"My Word shall not Pass Away"--Printing the Revised Version in Chicago--Circulation of the Bible.
CHRIST speaking of the law, said: "One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law until all be fulfilled." In another place He said: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Word shall not pass away." Now, let us keep in mind that the only Scripture the apostles and Christ had was the Old Testament. The New Testament was not written. I will put that as the old and new covenant. "One jot or tittle of the law shall in no wise pass away until all be fulfilled,"--the old covenant; and then Christ comes and adds these words: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Word shall not pass away,"--the new covenant. Now, notice how that has been fulfilled. There was no short-hand reporter following Him around taking down His words; there were no papers to print the sermons, and they wouldn't have printed His sermons if there had been any daily papers--the whole church and all the religious world were against Him. I can see one of your modern free-thinkers standing near Him, and he hears Christ say: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Word shall not pass away." I see the scornful look on his face as he says: "Hear that Jewish peasant talk! Did you ever hear such conceit, such madness? He says Heaven and earth shall pass away, but his Word shall not pass away." My friend, I want to ask you this question--have they passed away? Do you know that the sun has shone on more Bibles to-day than ever before in the history of the world? There have been more Bibles printed in the last ten years than in the first eighteen hundred years. They tried in the dark ages to chain it, and keep it from the nations, but God has preserved it, and the British and American Bible Societies print thousands of Bibles every day. One house in New York has sold one hundred thousand Oxford Bibles during the last year.