The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-08-18
DR. TALhAGE'S SERMON.
ABSURDITIES OF EVOLUTION
preached at Lakeside, Ohio.]


Old books 20 out Of date. When they were
written they discussed questions which were
being discussed; they struck at wrongs which
tions 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 mi>ts at sum
rise Were they books Of morals, civilization
do we want Sappho, Pythagoras and
Tu!ly 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 a 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
the dead books. Some of them lived flagitious
lives and died deaths Of ignominy. Some
were virtuous and accomplished a glorious
mission. Some went into the ashes through
inGuisitorial 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 pos
session an old book, its author forgotten and
its usefulness done, and with leathern lips it
seems to say: 81 wish were dead" Monu-
ments have been raised over poets and phi
lanthropistS. Would that some tall shaft
might TO erected in honor of the worlds
buried books The worlds authors would
make pilgrimage thereto, and poetry and lit
erature and scieuce and religion would con-
secrate it with their tears.
Not so with one cd book. 1t 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 fisherman's coat of tho apostles; in
Rome, and Ephesus. and Jerusalem, and Pat
mos. Tyranny issued edicts against it, and
infdelity put out the tongue, and Mohamme-
danism from its mosques hurled its anathe-
mas, but the old Bible still lived. 1t crossed
the British Channel and was greeted by
Wicklife and James 1. 1t crossed the At
lantic and struck Plymouth Rock, until like
shat Of Horeb it gushei with bleSsedness.
churches and asylums have gathered along
its way, ringing their 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-
the icy mountains of Greenland; until it has
gono over the granite cliffs of China; until
it has thrown is glow amid the Australian
mines; until it has scattered its gems among
the diamond districts Of Brazil; and all
thrones shall be gathered into one throne,
and all crowns by the fires Of revolution
shall be melted into one crown, and this
B-ok shall at tie very gate Of heaven have
waved in the rarsomed empires. Not until
then will this glorious Bible have accom-
plished its mission.
In carrying out then, the idea Of my text
-"The statutes Of the Lord arc right"-I
shall show you that the Bible is right in au-
thenti ration; that it is right in style: that it
is right in doctrine; that 1t is right in its ef-
fects.
l. Can you doubt the authenticity Of the
Scriptur> s? 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 50 much evidence
that John Milton wrote paradise Lost" as
there is evidence that the Lord God Almighty,
by the hands Of tho prophets, eyangelists and
apostles wrote this book.
Suppose book now to be written which
came in conflict with great many things,
and was written by bad men or impostors,
how long would such book stand' Itwould
be secuted by every body. And I say if 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 mere collection Of false
hoods, do you not suppose that it would have
been Immediately rejected by the peoplel If
Job, and Isaiah, and Jeremiah, AMI Paul,
and Peter, and John were imposters they
would have teen 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 OF 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 langragees-i1to the .phlosophic
full German, the passionate French, the
picturesque Indian, and the exhaustless
Anglo-Sa1on. I'm Ter the painters pencil
the birth and the crucifixion 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
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
of thousands of men were dying of that resti-
lence, and some one should find medicine
that cured ten thousand people, would not
every body acknowledge that that must be
good medicine Why, SON., one would say:
do you deny It'll There have been ten thou
sand people cured by it." 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
&I~.x~ - klDL
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 &C.
knowledge the fact that there must be some
power in the meiicine! 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 tho me licine2
That Bible intimates that there was city
called Petra, built out of solid rock. Infide1-
ity 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 six
miles long, where once flashed imperial
pcmp, and which echoed with the laughter
of ligh.-hearted mirth on its way to tho
theatre. On temples fashioned out Of col
orei StoneS-some Of which have blushed
into the crimson Of the roe, and some Of
whi; b have palei into the whiteness of the
lily--aye, on column, and piedmont. and en-
tablature, and statuary, God writes the truth
Of that Bible.
The B BILE so IS that Sodom and Gomorrah
were destroyed by fire and birthstone. Alb
surd." Infidels year after year said: 1t is
positively absurd that they could have been
destroyed by birthstone. There is nothing in
the elements to cause such shower of death