The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-10

II IN existence. Does not that look as II
this book had been divinely protected. as
If God had guarded 1t all through the
centuries?
Is IL not an argument plain enough to
every honest man and every honest wo-
man. that book divinely protected and
in this shape is in the very shape that
God wants il? II pleases God and ought
TO please us. The epidemics which have
swept thousands OF other books
into the sepulchre Of forgetful-
ness have only frightened the fame
Of this. There is not one book out Of a
thousand that lives five years. Any pub
Usher viii tell you that. There will not
be more than one book out of twenty thou
sand that viii live a century Yet. here is
a book. much Of fl sixteen hundred years
old, and much OF 10 four thousand years
old, and with more rebound and resili-
ence and strength IN IL than when the
book was first put upon parchment or
papyrus. This book saw the cradle Of all
other books, and il will see their graves
Would you not think that an old book
like this. some of il forty centuries old.
would come along hobbling with age and
on crutches? Instead Of that, more po-
tent than any other book OF the time
More copies OF IL printed in the last ten
years than of any other book-Walter
SCOTS Wayerly Novels, Macaulays Ills
tory Of England" Disraelfs "Endymion."
the works Of Tennyson and Longfellow
and all the popular books Of our time hav-
ing no such sale in the last ten years as
this old worn-out book. DO Npu know
what struggle book has
in order TO get through one
century or two centuries? Some old
books, during a fire in a seraglio of Con
stantinople, were thrown into the street
man without any education picked up
one Of these books. read it. and did not
see the value of it. A scholar looked over
his shoulder and saw IL was the first and
second decades OF Livy, and he offered
the man a large reward If he would bring
the books to his study; but in the excite
ment Of the fire the two parted, and the
first and second decades of L.ivy were
forever lost Pliny wrote twenty books of
history; all lost. The most of Meanders
writings lost OF one hundred and thirty
comedies Of Plautus all gone but twenty
Euripides wrote a hundred dramas; all
gone but nineteen. Aeschylus wrote a
hundred dramas; all gone but seven. Var
TO wrote the laborious biographies Of
seven hundred Romans: not a fragment
left. Quintillian wrote his favorite book
on the corruption of eloquence; all lost
Thirty books Of Tacitus lost Dion Cas-
sus wrote eighty books only twenty re-
main Berosius' history all lost.
Nearly all of the old books are mum
miiied and are lying I'm he tombs of old IL
braries, and perhaps once in twenty years
some man comes along and picks up one
Of them and blows the dust off; and opens
it and finds the book he does not want
But this old Book, much of il forty CEN
turtles old, stands to-day more discussed
than any other book, and it challenges
the admiration of all the good and the
spite and the venom and the animosity
and the hypercriticism of earth and hell.
l appeal to your common sense. If a book
so divinely guarded and protected I'm its
present shape. must not be in just the
way that God wants 1t to come TO us, and
If 1t pleases God, ought it not to please
us?
Not only have all the attempts to de-
tract from the Book failed, but all the at
tempts to add to il. Many attempts were
made to add the apochryphal books to the
Old Testament. The Council of Trent. the
Synod of Jerusalem, the Bishops of Hippo
all decided that the apochryphal books
must be added to the Old Testament. "They
must stay in" said those learned men;
but they stayed out. There is not an in
telligent Christian man that to-day will
put the Book of Maccabees or the Book
of Judith beside the Book of Isaiah or Ro-
mans. Then a great many said. 1--WE must
have books added TO the New Testament"
and there were epistles and gospels and
apocalypses written and added to the New
Testament, but they have all fallen out.
You cannot add anything. You cannot
Book in the presnt shape. Let no man
dare to lay his hands on 1t with the inten-
ton of detracting from the Book or cast
ing out any of these holy pages.
Besides that, l am opposed to this ex-
purgation Of the Scriptures because if the
attempt were successful, it would be the
humiliation of the Bible. Infidel geolo-
gists would say, "out with the Book of
Genesis" infidel astronomers would say,
"out with the Book of joshua" people
who do not believe in the atoning sacrifice
would say, "out with the Book of Levitt
GUS people who do not be-
lieve in 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 Revelationf and others would say,
''out with the entire PeHtateNch." and the
work would go on until there would not
be enough of the Bible left to be worth
as much as last years almanac. The
expurgstion of the scriptures means their
humiliation.
l am also opposed to this proposed ex-
purgatiOn of the scriptures for the fact
that in proportion as people become self
sacrificing and good and holy and con-
secrated, they like the book as 1T is. l
have yet to find a man OF a woman dis
tinguished for self-sacrifice, for conse-
Grafton to God, for holiness of life, who
wants the BlDle changed. Many OF us
have inherited family Bibles. Those Bibles
were in use twenty, forty, fifty, perhaps
a hundred years in the generations. To-
day take down those family Bibles, and
find out If there are any chapters which
have been erased ~ lead pencil or pen,
and If in any margins you can find the
words this chapter not fit to read"
There has been plenty of opportunity dur
ing the last half century privately to ex-
purgate the Bible. Do you know any
case of such expurgation? Did not your
grandfather give it to your father, and
did not your father give it to you?
Beside that. am opposed to the expur-
cation of the Scriptures. because the
so-called indelicacies and cruelties of the
Bible have demonstrated no evil result
A cruel book will produce crueity-an I'M
clean book will produce uncleanness
Fetch me a victim. Out of all christen-
dom and out Of all the ages, fetch me a
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 OF forty years. morning and even
ing, had all the members gathered to-
gether. and the servants of the household