The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1889-04-05
Biblical Tough Things.
9caetA Rssearch Ess Failed to ssbstautiste
Scientific Slurs on Religion. Common.
Sense Views ofth Creation and
the flood.

-ssOO..--s.'S
srnaclc this merning: after expounding
sorae passages of Scripture in regard to the
mysteries the Rev. 7 De Witt Talmage, D.
D., guve out the hymn beginning:
How firm foundation, We saints of the
Lord,
ts laid for your faith in his excellent Word.
Tlfe subject of his sermon was, "Tough
Things in the Bihle," and his text, II Peter,
ill.,, 16: I'm which nre some things hard to
be understood" DR.. Talmnge said:
The Bible is the most stcommon:sctise book
In NIL the world. hut therc arc many things
it which require explanation. It all do.
pends on tho mood iii which yoii come to
this grand old book. You may Il AXE hold of
the handle OF the sword or it's sharp edge.
You may employ OH it's mysteries the rule
OF multiplication or subtraction. There are
things, as my text suggests, hard to be
undcrstood, but shall solve s0me Of them,
hoping to leavc upon all hourstminded
people the impression thatif fotr or fve Of
them con be explained, perhaps they
may al be explained. :
Harl thing the first: The Bible says the
world was created in six days, while geo logy
says it was hundreds of thousands ofyenrs
n process of build ing "In the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth" "In
The beginning" There you can roll in TO-
600, 900 yenrs, ifyou want to. There is no
particular ,latc given-no contest between
science anil revelation. though tho world
mhy have lreh iii process of creation for
millions OF years suddenly and quickly, and
in one week, it may have been fitted up for
mans residence. Just as IL great mansion
may have been many years in building, and
yet in ono week it may be curtaincil and
chandclcrcd and cushioned aud upholstered
for IL bride and groom.
You nre not compelled to believe that the
world was made in our six days. 1t may
not nve been n day OF twcnty-four hours,
the dny spoken of in the first chapter; itmay
have been Gods day, and thousand yenrs
with him arc one day. "And tho evening
md the morning were in tho sixth day
Gods day. You and living in tho sevcnt h
day, the sabbath of the world. tho day of
Gospel re,icmptinn, the grai,,lest day OF all
the week, In which each day may lllve been
made up OF thousands Of years. Can you
tell me how n man can get Lis mind and
soul into such u blasplle nous twist as To
scosi at that first chapter of Genesis, its
verses pillows of light eurginw ,lp from sam
phirc sens of glory?
The Bible represents Tint light was crcatc,l
on Monday, and the sun wits not created un-
til Thursday. Just think oft! A hook de-
| claring hat light was created three DAYS be-
fore the sun shonc Why don't you know
that heat and electricity emit hrnt and light
independent of the sun: beside that, when
hR In
| was surrounded by thick vaGors and thetlis-
charge OF many volcanoes in the primary
period and all this Obscuration mny have
hindcrc'l the light oi the sun from t;.lng utl
the earth until TINT Thursday morning. BE-
side that, David brewster nnI llcrsrllel, tho
astronomer, and all the modern men oftlcir
class, agree in the fnct that the sun is not
light that it is an Opaque mnss, that It is
| only the randlrstick that holds the light, 1,
phosphorcscent atmosphere iOntng around
it, changing and changing, so it is not to he
ut all wondered mt that not until Thursday
morning its light fell on the earth Beside
that, the rocks In crystalization emit light
from Thousand surfaces. the nlkalcs, for
instance. The metallic hnscs emit light
! There w;ls II time in the history oi the world
when there were thousands of miles of liquid
granite flaming with light. BESIDES that, it
h',s been found TINT there are burnc,.out
volcanoes in other worlds. which, when they
east forth an insuferablc light, throwing
glare oil over our earth. Beside TINT, there
| are the aurora borcnis and the aurora
anchalis. A book on physical science snys:
Capt. Bon,,yrns.lr. coming up the Gulf
oi st. Lawrence on the 18th of September,
1926, was aroused by the mate of the vessel
in great alarm from an unusual appearance
1t was II starlight night. when suddenly the
| sky became overcast. In tile direction of
the high lnml of CORVALLIS County an in
stantnneons and intensely vivid light re-
| semblng the aurora, slot out on the lliher-
| to gloomy and dark sea on the lee bow
that was 80 brilliant it lighted everything
| distinctlycvcn to the masthead. The light
| spread over the whole SEA between the two
shores, and the waves. which before had
been tranquil, hcrune ngitnted. Capt.
