--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Morris, Nephi L. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 1 number: 6 published: 1898-04 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Nephi L. Morris, "Bible Studies, Concluded," *Improvement Era* 1, no. 6 (April 1898): 412–418.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera16unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera16unse start_page: 412 end_page: 418 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1898-04) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera16unse publication_year: 1898 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1898, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Bible Studies, Concluded BIBLE STUDIES, {Concluded). BY NEPHI L. MORRIS. VI. In this the concluding article of the series, we shall con- sider the very wonderful recommendation which the Bible prove its own value and divine authority, or itself carries to the witness of the book itself. It is possible that some of our readers may not consider themselves Bible believers, others may have once held a timid faith, but as a result of previous learning, have made an exchange of ignorance for that which is another kind of ignorance, and declare themselves dis- believers. To such we have a few observations to submit for their honest and straightforward consideration. And to those whose faith in the Bible is "as fixed as polar star," these same thoughts may have some interest. Before going into the real matter itself, pause a moment and permit this thought, with its full weight, to rest upon the mind; after having existed for more than three thousand years, this set of old documents now called the Bible, always open to scrutiny and question, have been accepted as of divine origin; and they have been yielded to by men as an authority to guide their conduct and impose on them commands, often disagreeable to themselves; and this acceptance and obedi- ence has been chiefly amongst the most thoughtful and highly cultured nations of the world; and this, mark you, has been go- ing on, age after age, steadily increasing and never in any age has it made such marvellous progress as in this cultured, en- lightened, all-questioning nineteenth century. — BIBLE STUDIES. 413 This is a wonderful history to be told of a number of old writings,coming from various men, and for the most part, unlearned and unlettered men, written too at different times and in different places. And we must not fail to mention that the time of composition and authorship of many of these books are absolutely unknown to us. In some cases we do not know the cause of their origin, or how they assumed their present form; and yet, strange enough, we can not reach back into history to a time when they were not regarded by man with a sacredness and reverence which placed them as being superior to any merely human productions. And no miracle is claimed in their production; they came through human hands in each particular case. Yet, there they are, like one golden thread, running through the whole fabric of human history. Whence came this wonderful book? How came it possessed of such sovereign, self-asserting authority? Remember this book does not rest upon any "formal de- cision of external authority," on no decree of church council, or pope or prelate, saint or synod; no, not even on the au- thority of the Lord Jesus himself; for before he came for ages they stood testifying of him, and pleading with, and pointing out to a darkened and dying world, the way to light and life. They were accepted as of divine origin for many generations before they were compiled into a fixed volume or collection. Some may say that the Great Synagogue col- lected the Old Testament writings and fixed its canon. But when? Somewhere about the time of the Lord when the books had been for centuries recognized as of divine origin. And the same with the New Testament; its canon was formed centuries after the writings had been recognized as possessing divine authority. "It was not these being collected into a Bible that made them of authority, but rather the fact of their possessing authority made them be collected into a Bible." Again we ask, what gave them that authority? There seems to be but one answer, and that is they possessed it of themselves. By their own resistless power they commanded the position they have so long occupied. There is in them a voice that speaks to and will be heard by the heart and soul of man. There is in man a divinity, and when the divine voice speaks to it it, must respond. And it is this higher, nobler, and purer self in man, that has placed the scriptures high upon the altar of his soul's reverence, and given to the Bible the eminence it occupies. A Christian may say that he believes in the Old Testa- ment on the authority of the Lordand His apostles. That certainly is splendid authority, (and beside it the claims of the cavilling critics of the presumptuously termed school of "Higher Biblical Criticism" is as nothing), but thousands be- lieved that book without such excellent assurance, and