How precious are the promises which the Bible contains for the use of those who love God! There is hardly any possible emergency or condition for which it has not some "word in season." And it tells men that God loves to be put in remembrance of these promises, and that if He has said He will do a thing, His promise shall certainly be performed.
How blessed are the hopes which the Bible holds out to the believer in Christ Jesus! Peace in the hour of death,--rest and happiness on the other side of the grave,--a glorious body in the morning of the resurrection,--a full and triumphant acquittal in the day of judgment,--an everlasting reward in the kingdom of Christ,--a joyful meeting with the Lord's people in the day of gathering together;--these, these are the future prospects of every true Christian. They are all written in the book,--in the book which is all true.
How striking is the light which the Bible throws on the character of man! It teaches =us= what men may be expected to be and do in every position and station of life. It gives us the deepest insight into the secret springs and motives of human actions, and the ordinary course of events under the control of human agents. It is the true "discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Heb. iv. 12.) How deep is the wisdom contained in the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes! I can well understand an old divine saying, "Give me a candle and a Bible, and shut me up in a dark dungeon, and I will tell you all that the whole world is doing."
All these are things which men could find nowhere except in the Bible. We have probably not the least idea how little we should know about these things if we had not the Bible. We hardly know the value of the air we breathe, and the sun which shines on us, because we have never known what it is to be without them. We do not value the truths on which I have been just now dwelling, because we do not realize the darkness of men to whom these truths have not been revealed. Surely no tongue can fully tell the value of the treasures this one volume contains. Well might old John Newton say that some books were _copper_ books in his estimation, some were _silver_, and some few were _gold_;--but the Bible alone was like a book all made up of _bank notes_.
This is the Book about which I address the reader of this paper this day. Surely it is no light matter _what you are doing with the Bible_. It is no light matter in what way you are using this treasure. I charge you, I summon you to give an honest answer to my question,--What art thou doing with the Bible?--Dost thou read it?--HOW READEST THOU?
IV. In the fourth place, _no book in existence has produced such wonderful effects on mankind at large as the Bible_.
(_a_) This is the Book whose doctrines turned the world upside down in the days of the Apostles.
Eighteen centuries have now passed away since God sent forth a few Jews from a remote corner of the earth, to do a work which according to man's judgment must have seemed impossible. He sent them forth at a time when the whole world was full of superstition, cruelty, lust, and sin. He sent them forth to proclaim that the established religions of the earth were false and useless, and must be forsaken. He sent them forth to persuade men to give up old habits and customs, and to live different lives. He sent them forth to do battle with the most grovelling idolatry, with the vilest and most disgusting immorality, with vested interests, with old associations, with a bigoted priesthood, with sneering philosophers, with an ignorant population, with bloody-minded emperors, with the whole influence of Rome. Never was there an enterprise to all appearance more Quixotic, and less likely to succeed!
And how did He arm them for this battle? He gave them no carnal weapons. He gave them no worldly power to compel assent, and no worldly riches to bribe belief. He simply put the Holy Ghost into their hearts, and the Scriptures into their hands. He simply bade them to expound and explain, to enforce and to publish the doctrines of the Bible. The preacher of Christianity in the first century was not a man with a sword and an army, to frighten people, like Mahomet,--or a man with a license to be sensual, to allure people, like the priests of the shameful idols of Hindostan. No! he was nothing more than one holy man with one holy book.