Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-09-14
AT THE TABERNACLE.
IAN ELOQUENT SERVICE OF eLADNEss
AND HOPE.

gun Shots Mt Religion-Thc Secular Press
and the Pulpit.
BROOKLYN, Sept. 1O-This forenoon Rev
It. De Witt Ialmnge preached to a
thronged audience in the brooklyn Taber.
nacle. The keynote of the service was one
of gladness. Many of the audience had been
absent during the summer and had re
turned for this service The pastor COM
mented on passages Of Scripture depicting
the morning of the worlds delverance
The subject of the sermon was, THE Bat
tie Ours" the text being | Kings Xxx, q,
And the children of Israel pitched before
them like two little focks of kids"
With 80 kings drunk in one tent this
chapter opens They were allies plotting
for the overthrow Of the Lord's Israel. You
know that if a lion roar flock of kids
will shiver and huddle together. One lion
could conquer n Thousand kids The bat
tie opens. There are a great multitude Of
Syrians under General Ben-hadad, strong
as lions. The Israolitcs are few and weak
like two little ilocks OF kids. Who beat?
The lion, of course Oh, no; the kids, for
it all depends whether God is on the side Of
the lions or the kids. After the battle 100
600 Syrians lay dead on the field and 27,O0o,
attempting to fly, came along by great
wall, which toppled and crushed them to
death.
Which was stronger weapon-great
Goliaths sword or little David's sling?
David had five smooth stones from the
brook. lie only used one in striking down
Golia:h. He had a surplus of ammunition.
he had enough to take down four more
giants if they had appeared in the way. 1t
all depends upon whether God is on the
side of the shepherd boy or on the side of
the giant.
There have been many in orr dav who
have ventured the oninicn 4hot Christian.
itvis falling back. and that in 30 veors if
will he extinct Thev found thoir oninio,
on the assumed fact that the Bible is NOT
smuch of n bool, "a IL ueed to he and
that portions of IL are renulsive to tbe ,,e,,
ME 7 renlv by nsl,inp which ono Of TN.
nublisbinr bouses of New York pbilodn1-
nhia. BOSTON or Chicago IL nubliebinr, tba
bib1e TODAY with the omission of sincla
verse or chapterg Are NOT orr publishers
intnIlioent men9 And ,vopld tbay am
trarv to tbcfr financial interests. continno
to nublish the Bible without the omission
of n SINGLE chaDter ORA single verse if If
were becoming an unpopular book and the
peonle did not want ill.,
If Harners or Annleton or Scribncr or
IipDipcott should uublisb n Bible with the
omission of one cbonter they 1vould NOT
sell 10 comics in 10 wears. The fact that
throughout Christendon there are hum
dreds of r,rintin,, ,,ressns PRINTING +ba word
uf God without the omission of n cbonter
mr. . verse proyes that the Pible il non,iI.r
and the fact that there are more heino
printed in this decade tban anv otbnr do,
cade Droyes that the Bible j. increasing in
popuiaritv.
\ POPULAR BOOK.
go through the courtrooms Of the coun-
try. Wherever find Judges bench or a
clerks desk | find the Hibe. BY what
pther book would they take solemn oath?
What is very apt to be among the brides
presentss The Bible. What is very apt to
be put in the trunk of the youngman when
he starts for city life? The Bible. Vol
taire predicted that the Bible during the
nineteenth century would become an obso-
ete book Well, we are pretty nearly
through the nineteenth century; the Bible
is not obsolete vet There is not much
prospect Of its becoming obsolete. but I
have to tell you that that room-the very
room in which Noltaire wrote that predic-
hon-some time ago was crowded from
floor to ceiling with Bibles for Svitzcr-
land. Suppose the congress of the United
States should pa.s a law that no Bibles
should be printed in the United States.
If there are 3O.G0O,OOO grown men and
women in the country, then there would he
BO.O0OO0O people armed against such n Inv
But suppose the congress Of the United
States should uassa law that Nacoulav,s
history or Charles Reade's novels should
not be read. Could Won get half as LARGE
an army or the fourth as large an army9
In other words, there are, as YOU know and
know. n thousand men who would die for
their Bibles where there are so men who
would die for any other book The fact
ed than ever before: that publishers find il
financial interest forthem to continue the
publication Of the Bible. proves that this
book is still the most popular book on the
planet.
But" say those who are antagopistic.
"Christianity is falling back, from the fact
that the church is not as much respected as
It used to be and is not as influential
reply to that with the statistic that one de-