Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1886-08-20
lR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
REPORTED FOR THE PRESS.
Preached Nt lakeside. ohln.1


Text: "The statutes of the Lord are right
psalm xix, 8.
O.d books go out of date. When they were
written they discussed questions which were
being discussed; they struck at wrongs which
have long ago cease1, or advocated institu-
nons 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 sun,
rise. Were they books of morals. civilization
VIII not sit at the feet of barbarism, neither
DO we want Sappho, Pythagoras and
Iully TO teach us morals. What do the
masses of the people care now for the
pathos OF Simonides, or the sarcasm Of AIen-
ander or the gracefulness of Philemon, or
the wit or AristophanesF Even the old books
we have left, with few exceptions, have but
very little effect upon our times, BOOKS are
human they have q time to be born, thew
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
the dead books Some of them lived fagitious
lives and died deaths of ignominy. Some
were virtuous and accomplished a glorous
mission Some went into the ashes through
lnauisitorial fires Some found their funeral
pile in sacked and plundered cities. Some
were neglected and died as foundlings at tho
door OF science Some expired In the an,
thors study, others in the publishers hands.
Ever and anon there comes into your pos
session an old book, its author FORGOTTEN and
Its usefulness done, and with leathern lips it
seems to say: Il wish were dead" Monu-
ments have been raised over poets and phi.
lanthropists. Would that some tall shaft
might he erected in honor of the worlds
buried booksl The worlds authors would
make pilgrimage thereto, and poetry and t
erature and science and religion would coz
Secrat9 it with the.r tears.
Not so with one old book. 1t started in the
worlds infancy. 1t grew under theocracy
and monarchy. 1t withst1od the storms of
fire: 1t grew under prophets mantle and
under the ttsherman's coat of the apostles: in
Rome, and Ephesus, and Jerusalem, and Pat
mos. Tyranny issued edicts against it, and
lntde!ity put out the tongue, and Mohamme-
danlsm from its mosques hurled its anathe-
mas, but the old Bible still lived 1t crossed
the British Channel and was greeted by
WicklitIe and James l. 1t crossed the At
lantlc and struck Plymouth Rock, until like
that OF Horeb it gushed with blessedness.
Churches and asylums have gathered along
its way, ringing heir bells and stretching out
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-
complished 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 is glow amid the Australian
mines; until 1t 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
Is ok shall at tne very gate of heaven have
waved in The ransomed empires. Not until
then will this glorious Bible have accom-
plished its mi ssion
In carrying out, then, the idea of nv text
~ he statutes of the Lord are rightn-T
shall show you that the Bible is right in au-
thendcation; that it is right in style: that it
tects.
l.. Can you doubt the authenticity of the
Scrlptur, 81 There is uot so much evidence
that Walter Scott wrote 'The Lady of the
Lake," not so much evidence that Shake
speare wrote ''Hamlet;" not so much evidence
that John Milton wrote Paradise Lost" as
there is evidence that the Lord God Almighty,
by the hands of the prophets, egangelists and
apostles, wrote this book.
suppose book now to be written which
came III conflict with a great many things
and was written by bad men or impostors,
how long would such book standl Itwould
be secuted by every body. And say if that
DIDlC IIul DStI IL 0dCl nOU
Deen written by the men who said they wrote
1t; If it hal been mere collection Of false
hoods, do you not suppose that it would have
been Immediately rejected by the people9 If
Job, and Isaiah, and jeremiah an Paul,
and Peter, and John were imposters they
would have Eeen 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
Bible! When they began their opposition
there were two or three thousand copies of it.
Now there are two hundred millions as far
as can calculate. These Bible truths, not
withstanding all the opposition, have gone
into all languages-into the phlloso phic
Greek, the flowing Italian, the grace
full German, the passionate French, the
picturesque Indian, and the exhaustless
Anglc-Saxon. un Ter the painters pencil
the birth and the crucifxiol 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 Sculptor's chiSel, start up into
preaching apostles and as ending martyrs.
Now, do you not suppose, if that Book hal
been an imposition and falsehood, it would
not have gone down under these ceaseless
fires of opposition
Further, suppose that there was a great
pestilence going over the earth, and hundreds
VI IuOuStllIo VI Lllcu WGI6u uyluS OI LudU EoSUl-
lence, and some one should find a 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 it2 There have been ten thou
sand people cured by it." l simply state the
fact that there have been hundreds of thou
sands of Christian men and women who say
they have fe t the truthfulness OF that book
and its power in their souls 1t has cured
| fham nf tho worst lanrOSu thaf
down on our earth, namely: the leprosy Of
sin. And if l 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 me licine' 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 me liciuea
That Bible intimates that there was a city
called Petra, built ont of solid rock. Infdef-
ity scoffed at it: "Where is your city of
.Petrap Buckhardt and Laborde went forth
in their explorations and they came upon
that very city. Themountains stand around
like giants guarding the tomb whore the city
is buried They find a street in that city six
! miles long, where once flashed imperial
pomp aud which echoed with the laughter
| of light-hearted mirth on its way to thu
theatre. On temples fashioned out Of coll
ored stones--so some of which have blushed
into the crimson of the rose, and some OF
whi have paled into the whiteness of the
! lily--aye, ON column and pediment, and en-
tablature, and statuary, God writes the truth
of that Bible.
The B BILE says that Sodom and Gomorrah
were destroyed by fire and birthstone. "Ab-
surd." Intilels year after year said: sit is
( positively absurd that they could have been
destroyed by birthstone. There is nothing il
Il -l.s i
as that" Lieutenant Lynch think he was
the first man who went out on the discovery
but he has been followed by many others
Lieutenant Lynch went out in explo atior