# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1886_S18 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) The Lutheran Pioneer: The Bible. - The writers of the Bible were inspiréd by God, who spoke through them. It is absolutely certain that good men did not write the Bible of their own will, because they everywhere affirm that they spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, proclaiming the words which God told them to utter, and if this is not true, they uttered what they knew to be false and were not good men. It is absolutely certain that bad men did not write the Bible, because they would be stran- gers to the lofty conceptions of holiness, to the and it has won its way without arms, without human influence, without learning, without wealth to its recognized supremacy. The Bible has gone forth into various lands, and wherever its precepts have been heeded, and in so far as they have been heeded, it has laid an arrest upon murder, adultery, false- hood, drunkenness, avarice, and other shapes of crime and vice that form such dark blots upon the pages of human history. It has been admitted by infidels themselves that if all those who profess to follow the teachings of the Bible were only sincere, it Where are You on Stormy Sundays? The question might be asked, where are you when on week-days it storms? Do week-day storms keep you from work or pleasure, duty or privilege? Probably not. How is it with Sunday storms? Do they keep you from church and Sunday-school? If not, it is to be feared that your example is not generally followed. It does seem, judging by the small number in most churches and Sunday-schools on stormy Sundays, that a Sunday storm is a fearfully dangerous affair compared with one during the week. People have umbrellas and water-proofs, wraps and _ second-best A Missionary Church in Africa. majestic ideas of God, to the terrible denun- ciations of hypocrisy and evil of every kind, which pervade the entire book. Of what other book or books except the Bible can it be said that at least 250,000,000 have been published during the last 70 years, and.translated into 250 of the languages and dialects of earth; and how could this have been possible, unless it carried with itin great and in- numerable blessings the proof of its divine origin? That the Bible has outlived the fires of per- secution and the assaults of infidel science, is @ mighty proof that God is its author and that it is kept by the power of God, The Bible has encountered from the begin- "ning the most bitter opposition and unrelenting “hostility from Judaism, from the Roman empire, “from the heathen world, from the foul apostacy of the dark ages, from sinful human nature; would bring with it incalculable blessings, and that no community could come thoroughly under the control of its influence without re- ceiving a higher and nobler impulse toward all that is beneficent and valuable. With all the imperfections and short-comings of those who profess to be governed by the authority of the Bible, it has built orphan asylums'and charitable institutions, and sought out the poor and suffering, and carried a better civilization to heathen countries, and lifted all upon whom it has Jaid its hand to a higher plane, none of which things can be said of in- fidelity as an organized effort or system. The Bible offers a definite and positive ob- ject of faith and hope to the acceptance of men, while infidelity only tears down, but can not build; only denies, but can not affirm; only takes away, but can not fill the dreary void it leaves in the soul and in the life. dresses and clothing; they find them excellent for use during the storms‘of the week, but very unsafe when it storms on Sunday. It seems too bad that the soul should suffer the loss of so many Sunday services on account of the greater dangers of a Sunday storm. And then, too, it is trying to the minister to prepare a good sermon and have so few to hear and be profited by it. Would it not be well if in- - ventors could discover some material that would protect as thoroughly from a storm on Sunday as any other day? Such an invention would be worth millions to the man who gave it to the public. Inventors, cannot you help the people against their great danger—a Sun- day storm ?—Exchange. 9 <8 + ee WxeEn you are reading a book in a dark room, and come to a difficult part, you take it to a window to get more light. So take your Bible to Christ.