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The Bible

No. 15-1:109. A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Evening, March 18, 1855, By C. H. Spurgeon, At Exeter Hall, Strand.

I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing. {Hosea 8:12}

1. This is God’s complaint against Ephraim. It is no small proof of his goodness, that he stoops to rebuke his erring creatures; it is a great argument of his gracious disposition, that he bows his head to notice terrestrial affairs. He might, if he pleased, wrap himself with night as with a garment; he might put the stars around his wrist for bracelets, and bind the suns around his brow for a coronet; he might dwell alone, far, far above this world, up in the seventh heaven, and look down with calm and silent indifference upon all the doings of his creatures; he might do as the heathens supposed their Jove {a} did, sit in perpetual silence, sometimes nodding his fearful head to make the Fates {b} move as he pleased, but never taking thought of the little things of earth, disposing of them as beneath his notice, engrossed within his own being, swallowed up within himself, living alone and retired, and I, as one of his creatures might stand by night upon a mountain top, and look upon the silent stars, and say, “You are the eyes of God, but you do not look down on me; your light is the gift of his omnipotence, but your rays are not smiles of love to me. God, the mighty Creator, has forgotten me; I am a despicable drop in the ocean of creation, a withered leaf in the forest of beings, an atom in the mountain of existence. He does not knows me; I am alone, alone, alone.” But it is not so, beloved. Our God is of another order; he notices every one of us. There is not a sparrow or a worm, but is found in his decrees. There is not a person upon whom his eye is not fixed. Our most secret acts are known to him. Whatever we do, or bear, or suffer, the eye of God still rests upon us, and we are beneath his smile, — for we are his people; or beneath his frown, — for we have erred from him.

2. Oh! how ten thousand fold merciful is God, that, looking down upon the race of man, he does not smile it out of existence. We see from our text that God looks upon man, for he says of Ephraim, “I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.” But see how when he observes the sin of man he does not dash him away and spurn him with his foot; he does not shake him by the neck over the gulf of hell, until his brain does reel, and then drop him for ever; but rather, he comes down from heaven to plead with his creatures; he argues with them; he puts himself, as it were, upon a level with the sinner, states his grievances, and pleads his claim. Oh Ephraim, I have written to you the great things of my law, but they have been to you as a strange thing! I come here to night in God’s stead, my friends, to plead with you as God’s ambassador, to charge many of you with a sin; to lay it to your hearts by the power of the Spirit, so that you may be convicted of sin, of righteousness, and of a judgment to come. The crime I charge you with is the sin of the text. God has written to you the great things of his law, but they have been to you as a strange thing. It is concerning this blessed book, the Bible, that I mean to speak tonight. Here lies my text — this Word of God. Here is the theme of my discourse, a theme which demands more eloquence than I possess; a subject upon which a thousand orators might speak at once; a mighty, vast, incomprehensive theme, which might engross all eloquence throughout eternity, and still it would remain unexhausted.

3. Concerning the Bible, I have three things to say tonight and they are all in my text. First, its author, “I have written”; secondly, its subjects — the great things of God’s law; and thirdly, its common treatment — It has been accounted by most men a strange thing.

4. I. First, then, concerning this book, who is THE AUTHOR? The text says that it is God. “I have written to him the great things of my law.” Here lies my Bible — who wrote it? I open it, and I find it consists of a series of tracts. The first five tracts were written by a man called Moses. I turn further on and I find others. Sometimes I see David is the penman, at other times, Solomon. Here I read Micah, then Amos, then Hosea. As I turn further on, to the more luminous pages of the New Testament, I see Matthew, Luke, and John, Paul, Peter, James and others; but when I shut up the book, I ask myself who is the author of it? Do these men jointly claim the authorship? Are they the compositors of this massive volume? Do they between themselves divide the honour? Our holy religion answers, “No!” This volume is the writing of the living God: each fetter was penned with an Almighty finger; each word in it dropped from the everlasting lips, each sentence was dictated by the Holy Spirit. Albeit, that Moses was employed to write his histories with his fiery pen, God guided that pen. It may be that David touched his harp and let sweet Psalms of melody drop from his fingers, but God moved his hands over the living strings of his golden harp. It may be that Solomon sang Canticles of love, or gave out words of consummate wisdom, but God directed his lips, and made the Preacher eloquent. If I follow the thundering Nahum when his horses plough the waters, or Habakkuk when he sees the tents of Cushan in affliction; if I read Malachi, when the earth is burning like an oven; if I turn to the smooth page of John, who tells of love, or the rugged, fiery chapters of Peter, who speaks of the fire devouring God’s enemies; if I turn to Jude, who launches forth anathemas upon the foes of God, everywhere I find God speaking: it is God’s voice, not man’s; the words are God’s words, the words of the Eternal, the Invisible, the Almighty, the Jehovah of this earth. This Bible is God’s Bible; and when I see it, I seem to hear a voice springing up from it, saying, “I am the book of God: man, read me. I am God’s writing: open my leaf, for I was penned by God; read it, for he is my author, and you will see him visible and obvious everywhere.” “I have written to him the great things of my law.”

