Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1900-06-28

mis-, the Sphnlard MS the lSraeIltes new
or. Why1 Because this book provided
thousands of years ago that the Israelites
should be scattered in all lands and that
they should be kept separate, separate,
until the Lord took them back to Jerusa-
lem. And We who prosecute the lsraeltes
had better look out. They are Gods peo-
pie, and according to the prophecy made
thousands OF years ago they are distin
guishabe, they are kept separate until
the Lord takes them to their native land.
How could those old prophets foretell
that? How could they know that thou
sands OF years agoi Was 1t mere human
skill? Could you have seen so far ahead?
Could you have predicted anything like
It? Those old prophets stood looking
down in the great future and said Mes
siah would be born In a certain nation, in
a certain tribe, in a certain family. in
d certain place, at certain time thou
sands Of years ahead Ages rolled on,
ages on ages, and after awhile Christ, the
only one who has been called Messiah by
any great number of people-Chrst was
born, in that very nation predicted, in
that very tribe, in that very family, in
that very place, at that very time. Could
human skill have predicted Il? Does not
that prove beyond all controversion and
beyond all doubt that those prophets
were inspired of the Lord Almighty, look
ing down in the future and seeing thou
sands OF years ahead occurrences to take
place, just as plainly as l see your faces
this morning.
Truth of the bible.
"Well," says some one, now ! am
ready to take the New Testament as
from the heart of Christ, and | am ready
to believe the prophecies. The evidence
is beyond all dispute. But you must re-
member" says my friend, that the
prophecies are only a small part Of the
old book. You don't expect us to believe
all the old book" If you found one of
your good, honest letters in an envelope
with 10 or 90 cruel lying filthy letters,
how long would you allow that honest
letter to stay there? In half minute
you would either snatch il out of the
envelope or you destroy the whole en-
velopc. Now. do you suppose the Lord
God would allow these pure prophecies,
these prophecies which you admit must
have come from the hand of God, from
divine inspration-do you suppose God
would allow these pure prophecies to be
bound up and put in the same envelope
with the book of Job, and the book of
Psalms, and the book OF Deuteronomy.
and the other books, if those books were
not good books?
Besides all this, you must remember
that the most Of the writers Of this book
were uneducated men. How can you &C
count for the fact that when Thomas
Darlington Macaulay, standing in the
house of parliament in London, wanted
TO finish off a magnificent sentence he
fro Gsh of al
sitting in his house, wanting to finish one
of his great paragraphs of history, he
quoted the words of the fishermen Of
Galilee? Why is it that those uneducat-
ed men have more influence on modern
times than all the scholars of antiquity?
Because they were divinely inspired, he
cause God stood back OF them. They
were not educated and scholarly 1t was
not by fierce OF rhetoric that they tri-
umphed. but today those humble fisher
men, those uneducated fishermen. WELD
more influence in all our modern cities
than any % men living in this genera
ton and day. They must have been in
spired. There must have been divine
influence behind them, and before them.
and above them. and within them
Besides that, you must remember that
this book has been under fire for centu-
ries. and after all the bombardment Of the
skeptics of all the centuries, they have
not knocked out of this Bible a piece as
large as the small end Of sharp needle.
Oh, how the old book sticks together.
Vnsanctifed biologists try to pull away
the book OF Genesis They say they do
not believe it, it cannot be there was
light before the sun shone; it cannot be
all this story about Adam and Eve; and
they pull at the book OF Genesis, and
they have been pulling a great while, yet
where is the book OF Genesis? Standing
just where il stood all the time. There is
not man on earth who has ever erased
1t from his Bible.
The Infders Harpoon.
Then all the undevout astronomers
went to work to pull away the book of
Joshua. They say, That cannot be true.
the suns hating above Gideon and the
moon over the valley of Ajalon; it cannot
be possible we must pull that book OF
Joshua away" And they pull away at II,
and they pull away at it, and yet what
has become of the book OF Joshua2 Like
the sun above Gideon and like the moon
over the valley Of Ajalon, it stands still.
All the undevout anatomists and physi-
ologsts get hold OF the book of Jonah.
and they pull away and they say. That
story about Jonah and the whale can't
be true" Every inhdel carries a har-
poop especially for that whale, and they
pull away at the book Of Jonah but
whore is the book OF Jonah today! Just
where it has been all the time-the grand
est thing that was ever written to prove
that when God sends man to Nineveh
he cannot get to Tarshish, IL God to
stop him has to upset the Mediterranean
sea with cyclone.
And so the infdels have been trying
to pull away the miracles. pulling away
at the blasted fig tree. at the turning
Of the water into wine, at the raising OF
Lazarus from the dead. Can you show
me Bible from which one of these mira
Giles has been erased: How marvelously
the old book sticks together, All the
striking at these chapters only driving
them in deeper until they are clncLed
on the other side with the hammers OF
eternity. And the book is going to keep
right on until the fires OF the last day
are kndled. Some OF them will begin
Oh one side and some on the other side
of the old book. They will not find a
bundle of loose manuscripts easily con-
sumed by the fire. When the fires OF
the last day are kindled, some will burn
on this side, from Genesis toward Reve-
lation, and others will burn on this side,
from Revelation toward Genesis, and in