Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1883-02-22

k...'a.,A Is.
.octpting bs-euti j. book from ~
tirvs verse a GenS Sss TO ihs last yefse
Of Reyels,ioh, and nom lid 10 lidOAIt
cannot be possible, = say some Of these
pulpit evoiutionists whose brain has
BEEN added by too long broodiAg Of
Herbert Spercer and Darwin, can:
not be possible that you believe there
was asksrdsa of Edei?'9ssNeS jusr d
much As q sbeIiess that there were
roses in my garden last season. 1T
cannot be possible that you think the
san and moon stood ssill7'S Yes; If
| were strong enough 70 make the sun
anu moon I could myself easily make
them stand still, .orby refraction give
that sppearan nee. q s.You don't believe
that the whale swallowed Jonsh7''
Yes; il ! were strong enough 70 make
q whale l could ssrange safe ingress
for any false prophet, leaving il to ex'
.olutIon to eject him. H'Do you be-
lieve that Samson slew athousand men
with the jsw-bone Of an ASST" Yes;
and he who assails the Bible wields
the same weapon. 'Do you believe
that the water was turned into wine?"
Yes; and that the vine now is turned
into water, with logwood and strych-
nine. There is nothing in the Bible
stsggers me. There are many things
I do not understand. but that would
be very poor God who could be fully
understood by man; that would he q
very small Infinite that could b be
measured by the finite. We ought
not to expect to weigh the thunder
bolts of Omripitence in an apothe-
carp's balances. Starting with the
idea that God can do anything, and
that he was present at the beginning,
and is present now, i find nothing in
the Bible that even excites my scept-
icism. Here, look at me, q fossil of
the centuries, dug up from the tertiary
formations, fallen off the shelf OF a
curiosity cabinet, man in the latter
part of the nineteenth century 'believ-
ing in whole Bible!
My reason for not wanting the Bible
mended in the first place is, that in lis
present shape it is marvel of preser-
vation. While $500 years after Hero
dotus wrote his history there was only
one manuscript copy of his book and
while there was 1000 years after Plato
wrote only one copy Of his book. God
took such good care that we should get
the Bible, that we have fifty manu-
script copies of the New Testament
more than 1000 years old, and some
Of them Il, 500 years old. I'VE have
men ike justin Martyr
of the second century, and Tertullian
of the third, ahandingAsthe book on
down. The three oldest manuscripts
are IN the hands Of the three great
churches Of the world the Protestant
church of England, the Greek church
of St. Petersburg, and tho Romish
church of Italy. It's a matter of his
tory that Tischendorf went, to o con.
vent in the Peninsula of Sinai, and
was by ropes lifted over the walls, that
being the only admission, and found
in basket of paper TO be use for kind
ling fires. the Bible in manuscript. He
copied few leaves that night, and
after fifteen years Of planning got the
valuable manuscript into the hand of
The possession Of tie Emperor Of Rus
sia. Our catalogue Of books of the
Bible corresponds exactly with cata-
ogues made centuries ago. Thirty
nine books of the Old Testament 400
years ago, and thirty nine, books now;
.wenty- seven OF the New Testament
1000 years ago, and just twenty seven
BOOKS now. Marcion, in the second
century, was turned out of the church,
md he assailed Christianity, but in his
Indignation he gives list of books
If the Bible corresponding with
our own Assaulted, spit on, torn to
pieces. mathematical, burned, and still
adhering. | ask you, as men and wo-
men OF common sense, if you think a
good God woald allow his book to get
into 400 languages and into 100000
900 copies, and now confront four
fifths of the human race in their own
tongue, if the book were not true and
right? Assailed and found fault with
more than any books ever written or
yet more widely spread and
more potent than everl Do you not
think it looks as though in its present
shape it were divinely protected and
cared for?
The epidemlcs that arc constantly
sweeping tens of thousands books into
the sepulcher of forgetfalness only
seem to brighten the fame of this.
Not one of thousand books lives a
year. Not one of $4,000 will live a
century. All of the Bible has lived
eighteen centuries, and much of it fifty
eight centuries, and has more rebound
than when first put upon parchment or
papyrus. This book saw the cradle
Of all other books and it will see their
graves. Though at fifty centuries Of
age you might suppose it would 90
hobbling in decrepitude on two crutch-
es, itoutruns all human books in cir
and influence. Walter Scots
Waverly Novels, Macaulay's History
of England. and the most popular
hooks OF the centuries have not had so