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THE BIBLE

OF

SUPERHUMAN ORIGIN

A SAFE GUIDE FOR MAN

CONTAINING ARGUMENTS ON THE EXISTENCE OF GOD,

THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST, THE IMMORTALITY OF

THE SOUL, AND THE REASONABLENESS

OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT

BY

H. E. WATTERS, A.M., D. D.

(GRADUATE STUDENT BROWN UNIVERSITY)

PRESIDENT UNION UNIVERSITY

6TH EDITION

10TH THOUSAND

JACKSON, TENNESSEE

PREFACE

The faith of the human soul constantly craves sight. We are not content to say, "I believe"; we must say, "I know." The faith that clings to an unseen support must either grow stronger or weaker, day by day. It is to strengthen the faith of man in the unfailing foundation and source of the Bible that this little volume is given to the public. If it shall enable some fainting soul to feel the eternal Rock of Ages under his feet, or cause his faith to rise in triumph so that he may shout with Paul: "I know in whom I have believed," it will not go forth in vain.

Witnesses are shockingly in the habit of saying upon the witness stand: "I don't know, as I didn't see," erroneously believing that they must see in order to know. Perhaps they little dream that most of the knowledge they possess was acquired through other sources than that of sight. Neither is vision the surest source of knowledge, for it is easily imposed upon. Nor are we dependent upon the five senses for all of our knowledge. How many things do we know that we have never seen, heard, tasted, smelt nor felt; yet we know them quite as well! Do you have to possess some physical knowledge of the center of the earth to know that it exists? Do you have to see or feel all the straight sticks of the world to know that there are none with only one end? Do you have to come into physical contact with God to know that he exists, or see Him write the Bible to know that He did it? He said: "Be still and know that I am God," and I believe it is possible to do so. He said: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God," and I believe it is possible for us to know that it could have been done by no other. If we are willing to follow the same course of reasoning and investigation that we employ in every day affairs; if we are willing to accept the same logical conclusions, then there is no fact in nature or human history more easily and more certainly established than that God is, and that the Bible is His word. The trouble is the Evil One, in his effort to cheat us out of our souls, refuses to allow us to follow such processes or accept such conclusions. They are all right for business, science and history, but when it comes to theology they are all wrong, I join the issue fairly and say that the same process of investigation that establishes the facts of Caesar's life and character will establish that of Jesus; that the same course of reasoning that proves that the sun is a fiery globe will also prove that God is love; that the same logic that makes us to know that an idiot or ignoramus did not write Shakespeare's works makes as know that man did not write the Bible.

The following discourse on the Bible is an enlargement of a sermon that the author has preached on several occasions and that has been requested for publication. This is our apology for publishing it, and also for the style's being that of an oration rather than simple narrative. It goes to the public with the prayer that the Holy Spirit may attend it, to give it power to fully convince every reader of the reliability of God's word, and of the importance of heeding its warnings and of living by its precepts.

H. E. WATTERS

THE BIBLE A SAFE GUIDE FOR MAN

Patrick Henry began his great speech before the Continental Congress by saying: "There is but one lamp to guide my feet. It is the lamp of experience." Years after, as the shadow of death gathered over him, he called for the Bible, and, as he pressed it to his bosom, he said: "Blessed Book! the greatest of all books, which I have had no time to read, and now it is too late." If Patrick Henry had found time to read the Bible, he would have found another lamp to guide his feet, for in Psalm 119:105 we read: "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path."

Except by revelation, we do not know the beginning; nor the end of man. We only see him as he races between two eternities; as he runs from the cradle to the grave. He can make this journey but once. He Can never retrace his steps. The crooked path behind him he cannot straighten, and the future that lies before him he cannot see; therefore he needs a lamp to guide his feet, a light to shine along his path.

It is reasonable to believe that God, who created man and made the world for him, would also teach him how to live in it. And if He created a heaven for his eternal happiness and a hell for his eternal punishment, we must reasonably expect somewhere to find a signboard, written by His hand, pointing the way to the one and the way from the other. Such a signboard the Bible claims to be, and such it has ever proved to be.

The Bible is a safe guide for man. No matter how complex the by-ways of temptations may become, the Bible indicates the right way through them. No matter how dark the clouds of discouragements or sorrows may gather, the Bible throws a bright lining upon them. Doubts may raise dark mists and fogs, but the beams from this lighthouse penetrate them. Storms of disaster may break in fury upon his bark, but the light from the Bible guides him to the harbor. The journey may be long, prolonged even beyond the century point, but no life is so long that God's word may not be to the end of it a "light unto his path, a 'amp unto his feet."

The experience of the human race warrants man's faith in this light. Evil men fear and hate it. In all ages they have tried to destroy it. But good men love and enjoy it. The better they become, the more they love its teachings. Wise men without it have stumbled; fools with it have led exemplary lives. Those who ignore it or reject it go astray and fall; those who have accepted it have had the light of life. The foolish and the ignorant have scoffed at it; while the wisest and most learned have gazed upon it with increasing wonder and admiration.

As a lighthouse the Bible does not reveal all the glories of heaven, but it lights up a little of the coast and shows us how to make the harbor. It does not show us all the rocks of the barrier reef, but it makes plain the way where the rocks are not, and there I would run my ship.

