St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-07-28

from generation to generation an
was copied by a great many handl
= And vet / put before you this fac
to-day, that all the Bible writer
agree in the four great doctrines Q
the Bible.
al What are those four great doctrines
God-good, kind, patient, just, loving
omnipotent. Mana lost sinner. Tw
destinies-one for believers, the othe
for unbelievers; all who accept Chris
reaching that home and only thos
destroyed who destroy themselves
! only those who turn their back upol
, Christ and come to the precipice an,
: jump off, for God never pushes a maj
, of, he jumps of. Now, in these fou
! great doctrines all the Bible writer,
: agree. Mozart, Beethoven, Hande
, and Hadyn never wrote more har
monious music than you will find il
! this perfect harmony Of the Word oi
God, the harmony in providence and
: in grace.
You must remember also that the
, authors of the Bible came from diff
ferent lands, from different ages and
from different centuries. They had
no communication with each other;
they did not have an idea as to what
! was the chief design of the Bible, and
yet their writings, got up from all
these different lands and all these diff
ferent ages and all these different
centuries, coming together make a
perfect harmony in the opinion of the
/ ~ t. ,A
that a most remarkable fact?
The Bible is made up of the Old
Testament and the New Testament.
Let us take the New Testament first.
Why do I believe it? Why do 1 take
it to my heart? 1t is because it can
be traced back to the Divine heart
just as. easily as that aisle can be
traced to that door, and that aisle to
that door.
Jerome and Eusebius in the first CEN
tury and Origen in the second century
and other writers in the third and
fourth centuries gave a list Of the New
Testament writer's just exactly CORE
spending with our list, showing that
the same New Testament which we
/ nAVC IuCy udu III luC 1OuA CCAtuIy
and the third century and the second
century and the first century. But
where did they get the New Testa-
ment? They got it from Irenaeus.
Where did Irenaeus get it? He got 1t
from Polycarp. Where did Polycarp
get it? He got it from St. John, who
was the personal associate of the Lord
Jesus Christ. My grandfather gave q
book to my father, my father gave 1t
to me, give it to my child. Is there
any difficulty in tracing this line?
On communion day will start the
chalice at that end of the aisle, and the
chalice will pass along to the other end \
Of the aisle. Will it be difficult to trace
the line of that holy chalice? No diff
Guilty at all. This one win say: "Ig gave
it to that one." and this one will say:
II gave it to that one" But it will not
be SO long a line as this to trace the
New Testament. 1t is easier to get at
the fact. But you say: s"Although this
was handed right down in that way,
who knows but they were lying impos-
tiers? How can you take their testi- |
mony?" They died for the truth of
that Book. Men never die for a lie
cheerfully and triumphantly. They
were not lying imposters. They died |
in triumph for the truth Of that New
Testament.
"Well," says someone, NOW I am |
ready to believe that the New Testa-
ment is from the heart Of Christ, but |
how about the Old Testament? Why
do you believe that?' believe the Old |
Testament because the prophecies fore
told events hundreds and thousands of
years ahead-events which afterward
took place. How far can you see ahead?
Two thousand years? Can you see
ahead hundred years? Can you see
ahead five minutes? No, no! Human
amounts to nothing. Here
these old prophets stood thousands of
years back. and they foretold events
which came accurately true far on in
the future centuries. Suppose should
stand here and say to you: Twenty
five hundred and sixty years from now
three miles and half from the city of
Moscow. there will be an advent, and it
will be in certain family, and it win
be amid certain surroundings" It
would make no impression upon you
because you know 1 cannot foresee
thousand years or one year or one min
ute, and i cannot tell what is going to
transpire in land far away. But that
IS what these old prophets did.
You must remember that Tyre and
Babylon and Nineveh were in full pomp
md splendor when these prophecies,
these old prophecies, said they would
Dc destroyed. Those cities had archi-
ecture that make the houses of mod
,rn cities perfectly insignificant. Yet
.hese old prophets walked right
through those magnificent streets and
aid: "This has all got to come down.
This is all going to be leveled."
Suppose man should stand up in
hese cities to-day and say: There
Will be harvests of wheat and corn
where these cities now stand, and these
treets will be pasture for cattle" !,
'uch man would be sent to the insane
syium. Yet the old prophets did that
cry thing. Where is Babylon today .
lou 60 and walk over the ruins of :
'abylon and you will not find leaf or /.
grass blade of those splendid hanging ,
ardens, and in the summer time the
round actually blisters the feet of the !.
raveier. Babylon destroyed accord J
ng to the prophecy. :
Where is Tyre? In the day of its :
omp the prophet said: THE fisher /
,en will dry their nets where this 4
lty stands" If you should 20 to that !
lace to-day. you would find that lit 4
rally. The fishermen are drying their d
cts on the rocks where the city OF 4
yre once stood. Tartar and Turk and o
aracen drying their nets on the rocks. i
10 up Chatham street, New York, D
nd find the fulfllment Of prophecy Ii
ade thousands Of years ago. why 10
the 1sraelte is always distinguish d
Die, whether you see him in New b
ork or Peking or Vienna or Stock ii
olm or London or Paris? The Eng I
shman goes to America and after fil
while he loses his nationality. The g