The Forrest City times., 1890-05-03
VOICES OF THE lNANIMATE
Dr. Talmags on tho Articulate and Har-
 monious Voioss of Nature.

monious Voioss of Nature.
 Nature withered Under the Touch of Sin,
 and Wounded Creation Sent Up Her Pro-
 tssting voics in tho Notes of tho Thorn,
 the Brier and tho Thistle and in the
 Rumbling storm-Tte Trees, the Birds,
 Rivers and Skies to Enjoy Millennium.
 Sunday morning at the Brooklyn Acad- emy of Music Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage preached from Isa 60:ls. "rhe glory of Lebanon shall como unto thee, the fir tree, the piAe tree and the box together to bcsutify the place Of my sanctuary" On our way from Damascus we saw the mountains of Lebanon white with snow, and the places from which tho ledars were hewn, and then drawn by OK teams down to the Mediterranean Sea, and then fioated in great rafts to Joppa and then again drawn by oS-teams Ip to Jerusalem to build Solonon's temple. Those mighty trees in my text are called tho glory of LebanonAn Inanimate nature felt tho effects of the first transgression. When Eve touched the forbidden tree, it seems as If the sinful contract had smitten not only that tree, but as if tho air caught the pollu- tion from the leaves, and as if the sap had earned the virus down into tho very soil until tho entire earth rocked with the leprosy. Under that sinful touch nature withered. Tho inanimate creation, as if aware of the damage done it, sent up tho thorn and hrier and nettlc to wound, and fiercely oppose, the human racc. Now as the physical earth felt the effects Of the first transgrcssion, so it shall also fcel the effect of the Saviour's mission. As from that one tree in Para disc blight went forth through the entire earth, so from one tree on Calvary another force shall speed out to interpenetrate and check, subdue and override, the evil. In the end it shall be found that the tree of Calvary has more potency than the tree of Paradise As the nations are evangelical, I think a corresponding change will be effected in the natural world. I verify be- lieve that the trees, and the birds and the rivers, and the skies wilt have their mil iennium. If mans sin affected the ground, and the vegetation, and the atmosphere, shall Christs work be less powerful or less extensiyel
 Doubtless God will take tho irregularity and fierceness from the elements so as to make them congenial to the race, which will then be symmetrical and evangelical.
 
 and so grudgeful of grain. Soils which now have peculiar proclivities toward certain forms of evil production will be delivered from their besetting sins Steep noun tains, ploughed down into more gradual ascent shall be girded with fiocks Of sheep and shocks of corn, The wet marsh shall become the deep-grassed meadow. Cattle shall eat unharmed by caverns once haunted of wild beasts. Children will build play in what was once cave Of serpents; and as tho Scripture saith, 1.-The weaned child shall put his hand on tho cockatrice's den"
 Oh what harvests shall be reaped when neither drouth, nor excessive rain, nor mildew, nor infesting insects shall arrest the growth, and the utmost capacity of the fields for production shall be tested by an intelligent and athletic yeomanry Thrift and competency characterizing the worlds inhabitants, their dwelling places shall be graceful and healthy and adorned. Tree and arbor and grove around about will look as If Adam and Eve had got back to Paradise. Great cities, now neglected and unwashed, shall bc orderly, adorned with architectural symmetry and connected with far distant seaports by present modes of transportation carried to their greatest perfection, or by new inventions yet to spring up out Sof the water or drop from the air at the beck Of Morse or Robert Fulton be- longing to future generations. Isaiah in my text seems to look forward to the future condition of tho physical earth as q condition of great beauty and excellence, and then prophesies that as the strongest and most ornamental timber in Lebanon was brought down to Jerusalem and con. struoted into tho ancient temple, so all that is beautiful aud excellent in the physical earth shall yet contribute to the Church now being built in the world "The glory of Lebanon shall come unto 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 inferences. 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 evade mems inquiries as once In chemists laboratory she ls put to torture and com peileo to give up her mysteries. Hidden laws have come out of their hiding place The earth and the heavens, since they have been rapsaclSed by gcologist and botanist and astronomer, appear so different from what they once were that they may be called "the new heavens and the new earthn
 This research and discovery will have powerful effect upon the religious world. They must either advance or arrest Chris. uanity, make men better or make them worse, be the Churchs honor or tho ('lnrflfs nyertnrptr this in tho early ages of discovery. were nervous and fearful as to the progress of science They feared that some natural law, bsfore unknown, would suddenly spring into harsh collision with Christian. fly. Gunpower and the gleam of swords would not so much have been feared by rellgionists as electric batteries. voltaie piles, and astronomical ap. paratus. It was feared that Moses and the prophets would be run over by scepticai chemists and ph iloso- phers Soma Of the followers of Aristotle. after tho invention of the telescope, rcfus ed 10 look through that instrument. lest what they saw would overthrow the teach. inas of that great philosopher. But the Christian religion has no such apprehen- sion now. Bring on your telescopes and microscopes, and spectroscopes sand tho
 
 God Of tho Bible. and in all the uniyerse and in all the eternitios He has never once contradicted Himself Christian merchants cndow universities, and in them Christian professors in. siruct the children of Christian communities Tho warmcst and most en thusiastic friends of Christ are the bravest and most enthusiastc friends of scienca. Tho Church reioices as much over every discovery as the world rcjoioeA Good men have found that thore Is no war between science and religion. That which a, frat has seemed to be tho weapon of the inf,del hs turned out to Do the weapon of tho Christian.
 Scientific discussions may be divided into those which are concluded, ana those which arc still In progress, depending for decision upon future investigation. Those which arc concluded have invariably rend- cred their verdict for Christianity, and we have faith to believe that those which arc