Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-02-13
INFIDELITY.
The Fifth Reply to Col. ingsrsoll's
Lectures.
The Fruits of the Bibie-lnstitutioRs Of
Mercy-Its Effect on the Morals of the
People Mot ContradictoY-The
-Four Great Doctrines.
SUMMING UP THE ARGUMENT.

Brooklyn, February 12.-Dr. Talmage
announced the beginning of especial evan
gelistic services under Major Cole, of
Chicago, on February 81. DR.. Talmage will
be absent on next Sunday, February 16.
The gentleman then read as his text, Matt.
vii, 16: ''Do men gather grapes of thorns,"
and said:
Not in this country. Not in any coun-
try. Thorns stick, thorns wound, thorns
lacerate, but never have they all to-
gether yielded one cluster of Isabella or
Catawba grapes. In other words, Christ
traations, sets forth what we all know, that
vou cannot get that which is luscious and
pleasant and good out of that which is bad.
II Won find large, round clusters OF grapes
you know that it was a good grape vine
that produced them. not snarl OF Canaaa
thistle. Now, if can show you that the
fruits of this Bible are good fruits, health
fuI fruits, splendid fruits, you will beIieve
the Bible is good and all Mr.. lngersolls
attempts to make it iniquitous will be re-
iected. Do men gather grapes OF thorns'
Can bad book yield good resultsy Mr.
Ingersoll, the exponent OF inhdehty;
charges most vehemently, and in about all
his lectures, that the Bible is
ACruef Book
and he reads the stories of the ancient wars
and reads passages from the lives OF DAVID
and Joshua and reads about the extermina-
ton of the CanaaniteS and then declares the
Bible is in favor of laceration and massa-
ere. Well, now, among your acqualntanceS
who have read the Bible, have you noticed
that in proportion as they became acqualnt-
ed with the Scriptures and iond OF the
Scriptures they got cruel in their haolts:
Have YOU ever known any OF them TO come
out and practically say: Il have been
reading the Bible, and of that story about
the extermination of the Canaanites, and |
am seized by disposition to stab and cut
and beat and knock to pieces everything
can Law nv hands on?" What has been the
effect upon your children? AS they be-
came more and more fond of the Scriptures,
have they become more fond OF tearing OH
the wings of flies and pinning grasshoppers
and robbing birds nests? If the Bible is "a
cruel book, you see that would be the Ill
rection of the result. So far from that, you
know as we'll as do that all the institu-
tions of mercy-not of cruelty-but all the
institutions OF mercy were founded
By Bible Readers, Bible Believers.
When did this book put cruelty into the
hearts of George Peabody or Miss Dix or
Florence Nightingale or John Howard or
John Frederick 0berlin or Abbot Law
renee? Go into hospital. There are
twenty Christian women binding up the
wounds. giving the cordials, kneeling by
the diving pillow and saying, Lord Jesus,
receive this poor mans spirit Where
does the cruelty Of the Bible crop out in
their lives? Do you find it i'll the gentle
ness of their step or in the soft cadence OF
their voice or their soothing words In the
diving hour? o, sirs, when you can make
a rose leaf stab like bayonet, when you
can manufacture icicles out OF the south
wind, when YOU can poison the tongue
with honey got from the blossoming buck
wheat, then you can find cruelty gotten
ont of this Bible. That charge falls Hat IN
tbe presence of every honest man. Mr..
Ingersoll and his cOadiutorS assail the
Bible as
An Impure Book.
They take Solomon's song, read certain
portions, make their own Interpretation,
and then fling down the book and say
'TheScriptures are a polluted collection oi
writings" Ny friends, there is one primer
ple that no one will deny, and that is that
impure books have impure results. Iha'
cause produces that result. Now, you have
known a great many people who read the
Bible, among your own friends-a great
many--who have been reading it for years
How many of them have had their morals
despoiled? Did it make your father an i'm
pure man? Did it make your mother Dao
woman? What effect had it upon YOU
sister who died in the faith of the Gospel
and who has now been some ten or iltteeh
wears in heaven? Were their morals tar
nished? Did they become impure o
speech. impure of action? Two hun
| dred and fifty million copies o
an impure book scattered among th'
| nations! Why, there must have been
| great many victims. Show me thousand
| show me five hundred, show me hundred
| show me fifty, show me hve, snow m'
two,
I am not particular about the specimen
YOU give me, whether ttian, woman, child
white black, copper-colored, American
| African, European, Asiatic just one speci
| men give me-a man who was pure be
fore made impure by the reading OF thu
Scriptures. | am not contning you t
this day. Go through all the 1000 year
that have passed and show me victim
On the contrary, you know that the fani
| ly institution is nowhere regarded excep
| Ill DlDlS TCdulls W. hhO'
, that the only foundation of the home in
stitution is the Word of God. What is the
| difference between Sodom, Constantople
| Madras, Pekin on the one hand, and oul
| American cities on the other. No differ
ence except Bible and no Bible. chal
lenge all earth and hell for one victim o
the $50, 900 copies of what you say i
an impure book. The charge falls Hat IL
the presence OF every honest man.
But Mr.. Ingersoll says that the Bible is
Mass of Contradictions
and he puts chapter against chapter, anC
prophet against prophet, and apostle
against apostle, and he says: Now
this is so, how can that be so?' Mr.. Mill
who was a friend of the Bible, and VIII
translated many parts of it, declared tina
he had found 10000 different readidgs o
Bible passages, and he declared also tina
there was not one important difference, ant
no difference except what might be account
ed for from the fact that the Bible cam,
down from generation to generation, ant
was copied by many different hands, whil
at the same time declare in your hearing
this morning that all the Bible writer
agree in the great cardinal doctrines of thu
Bible: God, good, holy just, forgiying
omnipotent. Man lost sinner Christ al
all.glorious, all-sympathetic Savior, read!
to take the whole world TO his heart. TIVE
destinies-one for believers and the othe
for unbelieyers. Now those are about th'
-Four Great Doctrines
in the Bible and all these writer's agree II
them. Mozart, Beethoven, Handel or HsydI
never wrote or heard a better harmony
Besides that you are to remember that thu
Bible was written by many different per
sons in many different lands and in differ
eLt ages, and that these persons had N
communication with each other, and tina
they did not know the great design of tn
Bible, and yet, after all, the fragments o
their work have been gathered up from al
lands and all ages and been put together
and they make a complete harmony, 81
pronounced by the best scholars of thi
age. 1t is as though some great cathedra
were to be built and hundred workmeI
were TO be employed upon it, and the.
were in many lands and in different centu
ries, and these workmsn had no communi
cation with each other in regard to tn,
grand design of the building, and yet al
their fragments of work brought together
| it is q perfect, architectural triumph. Al
though the man who built pillar kney
| nothing of the man who built the dome
and the man who built the doorway knew
nothing of the man who built the arch,y
a complete accord, complete architecture
| and complete triumph.
Il Aoa;, NJ. In.arOoIl char0as that the