Bonnycustle describes the scene ;,s that Of
blazing sheet of awful and most brilliant
light-n long and vivid line Of light that
showed the tnce of the high f,owning lind IL
breast. The sky became lowering and M ore
intensely obscure. Long tOrtuous lines of
light showed immense numbers %: nrge fish
| darting about hs ii in constcrnntion. The
| topsai yard and mizzcn boom we're lighted
| by the glare rs il glsiylts had been burned
directly below them. and until just before
| daybreak, ut 4 O'Clock. the most minute
objects were distinctly visible" Myhearers.
there are 10000 sources Of light besides the
light of the sun.
Another hard thing: The story of the
deuge and Noulls urk. They sny that from
the account here it must have rnined 300
feet Of water each day in order hat it might
be ) cu6its above the hills. They say the
| nrk could not have been large enough to
contain two of every sort, /" for there would
have been hundreds Of thousands of crent-
ures. They say that these ,reatures would
! have come from nll lnnds and nIl zones
They say there was only one small window
in the ark, and that would not have given
fresh air to keep the animals inside the ark
from suffocat,on. They say that the ark
finally landed on Il mountanl Z. 900 feet high.
They say they do not believe the story.
Bible. will tell you what the Bible story
is. must say that have changed my
mind in regard to some mai ters which once
were to me very mysterious. They are no
more mysterious. This is the key to the
fncts. This is the story of nm eyewitness.
Noah, his story Incorporated aitcrwnrd by
Moses in the account, Noah dcsrribcd the
scene just ns it appeared to him. flo saw
the flood and he la,llomed its depths. As
far us eye could reach everything was cover
ed up, from horizon to horizon, or, ns it
says, "undcr the whole heaven" He did
not re'er to the Sierra Nevadas. or to Mount
Washington, for America had not been
could not have seen so far on. He is giving
the testimony Of an eyewitness. God
speaks after the manner of men when lie
says everything went under, md Noah
speaks after the mnnncr Of lneE when he
says everything did go under. An eyewit-
ness. There il no need OF thinking til at the
kangaroo leape,i the ocean or that the polar
bear came down from the ice.
Why did the tleluge come? 1t came for the
purpose of destroying the outrageous in
habitants of I he then thinly populated earth.
nearly all the population, probably very
near the Ark before it was launched. What
would hive been the use OF submcrginy
North and South America. or Europe or
Africa, when they were not inhabited? And
as to the skeptical suggestion that in order
to have the water as deep ne the Bible vt ates,
it must have raincd 500 1ect every day. l re-
ply, the Bible distinctly declares that the
most of The flood rose instead of falling. BE.
fore the account where it says 1.-THE windows
OF heaven were opened" it says, "ali the
fountains of the great deep were broken up"
All seologists agree in saying that there are
they rushed forth, nni all the lakes and
rivers torsook their beds. The fountains Of
the great deep were broken up, and then the
windows of heaven were opened. 1t il II
strange thing TINT we should be asked to b..
licve in this food of the Bible when geo.
lOgists tell us that again and ngain and
again the dry earth has been drowned out!
just open your geology and you will read of
twenty floods. Isl not strunre that intidel
scientists wanting IFS o believe in the twenty
floods OF geological discovery. should
Us soon us We believe in one flood Of the Bi- |
ble pronounce us non cOmpOs mentis.
Well. then, another thing, in regard to the |
size of the ark. lnstead of lIeng II mud |