Notes on the Book of Deuteronomy, Volume IMackintosh, Charles Henry
Religion
Notes on the Book of Deuteronomy, Volume I
Mackintosh, Charles Henry
Bible. Deuteronomy -- Commentaries
But the question is continually cropping up before us, "How can we be
sure that we have, in our English Bible, the _bona-fide_ revelation of
God?" We reply, God can make us sure of it. If He does not, no one
can: if He does, no one need. This is our ground, and we deem it
unassailable. We should like to ask all those who start this infidel
question (for such we must honestly call it), Supposing that God
cannot give us the absolute certainty that, in our common English
Bible, we do actually possess His own most precious, priceless
revelation, then whither are we to turn? Of course, in such a weighty
matter, on which momentous and eternal consequences hang, a single
doubt is torture and misery. If I am not sure of possessing a
revelation from God, I am left without a single ray of light for my
path; I am plunged in darkness, gloom, and mental misery. What am I to
do? Can man help me by his learning, his wisdom, or his reason? Can he
satisfy my soul by his decision? Can he solve my difficulty, answer my
question, remove my doubt, dissipate my fear? Is man better able than
God to give me the assurance that God has spoken?
The idea is absolutely monstrous--monstrous in the very highest
degree. The plain fact is this, reader: If God cannot give us the
certainty that He has spoken, we are left without His word altogether.
If we must turn to human authority, call it what you please, in order
to guarantee the Word of God to our souls, then that authority is
higher and greater, safer and more trustworthy, than the Word which it
guarantees. Blessed be God, it is not so. He has spoken to our hearts.
He has given us His Word, and that Word carries its own credentials
with it. It stands in no need of letters of commendation from a human
hand. What! turn to man to accredit the Word of the living
God!--apply to a worm to give us the assurance that our God has spoken
to us in His Word! Away forever with the blasphemous notion, and let
our whole moral being--all our ransomed powers adore the matchless
grace, the sovereign mercy, that has not left us to grope in the
darkness of our own minds, or to be bewildered by the conflicting
opinions of men; but has given us His own perfect and most precious
revelation, the divine light of His Word, to guide our feet into the
path of certainty and peace, to enlighten our understandings and
comfort our hearts, to preserve us from every form of doctrinal error
and moral pravity, and finally, to conduct us into the rest,
blessedness, and glory of His own heavenly kingdom. All praise to His
name throughout the everlasting ages!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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