Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1893-09-28
REINFORCEMENT OFFAlTH
HOW THE CHRISTIANS FAITH MAY
BE AUGMENTED.

HOW THE CHRISTIANS FAITH MAY
BE AUGMENTED.
The Bible Should be n Daily COM
panion-Testfmony ms to the Di-
" vinity of the Book-The Value Of
Prayer.
Brooklyn, N. Y, Spccial-In his SER
mon at the Brooklyn Tabernacle this
afternoon Rev. DIR. Dewitt Talmage
preached to Il vast audience on the sub
iect of Reinforcement" the text be-
ing Luke xvii, 5, Lord, increase our
faith
What pity he is going there" said
my friend, most distinguished general
OF the army, when he was told that the
reason for not being present on Il cele-
DRAFTED day in Brooklyn was that OH that
Jay L had sailed for the Holy Land.
why 40 you say that?" inquired some
one. MY military friend replied: "Oh.
ne VIII be disillusioncd when he gets
amid the squalor and commonplace
scenes OF Palestine, and his faith will
De shaken in Christianity, for that is
o1ten the result" The great general
mlsJudged the case. went to the Holy
Liiiiu Tor the one purpose of having my
aith strengthened, and that was the re-
sun Whlch came of it. In all our jour-
neyines, Ill all our readings, in all our
associations, III all our plans augmenta-
e eiou, iather than the depletion Of our
laill' should be our chief desire. 1t is
elsy enough to have our faith de-
GU. can give you recipe for its
opllteratlOn. Read intidel books. have
lons ana frequent conversations with
sheptlcS, attend the lectures Of those
antasonlstlc to religion, give full swing
~ some bad habit, and your faith will
pe so completely gone that you will
mush at the idea that you ever had
any. II you want to ruin your faith,
you can 90 it more easily than you can
w allytllng else. After believing the
nlple ;ili my life, can see a plain way
ny "hlch, In six weeks, could enlist
ny voice and pen and heart and head
'.iu enllfe nature in the bombardment
u 'lle scriptures and the church and I'LL
noW hold sacred. That it is easy to
a. 81, soon and forever all respect for
Wy nlole' prove by the fact that so
t tilaliy nave done it. They were not par
e.eu':lly Dfalny, nor had especial force
=" o,;s W.T. out they so thoroughly accom-
i, me overthrow of their faith
11;1, uiey nave no more idea that the
n,ule IS true, or that Christianity
t1,a t TO ANYTHING, than they have in
t tnv tiuth OF the Arabian Nights En-
QulAotes "windmills." They have do.
stroyed their faith so Thoroughly that
tney never will have a return TO it.
rllty REVEALS Of religion NAV sweep
over the city, the town, the neighbour
hood where they live, and they win feel
nolnlng but silent or expressed dis
gust lhere are persons in this house
tu-uay VINO, twenty years ago, gave I'D
:! .lieln lititn and they will never resume
a., -. hne olack and dccp-toned bell of
tt" uanss over their head, and 1 take
- t,l hi.'li'liier OF that bell, and 1 strike
~ 49, tlnles with all my might, and
~ sounds Woe! Woe! Woe. But nv
Misii' ana the wish of most of Won is
1ne prayer expressed by the discinles of
o ..g christ, in the words of nv text.
L 1,'. increase our faith"
:. .llSt mode of accomplishing this
Is 10 study the Bible itself. I do not
peneve there is an infidel now alive
Nno mas read the Bible through Rnt
ae 81 important document needs to
W read twice through in order that
nay De thoroughly understood. and
Ie'1u III course, now offer 500 reward
10 amy lnhdel who has read the Bible
Inioush Twice and read it in course.
Dul 1 cannot take such a mans own
Moru Tor 1t, for there is no foundation
LIZ Integrity, except the Bible, and the
,ns'H WHO rejects the source Of truth
noW can accept his truthfulncss?
so L must have another witness in the
case before 1 give the reward I must
have the testimony of some one who
mas seen him read it all through twice
lnndels fish in this Bible for incoher
encles and contradictions and absurdi-
tles, and If you find their Bible, YOU
Will See lnterlineations in the Book of
Jonah and some of the chapters of that
unfortunate prophet nearly worn out
ny much use, and some parts Of Sec
ond Samuel and First Kings YOU will
ind dim with finger marks but the
pages which contain the ten command
ments and tlI Psalms of David and
the sermon on the mount and the Book
Of John the evangelist will not have
single lead pencil stroke in the mar
gin, nor any finger marks showing fire.
quent perusal The father of one Of
the presidents of the United States
was pronounced infidel. / knew it
Wnen many years ago accepted his in
vitation to spend the night in his home.
Just before retiring at night he said,
in a jocose way: II suppose you are
accustomed to read the Bible before
going to bed, and here is my Bible from
which to read.' He then told me
what portions he would like to have me
read, and he onE' asked for those por-
tons on which he could easily be face
tious.
You know sou can make fun about
anything. / suppose you could take the
last letter your father or mother ever
wrote and find something in the gram
mar or the spelling, or the tremor of
the penmanship about which to be de-
risively critical. The internal evidence
of the truthfulness Of the Bible is so
mighty that no one man out of the
1,6O0O 1900 Of the worlds present pop
tllation, or the vaster millions of the
past, ever read the Bible in course, and