Sharp County record., 1888-04-12
TATO[AGES SERMON.
A Discourse on the Authenticity and
Genuineness OF the Bible.
Tho Greatest of All Books, Adapted to
Every Condition in Life and the
One Source of Solace When
All Else Fail.

All Else Fail.
Tn n recent sermon delivered at the
Second Presbyterian Church. st. Louis,
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage took for ms SUD
iect "The Authenticity Of the Bible MS
text being:
The statutes Of the Lord are right-Psalm
xix, 8
He said:
OId hooks 20 out of date. When they
we're written. they discussed questions
which we're being discussed; they STRUCK
at wrongs which had long ago ceased, OF
advocated institutions which excite noI
o11r interest. We're they books OF history,
+he facts have been gathered from the IN
narfect mass. better classified and more
7ucidlv presented. We're they DOCKS OIL
Doetrv. they were interlOcked Win wiz
mvthOIogies. which have gone up from int
face of the earth like mists at sunrise
We're they books Of morals, clVllzaUIou
will NOT sit at the feet Of barOarlsnl'
neither do we want SapphO, Pythagoras
and TuIIv to teach us morals. What do the
masses Of people care now ror the paIl4oS
of Simonides. or the sarcasm OF Menanuer'
or +be gracefulness of Philemon, or the
wit of AristOphanes? Even the OLD DOCKS
we have left. with few eXcep-
+ions. have but very little effect upon
our times. Books are human; they nave d
time to be born. they are tOndIed, they
GROW in strength. they have middle lie
of usefulness. then comes old age UAey
totter and die Many OF the Natlonai
libraries are merely the cemeteries Oh
dead hooks. Some Of them lived iaglrlouS
lives and died deaths Of ignOmlny. some
we're vir+uous, and accomplished glorl-
ous mission. Some went into the ashes
through inuuisitoriaI fires. Some found
their funeral pile in sacked and plundered
cities. Some were neglected anu
died as foundlings at the door or SCIENCE
Some expired in the authors study, oln-
ers in the publishers hands. Ever ana
anon there comes into your possession an
old book. its author forgotten and It's use
fitness done. and with Ieathern ups !.
seems TO say: It wish I were dead"
Monuments have been raised over poets
and philanthrOpists. Would that some
tall shaft might be erected in honor OF the
worlds buried books. The worlds au-
tbors would make pilgrimage thereto, and
noa+7rv and literature and science and re-
Tipion would consecrate it with their
tears.
Not so with one old book. 1t started IN
the worlds infancy. 1t grew under theoc-
racv and monarchy. It withstood storms
of fire. It grew under prophets mantle
and under the fsherman's coat OF the
oDOstIes. In Rome, in Ephesus, and Jeru-
salem. and Patmos. Tyranny issued
edicts against it, and infdelity put out the
tong77e. and Mohammedanism from It's
mosques hurled it's anathemas, but the old
Bible lived. 1t crossed the British Chan-
mel. and was greeted by WickI1tre and
James I. 1t crossed the Atlantic and
struck Plymouth Rock, until like that OF
Horeb it gushed with blessedness.
Churches and asylums have gathered
all along its waJ, ringing lnelI
bells. and stretching out thelr
hands of blessing; and every SaDOath
there are LU,JUU Lltl tJlNlS VI l4AN NAD'''' 49,
their hands on this open, grand, free, Ola
English Bible. But it will not nave ac-
complished its mission until II mas
climbed the lev mountains OF Greenland,
until it has gone over the granite cliffs OF
China. until it has thrown its glow amid
the Australian mines, until it has scat
tered it's gems among the diamond DIS
tricts of Brazil. and all thrones shall be
gathered into one throne, and all crowns
bv the fires of revolution shall be
melted into one crown, and this book
shall at the very gate Of Aeaven have
waved in the ransOmed empires-nOt IN
til then will this glorious Bible have ac-
Complished its mission.
Further, suppose that there was a great
pestiIence going over the earth, and nun
dreds Of thousands Of men were dying OF
that pestilenCe, and some one should hnd
medicine that cured ten thousand people
would not everybody acknowledge that
that must be a good medicine? Why
some one would say: "DO you deny 1t,
There have been ten thousand people
cured by it, I simply state the fact that
there have been hundreds Of thousands Oi
Christian men and women who say they
have felt the truthfulness Of that Book
and its power in their souls. 1t has cured
them Of the worst IeprOsy that has came
down on our earth, namely, the leprOsy Of
sin: and if I can point you to muIutudes
who say they have felt the power Of tha
cura. are YOU not reasonable enough Il
acknowledge the fact that there
must be some power in the medi-
cine? viii you take the ey1
dence Of millions Of patients who have
been cured. or will you take the evidence
of the skeptiC who stands alOOt, and con-
fasses he never took the medicine? The
Bible intimates that there was a city calleC
Petra, built out of solid rock. Infdelity
scoffed at it. "Where is your city OF
Petra?" Buckhardt and LabOrde Wen
forth in their explorations, and they came
upon that very city. The mountains stanC
around like giants guarding the toni
where the city was buried. They find &
street in that city six miles long, where
once flashed. imperial pomp, and which
echoed with Ne laughter Of lght-heartet
mirth on its way to the theater. On tenn
ples. fashioned out Of colored stones
some Of which have blushed into the Grim
son Of the rose, and some Of which have
darkeued into the blue Of the sky
and some Of which have paIed int
the whiteness Of the Iily-ay, OF
column. and pedimeut, and entablature
and statuary, God writes the truth
of that Bible. The Bible says that SOdOn
1. i. 4