5. How do you know that God wrote the book? That is just what I shall not try to prove to you. I could, if I pleased, give a demonstration, for there are arguments enough, there are reasons enough, if I cared to occupy your time tonight in bringing them before you: but I shall do no such thing. I might tell you, if I pleased, that the grandeur of the style is above that of any mortal writing, and that all the poets who have ever existed, could not, with all their works united, give us such sublime poetry and such mighty language as is to be found in the Scriptures. I might insist upon it, that the subjects which it treats are beyond the human intellect; that man could never have invented the grand doctrines of a Trinity in the Godhead; man could not have told us anything of the creation of the universe; he could never have been the author of the majestic idea of Providence, that all things are ordered according to the will of one great Supreme Being, and work together for good. I might enlarge upon its honesty, since it tells the faults of its writers; its unity, since it never contradicts itself; its masterful simplicity, that he who runs may read it; and I might mention a hundred more things, which would all give a demonstration, that the book is from God. But I did not come here to prove it. I am a Christian minister, and you are Christians, or profess to be so; and there is never any necessity for Christian ministers to make a point of bringing forth infidel arguments in order to answer them. It is the greatest folly in the world. Infidels, poor creatures, do not know their own arguments until we tell them, and then they glean their blunted shafts to shoot them at the shield of truth again. It is folly to bring forward these firebrands of hell, even if we are well prepared to quench them. Let men of the world learn error by themselves; do not let us be propagators of their falsehoods. True, there are some preachers who are short of material, and need them to fill up their sermons! but God’s own chosen men need not do that; they are taught by God, and God supplies them with subject material, with language, and with power. There may be someone here tonight who has come without faith, a man of reason, a freethinker. With him I have no argument at all. I do not profess to stand here as a controversialist, but as a preacher of things that I know and feel. But I too have been like him. There was an evil hour when once I slipped the anchor of my faith; I cut the cable of my belief; I no longer moored myself close by the coasts of revelation; I allowed my vessel to drift before the wind; I said to reason, “Be my captain”; I said to my own brain, “Be my rudder”; and I started on my mad voyage. Thank God it is all over now; but I will tell you its brief history. It was one hurried sailing over the tempestuous ocean of free thought. I went on, and as I went the skies began to darken; but to make up for that deficiency, the waters were brilliant with coruscations of brilliancy. I saw sparks flying upwards that pleased me, and I thought, “If this is free thought, it is a happy thing.” My thoughts seemed like gems, and I scattered stars with both my hands; but quickly, instead of these coruscations of glory, I saw grim fiends, fierce and horrible, rise up from the waters, and as I dashed on they gnashed their teeth and grinned at me; they seized the prow of my ship, and dragged me on, while I, in part, gloried at the rapidity of my motion, but yet shuddered at the terrific rate with which I passed the old landmarks of my faith. As I hurried forward with an awful speed, I began to doubt my very existence; I doubted if there were a world, I doubted if there were such a thing as myself. I went to the very verge of the dreary realms of unbelief. I went to the very bottom of the sea of infidelity. I doubted everything. But here the devil foiled himself; for the very extravagance of the doubt proved its absurdity. Just when I saw the bottom of that sea, there came a voice which said, “And can this doubt be true?” At this very thought I awoke. I awoke from that death dream, which, God knows might have damned my soul, and ruined my body, if I had not awaken. When I arose faith took the helm; from that moment I no longer doubted. Faith steered me back; faith cried, “Away, away!” I cast my anchor on Calvary; I lifted my eye to God; and here I am alive, and out of hell. Therefore, I speak what I do know. I have sailed that perilous voyage; I have come safely to land. Ask me again to be an infidel! No, I have tried it; it was sweet at first, but bitter afterwards. Now, lashed to God’s gospel more firmly than ever, standing as on a rock of adamant, I defy the arguments of hell to move me, for “I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him.” But I shall neither plead nor argue this night. You profess to be Christian men, or else you would not be here. Your profession may be lies; what you say you are, may be the very contrary to what you really are; but still I suppose you all admit that this is the Word of God. A thought or two then upon it. “I have written to him the great things of my law.”

