Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1893-09-16
RELIGIOUS AIj.f .ANCE.
IaEv OR. TALMAeE breaches A SER
B. NON or HOPE.

NON or HOPE.
His Text "Tho DattIe ours'-Cournge Hts
svatchword-n1oro Unity IN Religion
Than In Scionce-Tho Great Trial Of
ssPast Centuries
BROOKLYN, Sept. 1O.-This forenoon
ltaaaaey. T. De Wit Talmage preached to q
thronged audience in the Brooklyn Tab
sernacle. The keynote of the service was
One Of gladness. Many of the audience
|f6d been absent during the summer and
ahad returned for this service. The pas
:Itpr commenced on passages of Scripture
depicting the morning of the worlds de-
siiyeranoe. The subject Of the sermon
sWas, "tThe Battle Ours, ;" the text being
Kings Xxx, 81, "And the children Of
slsrael pitched before them like two little
/ Gpeks OF kids"
S9 kings drunk in one tent this
.lhapter opens They were allies plot
tag for the overthrow Of the Lords Is
rael. You know that if o lion roar flock
sofskds VIII shiver and hudd,e together.
| One lion would conquer thousand kids.
THO battle opens. There are a great
multitude of Syrians under General
Ben hadad, strong as lions. The Israel
Sii::es are few and weak, like two little
lssaSeks Of kids Who beat? The lions, of
Course. Oh, no; the kids, for it all de-
3Tbnds whether God is on the side of the
ii6lis or the kids. After the battle 100,-
60 Syrians lay dead on the field, and
$4,000, attempting to fly, came along by
agreat wall, which toppled and crushed
them to death.
(which was the stronger weapon
great Goliath's sword or little David's
shng2 David had five smooth stones
ffom the brook. He only used one in
striking down Goliath. He had sur-
plus of ammunition. He had enough to
take down four more giants if they had
appeared in the way. 1t oil depends
upon whether God is on the side of the
shepherd boy or on the side of the giant.
81 THE PUBLISHERS AND RELIGION.
There have been many In orr day who
hare yentured the opinion that Christi
aaity is falling back, and that in so years
twill DO extinct They found their
opinion on the assumed fact that tho BIZ
be is,not as much of o book as it used to
BIZ and that portions of it are repulsiye
to:the people Ireply by asking, Which
one Of the publishing houses of New
York, Philadelphia, Boston or Chicago
isspublishing the Bible today with tho
omission. of o single verso or chapterf
Are not our publishers intelligen+men3
And would they contrary to their inan-
cial interests continue'to publish the BIZ
bis without,the omission of single chap
terror single verse If 1t were becoming
ans unpopular book and the people did
notwant it?
H Herpers or Appleton or Scribner
OF. Lippincott should publish Bible
with the omission OF one chapter, they
would not sell 10 copies in 10 years. The
fact that throughout Christendom there
are hundreds Of printing presses print
ing the NO sof. Gdod without the omis-.
sii9nr asohapt Or verse owes that
5SSz faefttha
| there are more being printed In this dec
ade than any other decade proves that
the Bible is increasing in popularity.
go through the courtrooms Of the
country. Wherever find q judges bench
or a clerks desk | find the bible. By
what other book would they take solemn
.oath2 What is very apt to DO among the
brides presents2 The Bible. What is
very apt to DO put in the trunk of tho
young man when he starts for city lifef
The Bible. voltaire predicted that the
Bible during the nineteenth century
would become an obsolete book. Well,
we are pretty nearly, through the nine
tenth century. The Bible is not obso-
lete yet. There is not much prospect of
It's becoming obsolete, but have to tell
you that that room-the very room in
which Voltaire wrote that prediction
some time ago was crowded from floor
to- ceiling with Bibles for Switzerland.
Suppose the congress of the United States
should pass law that no Bibles should
be printed in the United States.
II there are 80, 100000 grown men and
women in the country then there would
be $1,000, 600 people armed against such
law; Butsuppose the congress of the
United States should pass law that
Macaulay's history or Charles Reade's
novels should not be read-could you get
half as large an army or tho fourth as
large an arny2 In other words, there
are, as you know and l know, thou
sand mon who would die for their Bibles
where there are so men who would die
for any other book. The fact that there
are now more Bibles being printed than
ever before, that publishers find it a
financial interest for them to continue
the Bible, proves that this book Is still
the most popular book on the planet
SOURCE OF COMFORT.
But, /" say those who are antagonistic,
Christianity is falling back from the
fact that the church Is not as much re-
spected as 1t used to be and Is not as in
Guential." Ireply to that with the sta
tistic that one denomination-the Meth
odist church-according to statistic
given me by one Of their bishops, dedi-
Gates on an average new church every
day Of the year. Three hundred and
sixty-fve new churches in one denomi-
nation in year and over thousand
new churches built every year in this
country. Does that look as though the
church were failing in it's power and
were becoming wornout institution
Around which institution in our COM
munities gather the most ardent afec-
tionsp The postoffce, the hotel, the
courthouse, the city hall or the churches?
Why, when our old Tabernacle was
burning there were hundreds of men
standing in the streets who never went
to church, tears raining down their
cheeks It is because the church of God
stands nearer the sympathies of the