, 1876-12-25


Q fierce struggle ofhortcT warfare. in which. rs
Ia aaual In such strug9ses, llttlo mercy was
asked or given. The 1trae1ltes Ind 10 settle
so'newhcre; they believed tho Lord meant them
settled centuries before, before they migrated
to Egypt; ~ they went to work, about
Is every people on The face Of the globe flayo
had To do, a. our fathers llad TO do here IN
nothing against thcml And even there there Is
. certain heavenly element In tho vay that, all
through that struEEle, that ,pttrer religion of
hlouotlism kept inspiring tic leaders with noble
% ksep thsir cir people f; frss eu from tSa % Horrible
hcathentams which were common among these
nntLve tribes. And 1t is not wonderful That, in
tl!cfr horror Of tlcac thugs such a. the sacrifice
a ss ef. s sG Het t ey thy yua if esfoy sns " .e ss
people, root and branch. but for lis to have 70
believe that they wero right in this,..that God
did really command all those bloodthirsty mus
tnS s6oa o e eeya WIZ t. esf Ken om rea1 e1
Milat they commit Themselves TO. Why, take
that war agaInst The Mdtanites (Numbcrs xrai).
Twelve thousand Of the 1srnelitcs 20 out against
them. ntribe, Or contederetlon of hyc tribes,
that tho lsraelitcs warred against them and
slew every man atnong then,-and that without
Losing q atngle life amongst themselves! And
then Moses was very angry that they llat!
at Ills command every mnto child was nlassa.
cred, and tho whole crowd Of women, too, except
tho young unmarried whom they were TO keep
alive for slaves; and az thest numbered q, ,O00,
killed. Why, II is simply unuttcrahly dreadful
to think Of Uod as commanding anything Of tftc
kindl The probability is that Ii Is tradition Of
eutne lcrco littlo border war enormously ex-
gard It, rs It is, Is an altogether earthly element
IL the book, and Il falls into IL place Is one Of
the chronicles Of TINT. old dim life atnong
which tho best light Of tho world was grad
tSs % p1ntps Hsas " believing VIM eYsshns eeS s L
Bible, aid it Ia enough to sink tho whole bookl
This Is simply IN illustration Of the wclght
that religion has to carry, + men will try to
Is oil divine and all true! Mr. Moody, when
speaking on this 1nnttcr Of taking everything In
tic Bible, INSTANCES tllc flood, mid the story Of
Jonah, md such things, q tue greatest dl'eul-
The greatest difficulties lfo in the m!nEliug Of
tho beautiful and divine thoughts with thoughts
and words which arc not divine but only human,
-and sometimes poor At thaet Take tho Book
before youil 1 ani told il is ali diviuc; that /
must accept 1t, all or ronc;. that It is not
for inc to be saying which will accept and
which not. But, here md tllerc, scattered
siudder Read the 1o0th Psalm, whirh is juat
ono long psalm Of cursIng against some un-
known enemy:
Let bis days be few, and hla oilce lot another
III III his children bo fathe.less and lls wife
Let ills children ho continually vagabonds and
Let thcsc DO nnnc to extend mercy INTO him,
neither let there be any to hvor ia sathcrlcss cul
dren.
Or the 18th Palm, with It's touching words
about their captivity:
by tho ruins Of Babylon there VIC sat down. yea,
VIC wept when VIC remembered Zion.
but ending with that fearful imprecatton:
o, Daughter Of Unbylon who art to be destroyed;
hany shall he be TINT rerardcth thee AZ thou hast
Happy shall he bo that .aketh and dasleth thy
lltt!o cues hganst tho stones.
I might quote you plenty mora OF tho same
kind, but, on this principle OF all or none, one
such passaae Is Just rs good Us lfty. As d roc
need troubletlo0 one. The 2}d Psalm, or tho 1Ghl
or the l0Oth ur tic 11Gth do not cease to help our
souls heavcnwnrl bccauso sotue OF the others
breathe sprit Of hatred nn1 revcnge which we
should not like our little ehiidrcn to hear. But
claim tint they arc all alike Gods word, nil to
bc accepted rs divine, I say TINT the burden and
pcrplexity are la1 RHew upon faith which tn the
past has driven many Que into Bllccr inidcllty,
and, II this rcVlyul fdea Of the Dblo Is allowed
to ho SGT up again uncUntraleted, Is likely to be
Tic question, however, arises, How arc
nicu to distinguish tho heavenly olcmont
fEem tint Which sl!el, + earty! That l. the great
none u view Of tile Billie hold up before us.
'You have lost your ruidc,n they say, "lf you
bcgtn to choose wtat you will receive and what
rolect! low Gun you tell that ,you may not be
rejecting tho 1iVinest truth nnl singing out for
your reverence tho earthlleat blun.lcraH ;.
Well. It sounds very plausible dinlaulty, but
in reality there Is absolutely nothing In IT, We
havo to distinguish TIC true from tho false, the
merely earthy, bSy our faculties OF mind,
and soul, and conscience. Our faculties
may not be- perfect, but they are quite
clear enough and strong enough to
when 11o said to Tic Jews. "lYby, even Of
yourselves, judge 80 not what Is rigl'tnt but
1t Ia said II We call sec What Is divine for our
or rcyeal il to nst Every nsodl rhat need IL j
not touched. Don't you SEQ TINT Our minds
could not originated You Or could not laye
grand, impressive truth: You or could not
nss sH see fhas ass'' 's and ae Geaed as
that "9od is a. spirt, and they that worship
Iinl must Worship Him in spltitana IN TRUTH,
thought Into words every one can sec how It
towers above all previous conventions, etthcr lii
tho world or III tic Dif3le. Will Auy ullG say
| TINT wo cannot Judge between such "lirtng
wnrds' and tho old histories OF the Jews
slaughtcring thu Canaanltcs, or the curstng
| verses Of tho PsalmB1
Why, the simple fact Is that those who pro-
test against our being SO prcsumptuous as to
| pick and choose among tho things contained
! III the niblG arc themselves doing this very
thing tlluY say man Inns 10 power to do Do
they treat all parts alikca Do they
| reul MI parts eguallyl Nothing Of tho
| ktndt They pfuk and choose lust like tho rest
ot US by thCr own feeling OF what Ia lttcst; lny
stress upon sonlo parts, touch very lightly on
others, and make constant use Of tho very
| fu.nlty OF discetnment which they deny that
man possesses. or course wo don't possess It
PERFECTLY. No one processes that Me can draw
any exart lines botwean the earthly and the
| heavenly elamcnts. porhaps VIC may sonio.
times confuse matters and get across tu our
+ Judgments. But there Ia this to 10 said, any
how: that no muddle wc can get into, In trying
to distinguish between the earthly anu the
heavenly elements In the Bible, could be 30 bad,
such an utter and misclievous confusion, as
really to take It nil for heavenly mid to try to
aGt upon thai idea!
Frienta, thu real difficulty Of distinguishing IA
not 30 great Ms " ls represented. Only lead thu
llblo honestly, earnestly, anu perfectly fearless
| 1u n,$Jt, nr6