Its Sufficiency and Supremacy
Let us meditate for a time on the value of the Bible. This we consider needful, just now, when not only are many doctrines of the Bible set aside, but even the divine authority and sufficiency of the Bible itself boldly called in question, and that, too, in quarters where we should least have expected such things. We, therefore, proceed to state, very simply, what we believe in reference to the Bible, and also what we feel with respect to those who presume to tamper with its sacred pages. We do not by any means, undertake the task of silencing the skeptic or the infidel. We leave such work to abler hands; but we believe we ought to raise our voice in testimony to the incomparable excellencies of that book which our God has graciously given us to be “A lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path,” and which, as being a divine revelation, must needs be adapted to all ages, all conditions, and all climes.
Some, we are aware, would fain persuade us that things are so totally changed since the Bible was penned, that we need other guidance than that which its precious pages supply. They tell us that society is not what it was; that the human race has made progress; that there has been such a development of the powers of nature, the resources of science, and the appliances of philosophy, that to maintain the sufficiency and supremacy of the Bible, at such a point in the world’s history as the nineteenth century of the Christian era, can only be regarded as child shyness ignorance or imbecility.
Now, the men that tell us these things may be very clever and very learned; but we have no hesitation whatever in telling them that, in this matter, “they do greatly err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.” We certainly do desire to render all due respect to learning, genius and talent, whenever we find them in their right place, and at their proper work; but when we find them lifting their proud heads above the Word of God; when we find them sitting in judgment, and casting a slur upon that peerless revelation, we feel that we owe them no respect whatever; yea, we treat them as so many agents of the devil, in his efforts to shake those eternal pillars on which the faith of God’s elect has ever rested. We cannot listen, for a moment, to men, however profound in their reading and thinking, who dare to treat God’s Book as though it were man’s book, and speak of those pages that were penned by the All-wise, Almighty and Eternal God, as though they were the production of a shallow and short-sighted mortal.
It is important that the reader should see clearly that men must either deny that the Bible is the Word of God, or admit its sufficiency and supremacy in all ages, and in all countries—in all stages and conditions of the human rate. Grant us but this, that God has written a book for man’s guidance, and we argue that that book must be amply sufficient for man, no matter when, where, or how we find him.
This, surely, is enough. To be perfect, and thoroughly furnished, must needs render a man independent of all the boasted powers of science and philosophy, falsely so called.
We are quite aware that, in writing thus, we expose ourselves to the sneer of the learned rationalist, and the polished and cultivated philosopher. But we are not very careful about, this.
We greatly admire the answer of a pious, but, no doubt, very ignorant woman to some very learned man who was endeavoring to show her that the inspired writer had made a mistake in asserting that Jonah was in the whale’s belly. He assured her that such a thing could not possibly be, inasmuch as the natural history of the whale proved that it could not swallow anything so large.
“Well,” said the poor woman, “I do not know much about natural history, but this I know, that if the Bible were to tell me that Jonah swallowed the whale, I would believe it.”
Now, it is quite possible that many would pronounce this poor woman to have been under the influence of ignorance and blind credulity; but, for our part, we should rather be the ignorant woman, confiding in God’s Word, than the learned rationalist picking holes in it. We have no doubt as to who was in the safer position.
But let it not be supposed that we prefer ignorance to learning. Let none imagine that we despise the discoveries of science, or treat with contempt the achievements of sound philosophy. Far from it. We honor them highly in their proper sphere, and every effort put forth to preserve, to unfold, to illustrate and to enforce the precious truth of Scripture, we most highly esteem; but, on the other hand, when we find men making use of their learning, their science, and their philosophy, for the purpose of undermining the sacred edifice of divine revelation, we deem it our duty to raise our voices, in the clearest and strongest, way, against them, and to warn our readers, most solemnly, against their baneful influence.
We believe that the Bible, as written in the original Hebrew and Greek languages, is the very word of the only wise and the only true God, with whom one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, who saw the end from the beginning, and not only the end, but every stage of the way. We therefore hold it to be nothing short of positive blasphemy to assert that we have arrived at a stage of our career in which the Bible is not sufficient, or that we are compelled to travel outside its covers to find ample guidance and instruction for the present moment, and for every moment of our earthly pilgrimage. The Bible is a perfect chart in which every exigency of the Christian mariner has been anticipated. Every rock, every sand bank, every shoal, every strand, every island, has been carefully noted down. All the need of the church of God, its members, and its ministers, has been most fully provided for.
How could it be otherwise, if we admit the Bible to be the Word of God? Could the mind of God have devised, or His finger sketched an imperfect chart? Impossible. We must either deny the divinity, or admit the sufficiency of The Book. We are absolutely shut up to this alternative. There is not so much as a single point between these two positions. If the book is incomplete, it cannot be of God; if it be of God, it must be perfect. But if we are compelled to betake ourselves to other sources for guidance and instruction, as to the path of the church of God, its members or its ministers, then is the Bible incomplete, and, being such, it cannot be of God at all.
What then, dear reader, are we to do? Whither can we betake ourselves? If the Bible be not a divine and therefore all-sufficient guidebook, what remains? Some will tell us to have recourse to tradition. Alas! what a miserable guide. No sooner have we launched out into the wide field of tradition, than our ears are assailed by ten thousand strange and conflicting sounds. We meet, it may be, with a tradition which seems very authentic, very venerable, well worthy of respect and confidence, and we commit ourselves to its guidance; but, directly we have done so, another tradition crosses our path, putting forth quite as strong claims on our confidence, and leading us in quite an opposite direction. Thus it is with tradition. The mind is bewildered, and one is reminded of the assembly at Ephesus concerning which we read that, “Some cried one thing, and some another; for the assembly was confused.” The fact is, we want a perfect standard, and this can only be found in a divine revelation, which, as we believe, is to be found within the covers of our most precious Bible. What a boon! What a treasure! How we should bless God for it! How we should praise His name for His mercy in that He hath not left His church dependent upon the ignis fatuus of human tradition, but upon the steady light of divine revelation! We do not want tradition to assist revelation, but we use revelation as the test of tradition. We should just as soon think of bringing out a searchlight to assist the sun’s meridian beams, as of calling in human tradition to aid divine revelation.
(To be Continued)