Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-08-02
KING OF THE BOOK SHELF
REV. TALMAGE EXPOUNDS THE
SCRIPTURE; AT RESIDE.

Gone Ont of Date-Truths of the Biblt
Proved by Modern Search and ExPlo-
ration-The Book the Hive OF All
Sweetness.
LAKESIDE, o., Aug. 1.-Vast throngs OF
people came here to-day from all parts oil
the country to hear the Rev. T. Dewitt
TaImage, d. D., of Brooklyn. This place
is a summer encampment on the Chau-
tauqua plan, where meetings are held lor
several weeks, and the visitors employ
their time in Bible study, and in listening
to scientific lectures. Many Of the guests
spend the whole summer here. The SUBJ
,ject of DR.. Talmage's sermon was, - ne
King OF Books" and the text from Psalm
xix, s: "The statutes Of the Lord are
right" Following 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Old books go out of date.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 I'M
perfect mass, better classified and more
1ucidly presented. Were they books OF
poetry. they were interlOcked with wild
mythOlOgles which have gone up from the
face of the earth like msts at sunrise.
Were they books OF morals, clVIilZatlon 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 patnOs of
Simonides, or the sarcasm OF MeGander,
or the gracefulness of Philemon, or the
wit OF Aristophanes? Even the old books
we have left. with few exceptions, have
but very little effect upon our times.
Books are human, they have a 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 tlagitIOus lives and died deaths
OF lgnominy. Some were vrtuOus and
accomplished glorious mission. Some
went into the ashes through inquisltOrlal
fires Some found their funeral pile in
sacked and plundered cities. Some were
neglected and died as foundlings al the
door of science. Some expired in the
authors study, others in the publishers
hands. Ever and anon there comes into
your possession an old book, its author
forgotten and its Usefulness done, and
with leathern lips 1t seems to say: ~
wish l were dead" Monuments have
been raised over poets and philanthrO-
pists. Would that some tall shaft might
be erected IN honor of the worlds buried
booksl The worlds authors would make
pilgrimage thereto, and poetry, and litera-
ture, and science, and religion would
consecrate 1t with their tears.
Not 50 with one old book. 1t started in
the worlds infancy. 1t grew under the
pcracy and monarchy. 1t wlthstOOd
storms OF fire. 1t grew under prophets
10 ,F,y- Gll 8
the apostles; in Rome, aud Ephesus, and
Jerusalem, and PatmOs. Tyranny issued
edIcts against 1T, and iufdelity put out
the tongue, and Mohammedanism from
its mosques hurled its anatnemas, but the
the old Bible still lived. IL crossed the
British Channel and was greeted by
Wickliffe and James |. 1t 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 bless.
ing. and every sabbath there are ten
thousand heralds of the cross with
their hands on this open, grand, tree,
old English Bible. But it
Will not have accomplished its
mission until it has climbed the icy noun
tains OF Greenland; until 1t has gone over
the granite cliffs Of China; until it has
thrown its 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 rev.
olutiOn snail be melted into one crown,
and this book shall at the very gate OF
heaven have waved in the ransomed en-
pires. Not until then Will this glorious
Bible have accomplished its mission.
In carrying out, then, the idea of my
text-"The statutes OF the Lord are right
II shall show you that the Bible is right
in authorization, that it is right in style,
that it is right in doctrine, that it is right
in its effects.
l. Can you doubt the authenticity OF
the ScripturesI There is not so much
evidence 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
"Paradise 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 by bad men or
impostors, now long would such a book
stand? II would be secuted by every.
body. And | say il that Bible had been
an imposition; or II it had not been writ
ten by the men who said they wrote it; il
il had been a mere collection OF false
hoods, do you not suppose that it would
have been Immediately rejected by the
people? Ii job, and Isaiah, aud Jere-
miah, and Paul, and Peter, and John were
tmpOstors, they would have been 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 oppo.
sition there were two or three thousand
copies Oft. Now there are two hundre d
millions, as far as | can calculate. These
Bible truths, Notwithstanding all the op-
position, have gone into all languages
into the philosophic Greek, the flowing
Italian, the graceful German, the pas
siOnate French, the picturesque Indian,
and the eXhaustless Anglo-SaXon. Under
the painters pencil the birth and the cru.
eitXion and the resurrection glow on the
walls of palaces; or under the engraver' 3
knife speak from the mantel of the noun.
tain cabin; while stones, touched by the
sculptor's cbisel, start up into preaching
apostles and ascending martyrs. Now
do you not suppose, if that book had
been an imposition and falsenood, 1t
would have gone down under these cease.
less fires OF opposition?
Further, suppose that there was great
pestilence going over the earth, and hun.
dreds OF thousands of men were dying OF
that pestilence, and some one should tind
medicine that cured ten thousand peo.