Jeremiah 15:16 Your words were found, and I did eat them; and your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by your name… The Bible may be compared to a medicine: man is the patient, misery is the disease, and the Scriptures are presented to us as a remedy. Are they such? I. THE TRUTH OF THIS PROPOSITION. 1. The Scriptures received into the mind remove the misery arising from remorse and the apprehension of punishment, and introduce into the heart the feeling of delight connected with reconciliation with God, a peaceful state of conscience, and the hope of everlasting life. A missionary was discoursing in one of the South Sea Islands to some of the inhabitants of those benighted regions, and this was his text, "God so loved the world," etc. The attention of one of the islanders was arrested: he began to interrogate the preacher. "What!" said he, "is that true? Is it so? Read that again!" The missionary read it a second time. (I heard the statement from his own lips.) "What! God so love us, as to send His Son to die for us! and are we to have everlasting life in the world to come — is that true?" "It is true," replied the preacher: "there is no ground whatever to question it." The man's mind was filled with amazement, and with sensations of repentance on account of sin, and wonder and joy on account of his salvation occupied his breast: he retired to weep, he retired to meditate, he retired to pray to God, and to praise his Creator's name. What happiness comes into the soul when the soul is assured of eternal life? 2. The Bible preserves us from the state of misery arising from bad and ungovernable passions, and introduces the delights connected with a holy state of heart. 3. The Bible received into the heart by faith turns the afflictions of life into real mercies, and renders them at once bearable and beneficial. 4. The Bible welcomed into the soul by faith removes the sting of death, and turns the monster from a dreadful curse into a blessing of no small magnitude. I was acquainted with a gentleman, many years ago; he was of a sceptical turn of mind, and, as a consequence, not very attentive to religion. He was following a very lucrative profession, and unexpectedly exhibited the symptoms of a fatal disease. He fully expected he should die in the course of a few months. He found no support in scepticism; none whatever. And the lash of conscience began, for having neglected the Scriptures, and not having fairly and candidly investigated their claims. This filled him with great remorse; for he felt that if the Bible should be true, he would certainly be condemned for his negligence and his want of candid examination. He resolved, as long as life should last, that he would study the sacred volume, and inquire into its claims. His health was restored to him, and after devoting all his leisure time, for about twelve months to reading the Scriptures, and books connected with them, and explanatory of them, and pointing out their claims and their evidences, the result was a firm conviction, that the Bible was from God. He was induced then to begin to act upon it. He went abroad; he was one night in the river Ganges, and suddenly, while fast asleep, a cry was raised that the boat was sinking; and so it was — there were holes in the keel, and the stern of the boat was brought under water in the night season by the men, who went and slept, and the boat was gradually filling, and in a few minutes more all would have sunk like a stone or lead to the bottom of the river. His first impression was, I have not an hour to live. There was a tumultuous feeling in his mind, yet had he sufficient composure to reflect upon the difference of his feelings then, and what they were when he anticipated death some years prior. His impression and conviction was, that he should be in heaven in an hour; and oh! the support of the Gospel in that moment. Subsequently, he was seized with the Asiatic cholera, and life was in suspense. Similar support was again experienced. A Brahmin was by his side; and he took occasion to say, Now you see the support, that the Christian experiences in the season of extremity: my life is in suspense: for me to live is Christ; for me to die is gain." II. SOME OBJECTIONS WHICH STAND IN THE WAY OF ITS PRACTICAL ADOPTION. There are some who will not, like Jeremiah, "eat" the words of God — that will not receive Him into their heart; therefore they do not share in this holy joy. Some will say, "I cannot wholly satisfy my mind that this book is from God: I have doubts, and doubts which amount to what is considerable; so that I cannot enjoy the book in consequence of these sceptical ideas. How should I get rid of them?" I would say, in order to get rid of these doubts act conscientiously: do not act in a manner inconsistent with what you believe to be the will of God: do not live in wilful sin. "If any man will do the will of My Father, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God." So said Christ. Act according to your own conscientious views of holiness, and you will find scepticism disappear. Let me entreat you to read the Bible, read the whole of it, if you are troubled with sceptical thoughts. Dr. Johnson said that no honest man could be a deist, if he had had opportunity to study the evidence: if he read through the evidence, and through the Bible, he could not continue a deist, as the evidence was so clear and so conclusive. Hume's name was mentioned to him, that he disbelieved the Bible. Dr. Johnson replied, "Hume, I know, made the confession to a clergyman in the bishopric of Durham, that he had never read the New Testament carefully." There are some sceptics who read a little here and a little there; but they do not get a complete view of the subject; and they read rather to find something to object to, something they may lay hold of. The conduct of such men has been compared to that of the Athenian, who had a palace to be sold by auction: he took a brick out of one of the walls of the palace, and at the auction mart he said, "Here is a sample of my palace." How absurd! A brick out of the wall to be a sample. But so some men take here a text and there a text — a brick taken out of the wall — and what do they know about the entire edifice? Give the Bible throughout a candid and complete perusal; and read books which are explanatory, written in a spirit of candour and intelligence. But let me add, to put your sceptical thoughts to flight, I think you will find prayer to be the most powerful thing of all, and the most rapid way to scatter your doubts. "He hath the witness in himself." When a man begins to pray to God, God answers him, if he prays sincerely, and God gives him a new heart and makes him a new man. Then he begins to argue in this way, "Why the Bible has changed my heart, the Bible has made me holy, the Bible has made me happy; what want I with further witness? (H. Townley.) Parallel Verses KJV: Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts. |
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