Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1884-04-30
The Inspiration of the Bible,

The question as to the inspiration OF
the Bible is not question raised by
me- 1t is question that is already
up for discussion through the length
and breadth of the land. What are
we to do with the Bible? How are
we to regard it? Is it the best book
in the world, or the worst? Is it
true book, or is it false book? Is it
Gods book, or is it mans book?
We find men On all sides of the ques-
ton. There is one person who tells US
this book is a good book-but then,
there are others just as good. The
Bible is inspired, and so was Plato in
spired, so was Socrates, and SO is the
almanac inspired; in fact, everything
is inspired-The book of Mormon, the
Koran of Mahomet, the sacred books
of the Hindoos and Chinese;-they
have their Bibles, you have yours; all
are good, and one is about as good
the ether. Shakespeare was inspired,
Milton was inspired, Thomas Paine
was inspired, and everything and
every body is inspired.
1t is not worth while to waste time
on false issues When l open Shakes
peare's play do not read at the com
mencement, "Thus saith the Lord
God of hosts;" when l turn to Plato's
writings | do not read, "Hear We the
word of the Lord" when peruse the
almanac l do not read, "The word Of
the Lord cometh unto me-" Hence,
you see that this book must be judged
by standard different from all other
books. Over and over again this book
says, "Hear ye the word of the Lord. !"
Now, the message is the word of the
Lord, or it is lie 1t is the word of
the Lord, as it processes to be, or it is
a cheat, a swindle, humbug, fraud.
To illustrate: A man tells me that
Jesus of Nazareth was a good man;
but then, there were other men just as
good. He was spiritual medium;
but there are other mediums equally
powerful in these days. To be sure,
do not remember any spiritual medi-
um giving public dinner, for nothing,
to five thousand hungry people! You
may have heard OF such manifesto
tion," but it has not fallen under my
notice. l have not heard of spiritual
medium hushing the winds or calming
the sea. l have heard of dancing
tables and similar operations. pre-
fer to have my tables stand still!
Laughter and applause.
But while you say, "Christ was
simply one of many remarkable men,"
He says, 81 came forth from the
Father, and am come into the world;
again l leave the world and 60 to the
Father" He says, go Father, glorify
thou me with thine own self, with the
glory which / had with thee before
the world was" Now do you say be
was a good man, and yet be told lies?
What is your idea of a good man! l
| do not believe that good man lies;
and | do not believe that a man who
lies is a good man. Perhaps you do,
but if 80, you were brought up in a
different way from that in which my
father brought me up. So 1 do not
believe that book packed with lies
| from one end to the other is a good
book; and l do not want any one to
come and tell me that Jesus Christ
was good man, and the Bible is a
good book, but neither of them tell the
truth. join issue there. This book
is what it processes to be or it is a
swindle; Jesus of Nazareth was what
he professed to be, or he was an i'm
poster.
Suppose man comes to town and
represents himself the son of British
nobleman He is we'll dressed, has
plenty of money, turns the heads of
half the young ladies in the town, and
makes himself at home generally; but
after a while they find out that he is
the son of cold Jinkins, the black
smith," down in the next town. Now
l do not want you to tell me how pret-
tily he behaves, what fine broadcloth
he wears, or what perfect gentleman
be is in all his department. The fact
is, he is liar, fraud and q scamp.
he has come under false colors, and
palmed himself off ON the community
under false pretenses; and the more
good things you say about him the
less | think of him, because, if he is
such a well-educated gentleman he
knows better than to be going around
as fraud, and deceiving the people.
| So we must accept Jesus of Nazareth
and his claims entirely, or else we
must reject the whole gospel as an i'm
poster, and as the grandest, most STU
pendous fraud the world has ever
known.
Now, do not be fooled by this soft
talk about the Bible being "a good
book" and yet like many other good
books. There is not another like it in
the world Let us look at some of it's
peculiarities:-
Here is one. The Bible is book
which has been refuted, demolished,
overthrown, and exploded, more times
than any other book you ever heard of.
Every little while somebody starts up
and upsets this book; and it is like up
setting solid cube Of granite. 1t is
just as big one way as the other; and
when you have upset it, it is right
side up, and when you overturn it
again it is right side up still Ap-
plause Every little while somebody
blows up the Bible; but when it comes
down it always lights on its feet, and
runs faster than ever through the
world. They over threw the Bible a
century ago, in Voltaire's time-en-
trely demolished the whole thing In
less than a hundred years, said Vol
taire, Christianity will have been
swept from existence, and will have
passed into history. Infdelity ran
riot through France, red-handed and
impious. A century has passed away.
voltaire has passed into history
and not very respectable history either;
but his old printing press, it is said,
L., - - Al ".