our comfort in affliction, our shield and sword against Satan, the school of wisdom, the testimony of God's favour, and the food and nourishment of our souls. T. Bankes. BIBLE-Authenticity of the. The There are four grand arguments for the records. truth of the Bible. 1. The miracles it 3. The goodness of the doctrine. 4. The 2. The prophecies it contains. moral character of the Penman. miracles flow from Divine power, the prophecies from Divine understanding, the excellence of the doctrine from Divine goodness, and the moral character of the A sailor remarks, "Sailing from Cuba Penman from Divine purity. Thus the we thought we had gained sixty miles one Bible stands upon four immovable pillars, day in our course; but at the next obser--the power, the understanding, the goodvation we found we had lost more than ness, and the purity of God. D. Simpson. thirty. It was an undercurrent. The ship had been going forward by the wind, BIBLE-Authenticity and Genuineness of but going back by the current." So a the. man's course in religion may often seem to be right and progressive, but the undercurrent of his besetting sins is driving him the very contrary way to what he thinks. Dr. Cheever. The authenticity refers to the matter in the Bible as being true; the genuineness refers to the writers of the Bible, as being the actual persons to whom the several parts are attributed. John Bate. Your dearest Lord hath made you a widow that ye may be a free woman for Christ, who is now suiting for marriage love of you; and, therefore, since you lie alone in your bed, let Christ be as a bundle of myrrh, to sleep and lie all the night betwixt your breasts (Cant. i, 13), and then your bed is better filled than before. And seeing that among all crosses spoken of in our Lord's word, this giveth you a particular right to make God your husband (who was not so yours while your husband was alive), read God's mercy out of this visitation 1. Let God and men and angels now see what is in you. The Lord hath pierced the vessel, it will be known whether there be in it wine or water: let your faith and patience be seen, that it may be known that your only beloved, first and last, hath been Christ; and, therefore, now, were your whole love upon Him, that He alone is a suitable object for your love and all the affections of your soul. S. Rutherford. Say, why should friendship grieve for those Who safe arrive on Canaan's shore? Released from all their hurtful foes, They are not lost, but gone before. How many painful days on earth They are not lost, but gone before. They are not lost, but gone before. Secure from every mortal care, By sin and sorrow vexed no more; Eternal happiness they share Who are not lost, but gone before. To Zion's peaceful courts above, In faith triumphant may we soar; Embracing in the arms of love The friends not lost, but gone before. BESETTING SINS-Consequence of. Just as certainly as a single match may explode a whole magazine, or lay a town in ashes-just as surely as a single leak may sink the proudest vessels that ever marched the seas-so one solitary sin, if suffered to invade and rule the heart, will destroy the piety of the holiest saint. If other illustrations of this principle were needed, we have them unhappily in abun dance. Look at Solomon. How devout and holy before his "heart went after strange women!" How shameless a libertine thereafter! Look at Judas, the Balaam of the New Testament. So corrupted and accursed did he become, through the sin of greed, that he could sell his Redeemer for thirty pieces of silver. Look at Demas. Nay, look not so far away; look around you, at those whom you know as having once run well, but also, alas! as having been utterly overthrown by some besetting sin. One was overcome by the sin of intemperance. Another fell like Demas. When you first knew him, he was an humble-minded, devoted, zealous Christian; but God greatly prospered him in business, and he was not proof against "the deceitfulness of riches." His love of money increased in the ratio of his increasing possessions, and ate away his piety as doth a canker. Young women also you have known, bidding fair for honorable distinction in the ranks of Christian devotedness, who afterwards yielded to the seductions of worldly pleasures as they solicited them in the voluptuous dance or the drama; who, like other moths, were blinded with the blaze, and at last came forth with the wings of their spiritual life all scorched and shrivelled, if indeed through the mercy of God they did not perish in the flames. T. Akroyd. BESETTING SINS-Cure of. A traveller in Burmah fell asleep upon the damp hot ground. He was awakened by pricking pains over all the surface of BIBLE-Adaptation of the earnest entreaties that he