The Globe-republican., 1900-01-18

pulpit 1t is no surprise that the world
pombards the scriptures, but it is
amazing to find Christian ministers
picking at this in the Bible and deny
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
essailed by scurrility, by misrepr ssen-
tatton, by fnfidel scientists, by all the
vice of earth and all the venom of
perditfon, and at this particular time
even preachers of the gospel fall into
line of criticism of the word of God /
Why, 1t makes me think of ship in |
a September equinox. the waves dash |
Ing to the top of the smOkestack, and |
the matches fastened down, and many |
phophesying the laundering of the |
steamer, and at that time some of the |
crew with axes and saws go down 1-fSo |
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 foresti 1t does not seem to me
a commendable business for the crew
to be helping the winds and storms
outside with their axes and saws in
side Now, this old gospel ship, what
with the roaring of earth and hell
around the stem and stern, and mutiny
on deck, is having a very rough voy-
age, but I have noticed that not one
-O1 the LlnDSfS mas started anu Tie
captain says he will it through
And 1 have noticed that keeISon and
eounter-tim ber-knee are built OF
Lebanon cedar. and she is going to
weather the gale, but credit to those
who make mutiny deck
When I see professed Christians in
this particular day finding fault with
the scriptures it makes me think of
fortress terrifically bOmbarded, and
the men the ramparts, instead OF
al
and helping fetch up the ammunition
from the magazine, are trying with
crowbars to pry out from the wall GER
tain blocks of stone. because they did
not come from the right quarry. Oh,
men the ramparts. better fight back,
and fight down the common enemy,
instead of trying to make breaches in
the wall
the scriptures, 1 shall give you my
reasons for such opposition. What"
say some of the theological evolution
lists, whose brains have been added
by too long brOoding over them by
Darwin and Spencer, you don't now
really believe all the story of the Car
den of Eden, do your Yes. as much
as I believe 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 1 had strength enough to create a
sun and moon 1 could make them stand
SL1ny OF cause the TSITdCIlOn OIL the
suns rays so it would appear to stand
still. But they say, you don't be-
1ieve that the whale swallowed
Jonah" Yes, and if 1 were strong
enough to make a whale could have
made very easy ingreSS for the re-
fractory prophet. leaving to evolution
to eject him, if he were unworthy
tenant But" say they, you dom
really believe that the water was
turned into wine?'' Yes, just easily
as water now is often turned into vim
with an admixture of strychnine ane
logwood. But" they say, you don
really believe that Samson slew a thou
sand with the jaw-bone of ass ?
Yes, and 1 think that the man who il
this day assaults the Bible is WELDING
the same weapon!
am opposed to the expurgation o
the scriptures in the first place, be
cause the Bible in its present shap
has been so miraculOusly preserved
Fifteen hundred years after Herodotu
wrote his history, there was only on
manuscript copy of it Twelve hun
dred years after Plato wrote his book
there was only one manuscript cop
of it God was careful to have
have the Bible in just the right shap
that we have fifty manuscript copie
of the New Testament a thousan
years old, and some of thel
fifteen hundred years old Tn
book handed down from til
time of Christ, or just aftt
the time OF christ, Dy the manu- OF sue
men as Origen in the second centur.
and Tertullian in the third centur.
and by men of different ages who die
for their principles The three be:
copies of the New Testament in MANI
script in the possession of the thrs
great churches-the Protestant churc
of England, the Greek church of :
Petersburg, and the Romish church
Italy
It is a plain matter of history tn
Tischendorf went to convent in Il
peninsula of Sinai and was by rop
lifted over the wall into the CONVEX
that being the only mode of admiSsio
and that he saw there in the was
basket for kindling the fires, a man
script of the Holy Scriptures. TIL
night he copied many of the passag
of that Bible, but 1t was not until +
teen years had passed of earnest e