The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1900-01-19

The Bible needs reconstruction ac-
cording to some inside and outside the
pulpit. 1t is no surprise that the world
bombard3 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 misrepresen-
tation, by infidel scientists, by all the
vice of earth and all the venom Of
perdition, 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 ship in
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 into
the hold of the ship, and they try to
saw off some of the planks and pry
out some of the timbers because
right forest! 1t does not seem to ne
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 / have noticed that not one
of the timbers has started, and the
captain says he will see it through.
And l have noticed that keelson and
counter-timber-knee are built OF
Lebanon cedar, and she is going TO
weather the gale, but no credit to those
who make mutiny on deck.
When l see professed Christians in
this particular day finding fault with
the scriptures it makes me think Of
fortress territically bombarded, and
the men on the ramparts, instead Of
swabbing out and loading the guns,
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 on the ramparts. better fight back,
and fight down the common enemy,
instead Of trying to make breaches in
the wall.
While | oppose this eXpurgation Of
the scriptures, l 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 Gar
den Of Eden, do your" Yes, as much
as | 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 l had strength enough to create a
sun and moon could make them stand
still, or cause the refraction of the
suns rays SO it would appear to stand
still. But" they say, you don't be-
lieve that the whale swallowed
Jonah?" Yes, and if | were strong
made very easy ingress for the re-
fractory prophet, leaving to evolution
to eject him, if he were an unworthy
tenant! But" say they, 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 strychnine and
| lnoWnndf Qt,f
really believe that Samson slew thou
sand 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.
Fifteen 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
of II. God was so careful to have us
have the Bible in just the right shape
that we have fifty manuscript copies
Vi the NEW ltSldIDtul luOuo1hN
years old. and some of them
fifteen hundred years old. This
book handed down from the
time of Christ, or just after
the time of Christ, by the hand of such
men as Origen in the second century,
and Tertullian in the third century,
and by men of different ages who died
for their principles. The three best
copies of the New Testament in manu-
script in the possession of the three
great churches-the Protestant church
of England, the Greek church of ST.
Petersburg, and the Romish church of
Italy.
1t is a plain matter OF history that
Tischendorf went to a convent in the
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 waste
basket for kindling the fires, a manu-
script of the Holy Scriptures. That