Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1891-06-04
HE DEFINES HIS BELIEF.
ONE WEEKS WORK THE SUBJECT
CT Or. TALMAeE's SERMON.


Say So Most EmphatieaIly-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 n topic Of interest
TO all who have watched the discussions
now sgitating 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. 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 /, 81, "And the evening
and the morning were the sixth day"
From Monday morning to Saturday
night gives us a weeks work. II 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
lOu q llIbAC vi OOh hlu III OhO "NChb
and that the first week And whether you
make it a 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 a house to live in. But
where? Not roof, not wall, not door,
not a room was fit for human occupancy,
There is not 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
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
heaped up deformities, scarifcations 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 rhomboid. God never did take
any one in his counsels, but If he had asked
some angel about the attempt to turn this
planet into place for human residence
the angel would have said: "No, no; try
some other worlds the crevices of this
earth are too deep; its crags are too ap-
palling; it's darkness is too thick"
But Monday morning came. l think it
was spring morning and about half-past
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 chandelier No rising
sun will roll in the morning, for if the sun
is already created it's 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 from? Desir-
ing to account for,things in a natural way
you say, and reasonably say, that heat and
electricity throw out light independent oil
the sun, and that the metallic bases throw
out light independent Of the sun, and that
alkales throw out light independent OF
the sun
Oh, yes; all that is true, but l 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 force that flies one
hundred and ninety thousand miles in 6
second, and by undulations seven hundred
and twenty-seven trillions in a second. that
one word that God utters-Lightl
And instantly the darkness began tc
simmer, and the thick folds of blackness
to lift and there were scintillations anG
coruscations and flashes and a billowins
up of resplendence, and in great sheets il
spread out northward, southwark, east
ward, westward, and radiance filed the
atmosphere until it could hold no more ot
the brilliance. Light now to work by
while supernatural intelligences look on
Light, the first chapter of the first day o.
the week. Light, the joy of all the cent
uries. Light, the greatest blessing that
ever touched the human eye The robe o1
the Almighty is woven out of it, for HI
covers himself with light as with a gar
ment. Oh, blessed light! 1 am so GLAD
this was the first thing created that week
Good thing to start every week with ii
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 mort
light natural light, Intellectual light
spiritual light, everlasting light. For lacl
of it the body stumbles, and the soul STUN
bles. o thou Father of Lights, give III
nghtl
The great German philosopher in his las
moment said, II want more elight." Amin
lister of Christ recently dying cried out IL
exultation, 81 move into the light" Mr.
Toplady, the immortal hymnologist, il
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 nov