Chapter 75 of 75 · 2591 words · ~13 min read

Part 75

Even men who labored to erase out of the mind all respect for religion have acknowledged the importance and expediency of it. Bayle admits religion to be useful if men acted agreeably to its principles; and Voltaire says, expressly, that religion is necessary in every fixed community; the laws are a curb upon open crimes, and religion on those that are private. "No religion," says Bolingbroke, "ever appeared in the world whose natural tendency was so much directed to promote the peace and happiness of mankind as the Christian. The system of religion recorded by the evangelists is a complete system to all the purposes of true religion, natural or revealed. The Gospel of Christ is one continued lesson of the strictest morality, justice, benevolence, and universal charity.... Supposing Christianity to have been purely an human invention, it had been the most amiable, and the most useful invention that was ever imposed on mankind for their good." Hume acknowledges, that, "the disbelief in futurity loosens, in a great measure, the ties of morality, and may be supposed, for that reason, pernicious to the peace of civil society." Rousseau acknowledges, that, "if all were perfect Christians, individuals would do their duty, the people would be obedient to the laws, the chiefs just, the magistrates incorrupt, the soldiers would despise death, and there would be neither vanity nor luxury in such a state." Gibbon admits, that the gospel, or the church, discouraged suicide, advanced erudition, checked oppression, promoted the manumission of slaves, and softened the ferocity of barbarous nations; that fierce nations received at the same time the lessons of faith and humanity, and that, in the most corrupt state of Christianity, the barbarians might learn justice from the law, and mercy from the gospel. "To impute crimes to Christianity," says the celebrated King of Prussia, "is the act of a novice." His word may fairly be taken for such an assertion. And yet these unbelievers have been so vile and perverse as to decry a system which they acknowledge to be useful. How ungrateful! How reprehensible! Collect now the thoughts scattered under this branch of the subject, and be honest--heartily believe, and openly acknowledge, that God was the author of the Bible. What but a superhuman, a truly divine influence breathing in the Scriptures, can account for the energy and beneficence of their moral tendencies?

_From its general reception._ Vast numbers of wise and good men, through many generations and in different countries, have agreed in receiving the Bible as a revelation from God. Many of them have been noted for seriousness, erudition, penetration, and impartiality in judging of men and things. We might refer to Alfred, "replete with soul--the light of a benighted age"--to Charles V., Emperor of Germany--to Gustavus Adolphus, the renowned King of Sweden; to Selden, the learned and laborious lawyer and antiquary--to Bacon, "the bright morning star of science"--to Usher, the well-known archbishop of Armagh--to Newton, "the sun whose beams have irradiated the world"--to Boyle, celebrated for genius and erudition--to Milton, the prince of poets--to Locke, the man of profound thought--to Jones, one of the brightest geniuses and most distinguished scholars of the eighteenth century--and to many other deathless names. And if the evidence of the truth of the Bible satisfied men of such high intellectual capacity, ought it not to satisfy us? We do not wish to insinuate that we ought to believe in the Divinity of the Scriptures merely because they believed it. But we do mean to say that we ought not rashly to conclude against that which they received. They are acknowledged authorities in other cases; then why not in this? If we can place reliance upon them in their philosophical inquiries, why not in their religious ones? Surely the infidels of the present day, so far inferior to the believers of the former days, ought to express themselves with more modesty upon this important subject, and to hesitate before they openly profess their opposition to that book of religion and morals which has received the countenance of such honorable names as those which have been mentioned.

On the subject of the propagation of Christianity it has been eloquently said: "In spite of violent and accumulated opposition it diffused its blessings among the cities of Asia and the islands of Greece; over the deserts of Arabia and the European continent! From the hill of Calvary it speedily found its way to imperial Rome, gathering fresh laurels as it progressed, until it entered the palace and waved its banner over the proud dwelling of Cæsar! With all the influence of priests and kings against it, and all the terrors of the gibbet or the flames, it rapidly overspread the extensive Roman empire and reached Britain, the little isle of the sea. With a power divine it achieved a triumph over mental and moral obliquity, surpassing all that the philosophy of Greece or Rome could boast; and still will it conquer, until the sun in the heavens shall not look down on a single human being destitute of the knowledge of Jesus Christ." And the Rev. Robert Hall, whom to mention is to praise, remarked: "We see Christianity as yet but in its infancy. It has not already reached the great ends it is intended to answer and to which it is constantly advancing. At present it is but a grain of mustard seed and seems to bring forth a tender and weakly crop, but be assured it is of God's own right hand planting, and He will never suffer it to perish. It will soon stretch its branches to the river and its shades to the ends of the earth. The weary will repose themselves under it, the hungry will partake of its fruits, and its leaves will be for the healing of the nations. Those who profess the name of Jesus will delight in contemplating the increase and grandeur of His kingdom. 'He must reign until He hath put all enemies under His feet.' The religion of Jesus is not the religion of one age or of one nation. It is a train of light first put in motion by God, and which will continue to move and to spread till it has filled the whole earth with its glory. Its blessings will descend and its influence will be felt to the latest generations. Uninterrupted in its course, and boundless in its extent, it will not be limited by time or space. The earth is too narrow for the display of its effects and the accomplishment of its purposes. It points forward to an eternity. The great Redeemer will again appear upon the earth as the judge and ruler of it; will send forth His angels and gather His elect from the four winds; will abolish sin and death; will place the righteous forever in the presence of his God, of their God, of his Father, and their father."

