The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-02-03

a very poor God who could be fully un-
derstOOd by man; that would be very
small Infinite that could be measured
by the finite. We ought not to expect
to weigh the thunderbOlts of 0mnipO-
tence in an apOthecary's balances. Star
ting with the idea that God can do any
thing, and that he was present at the
beginning, and is present now, / find
nothing in the Bible that even excites
my scepticism. Here, look at me, a fOs-
sill of the centuries, dug up from
! the tertiary formations, fallen of the
shelf Of a curiosity cabinet, a man In
the latter part Of the nineteenth centu-
ry believing in a whole Biblel
My reason for not wanting the Bible
mended in the first place is, that in its
present shape 1t is a marvel of preser-
vatiOn. While 1900 years after HerOdO-
| tuS wrote his history there was only one
manuscript copy of his book; and while
there was 1900 years after Plato wrote
only one copy Of his book. God took such
| good care that we should get the Rible,
| that we have fifty manuscript copies Of
the New Testament more than 1000
years old, and some of them 1,5OO years
! old. We have unimpeachable men like
Justin Martyr of the second century,an
TeTtullian of the third, handing the
| book on down. The three oldest manu-
|
| great churches of the wOrld-the Prot
estant church of England, the Greek
church of st. Petersburg, and the Rom
ish church of Italy. 1t is matter Of
/ history that TischendOTf went to con-
vent in the Peninsula of Sinai, and was
| by ropes lifted over the walls, that be-
ing the only admission, and found in a
| basket of paper to be used for klndling
| fires, the Bible in manuscript. He cop
led few leaves that night, and after
fifteen years of planning got the Valua-
BILE manuscript into the hands Of the
possession Of the Emperor Of hussia.
Our catalogue of books of the Bible cor
responds exactly with catalogues made
| centuries ago. ThiTty-nine books Of
the Old Testament 400 years ago, and
| thirty-nine books now; twenty-seVen
of the New Testament 1900 years ago,
and Just twenty-seVen books now. Mar
ciOn, in the second century, was turned
| out of the church, and he assailed Chris
tianity, but in his indignation he gives
a list of books Of the Bible correspond
ing with our own. Assaulted, spit on,
| torn to pieces, mathematical, burned,
| and still adhering. l ask you, as men
and women of common sense, II you
think a good God would allow his book
to get into 300 languages and into 300
100000 copies, and now confront four
| Hfths of the human race in their own
tongue, if the book were not true and
rightP Assalled and found fault with
more than any book ever written or
printed; 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 fOrP
The Gpidemics that are constantly
sweeping tens Uf thousands books into
the sepulcher of ffOrgetfulness only seem
to brighten the fame Of this. Not one
of thousand books lives year. Not
one of $4,000 will liye a century. All
of the Bible has lived eighteen centur-
les, 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 sup
pose it would 90 hObbling In decrepi-
tude on two crutches, 1t Outruns all
human books in circulation and influ-
ence. Walter ScOtt's WaVery Novels,
Macaulays History Of England, and the
most popular books of the centuries
have not had 80 many copies published
i in tine last ten years as the Bible. You
have no idea how hard 1t Is for book
to get through one or two centuries.
There is fire in seragliO at COnstanti-
nOple, and some old volumes were
thrown into the street. One of them
was picked up by an ignorant man, who
was examining 1t. scholar looked
| over his shoulder, and seeing 1t was the
| first and second decade OF LiVy, offered
the man large reward to put 1t under
his coat and follow him to the scholars
rooms. But they got separated in the
| fire, and so forever was lost the book Of
Livy. Pliny wrote twenty books of his
tOry-all lost. Most Of Meander's writ
| ings lost. OF one hundred and thirty
comedies of Plautus, all gone but TWEEN
| ty. Euripedes wrote hundred dramas
all gone but nineteen. Eschylus
wrote one hundred dramas, all gone
| but seven. VarTO wrote the labOriOus
biography Of seven hundred Romans
not a fragment left. Quintillian wrote
/ his favOrite work on the corruption of
eloquence-all lost. Thirty books of
TaCitus lost. Dion Cassius wrote eigh-
| ty books, and only twenty remain. Be-
TOsius' history lost. Almost all tho
| books are mummifed in the tOmbs of
old Libraries, touched perhaps once in
| twenty years by some man who, after
blowing the dust off, finds 1t is a book
he does not want. The fact that the BIZ
bic has kept right on in its present
shape, and here in the latter part of the
J SOhlulJS 10 uASCubS6u
| than any other book, and stands excit-
ing the admiration of all the good, and
challenging the spite and wickedness
and animosity and hypercriticism of all
earth and hell. proves that it is at TO
live, and that 1t needs no cOurt-plaster
to cover up imperfections and wounds;
no help from doctors medical, or doctors
theological or doctors philOsOphic, or
doctors evOlutiOnist. Is 1T not miracle
Of protection JUS as it is, and is not
that an Indication of how God wants it2
Man added the ApOcryphal books of the
Old Testament, but they fell out. COun-
Gil of Trent and Bishops at Hippo and
the Synod at Jerusalem declared that
the ApOcryphal books must stay in, but
they stayed out. No man to-day would
put the book Of Judith, and Susanna,
and Maccabees beside the book of Deut-
erOnOmy, or Job, or Psalms. SO attempts
innumerable have been made to add to
the New Testament Gospels and Epis-
ties and Apocalypse, but they all drop
ped right out. OF the 100000 copies,
not one has left out book Of the Bible.
Divinely protected age after age in its
present shape, it is evident that God
likes 1t as it is, and we ought to like
it as it is.
| Eurtho- on.o,o A. a