Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1900-01-19
TALMAGES SERMON.
FAULT FINDERS WITH THE
WORD OF GOD.
The Alleged Uncleanness OF the Bible
Only the Uncleanness of the Hearts
and Mind of the Would-Be Ex-
purgatOrs.

pulpit 1t is no surprise that the world
bombards 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 hnd-
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 Goo.
Why, it makes me think OF a snip III
a 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
the timber did not come from the
right foresti 1t does not seem TO me
a commendabIe 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 nell
around the stem and stern, and mutlny
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 1t through
And l have noticed that keelson and
counter-timber-kne are QUILT oi
Lebanon cedar and she is going TO
weather the gale, but no credit to those
who make mutiny on deck.
When / see professed Christians in
this particular day finding fault with
the scriptures it makes me think or
a fortress terrifically bombarded. ana
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 ala
not come from the right quarry. on
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. | shall give you my
reasons for such opposition. What.
say some of the theological evolution
lists. whose brains have been added
by too long bTOoding over them by
Darwin and Spencer. you don't now
really believe all the story of the Gar
den Of Eden, do YOU" Yes. as much
as | believe there were roses III my
garden last summer. But" say they
You don't really believe that the sur
and moon stood still2" Yes, an(
il | had strength enough to create &
sun and moon | could make them stanC
still. or cause the refractiOn of the
suns rays so it would appear to stanC
still. But" they say. you don't be
lieve that the whale swallowed
Jonah?" Yes. and il / were stron;
enough to make a Wiz le | could hav'
made very easy ing .ess for the re
fractory prophet. les 9ing to evolution
TO eject him, if he we're an unworth!
tenant, But" sa5 they. you don
really believe tha- the water wa
turned into wineY Yes, just as easil.
as water now is often turned into win
with an admixtu-e of strychnine an
logwood But" they say. you don
really believe that Samson slew thou
sand with the jaw-bOne of an ass?
Yes, and l think that the man who Il
this day assaults the Bible is wieldin
the same weapon,
/ am opposed to the expurgation {
the scriptures in the first place, be
cause the Biole in its present shap
has been so miraculOusly preserved
Fifteen hun: red years after Herodotu
wrote his history, there was only on
manuscript copy of ii. Twelve hun
dred years utter Plato wrote his bool
there was only one manuscript cop
of it, God was so careful to have u
have the Eible in just the right shaI
that we rave fifty manuscript copit
of the New Testament thousan
years old. and some OF the
fifteen hundred years old. Tn
book handed down from II
time o. Christ, or just aft
the time of Christ, by the hand of sue
men as Origen in the second centur
and Tertullian in the third centur
and by men of different ages who die
for their principles. The three be
copies of the New Testament in mani
script in the possession OF the thr
great churches-the Protestant churt
of England, the Greek church of 5
Petersburg, and the ROmish church
Italy
1t is a plain matter of history tn
Tischendorf went to a convent in Il
peninsula of Sinai and was by rop
lifted over the wall into the CONVEX
that being the only mode of admissio
and that he saw there in the was
basket for kindling the fires, man
script of the Holy Scriptures. Tn
night he copied many of the passag
of that Bible, but it was not until (
teen years had passed of earnest e
treaty and prayer and coaxing and pr
chase on his part that that copy of
Holy Scriptures was put in the hand
the emperor of Russia-that one co
so marvelously protected.
Do you not know that the, catalOg
of the books of the Old and NJ
Testaments as we have it, is the sal
catalogue that has been coming
down through the ages? Thirty mi
books of the Old Testament thOuSan