The Penn's Grove record., 1889-04-13

VIcUOry. lnuuel scientists declare CnAl
an impossibility. But If a man have
brain and strength enough to make q
CLOCK. can he not start it and stop 1t
and start 1t again and stop it againp II
a machinist have strength and brain
enough to make a corn-thresher, car
he moi start 1t and stop it, and start II
again and stop it again? If God have
strength and wisdom to make the clock
of the universe, the great machinery Of
the worlds, has He not strength
enough and wisdom enough to start
it and stop 1t, and start it again
and stop it againp Or stop one
wheel, or stop twenty wheels, or stoI
all the wheels? Is the clock stronger
than the clockmaker? Does the corn
thresher know more than the machin'
fstp Is the universe mightier than its
Godp But people ask how could the
moon have been seen to stop In the
daytimef Well, If you have never seen
the moon in the daytime, it is because
you have not been a very diligent OBJ
server Of the heavens. Besides that. II
was not necessary for the world literally
to stop. BY unusual refraction Of the
suns rays the day might have been
prolonged. So that, while the earth
continued on Its path in the heavens, II
fguratively stopped. You must re-
member that these Bible authors used
THE vERNACULAR OF THEIR DAY,
just as you and l say the sun went
down. The sun never goes down. We
simply describe what appears to the
eye. Within a short space of time,
astronomers tell us, thirteen worlds
have burned down. From their obser-
vatory they notice first that the worlds
look like other worlds, then they be-
came a deep red, showing they were on
fire; then they became asllep, showing
they were burned down; then they
disappeared, showing that even the
ashes were scattered. Now, l say, II
God can start a world. and swing q
world, and destroy a world, He could
stop one or two of them without a
great deal of eyertion. or lie could by
unusual refraction of the SUMS rays
continue the illumination
But inidel scientists say 1t would
have been bellttling for other worlds to
stop on account of such a battle. Why,
sirs, what Yorktown was for revolu-
tionary times. and what Gettysburg
was in u civil contest, and what
Sedan was in the Franco-G German war,
and what Waterloo was in the Ma
poIeonic destiny-that was this battle
0f Joshua against the i've armies
of Gideon. 1t was that battle that
changed the entire course of history.
1t was a battle to Joshua as impor-
tant as though a battle now should
occur in which England and the
United States and France and Germany
and Italy and Turkey and Russia
should fight for victory or humiliation.
However much any other world, solar.
lunar, or stellar, might be fastened In
its errand of light, 1t would be excusa-
BILE If 1t fingered in the heavens for q
little while. and put down Its sheaf of
beams, and gazed on such an Ar
mageddon.
In the early part of this century
there was what was called
THE DARN DAY.
Some of these aged men perhaps may
remember 1t. 1t is known in history
as the "Dark Day." Workmen at
noon went to their homes, and courts
and legislatures adjourned. No astron-
0mers have ever been able to explain
that dark day. Now, if God can ad-
vance the night earlier than its time.
can he not adjourn the night until
after its timer l often used to hear
my father describe at night think he
said it was in lS33-when his neighbors
aroused him IN great alarm. AL the
heavenly bodies seemed to be In mo-
ton. People thought u earth was
looming to its destruction. Tens OF
thousands of stars shooting. No as
tronomers have ever been able to ex-
plain that star-shooting. Now, does
not your common sense teach you that
lie God could start and stop tens OF
thousands of worlds or meteors, He
could start and stop two worldsr
JONAH AND THE WHALE.
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 mu-
scum at Nantucket, Mass, you will
find the skeleton Of a whale large
cuuuku w SWdilOW q mahs oohA W
the Janitor, while l was standing In
the museum, why, 1t does not seem
from the looks of this skeleton that
that story In the Book of Jonah Is SO
very improbable, does itp'' "Oh, no."
he replied, sit does not. There il a
cavity in the mouth of the common
whale large enough for a man to live
in il, There have been sharks found
again and again, with an entire human
body in them. Besides that. the Bible
SAYS nothing about a whale. 1t says,
1.-THE Lord prepared a 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.
l know in one place in the New les
lament it speaks of the whale as ap-
pearing in the occurrence L have Just
mentioned, but the word may Just as
well be translated 'tsea monster'-any
kind of a sea monster. PrOcopius
says, in the year 532, a sea monster was
slam 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 taken down a prophet, and
he could have lived there three days II
he had kept III 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 r~egurgltate Jonah.
Besides that, my friends, there Is one
word which explains the whole thing.
1t says, "The Lord prepared a great
fish.n If a ship carpenter prepare a
vessel to carry Texan beeves to Glas-
gov, I suppose it a carry Texan
beeves; il a ship carpenter prepare a
vessel to carry coal to n OF the north.
ern ports, | suppose it can carry coal;
If a ship.carpenter prepare a vessel to
carry passengers to Liverpool, l sup
pose It can carry passengers to Liver
pool; and il the Lord prepared a fish
to carry one passenger, l suppose 1t
could carry a passenger, and the yenti-
lation have been all right.
So all the strange things In the Bible
can be explained II you wish them ex-
planned, And you can build them into
--.sI - baaIthful fro for mona