Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1899-12-08
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
FAULT FINDERS WITH THE
WORD OF GOD.
The Alleged UncIeanness of the Bible
Only the Uncleanness OF tho Hearts
aud Minds of the Would-Be tx
purgntorE

mage deals with a subject that is agi-
tating the entire Christian church at
the present moment, viz, "EXpurgation
c. me Scriptures" The text chosen
was. Let God be true, but every man
liar" Romans i'll, 4.
The Bible needs reconstruction ac-
cording to some inside and outside the
pulpit. 1t is no surprise that the world
bombards the Scriptures, but it is
amazing to find Christian ministers
picking at this in the Bible and deny
ing that until many good people are
left In the fog about what parts of the
Bible they ought to believe, and what
parts reject. The Nervousness of find
ing fault with the Bible at this time is
most evident. In our day the Bible is
assailed by scurrility. by misrepresent-
alton. by infidel scientists, by all the
vice of earth and all the venom Of per-
dition, and at this particular time even
preachers of the Gospel fall into line OF
criticism of the word of God. Why, it
makes me think of a ship in a Sep
TENDER 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 at that time some of the
crew with axes and saws go down into
the hold of the ship and they try to
saw off some of the planks and pry out
some of the timbers because the timber
did not come from the right forest,
1t does not seem TO me n cOmmendable
business 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 the stem and
stern. and mutiny Oh deck, is having
q very rough voyage but | have noticed
that not one of the timbers has start
ed, and the captain says he will see
II through And have noticed that
keelson and counter-timber-kn are
built of Lebanon cedar, and she is 60
Ing to weather the gale, but no credit
70 those who make mutiny on deck.
When | see professed Christians in
this particular day finding fault with
fortress terriiicaliy bombarded, and the
men on the Tamparts, instead Of swab-
bing out and loading the guns, and
helping fetch up the ammunition from
the magazine. are trying with crow
bars TO pry out from the wall certain
blocks OF stone. because they did not
come from the right quarry. oh, men
on the ramparts. better tight back, and
fight down the common enemy, in
stead OF trying TO make breaches in
| the wall
While oppose this eZpurgation of
the Scriptures. | shall give you my rea-
sons for such opposition. What" say
some OF the theological evolutionists.
whose brains have been added by too
| long breeding over them by Darwin
| and Spencer, you don't now really be-
! lieve all the story of the Garden OF
| Eden, 10 your" Yes, as much as be-
| lieye there were roses in my garden
last summer. But. say they, you
| don't really believe that the sun and
| moon stood still?" Yes. and if ! had
| strength enough to create sun and
moon / could make them stand STILL or
cause the refraction OF the suns rays
SO Il would appear TO stand still.
| But" they say, you don't believe
that the whale swallowed jonah Yes,
| and if were strong enough to make 4
| whale | could have made very easy in
| gress for the refractory prophet, leav-
| ing 20 evolution 10 eject him If he were
| an unworthy tenant But" say IT, ".
! you don't really believe that the water
was turned into wine?" Yes, just as
easily as water now is often turned
! into wine with an admixture Of strych-
nine and logwood, But" they say
you don't really believe that Samp-
son slew thousand with the jaw
| bone of an ASST" Yes, and | think
that the man who in this day assaults
the Bible is welding the same weapon.
| / am opposed TO the expurgation OF
the Scriptures in the first place, be-
cause the Bible in its present shape has
been so miraculously preserved. Fiji
teen hundred years after Herodotus
wrote his history, there was only one
manuscript copy of it. Twelve hun
dred years after Plato wrote his book
there was only one manuscript copy oil
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 fifteen
hundred years old. This book, handed
| down from the time Of Christ or inc,
after the time of Christ, by the hano
of such men as Origen in the second
century and Tertullian in the thirC
century, and by men of different ages
who died for their principles. The
three best copies of the New Tesla
ment in manuscript In the possession
Of the three great churches-the Prot
estant church of England, the Greei
church of st. Petersburg, and the Ro
mish church of Italy.
1t Is a plain matter OF history tina
TischendOrf went to a convent in tn,
peninsula of Sinai and was by ropes
lifted over the wall into the convent
that being the only mode of admission
and that he saw there in the vast.
basket for kindling for the fires, man
uscript OF the Holy Scriptures. Tha
night he copied many of the passage
of that Bible. but it was not until fiji
teen years had passed of earnest en-
treaty and prayer and coaxinS and pur
chase on his part that that copy O
the Holy Scriptures was put into tn
| hand of the emperor of RuSSia-tha