Guide to the Oracles

GUIDE THE ORACLES; OB, THE BIBLE STUDENT'S VADE-MECUM. ALFRED NEVIN. if D.D., AUTHOR OP :i SPIRITUAL PROGRESSION," " CHURCnES OP THE VALLEY," ETC. I ■will Dot forget thy word. — P$. cxix. 16. This lamp, from off the everlasting throDe, Mercy took down, and in the night of time Stood, casting on the dark her gracious bow, And evermore beseeching men with tears And earnest sighs, to hear, believe, and live. POLLOK. LEWISBURO, PA.: WILLIAM MURRAY. LANCASTER : SHEAFFER & YOUNG. 1 858. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by MURRAY, YOUNG A CO, In the CUsrk's Office of tho District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. STEREOTYPED BY J. PAQAX, PHILADELPHIA. THIS VOLUME 10 SEPTIMUS TUSTIN, D.D., Or WASHINGTON CUT, BX-CHArLAIN OF THE SENATE OP THE UNITED STATES, AS AN EXPRESSION OF THB AUTHOR'S PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL REGARD. (iii) PREFACE. " Vessels of moderate draught." says the author of a re cent and valuable work on " The Evidences of Christianity," " may go up the tributary streams of public thought, and may deal advantageously with the minds of men, where others of heavier tonnage could never reach." In this fact the follow ing pages find whatever apology or warrant they require for their publication. They are not intended for learned theo logians, or for students of Biblical science who have access to large libraries, but for Sabbath-school and Bible-class teachers and scholars, and others who feel the need, as it is believed many do, of a convenient and compendious volume, to which they can at any time turn for information to aid them in understanding and defending the Word of God. They have been prepared to serve in this direction as a manual, to which recourse can be had with confidence and comfort, for explana tions which might be found elsewhere, but only after research involving a greater expenditure of time and means. By this avowal of their design it is hoped they will be judged. It is but just to state that, in the construction of the work, everything has been brought to bear upon its object within the author's reach. Anxious to make the " Guide" as tho rough and complete as due regard to its purpose and popular character would admit, he has brought himself under obliga tion " much every way" to others, whose labors have been bestowed upon the same region of inquiry and instruction. From the productions of some of them he has transferred to his own, both in substance and form, a great deal which could 1* (v) vi PREFACE. not have been omitted without loss, or altered with any im provement. This general and grateful acknowledgment of indebtedness is designed to look with speciality to the " Scrip ture Help," from the pen of the Rev. Edward Bickersteth, which reached the seventeenth London edition, and was re published in this country in 1833, — as well as to another little work, entitled " Bible Remembrancer," which has also an English author, (Rev. Ingram Cobbin), and which, so far as is known, has never been issued from the American press. It is scarcely necessary to say, that the " Vade-Mecum" has nothing sectarian in it, except as this may be affirmed of the cardinal doctrines of the Scriptures, in the reception and maintenance of which all the evangelical branches of the Christian Church agree. With some who may be kind enough to look into the volume, this may be an objection to it, but to others it will probably prove an attraction. The lines of Cowper are applicable now, as well as when they wero written : — "Were love, in these the world's last doting years, As frequent as the want of it appears, The churches warmed, they would no longer hold Such frozen figures, stiff as they are cold; Relenting forma would lose their power, or cease, And e'en the dipped and sprinkled live in peace ; Each heart would quit its prison in the breast, And flow in free communion with the rest." The truthfulness and force of these sentiments, praised be the Lord ! are now beginning to be perceived, and felt by the followers of the Lamb. God's dear people are coming to realize that it is what they agree in, that makes them Chris tians, and what they differ about, that makes them sectarians, as well as to look with a more solemn and searching eye upon their Saviour's " Holy prayer, His tenderest and his last," — PREFACE. " That they all may be one ; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." They are awaking to the folly, mingled with guilt, of magnifying the separating bars between them, while they are minifying the bonds which should make them cohere. They are becoming inclined to yield more, in a spiritual sense, to the centripetal, and less to the