A Preface by Frederick H. A.

Scrivener
to his “Annotated Paragraph Bible.”(1884 edition)
THE BIBLE: A DIVINE REVELATION.

The Bible (or “the Book”) is the name usually given to an ancient collection of
sixty-six smaller volumes, comprising narratives, poetry, moral axioms, and reli-
gious discourses, written in Hebrew, Chaldee, and Greek, by many authors, at dif-
ferent times, during a period of more than fifteen hundred years. Exceedingly
valuable as containing the most ancient writings, the most remarkable and best
accredited histories, the sublimest poetry, and the noblest personal, social, and
political morality in the world, it has peculiar and extraordinary claims on account
of its professed ORIGIN and OBJECT,—declaring itself to be a Divine revelation,
in which God is made known to us, in order that He may be honoured in the resto-
ration of our fallen race to purity and happiness.
Whilst no one can deny that it is possible for the Creator to give to His intelli-
gent creatures direct revelations respecting Himself and His will, His wisdom and
benevolence render it highly probable that He should have made such communi-
cations, if they were necessary. And, when we consider the deep degradation of
millions of heathen in every age and of every form of worship, the dismal uncer-
tainty of the greatest pagan philosophers respecting the attributes and purposes of
God, and the nature and destinies of the human race, as well as the entire failure
of all modern theorists, though borrowing much from revelation, to construct any
other system affording adequate motives to self-improvement, or sufficient conso-
lation under inevitable suffering—we must be convinced that it was essential to
the well-being of man that God should so speak to him.