THE GREATNESS OF A BOOK

Man has never made anything greater or more wonderful than a book. To erect a pile of stones in the form of a pyramid to be gazed upon for centuries is great, but to write a book to be read after four thousand years is greater. To communicate across the "seas without wires is wonderful, but to transmit thought across the ages is more wonderful. To direct a hidden force like electricity and to store it up in jars and batteries for future use is remarkable, but to direct the mind and store its products upon the printed page for the use of thousands of unborn generations is astonishing.

A great book is truly man's greatest work, but where is the book that may be compared with the Bible? Suppose I had read you a passage from Homer, from Shakespeare, or from Darwin. It might have tickled your ear, and might have entertained you for a while, but when I open the Bible and read, your thirsty soul drinks as the dog-chased deer at the cool clear brook.

THE BIBLE COMPARED WITH OTHER BOOKS

Let us look at the Bible for a while just as a mere Book and compare it with other books that we know men have made. Men have written poetry, and many books of poetry are really great. Homer perhaps reached the highest summit of human poetic genius.

8    THE BIBLE OF SUPERHUMAN ORIGIN

But how tame are his lines compared with those of David! He sang of the wrath of men and the fury of heathen gods. David sang of the omnipotent Jehovah.

One of Homer's loftiest strains runs thus:

"Hear, me! 0 thou God of the Silver Bow,

Who hast protected Chrysa and divine Chilla,

And powerfully rulest Tenedas,

O Sminthian! If ever I have decked for thee a beautiful temple,

Or if ever I have consumed for thee fat thighs of bulls or goats

Accomplish for me this my desire,

That Danai may atone for my tears by thy arrows.''

'' Thus he spoke praying, and shining Apollo heard him.

And he went down from the heights of Olympus with an angry heart,

Having his bow and round covered quiver on his shoulder.

And the arrows rattled on the shoulders of the angry god.

And his going was like the night.

Then seating himself afar off from the ships, he shot a dart

And dreadful was the twang of the silver bow."

Compare with this Psalm 18:6-15 (Rev. Ver.):

"In my distress I called upon Jehovah,

And cried unto my God:

He heard my voice out of his temple,

And my cry before him came into his ears,

Then the earth shook and trembled;

The foundations also of the mountains quaked

And were shaken, because he was wroth.

There went up a smoke out of his nostrils,

And fire out: of his mouth devoured:

Coals were kindled by it.

He bowed the heavens also, and came down;

And thick darkness was under his feet.

And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly;

Yea, he. soared upon the wings of the wind.

He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion round about him,

Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.

At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed,

Hailstones and coals of fire.

Jehovah also thundered in the heavens,

And the Most High uttered his voice,

Hailstones and coals of fire.

And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;

Yea, lightning’s manifold, and discomfited them.

Then the channels of waters appeared,

And the foundations of the world were laid bare,

At thy rebuke, 0 Jehovah,

At the blast of the breath of thy nostrils."

The greatest literary genius the Roman civilization produced was Virgil, and one of his best passages is as follows:

"A race by me detested sails the Tuscan seas,

Transplanting Ilium and its conquered gods to Italy.

Strike force into the winds, overset and sink the ships

Or drive them different ways and strew the ocean with carcasses.

I have twice seven lovely nymphs, the fairest of whom,

Deiopeia, I will join in wedlock fine,

And assign to be your own forever

That with you she may spend all her years for this service

And make you father of an offspring beautiful."

Compare with this the following passage from the Bible:

"Whither shall I go from thy spirit?

Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there,

If I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning,

And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there shall thy hand lead me,

And thy right hand shall hold me.

If I say surely the darkness shall cover me,

Even the night shall be light about me.

Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee;

But the night shineth as the day.

The darkness and the light are both alike to thee."

—Psalm 139:7-12.

Shakespeare is beyond all doubt the greatest English poet. He is at his best in describing mercy in "The Merchant of Venice":

"The quality of mercy is not strained,

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath; it is twice blest;

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes;

'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown;

His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,

The attribute to awe and majesty,

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;

But mercy is above this sceptred sway;

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,

It is an attribute to God himself;

And earthly power doth then show likest God's

When mercy seasons justice."

But compare this with Paul's description of love, remembering that it is prose while the other is poetry:  "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophesy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil; rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child; now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face; now. I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully, known. But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love."—1 Cor. 13 (Rev. Ver.).

Archbishop Fenelon of France, whom Lamartine calls "a flame lighted up by the Almighty to shed radiance upon an accomplished age," says:

"No Greek or Latin poetry is comparable to the Psalms. The fiftieth Psalm, which begins, 'The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken and called the earth,' exceeds whatever human imagination hath produced. Neither Homer nor any other poet equals Isaiah in describing the majesty of God, in whose presence empires are as grains of sand and the whole universe as a tent, which today is set up, and removed tomorrow. Sometimes, as when he paints the charms of peace, Isaiah has the softness and sweetness of an eclogue; at others, he soars above mortal conceptions. But what is there in profane antiquity comparable to the wailings of Jeremiah when he mourns over the calamities of his people? or to Nahum when he foresees in spirit the downfall of Nineveh under the assault of an innumerable army? We almost behold the formidable host and hear the arms and the chariots. Read Daniel denouncing to Belshazzar the vengeance of God ready to fall upon him; compare it with the most sublime passages of pagan antiquity: you find nothing comparable to it."

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