should not touch were violently torn off, a portion of their bodies would remain, and produce disease by their corruption. Forthwith the servant gathered a quantity of a pungent herb, steeped it in water, and with the water he bathed his master. The leeches all dropped off harmless. The man went through the bath scathless, but it paralysed and destroyed his tormentors. If the Christian, through worldliness, or any other cause, has contracted any sins which are clinging to him and threatening death, let him awake up to the fact, but not attempt to destroy them in his own strength, or he may produce serious consequences. Let him go to the fountain of the Saviour's blood; there is a remedy which will cleanse them all away; will be destruction to his sins, but life to him. John Bate. BESETTING SINS-Danger of. A man who had gone to California to seek gold was returning with his gains in the Central America," when she took fire on her passage to New York. Wishful to preserve his hard-earned treasure, he disrobed himself of all his clothing, and tied his precious gold-dust round his waist. With this he plunged in the waters to escape the burning ship, with the hope of reaching land, which was not far away. But, alas! he had not swam far before he found his gold too heavy for him. could not bear up with it, and as a consequence he sank into the deep waters, never to rise again. He truth and Divine origin of the sacred It is indeed an admirable evidence of the volume, that for its important practical purposes-especially for the great end of the soul's salvation-it is just as intelligible to the humble but pious cottager, as it is to the most learned and cultivated among mankind. Esquimaux, the untutored inhabitant of The rough Greenlander and New Zealand, or Otaheite, the wandering North American Indian, the superstitious and degraded Hindoo and Chinese, the Hottentot of South Africa, the negro and Malagassee-ignorant and uncultivated have all been found capable, with the aid man in almost every part of the worldunderstanding the Holy Scriptures, so far of the most simple Christian teaching, of that of instructing us in the knowledge of as relates to their main purpose-I mean God and of Jesus Christ our Lord; and the same book has been the means of imparting the same knowledge to the polite and civilised Greek and Roman, as well as to the Bacons, Lockes, Boyles, Addisons, and Newtons of the modern times-the most refined and philosophical of our species. J. J. Gurney. his condition may be, whether in prosperity There is not a son of Adam, whatever or in adversity, in temptation or deliverance, in health or sickness, but he may find in this Book some balmy comfort to the quieting of his conscience, and to the advancement of his salvation. In short, the Holy Bible is the great light to our paths, our comfort in affliction, our shield and sword against Satan, the school of wisdom, the testimony of God's favour, and the food and nourishment of our souls. T. Bankes. BIBLE-Authenticity of the. There are four grand arguments for the truth of the Bible. 1. The miracles it So it will be with those Christians who try to get to heaven with besetting sins about 3. The goodness of the doctrine. 4. The records. 2. The prophecies it contains. them. Whatever else they give up, if these cling to them, they will ultimately sink them into hell. BESETTING SINS-Influence of. Ibid. moral character of the Penman. The miracles flow from Divine power, the prophecies from Divine understanding, the excellence of the doctrine from Divine goodness, and the moral character of the A sailor remarks, "Sailing from Cuba Penman from Divine purity. Thus the we thought we had gained sixty miles one Bible stands upon four immovable pillars, day in our course; but at the next obser--the power, the understanding, the goodvation we found we had lost more than ness, and the purity of God. D. Simpson. thirty. It was an undercurrent. The ship had been going forward by the wind, BIBLE-Authenticity and Genuineness of but going back by the current." So a man's course in religion may often seem to be right and progressive, but the undercurrent of his besetting sins is driving him the very contrary way to what he thinks. Dr. Cheever. the. The authenticity refers to the matter in the Bible as being true; the genuineness refers to the writers of the Bible, as being the actual persons to whom the several parts are attributed. John Bate. BIBLE-Circulation of the. The British and Foreign Bible Society may be adduced as forming the most remarkable illustration of the progress made during the present century, in leavening the world with the Word of God. Previous to its formation, in 1804, there was not one society in existence whose sole object was