centrifugal, force which is bearing upon them, and thus approximating their common center, they are coming nearer to one another. While they appreciate and guard, as they should, until a more excellent way is indicated, their several denominational organizations and formulas, they are getting ashamed of the too just reproach, that — " With zeal wo watch, And weigh the doctrine, while the spirit 'scapes, And in the carving of our cummin-seeds, Our metaphysical hair-splittings, fail To note the orbit of that star of love Which never sets." This tendency the author freely confesses he would much rather take the responsibility of helping than hindering, and hence, if any regrets should be felt by his friends as to the wholly unsectarian character of the work, it is certain that he will be troubled with none himself. It may only be added that some of the chapters on distinc tive peculiarities of the Bible, here given, were originally furnished as communications to a religious journal, but in their present form have been enlarged, and perhaps improved. With all its imperfections, the volume is sent forth under the implored blessing of Him who receives the feeblest tribute to His praise, and every well-meant effort in His service, and whom it is man's chief end to glorify and enjoy for ever. Thus attended and endorsed, may it prove at least to some, into whose possession it may come, a useful companion to the " Book Divine," which, it should never be forgotten, is viii PREFACE. best understood and most loved, when read in the spirit of the prayer prefixed to some editions of the early English ver sions of it : — "0 gracious God and most merciful Father, which hast vouchsafed us the rich and precious jewel of thy Holy Word, assist us by the Spirit, that it may be written in our hearts, to our everlasting comfort, to reprove us, to renew us, accord ing to thine own image, to build us up, and edify us, unto the perfect building of thy Christ, sanctifying and increasing in us all heavenly virtues. Grant this, 0 Heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen." Lancaster, Aug. 25lh, 1857. CONTENTS. Paob The Preservation of the Bible. — The treatment of the Bible by its enemies — now printed on the press used by Voluire and the French Institute to disseminate their infidelity — question in regard to it at a dinner-party in Edinburgh — it has not even been diluted by tke lapse of ages — as the truth of Qod it shall never expire 13 The Unity of the Bible. — When, where, and by whom it was written — its agreement with itself in the account of facts nar rated — the unity of its representations of religious truth — har mony existing between the Old and New Testaments — what this unity proves 19 The Freshness of the Bible. — Anecdote of Queen Elizabeth — the Bible wisely made as a field and not as a garden— testi monies of its inexhaustibleness from Cecil, Le Clerc, Bishop Horne, John Newton, Dr. Arnold, and Robert Hall 38 Silence of the Bible. — Silence sometimes more significant than speech — Bible like sun-dial teaches by its shadow as well as its light — it is silent as to God's existence, heaven, <tc. — does not minister to human curiosity — its boldness in stating where it cannot fully explain is indicative of its inspiration 35 The Avoidances of the Bible. — Illustration from a company of navigators — sacred writers might have committed themselves to some wrong theory — they always held fast the spiritual idea — they avoided extravagance in style, any effort to conceal each other's infirmities and sins, and any attempt to explain the mystery of the Divine Nature 40 The Literature of the Bible. — Opinions of Milton, Sir Mat thew Hale, Hon. Robert Boyle, Sir William Jones, and Rous seau — the Bible's history — its laconic maxims and rules — its parables — its narratives — its incidents of travel — its poetry — the aid it has rendered in this species of composition — nothing but its religious character prevents its universal and unbounded admiration 44 The Bible — the Patriot's Book. — Patriotism accounted for — the mere diffusion of knowledge not sufficient for a nation's prosperity — nor that morality which is the deduction of human reason — nor laws — the Bible alone can produce and preserve national freedom and happiness — opinions of Perrier, Washing ton, and Dugald Stewart 51 z CONTENTS. Paqe The Mysteriousness of the Bible. — Infidels object to the Scriptures in a wrong spirit — had there been no difficulties this would have been carped at — a book for the world must have secrets — there is mystery in every thing— there is a necessity for mysteries 60 The Bible's Triumph over Scrutiny.

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