Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-25

to explain thar star-shooting. Now, does not
your common sense teach you thatif God could
start and stop tens of thousands of worlds or
meteors, he could start and stop two worlds?
Ii God can engineer train of ten Thousand
worlds or meteors, and stop them without accl-
dent or collision, cannot he control two car
riages of light, and by putting down golden
brake STOP the moon? Under this explanation,
instead of being skeptical about thus sublime
passage of the Bible, you. will, when you read
m fcrn teeI more like going down on your knees ts pe
Aialon"
Then there is the Bible statement that
whale swallowed Jonah and elected him upon
tho dry ground in three days. If you will go to
the museum at Nantucket Mass. you will find
the skeleton of whale large enough to swal-
low man. said to the janitor, while l was
standing in the museum, "Why, it does not
seem from the looks of this skeleton that that
story in the book of Jonah is so very improba-
not" There is 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: BE-
side that the Bible says nothing about whale;
1t says, 1.-THE Lord prepared great fsh;' and
there are scientists who tell us that there were
sea monsters in other days that make the mod
ern 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 may Just as
well be translated sea monster''-any kind OF
a sea monster. Procopius says in the year 5S2,
a sea monster was slain which had for % years
destroyed ships. / suppose this sea monster
that took care Of Jonah may have been one OF
the
GREAT SEA MONSTERS
that could easily have taken down prophet
and he could have lived there three days if he
had kept in motion so as to keep the gastric
juices from taking hold of him and destroying
him, and at the end of three days the monster
would naturally be sick enough to regurgitate
Jonah. Beside that, my friends, there is one
word which explains the whole thing. 1t says,
1.-THE Lord prepared great fish," If ship
carpenter prepare vessel to carry Texan
beeves to Glasgow, l suppose 1t can carry
Texan beeves; if ship carpenter prepare
vessel to carry coal to one of the northern
ports suppose it can carry coal; If a ship car
penter prepare a vessel to carry passengers to
Liverpool, suppose 1t can carry passengers TO
Liverpool; and ii the Lord prepared fish to
carry one passenger, / suppose it could carry a
passenger and the ventilation have been all
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 into conf1a-
grafton. But you had better decide about the
veracity of the Bible very soon. want this
morning to caution you against putting of
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 vituperation and
power The whole English nation stirred up
with it. More than hundred volumes written
to discuss that question: who was Junius?,,
who wrote the letters of Junius% Well, 1t
is an interesting question to discuss but still,
after all it makes but little practical diff ference
to you and to me who Junius was-whether Sir
Philip Francis, or Lord Chatham, or John
oIa 0riH
Grattan. or any one of the A men who were
seriously charged with the authorship. But it is
an absorbing question, it is practical question,
it is an overwhelming question to you and to
me. the authorship of this Holy Bible-whether
the Lord God of heaven and earth OF pack of
dupes, scoundrels or impostors. We cannot
afford to adjourn that question week or DAY
or an hour, any more than sea captain can
afford to say: Wv ell, this is a very dark night.
have really lost my bearings: there is light
out there. l don't know whether it's light
know what it is; but I'll just go to sleep and in
the morning I'll find out" In the morning the
vessel might be on the rocks and the beach
strewn with the white faces of the dead crew.
the lighthouse is before he goes to sleep. oh,
my friends want you to understand that in
our deliberations about this Bible we are not at
calm anchorage, but we are rapidly coming to-
ward the coast coming with all the furnaces
ablaze, coming at the rate of 20 heart throbs
minute, and must know whether it is going to
be
HARBoR OR sHIPwRECK.
1 was so glad to read in the papers of the fact
that the steamship Edam had come safely into
harbor A week before the Persian Monarch,
plowing its way toward the Narrows, 100 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
200 passengers on board. The mercitul 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
merciful captain of the Persian Monarch
'1ay to-" thinking in the morning he could
give rescue to the passengers. The morn
steamship Edam had disappeared.
and the Captain of the Persian Monarch
brought his vessel into harbor saying how sad
he felt because he could not give complete
rescue to that lost ship. am glad that after
ward another vessel saw her and brought her
into safety. But when saw the story of that
steamship Edam, drifting, drifting, drifting. 1
do not know where, but with no rudder, no
lighthouse, no harbor, no help, / said: THAT
is skeptic, that is iDtdel, drifting, drifting
drifting, not knowing where he drifts" And
then, when thought of the Persian Monarch
anchored in the harbor, said "That is a
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 someone to-
day who would go forth and bring in these
souls that are drifting: In this assembIage
how many score shall say, or a hundred, or
a thousand?-not quite certain about the truth
of the Bible, not certain about anything?
Drifting, drifting, drifting. Oh, how l would
like to tow them in. throw you this cable
Lay hold of that cable of the gospel. Lay hold
of it. / invite you all in. The harbor is wide
enough, large enough for all the shipping
Come in. o YOU wanderers on the deep. Drift
no more, drift no more. Come into the harbor
See the glorious lighthouse of the gospel
Peace on earth, good will to men," Come
into the harbor. God grant that it may be said
of all of you who are now drifting in your un-
belief, as it might have been said Of the passen-
gers of the steamship Edam, and as it was said
centuries ago of the wrecked corn ship of
Alexandria, ut came to pass that they all es-
capped safe to land"