"As the waters the depth of the blue ocean cover,So fully shall God among mortals be known;His word, like the sunbeams, shall range the world over,The globe His vast temple, and mercy His throne."
"As the waters the depth of the blue ocean cover,So fully shall God among mortals be known;His word, like the sunbeams, shall range the world over,The globe His vast temple, and mercy His throne."
Christianity, though not persecuting, has been bitterly persecuted; yet it has triumphed—and triumphed, too, in spite of all its foes. Like Moses' bush, it was unconsumable by fire; and rose up amid the flames and prospered. And like the eagle—the imperial bird of storms—it will continue securely to soar amid every tempest. All attempts to impede its progress will be as powerless and vain as attempts to drive back the flowing tide with the point of a needle. When infidels can grasp the winds in their fists, hush the voice of the thunder by the breath of their mouth, suspend the succession of the seasons by their nod, and extinguish the light of the sun by a veil, then, and not till then, can they arrest the progress of truth or invalidate the verities of the Bible. Unwise and unhappy men! they are but plowing the air—striking with a straw—writing on the surface of the water—and seeking figs where only brambles grow.
And compare not the propagation of Mohammedanism with the propagation of Christianity; for it is useless, if not absurd. Suffice it to say that the former was propagated by fanaticism, falsehood, pandering to the passions, promising a voluptuous paradise, and the frequent use of the sword; but the latter by sanity, truth, restraining the passions, promising a pure and holy heaven, and the use of no other sword but the sword of the Spirit, that is, the word of God. Christianity came—saw—and conquered. And all her victories have been bloodless—of untold advantage to the vanquished themselves. They have desolated no country—produced no tears but to wipe them away—and broken no hearts but to heal them. Now to what is all this to be attributed? Can we reasonably ascribe the general reception of the Bible and the consequent spread of Christianity to anything short of divine power? Is it not unprecedented? "Could any books," says an able writer, "have undergone so fearful and prolonged an ordeal and achieved so spotless and perfect a triumph, unless they had been given and watched over by the Deity?"
From its innumerable martyrs."If a person," says Dr. Jortin, "lays down his life for the name of Christ, or for what he takes to be the religion of Christ, when he might prolong his days by renouncing his faith, he must stand for a martyr in every reasonable man's calendar, though he may have been much mistaken in some of his opinions." It has been calculated that since Christianity arose, not less than fifty millions of martyrs have laid down their lives for its sake. Some were venerable for years; others were in the bloom of life; and not a few were of the weaker sex. They were, for the most part, well-instructed persons. Many were learned and respectable men; neither factious in their principles nor violent in their passions. They were neither wild in their notions, nor foolishly prodigal of their lives. This may safely be affirmed of such men as Polycarp and Ignatius, Jerome and Huss, Latimer and Cranmer, Ridley and Hooper, Philpot and Bradford, Lambert and Saunders, and many others. Yet these so valued the Bible, that, rather than renounce it, and relinquish the hopes it inspired, they yielded their bodies to be burnt, or otherwise tormented, and "rejoiced and clapped their hands in flames," or the like. "All that a man hath will he give for his life." All account life sweet and precious. No man of sense and understanding will sacrifice his life, when he can preserve it, but for some deeply rooted conviction of truth or duty. In this view, Christian martyrs are entitled to our respect and esteem. For, they gave the strongest proof of sincerity of their faith: and no suspicion of fraud can reasonably be entertained against them. "We conclude," says Dr. Jortin, "that they were assisted by God, who alleviated their pain, and gave them not only resignation and patience, but exultation and joy. And this wonderful behavior of the former Christians may justly be accounted a proof of the truth of the Bible, and our holy religion, and we should deserve to be blamed and despised if we parted with it, and gave it up tamely onaccount of a few objections." "No man," observes Dr. Beattie, "ever laid down his life for the honor of Jupiter, Neptune, or Apollo; but how many thousands have sealed their Christian testimony with their blood!" What a moral victory! And whence but from heaven such a religion, having such attestation?
Other arguments might be added tending to demonstrate the truth of our proposition; but surely, enough have been produced to establish the authority of the Bible on an immovable basis. "Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven. I esteem all Thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way." "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you."
"The proudest works of Genius shall decay,And Reason's brightest lustre fade away;The Sophist's art, the Poet's boldest flight,Shall sink in darkness, and conclude in night;But Faith triumphant over Time shall stand,Shall grasp the Sacred Volume in her hand;Back to its source the heavenly gift convey,Then in the flood of Glory melt away."
"The proudest works of Genius shall decay,And Reason's brightest lustre fade away;The Sophist's art, the Poet's boldest flight,Shall sink in darkness, and conclude in night;But Faith triumphant over Time shall stand,Shall grasp the Sacred Volume in her hand;Back to its source the heavenly gift convey,Then in the flood of Glory melt away."
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[23]The most ancient hieroglyphs, according to M. Pierret, which can be seen in an European museum, are those on the statues of Sefa and Nesa in the Louvre; they date from a period anterior to the fourth dynasty. The lintel of the door of the tomb of one of the priests of Senat, fifth King of the second dynasty in the Ashmolean Library, Oxford, exhibits, however, hieroglyphs of an earlier date.
[23]The most ancient hieroglyphs, according to M. Pierret, which can be seen in an European museum, are those on the statues of Sefa and Nesa in the Louvre; they date from a period anterior to the fourth dynasty. The lintel of the door of the tomb of one of the priests of Senat, fifth King of the second dynasty in the Ashmolean Library, Oxford, exhibits, however, hieroglyphs of an earlier date.
[24]King James' Bible is that now commonly used in this country and Great Britain.
[24]King James' Bible is that now commonly used in this country and Great Britain.
Typographical errors corrected in text:Page 103: 'composed af two' replaced with 'composed of two'Page 134: victorius replaced with victoriousPage 174: saccrifice replaced with sacrificePage 204: Telemachos replaced with TelemachusPage 253: abtruse replaced with abstrusePage 270: 'suits of rooms' replaced with 'suites of rooms'Page 280: significance replaced with insignificance (see Chevalier's book "Remarks on the production of the precious metals, and on the depreciation of gold" on page 28. http://www.archive.org/details/remarksonproduct00chevuoft)Page 292: maratime replaced with maritimePage 334: Dionysaic replaced with DionysiacPage 393: Ilaid replaced with IliadPage 446: admiting replaced with admittingPage 475: uninterupted replaced with uninterruptedPage 484: oblelisks replaced with obelisksPage 515: 'THE SLEEP OP ENDYMION.' replaced with 'THE SLEEP OF ENDYMION.'Page 525: chieftan replaced with chieftainPage 561: glimmmer replaced with glimmerPage 568: Grogon's replaced with Gorgon'sPage 653: 'rendering of drapery so as to show the forms underdeath' replaced with 'rendering of drapery so as to show the forms underneath'Page 698: 'the name of the artist worked in it' replaced with 'the name of the artist who worked in it'Page 712: Sacred replaced with ScaredPage 754: Egyptain replaced with EgyptianPage 837: Egytians replaced with EgyptiansPage 882: cemetry replaced with cemeteryPage 888: Chiristians replaced with ChristiansPage 929: 'instantaneously, and and not by degrees' replaced with 'instantaneously, and not by degrees'Notes on Unusual Words:Page 88: The poem on page 88 really does say: "His hugy bulk on seven high volumes rolled"Page 105: coutch is a legitimate variant spelling for couchPage 659: 'sil' means yellow ochre.
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