Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1890-05-02


Sunday morning at the Brooklyn Acad-
envy of Music Rev. Il. Dewitt Talmage
preached from lisa. 60:l3. 1.-THE glory OF
Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree,
the pine tree, and the box together. 10
beautify the place of my sanctuary" On
our 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 ox-teams down
to the Mediterranean Sea, and then foated
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" Inanimate nature felt the
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 IL the air caught the pollu-
ton from the leaves, and as if the sap had
carried the virus down into the very soil
until the entire earth reeked with the
| leprosy Under that sinful touch nature
wi .hered. The imam mate creation, as IL
aware of the damage done IL, sent
up tho thorn and brier and nettle
to wound and fiercely oppose, the human
race. Now as the physical earth felt the
effects OF the first transgrcssion, so it
shall also feel the effect OF the Saviour's
mission. AS from that one tree in Para
disc a blight went forth through the entire
earth, so from one tree on Calvary another
force shall speed out 10 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,
/ think corresponding change will DO
eaffa enA Il, Nha Ral I iltF ho
lieve that the trees, and the birds, and the
rivers, and the skies will have their mil
lennium. If mans sin affected the ground,
and the vegetation, and the atmosphere,
shall Christ's work be less powerful or less
extensivel
Doubtless God will take the irregularity
and fierceness 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 have peculiar proclivities toward
certain forms of evil production will be
delivered from their besettiny sins. Steep
mountains plough,d down into more
gradual ascent, shall be girded with focks
OF sheep and shocks OF corn. The wet
marsh shall become the deep-grassed
meadow. Cattle shall eat unframed by
caverns once haunted of wild beasts
Children will build play-houses in what
was once cave OF serpents; and, as the
Scripture saith, 1.-THE weaned child shall
put his hand on the 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 apacity OF the
fields for production shall be tested by an
intelligent and athletic yeomanry. Thrift
and competen,y 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 b ok
TO Paradise. Great cities, now neglected
and unwashed, shall be orderly, adorned
with architectural symmctry 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 OF 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 the physical earth as a
condition OF great beauty and excellence,
and then prophesies that as the strongest
and most ornamental timber in Lebanon
NSo OAOuShb uONh W anu COu-
struCted into the 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 dr.
tree, the pine.tre and the box together
TO beautify the place of my sanctuary"
Much OF this prophecy has already been
fulfilled, and / proceed 10 some practical
remarks upon the con tributions 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 evade
mems inquiries as once. In chemist 8
laboratory she Is put TO torture and COM
PEELED TO give up her mysteries. hidden
laws have come out of their hiding. ri ace
The earth and the heavens, since t.ey have
been raDsacked by geologist and botanist
and astronomer, appear so different from
what they once were that they may be
called "the new heavens ami the new
earth"
This research and discovery will have
powerful effect upon the religious world
They must either advance or arrest Chris
tianity, make men better or make them
worse be tho Church's honor or the
Church's overthrow. Christians, aware OF
this in the early ages of discovery were
nervous and fearful as to the progress OF
science. They feared that some natural
law, before unknown, would suddenly
spring into harsh collision with Christian
ity. Gunpower and the CLEAN OF swords
would not so much have been felred
by religionists as electric batteries,
voltaic piles, and astronomical ap-
parstus 1t was feared that Moses
and the prophets would be run
over by sceptical chemists and ph iloso-
pliers. Some OF the followers Of Aristotle,
after the invention Of the telescope, refus-
ed TO look through that instrument, lest
what they saw would overthrow the teach,
inRs OF that great philosopher. But the
Christian religion has no such apprehen-
sion now. Bring on your telescopes and
microscopes, and spectroscopes-and the
more the better. The God Of nature is the
God of the Bible, and in all the universe,
and in all the eternites, He has never
once contradicted Himself. Christian
merchants endow universities, and
in them Christian professors in
struct the children OF Christian
communities. The warmest and most en-
thusiastic friends OF Christ are the bravest
and most enthusiastic friends OF science.
The Church rejoices as much over every
discovery as the world rejoices. Good men