By REV. GEO. F. PENTECOST, D. D.
The most casual reader of the Bible, if he have any serious
thoughtfulness of mind, must remark its unique and extraordinary
character, differing as it does in its structure and matter, its spirit
and style, from all other books. Side by side, the best and most
celebrated of them, its incomparable superiority is almost instantly
recognized. Here and there there have been found passages from other
books that have been thought to compare favorably with some of the
sublime teachings of the Bible. But it has been remarked that even when
the precepts and moral teachings of both early and later ancients are
found in the Bible, especially in the teachings of Jesus, they “receive
a different setting, and a more heavenly light is in them. A diamond
in a dark or dimly lighted room is not the same thing as a diamond
in the track of a sunbeam.”[H] The simplicity and naturalness of the
Bible are most striking. Where else can be found such graphic pictures
of paternal and domestic life? The straightforward delineation of its
most conspicuous characters; its record of the sins of God’s people
with the same impartial pen as is used for the setting forth of their
virtues; its lofty moral tone; its sublimity of thought; as well as
its superhuman authority, all bespeak its unique character. For like
the Master, of whom it is the constant and consistent witness, its
words are with authority. It never speculates or halts in its teaching,
but drives straight to the mark in its ever recurring “Thus saith the
Lord,” in the Old Testament, and in the “Verily, verily, I say unto
you” of the Master.
I met a young man some months ago in the inquiry-room in Hartford,
and I said to him, as to others whom I met there nightly, “Well, my
young friend, are you a Christian?” He replied, “I am not; but I am an
inquirer after truth.” “What is your trouble?” I asked. “Why,” said he,
“I do not know _which_ Bible to believe, or whether they are all alike
to be believed, each one for what it is worth.” “What do you mean?” I
replied. “I do not understand you; there is but _one_ Bible.” “Oh, yes,
there are many Bibles. There are the Vedas and the Zend-Avesta and the
Koran, but I do not count much upon the Koran; the others, however, are
very ancient books, and contain the religion of the larger part of the
inhabitants of the earth.” I found he had been reading Mr. Max Müller’s
studies in comparative religions, and was much taken up with the idea
that the Bible, especially the Old Testament scriptures, was only a
Jewish version of the “more ancient” religions of Aryan races. I was
at first disposed to ignore his difficulties and pass him by, but on
second thought I felt it to be my duty to try and meet them. And since
then I have found a great many persons who, while they are in no sense
students or scholars, have read some book or magazine article by which
they have been innoculated with the thought that the Bible is only one
of many equally ancient and equally trustworthy religious books. And so
it may be well just here to have our attention called to the difference
between the Bible and these two of the more famous books. The Vedas
are a very ancient collection of sacred hymns addressed to the fancied
gods of nature, and make no pretension to be in any sense a revelation.
They are the outpourings of the natural religious sentiment. The
Zend-Avesta is an ancient _speculation_ into the origin of things. It
does not pretend to be a _revelation_ of the truth, but only a human
effort to account for and explain things that are seen. But the Bible
differs from both in a most marked manner. The Bible is the _revelation
of God and the history_ of creation, the origin of things and of man,
showing God to be the creator and author of all, and our relation, not
to nature, but to him. Now the difference between a speculation and
a revelation is this: One is an effort of the human mind to account
for things seen, and so make discovery of the things that are not
seen; an effort to leap from the earth outward and upward into the
presence and mystery of the unseen and eternal. The other is a positive
_statement of the truth_ out and downward from God to man. We notice
that the Bible, when speaking of God, never gives an _opinion_, never
speculates. It always, in simple and majestic measure declares, as in
the opening sentence of the Bible, “In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth.” That is so utterly different, both in matter
and manner, from any sentence ever framed by philosopher or religious
speculator, that it almost goes without saying that these could not
have been the words of man, they are the words of God spoken by man as
he was moved of God to speak, in order that man might have the _truth_,
and have it _at once_ and simply, in a single breath.
The majestic sweep of the first chapter of Genesis is so great, packing
away in a small compass the entire account of the creation of the world
and all things therein, that on its face it bears the stamp of God
rather than man. Think, if you can, of any human philosopher dashing
off with a few bold strokes of his pen such an account of creation.
If you want to read the finest specimen of human speculation and
argumentation on record, turn to the divinely preserved debate between
Job and his three friends recorded in the Book of Job, II, xi to
xxxii. How the battle between Job and his three friends rages through
those thirty chapters, until, weary with the conflict, they give over
their arguments, drawn from observation, tradition and law. Nothing
was settled, until, exhausted, they all sat face to face defiant and
unconvinced each by the other. Then it was that Elihu (xxxii: 7),
moved by inspiration, set the _truth_ before them all. The result was
that they were dumb (15), for they had but “darkened counsel by words
without knowledge” (xxxviii:2); and Job was humbled before God, saying,
“Behold I am vile, what shall I say unto thee? I will lay my hand
upon my mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer; yea, twice;
but I will proceed no further” (xl:4, 5). This book is a striking and
remarkable illustration of the difference between speculation and
revelation. And as it is supposed that the Book of Job is the most
ancient book in the Bible, if not in the world, this fact alone would
go far to clear up the perplexity that exists in the minds of some
as to their comparative worth and the true relation existing between
ancient writings and the Bible.