WTY-1 No Other Book Like the Bible
CHAPTER I NO OTHER BOOK LIKE THE BIBLE Can the Bible lay any claim to specialty, or must it be considered as on a par with other textbooks of religion?
Here is a call to the study of comparative religions. We, if earnest men, should be in quest of the best book without asking who wrote it or by what authority it was written. Only if the Bible speaks to us as no other book can speak should we accord it a unique position.
There are many religions in the world. Bold enemies of the Bible are besieging the citadel of Christianity all around its circuit. The Christian religion is regarded as only one among many—springing from the same source. Ancient religions are blatantly proclaimed its equals. A host of religious faiths is challenging our attention and forcing us into comparison with our own. If the Bible is indeed the Word of God, we need have no fear of such comparisons. The study of other religions will broaden and deepen our knowledge and appreciation of Christianity itself. We do not value to the full the advantages and excellences of our modern electric lighting system until we go back in thought to the time when people endeavored to dispel the darkness with jets, with candles and tapers.
Gather up all the religions in the world in one view, extend the inquiry far and wide, through time and space, and the Bible will separate self from every other book by excellences that cannot be equaled. Other excellences are not disputed; other books are not denied. We are not so narrow-minded as to think that we dishonor the Bible by recognizing anything valuable that may be found outside of it; we only affirm that the Bible, after occupying common ground with many other religions, presents forces and qualities unknown to any of them. He who knows Christianity only does not know this. He is ignorant of its points of superiority. Only the unbiased student of comparative religions knows that all the vaunted moral truth and beauty of oriental and classical mythology and philosophy is found in our four gospels—and that in completer form, nay, in absolute perfection.
Max Mueller, the distinguished orientologist, once remarked: “The ancient religions were but the milk of nature, which was in due time succeeded by the Bread of Life.” The Bible itself throws out a challenge. It says through Moses, Deuteronomy 4:32-33; “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from one end of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? Did ever a people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?”
Never forget this challenge on the part of the Bible! It is a noble speech. The Bible will not remain with us one day longer than it can supply what no other book can furnish. It does not ignore the cults of the heathen; it is not afraid of comparison or competition; it awaits to be displaced.
“As soon as anyone can arise who can speak in a nobler eloquence, in a tenderer music, with a profounder wisdom, the Bible is willing that its old pages should be closed forever. There are good men who have no Bible; there have been virtuous men who never heard of Christ; there are good writings which the world will not willingly let die that have not been baptized in the name of the triune God. This is acknowledged, and must be broadly and frankly and gratefully confessed; the question still remains, Does not the Bible by some quality stand out above all other books—the very pinnacle of the temple of literature? The inspiration of the Bible must be proved by the quality of the Bible!”
We are not afraid of an investigation.