The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-08-03
A BIBLE ILLUSTRATION.

A BIBLE ILLUSTRATION.
He causeth the vapors to ascend from the
ends of the earth.-Psdlm crrrr.7.
The Bible, it is often said, is not
scientific work. 1t was no part of its
design to give scientific information,
and it makes no claim to precise accu-
racy of statement in regard to scientific
facts. But when it refers to natural
phenomena it uses simply the language
of appearances. to which in all ages the
people have been accustomed, and
which alone the people everywhere I'M
derstand. 1t is, therefore, supreme
folly, either on the one hand, to quote
it as authority on scientific questions,
or, on the other hand. to condemn it as
a religious teacher and guide, because,
when touching on facts of science, it,
does not use terms of such exact truth
as would have been unintelli9ible to its
readers, and obstructive of its religious
aims.
This is very true and very important
to be remembered by both the friends
and the foes of the Bible.
And yet there are occasional illusions
in Scripture to Gods doings in the ma
terial universe which seem to Justify
the belief that the writers had q much
deeper insight even into scientific truth
than any of their contemporaries. The
passage at the head of this article is one
of these. The Psalmist is speaking of
the greatness and power of jehovah:
1.-The Lord is great and our Lord is
above all gods. Whatsoever the Lord
pleased that did He in Heaven and in
earth, in the seas, and all deep places"
Then descending from these general
statements to specific illustrations of
Jehovah's power. the very first one he
mentions is this: "He causeth the va
pors to ascend from the ends of the
earth.
a strangely insignificant fact to be adj
duced for such purpose. Ancient sol
ence would never have thought of pre-
senting the simple fact of evaporation
as one of the grandest illustrations of
Jehovah's might. Even at the present
day the great majority of Bible readers
fail to see the pertinency and force of
the Psalmist's allusion. 1t is only when
the modern meteorologist tells us of the
facts which he has discovered; only
when this sacred gem is brought out
from the darkness of the past into the
sunlight of modern research, that we
perceive its radiance or appreciate its
value.
Who that has ever stood in the pres
-ence of Niagara and considered the
enormous mass of water that plungeS
day and night, without cessation, into
the abyss below-who has not almost
wondered that the supply does not fail,
that the cataract has not long since eX-
hausted all the rivers and lakes that
sustain it? And vet modern science as
sures us that, simply from the Mediter-
ranean Sea, there evaporateS in one hour
a greater volume of water than pours
over Niagara in twenty-four. DIR. Hal
ley, the celebrated astronomer and
physicist, estimated the amount at
more that twenty millions of tons. or
five thousand millions of gallons. This
would make nearly million and half
of gallons every second. But the Med
iterranean Sea covers but small part
of the earth's surface, less than a mill
ion square miles. The waters of the
globe are hundred and fifty times as
large. The vapor then that ascends
from al the ends of the earth, every sec
ond, amounts to more than two hum
dred millions of gallons. Or, to put it
in another form. there is lifted from the
earth TO the clouds every day hum
dred and sixty-four cubic miles of water;
or nearly seven cubic miles every hour.
The power that is necessary to pro-
-duce such astounding results is utterly
incomprehensible by us. Mr.. Joule, of
Manchester. England, whose researches
have given to the world such invaluable
knowledge, says that to evaporate by
artificial heat square mile of water six
inches in depth would require the COM
bustion of thirty thousand tons of coal.
And TO evaporate all the water that
ascends from the earth would demand
more coal than could be slowed away
in half dozen such worlds as this"
And Arago, the great French astrono-
mer, computed that it would require
the constant labor of the whole human
race for period of two thousand cent
uri,s, to do tie work that the sun does
every year, in ''causing the yapors to
ascend from the ends of the earth"
And when we notice not merely the
immensiiy of the work that is thus
done. but also the ease with which it is
accomplished, the impression of Je-
hovah's power is greatly augmented.
There is no noise whatever, not the
slightest appearance of difficulty, moth
inc that looks like the least exertion of
power But the whole stupendous
work is carried on as easily and quietly
as the coming of the sunbeams.
These cubic miles of water are lifted
every hour from the earth's surface as
noiselessly and gently as the curling
smoke floats upward on the morning
air.
Surely "the Lord is great, and our
Lord is above all other gods" And it
is indeed a most impressive and sub
lime illustration of His might that " He
.causeth the yapors to ascend from the
ends of the earth. ~ Chicago Adrdnce.
Sam NV Brothers. Keeper!0