St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-07-28
OF DIVINE ORIGIN.
DR.. Talmage's Reasons for His Be.
lief in the Scriptures.

The Good Accomplished In the worl
N nm Evidence-An Answer t.
AEnosticism-Proph
Falalled.
copyright. 1900. by Louis Klopsch.l
Washington
In the great conflict now raging
Europe as in this country betwee
Christianity and agnosticism DR.. Ia
mage has taken a decided stand, and
this sermon declares his unwaverin
belief in the divine origin of the Scri]
lures; text, Matthew. 7:16, do me
gather grapes of thorns?"
Not in this country. Not in an
country. Thorns stick, thorns lacel
ate, but all the thorns put togethe
never yielded one cluster of Catawb
or Isabella grapes. Christ, who wa
the master of apt and potent illustra
ton. is thus setting forth what 70
and l well know, that you cannot &c
that which is pleasant and healthfu
and good from that which is bad. !
you find round, large, beautiful clus
| ter of grapes, you know that it wa
produced by good grapevine and no
from tangle of Canada thistle. Now
if l can show you that this holy Bibl
yields good fruit. healthful fruit, splen
did fruit. you will come to the conclu
sion that it is good Bible, and all tn,
arguments of the skeptic against i
when he tries to show it is bad bool
will 60 overheard.
DO men gather grapes of thorns ?
Can bad book yield good results
Skeptics with great vehemence declare
that the Bible is cruel book. They
read the story of the determination oi
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.
ton and manslaughter and massacre
Now, a bad book will produce a bad
result, cruel book will produce a 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: L have been read
ing the story about the determination
of the Canaanites, and am seized upon
with disposition to cut and slash and
maui ard pinch and murder and knock
to pieces everything l 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 manslaugh-
ter? Has that been ourobservation?
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 ef-
feet upon the children of other house
holds where the word Of God Is hon
ored? Have they as result of reading
this cruel book gone forth with a 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
he biography Of these people that in
proportion as they became friends of
The Bible they became enemies to hu-
nanity? Have you not, on the
contrary, noticed that all the institu-
ions Of mercy established or being es-
'ablished were chiefly supported by the
friends of this book? There is the hos
,ital in war time. There are 20 Chris
ian women. They are binding up
they are offering cordials;
hey are kneeling down by the dying
'raying for their. departed spirits. |
Where does the cruelty crop out? They |
AVE been reading the Bible all their |
ives. They read it every morning;
hey read it every night; they carry it
Inder their arm when they 20 into |
he hospital.
Where does the cruelty of the book
rop out? Is it in the gentleness of
heir step? Is it in the cadence Of
heir voice? Is it in the sympathetic
rayer they offer at the bedside Of the
ying? Your common sense tells YOU
hat cruel book must produce cruel
esults. When you can make rose
eaf stab like a bayonet, and when
on can manufacture icicles out of the
outh wind, and when you can poison
our tongue with honey got from
buckwheat, then you can
ct cruelty out of the Bible. That
barge Of the skeptics falls fat in the
resence of every honest man.
Again, infidels 60 on and most We
charge that this Bible is an
npure book. You all know that an
npure book produces impure results.
Q amount of money could hire YOU
} allow your child to read an un- ,
can book. Now, il this Bible be an
npure book, where are the victims?
our father read it-did it make him
bad man? Your mother read it-I
d it make her a bad woman? Your
ster Is years in Heaven died in the
ith Of this gospe1did it despoil her
ature? Some say there are 200, ,000,-
70 copies of the Bible in existence.
me say there are 4OO. 900 900 copies ]
the Bible. 1t is impossible to get
le accurate statistics, but suppose
lere are 2O0,oco,CO0 copies Of the !
ble abroad. this one book read more I
an any 20 books that the world ever i
inted, this book abroad for ages, for I
nturies-where are the victims?I {
low me 1000. Show me 500 victims
an impure book. Show me 100 de- 1
oiled Of the Bible. Show me so. ID
low me ten. Show me two. Show i
E one! Two hundred million copies :
an impure book and not one victim y
the impurity! On the contrary. h
u know very well that 1t is where Ii
{ Bible Las the most power that the a
mily institution is most respected.
Again, agnostics go on still further, a
d they say the Bible is q mass OF n
and they put prophet I
ainst prophet, evangelist against r
! UnlsSf an0c<1A >D~;us< >->-A,- -