the distribution of the Bible in all lands. There are now upwards of 50 principal and 9000 auxiliary Bible Societies. In 1804 the Bible was accessible to only 200 millions of men. Now it exists in tongues spoken by 600 millions. The London Bible Society alone sends forth annually upwards of 1,787,000 copies. During the last sixty years it has issued 39,315,226 Bibles in 163 different languages, and in 143 translations never before printed. Its receipts for 1862 amount to £168,443. It surely cannot fail to fill the heart of every Christian with deepest thankfulness to contemplate the glorious achievement, of the last sixty years, in circulating the Word of God. The Church, like the angel seen in prophetic vision, has been flying with the everlasting gospel to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. It has given the Bible to the inhabitants of the old lands of Egypt, Ethiopia, Arabia, Palestine, Asia Minor, and Persia; to the indomitable Circassian; the mountaineers of Affghanistan; to tribes of India speaking thirty-two different languages or dialects; to the inhabitants of Burmah, Assam, and Siam; to the islanders of Madagascar and Ceylon; to the Malays and Javanese of the eastern seas; to the millions of China, and the wandering Kalmuck beyond her great wall; to the brave New Zealander; to the teeming inhabitants of the island groups which are scattered over the Southern Pacific; to the African races, from the Cape to Sierra Leone; to the Esquimaux and Greenlander within the Arctic Circle; and to the Indian tribes of North America. All are now furnished with a translation of that wonderful volume, which, with the light of the universal living Spirit of God, at once reveals to man, in every age and clime, his lost and miserable condition, and tells him of a remedy that is adapted to meet every want of his being-to redeem him, by a moral power it alone can afford, from all sin and misery, and to bring him into the glorious fellowship of the holiness, the blessedness, and joy of Jesus Christ, and all the family of God in earth and heaven! The American Bible Society circulates upwards of 600,000 copies of the Word of God annually, at home and abroad. Besides assisting in publishing translations issued by other societies, it has been at the sole expense of publishing the Armenio-Turkish and Modern Syriac New Testament; the entire Bible for the Burmese, and also for the Sandwich Islands; the Ojibbeway New Testament; the Gospels, or some portion of the Bible, into the languages of the Sioux, Mohawk, Seneca, and Cherokee Indians. Dr. Macleod. BIBLE-Company of the. By opening this volume we may at any time walk in the garden of Eden with Adam; sit in the ark with Noah; share the hospitality or witness the faith of Abraham; ascend the mount of God with Moses; unite in the secret devotions of David, or listen to the eloquent and impassioned address of Paul. Nay, more, we may here converse with Him who spake as never man spake; participate with the spirits of the just made perfect, in the employment and happiness of heaven; and enjoy sweet communion with the Father of our spirits through His Son Jesus Christ. Such is the society to which the Scriptures introduce us; such the examples which they present to our imitation. Dr. Payson. BIBLE-Consolation in the. Millions now in heaven derived the strongest and most invaluable consolation from this Book; and scarcely can we fix our eyes upon a single passage in this wonderful Book, which has not afforded comfort or instruction to thousands, and been wet with tears of penitential sorrow or grateful joy, drawn from eyes that will weep no more. Dr. Payson. BIBLE-The, in Death. Newton laid not his dying head on his 'Principia,' but on his Bible; Cowper not on his Task,' but on his Testament; Hall not on his wide fame, but on his humble hope; Michael Angelo not on that pencil which alone coped with the grandeurs of the " Judgment," but on that grace which for him shore the judgment of its terrors; Coleridge, not on his limitless genius, but on mercy for praise, to be forgiven for fame. Often must the wanderer mid American forests lay his head upon a rude log, while above him is the abyss of stars. Thus the weary, heavyladen, dying Christian leans upon the rugged and narrow Cross, but looks up the while to the beaming canopy of immortal life-to those things which are above. G. Gilfillan. You see the situation I am in; I have not many days to live: I am glad you have had an opportunity of witnessing the tranquillity of my last moments. But it is not tranquillity and composure alone; it is joy and triumph; it is complete exul tation. And whence does this exultation | no one need deny; but these difficulties do spring? From that book (pointing to