it must — have been from the reason above stated they appealed irre- sistibly to the reason and moral sense of man, and thus com- pelled recognition. Just so the New Testament writings became recognized among the Christians by virtue of their inherent force and evidence. Thus the Bible has won its own way: built its own throne, and all that is good in human conscious- ness recognizes its right to rule. Let us emphasize this point, for men may doubt the judgment of men; they may doubt miracles and the competency of councils, but a sober, thinking man cannot so easily doubt the "conviction of a hundred generations." They have regarded it as their light and hope and peace, and for it all else on earth was counted as naught. Life has been regarded as a trifle, compared to such convictions, and human suffering only a just tribute to be paid to such a book. Listen to a few plain words from Wyclif's prayer: "God grant us all grace to ken well and to kepe well Holie Writ, and to suffer joiefulli some pain for it at the laste."* *We are aware that similar claims are made for the Koran and the Vedas, and some may think this argument weakened thereby. We freely admit that the appeal to the heart and conscience made by these books, is largely the cause of their success, and that broken rays of light from them find their timid way into the hearts of their believers. It would be sad in- deed to think that truth dwelt within the Christian fold alone, that the sun shone only on the followers of the Nazarene. God gives to each nation all the truth it is capable of receiving, and often his message is conveyed through a deformed vessel. Omnipotence bends down to our deficiences and truth has been found before this "through the gateways of delusion." But surely there is a most pronounced difference between these books and the Bible. All that is good in the Koran existed already in Christianity and Judaism, and it has taken its light from them as the moon borrows her light from the sun. The sacred books of India, with their pearls of spirit- ual truth gleaming here and there through a mass of rubbish, will not stand comparison with the Bible in point of the above argument. The very BIBLE STUDIES. 415 To the truthfulness and the authority of the Bible there comes to us the immense aggregate of ever-accumulating testi- mony of the book, from the best and holiest of peoples. Con- sider this fact, that the Bible is stronger and greater than ever. Consider, too, that it has withstood the attacks of virulent and scholarly assailants from the days of Porphyry and Celsus, of the Imperial apostate Julian, down to Herbert, Hume and Voltaire, during which period infidels have "over- thrown and exploded it" times without number, with the be- wildering result that it has steadily increased in power, so that today it would be almost as easy to "pluck the sun out of the heavens," as to root this Bible out of human life. As illustrative of the rapid and unchecked progress of the Bible in face of opposition, read this prophecy of Voltaire concerning it. "In a century, "said he, "the Bible and Christianity will be things of the past." Well, they are, and the biggest things of the past, too, not excepting Voltaire. Prior to his day the whole world had not produced six millions of Bibles. In the single century since his prediction, and that too in this enlightened nineteenth century, two hund- red millions of Bibles and portions of scripture have issued from the press, and today eighty Bible societies are scattering the book broadcast among every known nation of mankind. It is written in the Bible that "prophecies shall fail." These are facts which the infidel might spare time to explain if it be in his power, for they afford very strong presumptive proof that the Bible is true. While on the subject of adversaries to the Bible let us introduce this deep and philosophic truth, and observation made by the translator of M. Frayssinou's "Defence of Christianity;" and let the youth of our land keep it con- stantly in mind when brought in contact with infidelity, and its acumen and force will be appreciated: "Voltaire's ridi- cule has ever been more mischievous than his logic, and Bayle's irony more fatal than his deductions. He who is not to be seduced by wit or put to shame by sarcasm, has little to marked superiority of the Bible as compared to these books is amply vindi- cated in the elevation to which it has raised itsnatious of adherents. Toey are the highest races of the world, while the followers of the Koran and the Vedas must be classed among the ignorant and lower races. fear from either of them." Infidels for a long time have played the roles of wits and caricaturists rather than honest and capable antagonists. Amusing pictures, extravagantly drawn, and highly colored with ridicule and misrepresenta- tion, to say nothing of the grossest impiety, are the weapons they have used, and it is surprising to behold how many are caught within their wily nets by such miserable bait. In this short treatise we can consider only a few of the leading points in proof of the Bible's