The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-06-16
miscellaneous.
Rev. 7. DEWITT TALMAGE.
THE WORD OF GOD PROFANED
AND OUTRAGED.
Rape Of the Gospel by Pedantry and Worldly Ego
tism-The New Translation the OutgrOWth OF
BOssIsm in the Church.
THE NEW TRANSLATION.

it. And the anger ofthe Lord was KIND
led against Uzzah, and God smote him
therefor his error
The sacred chest of acacia wood called
the Ark of the Covenant, about four feet
by two, gold lidded, gold hinged, and
mounted of two cherubims, and made to
contain the divine covenant and at one
time holding the bowl of wilderness
mama and Aaron's rod that budded,
was the most sacred box ever created. 1t
was in the presence of that chest God
Communed with the Israelites, Improp-
erly to touch that box was death. All
the people understood it. On one ocCa"
sion fifty thousand and seventy people
lost their lives by irreverenCe to the box.
\ he circumstances ofmy text were these:
That precious chest was being transfer.
red on cart drawn by oxen. NoT,oxen
are an uncertain team, especially on a
hot day when they come near shadow,
for without reference to the safety ofthat
which they draw, they dart aside for the
cool place. For this or some other rea.
son the oxen with this precious chest
made some sudden start, and the box
rocked, and Uzzah the driver, put his
hand upon it. He had no business to
touch it under any circumstances, Un-
der the Judgment of God this driver
drops dead by the car wheels. That box
long ago periRhed, for it was coDhaglant
with the ancient temple, But We have
n sacred che t, an ark Of the covenant
the Bible, Like the ark Of old, it con.
tains the divine covenant, and the man.
ma for poor wildernessed pilgrims, and
the rod of trouble that has budded into
fragrant consolation, and over it the
mercy seat. 1t is so sacred that the
hands Of worldly criticism and tue hands
of pelantry and the hands of useless
disturbance had better keep off Of it,
Wrongly to touch that omnipotent box
which i, our ark of the Covenant-is
to die.
We ale in the midst of a great agita.
ton, consequent upon the new revision
of tie Scriptures. We had translation
two hundred and seventy six years old,
embosomed in the warmest affections of
all the good Of earth, interloCked with
the best secular literature, and pronoun.
Ced by the Daniel Websters and the
Washington Irvings as the masterpiece
of English prose the translation at once
blessing and revolutionizing the nations
for good, and all christendom satisfied !
with the translation except a few doc
tor of divinity. But two companies, an |
Old Testament company and New Test
Rment company, have been busy for ten |
years changing the book, and few day |
ago the New Testament company laun- |
Ched the results of their labors upon the |
world. After great universal advertise |
ment of the intended book, and the dra. |
matte Withholding of the book till cer-
tain day, and then Withholding it till a
still further day, the work comes forth.
The English printing press keeps a tight |
grip on the copyright, and when one
American publishing house offered a
large sum for the privilege of reproduce
ing thu book simultaneously, tie Eug.
lish presses rejected the offer in cavalier
and abrupt style. This severe copyright
was not to meet the expenses Of the re-
vision, for that Was met by private SUBJ
scription; the $4,000 subscribed on this
side the sea for travelling expenses being
a small part of the moneys contributed
by benevolent men. Two million copies
are sold in two days. What C0mpli.
ment to the Scripturesl Yes, but be not
deceived. Did the two million people
sHddenly become passonately fond of
Scripture readingP No. These two mil.
lion Bibles went into houses where the
Bible was lready enthroned. All those
of US WHO honored the book wanted to
know what these men had been doing
with our favorite for ten years. Had we
a statue in New York City Hall Park
that had been the pride of the Nation
since it's foundation, and sCulptUred and
lifted at vast expense, and thirty.eight
men for ten years had been busy under
cover changing that statue, on the morn
ing the cover dropped and the changes
should be revealed, there would be no
room in the streets and squares approx
mate to hold the spectators. In addi.
ton to this general curiosity which we
all felt about the iConoCiasm of parts of
our best book, the denominations of re. {
ligionists were anxious to see if their pc
Culiar views would be favored or oppcs- {
ed by the new version. The Baptists
wanted to see what tbs revisionists had
done for immersion; and the Presbyter. l
ians what had been done about the de-
crees; and The EpisCopalians to see what
had been done about Apostolic success.
sion, and the Methodists to see what g
had been done about free grace, and the g
Congregationalists to see what had been '
done about the democracy of religion, 1
; nd the Universalists what had been
done with future punishment, and 80 we L
all rushed for the revised New Testa. t
ment.
The church and the world lave the 8
famous revision before them. We are 8
asked for our verdict. We all have a r
vote. The humblest person in the house il
has vote. "What do you think of it2" 4
is the perpetual question. Some say, II G
like it very much;" others say, II like it i
TO certain extent" others say, II want /
a year to consider it," which means, II '
want to hear what others say, and then '
l will say the same thing" There are A
many who do not want to offend the Ec.
clesiastiCal ring, for each denomination
has such ring; and there is as much '
bossism the church of God as in the 8
world, and monopoly would rule the 2
kingdom of Christ, II 1t could, as it rules .
the money markets and Legislatures Of I
the world. There are two voices that /
have not been fully heard: First, the '
unpfetendlng Christian scholarship ofII
America and England is displeased more /
than it can express at many Of the chan 6
geg made, and the other voice is the :
voice Of the great masses of Christian 1
people 300 out Of every l,O0O-who re,
gret inthe depth Of their soul that this &
revision has been attempted, and who i
look upon it as dissertation and a prof. I