Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-04-05

ne rephed, 1T does not" There IL a
cavity IN the mouth Of the common
whale large enough for man to live
IN. There have been sharks found
again and again with an. entire human
body In them. Besides that, the Bible
says nothing about whale. 1t saws,
Inc Lord prepared a great fish," and
there are scientists who tell us that
tnere Were sea monsters in other DAYS
tnat make the modern whale seem
very insignificant. 1 know in one
place In the New Testament it speaks
OF the whale as appearing in the
occurrence have just mentioned, but
the word may just as we'll be translated
sea monster"-any kind of sea
monster mo Procopius says, in the year
oo1, sea monster was slain which
had Tor fifty years destroyed ships.
suppose this sea monster that took
care OF Jonah may have been one
OF tne great sea monsters that could
nave easily taken down prophet, and
he could have lived there three DAYS if
he had kept in motion so as to keep the
gastrlc juices from taking hold of him
ana destroying him, and at the end of
three days the monster would naturally
pc SICK enough to regurgitate Jonah.
oeslde that, my friends, there is one
word which explains the whole thing.
1t says, The Lord prepared a great
hsh. Ii q ship carpenter prepare q
vessel to carry Texan beeves to Glasgow,
suppose it can carry Texan beeves; if
snip carpenter prepare vessel to
carry coal to one of the Northern ports,
suppose it can carry coal; if a ship
carpenter prepare vessel to carry pas
sengers to Liverpool, suppose it can
carry passengers to Liverpool; and if
the Lord prepared fish to carry ono
passenger, 1 suppose it could carry o
passenger and the ventilation have been
right.
So all the strange things in the Bible
can be explained if you wish to have
them explained. And you can build
them into beautiful and healthful fire.
FOR your hearth, or you can with them
put your immortal interests in contlaera-
ton. But you had better decide about
the veracity Of the Bible very soon. I
want this morning to caution YOU
against putting off making up your
mind about this book. Ever since 1772
there has been great discussion as to
who was the author of Junius Letters,
those letters SO full of sarcasm and
vitpperation and power The whole
English nation stirred up with it. More
than hundred volumes written to dis
cuss that question: who was
Ju1ius?" who wrote the let
ter, of Junius?" Well, it is
an interesting question to discuss, but
still, after all, it makes but little prac-
tic,l difference to you and to me who
Julius was, whether Sir Philip Francis,
or Lord Chatham, or John Horne Tooke,
or Horace Walpole, or Henry Grattan, or
an! one of the forty four men who were
seriously charged with the authorship.
But it is an absorbing question, it is
practical question, it is an overwhelm-
ingAuestion to you and to me, the au-
th9ship of this Holy Bible-whether
pack of dupes, scoundrels or impostors.
Wecannot afford to adjourn that ques-
tio1 week or q day or an hour, any
moe than sea captain can afford to
say Well, this is a very dark night. I
haze really lost my bearings; there is a
light out there. I don't know whether
it = lighthouse or false light on the
SHIRE, don't know what It is; but I'll
just go to sleep and in the morning FL
find out" In the morning the vessel
might be on the rocks and the beach
st1ewn with the white faces of the dead
crew. The time for that sea captain to
find out about the lighthouse is before
he goes to sleep. Oh, my friends, /
want you to understand that in our de-
liberations about this Bible we are not
at calm anchorage, but we are rapidly
coming toward the coast, coming with
all the furnaces ablaze, coming at the
rate of seventy heart throbs minute,
ard must knoR whether it is going to
be harbor or shipwreck.
was so glad to read in the papers of
the fact that the steamship Edam had
come safely into the harbor. A week
before the Persian Monarch, blowing
its way toward the Narrows, hundred
miles out, saw signals of distress, bore
down upon the vessel, and found it was
the steamship Edam. She had lost her
propeller. She had two hundred pas
sengers on board. The merciful Captain
Of the Persian Monarch endeavored to
bring her in, but the tow line broke.
He fastened it again. but the sea was
rough and the tow line broke again.
Then the night came on and the merci-
full Captain of the Persian Monarch LAY
to-" thinking in the morning he could
give rescue to the passengers. The
morning came, but during the night
the steamship Edam had disappeared,
and the Captain of the Persian
Monarch brought his vessel into
harbor saying how sad he felt be-
cause he could not give complete
rescue to that lost ship. 1 am glad
that afterward another vessel saw her
and brought her into safety. But when
I saw the story of that steamship Edam,
drifting, drifting, drifting, I do not
know where, but with no rudder, no
lighthouse, no harbor, no help, l said:
THAT is a skeptic, that is an inidel,
drifting, drifting, drifting, not knowing
where he drifts" And then when i
thought of the Persian Monarch an
chored in harbor, said: THAT Is q
Christian, that is a man who does all he
can on the way, crossing the sea to help
others, coming perhaps through very
rough voyage into the harbor, there safe
and safe forever" Would God that
there might be some one to-day who
would 90 forth and bring in these souls
that are drifting. In this assemblage,
how many score shall I say, or 100 or
1,OOO?-not quite certain about the truth
Of the Bible, not certain about any,
thing. Drifting, drifting, drifting.
oh, how would like to tow them in:
1 throw you this cable. Lay hold of
that cable of the Gospel. Lay hold OF
horh