Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1893-09-22
REV. DR.. TALNAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun.
day Sermon.
Subject; "Re-enforceInent."


army, when he was told that the reason ia
my not being present on n celebrated day il
Brooklyn was that on that day had sale
for the Holy Land. "Why do YOU say that
inquired some one My military friend 70
piled, ooh, he will be disilusioned when h
gets amidst the squalor and commonplace
scenes OF Palestine, and his faith will b
shaken in Christianity, for that is often tn
result" The great general misjuiged tn
case.
went to the Holy Land for the one pur
pose OF having my faith strengthened AM
that was the result which came OF II. In al
our iourneying, in all our reading. in all on
associations, in all our plans, augmentation
rather than the depletion OF or faith shoalC
be our chief desire. II Il easy enough e
have our faith destroyed. 1 can give you a
recipe for its obliteraton. Read infde
books, have long and frequent conversation
with skeptics, attend the lectures of thos
antagonistic to religion. give full swing t
some bad habit. and your faith will be 81
completely gone that you will laugh at the
idea that you ever had any
II you want to ruin your faith. you can d.
it more easily than you can do anything else
After believing the Bible all my life can Sc,
plain way by which, In six weeks, | coulC
enlist my voice and pen and heart and head
and entire nature in the bOmbardment OF tn,
Scriptures and the church and all now hold
sacred. That II is easy to Danish soon ant
forever all respect for the Bible / prove by
the fact that so many have done it. They
were not particularly brainy nor had specia
force OF will. but they so thoroughly accom-
plished the overthrow OF their faith that they
have no more idea that tho Bible Is true, oil
that Christianity amounts TO anything, thar
ha,. Il, - A II
Entertainments or the existence Of Dor
Quixotes "windmills. They have destroyed
their faith 50 thoroughly that they never will
have q return MI it.
Fifty revivals Of religion may sweep over
the city, the town. the neighborhoo1 WHERE
they live, and they will feel nothing but a
silent or expressed disgust. There are per
sons in this house to-day who 20 years ago
gave up their faith. and they will never re-
sumo il. The black and deep toned bell OF
doom hangs over their head, and take the
hammer 0. that bell. and / strike it three
times with all my might, and it sounds,
woe woe woe But my visa. and the wish
OF most OF you. Is the prayer expressed by
the disciples OF Jesus Christ in the words OF
my text. Lord increase our faith
Tho first mode OF accomplishing this is to
St The Bible itself l do not believe there
il .. infidel now alive who has read the
Bible through. But as so important q docu-
ment needs 10 be read at least twice through
in order that II may be thoroughly under
stood, and read in course now offer 800
reward TO any inndel VINO has read the Bible
through twice and read It in course. But
cannot take such mans own word for it,
for there il nc foundation for integrity ex-
cept the Bible and the man who rejects the
80. 80 b..v I -
fitness
SO mus, have another witness in the case
before give the reward. | must have the
testimony OF some one who has seen him
read il all through twice. Inades fish in
this Biblo for incoAerencies ami cOntrllic-
tions and absurdties. and ii YOU find their
Bible you will see determinations in the book
Of Jonah and some OF the chapters Of that
unfortunate prophet nearly worn ont bymuch
use, and some parts OF II Samuel or Kings
you will find dim with finger marks. but the
pages which contain the Ten Command
ments, and the Psalms Of David. and the SER
mon on the mount, and the book OF John the
Evangelist will not have a single lead pencil
stroke in the margin nor any finger marks
showing frequent perusal.
Tho father Of one OF the Presidents Of the
United States was a pronounced iha1eE l
knew It when many years ago ! accepted his
invitation to spend the night in his home.
Just before retiring Mt night he said in a
iocose way II suppose you are accustomed
70 read the Bible before going to bed, and
here is my Bible iron which to read He
then told me what portions he would like to
have me read. and he only asked for those
portions on which he could easily be face
tlous.
You know YOU can make fun about any
thing. l suppose you couldtaSethe last let
ter your father or mother ever wrote and fad
something in the grammar or the spelling
or the tremor OF the penmanship about
which to be derisively critical. The internal
evidence OF the truthiulness OF the Biole is so
mighty that no one man out OF the / 800 .010,-
900 OF the worlds present population or tho
vaster millions OF the past ever read the
Bible in course, and read it prayertuly and
carefully, but was led to believe Il.
John Murray, the famous book publisher
o, Edinburgh, and the intimate friend OF
Southey, COleridge. Walter Scott, Canning
and Washington Irving, bought OF Moore,
the poet, the Memoirs OF Lord Byron, and
they were to be published after Byron's
death. But they were not tit TO be pub
lished. although Murray had paid for them
$40 900. That was solemn cOnclave when
eight OF the prominent literary people OF
those times assembled in Albemarle street
after Byron's death 10 decide what should be
done with the Memoirs which wcro
charged and surcharged with deiamatons
and indelicacies. The Memoirs were read
and pondered, and the decision came that
they must be burned, and not until the last
word OF those Memoirs went TO ashes did
the literary company separate.
But suppose, now. all the best spirits Of
all ages were assembled to decide the fate OF
the Bible, which Is the last will AMI testa-
ment OF our Heavenly Father. and these
memoirs OF our Lord Jesus what would be
the verdict Shall they burn, or shall they
live? The unanimous verdict Of all is, Let
them live, though all else burn Then put
together on the other hand all the debauchees
and profigates and assassins Of the ages.
and their luminous verdict concerning the
Bible would be, Let II burn.
Mind YOU. do not say that all inhdels are
immortal. but do say that all the scrape-
Rraces and scoundrels Of the universe agree
with them about the Bible. Let me vote with
those who believe in the Holy Scripture. Men
believe other things with half the evidence
required TO believe the Bible The dis
tinguished Abner Kneelan1 rejected the
Scripture and then put all his money into an
enterprise for the recovery OF that hocus
pocus Captain Kidd's treasures, Kneeland's
faith for doing 50 being founded on name
statement that he could tell where thosi
treasures were buried from the looks OF a
glass OF water dipped from the Hudson
River.
The internal evidence OF the authenticity
OF the Scriptures Is so exact and so vivid that
no man, honest and sane, can thoroughly
and continuously and prayeriully real them
without entering their discip!eship. SO J
put that Internal evidence paramount. low
IRE you led 10 i~-iieyd in letter you re-
ceived from husband or wife or child or
friend? You know tine handwriting. You
know the style. You recognizes the senti-
ment. When the letter comes, you DO not
summon the postmaster VINO stamped II, and
the postmaster vino received 1t, and the let
ter carrier who brought 1t to your door to
prove that it is genuine letter. The internal
evidence settles it, and by the same process
you can forever settle the fact that the Bible
is the handwriting and communication OF
the infinite God.
Furthermore, as have already intimated,
we may increase our faith by the testimony
OF others. Perhaps we OF lesser brain may
have been overcome by superstition or
caioled into an acceptance OF a hollow pre-
tension SO l will this morning turn this
house into a courtroom and summon wit
nesses, and you shall be the jury, and now
impanel you for that purpose, and will put
upon the witness stand men whom all the
world acknowledge to be strong Intellectually
and whose evidence in any other courtroom
would DO incontrovertible. l will not call
10 the witness stand any minister OF the
Gospel, for he might be preju1iced.
There are two ways OF taking an oath In
,ourtroom. One Is BY putting the lips 70 the