Connecticut western news., 1893-09-21


 the Hudson river.
 The internal evidence of the authen- ticity 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 discipleship. So I put that inter- nal evidence paramount. How are you led to believe in letter you received from husband or wife or child or friend2 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 1t, and the postmaster who received 1t, and the letter carrier who brought 1t to your door to prove that it is a genuine letter. The internal evidence settles 1t, and by the same process you can forever settle the fact that the Bible is the handwrit- ing and communication of the infinite God.
 A SUBLIME PHILOSOPHY.
 Furthermore, as I have already inti- mated, we may increase our faith by the testimony of others. Perhaps we of less CT brain may have been overcome by superstition or cajoled into an acceptance of hollow pretension. So will this morning turn this house into court room and summon witnesses, and you shall be the jury, and I now impanel you for that purpose, and I will put upon the witness stand men whom all the world acknowledge to be strong Intellectually and whose evidence in any other court xryoY711 hn hla ' will not call to the witness stand any min ister of the gospel, for he might be prej- udiced.
 There are two ways of taking an oath in courtroom. One is by putting the lips to the Bible and the other is by holding up the right hand toward heav- en. Now, as in this case it is the Bible that is on trial, we will not ask the wit ness to put the book to his lips, for that would imply that the sanctity and divin- ity of the book is settled, and that would be begging the question. So shall ask each witness to lift his hand toward heaven in affirmation.
 Salmon P. 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 common ly called the Bible" The witness re- plies. "There came a time in my life when I doubted the divinity of the Scriptures, and I resolved, as 8 lawyer and judge, I would try the book as would try anything in the courtroom, taking evidence for and against. It was long and serious and profound study, and using the same principles of evidence in this religious matter as I always do in secular matters l have come to the decision that the Bible is a supernatural book, that it has come from God, and that the only safety for the human race is to follow it's teach ings." "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-Jo ohm Quincy Adams. President Adams, what have you to say about the Bible and Christianity" The president replies; ''I have for many years made it practice to read through the Bible once year My custom is to read four or five chap ters every morning immediately after arising from my bed. It employs about most suitable manner of beginning the day. In what light soever we regard the Bible, whether with reference to rev elation, to history or to morality, it is an invaluable and inexhaustible mine of knowledge and virtue"
 Next put upon the witness stand Sir Isaac Newton, the author of the "Prin- cipia" and the greatest natural philoso- pher the world has ever seen. "Sir Isaac, what have you to say concerning the Bible?" The philosophers reply Is, "We 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 I ask him what he thinks of the place that our great book ought to take among other books he re- plies, "There Is but one book, and that is the Bible."
 Next put upon the stand the most famous geologist of all time, Hugh Mil Ter, an elder of Dr. Guthries Presby- terian church in Edinburgh, and Fara- day and Kepler, and they all testify to the same thing. They all say the Bible is from God, and that the mightiest in- fuence for good that ever touched our world is Christianity.
 Chancellor Kent, what do you think of the Bible?' Answer: "No other book ever addressed itself so authoritatively and so pathetically to the judgment and moral sense of mankind"
 Edmund Burke, what do you think the Bible morning, noon and night, and have ever since been the happier and the better man for such reading"
 Next put upon the stand William E. Gladstone, the head of the English gov ernment, and hear him saying what he said to me in January of 1890, when In reply to his telegram, "Pray come to Hawarden tomorrow" I visited him. Then and there asked him as to wheth- CT in 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 enthusi- asm such as no one who has not con- versed with him. can fully appreciate and expressed by voice and gesture and illumined countenance his ever increas- ing faith in God and the Bible and Chris tianity as the only hope of our ruined world. "That Is all, Mir. Gladstone, we will take of your time now, for, from the reports of what is going on in Eng land just now, I think you are very busy."
 The next man put upon the witness stand is the late Earl of Kintore, and I 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 LondonY' "Oh, yesi I rememberl" But I see many witnesses present today in the courtroom. and I call you to the witness stand, but I have only a second of time for any one of you. AS you pass along just give one sentence In regard to Ttb,i sti tu ssTIndor Ho1 if boo