Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-09-18
REINFORCEMENT"
A Tiki PERTINENT TO TEE CONDITIONS OF
TIE AGE.
tLord, Increase Our FaiA"-Dr. Talmagss Bio
qusni Tabernacle Ssrmon Yestsrday-How to
Keen and How % Lose Your Faith.

BROOKLYN, September 17.-In his
sermon at the Brooklyn Tabernacle,
this forenoon, Rev. DR.. Dewitt Tai
mage preached to vast audience on
the subject of Reinforcement" the
text being: Luke II 5, Lord, increase
our faith"
sWhat pity he is going there, said
my friend, a most distinguished general
Of the army, when he was told that the
reason for my not being present on
celebrated day In Brooklyn was that on
that day had sailed for tbs Holy Land.
"Why do you say that?" enQuired 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 result" The great general mis-
judged the case. 1 went to the Holy
Land for the one purpose Of having my
faith strengthened. and that was the re-
suit which came OF it. In all our jour
neying, 10 all our reading, In all our as
sOciations, 10 all our plans, augmenta-
tiOn, rather than the depletion OF our
faith, should be our chief desire. 1t is
easy enough TO have our faith destroy
N4s u N44 XIV yUA ~ AgAAHI ANA Tvs O0-
liberation. Read infdel books, have
long and frequent conversations with
sceptics, attend the lectures OF those
antagoniStic TO religion, give full swing
70 some bad habit, and your faith will
be so completely gone that you will
laugh at the idea that you ever had any.
II you want
To RUIN YOUR FAITH,
you can do 1t more easily than you can
do anything else. After believing the
Bible all my life, can see a plain way
by which, in six weeks, I could enlist
my voice and pen and heart aud head
and entire nature la the bOmbardmeut
of the Scriptures and the Church and
all / now hold sacred. That 10 is easy
10 Danish soon and forever all respect
for the Bible, prove by the fact that
so many have done it. They were not
particularly brainy, nor had especial
force or will, but they so thoroughly
accomplished the overthrow Of their
faith that they have no more idea that
the Bible is true, or that Christianity
amounts TO anything, than they have In
the truth Of the Arabian Nights En-
tertainmentS, " or the existence OF Don
CuixOte's "Windmills." They have de-
stroyed their faith so thoroughly that
they never will have a return Of it.
Fifty revivais of religion may sweep
over the city, the town, the neighbour
hood where they live, and they will
feel nothing but silent or expressed
disgust There are persons 10 this
house to-day, who, twenty years ago
gave up their faith and they will never
resume 10. The black and deep-tOned
bell Of doom bangs over their head, and
take the hammer Of that bell, and l
strike It three times with all my might
and il sounds, Woe. Woe! Woe! But
my wish, and the wish OF most OF you,
The prayer expressed by the disciples
Jesrr st, in the words OF my text, |
Sc our faith. -
r. FIRST NODE
his is TO study the
not be}ieyeJthere is
who has read the
as so important
10 read at least twice
that il may be thor
God, and read in course,
zone hundred dollars reward
infdel who has read the Bible
Trough twice and read Ii in course.
But 1 cannot take such q mans own
word for il, for there is no foundation
for integrity, except the Bible, and the
man who rejects the source of truth,
how can I accept his truthiuiness? So
must have another witness In the case
before I give the reward. l must have
the testimony of some one who has seen
I'm read # all through twice. Infdels
SD In this Bible for incOherencies and
Contradictions and absurdities, and II
you find their Bible, you will see inter
lineatiOnS in the Book OF Jonah and some
OF the chapters OF that unfortunate pro-
phet nearly worn ont by much use, aud
some parts OF Second Samuel or First
Kings, you will find dim with finger
marks, but the pages which contain the
Ten Commandments aud the Psalms OF
David and the Sermon on the Mount and
the Book of John the Evangelist, will
not have a single lead pencil stroke in
the margin, nor any fnger-marks show
ing frequent DeruSal. The father Of one
Of the Presidents Of the United States
was a pronounced infdeL knew il
when many years ago l accepted his in
vitation 90 spend the night in his home.
just before retiring at night be said in
jocOSe way: ~ suppose you are aCcus-
toned 70 read the Bible before going 70
bed, and here Is my Bible from which
TO read" He then told me what por-
tions be would like 10 have me read,
and he only asked for those portions on
which he could easily be facetiouS.
you KNOW YOU CAN MAKE FUN
about anything. / suppose you could
take the last letter your father or
mother ever wrote and find something
in the grammar or the spelling, or the
tremor of the penmanship about which
70 be derisiyelY critical. We may In
crease our faith by the testimony Of
others. Perhaps we Of lesser brain
may have been overcome by supersti-
tion or cajoled into an acceptance Of
hollow Dretension. So I will, this morn
ing, turn this house into a court room
and summon witnesses, and you shall
be the jury, and / now empanel you for
that purpose. and l will put upon the
witness stand men whom all the world
acknowledge to be strong intellectually
and whose evidence In any other court
room would be iucOntrOvertible. l will |
not call 10 the witness stand any min
lister Of the Gospel, for he might be
preiudiced. There are two ways Of
taking an oath IN a court room. One is |
by putting the lips to the Bible, and |
(the ,othor is by holding up the right !
; band toward heaven. Now, as In this |
a. tho hfhfa that IL trial |