Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1895-06-15
STANDS LIKE A ROCK.
REV. Or. TALMAGE OPPOSES BIBLE
RECONSTRUCTION.
He shows How Futile Are the Assaults
Made Upon the Scriptures The Bible NJ
Compared 10 other Books-Its Divine
Protection.

Protection.
NEW YORK, juno 9.-ln his sermon for
to'lay Rev. DIR. TAlmagc deals with a sub
lcrt that Is agitnting the entire Christian
church At the present momcnt-viz, FIX
purgation of the Scriptures" The text
chosen was, Let God be true, but every
man a liar" (Romans Iii, -.
The Bible needs reconstruction accord
Ing 10 some inside and outside the pulpit.
Il i no surprise that the world bombards
the Scriptures, hut IL Is amazing TO find
Christian ministers picking at this In the
Bible and denying that until many good
people are left In the fog about what parts
Of the Bible they ought 20 believe and
what parts reject. The Nervousness Of find
Ing fault with the Bible az this timo Is
most evident In our day the Bible is as
ss,il,Sl by scurriliiy, by misrepresentation
by infdcl scientists, all the vice 81 earth
and all tho venom Of pcrdition, and nj this
particular time even preachers Of the Cos
pei fall into line ~ criticism of the word
of God Why, IL makes me think Of a ship
I'm "A september equinox. the waves dash
ing Ia the top If the smokcstack, and the
matches fastened down, and many prophe-
swing the laundering Of the steamer, and
NJ that time some of the crew with axes
and saws go down into the hold Of the
ship, and they try 10 saw of some Of the
pianks and pry out some Of the timbcrs
because the timber did not come from the
right forest II does not seem 20 me n
conmcndahlc business for the crew 60 he
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
IL.
rough voyage. hut have noticed that not
one of the thinkers has started, and the
captain SAYS he will see II through And
have noticed that kc,.lson and counter
timbrr knee are built out of Lebanon cedar,
and shc Is going to weather the gale, but
no CREDIT To those who make mutiny on
deck
When SEQ profcsscd Christians In this
particular day finding fault with the
Scriptures, IL makes mo think OF fortress
tcrrificaliy bomhar,lcd, 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 the
wall certain blocks Of stone because they
did not come from the right quarry. oh,
men ON the ramparts, better fight back and
fight down the common enemy instead Of
trying 10 make breaches in the wall!
While oppose this expurgation Of the
Scriptures 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, ms
much as / believe there were roses in my
garden last summer. But" say they,
lyon don't really believe that the sun and
moon stood still.' Yes, and IL l had
strength enough 20 create a sun and moon
could make them stand still or cause the
rcfraction Of the suns rays 50 IL would
appear To stand still. But" they say.
you don't really believe that the whale
swallowed JONAH Yes. and II were
strong enough 90 make n whale could
have made very easy ingrcss for the rcfrac-
tory prophet, leaving To evolution 10 eject
him II he We're an unworthy tenant. but, +"
say they, .you don't really believe that the
water was turned into wincy' Yes. just
as easily as water now Is often turned into
wine with an admixturc Of strychnine and
lockwood. But" say they, ''you don't
really believe that Samson slew n thousand
with the jawbonc Of an asp Yes, and /
think that the man who In this day as
saulis the Bible Is welding the same
weapon.
There Is nothing In the Bible that stag
gers me There arc many things do not
understand, l do not pretend TO under
stand never shall in this world under
stand But that would DO very poor
God who could he fully understood by the
human. That would he n very small In
finite that can be measured by tho finite.
You must not expect to weigh the thun-
dcrboits Of Omnipotencc In an apothecary's
balances. Starting with the idea that God
can do anything, and that he was present
at the beginning. and that he Is present
now. there Is nothing In the holy Scrip
turrs to arouse skcpticism In my heart.
Here ! stand, n fossil of the ages. dug up
from the tertiary formation, fallen of the
shelf Of an antiquarian. "A man In the lat
ter part Of the glorious nineteenth century,
believing In whole Bible from lid 10 lid.
I am opposed 60 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 IIcrodoius wrote his history
there was only one manuscript copy Of 1t.
Twelve hundred years after Plato wrote
his book there was only one manuscript
copy Of IL. God was 80 careful TO have us
We have 30 manuscript copies Of the New
Testament 1000 years old and some
81 them 1000 years old. This book
handed down from the time of Christ or
just after the time Of Christ by the hand
Of such men as Origen in the second cen
tury and Tcrtullian In the third cen
fury and by men II different ages who died
for their principles. Tho three hest copies
OF the New Testament In manuscript in
the possession ~ the three great churches
tho Protestant church Of England, the
Greek church Of 81. Petersburg and the
Romish church Of Italy.
IL j. "a plain matter Of history that Tisch-
cndorf went to n convent In the peninsula
Of Sinai and was by ropes lifted over the
wall into the convent, that being the only
mode II admission. and that he saw there
in the waste basket for kindling for the
fires manuscript 81 the holy Scriptures.
That night he copied many Of the passages
Of that Bible, but IL was not until IL years
had passed Of earnest cntrcaty and prayer
and coaxing and purchase on his part that
that copy ~ the holy Scriptures was put
into the hand ~ the emperor Of Russla-
that one copy - maryclously protected.
Do you not know that the catalogue of
the books of thc Old and New Tcsiamcnts
as W. have IL IS the same catalogue that
has been coming ON down through the
agcsf Thirty nine books 81 the Old Tesla
ment thousands of years ago. Thirty nine
now. Twcnty-Sevcn books of the New
Testament 800 years ago. Twcnty-scven
books Of the New Testament now. Mar
cion, for wickclacss. was turned out q.
the church I'm the second century and In
his assault on the Bible and Christianity
ne incidentally gives a catalogue ~ the
SOCKS ~ the Bihlc-ihat catalogue CORE
ponding exactly with ours - testimony
given BY the enemy 81 the Bible and tho
enemy of Christianity. The catalogue
HOW just like the catalogue then As
saultcd and spit on aud torn 10 pieces and
burned, yc; adhcring. The book today, In
800 languages confronting four flfths OF
the human race In their own tongue. Four
hundred million copies VI IL in existence.
D,a-s not that look a. II this book had been
diyincly protected, as II God had guarded
Il all through the ccnturicsY
l. il no; an argument plain enough 10
every honest uian and every honest woman
that book 'iivincly protected and in this
shape Is In the very shape that God wants
III II pleaSes God and ought 20 please u.s.
Tho cpidcmics which have swept thousands
II other books into the sepulcher Of forget
fulncss have only frightened the fame 81
this. There Is not one book out Of thou
sand that lives five years. Any publisher