Making a New Translation;

And I suppose that I cannot tell whether I really believe the Testament or not until I see that new translation. (Applause and laughter.) You must remember also one other thing. Christ never wrote a solitary word of the New Testament,—not one word. There is an account that He once stooped and wrote something in the sand, but that has not been preserved. (Applause.) He never told anybody to write a word. He never said, Mattthew, remember this;" "Mark, don't forget to put that down" (laughter); "Luke, be sure that in your gospel you have this;" "John, don't forget it." (Laughter.) Not one word. And it has always seemed to me that a being coming from another world with a message of infinite importance to mankind should at least have verified that message by bis own signature. (Applause.) "Why was nothing written?" I will tell you. In my judgment, they expected the end of the world in a very few days. (Laughter.) That generation was not to pass away until the heavens should be rolled together as a scroll, and until the earth should melt with fervent heat. That was their belief. They believed that the world was to be destroyed,—that there was page 5 to be another coming, and that the saints were then to govern the world. And they even went so far among the Apostles, as we frequently do now before election, as to divide out the offices in advance. (Applause and laughter.) This Testament was not written for hundreds of years after the Apostles were dust. The facts lived in the open mouth of credulity. They were in the waste-baskets of forgetfulness. They depended upon the inaccuracy of legend. And for centuries these doctrines and stories were blown by the inconstant wind; and, finally, when reduced to writing, the same gentleman would write by the side of a passage his idea of it; and the next copyist would put that in as part of the text, and finally, when it was made, and the Church got into trouble and wanted a passage to help it out, one was interpolated to order. Bo that now it is among the easiest things in the world to pick out at least 100 such interpolations in the New Testament. And I will pick some of them out before I get through. (Laughter.) And let me say here once for all, that for the man Christ I have infinite respect. (Applause.) Let me say once for all that the place where man has died for man is holy ground. (Applause.) Let me say once for all: to that great and serene man I gladly pay—I gladly pay the tribute of my admiration and my tears.