The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-04-03

begging for entrance. And when that
great storm came on, that darkening and
tremendous tempest, the most terrific
storm the world ever saw, was it not nat
ural for the animal creation to 60 to the
only shelter-for there were few shelters
then for dumb beasts-to start right
away2 have owned horses and dogs and
cattle and sheep and never had dog or
a goat or sheep that did not know
enough to come in when it rained. And
as to the ark landing on Mount Ararat,
1900 feet high, that's geographicalignOr-
ance. Ararat is the name of whole
range OF hills, some of them fifty feet high,
some 100 feet high, some 1000 feet high,
and the ark, that famous vessel, came
down upon one of those hilltops. Another
hard thing to be understood: The story
that the sun and the moon stood still in
order to allow Joshua to finish his battles.
Did you see the Corliss engine at the
Philadelphia centennial? Could the ma
chinist start it? Could he not stop it
What poor machinist that would be, who
could make an engine start and could not
stop 1t, and could not take il all apart and
start it again. Is machine mightier than
than the man who made the machine
or wiser? Is the universe mightier than
the God who made 1t? If He could make
all worlds, could He not have stopped two
OF them? If 1 can lift fifty pounds can 1
not lift an ounce? ooh" they say, sit is
such an absurd story-the sun and the
moon standing still in the daytime What
is the moon doing out in the daytime?"
Why, my friends, you have not been
very close observer of the heavens If
you have not seen the moon a hun
dred times in the daytime. Beside
that, the earth has two motions-a motion
on Its own axis and it has motion around
the sun. 1t Is not necessary that the
earth stop its motion around the sun. 1t
just had to stop on its own axis to make
the miracle speak Of The bible vernac-
ular and Gods vernacular in this case is
only human vernacular. We say sunset.
The sun never sets. The earth only has
to stop the motion on its own axis. Be
side that, the world need not have stopped
a second when by miraculous power
there could have been a prolonged con-
tinuance OF the refraction Of the suns
rays. God in the bible always speaking
in the language OF men. Why in our
time worlds have been made. A few
years ago an astronomer telegraphed from
Washington through the Associated Press
saying he had found new world. No
one doubted ii. And within two centuries
there have been thirteen worlds destroyed
that we are positive about. Astronomers
saw them. They looked just like other
worlds. Then, after a while, astronomers
looked at them, and they were red-in
other words, afire. After a while they
looked, and they were ashen-in other
words, they had gone to ashes. After a
while these bodies had disappeared-t
ashes had been scattered. Now, say, if
God can make world, and destroy thir-
teen of them without accident or collision
to the astronomical heavens and the uni
verse, | think He could stop two. But
SAYS some one: cit is so belittling to think
that other worlds should have been
stopped until Joshua should get through
his battles" Then, you do not know
what a battle it was. What Yorktown
was in the revolution, what Gettys-
burg was in our civil strife, what
Sedan was in the Franco-German war,
what Waterloo was in the NapOleonic
destiny-that was this battle of Joshua.
1t was more than that. If England and
the United States and France and Ger
many and Italy and Russia should now
all 60 into one great war, battling for vic
tory or humiliation, 1t would not at our
age of the world be a more tremendous
battle than that battle which Joshua
IL.
Another hard thing to be understood: The
story of the whale swallowing Jonah and
emitting him at the end of three DAYS. In
the first place, the book of Jonah says
nothing about a whale. 1t says: "The
Lord prepared great fish" know in
one place in the new testament, referring
TO that story, it calls the sea monster a
whale, but you can translate that word
sea monster Just as well and little better.
1t was one of those great sea monsters
that took care of the prophet, and
the gastric juices had no power over him,
because, l warrant you, he kept stirring
around, and the monster was sick enough
at the third day to regurgitate Jonah. |
warrant You that sea monster was as tired
of Jonah as Jonah was of the sea monster.
IL ship carpenter prepares a ship to
carry 500 passengers to Liverpool, l think
the ship can carry 500 passengers to Liver
pool. And if it could, l think the Lord
could prepare fish that could carry one
passenger. Another hard thing in the
bible for some people to understand: So
many of the prominent men of the bible
were polygamists, and the bible seems
to permit polygamy. Let us look
at this matter. How many wives
did God make for Adam? One l suppose.
He started the institution Of marriage as
He wanted to 90 on. How many wives
did God keep for Noah when the race was
the second time started after the deluge?
Noah One wife. Ham one wife. Shem
one wife. Japheth one wife. But, says
some one, "Did not God permit polyg-
amy?" Yes, but never sanctioned it.
There is an infinite difference between
permitting a thing and sanctioning a
thing. The presidents of the United
States for the last thirty years have per-
mitted polygamy in Utah. None of them
sanctioned it. In the world are theft and
arson and murder and crime of all sorts.
God permits them, never sanctions them.
Mark the difference and never confound
the two again.