The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1890-05-03
GROWING BETTER.
DR.. Talmage Dtscourses ON Nature
and Christianity.
The Spread of True Religion Likely to Make
the World Grow B~etter-Nature's
Contribution t" Christianity
Tho Resurrection.

De witt Talmage took his text from
Isaiah TX. IL, The glory of Lebanon
shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the
pine tree and the box together, to beau
tify h place of my sanctuary" Fol-
lowing Is his sermon:
On u way from Damascus we saw
the mountains of Lebanon white with
snow, and the places from which the
cedars were hewn, and then drawn by
OK teams down to the Mediterranean
sea, and then loated in great RATS to
Joppa, and then again drawn by OK
teams up to Jerusalem to build Solomon's
temple. Those mighty trees in my text
are called the ''glory of Lebanon" In
nimat nature felt the effects of the
nrst transgression. When Eve touched
b forbidden tree, 1t seemed as II the
sinful contact had smitten not only that
tree, but as II the air caught the pollu-
ton from the leaves, and as II the sap
had carried the virus down into the very
soil until the entire earth reeked with
the leprosy. Under that sinful touch
nature withered. The inanimate crea-
ton, as II ware Of the damage done
1t, sent up the thorn and brier
and nettle to wound, and iercely
oppose, the human race. Now
rs the physical earth felt the effects of
the first transgression, so 1t shall also
feel the effect Of the Saviour's mission.
As from that one tree in Paradise a
blight went forth through the entire
earth, so from n tree on Calvary an
other force shall speed out to interpene-
trate and check, subdue and override
the evil. In the end 1t shall be found
that the tree Of Calvary has more poten-
cy than the tree of Paradise.
As the nations are evangelical / think
o corresponding change will be effected
In the natural world. l verify believe
that the trees, and the birds, and the
rivers, and the skies will have their
millennium. II mans sin affected the
ground, and the vegetation, and the at
mosphere, shall Christ's work be less
powerful or less extensive? Doubtless
God will take the ~irregularity and fierce
ness from the elements so as to make
them %congenial to the race, which will
then be symmetrical and evangelical.
The ground shall not be so lavish of
weeds and so grudgeful OF grain. Soils
which now AVE peculiar proclivities
toward certain forms OF evil production
will be delivered from their besetting
sins Steep mountains, plowed down
into more gradual ascent, shall be girded
with fiocks of sheep and shocks of corn.
The wet marsh shall become the deep
grRssed meadow. Cattle shall eat I'M
harmed by caverns once haunted Of wild
boasts. Children will build playhouses
In what was once q ave of serpents;
and, as the Scripture saith: '"The
weaned child shall put his hand on the
cockatrice's den."
o, what harvests shall be reaped when
neither drouth, nor excessive rain, nor
mildew, nor infesting insects shall ar
rest the growth and the utmost capacity
Of the fields for production shall be tested
by IN intelligent and athletic yeomanry.
Isaiah in my text seems to look for
ward TO the future condition of the
physical earth as a condition Of great
beauty and excellence, and then
phophesies that as the strongest and
most ornamental timber in Lebanon was
brought down to Jerusalem and con-
structed into the ancient temple, so all
that Is beautiful and excellent in the
physical earth shall yet contribute to
the church now being built in the world.
THE glory Of Lebanon shall come INTO
thee; the fir tree, the pine tree, and the
box together to beautify the place of my
sanctuary"
Much of this prophecy has already
been fulfilled, and | proceed to some
practical remarks upon the contributions
which the natural world is making to
the Kingdom of God, and then draw
some differences. The first contribution
that nature gives to the church Is her
testimony in behalf of the truth of
Christianity. This Is an age OF profound
research. Nature cannot eyade mems
inquiries as once. In chemists labora-
tory she Is put to torture and compelled
TO give up her mysteries.
This research will have powerful eff
feet upon the religious world. They
must either advance or arrest Christian
fly, make men better or make them
worse, be the church's honor or tho
church's overthrow. Christians, aware
OF this in the early ages of discovery,
were nervous and fearful as to the prog
ress Of science.
Some OF the followers OF Aristotle,
after the invention Of the telescope, re-
fused TO look through the instrument,
lest what they saw would overthrow the
teachings Of that great philosopher.
But the Christian religion has no such
apprehension now. Bring on your tele-
scopes and microscopes and spectre
scopes-and the more the better. The
God Of nature is the God Of the Bible,
ana In all tha univaraa ond In oil tha
eternities, He has once contra
dicted Himself. Christian merchants
endow universities, and in them Chris
tian professors instruct the children of
Christian communities. The warmest
and most enthusiastic friends Of Christ
are the bravest and most enthusiasts
friends OF science.
Scientific discussions may be divided
into those which are concluded, and
those which are still in progress, de-
pending for decision upon future investi-
cation. Those which are concluded
have invariably rendered their verdict
for Christianity, and we have faith to
believe that those which are still IN
prosecution will come to as favorable q
conclusion. The great systems OF error
arr falling before these discoveries.
which have only demonstrated the
truth Of the Bible, and so reinforced
Christianity. Mohammedanism and pa
1anism In their ten thousand forms
have been proven false, and by great
natural laws shown TO be impositions.
Buried cities have beer exhumed, and
the truth Of God found written on their
coffin lids.
Men who have gone TO Palestine in
hdels have come back Christians. They
who were blind and deaf to the truth at
home have seemed to see Christ again
preaching upon Olivet and have bebeld
In vivid Imagination the Son Of God
again walking the hills about Jerusa-
lem. Caviglia once rejected the truth.
but afterward said: 81 came to Egypt
and the Scriptures and the pyramids
converted me-" When I was in Beyrout,
Syria, last December our beloved Amer
fcan missionary, Rev. DIR. Jessup, told
me Of his friend who met a sceptie at
Joppa, the seaport Of Jerusalem, and
the unbeliever said to his friend: 81 am
going into the Holy Land to show up
the folly Of the Christian religion. !
am going to visit all the so-called
sacred .. aces and write them up and
show the world that the New Testament
II an imposition upon the worlds cre-
dulity." Months after DIR. Jessup's friend
met the sceptic at Beyrout, after he had
completed his Journey through the Holy
Land. "Well, how Is it?' said the
aforesaid gentleman to the sceptic. The
aoau,ar u,aa. tI haya aaan AZ all and I