6. First, my friends, stand over this volume, and admire its authority. This is no common book. It is not the sayings of the sages of Greece; here are not found the utterances of philosophers of past ages. If these words were written by man, we might reject them; but oh, let me think the solemn thought — that this book is God’s handwriting, that these words are God’s. Let me look at its date: it is dated from the hills of heaven. Let me look at its letters: they flash glory on my eye. Let me read the chapters: they are full with meaning and mysteries unknown. Let me turn over the prophecies: they are pregnant with unthought of wonders. Oh, book of books! And were you written by my God? Then I will bow before you. Oh book of vast authority, you are a proclamation from the Emperor of Heaven; far be it from me to exercise my reason in contradicting you. Reason! your place is to stand and find out what this volume means, not to tell what this book ought to say. Come my reason, my intellect, sit down and listen, for these words are the words of God. I do not know how to enlarge on this thought. Oh! if you could ever remember that this Bible was actually and really written by God! Oh! if you had been let into the secret chambers of heaven, if you had beheld God grasping his pen and writing down these letters, then surely you would respect them. But they are just as much God’s handwriting as if you had seen God write them. This Bible is a book of authority; it is an authorized book, for God has written it. Oh, tremble, tremble, lest any of you despise it; see its authority, for it is the Word of God.

7. Then, since God wrote it, see its truthfulness. If I had written it, there would be worms of critics who would at once swarm on it, and would cover it with their evil spawn. Had I written it, there would be men who would pull it to pieces at once, and perhaps quite rightly. But this is the Word of God; come, search you critics, and find a flaw; examine it from Genesis to Revelation, and find an error. This is a vein of pure gold, unalloyed by quartz, or any earthy substance. This is a star without a speck; a sun without a blot! a light without darkness; a moon without its paleness; a glory without a dimness. Oh Bible! it cannot be said of any other book, that it is perfect and pure; but concerning you we can declare all wisdom is gathered up in you, without a particle of folly. This is the judge that ends the strife where wit and reason fail. This is the book untainted by any error; but is pure, unalloyed, perfect truth. Why? Because God wrote it. Ah! charge God with error if you please; tell him that his book is not what it ought to be. I have heard men with prudish and mock modesty, who would like to alter the Bible; and (I almost blush to say it) I have heard minister’s alter God’s Bible, because they were afraid of it. Have you never heard a man say, “He who believes and is baptized, shall be saved; but he who does not believe,” — What does the Bible say? “shall be damned.” But that does not happen to be polite enough, so they say, “shall be condemned.” Gentlemen! pull the velvet out of your mouths; speak God’s word; we want none of your alterations. I have heard men in prayer, instead of saying, “Make your calling and election sure,” say, “Make your calling and salvation sure.” Pity they were not born when God lived, far far back, that they might have taught God how to write. Oh, impudence beyond all bounds! Oh! full blown self-conceit! To attempt to dictate to the All Wise — to teach the Omniscient, and instruct the Eternal. Strange that there should be men so vile as to use the penknife of Jehoiakim, to cut passages of the Word, because they are unpalatable. Oh you who dislike certain portions of the Holy Writ, rest assured that your taste is corrupt, and that God will not change for your little opinion. Your dislike is the very reason why God wrote it, because you ought not to be suited; you have no right to be pleased. God wrote what you do not like; he wrote the truth. Oh! let us bend in reverence before it, for God inspired it. It is pure truth. Here from this fountain gushes aqua vitae — “the water of life,” without a single particle of earth; here from this sun there comes forth rays of radiance, without the mixture of darkness. Blessed Bible; you are all truth.