a not affect its Divine origin, any more than Bible that lay on a table), from that book, the difficulties in nature affect the truth of too much neglected, indeed, but which its Divine origin. Because a man cannot contains invaluable treasures! treasures of comprehend all the difficulties which meet joy and rejoicing! for it makes us certain him in very many of the pages of the book that this mortal shall put on immortality. of nature, would he be wise in saying that Dr. Leechman. God was not the Creator of it? How, then, can he be wise who, for a similar reason, denounces the Bible as the book of God? John Bate. The Rev. James Harvey is well known to have been an elegant scholar, and a believer in the Bible, with its most distin guished truths. When he apprehended himself to be on the brink of the grave, with eternity in full view, he wrote to a friend at a distance to tell him what were his sentiments in that awful situation. "I have been too fond," says he, "of reading everything valuable and elegant that has been penned in our language, and been peculiarly charmed with the historians, orators, and poets of antiquity; but were I to renew my studies, I would take my leave of those accomplished trifles; I would resign the delights of wits, amusements, and eloquence, and devote my attention to the Scriptures of truth." D. Simpson. BIBLE-Destruction of the. Destroy this volume, as the enemies of human happiness have vainly endeavoured to do, and you render us profoundly ignorant of our Creator, of the formation of the world which we inhabit, of the origin and progenitors of our race, of our present day and future destination, and consign us through life to the dominion of fancy, doubt, and conjecture. Destroy this volume, and you deprive us of religion, with all the animating consolations, hopes, and prospects which it affords, and leave us nothing but the choosing miserable alternative!) between the cheerless gloom of infidelity and the monstrous shadows of paganism. Destroy this volume, and you unpeople heaven; bar for ever its doors against the wretched posterity of Adam; restore to the king of terrors his fatal sting; bury hope in the same grave which receives our bodies; consign all who have died before us to eternal sleep or endless misery; and allow us to expect nothing at death but a similar fate. BIBLE-Discoveries of the. In the fabulous records of pagan antiquity, we read of a mirror endowed with properties so rare, that by looking into it its possessor could discover any object which he wished to see, however remote ; and discover with equal ease persons and things above, below, behind, and before him. Such a mirror, but infinitely more valuable than this fictitious glass, do we possess in the Bible; by employing it in a proper manner we may discern objects and events, past, present, and to come. Here we may contemplate the all-enfolding circle of the eternal mind, and behold a perfect portrait of Him whom no mortal eye hath seen, drawn by his own unerring hand. Dr. Payson. BIBLE-Dispensing with the. Many will say, "I can find God without the help of the Bible, or church, or minister." Very well. Do so if you can. The Ferry Company would feel no jealousy of a man who should prefer to swim to New York. Let him do so if he is able, and we will talk about it on the other shore; but probably trying to swim would be the thing that would bring him quickest to the boat. So God would have no jealousy of a man's going to heaven without the aid of the Bible, or church, or minister; but let him try to do so, and it will be the surest way to bring him back to them for assistance. H. W. Beecher. BIBLE Divinity of the. I will briefly show, by one illustration, the three kinds of evidence by which we may prove to a Roman Catholic that the Bible is the Word of God. Suppose an individual has been an invalid, and after six weeks' illness has been restored to perfect health and strength by means of a tonic prescribed by some physician; suppose the tonic to be port wine. A stranger comes to this recovered man and says, "It is not port wine which you have been taking, it is merely water from the ditch." What would be his reply? He might say, "I will convince you from three distinct sources that that which I am taking is port wine." First, he brings the wine That there are difficulties in the Bible merchant; and the wine merchant states In a word, destroy this volume, and you take from us at once everything which prevents existence becoming of all curses the greatest; you blot out the sun, dry up the ocean, and take away the atmosphere of the moral world, and degrade man to a situation from which he may look up with envy to that of the brutes that perish. Dr. Payson. BIBLE-Difficulties in the. |