The Riches of Revelation.
By Joseph Parker
REVELATION enriches us with truths which reason never could have discovered, but which, being given, reason can accept without loss of dignity or remission of responsibility. To me the Bible is a divine revelation—a revelation of God, Providence, sin, atonement, faith, immortality. The Bible is not a book containing a revelation; it is a revelation. We assume an immense responsibility in claiming that any book is a final and authoritative standard in faith and morals. We place the book itself in an awful position. We separate it from all other books; we make skeptical criticism a profane offense, and devout obedience an essential element of spiritual character. The mind has simply to receive, the will has simply to obey, the heart has simply to trust. The book is to us verily as God Himself. There is only one book in the world which can prove the inspiration of the Bible, and that is the Bible itself. Let the Bible speak for itself. When inquirers come with their questions, objections, and difficulties, insist, as a condition of conference, that the Book itself be read thru and thru from end to end until the inquirer is thoroly acquainted with its contents. That reading will do its own work. That reading has made me an unquestioning and grateful believer in the plenary inspiration, the divine authority, and the infinite sufficiency of Holy Scripture; and therefore I can the more earnestly and definitely encourage others to impose upon themselves the sacred task. I now know that the Bible is inspired. It addresses itself to every aspect and every necessity of my nature; it is my own biography.—Dr. Joseph Parker.