8. Yet once more, before we leave this point let us stop and consider the merciful nature of God, in having written us a Bible at all. Ah! he might have left us without it, to grope our dark way, as blind men seek the wall; he might have allowed us to wander on with the star of reason as our only guide. I remember a story of Mr. Hume, who so constantly affirmed that the light of reason is abundantly sufficient. Being at a good minister’s house one evening, he had been discussing the question, and declaring his firm belief in the sufficiency of the light of nature. On leaving, the minister offered to hold a candle for him, to guide him down the steps. He said, “No, the light of nature would be enough; the moon would do.” It so happened that the moon was covered with a cloud, and he fell down the steps. “Ah,” said the minister, “you had better have had a little light from above after all, Mr. Hume.” So, supposing the light of nature to be sufficient, we had better have a little light from above too, and then we shall be sure to be right. Better have two lights than only one. The light of creation is a bright light. God may be seen in the stars; his name is written in gilt letters on the brow of night; you may discover his glory in the ocean waves, yes, in the trees of the field; but it is better to read it in two books than in one. You will find it here more clearly revealed, for he has written this book himself, and he has given you the key to understand it, if you have the Holy Spirit. Ah, beloved, let us thank God for this Bible; let us love it; let us count it more precious than much fine gold.

9. But let me say one thing before I pass on to the second point. If this is the Word of God, what will become of some of you who have not read it for the last month? “Month, sir! I have not read it for this year.” Indeed, there are some of you who have not read it at all. Most people treat the Bible very politely. They have a small pocket volume, neatly bound; they put a white pocket handkerchief around it, and carry it to their places of worship; when they get home, they lay it up in a drawer until next Sunday morning; then it comes out again for a little bit of a treat and goes to chapel; that is all the poor Bible gets in the way of an airing. That is your style of entertaining this heavenly messenger. There is dust enough on some of your Bibles to write “damnation” with your fingers. There are some of you who have not turned over your Bibles for a long, long, long while, and what do you think? I tell you blunt words, but true words. What will God say at last? When you shall come before him, he shall say, “Did you read my Bible?” “No.” “I wrote you a letter of mercy; did you read it?” “No.” “Rebel! I have sent you a letter inviting you to me: did you ever read it?” “Lord I never broke the seal; I kept it shut up.” “Wretch!” says God, “then you deserve hell, if I sent you a loving epistle and you would not even break the seal: what shall I do to you?” Oh! let it not be so with you. Be Bible readers; be Bible searchers.

10. II. Our second point is, THE SUBJECTS UPON WHICH THE BIBLE EXPOUNDS. The words of the text are these: “I have written to him the great things of my law.” The Bible mentions great things, and only great things. There is nothing in this Bible which is unimportant. Every verse in it has a solemn meaning, and if we have not found it out yet, we hope yet to do it. You have seen mummies wrapped around and around with folds of linen. Well, God’s Bible is like that; it is a vast roll of white linen, woven in the loom of truth; so you will have to continue unwinding it, roll after roll, before you get the real meaning of it from the very depth; and when you have found, as you think, a part of the meaning, you will still need to keep on unwinding, unwinding, and all eternity you will be unwinding the words of this wondrous volume. Yet there is nothing in the Bible but great things. Let me divide, so as to be more brief. First all things in this Bible are great; but secondly, some things are the greatest of all.

