Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1895-06-14
TALMAGE'S SERMON
INTERESTING THEME N TnE
MN YORK PREACHER.
subject: "ESpurgation Of the Scrip
lures"

no surprise that the world homhard- the
Scriptures. hut ID l. amazing 70 Had Chris
tian ministers picking At this In the Bill,
and denying that until many good people
are left in the fog about what parts oi the
Bible they ought to believe and what parts
reject The Nervousness Of finding fault
with the Bihle AZ this time a. most evident.
In our day the Bible j. assaulted by Srurrility.
hy misrrpr, -entation. los inhlel scientists,
by an the vice al earth ami all the venom of
uerditiun. and 10 this particular time even
preachers at the Gospel fall into line OF
criticism of the word of God. Why. II nakes
me think ~ a ship in September equinox.
the waves dashing To- the top Of the smoke
stack, and the matches fastened down. aud
many prophesying the laundering OF the
steamer. and AT that time some Of the crew
with axes and saws 20 down into the hold Of
the ship. aud they try TO saw OF some OF the
pianks and Ury out some OF the timhers be-
cause the timber lid not come from the right
forest.
Il does not seem to be "A commendable bus
ines- for the crew to be helping the winds
and storms outside with their axes and saws
inside Now. this old Gospel ship, what with
the roaring Of earth and hell around the
stemand stern aud mutlny on deck, is hay
/ ing very rough voyage, but | have noticed
| that not one Of the timbers has started, an
| the captain says he will see it through. And
| | have noticed that keeson and counter tim
Der knee are built out of Lebanon cedar. AMI
she is going to weather the gale, but no
/ credit to those who make mutiny on deck.
When | see prOfcsSei Christians in this
| particular day finding fault with the Scrip
! lures. it makes me think Of a fortress ter
rhcally bombarded, aud the men ont the RAM
! parts instea Of swabbing out and loading
the guns and helpinafeteh up tie ammuni-
| ton from the magazine, are trying with
crowbars TO pry tkir9tn the wall certain
blocks of stone, becahseehey did not come
from the right quarry Oh, men on the ram
parts, better fight back .@and fight down the
! common enemy, instead OF trying to make
! breaches in the WALL
While | oppose this cNpurration Of the
Scriptures, / shall give you my reasons for
! such opposition. What say some OF the
theological evolutiOnists whose brains have
been added bytID long brooting over them
| by Darwin and Spencer, you don't now
really believe all the story Of the garden OF
| Eden, do your Yes. as much rs ! believe
there were roses in my garden last summer
But say they. you don't really believe
that the sun and moon stood stilI?' Yes, and
ii had strength enough to create Il san and
moon ] could make them stand still or cause
the retractOn OF the sun rays 50 it would
appear to stand still. But. they say, you
don't really believe that the whale swal-
lowed Jonuh?' Yes. and if I were strong
enough t. make Il whale | could have made
very easy ingres7 for the refractory prophet,
leaving to evolution t. eject him if he were
an unworthy tenant But. say they. ''yOu
don't really beleyethat the water was turned
into wine?' Yes, just u easily as water now
Is often turned into wine with an admiXturg
of strychnne and logwood! But say
they, you don't really believe that Samson
slew 1000 with the jaw bone OF an ASST Yes
and / think that the man who In this day
assaults the Bible is welding the same
weapon!
There Is nothing in the Bible that stagger.
me- There are many things l do not under
stand, do not pretend 10 understand, never
shall in this world understand. But tina
would be Il very poor God who could be fully
understood by the human. That would be
very small Infinite that can be measured by
finite. You must not expect 10 weigh the
thunderbOlts OF Omnipotence in an apOthe
cary's balances. Starting with the idea tina
God can do anything, and that lie was pres
ent at the beginning and that He is presen
now, there il nothing in the holy Scripture
to arouse skepucsm in my heart Here
stand fossil Of the ages, dug up from tn
tertiary formation, fallen OFF the shelf OF al
antiquarian, man in the latter part of tn
glorious nineteenth century believing in
whole Bible from lid to lid!
| am opposed to the eXpurgation OF TN
Scriptures in the first place, because tn
Bible in its present shape has been so mirac
ulously preserved. Fifteen hundred year
after HerOdotus wrote his history. there wa
only one manuscript copy of it, lively
| hundred years after Plato wrote his buoI
there was only one manus"riPt copy OF It
God was so careful to have us have the Bib
In Just the right shape that we have lift
manuscript copies of the New Testament
: 4 ~, ~
years old. This book. handed down froL
the time of Christ, or Just after the time q
Christ, by the hand Of such men as Orge
in the second century and TertulIian in tn
third century, and by men Of different age
who died for their principles. Tho tire
best copies of the New Testament in manu-
script in the possession of the three grea
churches-the Protestant church OF Englanl
the Greek church of st. Petersburg and tn
Romish church of Italy.
1t is plain matter Of histOrytha fischer
dorf went to aconyentin the peninsula fSint
and was by ropes lifted over the wall into tn
convent, that being the only mode Of ADM,
sion, and that he saw there in the waste
basket for kindling for the fires a manuscriT
OF the Holy Scriptures. That night he COZ
led many Of the passages of that Bible, bl
, twas not until fifteen years had passed {
/ earnest entreaty and prayer and cOaXing an
| purchase Ou MS part that that copy VI u
Holy Scriptures was put into the hand {
= the Emperor of Russia-that one copy :
l marvelously protected
Do you not know that the catalogue of tn
a books of the Old and New Testaments as W
have it is the same catalogue that has bee
coming down through the ages? Thirt,
l nine books Of the Old Testament Thousand
/ of years ago. Thirty-nine now. Twent,
, seven books of the New Testament 1000 yea
,+,, H. = 1
ment now. Marcion for wckedness, WI
: turned out of the church in the second eel
fury, and in his assault on the Bible al
Christianity he incidentally gives cat
logue of the books of the Bible-that cat
logue corresponding exactly with ours-te
timony given by the enemy of the Bible al
the enemy of Christianity. The catalogl
now just like the catalogue then. Assault,
/ and spit on and torn to pieces and burne
yet adhering The book to-day, in 300 la
guages, confronting four-hfths of the hunt
race in their own tongue. Four hundr
million copies Oft in existence. Does II
that look as If this book had been divine
protected, as if God had guarded II
through the centuries?
Is it not an argument plain enough
p, every honest man and every honest WON
that book divinely protected and in IL
shape is in the very shape that God wal
IT. II pIC'tSSo 'pu anu OuSHl " plEhSS
The epidemics which have swept thousan
!. OF other books into the sepulcher OF forg
y fulness have only frightened the fame
% this. There is not one book out of 1000 Il
: lives five years. Any publisher will tell Y
s. that. There will not be more than one be
out OF 10000 that will live century
here is book, much of it 1900 years old a
much, OF it 1000 years old and with more
pound and residence and strength in it tn
?. when the book was first put upon parchm
- or papyrus.
This book saw the cradle of all otl
books, and it will see their graves. WO
you not think that an old book like Il
some OF it forty centuries old, would co
along hobblng with age and on crutch
Instead Of that, more potent than any oil