"As the waters the depth of the blue ocean cover, So fully shall God among mortals be known; His word, like the sunbeams, shall range the world over, The globe His vast temple, and mercy His throne."

Christianity, though not persecuting, has been bitterly persecuted; yet it has triumphed--and triumphed, too, in spite of all its foes. Like Moses' bush, it was unconsumable by fire; and rose up amid the flames and prospered. And like the eagle--the imperial bird of storms--it will continue securely to soar amid every tempest. All attempts to impede its progress will be as powerless and vain as attempts to drive back the flowing tide with the point of a needle. When infidels can grasp the winds in their fists, hush the voice of the thunder by the breath of their mouth, suspend the succession of the seasons by their nod, and extinguish the light of the sun by a veil, then, and not till then, can they arrest the progress of truth or invalidate the verities of the Bible. Unwise and unhappy men! they are but plowing the air--striking with a straw--writing on the surface of the water--and seeking figs where only brambles grow.

And compare not the propagation of Mohammedanism with the propagation of Christianity; for it is useless, if not absurd. Suffice it to say that the former was propagated by fanaticism, falsehood, pandering to the passions, promising a voluptuous paradise, and the frequent use of the sword; but the latter by sanity, truth, restraining the passions, promising a pure and holy heaven, and the use of no other sword but the sword of the Spirit, that is, the word of God. Christianity came--saw--and conquered. And all her victories have been bloodless--of untold advantage to the vanquished themselves. They have desolated no country--produced no tears but to wipe them away--and broken no hearts but to heal them. Now to what is all this to be attributed? Can we reasonably ascribe the general reception of the Bible and the consequent spread of Christianity to anything short of divine power? Is it not unprecedented? "Could any books," says an able writer, "have undergone so fearful and prolonged an ordeal and achieved so spotless and perfect a triumph, unless they had been given and watched over by the Deity?"

_From its innumerable martyrs._ "If a person," says Dr. Jortin, "lays down his life for the name of Christ, or for what he takes to be the religion of Christ, when he might prolong his days by renouncing his faith, he must stand for a martyr in every reasonable man's calendar, though he may have been much mistaken in some of his opinions." It has been calculated that since Christianity arose, not less than fifty millions of martyrs have laid down their lives for its sake. Some were venerable for years; others were in the bloom of life; and not a few were of the weaker sex. They were, for the most part, well-instructed persons. Many were learned and respectable men; neither factious in their principles nor violent in their passions. They were neither wild in their notions, nor foolishly prodigal of their lives. This may safely be affirmed of such men as Polycarp and Ignatius, Jerome and Huss, Latimer and Cranmer, Ridley and Hooper, Philpot and Bradford, Lambert and Saunders, and many others. Yet these so valued the Bible, that, rather than renounce it, and relinquish the hopes it inspired, they yielded their bodies to be burnt, or otherwise tormented, and "rejoiced and clapped their hands in flames," or the like. "All that a man hath will he give for his life." All account life sweet and precious. No man of sense and understanding will sacrifice his life, when he can preserve it, but for some deeply rooted conviction of truth or duty. In this view, Christian martyrs are entitled to our respect and esteem. For, they gave the strongest proof of sincerity of their faith: and no suspicion of fraud can reasonably be entertained against them. "We conclude," says Dr. Jortin, "that they were assisted by God, who alleviated their pain, and gave them not only resignation and patience, but exultation and joy. And this wonderful behavior of the former Christians may justly be accounted a proof of the truth of the Bible, and our holy religion, and we should deserve to be blamed and despised if we parted with it, and gave it up tamely on account of a few objections." "No man," observes Dr. Beattie, "ever laid down his life for the honor of Jupiter, Neptune, or Apollo; but how many thousands have sealed their Christian testimony with their blood!" What a moral victory! And whence but from heaven such a religion, having such attestation?

Other arguments might be added tending to demonstrate the truth of our proposition; but surely, enough have been produced to establish the authority of the Bible on an immovable basis. "Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven. I esteem all Thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way." "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you."

"The proudest works of Genius shall decay, And Reason's brightest lustre fade away; The Sophist's art, the Poet's boldest flight, Shall sink in darkness, and conclude in night; But Faith triumphant over Time shall stand, Shall grasp the Sacred Volume in her hand; Back to its source the heavenly gift convey, Then in the flood of Glory melt away."

THE END.

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FOOTNOTES:

[23] The most ancient hieroglyphs, according to M. Pierret, which can be seen in an European museum, are those on the statues of Sefa and Nesa in the Louvre; they date from a period anterior to the fourth dynasty. The lintel of the door of the tomb of one of the priests of Senat, fifth King of the second dynasty in the Ashmolean Library, Oxford, exhibits, however, hieroglyphs of an earlier date.

[24] King James' Bible is that now commonly used in this country and Great Britain.

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