Treating the Word with Disrespect.
By Epsilon
SUPPOSE, reader, that you are in a large social gathering. There is also present a man who is a notorious tattler. He has often been convicted of downright falsehood, and his influence has created much variance, bitterness, and animosity among men. Another man approaches you for information on a subject on which you are well informed. Instead of telling him what you think, or would prefer, or what others say, you simply tell him what you positively know. By leaving out all hear-say and all belief founded on gleanings, and stating what you positively know to be fact, you give him the benefit of your personal knowledge. To evade the force of your words, he must either impeach your knowledge, or your veracity. But all present see by his manners that he is not satisfied with what you have said. By the manner in which he put the questions to you, it is plain to all present that he wanted you to say something that you would not say. There is an expression of dissatisfaction on his face, and with lips compressed in a manner which says, "I will have my way in spite of you," he turns to the tattler for information. There is something in his actions which all present understand as saying, "Here is a man that will talk as I would have him talk." After questioning the tattler, he turns to the company and begins to explain the subject at variance with what both yourself and the tattler has said, wresting both your words and his. Is not this a true picture of the way many teachers are treating the Bible? After using much cunning craftiness to extort from the Bible, "The 'first day of the week' is the 'Christian Sabbath,'" they turn with evident dissatisfaction to the great tattler, the writings of "the Fathers." In so doing they say, "We cannot extort from the Bible what we are determined to teach; but we can make the great tattler say almost anything." But the great tattler has been succeeded by other tattlers, that have suppressed some of his words, interpolated their own, and forged new books to his credit. The great tattler's words if pure and entire, would only be the testimony of a tattler. But having good evidence that these writings have passed through the hands of designing men, who have clipped, interpolated, forged, and destroyed writings, how must it appear in the sight of God and holy angels for teachers to array them against the Bible? Even in the days of the apostles professed Christians said, "There is no resurrection of the dead," and others placed the resurrection in the past. In the third epistle of John we learn that Diotrephes loved to have the pre-eminence in the church, and mistreated the aged apostle John, and other Christians. But has there not been even down to the present time many a Diotrephes? Such men must have things their own way in spite of John or other apostles. But, reader, what do you think of poor fallen man, when he is inspired by Satan and his angels? What wickedness will he not do? What deceptions will he not practice? What blindness is too dark for his ambitious aims? "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?" Isa. 2:22. "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help." Ps. 146:3. "I will delight myself in thy statutes; I will not forget thy word." Ps. 119:16. "I have chosen the way of truth; thy judgments have I laid before me." Ps. 119:30. "Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth." Ps. 119:142. "Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth." John 17:17. EPSILON.