Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-04-06

ohAbA ~ VOC ~ ASco WLCb lax uGiSu bolr
aroused him in great alarm. All the
heavenly bodies seemed to be in motion.
People thought our earth was coming to
its destruction. Tens of thousands of
stars shooting. No astronomers have
ever been able to explain that star shoot.
ing. Now, does not your common sense
tens of thousands of worlds or meteors.
He could start and stop two worlds? If
God can engineer q train of 10. 900 worlds
or meteors, and stop them without acct.
dent or collision, cannot He control two
carriages Of light, and by putting down a
golden brake stop the sum-, and by putting
down a silver brake stop the moon? I'm
der this explanation. instead of being
skeptical about this sublime passage of
the Bible. you will, when you read it,
feel more like going down on your knees
before God as you read: Sun, stand
thou still above Gideon, and thou moon
in the valley of Ajalon."
Then there is the Bible statement that
a whale swallowed Jonah and elected
him upon the dry ground in three days.
If you will go TO the museum at Nan
tucket, Mass, you will find the skeleton
of a whale large enough to swallow a
man. said TO the %janitor, while | was
standing in the museum, "Why, il does
not seem from the looks Of this skeleton
that the story in the Book Of Jonah Is SO
very improbable, does it?" ooh, no."
he replied, lit does not" There is q
cavity in the mouth Of the common whale
large enough for q man TO live in. There
have been sharks found again aud again
with an entire human body in them. Be
side that, the Bible says nothing about q
whale. 1t says, The Lord prepared q
great fish, and there are scientists who
tell us that there were sea monsters in
other days that make the modern whale
seem very insignificant. ! know in one
place in the New Testament it speaks of
the whale as appearing in the occurrence
[ have just mentioned, but the word mag
Just as well be translated sea
monster - any kind of a sea
monster. Procopius says, in the
year532, a sea monster was slain which
had for fifty years destroyed ships. |
su this sea monster that took care
of Jonah may have been one Of the great
sea monsters that could have easily taken
down a prophet, and he could have lived
there three days if he had kept IN motion
SO as 10 keep the gastric juices from TAX.
ing hold Of him and destroying him, and
at the end Of three days the monster
would naturally be sick enough to regur
gitate Jonah. Beside that, my friends,
there 10 one word which explains the
whole thing. 1t says, "The Lord pre-.
pared a great fish" If a ship carpenter
prepare a vessel TO carry Texan beeves to
Glasgow, / suppose it can carry Texan
becvcs; if a ship carpenter prepare a yes.
sci TO carry coal to one OF the northern
ports, ! suppose it can carry coal; If a
ship carpenter prepare q vessel to carry
passengers to Liverpool, | suppose it can
carry passengers to Liverpool; and if the
Lord prepare a fish to carry n passen-
ger, | suppose il could carry a passenger
| and the ventilation have been all right.
Sc all the strange things in The Bible
csn be explained if you wish to have
them explained. And you can build them
into a beautiful and healthful fire for
| your hearth, or you a with them put
your immortal interests into confiagra.
ton. But you had better decide about
the veracity of the Bible very soon.
want this morning 10 caution You aGains'
\ putting OFT making up your mind about
| this book. Ever since 1772 there ha.
btNhS ltoh NtDitsCafoAt 40 ~ " IA
author of Junirs' Letters, those letter.
SO full of sarcasm and vituperatIon 0nC
power. The Whole English natiJn stirred
up with il. More han a hundred volumes
written 90 discuss that question: "Yiht
was Juniys?" "Who wrote the lester.
Of J~Hnius?" wei, il is an Interestiul
Question 20 discuss, but stilt. SITTER all, j
makes bat little practical difference L
WON ont tn ft.g u,hn InEEvru NJ. xtf,,thal
Sir Phthp FrsOcis, or Lord Chathsm, O
John Eorne TOoke, or Horace Wllpole
or EcnryGrGttan, or one Of The forty
four men WHO were seri11sly Eharget
with the authorship. But il is an absorb
ing question, 1t is a practical question
it is aE overwhelming question to yo.
aud &c me, the authorship of 'this Hoi,
Bible-whether the Lord Sod of heavcI
and esrth, or a pack of dupes, scoundrcl
or impostors. We canEot afford to cd
iOurE that question a week or T. day o
IN hoar, any more than a sea captain caI
afford TO say "Well. this is a very dari
night. | have really ksst my bearings
there is a light out there. don't brow
whether il is a light house or a false high
on the ehore, | don't know what il is
bat III just go to sleep and in the morn
iHG 4 - nuI CIV. III lGt HiOIUlup lnt
vesse, might be on the rocks and tn
beach strewn with the white faces Of tn,
dead crew. The time Tor that set
captain TO find III about the light house
is before he goes to sleep. Oh, my
friends, | want you to understand that il
our deliberations about this Bible we ar,
not nj calm anchorage, hut we are
rapidly coming toward the coast, coming
with oil the furnaces ablage, coming a
the rate Of seventy heart th1obs IA min
ute, ant ] must know whether i is goins
TO be harbor or shipwreck.
Wee so glad to read in tae paper o
the fact that the steamship Edam ha'
come safely into harbor. A week 'befor,
the Persian Monarch. blowing lie wa,
toward tie Narrows, a hundred mile
out, saw signals Of distress, bore dow
upon the vessel, and found it WEI tn
steamship Edam. She had Icst her pre-
peller. She had two hundred passenger
on board. The Herciful captain Of tn
Persian Monarch s~1deavored 10 bring he
in, bslt the tow line broke. He fastene
it again, bnt the SEQ was rOSGa amt TT
tow line broke again. Then the ,Mgl
cameon and the merciful captain Of tn
Persian Mnarch clay TO-" thanking
the morning he could give rescue to til
passengers. The incoming anne buts6u
ing the nigh. the steamship EdAm ha
disappeared, and the captain OF III
} paro;on MDnxrch hrOpuhf hic uSsH,