divine authority, we shall have to pass on with no further mention, the moral teach- ings, the miracles and reasonableness of the Bible, to prove its inspiration and conclude with the evidence of prophecy which it contains. Home's "Introduction" gives the following comprehen- sive definition of the term prophecy: "Prophecy is a miracle of knowledge, a description or representation of something future, beyond the power of human sagacity to discover or to calculate, and is the highest evidetue that can be given of the su- pernatural communion with the Deity, and the truth of a revela- tion from God." The term prophecy then, implies no such thing as con- jectural forecasts, guesses or mere calculations; there can be no uncertainty involved in a genuine prophecy. Prophecy is foreknowledge, knowledge is the perception of the truth, and hence to foreknow is to perceive that which is to be. This gift is the one which man is the least able to attain, in fact, it is only known as coming from a divine source, hence it is to human understanding a miracle. It is a miracle because it is the fulfilling of future events to which "no change of circum- stances leads, no train of probabilities points," and is as mir- aculous as to cure diseases with a word or to call life back into a lifeless body. The latter may be termed miracles of power, and that such things have been performed and are still performed, can be proved by testimony of the highest order; but it is generally questioned and discredited. But with this miracle of prophecy or knowledge there cannot be raised any such doubts; outside witnesses are unnecessary. Prophecy has her own witness, and that is time. The man BIBLE STUDIES. 417 who reads a prophecy and sees the corresponding event is him- self a. witness of the miracle. Having said so much for prophecy, let us turn to this wonderful book so rich in prophetic utterances. Prophecies are so numerous in this volume that there is scarce a book which does not glow with the divine gift. The book as a whole reveals to us this enlarged view: In the pathway of the Sun of prophecy it is eternal day. The past is seen and lives forever; the rays of light pierce far into the future, even stretching beyond the borders of time and enter the limitless realms of eternity. Our difficulty shall not be in finding pro- phecies, but in deciding where to commence. Let us take those which were made concerning the Messiah. They dis- tinctly announced that the Messiah was to come when the government should be utterly lost from Judah. "The scep- tre shall not depart from Judah till Shiloh come." (Gen.XLIX: 10). All ancient Jews applied this prophecy to the Savior. For a long time now, the tribe of Judah has not been a polit- ical body; it has no authority or magistrates of its own; but is dispersed and confounded among the other tribes of Israel; its present condition, therefore, is an evidence that Shiloh, or the Messiah, is And still more striking is the already come. fact that the time of Judah's absolute subjugation to Roman sovereignty is contemporary with the advent of Jesus of Naz- areth. We might now follow along the life of the Savior, from Bethlehem to Calvary, by the prophetic light struck cen- turies before his coming. That Bethlehem should be his birthplace, Micah predicted seven centuries before; and at about the same period Isaiah foretold that he should be born of a virgin, and of the. family of David, a particular branch of the tribe ofJudah; that in the eye of God he should be the chief corner stone, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, and that the Jews should fall upon this rock. For his whole mis- sion, atonement, read the fifty third chapter of character, Isaiah. Thus we might go on indefinitely through all the great events of his life, his agonizing trials, his brutal treat- ment in "the house of his friends," and his glorious triumph over the grave and the Evil One; all foretold in such marvel- lous detail that his biographers, in recording, are not more ac- 33 curate than his prophets in predicting. Josephus has not more vividly or minutely related the awful events of the des- truction of Jerusalem than Moses, David and our Lord had long foretold them. Considering the Bible then, from the prophetic view alone, let the conceit of higher critics lead them to argue as they please about the dates of the books, their purpose and nature, call the Bible "dream literature" and "fiction," "legend," and "fable" if they please, at any rate it was written long before the time of the Savior. Whence came these predictions if not from above? God alone can be the answer, "for who as I," saith the Lord, "declareth the things that shall* be?" No reasonable man can, after an honest investigation (and we think it the essence of presump- tion for any man to attempt to judge without that investiga- tion) attribute these miracles of knowledge to the astuteness of guesses or mere forecasts of human agencies; for there is in them the superhuman and in that way God has placed before the reflective world an undying testimony of his Omnip- otence.