by William Jennings
Bryan
The following was taken from the
address delivered by Mr.Bryan in Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois, on May 4,
1911.
"Is the
Bible the work of man, or is it an inspired book? Is it the product of human
wisdom, or did its authors speak as they were commanded by the Lord? Atheists
and materialists declare that it is merely the work of man; that it was written
under the limitations that apply to human wisdom. Taking this position, they
must necessarily contend that, unless man has degenerated in ability and
declined in wisdom, he can now produce a book equal to the Bible. Let them
produce it. Judged by human standards, man is far better prepared to write a
Bible now than he was when our Bible was written. The characters whose
words and deeds are recorded in the Bible were members of a single race; they
lived among the hills of Palestine in a territory scarcely larger than one of
our counties. They did not have printing presses, and they lacked the learning
of the schools; they had no great libraries to consult, no telegraph wires to
bring them the news from the ends of the earth, and no newspaper to spread
before them each morning the doings of the day before. Science had not unlocked
Nature's door and revealed the secrets of rocks below and stars above. From
what a scantily supplied storehouse of knowledge they had to draw, compared
with the unlimited wealth of information at man's command today! And yet these
Bible characters grapple with every problem that confronts mankind, from the
creation of the world to eternal life beyond the tomb. They have given us a
diagram of man's existence from the cradle to the grave, and they have set up
sign posts at every dangerous point along the path. We turn back to the Bible
for the Ten Commandments, which form the foundation for our statute law, and
for the Sermon on the Mount, which lays down the rules for our spiritual
growth. The Bible gives us the story of the birth, the words, the works, the
crucifixion, the resurrection, and the ascension of Him whose coming was
foretold in prophecy, whose arrival was announced by the angel voices, singing
'Peace and good-will' -- the story of Him who is the growing figure of all
time, whom the world is accepting as Saviour and as the perfect example. Let
the atheists and the materialists produce a better Bible than ours, if they
can. Let them collect the best of their school to be found among the graduates
of the universities -- as many as they please, and from every land. Let the
members of this selected group travel where they will, consult such libraries
as they please, and employ every modern means of swift communication. Let them
glean in the fields of geology, botany, astronomy, biology, and zoology, and
then roam at will wherever science has opened a way; let them take advantage of
all the progress in art and in literature, in oratory and in history -- let them
use to the full every instrumentality that is employed in modern civilization;
and when they have exhausted every source, let them embody the results of their
best intelligence in a book and offer it to the world as a substitute for this
Bible of ours. Have they the confidence that the prophets of Baal had in their
god? Will they try? If not, what excuse will they give? Has man fallen from his
high estate, so that we cannot rightfully expect as much of him now as nineteen
centuries ago? Or does the Bible come to us from a source that is higher than
man -- which?"