The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1900-07-04

IS cplT the pedals OF a great organ, Of
which the heavens are the keyboard.
Now. might, as in6dels have failed
70 nrove that the Bible is cruel book,
that the Bible is an Impure book, that
the Bible is contradictory book, that
the Bible is an unscienti6c book
might move nonsuit in this case of In
fidelity, the plaintiff, against Chris
tianity, the defendant, but | will not
take advantage of the circumstances,
for when the skeptic goes on to say
that we are gullible people, when he
goes on to say, as he often does, that
the greater the improbability the more
We like to believe it when he goes on
to say that the Bible is made up Of a
lot of manuscripts, one picked up mere
and another there and another from
some other place and that the whole
thing is an imposition on the creduhty
of fRe human race, l must reply to
The Bible is made up of the Old Tes-
lament and the New Testament. Let
US take the New Testament first. Why
! do believe it? Why do | 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 Origin 10 the second century
and other writer's in the third and
fourth centuries gave a list of the New
Testament writer's just exactly CORES,
ponding with our list, showing that the
same New Testament which We have
they had in the fourth century and the
third century and the second century
and first century. But where did they
get New Testament? They got it from
IreDous Where did IreDaus get it?
He got it from Polycarp. Where did
Polycarp get it? He got it from St.
John, who was the personal associate
of the Lord Jesus Christ My grand
father gave book to my father, my
father gave it to me, | give it to my
child. Is there any difficulty in ira,
cing 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
difficulty at all. This one will say, Il
gave it to that one, )" and this one will
say. "l gave it to that one. But 1t
will not be so long line as this to
trace the New Testament. 1t is easier
to set at the fact. But you say Al
though this was handed right down in
that way, who knows but they were ly-
ing imposters? How can you take their
testimony?" They died for the truth
of that book. Men never die for lie
cheerfully and triumphantly. They
were not lying inposters. They died
in triumph for the truth of that New
Testament.
"Well," says some one, "now | am
ready to believe that the New Testa-
ment is from the heaIt of Christ, but
how about the Old Testament? Why
do you believe that?' l believe the
Old Testament because the prophesies
foretold events hundreds and thousands
of years ahead-events which after
ward took place. How far can you see
ahead? Two thousand years? Can
you see ahead hundred yeers? Can
you see ahead Eve minutes? No, no!
Human prophecy amounts to nothing.
Here these old prophets stood thou
sands 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-f 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 certaiR fami-
ly, and it will be amid certain sur
rouudings." 1t would make no impress
sion upon you because you know l car
not forsee thousand years or one year
or one minute, 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 and splendor when these prophe-
cies, these old prcphesies, said they
would be destroyed. Those cities had
architecture that make the houses Of
modern cities perfectly Insignificant.
Yet these old prophets walked right
through those magnificent streets and
said: "TLis has all got to come down.
This is all going to be leveled.
Suppose a man should stand up in
these cities today and say, There
will be harvests of wheat and corn
where these cities now stand, and these
streets will be pasture for cattle"
Such man would be sent to the in
sane asylum. Yet the old prophets
did that very thing. Where is Baby
lon today? You go and walk over the
ruins of Babylon and you will not 6nd
a leaf or grass blade of those splendid
hanging gardens, and in the summer
time the ground actually blisters the
feet Of the traveller. Babylon destroyed
according to the prophecy.
Where is Tyre? In the day of its
pomp the prophet said, ''The fisher
men will dry their nets where this city
stands" If you should 80 to that
place today, you would find that literal
ally. The fishermen are drying their
nets on the rocks where the city of
Tyre once stood. Tartar and Turk and
Saracen drying their nets on the rocks.
Go up Chatham street, New York,
and find the fulillment Of a prophecy
made thousands of years ago. Why is
it the Israelite is always distinguish
able, whether you see him in New York
or Peking or Vienna or Stockholm or
London or Paris? The Englishman
goes to America and after awile he loses
his nationality. The American goes