04.000. Foreword & Introductions
EDITOR’S FOREWORD THE estimate of the character and greatness of B.H. Carroll, voiced by George W. Truett in his Introduction to this discussion of the Inspiration of the Bible, is neither fanciful nor exaggerated. I join him in appraising the author of this volume as the most commanding figure that has ever marched through the history of American ecclesiasticism. For almost twelve years he was my pastor, but prior to that time I had sensed his greatness and in a limited degree had begun publishing his work. Since then it has been my happy privilege to edit four of his books, Carroll’ s Sermons, Baptists and Their Doctrines, Evangelistic Sermons, and The River of Life. In addition to these books I have edited Carroll’ s Interpretation of the English Bible, comprising thirteen octavo volumes that contain luminous discussions of the Old and New Testaments.
B.H. Carroll was the founder of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and was its first President. His heart was aflame with an affectionate desire to furnish opportunity for the cultural and theological equipment of that great and loyal army of young preachers to whom had been denied the privilege of college training.
Indeed, this desire and purpose was the germ from which the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary came into being, and Carroll’ s Interpretation of the English Bible was and is the most edifying discussion of the Bible extant in any tongue.
B.H. Carroll was rock-ribbed in his reverent belief in God’s Word, and this present discussion is the crowning expression of his unyielding faith in the oracles of God. If there was ever a time when our wobbling world needed to hear a clamant voice calling it back to the changeless verities of the Word of God, that time is now.
Due acknowledgment is herein accorded Professor J. W. Crowder, long-time student of B.H. Carroll and his loving and admiring fellow-worker, for invaluable aid in the preparation of this book. Due recognition is also given President L. R. Scarborough, successor to B.H. Carroll, for his sympathetic co-operation and his gracious words of commendation that accompany this book. And now Inspiration of the Bible begins its mission to our needy world. It is so brief it can be read at one sitting and so profound that its complete study and assimilation will take an entire lifetime.
While its author was a Baptist he loomed so large that his big heart and life took in all the world.
I published his first sermon in 1884. That was forty-six years ago. I am now older than he was when he passed into rest, and I wonder, as these words are done, if my service in the editing and compilation of these works of B.H. Carroll is not my crowning contribution to the world.
J. B. CRANFILL. Dallas, Texas.
SOME WORDS OF INTRODUCTION
IT gives me much pleasure to write these brief introductory words concerning Dr. B.H. Carroll’s delayed volume on the Inspiration of the Bible. Speaking quite personally, by the reader’s generous forbearance, I would say that it was my privilege to know Dr. Carroll intimately for many years. It was my inexpressibly happy privilege to be a member of his household and live in his home for several years. I am more indebted to him for my reverence for God’s Holy Word than I am to any other human being. His was the greatest personality I ever knew and, unlike some historic characters, he ever increasingly loomed largest to those nearest him. During my student days at Baylor University, I was a member of his class in English Bible the department in Baylor which afterwards eventuated in the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Much of the material in the present volume was used in his lectures to his classes in Baylor and, later, repeated to his students in the Seminary. The chapters of this book, having thus been first delivered as lectures, appear in a flowing familiar style that adds to the interest and value of the volume. While now and then, some Greek and Latin terms are used, the greater portion of this book is clothed in direct and simple speech that all can understand. Every word in Inspiration of the Bible is of easy comprehension to the common mind, which adds much to its value. Along with many other young ministers who were students in Baylor, I was privileged for four consecutive years to sit at the feet of this remarkable Bible teacher and interpreter, and regularly to hear his expositions of the Holy Scriptures. Such expositions have become more real and precious to me, with my own direct study of the Bible, through all the unfolding years. Whatever may be one’s views concerning the Divine authorship and integrity of the Bible, it is my deep conviction that the candid reader anywhere and everywhere will get untold good from the reading of this volume. I am profoundly glad that these long-delayed messages from Dr. Carroll are thus being given permanent form, and it is my earnest hope that this volume will speedily find a place in the library of preachers, teachers, and other Bible students everywhere. The expression, “Mighty in the Scriptures,” could be applied to Dr. Carroll as to few other men of his own or any other age. It will indeed be a glorious result if this volume shall be the challenge to a renewed and widespread study of the Bible. May God grant it, for His Name’s sake! GEORGE W. TRUETT. Dallas, Texas.
A FURTHER INTRODUCTION
AMONG the many preachers and teachers who have helped me in the study of God’s Word, two have the primary place-my father, Rev. George W. Scarborough, and Dr. B.H. Carroll. Around the family fireside in a Western cow ranch and farmer’s home, my father unfolded God’s Word and often talked about the Bible. He preached to the cowboys of the West, and I heard him gladly. He was a doctrinal, but deeply spiritual preacher. When I left home for Baylor University my father asked me to promise him that I would hear Dr. Carroll preach every Sunday morning and in the afternoon write him what he preached about. For four and a half years I kept this promise many Sundays. Meagre were the reports at first, but voluminous as the years went on. This great pastor of the First Baptist Church at Waco, in those four and a half years, implanted in my soul very largely my conception of the truth. My faith is the faith of a simple, plain Baptist. I accepted from my father and Dr. Carroll the verbal inspiration of the Bible, the deity of Jesus Christ, His perfect humanity, His atoning death, His bodily resurrection, His second coming. All my studies since have confirmed the simple faith I received from them. I greatly joy in the publication of this volume of Dr. Carroll’s sermons on the inspiration of the Bible. His interpretative authority has great weight with me, but I have never had occasion to depart from his teachings on these great themes. The logic, piling Scripture upon Scripture, coming from his great brain, made irresistible the force of his pronouncements. He was the greatest preacher and the mightiest soul I ever knew. He made deep tracks in Christ’s kingdom in Texas and the South-tracks that time cannot wear out. I trust that the messages he brings on this great theme will be quietly studied by multitudes of religious leaders, and I am sure the power of his messages will live long in their hearts and effectively in their lives. L. R. SCARBOROUGH. President’ s Office, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas.