The Bible : The Book That Lives On

THROUGH the ages of history no other book has been studied so prayerfully by its friends, or so critically by its foes, as the Bible. 

For eighteen centuries the storm of persecution has raged with unceasing fury around it: but, from this seething tempest it has emerged triumphant. 

The Bible has been refuted more times than any other book in the world. But every indignity offered has in some mysterious way helped to further its life-giving mission. 

A little more than a century ago, Voltaire said, "The Bible is an exploded book, and in less than a hundred years it will have ceased to exist; and will be an unknown book." But has it ?—The printing press on which Voltaire's infidel works were printed has since been used to print the Word of God ; and the house where he lived is today a depot for the Geneva Bible Society. It is of interest to note that in the centenary year of Voltaire's boast, ten thousand copies of the Scriptures were sold in Paris, the city in which he lived. 

Twenty-five years ago Ingersoll said, " In ten years the Bible will not be read." 

Tom Paine, on landing at New York, was foolish enough to prophesy that in five years not a Bible would be found in the United States. Bat the fact remains that there are more Bible Societies today in America, than in any other country in the world. 

We might quote statements such as these indefinitely; but let us look at the other aspect of the question, and call for the testimony of men who have made the Bible a companion. 

The most gifted and renowned of German men of letters, Goethe, says, " No criticism will be able to perplex the confidence I have entertained in a writing whose contents have stirred up and given life to my energy by its own." 

Napoleon, the greatest of modern conquerors, says, " Unique Book ! Who but God could produce that idea of perfection equally exclusive and original. The Gospel is more than a book ; it is a living thing—active, powerful, overcoming every obstacle in its way! " 

Benjamin Franklin, the father of American science and statesmanship, says, "Young man, my advice to you is that you cultivate an acquaintance with, and a firm belief in, the Holy Scriptures. This is your certain interest." 

Gladstone, statesman and Prime Minister of England, says, "The historical development of our religion is one of the most wonderful parts of human history, and, in my opinion, affords one of the strongest demonstrations of its truth." 

Lord Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, Guizot, and many other of the world's famous men, bear the same testimony. 

The infidel speaks of the Bible as a " dead book." Not very long ago a number of learned men were at work revising the New Testament. At last the book was ready for the press, and men offered as much as £100 for a copy in advance of its publication; and on the morning of its issue the streets were blocked with express wagons, waiting for copies of that "dead book." They telegraphed that book, from the first chapter of Matthew to the end of Romans, from New York to Chicago, about 118,000 words—the longest message ever sent over the wires—for the sake of getting it there twenty-four hours sooner than steam could carry it. What infidel speech has ever been treated like this ? They would not pay to telegraph the greatest infidel oration ever delivered. 

That old Book seems to show signs of considerable life yet. It is like Aaron's rod, possessed of a life that time cannot destroy.

The Waldenses - Persecuted Christians

EARLY in the eleventh century the Catholic church, the leading religious body of that time, endeavoured to force all Christians to accept her doctrines. Thousands bowed to Rome, but a large body of "protesters" stood out for the Bible. Numbers of the Protestants crossed the Alps, descended the Rhine, and raised the standard of truth in Cologne, where they were branded as heretics and rewarded with the stake. Some found refuge in the Alps, and were later known as the Waldenses. 

The Alps rise abruptly from the plains of Piedmont and form a line of towering magnificence. Pastures and chestnut forests clothe their base, while eternal snows crown their summits. The storms of a thousand winters have torn their sides, leaving caves, valleys, and narrow passes. Through these the fugitive might enter. 

Beyond one rocky portal dark ravines open into seven fertile valleys. 

The first is Luserna, the Valley of Light; then Rora, Valley of Dews ; the third, Angrogna, the Valley of Groans, leads into Pra, the most interesting to us of any of these valleys. It was the holy of holies in the Alpine Sanctuary. 

The faith of the Waldenses, or Vaudois Christians, was founded on the pure teachings of the Bible. To it they strictly adhered. They believed the end of the world was near, and that upon them rested the burden of carrying the gospel to the world. 

It was the custom among this people for the pastors to teach the youth. In the college at Pra, the ministers were the instructors. The students' text-book was the Bible. Not only did they study it, but they were required to memorize whole gospels and epistles, for there was then no knowledge of printing and copies of the Word were rare. Hidden away iu caves and sequestered spots, the pupils spent much time copying the Scriptures. These .manuscripts they later used in their missionary work. 

After leaving their pastors' schools the young men frequently entered the seminaries in the cities of the surrounding countries. Here they became expert scholars. In many instances they made converts of their fellow-students,landlords, and the merchants with whom they traded. The priests dreaded to  meet them in argument. 

To maintain the truth in their own mountains was not the object of the Waldenses. They realized their duty to the world. The vigilance of Roman priest and inquisitor prevented them going boldly forth as ministers. So they stole out from the Alpine passes two and two, clad in their coarse woollen garments and with naked feet, they entered the towns as pedlars. The nature of their work gave them ready entrance to the homes of rich and poor. These men always carried, concealed in their garments or wares, portions of the Scriptures which they had prepared in their student days. Often as an opportunity presented itself they showed the manuscript, and in reverent tones read to their hearers the words of life. Frequently they gave away the priceless portion when they found those desirous of possessing it. 

But they were not long permitted to work undisturbed. Converts were found wherever they went, and Rome was roused to opposition. Sometimes it chanced the pedlars were suspected and arrested. Then pope and prelate only hastened the springing up of the seed they were striving to exterminate, by watering it with the blood of the men . who had sown it. 

