Christian Theology - Media Sabda Org

and intelligent heathens. They had no just, no rational notion of the origin
and design of the universe. Moses alone, of all ancient writers, gives a
consistent and rational account of the creation; an account which has been
confirmed by the investigations of the most accurate philosophers.
THE SCRIPTURES ARE REVELATIONS FROM GOD.—The Scriptures of
the Old and New Testament are, generally, through all Christian
countries, and in almost all languages, termed, THE BIBLE, from a Greek
word, , A BOOK, as being the only book that teaches the knowledge
of the true God; the origin of the universe; the creation and fall of man;
the commencement of the different nations of the earth; the confusion of
languages; the foundation of the church of God; the abominable and
destructive nature of idolatry and false worship; the divine scheme of
redemption; the immortality of the soul; the doctrine of the invisible and
spiritual world; a future judgment; and the final retribution of the wicked
in the pains of eternal perdition, and of the good in the blessedness of an
endless glory. These Scriptures we know to be revelations from
heaven:—
1. By the sublimity of the doctrines they contain; all descriptions of
God, of heaven, of the spiritual and eternal worlds, being in every respect
worthy of their subjects; and, on this account, widely differing from the
childish conceits, absurd representations, and ridiculous accounts given
of such subjects in the writings of idolaters and superstitious religionists,
in all nations of the earth.
2. By the reasonableness and holiness of its precepts; all its commands,
exhortations, and promises, having the most direct tendency to make men
wise, holy, and happy in themselves, and useful to one another.
3. By the miracles which they record; miracles of the most astonishing
nature, which could be performed only by the almighty power of God;
miracles which were wrought in the sight of thousands, were denied by
none, and attested through successive ages by writers of the first
respectability, as well enemies as friends of the Christian religion.