The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1895-07-05
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
rHE NOTED DivINRs SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.
Subjects 'Expurgatlon OF the Scrip
tures.n

no surprise that the world bombarda the
Scriptures, but Il Is amazing 10 find Chris
unn ministers picking az this an the Bible
and denying that until many good people
are LEFT IN the fog about what parts OF the
Bible they ought % believe and what parts
reject The Nervousness Of finding fault
with the Bible az this time n most evident
In our day the Bible a assaulted bv sourrillty
by misrepresentation, by inndel scientists.
BY all the vice Of earth and an the venom of
perdition, and at this particular time even
preachers OF the Gospel fall into line Of
criticism Of the word Of God. Why. & makes
me think OF a ship In n September equinox.
the waves dashing to the top OF the smoke
stack and the matches fastened down. and
many prophesying the laundering OF the
steamer, and az that time some OF the crew
with axes and saws 90 down into the hold Of
the ship, and they try 10 saw on some Of the
planks and pry out some Of the timbers be-
cause the timber did not come from the right
forest.
II does not seem 20 be a communicable bus
mess 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 tho
stem and stern and mulny on deck, Is hav-
ing very rough voyage, but have noticed
that not one Of the timbers has started, AMI
the captain says he will see Il through. And
have noticed that keelson and counter tim
Der knee are built out Of Lebanon cedar. and
she Is going 70 weather the gale, but no
credit 10 those who make mutiny on deck.
when i see professed Christians In this
particular day finding fault with the scrip-
lures, II makes me think OF fortress ter
riiically bombarded, and the men on the ram
parts. instead Of swabbing out and loading
the guns and helping fetch up the ammunl-
ton from the magazine, are trying with
eroWbars 20 pry out from the wall certain
blocks OF stone, because they 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 mako
breaches In the WALL
While / oppose this expurgation OF the
scriptures, shall give you my reasons for
such opposition. "What!n say some Of the
theological eyolutionists whose brains have
been added bytoo long brooding over them
by Darwin and Spencer, 'you don't now
really believe all the story OF the garden OF
Eden, do you2' Yes, as much as / believe
there were roses In my garden last summer.
But, say they. you don't really believe
that the sun and moon stood stillY Yes, and
II had strength enough to create a sun and
moon | could make them stand still or cause
the refraction Of the suns rays 80 It would
appear to stand still. "But, they say, ''you
don't really believe that the whale swal-
lowed JonahY Yes, and If were strong
enough to make a whale / could have made
very easy ingress for the refractory prophet,
leaving to evolution to eject him II he were
an unworthy tenant "But, say they. "you
don't really believethat the water was turned
into wine?' Yes, just as easily as water now
Is often turned into wine with an admixture
OF strychnine and logwood! "But," say
they, "yoU don't really believe that Samson
slew 1000 with the jaw bone Of an ASST" Yes.
and 1 think that the man who In this day
assaults the Bible is welding the same
weapon!
There is nothing in the Bible that staggers
me. There are many things do not under
stand, do not pretend to understand, never
shall in this world understand. But that
would be very poor God who could be fully
understood by the human. That would be a
very small Infinite that can be measured by
finite. You must not expect to weigh the
thunderbOlts OF OmnipOtence in an apothe-
cary's balances Starting with the idea that
God can do anything, and that lie was pres
ent at the beginning, and that He is present
now, there is nothing in the holy Scriptures
to arouse skeptioism in my heart. Here ]
stand fossil OF the ages, dug up from the
1 tertiary formation, fallen Off the shelf of an
antiquarian, a man in the latter part of the
| glorious nineteenth century believing in a
| whole Bible from lid to lid!
| am opposed to the expurgatiOn of the
| Scriptures in the first place, because the
! Bible in its present shape has been so mirac.
! ulously preserved. Fifteen hundred years
! after Herodotus wrote his history, there was
only one manuscript copy Of it. Twelve
hundred years after Plato wrote his book
there was only one manuscript copy of it
| God was so careful to have us have the Bible
in just the right shape that we have fifty
manuscript copies of the New Testament
thousand years old and some of them 1901
years old. This book, handed down from
the time OF Christ, or just after the time o
Christ, by the hand of such men as Orlgel
in the second century and Tertullian in tn
third century, and by men Of different age
who died for their principles. The tire
best copies Of the New Testament in manu-
script in the possession of the three grea
churches-the Protestant church of England
the Greek church of st. Petersburg and tn
Romish church of Italy.
1t is plain matter of historythat Tischen
dorfwent to a conyentin the peninsula ofSina
and was by ropes lifted over the wall into th
convent, that being the only mode of admis
sion, and that he saw there in the waste
basket for kindling for the fires a manuscriT
|
led many Of the passages of that Bible, bU
it was not until fifteen years had passed {
earnest entreaty and prayer and coaxing an
purchase on his part that that copy of tn
Holy Scriptures was put into the hand {
the Emperor of Russia-that one copy S
marvelousy protected.
Do you not know that the catalogue of th
books of the Old and New Testaments as W
have it is the same catalogue that has bee
coming down through the ages2 Thirt.
nine books of the Old Testament THOUSAND
of years ago. Thrty-nine now. Twent,
seven books Of the New Testament 1900 yea
ago. Twenty-seyen books Of the New Test
ment now. Marcion, for wickedness, WI
turned out Of the church in the second ce
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 catalog
now Just like the catalogue then. Assault
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