Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1878-03-28

CONDUCTED By
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
lOriginal.]
CREATION.

FIRST book in the Bible, has greatly perplexed
the wise men of this world. The Bible is
claimed to be the word of CODA revelation
from heavenly all the best people in the
world. Whilst it is not claimed that the
Jews were perfect people, it will be admit
ted by every candid historian that, in NOR
al and political point of view, they were far
superior to all other nations of their time.
The Bible was professedly the law book Of
the ancient Jews, and the Jews we're what the
Bible made them. What the Bible was to
the ancient Jew, it is, and always has been,
to Christians. Every honest mind will ad.
NIT that, in social and religious point of
view, Christians, as a mass, are far superior
to pagans and in6dels. The ancient Jews re-
ceived the Old Testament as the word of the
living God. Christians received both the
Old Testament and the New Testament, as
the word of God
Multitudes of wise men claim that the
book of Genesis and the records of creation,
as found in the works Of God, disagree. Now,
it is most manifest that Gods word and Gods
works must agree. 1t is impossible for God
to say one thing and do another. The theo-
ries which worldly-wise men have promulga.
ted concerning creation, are almost as numer-
GUS as the men who have investigated the sub
iect; and like the witnesses who testified
against Jesus Christ, they "agree not togeth-
err" The truth is, all that these men know,
with certainty, about creation, they have
learned, either directly or indirectly, from the
Bible Lay the Bible aside, and it is doubt
full whether the human mind could make the
discovery that there ever was a creation.
There is nothing in the works of God around
US which, of itself, positively declares that
there was a period when nothing existed.
Lay the Bible aside, and the works of crea-
ton and providence are about as incompre-
hensible as the word eternity.
In the Scriptures, We are told that through
faith we understand that the worlds we're
framed by the word of God" This short SEN
tence explains the whole matter. By faith
and not by sense, we can understand how it
was that God made all things out of nothing
by the word of his power. What, we may
ask, can the most gigantic intellect, unasssted
by the Bible, discover concerning the origin
of matter? What power has any unassistsd
mind to make the discovery that there is an
immortal soul in his mortal body2 Who can
put his finger upon any particular spot on
his body and say, knowingly, "this spot is the
dwelling place Of my soul?' Not one. The
Bible tells US that we have a soul and that it
is immortal; but it does not tell US in what
particular spot in the body the soul is located,
and here our Investigations on the subject
end abruptly. The works of God confirm
the teachings of the Bible on this subject,
but throws no new light on it. However
dark and obscure may be many passages Of
the Scriptures, the revelation which God
makes of himself in creation and providence
is far more so.
Who can explain, to bis own satisfaction,
upon the principles of human philosophy, one
of the many thousand events which are, by
the overruling providence of God, transpiring? ?
Why is the mother snstched away, by the fell
destroyer, from her tender babes or why is
the babe torn away from the fond embrace Of
its mother? Why are so many buds blghted
ere they bloo4? The Bible throws some
light upon these providences of God, but he
who attempts to unveil them by the aid of
human wisdom alone, will find himself hope
lessly bewildered.
When we fix our thoughts upon matter,
we find ourselves startled and perplexed.
When we direct our attention to the essence
of NATTER or when we ask ourselves the
question, "What is matter?' we Immediately
find ourselves bewildered. We are utterly
unable to think, and, consequently, if we are
wise, We are silent. Passing by the essence
of matter as problem beyond the skill of a
finite mind, we find ourselves startled when
we direct our thoughts 10 the magnitude of
matter. The facts of astronomy are emf.
nently calculated to make US feel our insig-
ni6cant littleness. This earth on which we
live, is but speck Still, its magnitude is so
great as to be incomprehensble.
Archimedes is said to have boasted that if
he could find place on which to place full
crum, he could, with lever of sufficient
length, capsze the earth. What an immense
undertaking! Think of single man boast
ing that he could, by mechanical pow
er, move 6,O69, 1000, 100000 O,OOO,OOO,O tons
weight. Few persons have any just concep-
ton of what this string of figures indicates.
Suppose each ton of the earth's weight to be
represented by cube of gold, and that ten
hundred millions of people-all the inhabit-
ants of the world-were set to counting these
pieces of gold; each individual counting one
each second of time without cessation, night
and day, it would require two hundred years
to complete the task. Six generations of men
would pass away before the work was done. 1t
is only by faith that we can understand how
such an immense mass of matter was brought
into existence or how it is kept in being.
This earth revolves on its own axis once
in twenty-four hours This revolution causes
night and day. At the equator, where the
diurnal motion of the earth is greatest,
its velocity is more than one thousand miles
each hour. What is this compared with the
velocity of the earth in its annual revolution
round the sum- In one year-from January
to January-the earth moves round the sun
in an elliptical path six hundred millions of
miles, or at the rate of more than twelve hun
dred miles each minute Only by faith can