The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1886-08-18
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Dead and Living Literature. "The
King Of Books"
The Authenticity, Style. COnclseness, Va
riety snd Accuracy Of tho Bible Dis.
susssd and Dlscoarssd Upon
ut Lakeside, o.,


sermon at Lakeside, o., in the course Of
his summer wanderings. taking for his
subject 1.-THE King Of Books" His text
was:
The statutes Of the Lord are riSht.-Psalms
xix y.
Old books 60 out of date. When they
were written they discussed questions
which were being discussed; they struck
at wrongs which have long ago ceased, or
advocated institutions which excite not
our interest. Were they books Of history,
the facts have been gathered from the i'm
perfect 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 sunrise.
We're they books Of morals, civilization
neither do we want sappho, Pythagoras,
and Tully to teach morals. What do the
masses OF the people care now for the
pathos of Simonides or the sarcasm of
Menander, or the gracefulness Of Phile-
mon, or the wit of Aristophanest Even
the old books we have left, with few ex-
ceptions, have but very little effect upon
our times. Books are human; they have
time to he born, they are fondled,
they grow in strength, they have a
middle life of usefulness then comes
old age, they totter and they die. Many
OF the national libraries are merely the
cemeteries of dead books. Some of them
lived flagitious lives and died deaths of
ignominy. Some were virtuous and accom-.
plished a glorious mission. Some went
into the ashes through inquisitoral fires.
Some found their funeral pile in sacked.
and pundered cities. Some were neglect.
ed and died as foundlings at the door Of
fence. Some expired In the authors
study, others in the publishers hands.
Ever and anon there comes into your pos
session an old book, its author forgotte
and its usefulness done, and with leathern
lips it seems to say, II wish were dead"
Monuments have been raised over poets
and philnnthropsts. Would that some
tall shaft might be erected in honor of the
worlds buried books! The worlds au.
thors would make pilgrimage thereto, an i
ligion would consecrate it with their tears.
Not so with one old book. It started in
the worlds infancy. 1t grew under the
ocracy and monarchy. 1t withstood
storms of fire. 1t grew under the proph-
cts mantle and under the fsherma ms
coat of the apostles; In Rome, and Eph-
esus, and Jerusalem, and Patmos. Tyram-
iccnad aliafc OF rI ian 4 Il
ity put out the tongue, and Mohamme-
dansm from its mosques hurled its anath-
emas, but the old Bible still lived. 1t
crossed the British channel and was wei /.
coined by Wickliffe and James |. 1t
crossed the Atlantic and struck Plymouth
Rock until, like that of Horeb, 1t gushed
with blessedness. Churches and asylums
have gathered all along its way, ringing
their bells and stretching out their hands
In 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 &C.
complished its mission until it has climbed
the icy mountains of Greenland; until il
has gone over the granite cliffs of Chin;
until it has thrown its glow amid the Aus.
tralian mines; until it has scattered its
gems among the diamond districts
of Brazil; and all thrones shall be gather.
cd 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 in the ransom
cd empires. Not until then will this glor.
ious Bible have accomplished its mission
In carrying out, then, the idea of my
text
q. The statutes Of the Lord are right
shall show you that the Bible is right In
in authorization, that it is right in style
that it is right in doctrine, that it is right
in its effects.
1. Can you doubt the authenticity Of
the Scriptures? There is not so much evil
dence that Walter Scott wrote "The Lady
of the Lake." not so much evidence that
Shakespeare wrote "Hamlet" not so much
evidence that John Milton wrote "Para.
disc Lost,' 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 great many things
and was written Ivy bad men or impos tors
how long would such book stand? II
would be secuted bv everybody. And
say IL that Bible had been an imposi.
ton, or il it had not been writ.
ten by the men who said they
wrote it, if it had been mere collection
of falsehoods, do you not suppose that il
would have been Immediately rejected by
the people? II Job, and Isaiah, and
Jeremiah, and Paul, and Peter, and John
were impostors they would have been
secuted by generations and nations. II
that book has come down through fires
Of centuries without a scar, it is because
there is nothing in it destructibie. How
near have they come to destroying tn,
Bible? When they began their opposition
there were 1000 or 5000 copies of il. Now
there are 200,OOO,OOO as far as can cal.
culate. These Bible truths, notwitb stand
ing all the opposition, have gone into al
languages-into the philosophic Greek
the flowing Italian, the graceful German
the passionate French, the picturesque
Indian and the exhaustless Anglo Saxon
Under the painters pencil the birth and
the crucifxion and the resurrection glow
on the walls of palaces; or, under the en-
graver's knife, speak from the mantel Of
the mountain cabin; while stones, touched
by the sculptor's chisel, start up int,
preaching apostles and ascending
martyrs. Now, do you not suppose, if ,ha
Book had been an imposition and false
hood, it would have gone down under
these ceaseless fires of opposition.
The Bible intimates that there was cit,
called Petra, built out of solid rock. Inf