Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1893-09-27
A REWARD
Offered For the lnfideI Who Has Read
the Bible Twice.
rhe Reward IL offered By DIR. lssImar..
and No Atheist Is barred, Not Even
Col lngersou-Scrmon Ey Rev.
II. Dewitt TAImREc. -. ID.

and No Atheist Is Haired. Not Even
Col inger-ou-sermon Ey Rev.
t. Dewitt TAimREc. u. ID.
In his sermon at Brooklyn taber-
nacle, sunday afternoon, Rev. DR. De-
Witt Talmage preached 10 vast audi
ence on the subject of "Reinforce-
ment" the text being: Luke xviii, .,
Lord, increase our faith"
What pity he is goiug there!" said
my friend, a most distinguished gener-
al OF the army. when he was told that
the reason for my not being present ON
| a celebrated day in Brooklyn was that
on that day had sailed for the Holy
Land.
why do you say thaty' inquired
some one
My military friend replied: 'oh. he
will be disillusioned when he gets amid
the squalor and commonplace scenes Of
Palestine, and his faith will be shaken
in Christianity, for that is often the re-
suit "
The great general misiudg-d the
case.
went TO the Holy Land for the one
purpose OF having my faith strength
encd, and that was the result which
came OF IL In all our journeying, in
all our reading, in all our associations
in all our plans, augmentation, rather
than the depletion OF our faith. should
| be cur chief desire. IL Is easy enough
20 have our faith destroyed. can give
| you n recipe for its obiiterntion
Read inGdel books, have long
and frequent conversations with
/ slSeptics, attend the lectures OF those
antagonistic 10 religion. give full swing
/ TO some bad habit, and your faith will
! Ice so completely gone that you will
/ hugh at the idea that you ever had
any. If you want TO ruin your faith
/ you can do Il more easily than You can
/ do anything else After believing tho
/ Bible all my life can see plain way
! by which, in six weeks, l could enlist
my voice and pen and heart and head
and entire nature in the bombardment
of the Scriptures and the church and
all that now hold sacred.
/ That II is easy 20 Danish soon and
forever all respect for the Bible prove
! by the fact that so many have done IT,
/ They We're not particularly brainy nor
/ had especial force of WILL but they so
/ thoroughly accomplished the over
] throw OF their faith that they have no
more idea that the Bible is true or that
! Christianity amounts 10 anything than
, they have in the truth OF the Arabian
! Nights entertainments" or the eNis-
fence OF Don Quixote's "windmills"
They have destroyed their faith so
| thoroughly that they never will have n
return of it, Fifty REVEALS OF religion
may sweep over the city, the town, the
/ aeighborhood where they live, and
they will feel nothing but a silent or
Expressed disgust There are persons
in this house to-day who twenty years
ago gave up their faith, and they will
never resume il.
The black and deop-toned bell of
doom hangs over their head. and take
the hammer OF that bell, and strike it
three times with all my might, and IL
sounds, Woe! wocl woe! But my wish,
and the wish of most of you. is the
prayer expressed by the disciples to
Jesus Christ in the words of my text:
Lord, increase our faith"
The first mode of accomplishing this
is to study the Bible itself do not
believe there is an infidcl now alive
who has read the Bible through. Bnt
rs so important document ne eds 10
be read ut least twice through in order
that it may bc thoroughly understood,
and read in course, / now offer 500 re-
ward To any infdel who has read the
Bible through twice and read it in
course. But / can not take such mans
own word for il, for there is no founda-
tion for integrity except the Bible, and
the man who rejects the source OF truth,
how can accept his truthfulncss?
So I must have another witness in
the case before ] give IL the reward.
must have the testimony Of some one
who has seen him read it through
twice. InGdcls fish in this Bible for
incohcrcncics and contradictions and
absurlitics and IL YOU find their Eible,
you will see intcrlncations in the Book
of Jonah and some OF the chapters of
th-t unfortunate prophet nearly worn
out By much use, and in some parts OF
Second samuel or First Kings, you will
find dim with fngcrmarl;s; but the
pages which contain the Ten Com
maudmcnts and the Psalms of David
and the Sermon on the Mount, and
the Book of ST. John the Evange-
list will not have a single lead pencil
stroke in the margin. nor any finger
marks showing frequent pcrusal. The
father OF one of the presidents Of the
| United states was pronounced infdeL
1 knew 10 when. many years ago, ! ac-
ccptcd his invitation 60 spend the night
IN his home just before retiring he
said in jocosc way: ~ suppose you
are accustomed 20 read the Bible before
going Co bed. and here Is my Bible
from which 20 read" lie then told me
what portions he would like TO have
me read, and he only asked Tor those
portions ON which he could easily be
facctious
You know you can make fun about
.nything. ! suppose you could take
tie last letter your father or mother
ever wrote and find something In the
Prummas or spelling. or the trcmor OF
tho pcumanship about which 20 be de-
ri,ivclv critical The internal evidence
" tho .ruthfuincss Of tho Bible is so
mighty chat no ono man out 81 the six
teen hundred million Of the worlds
present population or the vustcr mill
ions Of che past ever read the Bible in
course, and read 10 pruYcrfully and
/ carefully. lut was lcl Co believe 10
John Murray. tlc famous book pub.
Usher of Edinburgh and the intimate
friend of ~cuthcy Colcridrc Walter
scott Canning and Washington Irving.
bought OF Moore the poet the
"Ncmoirs of Lord Byron and they