Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-05-29
REV. DIR. TALMAGH.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun
day Sermon.
Subject; "onc Weeks Work"

long enough 10 explore OF cohipISnsnu any
one of them. But | have Thought | might
in an unusual way tell you little IF what
Col did in one week. And whether you
make it week OF days or week ofages, |
care not, for | shall reach the SAME practi-
cal result OF reverence and worship.
The first Monday morning found swinging
IN snacs the pilel ~ lumber OF rocks and
metal and soil Gnl water from which tbs
earth was to be builded. God made uD his
mind TO create a human family, and they
must have n house to live in. Bat where?
Eut roof. nos wall, not a door, not a
ROOM was Gt for human occupancy. There
is not n pile OF black basalt in Yellowstone
Park or an extinct volcano in Honolulu 50
inappropriate for human residence as was
tn S globe at that early period. Moreover,
there was no human architect to draw plan,
no duarryman TO blast the foundation stones
no carpenter to hew out a beam, and no
mason to trOwel wall.
The first thing needed was light. It was
not neeleI for Cod to woTk by, for He can
work as well in the darkness. But light may
be necessary, for an yelic intelligencss are to
see in tsfull glory tle process Of world build
ing But where are the candles, where are
the candelabra. where is the chandelier? No
rising sun will roll in the morning, for it tho
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 il
created their light will not reach the earth
/ FOR some time vet But there is need of inn
mediate light. Where shallit come from?
The record makes me think that, standing
over this earth that spring morning, Col
looked upon the darkness that palied th3
heights Of this world, and the chasms of it,
and the awful reaches of it, and uttered.
whether in the Hebrew OF earth or some
/ language celestial | know not, that word
which stands for the subtle, bright glowing
and all pervading fluid, that word which
thrills and garlands and lifts every thing 1t
touches that word the full meaning o. when
all the chemists OF the ages have busted
themselves in exploring that word which
suggests force that flies one hundred and
ninety thousand miles in a second, and by
unduiafions seven hundred and twenty-seven
trllicns in q second, that one word that GOd
utters-L;ght
And instantly the darkness began to shim-
mer. and the thick folds OF blackness to lit,
and there were sciptiliatiOns AMI cOrusca-
tions and flashes aud bilowng up OF resplen-
dence and in great sheets 1t spread out
northward, southwark, eastward westward,
and radiance filed the atmosphere until it
could mold no more Of the brllllance. Light
now 10 work by while supernatural intelli-
the first day OF the week. Light, the JOY o.
the centuries Light, the greatest blessing
that ever t0uche the human eye. The RODS
OF the Almighty is woven out Of it. tor Hs
covers Himself with light As with gar
ment. Oh, blessed light | am 50 glad this
was the first thing created that week. For
lack OF it the body stumbles. o thou Father
OF Lights. give Us light
Now II Is Tuesday morning. \ delicate
and tremendous undertaking Is Sc aDarttot
this dag. There was great s1per1oun-
Gancc of water God. by the wave Of His
land. this morning gathers part OF It in sus-
PENDED reservoirs, and plr5 Of II Ho oricrs
down into the rivers AMI laks and seas.
How to hang whole Atlantic oceans in the
clouds without their spillins over except IN
right quantities and at rigat tim S was an
undertaking that no one but OnnipOtence
would have dared. But God doesit IS easily
as you woull lift glass OF water. There H9
hosts two clouds. each thirty miles wide aud
i've miles high, and balances them. Her.
lie lifts the cirrOus clouds ana spreads thehi
cut in great white banks as though 1t had
been showing in heaven. Au1 the cirro-
stratus clouds in long parallel lines, 50
straight Won knowau nGnite geoneter hai
drawn then Clouds which are the armory
from which thunier storms ges tleir Dayo-
nets of FIRE Clouds which are Ocelns on
The wing. No woader, long after TINS hrs5
Tuesday Of creation week, kiliu coniOundsi
Job with tn question, "DJst thou kHO" tn9
balancing of the clouds
Half Of this Tuesday work done. the other
half is the work Of compelling the waters TO
lie down in their destined places. SO God
picks up the solid ground ana packs 1t up IN
to the five elevations, which are the CONT
nents With his finger he makes deep ce-
,rtI n Ia
while ut the piiingup of the Alieghanies and
Sierra Nevadas and Pyrenees and Alps ana
Himalayas the rest OF the waters start by
the law OF gravitation to the lower places,
and in their run down hill become the
rivers, and then all around the earth these
rivers come into convention and become
oceans beneath as the clouds are oceans
above
Now it is Wednesday morning OF the
worlds first week. Gardening and horucul-
ture will he born to-day. How queer the
hills look, and so unattractve they seem
hardly worth having been made. But now
all the surfaces are changing color. oolIe-
thing beautiful is creeping oil over them. II
has the color Of emerald, Az. IL is heritage.
Hail TO the green guest Gods favorite color
and Gods fayOrite plant as | judge from
the fact that he makes n larger number OF
them than Of anything else. But look yol-
derl Something starts out OF the groun
and goes higher up higher AMI higher, an
spreads out broad leaves. l. is a palm tree.
Non5er is another growth and It's leaves
hang far down, and il is a willow tree. And
yonder is a growth with mighty sweep of
branches. And here they come-the pear.
AMI the apple and the peach, and the poue-
granate. and groves and orchards, and for
csts, their shadows and their fruit grid ing
the earth.
Now it is Thursday morning Of IL worlrs
first week. Nothing will be creltel today.
The hours will be plsssl in scattering fOg3
au mists AMI vIpors. Tns atmosphere
must be swept clean. Other worlds are t.
heave In sight. This little ship OF the earth
has seemed 10 have all the ocean OF I'M
mensity to itself. But mightier craft are 10
be hailed to-day on the high seas Of space.
First, the moons white sail appears and
does very well until the sun bursts upon tho
scene. The light that on tho previous threo
mornings was struck from an especial word
nov gathers in the sun, moon AMI stars
Ols for ths day, thS other for thsnigdt.
And tbs STU now appears afterwlrltJ b)
found eight hundred au1 lightweight thou
sand miles in diameter, an1, put in astro
nomicll scales, 20 be founl ~ weigh nearly
four hundred thousand times heavier than
our earth: a mighty furnace, its heat kept
devouring other worlds with It's jaws o.
flame. And the stars como out. thoss street
lamps OF heaven, those keys OF pelrl, upon
which Gods fingers play tho music of the
spheres. How bright thsy look in CHS ORR
entail EVENING" Consultations Galaxiesl
What twenty-four hours of this first week
solar, lunar, stellar aopsarancesl All this
Thursday and the adjoining nights employed
in pulling aside the curtain of vlpor from
these flushed or pale-face1 worlds
Now it is Friday morning in the first wee'I
of the worlds history. Water, but not fin
swimming it; air. but not a wing flying it.
II is n silent world. Can it b. that it was
made only for vegetables? But harkl There
is swirl and q splashng in all tho four
rivers of Pison, Giho1, Hideksl aud Euphra-
tes They ara all aswim with life. some
darling like arrows through SPLIT crystal,
and othe-s quiet in DARK pools like shadows.
Everything, from spotted trout to bshemoth.
all colorei, all shaDe1, the ancestors OF
finuy tribes that shall by their wonders of
construction confouni the AgassizeS the
Cuviers and the Linnelses and the ichthyo-
loyists Of the more than six thousand years
following this Friday of tho first week
And while ! stand Oh the banks OF these
n.