The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1891-04-16
PLAGUE OF INFIDELITY.
DIR. TALMAGE DlsCoURSES ON THE
PREVALENT SIN.


Great Men Think of tho Bible-Argu-
ments Against This Plugue.
New YORK, April 5.-Continulng
his course of sermons on "The Ten Pa
CUES Of the Citles," Rev. DIR. Talmage
to-day took for his sdbicct "The Plague
of Infidelity." The discourse was daliv-
cred to large and appreciativc pudcnccs
ut the Brooklyn Academy Of Music in
the forenoon and the New York Acadc-
my Of MuCsic in the evening, The text
was Romans lii: 4: "Lct God be true,
but every man liar"
That is if God says one thing and the
whole human race says the opposite,
Paul would accept the divine vcracity.
But there are many in our time who
have dared arraign the Almighty for
falsehood. Infidelity is not only a
plague, but it is the mother of pla-
gues.
1t seems from what we hear on all
sides, that tho Christian religion is a
huge blunder, that the Mosaic account
of the creation is an absurdity large
enough to throw all nations into rolllck-
ing gufl'aw; that Adam and Eye never
existed; that the ancient flood and
Noah's Ark wero impossibilitics, that
there never was n miracle; that the
Bible is the friend Of cruelty, of murder,
Of polygamy, of all forms Of base crime;
that the Christian religion is woman's
tyrant and mans qualification; that the
Bible from lid TO lit is n fable, a cruelty,
humbug, a sham, lie; that the mar
tyrs who died for its truth were miscra-
bic dupes; that the Church of Jesus
Christ is properly gaZctted as fool;
that when Thomas Carlyle, the sccptic,
said, 1.-The Bible is a noble book,' he
was dropping into imbccillty; that when
Theodore Parker declared in Music Hall,
Boston, Never q boy or girl in all
Chrlstendom but was prolittcd by that
great book, ,"he was becoming very weak
minded; that it is something to bring
blush to the cheek of every patriot,
that John Adams, the father of Amcri-
can independence, declared, "rhc Bible
is the best book in all the world;n and
that lion-hcartcd Andrew jackson
turned into snivclling coward when he
SAID, "That book. slr, is The rock on
which our republic rests" and that
Daniel Webster abdicatcd the throne of
his intellectual power and resigned his
logic, and from being the great cxpom-
der of the Constitution and the great
lawyer of his age, turned into an idiot,
when he said, My heart assures and re-
assures me that the Gospel Of Jesus
Christ must be divine reality. From
the time that at my mothers feet, or on
my fathers knee, L first learned to lisp
verses from the sacred writings, they
have been my daily study and yigliant
contemplation, and if there is anything
in my style or thought TO be commcnd dcd,
the credit is due to my kind parents in
instilling into my mind an carly love of
the Scriptures;" and that William II.
Seward, the diplomatist Of the century,
only showed his pucrility when he de-
clarcd, "Thc whole hope ofhuman prog
rcss is suspended on the cvergrowng
influences of the Biblc;" and that it is
wisest for us to take that book from the
throne in the affections of ulcounted
mulitudes, and put it under our feet
to be tramplcd upon by hatred and hiss
ing contcmpl; and that your old farther
was hoodwinked, and cajolcd, and chca-
ed, and be fooled, when he leaned on this
rs stall after his hair grew gray. and
his hands were tremulous, and his step
shortened as he came up to the verge of
the grave; and that your mother sat with
pack OF lies on her lap while reading
OF the better country, and OF the ending
OF all her aches and pains, and re-
union not only with those of YOU who
stood around her, but with the children
She had buried with infinite hcartachc,
30 that she could re ID no more until she
took of her spectacles, and wipcd from
them The heavy mist of many tears
Alas! that for forty and fifty years they
should have walked under this dcluson
and had 1t under their pillow when they
lay dying in the back room, and asked
That some words from the old book might
be cut upon the tombstone under the
shadow Of the old country meeting house
where they sleep to-day waiting for a
resurrection that will never come. THIS
book, having deceived them, and having
deceived the mighty intcllccts ofthe past,
must not be allowed TO deceive our larc-
or, mightier, vastcr, more stupcndous in
tellccts. And so out with the book
from tho courtroom where il is used
IN the solemnization of testimony. Out
with 1t from under the foundation of
church and asylum. Out with it from
the domestic circle. Gather together all
the Blbles-the childrcn's Bibles. the
family Bibles, those newly bound, and
those with lid nearly worn out and pa
ges almost obltcratcd by the fingers
long ago turned 20 dust-bring them all
together, and let us make a bonfire of
them, and Dy it warm our cold criticism,
and after that turn under with the
poioushshare Of public indignation the
polluted ashes of that loathsome, ad-
ulterols, obscene, cruel and deathlul
mook which is so antagonistc to mans
liberty, and woman's honor, and the
worlds happiness.
Now that is the substance of what
lnldellty proposes and declares, and
The attack on the Bible Is accompanied
by great jocosity, and there is hardly
any subject about which more mirth is
kndled than about the Bible. | like
fun; no man was ever built with a keencr
appreciation Of it. There is health
in laughter instead Of harm-phvscial
health, mental health, moral health,
spiritual health, ,--provided you laugh at
the right thing. The morning is 10.
cund. The Indian with It's own mist
baptlZes the cataract Minnchaha. or
lauphinO wafer Won bovo MOI 49,.