Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1900-08-03
OF DIVINE ORIGIN.
DR.. Talmage's Reasons for His Be-
lief in the Scriptures.
The Good Accomplished in the World
as an Eyidence-An Answer to
Agnosticixm-Proph
FuillIed.
copyright, 1900. by Louis Klopsch.l
Mn Chin ntnn

ChrlStlanlty ana ngnoSlclsm Dr' Lar
mage has taken decided stand, and in
this sermon declares his unwavering
belief in the divine origin of the Scrip
lures; text, Matthew, 7:16, do men
gather grapes of thorns?'
Not in this country. Not in any
country. Thorns stick, thorns lacer-
ate, but all the thorns put together
never yielded one cluster of Catawba
or Isabella grapes. Christ, who was
the master of apt and potent illustra-
ton, is thus setting forth what you
and l well know, that you cannot get
that which is pleasant and healthful
and good from that which is bad. Ii
you find a round, large, beautiful clus-
ter of grapes, you know that it was
produced by good grapevine and not
from a tangle of Canada thistle. Now,
if can show you that this holy Bible
yields good fruit, healthful fruit, splen-
did fruit, you will come to the conclu-
sion that it is good Bible, and all the
arguments of the skeptic against it
when he tries to show it is bad book
will go overheard.
DO men gather grapes of thorns?"
Can bad book yield good results?
Skeptics with great vehemence declare
that the Bible is a cruel book. They
read the story of the determination of
the Canaanites and of all the ancient
wars and of the history of David and
Joshua, and they come to the conclu-
sion that the Bible is in favor of lacera-
tion and manslaughter and massacre.
Now, bad book will produce bad
result, cruel book will produce cruel
result.
You have friends who have been in
the habit of reading the Bible great
many years. Have you noticed ten
dency to cruelty on their part? Have
you ever heard any of them come out
and practically say: Il have been read
ing the story about the determination
OF the Canaanites, and am seized upon
with a disposition to cut and slash and
maui and pinch and murder and knock
to pieces everything ! can lay my
hands on?" Have your friends in pro-
portion as they become diligent Bible
students and disciples of the Christ of
the Bible shown a tendency toward
massacre and murder and manslargh-
ter? Has that been your observation?
What has been the effect upon your
children of this cruel book? Or if you
do not allow the book to be read in
your household, what has been the eff
feet upon the children of other house
holds where the word of God is hon
ored? Have they as a result of reading
this cruel book gone forth with cruel
spirit to pull the wings of flies and to
pinion grasshoppers and to rob birds
nests? A cruel book ought to make
cruel people. If they diligently read it
and get absorbed with its principles
that cause must produce that effect. At
what time did you notice that the
teachings of this holy Bible created
cruelty in the heart and the life of
George Peabody, of Miss Dix, of Flor
ence Nightingale, of John Howard, of
John Frederick Oberlin, of Abbot Lau-
renee? Have you noticed in reading
the biography of these people that in
proportion as they became friends of
the Bible they became enemies to hu-
manity? Have you not, on the
contrary, noticed that all the institu-
tions of mercy established or being es-
tablished were chiefly supported by the
friends of this book? There is the hos
pital in war time. There are 90 Chris
tian women. They are binding up
wounds; they are offering cordials;
they are kneeling down by the dying
praying for their departed spirits.
Where does the cruelty crop out? They
have been reading the Bible all their
lives. They read it every morning;
they read it every night; they carry it
dnder their arm when they go into
the hospital.
Where does the cruelty of the book
crop outP Is It in the gentleness of
their step? Is it in the cadence of
their voice? Is it in the sympathetic
prayer they offer at the bedside OF the
dying? Your common sense tells you
that cruel book must produce cruel
results. When you can make a rose
leaf stab like bayonet, and when
you can manufacture icicles out OF the
south wind, and when you can poison
your tongue with honey got from
bloIsoming buckwheat, then you can
get cruelty out of the Bible. That
charge of the skeptics falls fiat in the
presence of every honest man.
Again, infdels go on and most We
hemently charge that this Bible is an
impure book. You all know that an
impure book produces impure results
No amount of money could hire you
to allow your child to read an un-
clean book. Now, if this Bible be an
| impure book, where are the victims? I?
Your father read it-did it make him
y bad man? Your mother read it.
did it make her bad woman? Your
| sister Is years in Heaven died in the
faith of this gospel-did it despoil her
nature? Some say there are 100000
600 copies of the Bible in existence,
some say there are 00,O0O,000 copies
of the Bible. 1t is impossible to get
the accurate statistics, but suppose
there are 20O,oOo,toO copies of the
Bible abroad, this one book read more
than any 20 books that the world ever
printed, this book abroad for ages, for
centuries where are the victims I?
Show me 1000. Show me 500 victims
of an impure book. Show me 100 de-
spoiled of the Bible. Show me So.
Show me ten. Show me two. Show
me one! Two hundred million copies
of an iIapure book and not one victim