The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-09-20
FAITH STRENGTHENED.
1t Is Easy to Danish Respect for
the Bible II We Try.
DR.. Talmage Proves the Truth OF the Scrip
lures by the Evidence of the Worlds
Great Men = scapegraces fsqd
Scoundrels Deny the In
spiration OF the Bible.

In recent sermon at the Brooklyn
Tabernacle DR.. Talmage preached to a
large congregation ON the subject of
Reinforcement" the text being,
Luke xviii, s, Lord, increase our faith"
What pity he is going there" said
my friend, most distinguished gem
eral Of the army, when he was told that
the reason for my not being present on
celebrated day In Brooklyn, was that
on that dayI had sailed for the Holy
Land. "Why do you say that?" in
quired some one. My military friend
replied: 20, 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 misjudged the case. went to
the Holy Land for the one purpose Of
having my faith strengthened, and
that was the result which came of it.
In all our journeying, in all our read
ing, in all our associations, in all our
plans, augmentation, rather than the
depletion OF our faith, should be our
chief desire. 1t is easy enough to have
our faith destroyed. can give you
recipe for Its obliteration. Read infidel
books, have long and frequent CONVEX
sation with skeptics, attend the lee
lures of those antagonistic to re-
ligion, give full swing to some
bad habit, and your faith will
be so completely gone that you will
laugh st the idea that you ever had
my. II you want to ruin your faith,
you can do It more easily than you can
do anything else. After believing the
Bible all my life, can see plain way
by which, in six weeks, could enlist
my voice, and pen, and heart, and head,
and entire nature in the bombardment
of the Scriptures and the Church, and
all l now hold sacred. That 1t is easy
to 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 of 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
Entertainments" or the existence OF
Don Quixote's "windmills." They have
destroyed their faith so thoroughly
that they never will have return Of 1t.
Fifty revivals of religion may sweep
over the city, the town, the neighbor-
hood where they live, and they will
feel nothing but silent or expressed
disgust. There are persons in this
house to-day, who, twenty years ago
gave up their faith and they will never
resume IL. The black and deep-toned
bell of doom hangs over their head, and
! take the hammer of that bell, and
strike 1t three times with all my might
and II sounds, Woel Woei Woel But
my wish, and the wish Of most of you
is the prayer expressed by the disciple:
TO Jesus Christ, in the words Of my
text Lord, increase our faith"
The first mode of accomplishing thii
is to study the Bible itself / do mo-
believe there is an infidel now alivt
who has read the Bible through. Blu
as so important document needs TO b,
read at least twice through in ordel
that it may be thoroughly understood
and read in course, now offer ont
hundred dollars reward to any infide
who has read the Bible through twic,
and read it In course. But canno
| k,lr 81, ~ f1,- -
there is no foundation for integrity
except the Bible, and the man who re
jects the source of truth, how can / &C
cept his truthfulness? So must hav,
another witness In the case before
give the reward. must have the ties
timony Of some one who has seen hin
read it all through twice. Infidels fisl
in this Bible for incoherencies and con
tradictions and absurdities, and II yol
find their Bible, you will see inter
lineations in the Book of Jonah an,
some of the chapters of that unfortu
nate prophet, nearly worn out by mucl
use, and some parts Of Second Samue
or First Kings, you will find dim wit
fingermarks, but the page which cor
tains the ten commandments and tn
Psalms Of David and the Sermon on tn
Mount and the Book Of John the Evar
gelist, will not have single lead per
Gil stroke on the margin, nor an
fingermarks showing frequent perusa
The father of one Of the Presidents c
the United States was pronounce
infidel. / knew II when many year
ago l accepted his invitation TO spen
the night In his home. Just before r,
firing at night he said, in jocos
way: 81 suppose you are accustome
to read the Bible before going to bee
and here Is my Bible from which
read" He then told me what portion
he would like. to have me read, and h
only asked for those persons on whic
he could easily be facetious.
You know you can make fun abor
anything. / suppose you could tai,
the last letter your father or mothe
ever wrote and find something in th
grammar or the spelling, or the tremc
of the penmanship about which to b
derisively critical. The internal ev
dence Of the truthfulness of the Bib
is 30 mighty that no one man out Of th
sixteen hundred million of the world
present population, or the yaster mi
lions Of the past ever read the Bible
course, and read II prayerfully an
carefully but was led TO believe
John Murray, tho famous book pul
Usher OF Edinburgh and the intimat
2 friend Of Southey, coleridRe, Walt,