Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1886-08-28
DR.. TALMAGES SERMON
ABsURDITIEs OF EVOLUTION.



Psalm xix, 8.
written they discussed questions which were
being. discussed; they struck at wrongs which
have long ago ceased, or advocated institu-
lions which excite not our interest. Were
they books OF history, the facts have been
gathered from the imperfect mass, better
classified and more lucidly presented Were
they books of poetry, they were interlocked
with wild mythologies, which have gone up
from the face of the earth like mists at sum
rise. Were they books of morals, civilization
will not sit at the feet Of barbarism, neither
do we want Sappho, Pythagoras and
Tully to teach us morals. What do the
masses Of the people care now for the
pathos of Simonides, or the sarcasm Of Men
ander. or the gracefulness of Philemon, or
the wit of Aristophanes! Even the old books
we have left, with few exceptions, have but
very little effect upon our times, Books are
human; they have a time to DO born, they
are fondled, they grow in strength, they have
middle life of usefulness then comes old
age; they totter and they die Many Of the
national libraries are merely the cemeteries Of
the dead books Some of them lived fagitious
lives and died deaths of ignominy. Some
were virtuous and accomplished glorious
mission. Some went into the ashes through
inquisitorial fires Some found their funeral
pile in sacked and plundered cities. Some
were neglected and died as foundlings at the
door of science Some expired in the au-
thor's study, others in the publishers hands
Ever and anon there comes into your DOS
session an old book, its author forgotten and
its usefulness done, and with leathern lips it
seems to say: II wish l were dead" Monli-
snents have been raised over poets and phi-
lanthropistS Would that some tall shaft
might be erected in honor of the worlds
buried books The worlds authors would
make pilgrimage thereto, and poetry and lit
erature and science and religion would con-
secrate it with their tears
Not SO with one old book It started in the
worlds infancy. 1t grew under theocracy
and monarchy. 1t withstood the storms OF
fire. 1t grew under prophets mantle and
under the fshermans coat of the apostles; in
Rome, and Ephesus and Jerusalem, and Pat
mes Tyranny issued edicts against it, and
infdelity put out the tongue, and Mohamme-
danism from its mosques hurled its anathe-
anas, but the old Bible still lived. 1t crossed
the British Channel and was greeted by
Wickliffe and James l. 1t crossed the At
lantic and struck Plymouth Rock, until like
that of Horeb it gushed with blessedness.
Churches and asylums have gathered along
its way, ringing their bells and stretching ont
their hands Of blessing: and every Sabbath
there are ten thousand heralds of the cross
with their hands on this open, grand free
old English Bible But it will not have ac-
ronlpiished its mission until it has climbed
the icy mountains of Greenland: until it has
gone over the granite cliffs of China: until
it has thrown its glow amid the Australian
mines; until it has scattered its gems among
the diamond districts of Brazil; and ali
thrones shall be gathered into one throne
and all crowns by the fires of revolution
shall be melted into one crown, and this
Book shall at the very gate of heaven have
waved III the REASONED empires Not until
then will this glorious Bible have accom-
plished its mission.
In carrying out then, the idea of my text
1.-THE statutes Of the Lord are rightn-I
shall show you that the Bible is right in au-
thentication; that it is right in style: that it
is right in doctrine; that it is right in its eff
fects.
1. Can you doubt the authenticity Of the
Scriptures! There is uot so much evidence
that Walter Scott wrote 1.-THE Lady of the
Lake," not so much evidence that Shake
speare wrote Hamlet not so much evidence
that John Milton wrote Paradise Lostn as
there is evidence that the Lord God Almighty,
by the hands of the prophets, evangelists and
apostles, wrote this book.
Suppose book now to be written which
came in conflict with q great many things,
and was written by bad men or impostors,
how long would such book stand. 1t would
be secuted by every body And say if that
Bible had been an imposition; or il it had not
been written by the men who said they wrote
it; If it had been mere collection of false
hoods, do you not suppose that it would have
been Immediately rejected by the peoplei II
JOB, and Isaiah, and jeremiah, anil Paul.
would have been secuted by generations and
nations. If that book has come down through
fires of centuries without scar it is because
there is nothing in it destructible How
near have they come to destroying the
Biblef When they began their opposition
there were two or three thousand copies fit.
Now there are two hundred millions. as far
as ] eau calculate These Bible truths, not
withstanding all the opposition, have gone
into into all llangnages-iqto the .philosophic
full German, the passionate French, the
picturesque Indian, and the exhaustless
Anglo-Saxon Unier the painters pencil
the birth and the crucifxion and the resur-
rection glow on the walls of palaces; or, un-
der the engraver's knife, speak from the
mantel of the mountain cabin: while stones.
touched by the sculptors chisel, start up into
preaching apostles and ascending MARTYRS
Now, do you not suppose, if that Book had
seen an imposition and falsehood, it would
not have gone down under these ceaseless
fires of opposition
Further, suppose that there was a great
pestlence going over the earth, and hundreds
of thousands Of men were dying of that pesti-
fence, and some one should find medicine
that cured ten thousand people, would not
every body acknowledge that that must be
good medicine Why, some one would say;
Do you deny itl There have been ten thou.
sand people cured by it" simply state the
TACT that there have been hundreds of thou
sands OF Christian men and women who saw
they have felt the truthfuIness of that book
and its power in their souls It has cured
them OF the worst leprosy that ever came
down on our earth, namely: the leprosy Of
SIN. And if can point you to multitudes
who say they have felt the power of that
cure, are you not reasonable enough to ac-
knowledge the fact that there must be some
power in the meiicinel Will You take the
evidence OF millions of patients who have
been cured, or will you take the evidence of
the skeptic who stands aloof and confesses
that he never took the medicinel
That Bible intimates that there was a city
called Petra, built out of solid rock. Infidef
lty scoffed at it: Where is your CITY Of
Petra" Buckhardt and Laborde went forth
in their explorations and they came upon
that very city. Themountains stand around
like giants guarding the tomb where the CITY
IS buried. They find street in that CITY sin
miles long, where once flashed imperial
pomp, and which echoed with the laughter
Of light-hearted mrth on its way to the
theatre. On temples fashioned out Of col.
ore1 stones--some of which have blushed
into the crimson Of the rose, and some of
which have paled into the whiteness Of the
lily--aye, on column. and pediment. and en-
tablature, and stataary, God writes the truth
OF that Bible
The r ;f,le ca 70 That co5o,,. -. 4 ~ ...-.