He received his theological education as a private pupil of several
clergymen and was first settled over churches at Martinsburg and
Shepherdstown, Va. In 1843 he was transferred to Cumberland, then
to Baltimore, Md., and finally became pastor of St. John's Church,
Philadelphia, and for twelve years was editor of "The Lutheran." He
died in 1904.
SEISS
1823-1904
THE WONDERFUL TESTIMONIES[1]
[1] Reprinted by permission of the Literary Trustees of the Dr.
Seiss' Estate.
_Thy testimonies are wonderful._--Psalms, cxix., 129.
The Psalmist here addresses himself to God. The testimonies of
which he speaks are God's testimonies. As collected and arranged in
one book, they are known to us as the Bible. For the contents of
these holy oracles the royal singer expresses his admiration. He
pronounces them "wonderful."
It was not an unworthy theme with which he was occupied at the
time, neither was it an extravagant opinion which he uttered. It is
impossible that there should be for man a more important subject
than the communications made to him from his God. And if ever there
was a marvelous thing submitted to human inspection, it is this
book, the holy Bible. It lies before us like an ocean, boundless
and unfathomable,--like a Himalayan mountain, whose summit no foot
of man has trod, and whose foundation is in the undiscovered heart
of the world. To make a full survey of it is not possible in the
present condition of the human faculties. Even the inspired Paul,
when he came to look into it, found himself gazing into profundities
at which he could do no more than exclaim, "Oh, the depth of the
riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!" And yet
there are many beautiful shells and pebbles lying on the shore of
this sea, and as many precious flowers blooming on this mountain
side, which any one may gather, and which, whosoever attentively
contemplates, must feel himself impelled to join the admiring
exclamation, "The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful."
Let us look briefly at a few particulars by which to verify this
declaration, praying that God may open our eyes to behold wondrous
things out of His law.
I. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful in age and preservation.
The Bible is the oldest of books. Some portions of it are much more
recent than others, but a large part of it has come down from the
remotest antiquity and antedates all other writings in the world.
It contains a journal of events which transpired centuries before
the building of the Pyramids. The book of Job existed before Cadmus
carried letters into Greece. The five books of Moses were read
in holy assemblies two hundred years before Sanchoniathon wrote.
David and Solomon had uttered their sacred songs and prophecies
half a century before Homer enraptured the Greeks with his verses
or Lycurgus had given laws to Lacedæmon. Dozens of the books of
Scripture were complete a hundred years before the first public
library was founded at Athens; and the last of the prophets had
ended his message before Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle had
propounded their philosophies. When the elements of society were but
forming in the womb of the far-distant past, the Bible was there.
When the foundations of earth's present greatness were laid, it was
there. And when we go back to the very beginnings of history, even
there does its hand lead us and its right hand uphold us.
Nor is it as a mere lifeless fossil that this book has come down
to us from such remote antiquity. Tho hoary with age, its youthful
vigor remains, and its natural force is not abated. It has only
grown fresher with age, and strengthened with every new trial. It
has been at the births and deaths of a hundred mighty nations,
and seen empires rise, flourish, and fall, and coexisted with the
longest lines of earthly kings, and beheld some of the sublimest
monuments of human effort come forth and disappear, and passed a
hundred generations in reaching us; but, withal, it still lives, in
all nations, in all languages, the most precious legacy of departed
ages, and the only thing that remains to us from some of them.
Tho it has encountered many a fierce conflict with the hate of
men and the spite of devils,--tho the object of many a concerted
scheme to blot it from the earth,--tho often held up to ridicule,
with "gigantic apes like Voltaire chattering at it, men of genius
turned by some Circean spell into swine, like Mirabeau and Paine,
casting filth at it, demoniacs whom it had half rescued and half
inspired, like Rousseau, making mouths in its face," and all the
varied passions of unsanctified men continually arrayed against
it,--it still holds its place as the most uncorrupt and authentic
of histories, the most august and controlling of records, the most
universal, venerable, and potent of books, imagining in its very
history the stupendous majesty of the God whom it reveals.
II. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful in their authorship.
They are not of man, but of God. We can not now refer to the varied
and multitudinous considerations which enter into the proofs of
this. It is capable, however, of being established by the very
highest moral evidences. The wisest and best men of every age have
concurred in receiving the Scriptures as from God. And it is not
possible to give a rational account of their origin, and the source
of their contents, without ascribing them to the divine authorship
which they claim.
It may seem strange that the infinite God should condescend to
put His great thoughts into the poor language of mortals, to
communicate with creatures so dull and stupid as the sons of men;
but this He has done. Portions of the Scriptures are made up of
the very words of God, articulated by Himself in the hearing of
men commissioned to declare them. One chapter, which embodies the
moral essence of all the rest, was engraven by His own finger upon
tables of rock, and delivered to Moses all ready formed and set
in the alphabetic signs employed by men. Other parts consist of
communications of celestial messengers sent directly from heaven's
throne to declare God's will and purposes to the dwellers upon
earth. A still larger portion was taken down as it fell from the
lips of One in whom God had incarnated Himself, and whose every
word and act in this world was a revelation from the unknown
Deity. Even those parts which were written by men were produced
by mysterious motion and illumination of the Holy Ghost,--by
inspiration of God. Indeed, the whole book is a literary aerolite,
all the characteristics of which are unearthly, and whose own
superior attributes are so many demonstrations of its superhuman
source. Its very address is so far above that of man, that no
mortal, unprompted, could ever have risen to it. Its subjects are
all treated after an unearthly manner. Every leaf of it bears the
sunlight of some higher sphere. Every page has on it the imprimatur
of God. And all its words are instinct with divine fires, flashing
the admonition upon every reader, "Put off thy shoes from off thy
feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." They
that look upon it look upon expressions of the eternal Spirit.
They that rightly take its lessons drink in living emanations from
unsearchable Godhead. It is the abiding miracle of _rapport_ with
the Mind which projected, upholds, and governs the universe. It is
the Word of God.
III. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful in their originality
and instructiveness.
The Bible depends upon no discoveries of man, and leans upon no
other books. If it says some things which may be learned elsewhere,
its utterances are always independent and peculiarly its own.
The world through which it ranges is much wider than that of
man's thoughts. It goes back to a remoter antiquity; it takes in
a broader space; it extends to a vaster future; it introduces
to sublimer spheres and forms of being; and it exhibits a much
profounder wisdom. It opens arcana of which no earthly powers ever
dreamed, and is at home in regions where the sublimest imaginings
of man had hardly extended a guess. On all the great questions of
theology, life, death, and futurity, it speaks with a familiarity,
comprehensiveness, and propriety which at once command our
confidence and satisfy our hearts. What it touches, it touches with
a master's hand. It never speaks without pregnant meaning in all its
words. And there is nothing in human science, poetry, or tradition
which it does not exceed in knowledge, wisdom, and real value.
In its account of the creation, and the origin of things, there is
nothing to compare with it. In all the historians, philosophers,
and secular authors,-the books of Zoroaster, the records of
Phoenicia and Egypt, the Dialogues of Plato and Lucian, the annals
of China, the treatises of Plutarch, the Shastras of India, the
Edda of Scandinavia, and all the schemes that have ever been given
in explanation of the earth's primal history,--there is nothing so
natural, so magnificent, so simple, so appropriate, so reliable,
so satisfactory, as the first chapter of Genesis. Nor have all the
discoveries of modern geology brought forward anything to convict
Moses of a false cosmogony. If it is a truth that the history of
the earth's formation runs back through uncounted ages, he leaves
an interval for it, between "the beginning" and the period when
God caused light to appear upon its dark and misty surface. If it
is true that vast eras have been traversed by each separate order
of living things, one after the other, we find precisely the same
succession in the Mosaic account which is found preserved in the
different layers of the earth's crust. And if it be true that there
was life upon our world ages and cycles of ages before the period
noted in Genesis as that in which man was created, it is also true
that no traces of human existence are found except in the most
recent deposits. A certain stonemason of the village of Cromartie,
with sledge and chisel, himself delved through every formation, from
the surface-mold down through the old red sandstone to the Silurian,
gneiss, and granite, and, having mastered all that is known
concerning each, has written it down as the result of his marvelous
explorations, that the truthfulness of the Mosaic record is engraven
upon the rocks forever.
