The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-09-20

where those treasures were buried from
the looks of glass Of water dipped from
the Hudson river.
The internal evidence OF the authen-
| ITCHY Of the scriptures is so exact and
so vivid that no man honest and sane
can thoroughly and continuously and
prayerfully read them without entering
their diseipleship. So put that internal
| evidence paramount. How are you led
to believe in a letter you receive from
husband or wife or child or friend? You
| know the handwriting. You know the
| style. You recognize the sentiment.
When the letter comes you do not sum-
| mon the postmaster who stamped ii, and
| the postmaster who received IL, and the
| letter-carrier who brought it TO your
door to prove that it is a genuine letter.
! The internal evidence settles il, and by
| the same process you can forever settle
| the fact that the bible is the handwrit-
ing, and communication of the infinite
| God.
WeIghty Testimony.
Furthermore. as have already init
mated. we may increase our faith by the
testimony of others. Perhaps we of les
ser brain may have been overcome by
superstition or cajoled into an accept
ance of a hollow pretension. So 1 will
this morning turn this house into a court
room and summon witnesses, and you
shall be the jury, and 1 now impanel
you for that purpose, and 1 will put
upon the witness stand men whom all
the world acknowledge to be strong in
tellectually and whose evidence in any
other court room would be incontrovert-
IDLE. l will not call to the witness stand
any minister of the gospel, for he might
be prejudiced.
There are two ways of taking an oath
IN court room. One is by putting the
lips to the bible, and the other Is by
holding up the right hand toward
heaven Now, as in this case ID is the
bible that is on trial, We will not ask
| the witness to put the book to his lips,
| for that would imply that the sanctfty
and divinity OF the book are settled, and
mat would be begging the question. So
shall ask each witness to lift his hand
| toward heaven in affirmation.
oalinon +, Chase, chief justice of the
| supreme court of the United States. ap-
| pointed by President Lincoln will take
| the witness stand. Chief Justice Chase,
| upon your oath, please state what you
| have to say about the book commonly
| called the bible" The witness replies:
There came a time in my life when 1
| dubted the divinity OF the scriptures,
| and resolved as a lawyer and Judge /
would try the book as 1 would try any
| tnlng In the court room, taking evidence
| FOR and against II was long and seFi-
Gus and profound study, and using the
| same principles Of evidence in this re-
| ligious matter as I always do in secular
matters | have come 20 the decision
| that the bible is a supernatural book,
| that IL has come from God, and that the
only safety for the human race is to
| follow its teachings" Judge that will
| do. Go back again to your pillow of
| dust on the banks Of the Ohio"
Next / put upon the witness stand a
| president Of the United States-John
| Quincy Adams. president Adams, what
| have you to say about the bible and
| Christianity" The president replies: Il
! have for many years made 1T a practice
| TO read through the bible once a year.
| My custom is to read four or five chap
ters every morning Immediately after
| rising from my bed II employs about
| an hour of my time and seems 70 me
| the most suitable manner Of beginning
| the day. In what light sOever we regard
the bible, whether with reference to rev.
| elation, TO history or morality, 1t is an
| invaluable and ineXhaustihle mine OF
| knowledge and virtue"
Next / put upon the witness stand Sir
| Isaac Newton, the author Of the "Prin-
cipia' and the greatest natural phiIoso-
| pier the world has ever seen. ''SiF Isaac.
| what have you to say concerning the
| bible?' The philosophers reply is, I'VE
| account the scriptures of God to be the
most sublime philosophy"
Next / put upon the witness stand the
| enchantment of letters, Sir Walter Scott,
and when l ask him what he thinks of the
| place that our great book ought to take
| among other books he replies There
! is but one book and that is the bible'H
Next l put upon the stand the most
famous geolOgist Of all time Hugh Miller,
an elder of DR.. Guthries presbyterian
| church in Edinburgh, and Faraday and
| Keppler, and they all testify to the same
thing. They all say the bible is from
God, and that the mightiest influence
| for good that ever touched our world is
| Christianity.
Chancellor Kent, what do you think
Of the bible2" Answer: mo other book
| ever addressed itself so authoritatively
and so pathetically to the judgment and
| moral sense of mankind"
Edmund Burke, what do you think
| of the bible?' Answer: II have read the
bible morning, noon and night, and have
ever since been happier and the better
man for such reading"
Next I put upon the stand William Il.
Gladstone, the head of the English gov
| ernment, and I hear him saving what he
said to me I'm January of 1890, when in
reply TO his telegram, Pray come 10
Hawarden tomorrow" | visited him.
| Then and there asked him as 10 wheth-
er, I'm the passage of years, his faith in
the holy scriptures and Christianity was
| on the increase or decrease and he
turned upon me with an emphasis and
| enthusiasm such as no one who has not
| and expressed by voice and gesture and
| illumined cOuntenance his ever-increas-
/ ing faith in God and the bible and Chris
4 tianity as the only hope of our ruined.
| world, This is all, Mr.. Gladstone, we
/ will take of your time now for from the
I reports Of what is going on in England
/ just now think you are very busy"
| The next man / put upon the witness
| stand is the late earl of Kintore and
/ ask him what he thinks Of Christianity
| and he replies; why do you ask me
| that? Did you not hear me preach
] Christ in the Midnight Mission of Lon
! don? "Oh, yes! / remembers" But
/ see many witnesses present today in the
! court room, and l call you to the wit
| ness stand, but have only a second Of
/ time for any one of you. AS you pass
| along just give one sentence in regard
/ to Christianity. Under God it has
/ changed my entire nature" says one.
4 1T brought me from drunkenness and
! poverty to sobriety and a good home"
! says another. "It solaeed me when
| lost my child" says another. 1T gave
me a hope Of future treasures when my
property was swept off by tie last
| panic" says another, vt has given me
\ a peace and a satisfaction more 10 me
/ than all the world beside" says another
| ''It has been 10 me light and music and
/ fragrance and radiant anticipation"
/ says another. All, stop the procession
/ of witnesses. Enoughl Enough All
| those voices Of the past and the present
have nightly increased our faith.
The Evidence of Science.
Again our belief is reinforced by