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The Bible

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Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jul 22, 1875

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 1, No. 37.

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The Bible.

Who composed the following description of the Bible we may never know. It was found in Westminister Abbey, nameless and dateless, but nevertheless it is invaluable for its wise and wholesome counsel to the race of Adam.
A nation would be truly happy if it were governed by no other laws than those of this blessed book.
It contains every thing needful to be known or done.
It gives instruction to a senate, authority and directions to a magistrate.
It cautions a witness, requires an impartial verdict of a jury, and furnishes the judge with his sentence.
It sets the husband as the lord of his household, and wife as mistress of the table—tells him how to rule, and her how to manage.
It entails honor to parents, and enjoins obedience on children.
It prescribes and limits the sway of the sovereign, the rule of the ruler, and the authority of the master: commands the subjects to honor and the servant to obey, and the blessings and the protection of the Almighty to all that walk by this rule.
It gives directions for weddings and burials.
It promises food and raiment, and limits the use of both.
It points out a faithful and eternal Guardian to the departing husband and father; tells him with whom to leave his fatherless children, and whom his widow is to trust—and promises a father to the former, and a husband to the latter.
It teaches a man to set his house in order, and how to make his will; it appoints a dowry for his wife, and entails the rights of the first-born, and shows how the young branches shall be left.
It defends the right of all, and reveals vengeance to every defaulter, overreacher, and trespasser.
It is the first book, the best book.
It contains the choicest matter, gives the best instruction, affords the greatest degree of pleasure and satisfaction, that we have ever enjoyed.
It contains the best laws and most profound mysteries that were ever penned; and it brings the very best comforts to the inquiring and disconsolate.
It is a brief recital of all that is to come.
It settles all matters in debate, resolves all doubts, and eases the mind and conscience of all their scruples.
It reveals the only living and true God, and shows the way to him, and sets aside all other gods, and describes the vanity of them and all that trust in such; in short, it is a book of laws, to show right and wrong; of wisdom, that condemns a folly and makes the foolish wise; a book of truth, that detects all lies and confronts all errors: and it is a book of life, that shows the way from everlasting death.
It contains the most ancient antiquities and strange events; wonderful occurrences, heroic deeds, unparalleled war.
It describes the celestial, terrestrial, and infernal worlds, and the origin of the angelic myriads, the human tribes, and the devilish legions.
It will instruct the accomplished mechanic and most profound critic.
It teaches the best rhetorician, and exercises every power of the most skillful arithmetician, puzzles the wisest anatomist, and exercises the wisest critic.
It is the best covenant that ever was agreed on; the best deed that ever was sealed; the best that will ever be signed.