Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1895-06-13

divinely protected. as II Sod had guardec
It all through the centuriesf
Is It not an argument plain enough x
every honest man and every honest woman
that a book divinely protected and In THU
shape Is In the very shape that God wants
itf 1t pleases God and ought 10 please US
The epidemics which have swept thousands
OF other books into the sepulcher OF forget
fuIness have only frightened the fame o.
this. There Is not one book out Of thou
sand that lives five years. Any publishes
will tell you that. There will not be mor
than one book out Of 20, 900 that will live
q century. Yet here Is book much Of II
1900 years old, and much Of it 1000 years
old, and with more rebound and residence
and strength in 1t than when the book was
first put upon parchment or papyrus. This
book saw the cradle Of all other books, an6
it will soc their graves. Would you not
think that an old book like this, some oi
1t 40 centuries old, would come along hob.
bling with age and on crutchesS Instead
Of that, more potent than any other book
Of the time. More copies of 1t printed In
the last ten years than of any other book,
Walter Scott's Waverley novels, Macaulay's
"History of England, +" Disraeli's " Endym.
ion," the works Of Tennyson and Long.
fellow and all tho popular books of ouI
time having no such sale In the last ten
years as this old wornout book. Do you
know what struggle book has In order
to get through one century or two centu'
riesf Some old books during a fire In o
seraglio of Constantinople were thrown
into the street. A man without any edu-
cation picked up one Of those books, read
| 1t and did not see the value of 1t. A scholar
| looked over his shoulder and saw it was
| the first and second decades Of Liyy, and
| he offered the man a large reward If he
| would bring the books to his study, but in
the excitement of the fire the two parted,
| and the first and second decades Of Livy
were forever lost. Pliny wrote 20 books
| of history. All lost The most OF Menan-
der's writings lost. OF 130 comedies OF
Plautus, all gone but 90. Euripides wrote
100 dramas. All gone but 10. Esohylus
wrote 100 dramas. All gone but seven.
Varro wrote the laborious biographies OF
700 Romans. Not fragment left Quin-
| lillian wrote his favorite book on the cor.
ruption of eloquence. All lost. Thirty
| books Of Tacitus lost. Dion Cassius wrote
| 80 books Only 90 remain. Berosius' his
tory all lost.
| Nearly all the old books are mummified
| and are lying in the tombs Of old libraries,
and perhaps once in 90 years some man
comes along and picks up one of them and
blows the dust and opens it and finds it
the book he does not want. But this old
book, much of it 40 centuries old, stands
today 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 book so divinely guarded and protect
ed in its present shape must not be in just
the way that God wants it to come tc
us, and if it pleases God, ought it not tc
please usp
Not only have all the attempts to detraci
from the book failed, but all the attempts
to add to it, Many attempts were made
to add the apochryphal books to the Ole
Testament. The council of Trent, the SYNOD
of Jerusalem, the bishops of Hippo, all de
cided that the apochryphal books must bt
added to the Old Testament. "They mus
stay in," said those learned men, but they
, staid out. There Is mot an intelligent
Christian man that today will put the bool
of Maceabees or the book of Judith beside
, the book of Isaiah or Romans. Then ;
, great many said, "We must have book!
added to the New Testament, and ther'
were epistles and gospels and apocalypse
written and added to the New Testament
but they have all fallen out. You canno
} add anything. You cannot subtract any
thing. Divinely protected book in the pres
, ent shape. Let no man dare to lay hi
hands on 1t with the intention of detract
ing from the book or casting out any o
these holy pages.
Besides that, am opposed to this ex
purgation of the Scriptures because if tn
attempt were successful 1t would be tn
annihilation Of the Bible. Infidel geolo
gists would say, "Out with the book o
Genesis" Infidel astronomers would say
"Out with the book of Joshua" Peopl
: who do not believe in the atoning sacrific
would say, "Out with the book of Levitt
. GUS" People who do not believe in tn
miracles would say, tout with all thos
. wonderful stories in the Old and New Tes
taments," and some would say, "Out wit
) the book of Revelation, and others woul
say, "Out with the entire Pentateuch,
and the work would go on until ther
would not be enough of the Bible left to b
worth as much as last years almanac. TIL
expurgation of the Scriptures means thei
annihilation.
I am also opposed to this proposed ez
purgation of the Scriptures for the fac
, that in proportion as people become sci
sacrificing and good and holy and const
. Grated they like the book as 1t Is. hav
n tcfir, 1ieI
: ed for self sacrifice, for conservation t
! God, for holiness of life, who wants tn
Bible changed. Many Of us have inherit
!. ed family Bibles. Those Bibles were i
: use co. 40, 80, perhaps 100 years in tn
generations. Today take down those fan
5 lily Bibles, and find out II there are an
chapters which have been erased by lea
pencil or pen, and If in any margins 70
9 can find the words, "This chapter not f
to read" There has been plenty of oppol
T tunity during the last half century pr
vately to expurgate the Bible. Do 70
+ know any case of such expurgation? Di
: not your grandfather give 1t to your fathel
and did not your father give it to you?
Besides that, am opposed to the expul
: cation Of the Scriptures because the E
called indelicacies and cruelties of the B
BILE have demonstrated no evil result. .
Q cruel book will produce cruelty. An VI
clean book will produce uncleannes
! Fetch me victim. Out Of all ChristeI
dom and out of all the ages fetch me
2 victim whose heart has been hardened
y cruelty or whose life has been made in
y pure by this book. Show me one. One {
= the best families I ever knew of for 80 {
:. 40 years morning and evening had all tf
: : members gathered together, and the SER
: ants of the household, and the stranger
! that happened to be within the gate
y Twice day without leaving out chaptt
70 or verse they read this holy book, morl
ing by morning, night by night. Not onl
the older children, but the little child WI
! could just spell her way through the yers