Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1883-01-29

basket of paper to be used for hnaIins ;as
a few leaves that night and after 10 years
of planning got the valuable manuseriPss
;nt5 the possession of the emperor oI
Rnssia Our catalogue of books oil tue
Bible corresponds exactly with Catalogues
made centuries ago. Thirty-nine books IN
the Old Testament 400 years ago ana tniry-
nine hooks now, twenty seven books OF the
New Testament 1900 years ago ana Just
twenty seven books now. Marcion IN tne
Second century was turned OUT VI 'n'
church and
but in his indignation he gives list OF
books of the Bible corresponding with our
OVID. Assaulted, spit on, torn 70 pleEeS'
mathematical, burned, yet still adherlng.
I ask Won as men and women OF common
sense if YOU think that good God wouid
allow his book 10 get into 800 languages
and into 300. 600, 900 copies, ana now con-
front four fifths of the human race In lnel,
own tongue il the book were not true auu
right. Assailed and found fault with more
than any book ever written or printed, yet
more widely spread and more potent tnal
ever. DO you not think 1t LOOKS as thouen
in its present shape it were diyinely pro-
tected and cared for? ,,.,
The epidpmics that are constantly sweep
inc tens of thousands of books into the
sepulchres of forgetfulness only seem to
brighten the flame OF this. Not one OF q
tbousant- books lives year. Not one OF
so 600 will live a century. All OF the
Bible has lived eighteen centuries and
much of it fifty y-eigbt centuries and has
more rebound than when first put upon
parchment or paper. This book saw the
cradle of all other books and will see their
graves, though at fifty centuries OF age you
might suppose it would go hoboIlng In
deCrepitu6e on two cructhes. II outruns
ali hnman books in circulation and in in-
Auence. Walter ScOtt's Wayerly novels
Macaulays History of England, and the
most popular books of the centuries, have
not had so many copies published IN the
last ten years as the Bible.
You Have No Idea
how hard it is for book TO get through
one century or two centuries. There was a
fire in a seraglio at COnStantinople and
some old volumes were thrown INTO the
street One of them vas picked up by an
ignorant man who was examining IL. A
scholar looked over his shoulder and saw
il was the first and second decade OF Llyy,
offered :he man a large reward TO put IL
under bis coat and follow him TO the schOl-
ars rooms. But they got separated IN the
| fire and so forever was lost the book OF
Livy. Pliny wrote twenty books OF MS
tory-all lost. The most OF Meander' $
writings lost. OF one hundred and thirty
comedies OF Plantus, all gone but twenty.
| Euripides wrote a hundred dramas-all
| gone but nineteen. Aeschylus wrote lOJ
| dramas. all gone but seven. Nalro wrote
the laborious biography o. 700 Romans, not
| fragment left. Quintillian wrote his tav'
orite work on the corruption OF eloquence
all lost. Thirty books of Tacitus lost.
| Dion DassiuS wrote 80 books and only 70
remain. Berosius' history lost. Almost
| all the books are mummihed IN the tomoS
| of old libraries, touched perhaps once IN
twenty wears by some man who after blow.
| ing the dust off finds that il is book he
| does not want. The fact that the Bible has
kept right on in its present shape and here
| in the latter part of the 18th century IS
more discussed than any other book and
stands exciting the admiration OF all the
good and
and wickedness and animosity and hyper
criticism of all earth and hell prove that il
| is iii to live and that it needs no court plas
ter TO cover up imperfections and wounds
| no help from doctors medical or doctors
theological or doctors phi losophic1or doc
tors evolutionist. Is it not miracle oil
protection Just as it is, and is not that q
| vindiCat;on of how God wants it? Man
added the apocryphal books of the Old
Testament, but they fell out. Council oi
Trent and bishops OF Aippo and the Synod
Of Jerusalem declared the apocryphaI
books must stay in, but they stayed out
No man to-day would put the books OF
Judith and Susanna and MacCabees, beside
the books OF deuteronomy or JOB oI
| -
been made to add to the New Testament
gospels and epistles and apocalyphiC, but
they all dropped right out. OF the 300
| 100000 copies not one has left out book oi
the Bible. Divinely protected, age after
age in in its present shape, it is evident
God likes it as it is and we ought to like il
as is.
Further, oppose the expurgation OF the
Scriptures because that attempt carried out
would result in their annihilatiOn. The
infidel geOlogiSts would say: out with
the Book OF Genesis" The intidel astrono'
mers would say: "0ut with the Book o.
| Joshua" The people who do not believe
in atoning sacrifice would say: out witt
the Book OF Levities." Those who do not
believe in miracles would say: "Out with
all the marvellous stories Of the Old anC
| New Testament" "Out with the Revela
tion" would cry some and "Out with al
the Pentateuch" would cry others and
there would be nothing left of the Bible
to be worth as much as last Yeas almanac
The expurgation OF the Bible would be its
annibilation.
am also opposed 10 the
Tinkeripg Of the Holy Book.
because have noticed that in proportion
rs people become good they like the ole
book rs it is. Inever knew man or woman
| greatly distinguished for goodness or self
sacrifice that wanted the scriptures altered
Many OF us have fallen heir to famil
Bibles. They were read 20, or 80, or 10, Of
so years. Go through them and see how
many chapters have been crossed, or by per
| or lead pencil see if on any of the margins
| you could find the words mot fit to b,
read" At any time in the last half cen
tury this book could have been privatel
eSpprgated. No; your grandfather gave il
tOyour father and your father gave it you
! MoreOve-, did you ever hear of anybody
being harmed by the socalled cruelties Of
indecencies of the Bible?
ENpurgatiOn OF the Heart
is what is needed, not expurgation of the
| holy oraClCs You cannot make me believe
that book which at this moment lies on
/ the table of the purest and best men and
| women.of the age and book that was the
| dying solace of your kindred already passed
| into the skies has taint in it that By
strongest microscope OF honest criticism
could be made visible. | hurl back the IN
suit to my Bible. II men are uncoutroll.
able in their indignation when the integ-