National Republican., 1886-08-02

the country 10 near the rev. L. De WlJt
Talmage, d. d., OF Brooklyn. This place
lie a summer encampment on the Chautauqua
plan, where meetings are held for several
weeks, and the visitors employ their time in
Bible study and in listening to scientific
lectures. Many Of the guests spend tho
whole summer here. The subject OF DIR.
Talmage's sermon was 1.-THE King Of
Books" and the text from Psalm xix: s.
"The statutes Of the Lord are right" Fol-
lowing is the sermon in FULL
Old books go out Of date, When they
were written they discussed questions
which were being discussed; they struck at
wrongs which had long ago ceased, or
advocated institutions which excite not our
interest. Were they books OF history, the
facts have been gathered from the imper-
feet mass, better classified, and more
lucidly presented. Were they books OF
poetry, they were interlocked with wild
mythologies which have gone up from tho
face Of the earth like mists at sunrise.
Were they books of morals, civilization
will not sit at the feet Of barbarlsm, 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
Simonldes, or the sarcasm OF Menander, or
The gracefulnees of Philemon, or the wit Of
AristophanesP Even the old books we have
left, with few exceptions, have but very
little effect upon our times. Books are
human; they have time to be 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 ac-
complished glorious mission. Some went
into the ashes through inqulsltorlal 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 author'e study, others
in the publishers hands. Ever and anon
there comes into your possession an old
book, It's author forgotten and its useful
ness done, and with loathern lips It seems
to say ~ wish were dead" Monuments
have been raised over poets and pbilanthro-
pists. Would that some tall shaft might
be erected In honor OF the worlds buried
books. The worlds iauthors would make
pilgrimage thereto, and poetry, and lite.
rature, and science, and religion would
consecrate II with their tears.
Not so with the one book. II started In
the worlds infancy. Itgrew under theocracy
and monarchy, It withstood storms OF FIRE.
1t grew under prophets mantle and under
the lsherman's coat Of the apostles; In
Rome and Ephesus and Jerusalem and
Patmos. Tyranny issued edicts against It,
and infdellty put out the tongue, and Mo-
hammedanism from its mosques hurled its
anathemas, but the old Bible still lived. 1t
crossed the British channel and was greeted
by Wickliffe and James |. II crossed the
Atlantic and struck Plymouth Rock, until
like that OF Horeb 1t gushed with blessed
ness. Churches and asylums have gath
cred all along Its way, ringing their bells
and stretching out their hands Of blessing,
and every Sabbath there are 10000 heralds
Of the cross with their hands on this open,
grand, free, old English Bible. But II will
not have accomplished Its mission until 1t
has climbed the Icy mountains of Green
land; until II has gone over the granite
cliffs of China; until 1t has thrown its glow
amid the Australian mines; until II has
scattered Its gems among the diamond dis
tricts Of Brazil, and all thrones shall be
gathered into one throne, and oil crowns by
the fires Of revolution shall be melted into
one crown, and this book shall ut the very
gate OF heaven have waved In the ransomed
empires. Not until then Will this glorious
Bible have accomplished its mission.
In carrying out, then, thefdea OF my text
--'sThe statutes OF the Lord are right'-I
shall show you that the Bible is right in
authorization, that II Is right In style, that
it is right in doctrine, that itis1Idght In its
effects.
l. Canyon doubt the authenticity of the
Scriptures? There is not so much evidence
that Walter Scott wrote aThe Lady OF the
Lake," not SO much evidence that Shakes
peare wrote "Hamlet;o not SO much evi-
dence that John Milton wrote "Raradise
Lost,n as there is evidence that the Lord
God Almighty, by the hands Of the prophets,
evangellsts, and apostles, wrote this book.
Suppose book now to DO written which
-cHne In conflict with great many things,
and was written by bad mon or impostors,
how long would such a book standi It
would be secuted by everybody. And 1
say II that Bible had been an imposition,
or II It had not been written by the men
who said they wrote it; II had been mere
collection Of falsehoods, do you not sup
pose that II would have been Immediately
rejected by the peoplep IL 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 II destructible. How near
have they come to destroying the Bible
When they beganitheir opposition there were
two or three thousand copies Of It. Now
there ara twu hundred millions, as far as l
can calculate, These Bible truths, not
withstanding all, the opposition, have gone
Into .all languages Unto the philosophic
German, the passionate FrenchY, the pic
tnresque Indian, and thelexhaustless. Anglo.
Saxon. Under the painters pencil the
birth and ahe cruci6Klon- and the'resu.
tton glow on the wass Of palaces, or under
the engreyer'sk knife speak from the uantel
OF the mountain cabin; while stones,
touched by the seulptbr's chisel, start up
tyrs. Nov, DO you net suppose, II that book
had beenSaii imposition fahd a falsehood 1t
would have gone deBnnnder these cease
less fires Of opposition2
Further, suppose that there wasaa great
pestilence going over the earth, and hun
dreds Of thousands OF men were dying OF
that pesalence, and some one should find a
medicine that cured 10000 people, would
not everybody acknowledge that that must
be a good medicine q Why, some one would
say; ''Do You deny itP There have been
10000 people cured by it.n i simply state
the fact that there have been hundreds OF
Thousands. Of Christian men and women
who say they have felt the truthfuiness OF
that book and its power In their SOULS. II
has cured them OF the worst leprosy thai
ever came down on our earth, namely, the
leprosy Of sin; and II Ican point you to
multitudes who say they have felt the
power OF that cure, are you not reasonable
enough to acknowledge the fact that there
must be some power In the mediclne9 viii
you take the evidence Of millions oi
patients who have been cured, or will you
take the evidence OF theskeptic who stands
aloof and confesses that he never took the
medicinef ,
The Bible intimates that there was q city
called Petra, built out of solid rock. Iu
fidelity scoffed at IL. "Where is your city
OF Petrarp Buckharlt and Laborde went
forth in their explorations, and they came
upon that very city. The mountains stand
around like giants guarding the tomt
where the city is buried. They find street
IN that city six miles long, where once
flashed imperial pomp and which echoed
with the laughter Of lighthearted mirth on
Its way TO the theater. On temples fash.
ioned out of eoloTed stones--some OF which
have blushed into the crimson Of the rose