A voice from the fire

Transcribed from the 1855 John Robertson edition by David Price.
A Sermon
OCCASIONED BY THE
PUBLIC BURNING OF THE BIBLE AT KINGSTOWN,
BY THE REDEMPTORIST FATHERS,
ON THE 5th OF NOVEMBER, 1855.
PREACHED BY THE REV. ROBERT WALLACE.
DUBLIN: JOHN ROBERTSON, 3 GRAFTON-STREET.
1855.
DUBLIN: PRINTED BY WHITE, BROTHERS, 45 Fleet-street.
“And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves, for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb, out of the midst of the fire, lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female.”—Deut. iv. 12–17, the passage on the outer page of the fragment taken out of the Fire , and given to the Preacher upon the spot . “God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, and by whom also he made the worlds. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard. For if they escaped not who refused him who spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven.”
Such are the solemn sanctions under which God has entrusted us with the Book of Life; nor can these sanctions be considered too weighty by any who rightly appreciate that gift. Next to the gift of God’s incarnate Son and of his Blessed Spirit, we rank the Book divine. We are thankful for the Church and its ordinances and means, and if we may distinguish between the Church and its ministers, we are thankful for them too; but we value the Sacred Volume above all institutions, however sacred, and above all men of whatever character. It is not our intention at this time to elaborate arguments for the necessity of a divine revelation; suffice to say, that without one we could have no certainty in matters of faith, and no authorised standard in matters of morality. That “the world by wisdom knew not God” is proved by the history of all nations, ancient and modern. The classic times of Greece and Rome were as destitute of correct knowledge of the true God as were the times most distant and barbaric, while the highest culture of arts and science did nothing whatever for pure morality; God, therefore, for his own glory and man’s good, condescended to speak from heaven, and give us a revelation of his will. It was necessary that this revelation should be a written one: for in matters of such importance no man could be satisfied with its transmission by tradition. Tradition never did and never can transmit any dictate of either God or man with certainty. What tradition can do as a medium of supplying knowledge from the past may be seen in the case of those nations which bordered the kingdom of Israel—whose fathers, descending from the patriarchs, must have had some knowledge of both God’s character and his claims; yet these nations had forgotten all, and lapsed into the most contemptible idolatry. It may be seen, in the case of the Israelites themselves. How simple and correct the views which Abraham their father entertained of God, and yet so completely did his descendants forget all this during their sojourn in Egypt that Moses found it necessary to ask the Lord by what name he should speak of him to them. The uncertainty of tradition may be further seen by a reference to the days of our Lord, when we find that by it the elders made void the law of God. Tradition is often at fault in its very origin. Look at one which rose among the disciples themselves. The Saviour, before ascending to heaven, informed Peter of the manner of his death, on which this Apostle was curious to know what should be the lot of John, who was coming up at the time. The Lord did not think it wise to satisfy that curiosity, and said, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee, follow thou me.” Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die; yet the sacred historian tells us, that for this tradition there was no foundation in fact. And who among us could tell in this day what were the doctrines of our own glorious Reformers, if their teachings had not been placed upon record? Whether, therefore, the dictum be inspired or uninspired, it cannot with any certainty and authority be transmitted through the medium of tradition. God, therefore, not only spoke from heaven, but commanded that the Scriptures should be “ written for our learning .” But the passage before us not only speaks of a record of the teachings and commandments of God, it also informs us that in the absence or neglect of that record men will be not merely ignorant of God’s character, but corrupt themselves, and fall into idolatry. It therefore seems to teach with great force the tendency of our nature to some religious system, and to us it appears plain that whether we trace that tendency to traditions of the past, to some law of the mind, or to the “light which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world,” the fact itself is indisputable. Man every where seems to feel a need of something beyond himself to which to look, on which to lean—the object of his hope, or the object of his dread. And where is it that men do not realize the warning of the text, that without the Word of God they will corrupt themselves and set up images, the likeness of male or female, or some other thing. Perhaps, indeed, no age of the world, and no portion of the human race, could more fully verify the fact than the times in which we live, and the men whose conduct is the occasion of these remarks. They have not thought it needful to consult the Word of God to remember his TEN commandments, and have therefore forgotten that God is not represented by any similitudes, and have made to themselves images, the likeness of male and of female. There is, indeed, so striking a discrepancy between the text and the worship of images that it can surprise no one that those who practise the one should renounce the other. No one can be pleased with that which bears testimony against conduct he is not prepared to abandon. “ Every one that doeth evil hateth the light , neither cometh to the light , lest his deeds should be reproved .” But since the right course is to abandon the practice, not to insult the witness, this discrepancy is not a mitigation but an aggravation of the conduct of which we complain. We need not say that we refer to the burning of the Holy Bible in open day, very near the place in which we are met, and under the eye of Roman Catholic and Protestant. We are aware that from policy or shame the deed has been denied, and, therefore, our first business will be to place before you the evidence upon which our charge rests. On Monday last, about half-past ten o’clock in the morning, having heard that Bibles were being burned in the yard of the Roman Catholic Chapel, we proceeded to the spot; there, at the lower end of the chapel, and in sight of every one that passed up or down the street, we saw a large heap of cinders from books or paper. Around the edges of the heap there were patches of flame. A number of persons, one of them a boy in the dress of an acholyte, stood round the fire. They were kicking books, that were evidently small pocket Bibles, into the fire. One of these persons turned round and said, “ We are burning Bibles ,” and asked, “Have you any more to bring?” And then, to leave no doubt upon our mind, took up a portion of one out of the fire before our eyes and placed it in our hands. This fragment you now behold, and from its first page we have selected the text. Can evidence like this be disputed or set aside?