From so many writers over so many years...
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The Bible is a library of sixty-six different books, long and short, written in different languages (Hebrew, Caldean and Greek), written in various countries (Judea, Babylon, Asia Minor, Greece and Italy), written in various times during a period stretching over about fifteen hundred years and with an intermission of about 400 years, written by about forty different authors, people with Egyptian culture, people with Jewish culture, people with Greek and Roman culture, people with no culture.
Written by all sorts and conditions of men (priests, prophets, princes, peasants, warriors, statesmen, herdsmen, poets, publicans, physicians, fishermen, historians, lawyers, chroniclers, philosophers, orators, autocrats, exiles, rich, poor, evangelists, apostles), written to Jew and to Gentile, written to Greek and barbarian, to bond and to free, to men and to women, to young and to old, to individuals, congregations, the whole world. Written in the rush of the city and in the hush of the country; written in palace and in prison, written in prosperity and in adversity, written in the height of national glory on Mount Zion and in the depth of national shame beside quiet waters. These books contain prose, poetry, prophecy, history, type, antitype, sign, symbol, miracle, parable, biography, philosophy, description, travel, exploration, legislation, invitation, exhortation, denunciation, argumentation, commendation, indignation, prayers, blessings, curses, oration, consolation, fierce invective, impassioned appeal, and coolest and calmest logic, letters, hymns, pastorals, romance, tragedy and jubilee, sobbing sighs and shouts of joy, sermons, lyrics, proverbs, epigrams and axioms. Thinking on these facts, we must needs expect chaos as the outcome. It cannot be but that parts of this variegated library contradict other parts. But do we find it so? By no means! On the contrary and wonderful to relate, we find a marvelous unity of design and harmony in statements.
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