Ringing Questions (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1902 Excerpt: ...in which a dog may howl at night without sending shudders through every hearer. How quick most hosts would be to send for an extra guest to make fourteen at table. So avidious of glimpses of the future are we all. The Bible has never been worse abused, I suppose, than by students who tried to write future histories from its pages. Now and again some exegete comes forward with a new interpretation of Daniel's prophecy, or of the Revelation of St. John. Among my earliest recollections is that of certain citizens, closing up their terrestrial affairs, and waiting on the housetops for the Lord "to descend from Heaven with a shout "--all based upon a hint in Daniel's prophetic weeks. The Bible was never intended as a field glass to spy out the secrets of the future. I sometimes wonder that, with all the Adventist and Millenarian chronology which has been read into its pages, the Bible is not as discredited today as an exploded work on astronomy or physics. Not one page of Scripture was ever given to glut our curiosity concerning events not yet at hand. The Bible is a book for human life. It opens Heaven just far enough to light up the path for pilgrims. It has nothing but confusion and consternation for those who approach it as they would a soothsayer's tent. God has chosen to keep His secrets to himself, and He has no confidants empowered to impart those secrets for fees to cover expenses. Even Jesus barely drew aside the curtain. He talked of kindness and purity and truth. He revealed the sort of manhood which makes Heaven above or below. He set human life in the blaze of an open sky. But He said next to nothing to satisfy men's lustings concerning the future. He warned the disciples against those very persons who should come with a message of exclus...