Its Own Best Evidence by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 1, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 37.

Its Own Best Evidence.

By Editor

WHEN a skeptic expressed a wish to examine the evidences of the inspiration of the Bible, and asked what book on that subject he should read, his friend promptly advised him to read the Bible. He thought he was not understood; and as the Bible was the subject to be investigated, he again asked what work on the inspiration or credibility of the Bible he should read. And again he was told to read the Bible. The reason given for this advice is, that they who oppose the Bible seldom know much about the Bible. The advice was taken, and the skeptic—an able lawyer—was converted to the faith of the Holy Scriptures before he got past the twentieth chapter of Exodus. Indeed, this chapter was the turning-point; the completeness of the moral law carried conviction to his heart, thus proving the words of the psalmist, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul."

The method pursued with this skeptic we heartily indorse. No book of "evidences" has evidences equal to those which the Bible itself contains. The following is from the account of a Protestant laborer in Paris:—

I go as often as possible to the clubs, where, besides grotesque insanities, odious blasphemies are uttered. I succeed sometimes in getting the floor. I am not permitted to speak long; and what I say, I can utter only amidst a horrible din. But I thus come in contact with simple and misguided souls, and am able to do them good. I found myself in one of these meetings, by the side of an honest workman who wore the insignia of Free Thought—L. P.—Libio Pense—and who asked me whether I also was a Free Thinker.

"No," I answered him, "I am a Protestant pastor." Oh, a Protestant pastor, he rejoined, quite astonished. "I like the Protestants; but I don't like their book, the Bible."

"Have you read it?"

"No, but I know that it is an immoral book."

"If it was immoral you would have read it."

"Ho! how do you know that?"

"Because I know the human heart. I am sure you have read all the realistic novels of the day."

"Why, yes."

"Very well! take this Bible, I offer it to you gratuitously. Read some pages of it. I will meet you here again to-morrow night, and you will let me know what conclusion you have come to."

The next day my friend was there. "We must never judge of things which we don't know," said he to me. "This book is good. I want them to read it at my house." I asked permission to go and see him at his house, where I found his wife also very happy to possess "so good a book." I exhorted them not merely to declare that the book was good, but to realize its contents and power in their lives, in order to exhibit its excellence to those who surrounded them. All this house now serves the Lord, and has already become the light of two neighboring families which also belonged to the society of Free-Thought, which they have hastily abandoned.

We have known infidels—reading, intelligent infidels—who had stood for years against the arguments and evidences of able authorities, yield up all their infidelity on hearing a few discourses on the fulfillment of the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation. The best antidote for infidelity that we have ever known is the preaching of the "present truth;" and this because it is the present truth, and opens the Bible more clearly to the understanding than does any other system of "divinity."

In this position we are sustained by the words of our Saviour himself. In a parable in Luke 16, a request is made to "father Abraham" to send Lazarus from the dead to convince certain ones of their errors, and to lead them to avoid the consequences thereof. Abraham is made to reply: "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." But another kind of evidence was still insisted on: "Nay, father Abraham; but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent." Then comes the important answer: "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." This is no hyperbole—no strong expression to point a moral—but a plain statement of a plain fact. In proof of this we notice two facts:—

1. Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, was raised from the dead. Did this convince the enemies of Jesus of his Messiahship? Did they then yield to his claims as being sent from God? Not at all. It was not a question of proof with them; it was a question of the will. Their intellect could not yield, because their hearts would not yield. Instead of acknowledging their error, they sought to destroy the evidence which stood against them. "But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus." John 12:10, 11. Jesus had told them that they would believe him if they had had faith in the writings of Moses. John 5:46, 47. And Paul said that they had condemned Christ because they knew not the voices of the prophets. Acts 13:27. The words of Christ proved to be literally and strictly true; if they would not hear Moses and the prophets, no kind of evidence would move them; they would not believe even though one rose from the dead.

We notice in all the New Testament that "the Scriptures," words of Moses and the prophets, are the last and sole resort of all the writers and speakers. "It is written," was the end of all controversy. If any rejected the teachings of the Scriptures, no effort was made to convince them by other means. They evidently had the same estimate of the power and sufficiency of the sacred writings that the Saviour presented in Luke 16. The Scriptures were recognized as the word of the Lord. To reject the Scriptures is to reject the word of the living God; and if they will not believe him, to whom will they listen? How shall the heart be reached if it turns away from the words of the Holy Spirit.

In addition to the above we may cite the case of our Saviour in meeting the Sadducees when they reasoned against the resurrection. His answer was: "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." He appealed neither to philosophy nor science; nor did he reason to make it appear possible or plausible to their understanding of things. These have nothing to do with the question. It rests altogether on the divine veracity and the divine power. The Scriptures—the word of God—say the dead will rise from the dust of the earth where they are sleeping; and the power of God is sufficient to fulfill his word. If any doubt either the Scriptures or the power of God, then they may doubt the resurrection; but not otherwise. They who believe the Scriptures, they who trust the power of God, who created man of the dust of the earth, must believe that he will restore him though he is returned to the earth; they must believe that "thy dead men shall live;" that they will be redeemed from the power of the grave.

Who realizes the value of that precious, heavenly gift, the Bible? "The words of the Lord are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." Ps. 12:6.

It may be further noticed that all these testimonies to the value of the Scriptures, are so many indorsements of the Old Testament in this dispensation. They who reject the Old Testament, as many blindly do, must reject all the testimonies of Christ and his apostles in favor of "the Scriptures," for they referred always and only to the Old Testament when they spoke of the Scriptures. The New Testament without the Old is but a partial revelation of God's work to man. The New rests upon the Old as its strong support, its infallible witness. "Every word of God is pure; he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him." Prov. 30:5.