The weekly sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1886-08-05


Specially Reported for The Sentinel.
LAKESIDE, o., August l /: Vast thronSs
of people came here to-day from all
parts of the country to hear the Rev. T.
Dewitt Tplmage, DID, of Brroklvn.
This place is a summer encarnpment
on the Chautauqua pian where II ceilings
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 the W: ole
Summer here. The sub ect Of DR.. Tai
IMAGES sermon was, The King OF
Books and the text, Psalm xix,
s: THE statutes OF the Lord are
right" Following is the sermon in
full:
Old books go out of date When thew
We're ritten they discussed quest ions
VIII CHI were being discussed the truck
at wrongs which had long ago e.: sed.
or adv Gated i ST utions wiiic.i q, cite
not our interest. We're they books of
history, he fact have been "a hered
from the imperfect mass, hotter classi-
fiei and more luc.dly presented. Were
they books OF poetry, they were int. r
locked with wild mythologies which
have gone up from the face of the earth
like mists at sunrise. We're they books
of morals, civilization will not sit at the
feet of barbar SIN. 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 ST.
monides, or the sarcasm of Menander,
or the gracefulnesS of Philemon, or the
wit of Aristoph- mes? Even the old
books we have left, with a few excep-
tions, ave but very little effect upon
our times. Books are human; they
have time 10 be born, they are fond
led, they grow in strength, they have a
middle life of usefulness then comes
old age, they totter and they die. Many
Of t: e national libraries are merely the
cemeteries of dead books. Some of them
lived fagitious lives and died deaths of
tgnominy. Some were virtuous and ac-
complished a glorious mission. Some
went into the ashes through inuuisitor-
lal fires. Some four q their funeral pile
in sacked and plundered cities. Some
were neglected and died as foundlings
at the door of science. Some expired In
the authors study, others in the pub
fishers hands. Ever and anon there
comes into your possession an old book,
its author forgotten and its usefulness
done, and with leathern lips it seems to
say: q wish [ were dead" Monu-
mentS have been raised over poets
and philantrop SITS. Would that some
the worlds buried b. oks Tie worlds
authors would make pilgrimage thereto,
and poetry, and literature, and science,
and religion would consecrate it with
their tears.
Not SO with one old book. 1t started
In the worlds infancy. 1t grew under
theocracy and monarchy. II withstood
storms OF fire. 1t grew under prophets
mantle and under the fisherman's coat
OF the apostles; in Rome, and Ephesus,
and Jerusalem, and Patmos. Tyranny
Issued edicts against 1t, and infidelity
put out the tongue. and Northumberland
from its mosques hurled its anathemas,
but the old Bible still lived. 1t crossed
the British Channel and was greeted by
Wickliffe and James I. 1t or ssed the
4 atlantic and struck Plymouth Rock,
until like that of Horeb it gushed with
Churches and asylums
have gathered all along its way, ringing
their bells and stretching out their hands
of blessing; and every Sabbath there
arr ten thousand heralds OF the cross
wi their hands on this open, grand,
free. old English Bible. But it will not
have accomplished its mission until it
has climbed IT, 9 icy mounta rs of Green
land until it has gone over the granite
cliffs OF China; until 1t has thrown its
glow amid the Australian mines until
1t has scattered its gems among the
diamond districts Of Brazil; ami all
thrones shall be gatherel into one
throne, ard all crdwns by the fires of
rcvoluti. shall be melte into one
crown. and this book shall at the very
gate of heaven have waved in the ran
somed empires. Not until then will
I lis glorious Bible have accomplished
its mission.
In carrying out. then, the idea OF my
text" The statutes of the Lori are
right i shall show you that the
Bible is right in authorization, that it
is right in style. that 1t is right in
doctrine. that it is r.cht in lis eff Is.
l. Can GU doubt the autheuticit. o: the
Scrip <rcs? 1lI.r 5 not 50 much evil
delce that W"l'"r Scott WI, t. The
Lady OF the l.. k.;'' no so much evil
deIcs tha, Shakspere wrote hamlet"
not so much evidence that John Milton
wrote Paradise Lost" as there is
evidence that the Lord God Almighty,
by tx hands of the prophets, evangelists
and apostles, " rote this book.
SUI pose a book now to be written
which came Ia C, nfiict with O. great
many things, and WAS written by bad
men or impostors. how long would such
everybody. And / say II that Bible had
been an imposition, or if it had not
been written by the men who said they
wrote it; if it had been a mere collection
OF f;lsehoods, do you not suppose that
il YOU d have been immediat ~ rejected
by the people? II Job, and Isaiah, and
} jeremiah. and Paul, and Peter, and
) Ohm were impo>tors, they would have
be,l secuted b. generations and nations.
II that book has come down through
fires of centuries without a scar, it is
because there is nothing in i: destruct-
1ble. How near have they come to de-
stroyiug the Bible? When they began
4 Hnir. a.
thousand copies Il it. Now there are
two hundred millions, as far as can
calculate. These Bible truths, notwith-
standing all the opposition, havr gone
into all langeases- into the philosophic
Greek, the flowing Italian, the grace
fui- German, the pa sionate French. the
picturesque Indian, and the exhaustless
Anglo-Saxon.- Under the ainter's pen
ell The birth and the crucifixion and the
resurrection glow On the walls of