And so in every department of science the Bible is always true
to nature, and has invariably been in advance of all human
investigations and discoveries. How many thousands of years have
metaphysicians and psychologists been at work to map out, classify,
and gauge the various capacities and powers of the human mind
and soul! But they have found no way of approach to the heart so
masterly and effective as that taken by the Scriptures; and the more
that is known of the nature of the man, the more clearly is it seen
that the Bible comprehended it from the commencement. It has been
but a few years since Newton laid open the laws of gravitation; and
yet the Scriptures spoke of the earth being hung "upon nothing,"
as if familiar with the whole subject, before human science had
begun to form even its feeblest guesses in the case. It has only
been since the invention of the telescope enabled men to search
through the starry spaces that Sir John Herschel has discovered in
the northern sky a peculiar barrenness; but more than three thousand
years ago Job told Bildad the Shuhite that "God stretched out the
north over the empty place." It has been but a few years since
science discovered "that the sun is not the dead center of motion,
around which comets sweep and planets whirl," but that "the earth
and sun, with their splendid retinue of comets, satellites, and
planets, are all in motion around some point or center of attraction
inconceivably remote, and that that point is in the direction of
the star Alcyone, one of the Pleiades"; which would hence seem to
be "the midnight throne" in which the whole system of gravitation
has its central seat and from which all material orbs are governed.
But the Bible asked the question, more than thirty centuries ago,
"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?" as if the
speaker knew all about the facts in the case. How long has it been
since the doctrine of the rotundity of the earth has been settled
by scientific men? yet the Psalmist spoke of "the round world"; and
Solomon described in brief the true theory of wind-currents, and
strongly hinted the circulation of the blood, at least twenty-five
hundred years ago. And, with all the advances of knowledge which
have so wonderfully marked the last three hundred years, in which
the spirit of philosophic inquiry has ranged the universe, searched
heaven, earth, and sea, knocked at every door, peered into every
recess, consulted every oracle of nature, and gathered trophies
of power and treasures of wisdom and sublimities of knowledge at
which the world has been amazed,--in all the motions which the
experimentist has traced, in all the principles of power which the
master of physics has discovered, in all the combinations which the
chemist has detected, in all the forms which the naturalist has
recorded, in all the spiritual phenomena which the metaphysician
has described, and in all the conditions and relations of mind or
matter, past or present, which human research has found out,--there
has not come to light one truth to contradict these holy records, or
to require the relinquishment or change of one word in all the great
volume of Scripture.
IV. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful in beauty and literary
excellence.
The Bible is a casket of jewelry of the richest hues and the most
exquisite workmanship. Sir William Jones, that great Orientalist
and scholar, has said, "I have regularly and attentively perused
these Holy Scriptures, and am of the opinion that this volume,
independently of its divine origin, contains more true sublimity,
more exquisite beauty, more pure morality, more important history,
and finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than can be collected
from all other books, in whatever age or language they may have
been written." Even Rousseau wrote, "The majesty of the Scriptures
strikes me with admiration. The works of our philosophers, with all
their pomp of diction, how mean, how contemptible, in comparison
with them!"
