The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1891-05-28
DR.. TALMAGE breaches 4
SERMON ON THE CREA-
TON.
He Cares Not Whether II Week OF
Days or a Week of Ages was
Required.
HE BELIEVES In THE MOSAIC AC-
COUNT OF THE EaRTHS BEGIN
MING.

BROOKLYN, May 24.-Ine 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 mar
rative of the creation is always the
point chiefly assailed. The fact that
so prominent and eloquent preacher
as DR.. Talmage places himself clearly
on record on the side of orthodoxy will
doubtless have a 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 1 am going to tell
you what God did in one week. Cos
mogony, geology, astronomy, ornith-
ology, ichthyology, botany, anatomy
are such vast subjects that no human
life is long enough to explore or com
prehend any one of them. But have
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 week of days or
a week of ages 1 care not, for shall
roooh Tho Co,pa vroof;ool ,x,S,,Jt ~ ro,,
erence and worship
THE FIRST DAYS WORK.
The first Monday morning found
swinging 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 a hui
man family, and they must have house
to live in. But where2 Not a roof, not
a wall, not a door, not a room was fit
for human occupancy. There is not a
Ola 81 az f e4fhcth ssffnk thasslt liz h Sc
inappropriate for human residence as
was this globe at that early period.
Moreover, there was no human archi-
tect to draw a plan. no quarryman to
blast the foundation stones, no carpen
ter to hew out a beam, and no mason
to trowel a wall. Poor prospect! But
the time was coming when a being
called man was to be constructed, anG
he was to have a 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 vol
canoes enough, and glaciers enough
but earthquakes and volcanoes an(
glaciers destroy instead of build. 4
worse looking world than this neve
swung. 1t was heaped up deforrnities
Bible says it was without form. Tha
is it was not round, it was not square
it was not octagonal, it was not
rhomboid.
God never did take any one in hi
counsels, but if he had asked som
angel about the attempt to turn thi
planet into a place for human res
dence the angel would have said, ''No
no; try some other world; the crevice
of this earth are too deep; its crags ar
too appalling; its darkness is to
thick" But Monday morning came
l think it was u spring morning, an
about half past four o'clock. Th
first thing needed was light. 1t wa
not needed for God to work by. for b
can work as we'll in the darkness Bu
light may be necessary. for angelic il
telligences are to see in its full glor
the process of world building. Bu
where are the candles, where are tt
candelabra, where is the chandelier
No rising sun will roll in the morning
for if the sun is already created il
light will not yet reach the earth
three days. No moon nor stars ca
brighten this darkness. The moo
and stars are not born yet, or,
created, their light viii not reach IL
earth for some time yet But the
is need of immediate light. Whel
shall it come froml Desiring to a
, count for things in natural way, ye
: say, and reasonably say, that heat ar
electricity throw out light independel
of the sun, and that the metallic bas
throw out light independent of the su
! and that alkalies throw out light ind
pendent of the sun. Oh, yes; all tn
is true, but do not think that is Il
way light was created
The record makes NE think thu
standing over this earth that spril
morning, God looked upon the dar
p ness that palled the heights of Il
world, and the chasms of it, and
awful reaches of it, and uttered, wheth
i in the Hebrew of earth or some kangua
4 celestial l know not, that word VIII
e stands for the subtle, bright, glowi
: and all pervading fluid; that wo
e which thrills and gariands and Ii
h everything it touches; that word t
/. full meaning of which all the chemi
> ot the ages have busted themselves
IS exploring; that word which suggests
e force that flies one hundred and nine
thousand miles in a second, and by I
dulations seven hundred and TWEEN
, seven trilhons in a second. that G
word God utters-Lightl
G. And instantly the darkness began
Il simmer, and the thick folds of bla,
h ness to lift, and there were scmtiIlatit
# and coruscations and flashes and
le lowing up of resplendence, and in gr
D sheets it spread out northward, sou
d ward, eastward, westward, and "a
70 ance filed the atmosphere untiE it CO.
t. hold no more of the brilliance- Iii