11. All things in the Bible are great. Some people think it does not matter what doctrines you believe; that it is immaterial what church you attend; that all denominations are alike. Well, I dislike Mrs. Bigotry above almost all people in the world, and I never give her any compliment or praise: but there is another woman I hate equally as much, and that is Mrs. Latitudinarianism, a well known character, who has made the discovery that all of us are alike. Now, I believe that a man may be saved in any church. Some have been saved in the church of Rome — a few blessed men, whose names I could mention here. I know, blessed be God, that multitudes are saved in the church of England: she has a host of pious, praying men in her midst. I think that all sections of Protestant Christians have a remnant according to the election of grace, and they need to have, some of them, a little salt, for otherwise they would go to corruption. But when I say that, do you imagine that I think them all on the same level? Are they all equally truthful? One sect says infant baptism is right, another says it is wrong, yet you say they are both right. I cannot see that. One teaches we are saved by free grace; another says that we are not, but are saved by free will; and yet you believe they are both right. I do not understand that. One says that God loves his people, and never stops loving them; another says that he did not love his people before they loved him: that he often loves them, and then ceases to love them and turns them away. They may be both right in the main; but can they be both right when one says “Yes,” and the other says “No.” I must have a pair of spectacles to enable me to look backwards and forwards at the same time, before I can see that. It cannot be, sirs, that they are both right. But some say they differ upon nonessentials. This text says, “I have written to him the great things of my law.” There is nothing in God’s Bible which is not great. Did ever any of you sit down to see which was the purest religion? “Oh,” you say, “we never took the trouble. We went just where our father and mother went.” Ah! that is a profound reason indeed. You went where your father and mother did. I thought you were sensible people; I did not think you went where other people pulled you, but went of your own selves. I love my parents above all that breathe, and the very thought that they believed a thing to be true, helps me to think it is correct; but I have not followed them; I belong to a different denomination, and I thank God I do. I can receive them as Christian brethren and sisters; but I never thought that because they happened to be one thing I was to be the same. No such thing. God gave me brains, and I will use them; and if you have any intellect, use it too. Never say it doesn’t matter. It does matter. Whatever God has put here is of eminent importance: he would not have written a thing that was indifferent. Whatever is here is of some value; therefore, search all questions, try all by the Word of God. I am not afraid to have what I preach tried by this book. Only give me a fair field and no favour, and this book; if I say anything contrary to it, I will withdraw it the next Sunday. By this I stand, by this I fall. Search and see, but do not say, “It does not matter.” If God says a thing, it must always be of importance.

12. But while all things in God’s Word are important, all are not equally important. There are certain fundamental and vital truths which must be believed, or otherwise no man would be saved. If you want to know what you must believe if you would be saved, you will find the great things of God’s law between these two covers; they are all contained here. As a sort of digest or summary of the great things of the law, I remember an old friend of mine once saying, “Ah! you preach the three R’s, and God will always bless you.” I said, “What are the three R’s?” And he answered, “Ruin, redemption, and regeneration.” They contain the sum and substance of divinity. R for ruin. We were all ruined in the fall; we were all lost when Adam sinned, and we are all ruined by our own transgressions; we are all ruined by our own evil hearts, and our own wicked wills; and we all shall be ruined unless grace saves us. Then there is a second R for redemption. We are ransomed by the blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish and without spot; we are rescued by his power; we are ransomed by his merits; we are redeemed by his strength. Then there is R for regeneration. If we would be pardoned, we must also be regenerated; for no man can partake of redemption unless he is regenerate. Let him be as good as he pleases; let him serve God, as he imagines, as much as he likes; unless he is regenerate, and has a new heart, a new birth, he will still be in the first R, that is ruin. These things contain an epitome of the gospel. I believe there is a better epitome in the five points of Calvinism: Election according to the foreknowledge of God; the natural depravity and sinfulness of man; particular redemption by the blood of Christ; effectual calling by the power of the Spirit; and ultimate perseverance by the efforts of God’s might. I think all those need to be believed, in order to have salvation; but I should not like to write a creed like the Athanasian, beginning with “Whoever should be saved, before all things it is necessary that he should hold the Catholic faith, which faith is this,” — when I got that far, I should stop, because I would not know what to write. I hold the Catholic faith of the Bible, the whole Bible and nothing but the Bible. It is not for me to draw up creeds; but I ask you to search the Scriptures, for this is the word of life.

13. God says, “I have written to him the great things of my law.” Do you doubt their greatness? Do you think they are not worth your attention? Reflect a moment, man. Where are you standing now?

Lo, on a narrow neck of land,

’Twixt two unbounded seas I stand;

An inch of time, a moment’s space,

May lodge me in that heavenly place,

Or shut me up in hell.

