The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-04-06

son Of the rose, and some Of which have
darkened into the blue Of the sky,
and some Of which have paled into
the wilderness Of the lily-ay, on
column, and pediment, and entablature,
and statuary, God writes the truth
Of that Bible. The Bible says that Sodom
and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and
birthstone. absurd" Infidels, year after
year, said: SIT is positively absurd that
they could have been destroyed by brim-
stone. There Is nothing In the elements
to cause such shower Of death as that. "
Lieutenant lynch think he was the
first man who went out ON the discovery,
but he has been followed by many others
Lieutenant Lynch went out in explOra-
ton, and came to the Dead sea, which, by
CONFUSION Of nature, has OverfOwn 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, remnants of that very
tempest that swept SodOm and GOmorrah
to ruin. Who was right-the Bible that
announced the destruction of those cities,
or the skeptics who for ages scOffed at it:
The Bible says there was city called
Nineveh, and that it 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; "nO such a city was ever built that
it would take you three days journey to
go around. Besides, it could not be de-
stroyed by fire and water; they are an
tagOnistic elements" But Layard, Botta,
BonOmi and Keith go out, and by their ex-
plOrations they find that city of Nineveh,
nj hot h1-fn ct
ment it is three days. journey around (ac-
cording to the old estimate of a days
Journey, and that it was literally de-
stlOyed by fire and water-twO antagonis-
tic elements-a part of the city having
been inundated by the River Tigris 1.-THE
brick material in those times being dried
clay instead Of burned: while in other
parts they find the remains of the fire in
heaps of charcoal that have been excavat-
ed, and in the calcined slabs Of gypsum.
Who was right, the Bible or infidelity:
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 Ellithya he finds painted
on the wall all the process of tending the
vines and treading out the grapes. 1t is
all there Familiarity sketched 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
incrusted with the settings of the wine.
You see the vine did grow in Egypt,
whether it grows there now or not.
Thus you see, while God wrote the Bible,
at the same time he wrote this COM
mentary, that ''The statutes Of the Lord
are right" on leaves Of rock and shell,
bound in clasps Of metal, and lying on
mountain tables, and in the jeweled vase
Of the sea. In authenticity and in genu-
ineness the statutes Of the Lord are right.
Again: The Bible is right in style. 1
know there are great many people who
think it is merely a collection of genoa
logical tables and dry facts. That is be-
cause they do not know how to read the
book. You take up the most interesting
novel that was evey written, and If you
commence ut the FOUR hundreth page to-
day, and tO-mOrl Ow at the three hundreth,
and the next day at the first page, how
much sense OF interest would you gather
from it? Yet that is the very process to
which the Bible is subjected every day.
An angel from Heaven, reading the Bible
that way, could not understand it. The
Bible, like all other palaces, has a door by
which to enter and door by which to go
out. Genesis is the door to go in and Reve-
lation the door to 60 out. These epistles
of Paul the apostle are merely letters writ
ten, folded up and sent by postmen to the
different churches. Do you read other
letters the way you read Paul's letters?
Suppose you get q business letter, and you
know that in it there are important finan-
cial propositions, do you read the last
page first, and then one line of
the third page, and another Of the
second and another of the first! No. You be-
gin with ''Dear sir" end end with "YOurs
truly" Now here is q letter written from
the throne Of God to our lost world; it is
full Of magnificent hopes and PROPOSE
tons, and we dip in here and there and
we know nothing about it. Besides that,
people read the Bible when they can not
do any thing else. 1t is a dark day, ard
they do not feel we'll, and they do not go
to business, and after lOunging about
awhile 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 do not say, it is dull
book. While the Bible is to be read on
stormy days, and while your head aches,
it 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 clusters Of grace.
am fascinated with the cOnciseness Of
hfo sC bal ,,1l 80
truth. Every sentence is double barreled.
Every paragraph is like an old banyan
tree, with hundred roots and hundred
branches. 1t is 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 Halseback, Of Vienna, for twenty
one years, every Sabbath expounded to
his congregation the first chapter Of the
book Of Isaiah, and yet did not get through
with it. Nine-tenths Of all the good liter
ature Of this age is merely the Bible di-
luted.
This book is the hive Of all sweetness.
It is the armory Of all well-tempered
weapons; it is the tower containing the
crown jewels of the universe; it is the
lamp that kindles all other lights; it is the
home of all majesties and splendOrs; it is
the marriage-riug that unites the celestial
and the terrestrial, while all the clustering
white -robed denizens Of the sky lowering
around rejoice at the nuptials. This
bOok-it is the wreath into which are
twisted all garlands; it is the song into
which are struck all harmonies; it is the
river into which are poured all the great
tides of halleluiah; t is the armament
in which suns, and moons, and stars, and
consultations, and galaxies, and immense
ties, and universes, and externities,
wheel, and blaze, and triumph. Where is
the young mans soul, with any music in
it, thaAis not stirred with Jacobs lament,
or Nahrm,S dirpe Or HahaSEuk,s difhy.