Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 43:172 (Oct 1886)
Article: Outcomes Of The Bible Not Found In The Bible
Author: I. E. Dwinell

BSac 43:172 (Oct 1886) p. 631

Outcomes Of The Bible Not Found In The Bible

Rev. Prof. I. E. Dwinell

In some fitting matrix in nature’s laboratory, in a mountain gorge, suppose there are brought together carbon and a peculiar crystallizing force. It makes no difference for the present purpose whether this force is inherent in the carbon when in a certain state, or is a foreign principle. Suppose the two together in the same matrix and under favorable conditions. At first they are simply carbon and a crystallizing energy. If the pocket could be inspected, all that could be found would be these two; possibly all that could be detected would be the carbon, but the other is there also. Let the years or ages roll on, till the work in this laboratory is done, then

BSac 43:172 (Oct 1886) p. 632

inspect the result. Now in the matrix is a beautiful crystal. Carbon and a crystallizing energy were put in: there comes out a diamond. Something like this takes place with the Bible. Certain elements and forces were put in which in the progress of ages enter into new combinations, and come forth in a higher product.

Friendly students and critics of the Bible confine their attention almost exclusively to finding out what was formally put in; and they differ widely in their judgments on this point. But they miss, by this process, many of the new creations into which the truths and forces, apparent in it or hiding between the lines, are at length slowly evolved in the sight of the world. Here is an interesting and curious phenomenon; and it may be well to inquire what actually comes out of the Bible which analysis does not detect in it; into what new and rare crystals its own elements and forces, however prominent or hidden and slumbering, have in the process of time really shaped themselves in the world’s higher thought and faith. The inquiry does not relate to the way in which the book has lifted itself up in the sight of men by its effects. That is a very different subject, a very familiar and interesting one. But what new combinations have the new-creative forces and elements lurking in the Bible taken on and effected? We are looking, not at the contributions it has made to human welfare out in the world, but at the change which has taken place in its own forces and quality in the view of the world, making it practically a different Book. What larger, richer Bible and Bible-force have we from this transformation?

It may help us into this subject to call to mind that there are remarkable forces in reserve in this Book, in its original latent potencies. Many things are in it that are not discovered till they are needed, and then come forth to meet the emergency. It carries concealed tapers packed away in it, which are not lighted, and can not be lighted, ...