The Bible was ever held by Dr. Talmage in extreme reverence, which grew with his continual study and meditation of the sacred pages.  He repudiated the “higher criticism” with a vehemence that caused him to be sharply assailed by modern critics—­pronounced infidels or of infidel proclivities—­who called him a “bibliolater.”  He asserted and reasserted his belief in its divine inspiration:  “The Bible is right in its authenticity, right in its style, right in its doctrine, and right in its effects.  There is less evidence that Shakespeare wrote ‘Hamlet,’ that Milton wrote ‘Paradise Lost,’ or that Tennyson wrote ’The Charge of the Light Brigade,’ than that the Bible is God’s Word, written under inspiration by evangelists and prophets.  It has stood the bombardment of ages, but with the result of more and more proof of its being a book divinely written and protected.”  “Science and Revelation are the bass and soprano of the same tune,” he said.  He defied the attempts of the loud-mouthed orators to destroy belief in the Bible.  “I compare such men as Ingersoll, in their attacks on the Bible, to a grasshopper upon a railway-line with the express coming thundering along.”

His living portraits of Jesus, the Saviour of men, his studies of that divine life, of the words, the actions of the Son of God, especially of His sufferings and death, merging into the glory of His resurrection and ascension, are all well known to those who were of his wide audience.  The sweetness, gentleness, and sympathy of the Saviour were favourite themes with him.  In a sermon on tears, he says:  “Jesus had enough trials to make him sympathetic with all sorrowful souls.  The shortest verse in the Bible tells the story:  ‘Jesus wept.’  The scar on the back of either hand, the scar in the arch of either foot, the row of scars along the line of the hair, will keep all Heaven thinking.  Oh, that Great Weeper is the One to silence all earthly trouble, to wipe all the stains of earthly grief.  Gentle!  Why, His step is softer than the step of the dew.  It will not be a tyrant bidding you hush your crying.  It will be a Father who will take you on His left arm, His face beaming into yours, while with the soft tips of the fingers of the right hand He shall wipe away all tears from your eyes.”  And here is a word of appeal to those gone astray:  “The great heart of Christ aches to have you come in; and Jesus this moment looks into your eyes and says:  ’Other sheep I have that are not of this fold.’”

Dr. Talmage was at times acutely sensitive to the thrusts of sharp criticism dealt to him through envy or misunderstanding of his motives.  A great writer has said somewhere:  “Accusations make wounds and leave scars”; but even the scars were soon worn off his outraged feelings by the remembrance of his divine Master’s gentleness and forgiveness.  How often have I seen the mandate, “Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you,” verified in Dr. Talmage.  He could not bear detraction or