Relentlessly were these humble men persecuted. Finding this did not check the progress of the hated religion, the papal armies penetrated to the fountain head, and massacre followed massacre. In one instance 3,000 Vaudois lost their . lives. From one pinnacle, standing at the entrance of the renowned region, hundreds of martyrs were hurled to death. It was of these awful tragedies Milton wrote in his sonnet: 

"Avenge, O Lord, Thy slaughtered saints, whose bones 

 Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold. 

....In Thy book record their groans 

Who were Thy sheep, and in their ancient fold, 

Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that rolled 

Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans 

The vales redoubled to the hills, and they to heaven." 

None of these things daunted the noble Waldenses. As rapidly as missionaries fell others were sent to fill their places. The martyrdom of those at home spurred the field labourers to redoubled efforts. God was in the movement, and it could not be stayed till the yoke of Rome was broken. 

The world owes much to this people. Resolute in purpose, devoted to their work, courageously facing danger and death, they fulfilled their mission. The shackles which so long had bound God's Word were broken. Since then the minds of many have been purified by studying the Bible, and their lives ennobled by the heroic example of the " Israel of the Alps." 

MERYL COBB.

Fulfilled Prophecy

The Sure Word of Prophecy - Some Fulfilled Prophecy.

OF Babylon the prophet wrote, " The beauty of the Chaldee's excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah." To the people of that time this seemed an impossibility, and we can hardly wonder when we consider that Babylon was the greatest work of human hands. Two million men were employed in its construction. It was built in a perfect square, fifteen miles on each side, and was surrounded by a brick wall eighty-five feet thick and 330 feet high. One hundred gates of solid, polished brass formed entrances to a magnificent interior, where temples, palaces, and hanging gardens were alike noted for their beauty and grandeur. But God bad declared that this wicked city should become a place for " wild beasts " and "dragons."

Babylon fell 174 years after the prophet had passed sentence. The city of splendour went down spoiled and
plundered by hostile nations. In the fourth century A.D., it was used as an enclosure for wild beasts. A traveller who visited the site in the twelfth century stated that the few remaining ruins were so filled with venomous reptiles that it was dangerous to inspect them closely. It is even " as Sodom and Gomorrah."

In speaking of Tyre the Lord said, "I will make thee like the top of a rock : thou shalt be a place to spread
nets upon."

That ancient city was built of stone, and its walls were seventeen miles in circumference. The builders of Tyre
were said to "have perfected her beauty." She was so rich that her ships were of fir and cedar, their benches
of ivory, and the sails of fine embroidered linen from Egypt:

Tyre envied Jerusalem the trade that passed through !her gates, and when Jerusalem was destroyed she rejoiced. It was after this that Ezekiel uttered his prophecy, every word of which was literally fulfilled.

After a terrible siege, lasting thirteen years, Nebuchadnezzar took the city. The people escaped and moved to an island about half a mile from the mainland, and there built a new city.

Alexander the Great determined to besiege the city, and having no fleet, built a mole, 200 feet broad, from the mainland to the island city. In doing this he had to use the stones of old Tyre. This was a literal fulfillment of a prophecy spoken 250 years before, "They shall lay thy stones ... in the midst of the water." Thus Tyre was left bare " like the top of a rock." Masses of broken walls, pillars, and vaults are still to be seen, but there is not a complete house left. The present inhabitants, a few poor fishermen, live among the vaults. It has become a "place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea."

Memphis was an ancient capital of Egypt. For more than a thousand years it was the royal city. Yet the prophet declared that it should be " waste and desolate without an inhabitant."

This city was built of white marble, and was called by the Egyptians "The World of Life," "City of the White Walls," and "The Good Abode." It was nineteen miles in circumference. The Memphian pyramids have excited the wonder and admiration of a world.

The grandeur and splendour of the structures of Memphis must have been attractive since ancient writers declare that the sun had never seen a more magnificent city. The inhabitants thought their city eternal; but now it is silent under the desert sands, "desolate without an inhabitant."

Empires pass away, nations fall, cities are brought to ruin, "but the Word of our God shall stand forever!"

MABEL DE JERSEY.

Pastor John Nixon - Desperate Housewives

In a sermon title based on the US television comedy series, Desperate Housewives, Pastor John Nixon preaches on how husbands should relate to their wives. He offers some advice on how we can use  differences between men and women to complement each other other than using them to bring friction in a marriage. It is really a powerful and informative marriage counseling sermon that all men ought to watch.

John S. Nixon joined the faculty of the School of Religion at Southern Adventist University in 2010 after having served as senior pastor of the Collegedale Church for four years. For more than thirty years he has served in parish ministry, primarily in major cities, including New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., and also on two other college campuses, Atlantic Union College and Oakwood University.

Pastor Darriel Hoy - A Woman's Worth

In this powerful sermon, Pastor Darriel Hoy preaches on the value that God places on women. She among other things points out how Jesus elevated women in His ministry and how even on the cross, while going through all the pain and the separation from His father that the punishment for our sins entailed, Christ still remembered His mother and told John to take care of her. What a manifestation of love! Women are a valuable in the sight of God as men. Pastor Hoy then bids us to follow the example of Christ by taking care of women and fighting all injustices against women such as domestic violence, rape e.t.c. Pastor Darriel Hoy delivered this sermon at the Pastoral Evangelism and Leadership Conference at Oakwood University in 2011.

Pastor Freddie Russell - Breakthrough Prayer

Have you ever prayed and felt that your prayers are not getting through to God? Then this sermon will open your eyes to the secret for breakthrough prayer or in simple terms a successful prayer life. Pastor Freddie Russell presents in clear terms the building blocks to a successful prayer life. Brothers and sisters, if there is one thing the church needs it is prayer warriors. Men and women who agonise with God in prayer just like Jacob wrestled with the angel of The Lord.