Nor does it matter much what part of the Scriptures we take, or in
what department of rhetoric we test them. Whether it be history or
prophecy, the Old Testament or the New, narrative or description,
poetry or prose, the same characteristics are to be seen. Moses
is as pure and simple as Adam and Eve in Paradise, and yet as
majestic and grand as that great creation which he describes. Job
contains a drama which is without a parallel,--a drama of facts
in which heaven and earth, visible and invisible, with all their
wonderful interpenetrations, are set out in their connection with
a suffering saint upon his couch, and in which the spirit of
earnest inquiry urges itself forward until everything comes forth
to declare the majesty of God, and all the might and goodness of
man lies prostrate before Him who "bringeth forth Mazzaroth in his
season" and speaketh comfortably to them that trust in Him. Under
the leadership of David's muse, we pass through varied scenes of
beauty and grandeur,--pastures and glens, still waters and roaring
floods, dismal swamps and silent wildernesses, forests crashing
with the lightnings of God and tempests that convulse the seas,
the smoke and fury of battle and the shoutings of glad multitudes,
by dells of lonely sorrow and along the starry archways of the
sky,--until at length we take our places in a temple high as
heaven and wide as space, with all objects of creation as living
worshipers around us, each with its separate hymn of grateful joy,
blending in one almighty adoration. Isaiah rises upon us like some
"mighty orb of song," whose rays are streaming minstrelsies, that
have thrilled upon the hearts of men for seventy generations, and
which must needs thrill on, unrivaled in their kind, while earth
and time endure. Ezekiel is a very comet of fire, flaming his
impetuous way across the heavens, and, like the living spirits in
his own first vision, going and returning as a flash of lightning.
And throughout,--the Evangelists with their simple story of Jesus,
and Paul in his epistles and orations, and John in his loving
letters and apocalyptic visions,--from the first words, "In the
beginning," onward to the last "amen," we find variety, beauty,
pathos, dignity, sweetness, magnificence, and glory, such as are
contained in no other composition. Here are the sublimest heights
and the profoundest depths, and all the gradations from the one
to the other. From the worm that grovels in the dust, to the
leviathan in the foaming deep, and the supreme archangel, and the
eternal God; from the hyssop on the wall, to the cedars of Lebanon,
and the healing trees which shade life's eternal river; from the
pearl-drops which trickle from the mountain rock, to the noise
of dashing torrents, and the wide waters of the deluge; from the
glowworm under the thorn, to the sun in the heavens, and the great
Father of Lights; from the lone pilgrim to the triumphing host, and
the gathering multitude which no man can number; from the deepest
sorrows of the lost, to the probation scenes of earth and the
seraphic visions of the blest,--there is nothing known to mortals
which God hath not brought into requisition to intensify and adorn
the precious book which He has given to men. As an eloquent preacher
beyond the sea remarks, "He has filled it with marvelous incident
and engaging history, with sunny pictures from Old-World scenery
and affecting anecdotes from patriarchal times. He has replenished
it with stately argument and thrilling verse, and sprinkled it
over with sententious wisdom and proverbial pungency. It has the
gracefulness of high utility; it has the majesty of intrinsic
power; it has the charm of its own sanctity: it never labors, never
strives, but, instinct with great realities and bent on blessed
ends, has all the translucent beauty and unstudied power which you
might expect from its lofty object and all-wise Author."
Some call these Scriptures dull and uninviting; but there is no
book in being with so many real attractions. There is no classic
equal to it,--no historian like Moses, no poet like Job or Isaiah,
no singer like David, no orator like Paul, no character like Jesus,
and no revelation of God or nature like that which these venerable
pages give. Not without reason has Sir Thomas Browne said, "Were
it of man, I could not choose but say it was the singularest and
superlative piece that hath been extant since the creation. Were
I a pagan, I should not refrain the lecture of it, and can not
but commend the judgment of Ptolemy, that thought not his library
complete without it."
V. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful in their influences and
effects.
