Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1891-05-30
A GREAT WEEKS WORK.
DR., TALMAeE breaches A sUaMoN
ON THE CREATION.

or Week of Ages Was ,Eequircd--He
Believes I'm tho Mosaic Account OF the
Earth's beginning.
BROOKLYN, May 24.-The striking
sermon DR.. Talmage delivered this
morning to an audience which filled
the new Tabernaclc.i in every part, dealt
with topic of interest to all who have
watched the discussions now agitnting
tile churches. Wherever the question
of the inspiration of the Bible is raised
the trustworthiness of the Mosaic mar
ralive OF the creation is always the
point chiefly assailed. The fact that
50 prominent and eloquent n preacher
as DR.. Talmage places himself clearly
on record on the side of orthodoxy will
doubtless have O marked influence on
public opinion. Ills text was Genesis i,
~ ~ 'And the evening and the morning
were the sixth day
From Monday morning to Saturday
might gives us a weeks work. If we
have filed that week with successes
:we are happy. But I aln 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 might in on unusual way tell
you a 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 l shall
reach the same practical result of rev.
ercnce 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 where9 Not a roof, not
n wall not q door, not q ROOM was fit
for human occupancy. There is not Il
pile of black b;lsalt in Yellowstone park
or an extinct volcano in Honolulu 50
inappropriate for human residence as
was this globe at that early period.
Moreover, there was no human archi-
tect to draw a plan, no quarryInan to
blast the foundation stones, no carpen-
ter to llew out beam. AMI no mason
to trowcl Il wall Poor prospect But
the time was coming when being
called man was to be constructed, and
he was to have bride; and where
The could find homestead to which lie
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 and
glaciers destroy instead Of build. A
worse looking world than this never.
swung. 1t was heaped up dcforlnities,
,scarifcations and lnonstrosities. The
.S5ibs;e says-it was wthout.forn. That
is, it was not round. it was not square,
it was not octagonal, it was not a
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 a place for human resi-
dence the angel would have said, mo,
no; try some other world; the crevices
of this earth are too deep; its crags are
too appalling; its darkness is too
thick" But Monday morning came.
think it was q 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 darkness. But
light may be necessary, for angelic in
telligences are to see in its full glory
the process of world building. But
where are the candles, where are the
candelabra, where is the chandelier?
No rising sun will roll in the morning,
for if the sun is already created its
light will not yet reach the earth in
three days. No 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 from2 Desiring to ac-
count 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 alllales throw out light indie
pendent of the sum- Oh, yes; all that
is true, but do not think that is the
way light was created.
The record makes lie think that,
standing over this earth that spring
morning, God looked upon the dark
ness that palled the heights of this
world, and the chaslns 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 tie subtle, bright glowing
ana all pervadiny fluid, that word
which thrills and garlands and lifts
everything it touches; that word the
full meaning of whi5h 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 second, and by un-
dulations/ seven hundred and twenty
seven trillions in q second, that one
word God utters-Lightl
And instantly the darkness began to
simmer. and the thick folds of black
gess to lift and there were seltilations
and coruscations and flashes and bill
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