Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1891-05-29
HE DEFINES HIS BELIEF.
ONE WEEKS WORK THE SUBJECT
OF DR.. TALMAGEsS SERMON.

the Creation, and Does Not Hesitate 70
Say So Most Emphatically-A Notable
sermon Preached Sunday. May "a.
BROOKLYN. May 24.-The striking sermon
DR.. Talmage delivered this morning to an
audience which filled the new Tabernacle
in every part dealt with a topic Of interest
TO all who have watched the discussions
now agitating the churches. Wherever
the question of the inspiration of the Btba
is raised, the trustworthineSs Of the Mosaic
narrative of the creation is always the
point chiefly assailed, The fact that so
prominent and eloquent preacher as DIR.
Talmage places himself clearly on record
on the side of orthodoxy will doubtless
have marked influence on public opinion.
His text was Genesis i, 81, "And the evening
and the morning were the sixth day"
From Monday morning to Saturday
night gives us a week s work. If we have
filed that week with successes we are
happy. But am going to tell you what
God did in one week. Cosmogony, geology,
astronomy, ornithology, ichthyology, bot
any, anatomy are such vast subjects that
no human life is long enough to explore or
comprehend any one of them. But nave
thought l might in an unusual way tell
YOU little of what God did in one week,
and that the first week. And whether you
make it a week of days or week of ages, /
care not, for | shall reach the same prae-
teal result of reverence and worship.
THE FIRST MONDAY MORNING.
The first Monday morning found swing
ing in space the piled up lumber OF rocks
and metal and soil and water from which
the earth was to be builded. God made
mn his mind to create human family, and
they must have house to live in. But
whereg Not a roof, not wall, not door,
not a room was fit for human occupancy.
There is not a pile of black basalt in Vel
lowstone park or an extinct volcano In
Honolulu so inappropriate for human resi-
dence as was this globe at that early period.
Moreover, there was no human architect
to draw plan, no quarryman to blast the
foundation stones, no carpenter to hew out
a beam, and no mason to trowel wall.
Poor prospect But the time was coming
when being called man was to be con
structed, and he was to have bride; and
where he could find homestead to which
he could take her must have been won
derment to angelic intelligences.
There had been earthquakes enough and
volcanoes enough and glaciers enough, but
earthquakes and volcanoes and glaciers
destroy instead of build. A worse looking
world than this never swung. 1t was
beaped up deformities, scarihcations and
monstrosities. The Bible says it was with
out form. That is, it was not round, 1t
was not square, it was not octagonal, 1t
was not a rhomboid. God never did take
any one in his counsels, but if he had asked
some angel about the attempt 80 turn this
planet into place for human residence
the angel would have said: mo, no; try
some other world; the crevices OF this
earth are too deep; its crags are too ap-
palIing; its darkness is too thick"
But Monday morning came l think it
was a spring morning and about halt-past
four O'Clock. The first thing needed was
light. It was not needed for God to work
bV. for he can work as well in the dark
ness. But light may be necessary, for an
gelic intelligences are TO see in its full
glory the process of world building. But
where are the candles, where are the can
delabra. where is the chandelier? Nonslng
sun will roll in the morning, for If the sun
is already created its light will not yet reach
the earth in three days Nor moon nor stars
can brighten this darkness. The moon and
stars are not born yet, or if created Their
light will not reach the earth for some
time vet. But there is need of immediate
light. Where shall it come from? Desir
ing to account for things in natural way
YOU say, and reasonably say, that heat and
electricity throw out light independent Of
the sun, and that the metallic bases throw
out light independent Of the sun, and that
alkalies throw out light independent OF
the sun.
Oh, yes; all that is true, but / do not
| think that is the way light was created
| The record makes me think that, standing
over this earth that spring morning, God
/ looked upon the darkness that palled the
heights of this world, and the chasms of it.
and the awful reaches Of it, and uttered
whether in the Hebrew Of earth orsome Ian
guaee celestial / know not, that word
/ which stands for the subtle, bright, glow
ing and all pervading fluid, that word
which thrills and garlands and lifts every
! thing it touches, that word the full mean
\ ing of which all the chemists Of the ages
have busted themselves in exploring, that
word which suggests a force that flies one
I hundred and ninety thousand miles In
second, and by undulations seven hundred
and twenty-seven trillions in second, that
one word that God utters-Light!
And instantly the darkness began to
simmer and the thick folds of blackness
to lift, and there were scintillations and
! coruscations and flashes and billowine
up Of resplendence, and in great sheets il
| spread out northward, southwark, east
ward, westward, and a radiance filled the
! atmosphere until it could hold no more OF
the brilliance. Light now to work by
while supernatural intelligenees look on
| Light, the first chapter of the first day Of
the week Light, the joy Of all the cent
uries Light, the greatest blessing that
ever touched the human eye. The robe OF
! the Almighty is woven out Of it, for he
covers himself with light as with gar.
ment. Oh, blessed light ! am so glad
this was the first thing created that week.
1 Good thing TO start every week with Is
/ light That will make our work easier
That will keep our disposition more radl
ant That will hinder even our losses
from becoming too sOmber. Give us more
light natural light, intellectual light,
spiritual light, everlasting light. For lack
of it the body stumbles, and the soul STUN
bles. o thou Father of Lights, give us
light!
The great German philosopher in his last
moment said, II want more light" A min
/ lSlGE OL OuIlag AgISAAtA1 ~ A+t7 S--N[--
exultation, 81 move into the lghtP Mr..
Toplady, the immortal hymnolOgist, in
his expiring moments exclaimed, Light
Light" Heaven itself is only more light.
Upon all superstition, upon all Ignorance
upon all sorrow let in the light. But now
the light Of the first Monday is receding
The blaze is going out. The colors are
dimming. Only part of the earth's sur
face is visible It is 6 O'Clock, O'Clock, {
o'clock; observation and darkness. 1t is
Monday night. 'And the evening and the
morning were the first day"
TUESDAYS WORK.
Now it is Tuesday morning. A delicate
and tremendous undertaking is set apart
for this day There was a great super
abundance of water God, by the wave Of
his hand, this morning gathers part OF Il
In suspended reservoirs, and part OF 1t X
orders down into the rivers and lakes and
seas. How to hang whole Atlantic oceans
in the clouds without their splitting oVel
except in right quantities and at right
times was an undertaking that no one but
r I'D