Thoughtful Moments

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 23, 12 November 1943, Page 2

Thoughtful Moments

(Supplied by the Whakatono Ministers' Association).

TRIBUTES TO THE BIBLE

By Men of Distinction

William Ewart Gladstone: Undoubtedly Hit* :ibk\st statesman of the British Empire during the. past century, and who, from liis preparatory <-:-hool days, and from liis 'OxCord University days was an indusslrJous student of the Bible, gave I liis striking testimony to the vigour of the Bible: "What crisis, what trouble, what perplexity. lias failed, oi can fail to draw from this indescribable treasure-house its proper supply? What profession, what position, is not daily and hourly enriched by these words which repetition never weakens; which earr\ with them now, as in the days ol their first utterance, the freshness of youth and immortality." In the stress and storm of liis political career he found the Bible to be an unfailing light to liis path.

Abraham Lincoln: "I ;im profit;ih!y engaged in reading the Bible. Take all of this Book upon reason that you can and the balance on j':;itli.. and you will live and die a better man." Lord Macaul<ay: "A. person who professes to be a critic in the delicacies of the Knglish language ought to have the Bible at his lingers' ends." Matthew Arnold: "The Bible is the only book well enough known to quote a.s the Greeks quoted. Homer, sure that the quotation would go home to every reader." Martin Luther: "Would that this one Book were in every language* h> every land, before the eyes, and in the ears and hearts of all men! Scripture without comment is the sun whence all teachers receive their light," Robert Louis Stevenson: "Written in t!ie Kast, these characters live for ever in the West; written i i one province, they pervade the world: penned in rude times, they are prized more and more as civilisation advances; product of antiquity, they come home to the busi-r.of-s and bosoms of men, women and children in modern days. Then is it uii exaggeration to say that the 'characters of Scripture are a marvel of the mind'?" Johni Wesley: "1 want to know one thing—the way to heaven how to land sale on that happy shore. Clod Himself has condescended to teach the way. He hath Avritten it down in a book. () give me that Book! At any pricti give me that book of Clod! I have it: here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be a. man of one book." Adolph Saphir: Scripture, the Jewish Word, is the universal Book, The most cultivated nations bow before it, and learn as docile child-

OUR SUNDAY MESSAGE

ren from its inexhaustible pages; to the rudest tribes light and. love are l)iought from its, simple and powerful declarations. While kin.lis and philosophers lind wisdom and counsel in this inspired volume-, it i.s the companion of the artisan and meichant. the comfort of the widow, and the instructor of the unlettered and uneducated. There is no age oi man when it is not suitable. It gives milk to baben guidance to the young, strength to men, and consolation to the aged. Queen Victoria: An African prince sent an embassage with costly pre- j suits to Queen Victoria, and asked her to tell him, in return, the .secret of England's glory. She. sent him. not the number of her. fleet, not the number of her armiesi. not the account of her boundless merchandise, not the details of her inexhaustible wealth. She did not, like King Ilezekiah. in an evil hour, show | the ambassador- her diamonds, her je wels and her ornaments, but, handling him a beautifully bound copy oi; the Bible, she said: "Tell the Prince that this is the secret of England's greatness." William Lyon Phelps: "I thoroughly believe in a university education Cor both men and women; but Ii believe a knowledge of the Bible without a college course is more valuable than a college course Avithout the Bible." Samuel Taylor Coleridge: '"For more than a thousand years the liibie, collectively taken, has gone hand, in hand with civilisation, scicree. law —in short, with the moral and intellectual cultivation of the species, always supporting and often leading the way." Isaac Newton: "We account the Scriptures of God to b«j the most sublime philosophy." Arthur Brisbane, editor of the New York American, commenting recently on the newspaperman's need, of •knowledge of the Bible as an essential part of his equipment, said : "Every newspaperman needs the Bible, ('hurches need the useful pub-, licity of newspapers, and receive, less of it than is their due." A. writer or editor should know the English language. The Bible in the best teacher of English. Job and, Isaiah could do more to correct the deplorable weakness and carelessness of newspaper English than all other teachers" combined. The chapter in which Job curses his day contains energy enough to supply forty solemn editors for a month. The beauty and power in Isaiah will pull any tired writer from his rut of repetition, making him realise what power there i.s in words. Newspapermen read the Bible, because it supplies them with arguments. complete, convincing, not to !ie answered. .