National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-10-11
not Sss fs.ai nae Hs rsmsmbsrsd having read In " u

AN INFIDKL BOOK
that there were one hundred and nfty thousand
contradictions in the New Testament; there were
only nve thousand , verses N the New Tssss1snt
my thousand fools who believed IT, One had said
the Bible was not true because God had hated
with that was that God had never said any such
thing, because where It said that God had hated
Esau was away back In the last book Of the Tes-
lament, thousand years after Esau had died.
That was the way they gulled them; Jonah and
the whale was no circumstance to the gullioility
q indsls One might say that they had inspira,
did they have TT Not out Of doors, but in the
house at my. cents . head: Not in broad day
somewhere in wooden box, sticking heads out Of
Q hole. One might say spirits can communicate;
they did do It way back in the time Of Christ.
that no one knew. How many children their great
grandmother had; how many have died out Of
their family; they gave tests; they would write
dead.
They could find other folks who could do that.
prison in Massachusetts, for writing other folks
handwriting. They would ask, If their father
was present, to rap; as If their greatgrandfather
to the door with mask over his face, and would
not do anything but rap, when asked question,
they could not tell who he was. They said that
II was an
AGE OF PROGRESS.
Ifthey saw some of those men who used to thrill
the nation with their eloquence, who had pro:
gressed to the seventh sphere, and had to spell
think that they had gone back to 6OyhoOd and
puerility. A very learned man had recently had
tests in philadelphia with young creature who
had turned oxt to be flesh and blood.
Their Lord had used no such receptions; he had
talked with his people, and ate and drank with
them. When he had asked for meat they had
next time spirit came to them, said the speaker,
and said that he was the ghost Of their grand;
honeycomb, and see how It would work. Monkey
shines and the beating of tambourines in the
dark were no evidence.
The trouble with intidels was that they did not
care a red rag whether the Bible was true or not.
When he was boy he had attended a slw-mlll,
where they had sap-rOtten logs, rotten to tho
depth of an inch or two, and when they had taken
hold Of them with hook 1t would rip right out,
under them. Some men were like sap rotten logs.
They smoked and drank till their conscience gave
out, and they did not care whether there was
man. He had been an
HONEST, SQUARE scEPTIC,
who would not believe without the best kind of
What could the apostles have gained by assert
ing anything that was not true; they had been
whipped and persecuted; eleven Of them had sur
fered violent deaths. That is what they had got,
and men did not lie at that price. They had not
done 1t away off somewhere, but right on the spot
in Jerusalem, and three thousand had believed In
one DAY. They cOulQ 90 nOtnlnB Dy trying 10
throw the engine off the track after it had gone
by eighteen hundred years ago.
He asked that his hearers read the Bible; to
live It out was the best evidence they could get.
They might talk of hypocrites, but no one refused
money because there were counterfeits in circula-
ton; they should not talk Of sectarianism or Of
the Inconsistency OF Christians.
In conclusion the speaker said they might
never meet again in this world, until the day
when more vast assemblage than that should
meet In one hour; and when, as in Noah's time
while they were eating and drinking and buying
and selling and forgetting there should burst
upCn this world the trump Of God, summonng
them to judgment, not in the presence CT statuary
and a nations Capitol, as they were then assem-
bled, but in the presence Of the great white
throne, in the presence Of the quick and Of the
rising dead, bursting from the grave.
They would then remember the words that
Christ had spoken. "My words that speak unto
you, the same shall judge you at the last day."
They could read their destinies; they could then
make their peace with God, but on that day
their dust Bibles and neglected Saviour
would stand as Witnesses against them. He
prayed that they prepare for that day, in that
calm, quiet, blessed hour; he urged that they
kneel before God, and invoked his blessing upon
them.
Mr.. Hastings concluded with an earnest, fer
vent prayer. The famous revival hymn Of
Sankey's, "Hold the Fort, }" was then sang, after
which "Praise God from whom all blessings low,"
was sung twice, most every one Of the vast assem-
bIage helping to swell the song. Afterwards
from the lips Of Mr.. Hastings.
Mr.. Hastings will this evening preach his last
sermon here, during his present stay, at the
Foundry church.