The claim that is made for the Bible is that it is the word of God—the only and
complete written revelation of the Divine will. In proof that it is so, we observe—
1. Its numerous books, written in different ages and countries by men of differ-
ent ranks and classes—shepherds, fishermen, priests, warriors, statesmen, kings—
all have one great subject; and, amidst numerous diversities of form, style, and
manner of thought, are pervaded by the same ideas, which are gradually devel-
oped, with no real contradictions, yet with such circumstantial variations as dis-
prove the possibility of collusion; clearly showing that one mind, through more
than fifteen hundred years, must have been engaged upon it.
2. The description which it gives of man’s state, however opposed to his self-
flattering views, exactly accords with what he sees passing around him and within
him; so that the more closely any one scrutinizes the thoughts, desires, and mo-
tives of his own heart, the more will he be convinced that the Bible proceeds from
One who knows all the hidden secrets of his heart, and gives a far more accurate
account of his disposition and character than he himself could have done:—while
the representation which it contains of the character of GOD, being altogether
unlike and infinitely superior to any ideas of Him which fallen man ever formed,
evidently could not have originated in his mind, but must have been communi-
cated to him from a higher Being. In the life of the Redeemer especially, human
excellences are delineated which no biographer had ever attributed to his hero;
and which are not less striking for their naturalness and reality than for their per-
fect agreement with the dictates of enlightened conscience.
3. All that the Bible discloses respecting the moral government of God, and
human responsibility, and the connexion between our present conduct and our fu-
ture destiny, is in perfect accordance with the constitution of Nature and the order
of Providence—as manifested in the punishments and rewards which even now
follow virtue and vice, in their effects upon men’s physical and mental constitu-
tion and outward circumstances—in the pleasure bestowed or the pains inflicted
by conscience—in the approbation or contempt of others, and in the retributions
of domestic and of civil life:—all of which sufficiently prove that, even in the pre-
sent degenerate and disordered world, the Divine administration is on the side of
the righteous; and amply justify the conclusion that, as this book declares, virtue,
militant here, will be triumphant hereafter; and that the first-fruits of God’s moral
government which are perceptible now are the sure signs of its future perfection in
the world to come.
4. The plan of salvation which it reveals, through the mediation of the Son of
God, is altogether beyond the limits of human invention or conjecture; while, at
the same time, it affords a matchless display of holiness and love in indissoluble
union, which fully accords with our most enlightened notions of the Divine attrib-
utes, and can easily be conceived to produce effects upon the welfare and happi-
ness of the whole universe far beyond our present powers of knowledge or com-
prehension. And not less does the wonderful adaptation of this scheme of mercy
to the condition of man prove that it proceeded from the Author of his nature; for
it meets all the exigencies of the case—awakening conscience and satisfying its
demands—supplying motives of irresistible force to holiness—providing influ-
ences fully adequate to the moral renovation of every human being, whatever be
his character, condition, or circumstances—and giving solid peace to the mind; as
is remarkably illustrated by the fact that no instance is on record, or can be pro-
duced, of any sincere believer in the religion of the Bible who, in the prospect of
dissolution, ever repented of his faith.
5. The moral teachings of the Bible, which fully accord with the fainter light of
natural religion, bespeak its Divine origin. The religion which it reveals is spiri-
tual and holy, requiring universal moral rectitude, and extending to the inward
principles and motives of human conduct—not overlooking the outward forms,
but valuing them only as they are expressions of the internal spirit; unlike all hu-
man religions, which have respect to the garb and manners of piety rather than to
its heart and soul. Among numberless illustrations of the moral dignity of the Bi-
ble may be instanced its truthfulness and its goodness—its truthfulness, as seen in
the fearless exhibition of truths the most unwelcome to human selfishness, pride,
and prejudices—its candid forewarnings of the trials and sufferings incident to
true piety in the present world—and its faithful delineation of good men, whom it
nowhere describes as perfect, although it presents them as sincere, holy, and de-
voted disciples of a perfect system of truth and duty; and its goodness, as mani-
fested in the spirit of love and kindness which breathes through every part of this
book—its solicitude for the young—its sympathy for the poor, the oppressed, and
the suffering—and its benevolent regard for classes of the human family whom
every other system of religion overlooks and despises.
6. Another evidence of the truth of Scripture is found in its perfect agreement
with personal experience. It declares, for example, that the fruit of righteousness
is ‘quietness and assurance for ever’—that sincere believing prayer to God is ever
answered, either in the gift of the blessing asked, or of some greater—that obedi-
ence to the Divine precepts is followed by inward joy, even though it may lead to
outward suffering: in a word, it describes the history and experience of all Chris-
tians, and, with no less accuracy, those of the ungodly; and the description, in each
case, is found to be true. The Bible is thus incessantly proving itself to be the
word of unerring and ever-living truth.
7. The effects of the Bible, aided by the promised Spirit of God, upon those who
believe it, are such as no other book was ever known to produce; altering entirely
the character and conduct, producing eminent virtue, supplying extraordinary con-
solation, and especially giving birth to expansive and self-denying benevolence.
So that if a person “of entire impartiality, of sound mind and holy disposition,
should be shown the two companies of those who have received and those who
have rejected the Scriptures; and should compare the seriousness, learning, patient
investigation of truth, solid judgment, holy lives, and composure in a dying hour,
without unmanly terror or indecent levity, of the one company, with the character
and conduct of the other, he would be induced to take up the Bible with profound
veneration, and the strongest prepossession in its favour.”—Scott. It has also
widely diffused a vastly beneficial influence wherever it has been known; improv-
ing the moral and social state of the world to such a degree as to make its own ac-
counts of the depravity of former times, though corroborated by many ancient
writers, and by the existing practices of the dark parts of the earth, appear almost
incredible; while all other professed revelations have not only proved utterly
worthless for the purpose of ameliorating the condition, or reforming the character
of those who have most heartily received them, but have cherished and called into
action the most depraved principles of the human heart.
To these might be added (beside the whole body of external evidences) many
other marks of moral beauty and Divine wisdom in the word of God: its variety
combined with its unity; its brevity, and yet its inexhaustible fulness; the consis-
tency and harmony which exist between its several portions, as seen in the mutual
relations of the Old and New Testaments—the mutual connexions of the histori-
cal, poetical, and didactic books—the exact correspondence of the types under the
law with the substance under the Gospel, and of predictions in the prophets with
their fulfilment in the person and work of the Saviour; and the complete subordi-
nation of all that is merely personal, national, or temporary, to the higher interests
of universal and eternal truth and goodness.
It should also be remembered, that if this volume be not a revelation from
heaven, there is no other document in the world which can substantiate its preten-
sion to be such; so that we are left in darkness as to the origin or the destiny of the
human race, the whole history of the world is unexplained, and man himself, with
all his noble powers and endowments, will appear to have existed in vain.
Such are a few of the reasons which are sufficient to satisfy every honest in-
quirer that the Scriptures are not a merely human production, but “given by inspi-
ration of God.” But a practical belief of the Gospel usually rests upon more simple
grounds even than these. A man who has just views of the character of God, and
of himself, will accept the Saviour here offered to him, just as a drowning man
will lay hold of the arm that is stretched out to draw him to the shore; and, in pro-
portion as the heart and conduct are influenced by these doctrines, will the under-
standing be opened to perceive their perfect fitness, unquestionable truth, and sur-
passing glory.