I remember standing on a seashore once, upon a narrow neck of land, thoughtless that the tide might come up. The tide kept continually washing up on either side, and wrapped in thoughts I still stood there, until at last there was the greatest difficulty in getting on shore; the waves had washed between me and the shore. You and I stand each day on a narrow neck, and there is one wave coming up there; see, how near it is to your foot; and lo, another throws at every tick of the clock: “our hearts, like muffled drums, are beating funeral marches to the tomb.” We are always tending downwards to the grave each moment that we live. This Book tells me that if I am converted, when I die there is a heaven of joy and love to receive me; it tells me that angels’ pinions shall be stretched, and I, borne by strong cherubic wings, shall out soar the lightning, and mount beyond the stars, up to the throne of God, to dwell for ever,

Far from a world of grief and sin

With God eternally shut in.

Oh! it makes the hot tear run from my eye, it makes my heart too big for my body, and my brain whirls at the thought of

Jerusalem, my happy home,

Name ever dear to me.

Oh! that sweet scene beyond the clouds; sweet fields arrayed in living green, and rivers of delight. Are not these great things? But then, poor unregenerate soul, the Bible says, if you are lost, you are lost for ever; it tells you, that if you die without Christ, without God, there is no hope for you, that there is a place without a gleam of hope, where you shall read in burning letters, “You knew your duty, but you did not do it”; it tells you that you shall be driven from his presence with a “depart you cursed.” Are not these great things? Yes, sirs, as heaven is desirable, as hell is terrible, as time is short, as eternity is infinite, as the soul is precious, as pains to be shunned, as heaven is to be sought, as God is eternal, and as his words are sure, these are great things, things you ought to listen to.

14. III. Our last point is THE TREATMENT WHICH THE POOR BIBLE RECEIVES IN THIS WORLD. It is accounted a strange thing. What does that mean — the Bible accounted a strange thing? In the first place, it means that it is very strange to some people, because they never read it. I remember reading, on one occasion, the sacred story of David and Goliath, and there was a person present, positively grown up to years of maturity, who said to me, “Dear me! what an interesting story; what book is that in?” And I remember a person once coming to me in private; I spoke to her about her soul, she told me how deeply she felt, how she had a desire to serve God, but she found another law in her members. I turned to a passage in Romans, and read to her, “The good that I would I do not; and the evil which I would not that I do!” She said, “Is that in the Bible? I did not know it.” I did not blame her because she had no interest in the Bible until then; but I did wonder that there could be found people who knew nothing about such a passage. Ah! you know more about your ledgers than your Bible; you know more about your business journals than what God has written. Many of you will read a novel from beginning to end, and what have you got? A mouthful of froth when you are done. But you cannot read the Bible; that solid, lasting, substantial, and satisfying food goes uneaten, locked up in the cupboard of neglect; while anything that man writes, a catch of the day, is greedily devoured. “I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.” You have never read it. I bring the broad charge against you. Perhaps you say, I ought not to charge you with any such thing. I always think it better to have a worse opinion of you than too good a one. I charge you with this: you do not read your Bibles. Some of you never have read it through. I know I speak what your heart must say, is honest truth. You are not Bible readers. You say you have the Bible in your houses: do I think you are such heathens as not to have a Bible? But when did you read it last? How do you know that your spectacles, which you have lost, have not been there for the last three years? Many people have not turned over its pages for a long time, and God might say to them, “I have written to you the great things of my law, but they have been accounted to you a strange thing.”

15. There are others who read the Bible, but when they read it, they say it is so horribly dry. That young man over there says it is a “bore”; that is the word he uses. He says, “My mother said to me, when you go up to town, read a chapter every day. Well, I thought I would please her, and I said I would. I am sure I wish I had not. I did not read a chapter yesterday or the day before. We were so busy. I could not help it.” You do not love the Bible, do you? “No, there is nothing in it which is interesting.” Ah! I thought so. But a little while ago I could not see anything in it. Do you know why? Blind men cannot see, can they? But when the Spirit touches the scales of the eyes they fall off, and when he puts eye salve on, then the Bible becomes precious. I remember a minister who went to see an old lady, and he thought he would give her some precious promises out of the word of God. Turning to one he saw written in the margin, “P,” and he asked, “What does this mean?” “That means precious, sir.” Further down he saw “T. and P.,” and he asked what the letters meant. “That,” she said, “means tried and proven, for I have tried and proven it.” If you have tried God’s word and proven it; if it is precious to your souls, then you are Christians; but those people who despise the Bible, have “neither part nor lot in the matter.” If it is dry to you, you will be dry at last in hell. If you do not esteem it as better than your necessary food, there is no hope for you, for you lack the greatest evidence of your Christianity.

