Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1895-06-14

mans, not 4 fragment len. QuiAilliau Nlttf
hls iayarite hook on the corruption 0i eio-
queuct. all lost Thirty books u 1actitus
lost. Dion Cas,ius wroie eighty books. only
twenty remain. Berosius's history all lo-t.
Nearly all the old books are mummih-d
aud arr living in the t0mhs Of Old libraries.
aud perhaps ON . in twenty years some man
comes along aud picks up one Of them and
blows the dust Of and opens IL and finds it
the book b. does not want. But this old
book, much II il forty centuries old, stands
today more discussed than any other book,
and il challenges the admiration Of all the
good aud the spite and the venom, and the
Auim0sity. and the hyperrnticism Of earth
and hell / appeal 10 your common sense Il
a book 50 diyinely guarded and protected In
its present shape must not be- in just the way
that God wants it TO eome.io W.. aud II 1t
pleaSe- God ought il not 10 riea>e n!
Not only have all the attempts 70 detra't
from the book failed. hut all the attempts 10
add 10 IT, Many attempts were made 10 add
the apochryphal hooks 10 the Old Testament.
The council OF Trent, the synod OF Jerusalem,
the bishops OF Hippo, all decided thar the
apOchryhal books must be added 10 the Oiu
Testament. "They must stay in, SAID those
learned men, but they staid out. There Is
not an intelligent Christian man that to-day
will put the book Of Maccabees or the booN
Of Judith beside the book OF Isaiah or
must have books added TO the New Iesta-
ment." and there were epistles and Cos
pels and apocalypses written and added
10 the New Testament. but they nave all
fallen out. You cannot add anything. lou
cannot substract anything. DiNinely pro-
tected book in the present shape. Let no
man dare to Law his hands ON it with the in
tention Of detra ting from the book or cast
Ing out any of these holy pages.
Besides that i am opposed TO this expur6a-
ton of the Scriptures because 1.-THE attempt
were successful, it would be the humiliation
of the Bible. Intldel biologists would say,
"Out with the Book Of Genesis tnfdel as
tronomers would say, "Out with the BOOK
Of joshua" people who do not believe In
the atoning sacrifice would say, "Out with
the Book of Leviticus;" people who do not
helievein the miracles would say, Out with
all those wonderful stories in the Old and
New Testament and some would say,
"Out with the Book of Revelation and
/ others would say, "Out with the entire Pen
tateuch, and the work would go on until
there would not be enough OF the Bible len
to be worth as much "a last years almanac.
The eXpurgation Of the Scriptures means
their anuihllation.
an also opposed TO this proposed eXpur-
CATION Of the Scriptures for the fact that in
proportion as the people become selt-sacrl-
. ncing and good and holy and consecrated,
/ they like the book as 1t is. | have yet to llnd
a man or a woman distinguished for self
sacrifice, for conservation 10 God, Tor holt
ness OF life, who wants the Bible changed.
Many Of us have inherited family Bibles
Those Bibles were in use twenty, forty, nifty
perhaps 100 years in the generations. To-
day take down those family Bibles, and find
out if there are any chapters which have
been erased by lead pencil or pen, and II in
auv margins YOU can find the words, This
chapter not fit to read" There has been
plenty Of opportunity during the last half
century privately to expurgate the Bible.
Do YOU know any case OF such eNpurgatlon!
Did not your grandfather give it to your
father, and did not your father give 1t to
you?
Besides that | am opposed to the ex-
purgation Of the Scriptures, because the So
called indecacies and cruelties OF the Bible
have demonstrated no evil result cruel
book will produce cruelty. An unclean book
will produce uncleanness. Fetch me a vie
tim. Out OF all Christcndom and out OF all
the ages fetch me victim whose heart has
been hardened to cruelty or whose life has
been made impure by this book. Show me
one. One Of the best families | ever knew
Of, for thirty or forty years, morning and
evening. had all the members gathered to-
gether. and the servants OF the household,
and the strangers that happened to be within
the gates-twiee day without leaving out
chapter or Il verse, they read this holy
book, morning by morning, night by night.
Not only the older children, but the little
child who could Just spell her way through
the verse while her mother helped her, the
father beginning and reading one verse an1
then all the members Of the family in turn
reading Il verse The father maintained hi.
integrity. the mother maintained her integ
rtv, the sons grew up and entered pro
fessions and commercial life. adorning every
sphere in the lille in which they lived. an
tile daughters went into families where
Christ was hOnOrcd. and all that was goo,
and pure and righteous reigned perpctualiF
For thirty years that family endured The
Scriptures. Not one OF them ruined u,
. th,lii.
Now. If you will tell me OF family whcr
the Bible has been read twice Il day for thirt.
wears, and the children have been brough
up in that habit, and the father went (,
ruin and the mother went 10 ruin, and tn
sons and daughters were destroyed by it
if you will tell me Of one such incident,
will throw away my Bible or | will doub
your veracty. ellyOu if manis shocked
with what he calls the indelicacies of tn
. word of God he is pruricnt in his taste an
imagination. If a man cannot read Solo
mons Song without impure suggestion. h
is either in his heart or in his life a libertint
The Old Testament description Of wicked
ness, unceannesS of all sorts,
purposely and rGhteously disgust
! ing account, instead OF the Byroni
, and the Partisan vernacular, which make
sin attractive instead Of appalling. Whe
those old prophets point you to a lazarettt
you understand it is a lazaretto. When
= man having begun to do right falls back int
wickedness and gives up his integrity, tn
+ Bible does not say he was overcome by tn
I destinations Of the festive board, or that
surrendered to cOnvlvialities or that he b,
( came little fast in his habits. | will re
D you what the Bible says, THE dog is turne
to his own vomit again and the sow that wa
, washed to her walIowing in the mire" n
3 gliding of iniquity. No garland5 on a death
4 head. No pounding away with silvet ma
e let at inlquty when it needs an iron sledg
= hammer.
| can easily understand how people brood
: ing over the description OF uncleanness
the Bible may get morbid in mind until the
: are as full of it as the wings, and the heal
= and the nostrll and the claw of a buz2ar
A are full OF the Odors OF a carcass, but whit
= Is wanted is not that the Bible be dislnfec
l. ed, but that you, the critic, have your min
l., and heart washed with carbolic acid.
d ltell you at this point in my discours
@ that man who does not like this book, an
d who is critical as to its contents, and who
/ shocked and outraged with its description
!, has never been soundly converted. The la,
n ing on of the hands of presbytery or epi
d copacy does not always change man
If heart, and men sometimes get into the pu
v pit. as we'll as into the pew, never havir
il been changed radically by the sovereie
grace OF God. Get your heart right and tt
a Bible will be right The trouble is men
n natures are not brought into harmony wit
is the word of God. All, my friends. expurg
Is ton of the heart is what is wanted!
5. You cannot make me believe that IL
Is Scriptures, which this moment lie on tt
It. table of the purest and best men and wome
o, of the age, and which were the dying soa
al OF your kindred passed into the skies, ha,
u in them faint which the strongest micr
IL scOne of honest criticism nnnlh mnkn Yisihl