The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1889-03-30
SKEPTICS ANSWERED.
DR.. Talmage on Things That Are
Hard to Understand.
The Creation of the World Consistent with
the Theory of ScIence-Other Marvel
GUS Things Spoken of in the Bible
Fully Explained.

AuiJ EApNdiheus
In a late sermon at Brooklyn Rev. t.
De witt Talmage discoursed on "Tough
Things in the Bible" and his text was
from . Peter iii. 16: TN which are some
things hard to bs understood" DIR. Tall
mage said:
h Bible is tho most common sense
book in all the world. But there are many
things in It which require explanation. 1t
all depends on the mood in which you
come to this grand old book. You may
take hold of the handle of the sword or its
sharp edge. You may employ on its mys-
ferries tho rule of multiplication or sub
traction. There are things, as my text
suggests. hard to be understood, but L
shall solve some of them, hoping to leave
upon all honest-minded people the inn
preston that if four or five of them can be
explained, perhaps they may all be ex-
planned.
Hard thing the first: The Bible says
the world was created in six days, while
geology says il was hundreds of thousands
of years in process of building. sin the
beginning, God created the heaven and
the EARTH" 'Iu the beginning" There
you can roll in 5000, 900 years if you want
- ~ BNA law blNOh IN
contest between science and revelation.
Though the world may have been in pro-
cess of creation for millions of years, sud-
denly and quickly, and in one week, it
may have been fitted up for mans resi-
dence. Just as n great mansion may have
been many years in building, and yet in
one week il may be curtained and chan
deferred and cushioned and upholstered
for n bride md groom.
You are not compelled to believe that
the world was made in our six days. 1t
may not nave been a day of twenty -four.
hours, the day spoken of in the first chap
ter; it may a been Gods day, and a
thousand years with Him are as one day.
And the evening and the morning were
tho first day''-God's day. stAnd the
evening and tho morning were the second
dny"-God's day. "And the evening and
the morning were the sixth day"-God's
day. You and 1 living in the seventh
day, tho Sabbath OF the world, the day of
gospel redemption, tho grandest day of
all the week, in which each day may have
been made up of thousands of years, Can
you toll mo how n nan can get his mind
and soul into such a ~blasphemous twist as
to scoff ut that first chapter of Genesis, its
verses pillows of light surging up from
sapphire seas OF glory?
Tho Bible represents that light was
created on Monday, and the sun was not
created until Thursday. just think of it'll
u book declaring that light was created
three days before the sun shonei Why.
don't you know that heat and electricity
emit light Independent of the sun? Besides
that, when the earth was In process of
condensation, it was surrounded by thick
vapors and tho discharge of many vol
canoes in the primary period, and all this
observation may have hindered the light
Of the sun from falling on the earth until
that Thursday morning. Besides that,
David Brewster and Herschel, the astron-
omer, and all the modern men of their class,
agree in the fact that tho sun is not light;
thatitis an Opaque mass; that it is only the
candlestick that holds the light, q phos-
phorescent atmosphere floating around it,
changing and changing, SO it is not to be
at all wondered at that not until that
Thursday morning its light fell on the
earth. Beside that the rocks in crystalli-
cation emit light. There is light from q
thousand surfaces, the nlkalies, for in
stance. The metallic bases emit light.
There was a time in the history of the
world when there were thousands of
miles Of liquid granite flaming with light.
Beside that it has been found that there
are burned out volcanoes in other worlds
which, when they were in explosion and
activity, must have cast forth an insufRer-
able light, throwing q glare all over our
earth. Beside that there are the aurora
borealis and the aurora anchalis. ::
. y . o , . y y
Another hard thing: The story of the
deluge and Noah's ark. They say that
from the account there it must nave rained
800 feet Of water each day in order that ii
might be fifteen cubits above the hills.
They say that the ark could not have been
large enough to contain ''two of every
Sort" for there would nave been hundreds
of thousands and hundreds of thousands OF
creatures. They say that these creatures
would havo come from all lands and all
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 suffocation.
They say that the ark was finally
landed on a mountain II, 200 feet high.
They say they do not believe the
story. Neither do L There is no such
story In the Bible. 1 will tell you what the
Bible story is. 1 must say that 1 have
changed my mind in regard to some mat
ters which once were to me very myste-
rious. They are no more mysterious.
This is the key to the facts. This is the
story of an eyewitness, Noah, his story
Incorporated afterward by Moses in the
account. Noah described the scene Just as
it appeared to him. He saw the flood and
he fathomed its depth. As far as eye could
reach every thing was covered up, from
horizon TO horizon, or, as it says, ''under
the whole heaven" He did not refer to
the Sierra Nevadas, or to Mount Washing
ton, for America had not been discovered,
-. 20 q. baI haaD dfunn-araI ba could not
see MS far Off. He is giving the testimony
OF an eyewitness. God speaks after the
manner OF men when he says every thing
went under, and Noah speaks after the
manner of men when he says every thing
did go under. An eyewitness. There is
no need Of thinking that the kangaroo
leapod tho ocean or that the polar bear
cnme down from the ice. Why did the
deluge come? 1t came for the purpose of
destroying tho outrageous inhabitants OF
the then thinly populated earth, nearly NIL
tho population, probably very near the
ark before it was launched. What would
have been tho use of su~bmerging North
and South America, or Europe, or Africa,
when they were not inhabited?
And as to tho skeptical suggestion that
In order to ave the water as deep as the
Bible states, il must have rained 800 feet
evory day, l reply, tho Bible distinctly
declares that the most OF the flood rose
Instead OF fallinQa Before the account
Nhof8 Is says sth8 windows of heaven
v6<o opfn&5 ;f3{tdes, fall the fountains
~df- fG9 T76nf deep were broken up" All
ee6i3e|6lk agree IN saying that there are
cauorns Ia tho earth filled with water, and
they rushed forth, and all the lakes and
rivers forsook their bed. The fountains
Of the great deep were broken up, anG
tenthe windows of heaven were opened
Well, then, another thing, In regard I
the size of the ark. Instead Of being a mut
scOw, as some of these ~skeptics would hav
us understand, it was q magnificent ship
nearly as large as the GrentE Eastern, tire
times tho size Of an ordinary man-of-waI
At the time in the world when s~hipbuild
Ing was unknown, God had this vesse
constructed, which turned QUITO be almos
in the snane proportions ms our staunches
modern vessels. Aft~er,thousands of year
Of experimenting in naval architectur
and in ship carpentry, we have at last go
up to Noah's arke THAT ship leading all tn
fleets. Of the world onall the oceans.
' 80 o q y o
'But how could you get them into tn
nrk?n ask infdel scientists. "How coul
they be induced to go into the ark Ii
would have to pick them out and drly
them in, aud coax them in" Could nc
the same God who gave instinct to the an
imal inspire that instinct TO seek for shel
ter from the storm? However, nothin
mora thar ordinary animal instinct wa
necessary. Have you never been in tn
country when an August thunderstorI
was coming up aud heard the cattle moa
at the bars to get in? and seen the al
frinhtN1 fowl Crp unnn tho nRrCn Mt noon