16. Alas! alas! the worst case is to come. There are some people who hate the Bible, as well as despise it. Is there such a one who has come in here? Some of you said, “Let us go and hear what the young preacher has to say to us.” This is what he has to say to you: “Behold you despisers, and wonder and perish.” This is what he has to say to you: “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all that forget God.” And this, again he has to say to you: “Behold there shall come in the last days, mockers like yourselves, walking after your own lusts.” But more: he tells you tonight that if you are saved, you must find salvation here. Therefore, do not despise the Bible, but search it, read it, and come to it. Rest well assured, oh scorner, that your laughs cannot alter truth, your jests cannot avert your inevitable doom. Though in your hardihood you should make a league with death, and sign a covenant with hell — yet swift justice shall overtake you, and strong vengeance strike you low. In vain do you jeer and mock, for eternal verities are mightier than your sophistries: nor can your smart sayings alter the divine truth of a single word of this volume of Revelation. Oh! why do you quarrel with your best friend, and ill treat your only refuge? There yet remains hope even for the scorner. Hope in a Saviour’s veins. Hope in the Father’s mercy. Hope in the Holy Spirit’s omnipotent agency.

17. I am finished when I have said one more thing. My friend, the philosopher, says it may be very well for me to urge people to read the Bible; but he thinks there are a great many sciences far more interesting and useful than theology. Extremely obliged to you for your opinion, sir. What science do you mean? The science of dissecting beetles, and arranging butterflies?; “No,” you say, “certainly not.” The science, then, of arranging stones, and telling us of the strata of the earth? “No, not exactly that.” Which science then? “Oh, all sciences,” you say, “are better than the science of the Bible.” Ah! sir, that is your opinion, and it is because you are far from God, that you say so. But the science of Jesus Christ is the most excellent of sciences. Let no one turn away from the Bible, because it is not a book of learning and wisdom. It is. Would you learn about astronomy? It is here: it tells you of the Sun of Righteousness and the Star of Bethlehem. Would you learn about botany? It is here: it tells you of the plant of renown — the Lily of the Valley and the Rose of Sharon. Would you learn about geology and mineralogy? You shall learn it here: for you may read of the Rock of Ages, and the White Stone with a name engraved on it, which no man knows, except he who receives it. Would you study history? Here is the most ancient of all the records of the history of the human race. Whatever your science is, come and bend over this book; your science is here. Come and drink out of this fair fount of knowledge and wisdom, and you shall find yourselves made wise to salvation. Wise and foolish, babes and men, grey headed sires, youths and maidens, — I speak to you, I plead with you, I beg of you respect your Bibles and search them out, for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of Christ.

18. I have finished. Let us go home and practise what we have heard. I have heard of a woman, who, when she was asked what she remembered about the minister’s sermon, said, “I do not remember anything about it. It was about short weights and bad measures, and I did not remember anything but to go home and burn the bushel.” So if you will remember to go home and burn the bushel, if you will remember to go home and read your Bibles, I shall have said enough. And may God, in his infinite mercy, when you read your Bibles, pour into your soul, the illuminating rays of the Sun of Righteousness, by the agency of the ever adorable Spirit; then you will read to your profit and to your soul’s salvation.

19. We may say of THE BIBLE: —

God’s cabinet of revealed counsel ’tis!

Where weal and woe, are ordered so

That every man may know which shall be his;

Unless his own mistake, false application make.

It is the index to eternity.

He cannot miss of endless bliss,

That takes this chart to steer by,

Nor can he be mistaken, that speaks by this book.

It is the book of God. What if I should

Say, God of books, let him that looks

Angry at that expression, as too bold,

His thoughts in silence smother, until he find such another.

{a} Jove: A poetic equivalent of Jupiter, name of the highest deity of the ancient Romans. OED.

{b} Fates: In later Greek and Roman mythology, the three goddesses supposed to determine the course of human life. OED.