Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1891-05-25
HE DEFINES HIS BELIEF.
ONE WEEKS WORK THE SUBJECT
OF DR.. TALMAGE's SERMON.

sermon Freacheu sunday, May "a.
BROOKLYN May "a The striking sermon
DR.. Talmage delivered this morning to an
audience which filled the new Tabernacle
in every part dealt with topic of interest
to all who have watched the discussions
now agitating the churches Wherever
the question Of the inspiration of the Bible
is raised, the trustworthiness of the Mosaic
narrative of the creation is always the
point chiefly assailed. Hhe fact that so
prominent and eloquentA preacher as Dr.
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 weeks work. If we have
filled 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 have
thought | 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 week of days or a week of ages,
care not, for | shall reach the same prac
tical 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
up his mind to create human family, and
they must have house to live in. But
- NJ ,,A III I
not 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 ut 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 lie was to have p BRIDE and
where he could find homestead to which
he could take her must have been q 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
WORTH IMAM JulS NEVER swung. III WAS
heaped up defOrmities scarifications and
monstrosities. The Bible says it was with
out form. That is, it was not round, it
was not square, it was not octagonal, it
was not rhombod. God never did take
any one in his counsels, but if he had asked
some angel about the attempt to turn this
planet into a place for human residence
the angel would have said: "No, no; try
some other world; the crevices of this
earth are too deep; its crags are too ap
palling; its darkness is too thick"
But Monday morning came. | think it
was n spring morning and about halfpast
four O'clock The first thing needed was
light. 1t was not needed for God to work
by, 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 chandeliers No rsing
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 yet, But there is need of immediate
light Where shall it come fromr Desir
ing to account for things in a 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
allialics throw out light independent of
the sun.
Oh, yes4 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 or some Ian
guage 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
hundred and ninety thousand miles in
second, and by undulations seven hundred
and twenty trillions in a second, that
one word that God utters-Lightl
And instantly the darkness began to
simmer, aud the thick folds of blackness
to lift, and there were scintillations and
coruscatons and flashes and billowing
up of respendence, and in great sheets it
spread out northward, southwark, east
ward, westward, and Il radiance filed the
atmosphere until it could hold no more of
the brilliance. Light now to work by
while supernatural intelligences 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 rs with a gar
ment Oh blessed light | am so glad
this was the first thing created that week
Good thing to start every week with is
light. That will make our work easier
That will keep our disposition more radi
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. . thou Father Of Lights, give us
light
The great German philosopher in mis- last
moment said, Il want more light" A min
lister of Christ recently dying cried out in
eXultation, 81 move into the lightw Mr.
Toplady, the immortal hymnologist, in
his expiring moments exclaimed, Light
Lightp 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 reoeding
The blaze is going out The coiors are
dimming. Only part of the earth's sur
face is visible. 1t is o'clock, o'clock,
O'Clock; observation and darkness. 1t is
Monday night And the evening and tie
morning were the first day."
TUESDAYS WORK.
Now it is Tuesday morning A delicate