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Lecture Hall Bethany, WV

Alexander Campbell spoke these words to his students at Bethany College during the morning lectures that he gave on the Pentateuch.  He delivered the lectures in the great hall which is a part of the historic Old Main at Bethany College, Bethany, WV.  “If a man should have the ear of an earthly autocrat for an hour’s interview, he would tell the honor to his children and his children’s children.  But what is this, to having audience with the King of kings and Lord of lords? Can man conceive of any thing which should so inspire him with gratitude, with veneration and love, as that, upon the throne of his glory, God should hear the prayers of the frail denizens of earth–should listen to their supplications?  There is not, within the lids of the Bible, a presentation of the Divine character, so fascinating as that which reveals Him as a prayer-hearing God.  The idea that God, in his infinite majesty, could condescend to listen to the prayer of an earthly beggar–or that he would hold in abeyance the awful machinery of the universe, as in answer to the prayers of Joshua! What an exhortation to man, to bend his heart and soul in thanksgiving and adoration, to the bountiful Fountain of his being” (Lectures on the Pentateuch, by Alexander Campbell, 264).