The Bible has been, for three thousand years, one of the greatest
potencies on earth. It has been, and is to this moment, a greater
power than Rome, or Greece, or Babylon ever was. Though it has
not conquered the world, it has advanced further towards it than
Alexander ever did. It has done more to govern and renew the human
heart than all the laws enacted by legislators, and all the maxims
devised by uninspired sages, and all the lessons, apart from itself,
that were ever given to the race. It is the chief stay of a society
which for a thousand years has been the most widespread, the most
important, and the most powerful association on the earth. It has
controlled the religious opinions of a large part of mankind for
nearly forty centuries. It has molded characters and directed the
efforts of men whose lives and labors introduced new eras and shaped
the destinies of nations and turned the course of the world's
entire history. It has begotten and fostered the purest virtue, the
sublimest manhood, the noblest beneficence, the sincerest charity,
the tenderest kindness, and all the blessed saintship, that have
ever been upon earth.
Its vast influence upon the welfare of nations may be estimated in
part from the bloody codes, and infamous administrations, and social
degradations, and far-reaching wretchedness, of those countries
where it is rejected or unknown, contrasted with the blessedness
and peace of those who have received it. It was the great Milton
who said, "There are no politics like those which the Scriptures
teach"; and in proof we need only look at Judea when it knew no laws
but those which this book contains. How smooth and steady were the
wheels of public justice, and how beautiful was the flow of national
peace, in those golden days of the old Hebrew commonwealth! How did
the joyous vines, and fields of waving ears, and gold of Ophir,
and flocks and cattle abiding on a thousand hills, and cities full
of peace and plenty, proclaim abroad the wealth and blessedness of
that goodly land! How did the voice of singing and the fragrance of
virtue linger round each habitation, and the sacrifices of praise
crowd all the temple's courts from tribes rejoicing in the smiles of
God!
In the sphere of learning and thought-creations, also, the influence
of the Bible is equally marked and wonderful. It is to the world of
letters what the sun is to the solar system, the fountain of the
purest light and brightest wisdom. It has produced more books than
any other one thing in existence. It has fostered learning when
there was no other stimulation to its cultivation felt. Even the
heathen classics owe their preservation to it. As a book written in
other times, places, and languages, it has called forth the most
laboriously compiled lexicons, grammars, and works on archeology by
which the world of the present communes with the world of the past.
As a book claiming the faith and obedience of men, it has created a
world of learned apology, comment, and exposition, and some of the
noblest specimens of argument, eloquence, and appeal which are known
to man. And, simply as a book among books, it has wrought wondrously
upon the thoughts and productions of authors of all classes. The
Visions of Dante are largely drawn from it. Every canto of the
Faerie Queene bears the impress of its influence. Milton's matchless
songs of Paradise are from an inspiration which the Bible alone
could give. From the same source came the immortal dream of Bunyan,
the Pauline reasonings of Barrow, the flaming zeal of Richard
Baxter, the "molten wealth" and "lava of gold and gems" which poured
down "the russet steep of Puritan theology," the songs of Cowper,
and "Thoughts" of Young, and visions of Pollok, and mighty eloquence
of the Luthers, the Knoxes, the Massillons, the Whitefields, and the
Halls. Addison, and Thomson, and Burke, and Dryden, and Wordsworth,
and Coleridge, and Southey, and Campbell, and Goethe, all are vastly
indebted to the Scriptures for whatever excellences are found in
their works. Shakespeare drew largely from this same precious mine,
and also even Hobbes, and Shelley, and Byron. That prince of modern
orators, Daniel Webster, once said, "If there be anything in my
style or thoughts to be commended, the credit is due to my kind
parents in instilling into my mind an early love of the Scriptures."
Indeed, if we were to destroy the Bible, and take from the world
of literature and thought all that it has contributed directly or
indirectly, half the history of the race would be swept out of mind,
the noblest ideas that have swelled man's heart would be gone,
some of the proudest monuments of human genius would be buried
in oblivion, and thick darkness would settle down upon the world
forever.
VI. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful as a fountain of
consolation, hope and salvation.