Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1883-02-15
THOS. J. ADAMS, PROP'R. J

his employer.
Let US look at the Nervousness OF
fault. finding with the Bible on the
part Of a Christian pulpit at this
time. From all sides the Bible Is
beng assailed by scurrility, by nj .
representation. by infdel scientists,
by all the voice Of the world and all
the venom Of perdition. And at this
particular time some of our pulpits
come out with their criticisms. 1t is
as though steamer were in the Sep
TENDER equinox, the waves dashing
to the top Of the smoke stacks and
the matches fastened down, ana many
were prophesying that she must foun-
der in tee gale, and some of the crew
should come down with saws end
axes TO cut out some Of the planks
and beams which they think have
been made out of timber that never
should have been there. | think the
crew could be at more commendaole
business than trying tchelp the winds
and waves outside by their saws and
axes inside. tell you that this old
Gospel ship, with earth and hell roar
ing around stem and stern and mu-
tiny III the cabin, IS having a rough
voyage, but the Captain says He viii
see her through, and Inotice that nol
one beam has started, and keelson
and counter timber knee are hewn OF
Lebanon cedar. and she will weather
the gale. But no credit to the mu
tinous crew. Pulpit assault on the
Bible at this time makes me think of
q fortress terri6cally bombarded on
all sides, and the men OF the fortress,
instead Of swabbing and loading the
guns and hauling up the ammunition
from the magazine, should spend their
time in trying to pry out OF the wall
some OF the blocks OF stone which
they think came from the wrong
quarry.
0, MEN OF THE RAMpARTs,
better be fighting back and down the
common enemy than furnishing them
| with ladders by which to scale the
wall.
In opposing the expurgation of the
Bible, I shall give you my reasons for
accepting the entire book from the
first verse OF Genesis TO the last verse
of Revelation and from lid to lid.
1T can not be possible" says some
of these pulpit evolutionists whose
brain mas been added by toor}spg
'''-'el;e;. tas -HssEert Spans d
Darwin-!"it can not be possible that
you believe there was & garden of
! Eden" Yes, Just as much as I be.
lieve that there were roses in my
garden last season. at can not be
possible that you think the sun and
moon stood still ?" Yes, if I were
strong enough to make the sun and
moon, I could myself easily make
them stand still. or, by refraction'
give that appearance. "You don't
believe that the whale swallowed
JONAH" Yes; if Iwere strong enough
to make whale, I could arrange
! safe ingress for any false prophet,
! leaving it to evolution to eject him
DO you believe tnat Samson slew a
thousand men with the jawbone Of an
ass?' Yes; and he who assails the
Bible wields the same weapon. "Do
you believe that the water was turn
ed into wine ?" Yes, and that the
wine now is turned into water, with
! logwood and etrychnine. There is
nothing in the B Bile staggers me.
There are many things l do not un
derstand, but that would be very
poor God who could be fully under.
stood by man; that would be very
small lufnite that could be measured
BY the finite. We ought not to ex
pect that we could weigh the thun-
derbolts OF Omniro ence in an apoth-
ecary's balarce Starting with the
! .dea that God can do anything, and
that He was present at the beginning
and is present now, l find nothing in
the Bible that even excites my skep
ticism. Here, look at me, fossil OF
the centuries, dug up from the ter
tiary formations, fallen off the shelf
Of curiosity cabinet, man in the
latter part of the Nineteenth century
believing in whole Bible.
My reason for not wanting the
Bible mended, in the first place, is
that in its present shape it is mar
vel of preservation. While $500
years after Rerodotus wrote his his
tory there was only one manuscript
of his book, and while there was,
200 years after Plato wrote, only
one copy Of his book, God took such
good care that we should get the Bi-
bic that we have fifty manuscript
copies OF the New Testament more
than athousand years old, and some
of them 1900 years old. We have
unimpeacbed men like Justin Mar
tyr, of the Second century, and Ter
tullian, of the Third, handing the
Book on down.
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