THE following brief address on the above important subject was composed by our esteemed elder, Mr. George Forrest, Brucefield, Canada, and read at a Bible Society Meeting by his friend, Mr. Baird. Mr. Forrest is now in his ninety-first year. He was recently very weak, but in the kindness of Providence he has revived somewhat again.
“The Bible is the most wonderful, the most useful, and the most precious Book in the world. It is wonderful, as it expresses the revealed will of God; and it is useful and precious in this—that it teaches us what we are to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man. The Bible teaches us that God is a Being of infinite holiness, glory, and power—infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in all His attributes—and that His tender mercy is over all His other works. It also informs us that God made man after His own image—in righteousness and true holiness, in a perfectly holy and happy state; and gave him a law, with the promise of life if he obeyed it, but with the threatening of death as the penalty of disobedience. But man disobeyed, became alienated from God and became His enemy, and so the whole race of mankind now lies under the sentence of eternal death by reason of their connection with the first Adam. But God, who is rich in mercy, did not leave all mankind to perish in this state of sin and misery, for it is written in this precious Book that ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.’ And this precious Book tells us how Christ the Son of God became man, and as man became the Surety and Substitute of His people. As their Surety He obeyed the law for them, and as their Substitute He suffered the penalty which they deserved to suffer for breaking the law—by giving His own life a ransom for them. He was delivered for their offences, and raised again for their justification, and He is now their Advocate and Intercessor at God’s right hand. But before He ascended on high He commanded His disciples to go unto all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, and added: ‘He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.’ Now, it is in obedience to this command that missionaries are sent to distant lands to preach the Gospel to people that are perishing because they are ignorant of the way of salvation. But what could the missionary do without this precious Book? It is the weapon that he is to use; without it he would be powerless to fight the powers of darkness. It is the weapon by which Christ is to subdue the world to Himself. It is the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Now, in view of all this, is not the Bible the most wonderful, the most useful, and the most precious Book in the world? But there is nothing new in all this; you have heard it all over and over again.
It has been said that ‘What is true is often not new, and what is new is often not true.’ And I would earnestly entreat every one—and especially all our young people—to keep a firm hold of this good old Book, for as ‘there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved,’ but the name of Jesus Christ, so there is no other book that reveals Jesus Christ and His salvation but this, and those that have their foundation on it. But there are some men who profess to be preachers of the Gospel of the grace of God, and at the same time are casting discredit on this precious Book by telling us that it is largely made up of legends and fables. They tell us that the book of Genesis is a myth, and the story of Eden and the Fall of man a fable; and they also tell us that man was not created in the likeness of God, but that he sprang from a lower state of existence—that the creature first became self-conscious, then morally conscious; the beast looked up and was a man. They tell us much more of like character that need not be reproduced here. But suppose for a moment that they are right (which we by no means admit), what would be the result? Simply this, that if the story of Eden and the Fall of man is a fable, then the story of redemption must be a fable also; for it was in Eden and in the very closest connection with the Fall of man that the story of redemption was first proclaimed, and it is from that starting-point that it has been proclaimed down through all the ages to the present time, and it will be on that line that it will be proclaimed to the end of time, and it will furnish the redeemed with a song of praise through a long eternity.
But we are told that the Word of God is in the Book, and that only some of it is really inspired by God. O, yes, but what good does that do common people like some of us, who are not educated enough to become ‘Higher Critics’? We would not be able to determine what was legendary and fabulous, and what is really inspired by God; the Bible would thus be an enigma to us; we would not know what we should believe and what we should reject. But we who are not Higher Critics need not have any doubt about this matter, for we have it on the authority of the Author of the Book that ‘All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness.’
Much more, very much more might be said in commendation of this precious Book, and much more might be said in condemnation of this pernicious criticism, but I will not pursue the subject any further at present. Shall just finish with a few words by way of application. Let us keep by this Bible in its entirety and do what we can in helping to circulate it among all the nations of the world. Let us also use it ourselves in such a way that we may be so influenced by it that our Saviour’s prayer may be answered in each of us—’Sanctify them through the truth; thy word is truth.’
‘Now unto him that is able to keep (us) from falling, and present (us) faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God, our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.'”