Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1889-03-30

planation, instead of being skcptical
about this sublime passage Of the Bible,
you will, when you read il, feel more
like going down ON your knees before
God as you rcad ''Sun, stand thou
still above Gibcon, and thou moon in
the valley Of Ajalon."
y POINT THAT Is Much DISCUSSED.
Then there is tho Bible statement
that whale swallowed Jonah and
elected him upon the dry ground in
three days. Ii you will 20 TO the
museum at Nantucket, Mass, you will
find the skeleton Of whale large
enough TO swallow n man. | said TO
the janitor, while | was standing in
the museum, why il does not seem
from the looks Of this skeleton that
that story in the Book OF Jonah is so
very improbable, does III" "Oh, no."
he replied. 1t does not" There is a
cavity IN the mouth OF the common
whale large enough for M; II 10 live
in. There hnvo been sharis found
again and again with an entire human
body in them. Beside that, the Bible
says nothing about whale. II saws.
The Lord prepared u great fish; !" and
there are scientists who tell us
that there were sea monsters in ether
days that make tho modern whale
seem very insignificant. | know in
one place in the New Testament il
speaks of the whale as appearing in
tho occurrence have Just mentioned.
but the word may just as well be trans
lnt l...
sea monster. Procopius says, in the
year 81. sea monster was slain
which had for fifty years destroyed
ships. suppose this sea monster that
took care OF Jonah may have been one
OF the great sea monsters that could
have easily takers down prophet, and
hc could have lived there three days
II hc had kept in motion SO as 10 keep
the gastric juices from taking hold OF
him and destroying him. and ut the
end {: three days the monster
would naturally bo sick enough to
rcgurglia,c Jonah. Beside that, my
friends. there is ono word which cX-
plains the whole thing. 1t says, THE
Lord prepared great fish" Ii a ship
carpenter prepare vessel to carry
Texan bccycs To Glasgow, suppo.e il
can carry Texan bccvcS: ii ship car
rcutcr prepare Il vessel 10 carry coal 10
one of the northern ports, suppose it
can carry coal, If ship carpenter pre-.
pare = vessel To carry passengers, TO
Liverpool, ] suppose 1t can carry pas.
s"rEcrs io l.ivcrpoUl; aud il the Lord
prepared i.sh To- carry one passenger,
! suppose il could carry paSscngc,
and the ventilation have been all right.
SO &il the strange things in the Ri.
bic can lie explained If you wish To
have them explained. And you can
build them into u beautiful and health.
iul fire for your hearth, or YOU can
with them put your immortal interests
into conilagratlon. But YOU had bet
ter decide about the vcracity Of the
Bible very soon. want this morning
To caution YOU against putting OF
making up your mind about this book.
Ever since l1a2 there has been great
discussion rs to who was the author
OF Junius Letters. those letters 50 full
of sarcasm and vitup.rltion and
power. The whole English nation
stirred Up with ii, More than hun
drcd volumes written 10 discuss that
questions NV !lu was Junius" WHO
wrote the lclici>of JuniusT Well. il is
IN inicr"Stli,. question to discuss, but
still. after all. II MATES hrt little prac-
teal difference TO you and 10 me who
Junlus was. whether Sir Philip Fran
CTS. ar Lord Chatham, or John Horne
Tookc. or Horace Walpolc. or Henry
Gritau. or any one of the iorty-four
mcn who were seriously charged with
tho authorship. But il is an absorb.
ing question, il is practical question:.
il is au overwhelming question to YOU
and Ia me. the authorship OF this
Holy Bible whether the Lord God of
heaven and earth or pack Of dupcs,
sc"undrls or inpostors. We cannot
afford 10 adiourn that question n week
or u day ar AN hour, any more than
sea captain can afford la say: We'll,
this is very dark night. have
really lost my bearings; there is n
light out there. don't know whether
il is n lighthouse or false light on
the shore. don't know what il is but
Ill just 20 Ia sleep and IN the morn
ing Ill find out. " In the morning the
vessel might bc on the rocks and the
beach strwn with the white faces of
the dead crew. The time for that sea
captain Ia find out about the light
house is before he goes 10 sleep Oh.
my friends, ! want you To understand
Slat in our deliberations about this
Bible we are not al calm anchorage,
but we are rapidly coming toward tho
coast. coming with all the furnaces
Nblazc, coming al the rate of seventy
heart throbS "A minute. and must
know whether il is going 10 be harbor
>r shipwwck.
>lJIs DRIFTING oS TIE SEA or INFI.
nElITY.
was So glad To read in the papers
of thc fact that the steamship Edam
aad come safely into harbor, \ week
before the Persian Monarch. plow-
ing lis way toward the NarrOwS. a
miles out, saw signals of dis.
,irss, bore down upon the vessel, and
found it WAS the steamship Edam. Sho
had lost her propeller. She had two
hundred passengers ON board Tho
captain of the Persian Mon
arch cudcavowd 10 bring her IN. but
the tow line broke. l!c fastened il
again, but lhc s,a was rough and the
tow line broke again. Then the night
came 81 and the mcrciful cap'ain uf
thc p,rsiaV Monarch lay to- think
ing in the uorning he could give r.s.
enc to the passengers. The morning
came. but during the night ilc
steamship Ednm had disappeared.
and the captain of tho Persian
Monarch brought lis vessel into
!arbor saying how sad he felt
hcrause he could moi give complete
rescue to that lost ship. ! am glad
that aitcrwarl another vessel saw her
and Brought her into safety. ru,
when | SAW the story of that sicam-
Ship Elam, drifting. drifting. drifting,
! do not know where. but with no
r,iddcr, no lighthouse, no harbur. no
help. said That isa skcp,c, that is
an inii,lcl. drifting. drifting. drifting.
not knowing where lac drifts" And
then. when | siouglt of the Persian
Monarch anchored in harbor. said: