The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-07-06
KNOWN BY ITS FRUIT
DR.. TALMAGE'S REASONS FOR BELIEF
IN THE BIBLE
The Good Accomplished In the World
by the Scriptures as an evidence
of Divine brigham Answer TO
Agnos<icism-

In the great conflict now raging III
Europe as IA this country oet"eeh
Christianity and agnosticism Dr.. Ial-
mage has taken a decided stand and IN
tbis sermon declares his u~nwavering
belief in the divine origin Of h Scrip
lures: text Matthew vii. 16, DO men
gather grapes of thorns!
Not in this country. Not in any
country. Thorns stick, thorns ~1acerate,
but all the thOrns put together never
vieled n cluster of Catawba or 1sa-
bella grapes. Christ, who was the mas
ter of apt and potent illustration, is
thus setting forth what you n 1 well
know, that you cannot get that which
Us pleasant and realthful and good
from that which is bad. If o find a
round, large, beautiful cluster or
grapes, you know that it was produced
by a good grape vine and not from a
tangle of Canada thistle. Now, if I can
show you that this holy Bible yields
good fruit, healthful fruit, grand fruit,
splendid fruit, you will come TO the con-
clusion il is a good Bible, and all the
arguments of the skeptic against it
when he tries to show 1t is a bad book
will go overheard
do men gather grapes of thorns?"
Can a bad book yield good results?
Skeptics with great vehemence declare
thai the Bible is a cruel book They
read the story of the determination OF
the Canaanites and of the ancient
wars and of the history of David and
Joshua, and they come to the conclusion
that the Bible is in V Of laceration
and manslaughter and massacre. Now,
a bad book will produce a bad result; a
cruel book will produce a cruel result
You have friends III have been in
the habit of reading the Bible a great
many years. Have you noticed a ten
dency to cruelty on their part? Have
YOU ever heard any of them come out
and practically say, II have been read
ing the story about the eXterm1na-
ton of the C~anaaniteS, and / I'M seized
upon with a disposition to cut and SLASH
and maui and pinch and murder and
knock to pieces everything j.! can lay
my hands on?" Have your friends IN
proportion as they become diligent Bible
students and disciples of the Christ OF
the Bible shown a tendency TOWARD
massacre and murder n manSlaugh-
ter? Has that been your observation?
EFFECT ON CHILDREN.
What has been the effect upon your
children of this cruel book? Or IL you
do not allow the book to be read In
your household, what has been the. Ell
feet upon the children of other house
holds where the word of God is honor
ed? Have they as a result or readlng
this cruel book one forth with a cruei
spirit to pull the wings of flies and 10
pinion graSshopperS and to ROB DlroS
nests? a cruel book ought TO make
cruel people. If they diligently read 1t
and get absorbed with ITS prlncIples
that cause must produce that erect.
At what time did you notice that the
teachings of his holy Bible created
cruelty in the heart and n life OF
George Peabody, of Miss Dix, or FLOR
ence Nightingale, of John Howard, OF
John Frederick Oberlin, OF AbDot Lau-
renee? HaVe you noticed IN redulnS
the biography of these people that in
proportion as they became 1rlenoS OIL
the Bible they became enemies 10 hu-
manity? Have you not, on Inc contra
nv. noticed that all the institutions OF
mercy established or being estaDl1sned
were chiefly supported Dy the Irlehos
of this book? There is the hospltal IN
wartime. There are 20 Christian Wo-
men. They are binding up wouno0g
they are offering cordials; hey are
kneeling down by the dying praying for
their departing spirits. Where does the
cruelty crop out? They have been
reading the Bible all their lives They
read il every morning; theS read II
every HlShl- lAOy SoA
arm when they go into h hospital.
Where does the cruelty of the DOCK
cron out? Is it in the gentleness or
their step? Is it in the cadence OF their
voice? Is ii in h sympathetic prayer
they offer at the bedside OF the Dying r.:
Your common sense tells you lha1
cruel book must produce cruel results.
When YOU can make a rose lear STAB
L a bayonet, and when o can man
ufacture icicles out OF. the south vino,
and when you can poison your tongue
with honey got from blossomlng DUCK,
wheat. then you can get cruelty out OF
the Bible. That charge of the skeptlcs
falls flat in the presence OF every nom
est
THE CHARGE OF INF1DELS.
Again. go on and most vehe-
mently charge that this Bible is an I'M
pure book. You all know that an I'M
pure book produces impure results. NO
amount of money could hire you 10 al
low your child TO read an unclean oook-
Now, if this Bible be an impure DOCK,
where are the victims? Your father
read ibid il make him a bad man?
Your mother read ibid it make her a
bad woman? Your sister 10 years IN
heaven died in the faith of this gospel
did it dispoil her nature? Some say
there are 200, 900, 900 copies of the Bible
in existence, some say there are 4OO.OOO,-
UDU COPIES OF llC olOlS- u ID
10 get the accurate statistics, but sup
pose there are 200, 600, 900 copies of the
Bible abroad, this one book read more
than any 20 books hat the world ever
printed, this book abroad for ages. for
centuries-where are the victims? snow
me LOCO. Show me 500 victims of an
impure book. Show me 100 despolled
of he Bible. Show me so Show me
10. Show me two. Show me one! TWO
hundred million copies of an impure
book and not one victim of the impurl-
tyi On the contrary, you know very
well that it is where the Bible has the
most power tina the family institution
is most respected.
Again, agnostics go on still further,
and they say the Bible is a mass OF
contradictions, and they put prophet
against prophet, evangelist against
evangelist, apostle against apostle, and
they say if this be true, how, then, can
that be true? Mr.. Mill, who was a
friend of the Bible, said he had dis
covered $4,000 different readings of the
Scriptures, and yet not one important
difference-not one important difference
out of 80, 000-only the difference that