Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-08-02

the tomb where the city is buried. They
find d street in that city miles long, wneTe
once flashed imperial pomp, and Wnlcl
echoed with the laughter OF llghJ-nearleu
mirth on its way TO the theatre. ON teu-
pies fashioned out OF cOlOred stones-some
ofwhicl have blushed into the crimson OF
the rose, and some Of which have paled
into the whiteness of the lily-aye, on
column, and pediment, and entaolature.
aud statuary, God writes the truth OF That
+ Bible.
The Bible says that SodOm and GOmor-
rah were destroyed 10y fire and brImstOne.
/ Absurd Intidels year after year said.
alt is positively absurd that they could
have been destroyed by birthstone. There
is nothing in the elements 10 cause such
| a shower Ofdeath as that" Lieut.. Lynch
/ think he was the first man who went
out on the discovery, but be has been fol-
/ lowed by many Others-I.ieut. Lynch went
out in exploration and came to the Dead
| sea, which, by CONFUSION Of nature,
has overhown the place where the cities
once stood. He sank his fathOming line
and brought up from the bottom OF the
Dead Sea great masses OF sulphur, rem
nants OF that very tempest That swept
| SodOm and GOmOrrah TO ruin. VINO was
right? The Bible that announced the de-
| structiOn of those cities or the skeptlcs
/ who for ages scOffed at 1t?
The Bible says there was a city called
Nineveh, and that 1t was three days jour
ney around it, and that it should be de-
strOyed by fire and water. Absurd"
cried out hundreds of voices for many
years; mo such city was ever built that
it would take three days journey TO 90
around. Besides, it could not be destroyed
by fire ana water; they are antagonistlc
elements. But Layard, BOtta and Keith
20 out, and by their explorations they find
That city of Nlneyeh, and they tell us that by
their own experimental is three days jour-
ney around, according to the old estimate
of days journey, aud that it was literally
destroyed by fire and waJer--twO antago-
nistic elements-a part Of the city having
| been inundated by the river TIgris, the
brick material in those days being dried
clay instead OF burned, while in other
parts they ind the remains of the fire in
heaps of charcoal that have been eXca-
waited, and in the calcined slabs of gyp-
sum. Who was right, the Bible or inf
dehtyf
Moses intimated that they had vine
yards in Egypt. Absurd" cried hum
dreds of voices; you can't raise grapes
IN Egypt; or, If you can, it is very great
exception that you can raise them" But
the traveller goes down, and in the under
ground vaults OF Eilithya he finds painted
on ths wall all the process of tending the
L
all there, famlliafly sketcned by people
who evidently knew all about it, and saw
it all about them every day; and in those
! underground vaults there are vases still
encrusted with the settings OF the wine.
You see the vine did grow in Egypt,
whether it grows there now or not.
Thus you see that while God wrote the
Bible, at the same time He wrote this
commentary, that "the statutes of the
ord pr1 rio m, To- ,T Oh 4
shell, bound in clasps of metal, and lying
on mountain tables and in the jeweled
vase of the sea. In authenticity and in
genuineness the statutes Of the Lord are
right.
,. Again: The Bible is right in style. |
know there are great many people who
think it is merely a collection of gene
illogical tables and dry facts. That is
because they do not know how to read the
book. You take up the most interesting
novel that was ever written, and If you
commence at the four lundredth page to-
day, and tomorrow at the three hun
dredth, and the next day at the first page,
how much sense or interest would you
| get from it! Yet that is the very process
! to which the Bible is subjected every dav.
! An angel from heaven reading the Bible
in that way could not understand it. The
! Bible, like all other palaces, has door
| by which to enter and "a door by which TO
| go out. Genesis is the door to 90 in and
! Revelation the door to go out.
These epistles of Paul the APOSTLE are
merely letters written, folded up and
! sent by postmen to the different churches
/ DO you read other letters the way you
read PauPs lettersg Suppose you get a
business letter, and you know that in it
there are important financial PROPOSE
tons, do you read the last page first and
. has, linz Of h.
other of the second, and another Of the
first? No. You begin with "Dear Sir"
and end with yours truly" Now, here
! is letter written from the throne OF God
to our lost world; it is full Of magnificent
hopes and propositions, and we dip in
mere and there, and we know nothing
about it. Besides that, people read the
| Bible when they cannot do anything else.
| 1t is a dark day, and they do not feel
well, and they do not go to business, and
after lounging about a bit they pick up
the Bible-their mind refuses to enjoy the
! truth. Or they come home weary from
| the store or shop, and they feel, If they dc
not say, it is a dull book. While the
Bible Is to be read on stormy days end
while your hsad aches il is also to be read
in the sunshine and when your nerves
like harp strings thrum the song OF
| health. While your vision is clear, walk
in this paradise of truth, and while your
mental appetite is good pluck these clus-
tiers of grace.
am fascinated with the conciseness OF
this book. Every word is packed full of
truth. Every sentence is double bar.
relied. Every paragraph is like an old
| banyan tree with hundred roots and a
hundred branches. 1t is a great arch
pull out one stone and it all comes down,
There has never been pearl diver who
could gather up One-half of the treasures
in any verse. John Halse5ach, of Vienna,
for twenty-one years every Sabbath ex.
pounded to his congregation the frs
chapter of the book of Isaiah, and vet di d
not get through with 1T. Nine-tenths ofalI
the good literature of this age Is merely
the b bic diluted.
Goethe, the admired of all skeptics had
the wall OF his house at Weimar covered
with religious maps aud pictures. Mil.
toms paradise LOST is part OF the Bible
in blank verse. Tasso's Jerusalem De.
| livered" is borrowed from the Bible.
Sponsors writings are limitations Of the
parallels. John Bunyan saw IN n dream
only what Saint John mad seen be.
fore in Apocalyptic vision. Ma.
caulay crowns his most gigantic
sentences with Scripture quotations.
Through Addison's spectator there
glances in and out the stream that broke
from the throne Of God clear as crystal.
Walter Scott's best characters are Bible
men and women under different names,
as Meg Merrilies, the witch Of Endor.