Milford chronicle., 1895-06-14

BIado Upon the scriptures-The Bible a
Compared to other Books-Its Divin
Protection.
NEW YORK, June 9.-In his sermon 70
today Rev, DR.. Talmage deals with a sub
ject that is agitating the entire Christian
church at the present moment-viz, tx
purgation Of tho Scriptures. The tex
chosen was Let God be true, but ever!
man a liar (Romans ill., ~.
Tho Bible needs reconstruction accord
ing to some inside and outside the pulpit
II is no surprise that the world lombard
the Scriptures, but it is amazing to finC
Christian ministers picking at this in thu
2 Bible and denying that until many gool
people arc left in the fog about what part,
Of the Bible they ought to believe ant
what parts reject The Nervousness Of find
, ing fault with the Bible at this time is
! most evident. In our day the Bible is as
, sailed by scurrility, by misrepresentation,
: by infdel scientists all the vice of earth
and all the venom Of perditiOn, and at this
particular time even preachers of the Cos
pei fall into line of criticism of the word
of God Why, it makes me think Of ship
in q September equinox, the waves dash
ing to the top Of the smokestaOk, and the
matches fastened down, and many prophe-
sying the laundering Of tho steamer, and
at that time some Of the crew with axes
and saws go down into the hold Of the
ship, and they try to saw off some of tho
planks and pry out some of the timbers
because the timber did not come from the
right forest 1t does not seem to me a
commendable business 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 stem and
stern and mutiny on deck, is having very
rough voyage, but have noticed that not
one of the timbers has started, and the
captain says he will see it through. And
/ have noticed that keelson and counter
timber knee are built out of Lebanon CEDAR
and she is going to weather the gale, but
no credit to those who make mutiny on
deck.
When see protested Christians in this
/ particular day finding fault with the
| Scriptures, it makes me think Of fortress
terrifcally bombarded, and the men on
the ramparts, instead Of swabbing out and
loading the guns and helping fetch up the
ammunition from the magazine, are try
ing with crowbars to pry out from tho
wall certain blocks of stone because they
did not come from the right quarry. Oh, Z
men on the ramparts, better fight back and
fight down the common enemy instead of
trying to make breaches in the WALL
While I oppose this expurgatiOn of the
Scriptures l shall give you my reasons for
such opposition. "What, say some of the
theological evolutionists, whose brains
have been added by too long brooding
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 as l believe there were roses in my
garden last summer. but" say they,
"you don { really believe that the sun and
moon stood still?' Yes, and if 1 had
strength enough to create n sun and moon
1 could make them stand still or cause the
refraction of the SUMS rays so it would
appear to stand still "But," they say,
''you don't really believe that the whale
swallowed Jonah?' Yes, and if l were
strong enough to make whale 1 could
have made very easy ingress for the refrac
tory prophet, leaving to evolution to eject
him if he were an unworthy tenant. A." But, "
say they ''you don't really believe that tho
water was turned into wine?" Yes, just
as easily as water now is often turned into
wine with an admixture of strychnino and
logwood But" say they, you don't
really believe that Samson slew a thousand
with the iawbono of an ASST" Yes, and
think that the man who in this day as
saults the Bible is welding the same
weapon.
There is nothing in the Bible that stag
gers me. There are many things l do not
understand, l do not pretend to under
stand, never shall in this world under
stand But that would be very poor
God who could be fully understood by the
human. That would be very small In
finite that can be measured by the finite.
You must not expect to weigh the thun-
derbolts Of Omnipotence in an apothecary's
Starting with the idea that God
can do anything, and that he was present
at the beginning and that he is present J
now, there is nothing in the holy Scrip :
lures to arouse skeptcism in my heart. !
Here stand, a fossil of the ages, dug up
from the tertiary formation, fallen off the
shelf of an antiquarian, a man in the lat !.
ter part Of the glorious nineteenth century, i
in a whole Bible from lid to lid. =
l am opposed to the expurgation Of the :
Scriptures in the first place because the :
Bible in its present shape has been so mi :
raculously preserved. Fifteen hundred :
years after Herodotus wrote his history :,
here was only one manuscript copy of it. !,
Twelve hundred years after Plato wrote {
lis book there was only one manuscript =
,opy of It. God was so careful to have us .
nave the Bible in just the right shape that
We have 80 manuscript copies of the New Z
1000 years old and some y
# them 800 years old. This book
handed down from the time of Christ or Z,
ust after the time Of Christ by the hand y
# such men as Origen in the second cen I
ury and Tertullian in the third cen y
ury and by men Of different ages who died v
or their principles. The three best copies u
Il the New Testament in manuscript in =
he possession Of the three great churches "
the Protestant church of England, the y
ireek church Of St. Petersburg and the =
fomish church Of Italy. q
1t is a plain matter Of history that Tisch u u
ndorf went to a convent in the peninsula l
f Sinai and was by ropes lifted over the ~
vail into the convent, that being the only u u
node of admission, and that he saw there u
n the waste basket for kindling for the =
Tres a manuscript of the holy Scriptures. "
hat night he copied many Of the passages ~
( that Bible, but it was not until Is years a, a.
ad passed of earnest entreaty and prayer -
nd coaxing and purchase on his part that -
hat copy OF tho holy Scriptures was put 60
ntO the hand Of the emperor Of Russia r.
hat one copy so marvelously protected. 81.
Do you not know that the catalogue of All
he books Of the Old and New Testaments CT
s We have it is the same catalogue that an
as been coming on down through the ".
ges2 Thirty-nine books Of the Old Testa- Sc
tent thousands of years ago. Thirty tn
ow. Twenty-seven books of the New wi
l. 900 years ago. Twenty-seven fol
ooks Of the New Testament now. Mar br
on, for wickedncss was turned out of We
ne church in the second century and in an
is assault on the Bible and Christianity ed
o incidentally gives catalogue of the in'
oolSs of the Bibie--that catalogue CORE "
bonding exactly with ours - testimony ms
do
wen by the enemy of the Bible and the EN-
lemy of Christianity. The catalogue cal
DIV just like the catalogue then As pu
lulted and spit on and torn to pieces and or
lrned, yet adherlng. The book today, in
10 languages, confronting four-hfths Of ed
e human race ia their own tongue. -Four "
lndred million copies Of it in existence Sic
oes not that look as if this book had been ma,
viholy protected, as if God had guarded ste
all through the centuries? moi
Il IL NOT nm arylIfnont Dlain euouoh To n