The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-22
THE SPLENDoRS OF THE BIBLE.
TALMAGE DECLARES THE STAT
UTEs OF THE LORD ARE RIGHT.

Famous preacher AT the Ahnepehu-
ent Presbyterian Church-Hun-
dreds Turned Away Unable TO
Gain Admittance and Many stood
Outside and Listened Through the
Open Mindows-The Sermon No
BILE One-Dr. TnImage to Leave For
Augusta To-day.
one of the largest congregations ever
! seen in Savannah assembled at the indie
pendent Presbyterian church yesterday
morning, 10 hear Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage.
Between 200 and $50 people heard the
distinguished divine and hundreds. who
could not gain admittance TO the church
turned away.
The general desire to hear DR.. Talmage
was evidenced by the early hour at which
the congregation assembled. At 10
O'Clock people were pouring into the
church. and half an hour later all the
seats had been taken, and many people
were standing up At II o'clock there was
not even standing room to be had in eth
er the auditorium the aisles or the gallery,
and people crowded around and even into
the pulpit.
The subject of DR.. Talmages discourse
was THE splendors of the Bible" the
verse: THE statutes of the Lord are
right" The vast crowd which had gath
cred to hear the most distinguished pull
pit preacher in America was not disap-
pointed The subject was ably handled.
The line of thought was lofty and noble.
There was no pulpit buffonery, which
some people, who knew but
little of Dr. Talmage, might
have expected and no at
tempt at artificial effect The sermon
was one which was no doubt thoroughly
enjoyed by every earnest Christian of the
various creeds and denominations repre-
scented in the large audience.
1t required nearly an hour in
delivery. Although slightly husky from
a recent severe cold DR.. Talmage's voice
was strong and distinct, and he was cas-
| lily heard by all present. Even those VINO
gathered on the street outside could near
what was said. In fact, during the close
of his discourse DR.. Talmage seemed 10
direct his remarks toward those on the
outside of the building. very satisfac-
tory collection was taken up previous to
the discourse for the benefit of the Sa-
vannah Bible Society. DR.. Talmage
spoke as follows:
Old books 90 out of date. When they
were written, they discussed questions
| which were being discussed; they struck
| at wrongs which had long ago ceased, or
| advocated institutions which excite not
| our interest. Were they books of history,
| the facts have been gathered from the I'M
| perfect mass better classified and more
| lucidly presented, Were they books OF
| poetry they were interlocked with wild
mythologies, which have gone up from
the face of the earth like mlstS at sun
rise. Were they books of morals, ciyili-
/ cation will not sit at the feet of barbar-
| ism, neither do we want Sappho, Pythag-
| oras, and Tully to teach us morals. What
| do the masses of people care now for the
| pathos of Simonides, OF. the sarcasm of
Menander, or the gracefulness Of Phile-
| mon, or the wit of Aristophanes? Even
| the old books we have left, with few
/ exceptions, have but very little effect up
| on our times Books are human they
| have time to be born, they are fondled,
they grow in strength, they have mid
| dle-life of usefulness, then comes old age,
! they totter and they die. Many of the
national libraries are merely the cemetef-
les of dead books. Some of them lived
flagitious lives. and died deaths of igno-
| miny Some were virtuous, and accom-
| plished a glorious mission. Some went into
| the ashes through nquisitorial fires. Some
found their funeral pile in sacked and
| and died as foundlings at the door of sci
| ence. Some expired in the author 8
study others in the publishers hands.
Ever and anon there comes into your pos
| session an old book, its author forgot
| ten and its usefulness done, and with
| leathern lips il seems to say: 81 wish l
were dead" Monuments have been rails
ed over poets and philanthropists. Would
| that some tall shaft might be erected in
!
worlds authors would make pilgrimmage
| thereto and poetry and literature, and SCI
ence and religion, would consecrate it
| with their tears.
Not so with one old book It started
in the worlds infancy. 1t grew under
| the theocracy and monarchy. 1t with
prophets mantle and under the fisher
| mans coat of the apostles. In Rome, AMI
Ephesus, and Jerusalem, and Patmos.
Tyranny issued edicts against 1t, and in
fidelity put out the tongue, and Moham-
mechanism from its mosques hurled its
anathemas, but the old Bible lived. 1t
crossed the British channel, and was
greeted by Wickliffe and Jane l. 1t
crossed the Atlantic and struck Plymouth
with blessedness. Churches and asylums
have gathered all along its way, ringing
their bells, and stretching out their hands
of blessing; and every Sabbath there are
a hundred thousand heralds Of the cross
with their hands on this open, grand, free,
old English Bible But 1t will not have
accomplished its mission until Il has
climbed the icy mountains of Greenland,
until it has gone over the granite cliffs
of China, until it has scattered its gems
among the diamond districts of Brazil. and
all thrones shall be gathered into one
throne, and all crowns by the fires of rev
olution shall be melted into one crown,
heaven have waved in the ransomed EN-
pires-not until then will this glorious BIZ
bic have accomplished its mission.
| In carrying out, then, the Idea of my
text-"the statutes of the Lord are right
i shall show you that the Bible is right
in authorization. that it is right in style
that it is right in doctrine, that it is right
in its effects. Car you doubt the anthem
ticity of the Scriptures? There is not SC
! much evidence that Walter Scott wrote
| the Lady of the Lake. not
so much evidence that Shakespeare
wrote Hamlet: not so much evidence that
| John Milton wrote Paradise Lost"-as
there is evidence that the Lord God Al
mighty, by the hands of the prophets
evangelists, and apostles, wrote this book
| Suppose book now to be written which
came in conflict with great many things
and was written by bad men or impostors
how long would such a book stand? II
would be secuted by everybody. And
say IL that Bible had been an imposition
IL ii had not been written by the men whC
said they wrote it-if Il had been a mere
collection of falsehoods do you not sup
pose that IL would have been Immediately
rejected by the people? II job, anC
| Isaiah and jeremiah, and Paul, and Peter
and John were impostors, they would hav,
been secuted by generations and nations
| If that book has come down through fires
of centuries without a scar, il Is becaus,
there is nothing I'm II destructible. How
near have they come to destroying the Ri
Bile? When they began their opposition
there were two or three thousand copies
of Il. Now there are four hundred mill
, ions, as far as | can calculate. These Bi