AS the Bible speaks the first word about man, so it utters the last. Nowhere else can we learn of his destiny: no man knows what will come after death but those who have this divine revelation, in which are taught the Alpha and Omega of everything. God is not only the sublimest, but the most indispensable object of knowledge; yet of God man is most ignorant. He knows but little of himself, but far less of God.
Consider the notions of God held by the greatest of the heathen philosophers. They did not know whether there was one God or many; whether there was a Supreme Deity who made the world, or whether all the gods were themselves created beings: whether He was blind fate, or subject to human passions: whether religion and virtue were closely united or entirely separated.
Amid this babel, listen to the clarion voice of the inspired Word, which tells us there is but One only, the living and true God: that He made all things for Himself: that His providence is over the works of His hands. It is only in the Bible that God proclaims Himself “merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.” Here, only, do we learn that “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” From nothing but the study of this Book could have been derived the statement that “God is a Spirit,” infinite, eternal, unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Thus it is that God has magnified His Word above all His name. Creation, providence, and conscience proclaim His majesty and glory, but the Word reveals His inmost heart.
The Bible is that immortal Word of God; though it may be obscured at times by the mist of human error, by the fog of human doubt, by the storm of human passion, it remains fixed and immovable. The polar star may be hidden from our view by the exhalations of earth, by clouds in the sky, by the black wings of the tempest, but these pass away, and the great sentinel of the heavens still beams upon us with celestial radiance. In like manner, amid the gloom of sin, folly, and doubt, this divine luminary enlightens the world.