The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1895-07-05

' |NN NNN" Hs# HAH AA" NN"I|N N|HNN" NHNfH AAH
Hiakodnoa aud gives up ha integrity, the
Bible docs not Say ha was overcome by the
destinations 90 The festive board. OF THAI be
surrendered i1 eanTlvlnlltIca. or that be- be-
came % little iaai ia 3D. habits. Il viii tell
YOU what Che hlhleaaYs, "Iho dog n turned
l1 hiH own vumit again and the SOW that vas
r'.hnd On her WalloWng in Che mire.' No
thains ~ lniqultF 30 gaHands on adeaiha
head. hop0unding away with % silver NAL.
.ni hi iniluiY when o needs an iron HledEe
hammer
can easily understand how people brood
Ing over The description oi uncloanneaa Ia
Che Bible may get morbid On mind until they
are na iull oi it ~ tha wings, and the beak,
and The n0sirll and the claw OF n buzzaFa
are full Of the odou % n carcass, hut what
Is wanted a. not that the Bible Boz dlsinfeet-
1i, but that you, the critic, have your mind
and heart washed with carbolic acid.
tell y0u az this point in my discourse
that % man who does not like This book, and
who u critical as O. ita contents, and who -
shocked and outraged with o. descriptions,
has mover been aoundly converted. The lay-
ing on Of The hands OF preahwery or epia-
copaey does not always change n mans
heart, and men sometimes gct into the pull
pie. na well as into the pew, never having
been changed radically hy the sovereign
grace OF God. Get your heart right aud tho
Bible viii be- right The trouble q mems
natures are not brought into harmony with
the word Of God An, my friends. expurga-
lion OF the heart Il what is wantodl
You cannot make mo believe that the
Scriptures, which this moment lio on the
table Of the purest and best men and women
of the age, and which were the dying s0laee
of your kindred passei into the skies. have
In them faint which the strongest micro
scope OF honest criticism could make visible.
II men are uncomfortable in their indigna-
ton when the integrity Of wife or child Is as
sailed, and judges and jurors as far as
/ possible excuse violence under such provo
cation, what ought 90 be the overwhelming
aud long resounding thunders OF c0ndemua-
/ ton Tor any man who will stand in Chris
/ tian pulpit and assail the more than virgin
/ purity Of Inspiration, the we'll beloved daugh-
ter Of God2
Expurgate the Biblel You might as well
/ 60 10 the old picture galleries In Dresden
and In Venice and In Rome and expurgato
/ the old paintings Perhaps you could find a
/ foot OF Michael Angeles "LAst Judgment
/ that might be improved. Perhaps you could
/ throw more expression into Raphael's Ma
/ DONNA" Perhaps YOU could put more
/ pathOs into Rubenss Descent from the
/ Cross" Perhaps you could change the
| crest Of the waves in Turner's "Slaye Ship"
| Perhaps you might 90 into the old galleries
/ Of sculpture and change the forms and the
/ posture Of the statues Of Phdias and praxi-
/ teles. Such an iconoclast would very soon
find himself In the penitentary. But it is
/ worse vandalism when a man proposes to re-
fashion these masterpieces Of inspiration and
to remodel the moral giants Of this gallery
OF God.
Now, let us divide on. Let those people
| who do not believe the Bible aud who are
| critical OF this and that part Of 1t 90 clear
over to the other side. Let them stand be-
hind the DEVILS guns. There can be no COM
promise between in0delity and Christianity.
Give US the out and out opposition Of inf
deity rather than the work OF these hybrid
theologians, these mOngrel ecclesiasties
| these half evoluted people, who believe the
Bible and do not believe t. who accept the
miracles and do not accept them, who believe
in the inspiration Of the Scriptures and dc
not believe In the inspiration of the Scrip
tures-trimming their belief on one side L
suit the skepticism Of the world, trimming
their belief on the other side to suit the prid,
Of their own heart, and feeling that in Orde
to demonstrate their courage they mus
make the Bible the target and shoot at God
There is one thing that encourages M
very much, and that is that the Lord mad
out to manage the universe before they Wer
born, and will probably be able to make on
to manage the universe little while afte
they are dead. While / demand that tn
antagonists Of the Bible and the critics O
the Bible 90 clear over where they belong
on the DEVILS side, l ask that all the friend
Of this good book come out openly and abov
board In behalf Of it, that book which wa
the best inheritance you ever received fror
your ancestry, and which will be the bes
legacy you will leave to your children whe
k1,.r 4 a1., FaHa
to the golden city.
Young man. do not be ashamed Of you
Bible There is not virtue but it con
mends, there Is not sorrow but it comforts
there is not a good law on the statute boo
of any country but it is founded on thes
Ten Commandments. There are no brave
grander people in all the earth than Il
heroes and the heroines which it blographize
OF all the works of Dore, the great arts
there was nothing so impressive as his illu!
trated Bible. What scene Of Abrahamic fat
or Edenic beauty, of dominion Davld1c
( Solomonic, of miracle or parable, of nativit
or Of crucilxion or of last Judgment but Il
? thought leaped from the great brain to Il
+ skillful pencil, and from skillful pencil
} canvas immortal. The Louvre the Luxen
bourg, the National Gallery of London con
pressed within two volumes of Dore's illu
trated Bible But the Bible will come to be
. ter illustration than that, my friends, WHIT
/ all the deserts have become gardens and {
( the armories have become academies and {
the lakes have become Gennesarets wi
| Christ walking them. and all the cities ha
s become Jerusalems with lowering Shekina
s and the two hemispheres shall be clappil
Q cymbals of divine praise. and the rohl
' earth footlight to Emanuels throne-tht
4 to all lands and all ages and all centuri
: and all cycles will be the best specimen
, Bible illustrated