Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1892-12-23
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
Tho Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun
day Sermon.
Subject. "GOd Among the Stars"

That IS first rate poetry from Amos the
herdsma0. While guarding his fiocks at
night he got watching the heavens, He
saw stars above stars, and the universe
seemed TO him like a great mansion many
stories high, silver room above silver room,
silver pillars beside silver pillars, and win.
dows Of silver and doors of silver. aud tur-
rets and domes of silver rising into the i'm
measities, and the prophets sanctifiei
imagination walks through that great silver
palace Of the universe, through the first
story, through the second story, through the
third story, through the twentieth story,
through the hun ireth story, through the
thousandth story, and realizing that God is
the architect AMI carpenter and mason Of
all that upheaved splendor he cries out in
the words Of the text lit is He that build
eth His stories in the heaven"
My hearers it is time Il a we widened
out ami heightened our religious thoughts.
In our pulpits and Sabbath classes and
Christian work of all sorts we ring the
changes on few verses of Scripture until
they excite no interest. Many OF the best
parts OF the Bible have never yet been
preached from or indeed even noticed.
Hence l to-day begin a series Of sermons,
not for consecutive Sabbath mornings. but
as often as think it best for varIety's sake
on the astronomy OF the Bible, or God
among the stars; the geology Of the Bible,
or God among the rocks; the ornithoiogy
OF thu Bible. or God among the
birds; the ichthyology of the Bible.
or god among the fishes; the pom
ology Of the Bible Of Col among the
orchards tne precious stones of the Bible, or
Col among the ametlystS; the conchology
of the Bible, or God among the shells; the
botany OF the Bible, or God among the
flowers; the chronology of the Bible, or Col
among the centuries. The fact is that we
have all spent too much tine on one story
Of the great mansion of Gods universe. We
need occasionally to 60 upstairs or down
stairs in this mansion; down stairs AMI 10
the cellar study the rocks, or up stairs an |
see God in some Of the high Ter stories an
learn the meaning Of the text when it says,
at is He that bull leth His stories IN the
heaven"
Astronomy was born in Chaldea. It's
mother was astrologg, or the science Of fore
telling events by juxtlpositlon Of Stars. The
orientals, living much out OF doors an in
very clear atmoiplere, through which the
stars shOne especially lustrouS got the habit
Of tuiying the night heavens In the hot
seasons caravans journsyed chiefly at night,
and that gave travellers much opportunity OF
stellar information. On the first page of the
Bible the sun and moon and stars roll in.
The sun, body Of nearly three million miles
in circumference and more than twe.ve
thousand times as large as our earth; the
moon, more than two thousan miles IN di-
ameter.
But God is used to doing things on such
an onnipoteut scale that Il ia ,es only one
verse to tell of this stellar AMI lunar manu-
facture. Yea, in three words all the other
worlds are thrown in The record says,
"Tbe stars ALSO II takes whole page: for
a man to extOl the making of a telescope or
microscope, or a magnetic telegraph or a
threshing machine or to describe a fins
Dainting or statue, but it was so easy for God
10 hang the celestial upholstery that the
story is cOmpasse in one verse: God made
two great lights; the greater light to rule
the day and the lesser ligdt to rule the night.
The stars alsoV
Astronomers have been trying to call the
roll of them ever since, an they have
counted mutitu les Of the passing in re-
view before the o5servatOries built At vast
expense. and the size AMI nu nbsr Of those
heavenly bodies have take tn tao utmost
the scientists OF all ages Blt God finishes
al He has to say about them IN three words,
The stars also" That IS Mars with it more
than fifty-fye million square miles, AMI
Venus with its more tnan ole hun ire1 an |
ninety-one million square miles. an
Saturn with its more than nineteen
billion square miles ant Juoiter with
its more than twenty-four billion
souare miles. AMI all tbs pla1sts OF our
system Of more than seyenty-eight
billion square miles, AMI those stars Of or
system when compared with the stars OF the
other systems, as a handful OF sad1 with all
the Rocky Mountains and all the Alps
The stars alsom For bTevity, for p0n1er-
ositv for splendor, for su .gestiveness, for
sublimity piled on su0limity, these words
excel all that human speech ever uttered Of
human imag inauOl ever soaret after.
The stars alsow IL is put in as You write
a notwithstanding you th )u sht OF at
ierward, as hardly worth putting into the
body Of q letter. The stars aiso'
Read on in your Bibles, and after awaile
the Bible flashes with the aurora b1realis or
northern lights, that strange illumination,
as mysterious aud un le6ned now as when
in the book OF job it was written: Men seq
not the bright light which Is IN tle cou IS.
Fair weather coneth out .. the NOrtl"
While all the nations supposed that the earth
was built on a foundation Of some sort, AMI
many supposed That it stood on a hugo
turtle. or some 9th r. great marine creature,
Job knew enough OF astronomy to say it had
no foundation, but was suspended on the in'
visible arm Of the Almighty, declaring that
de hangeth the earth upon nothing"
While all nations thou yht thu earth was
leve', the sky sprea over it like tent over
e fiat surface, Isaiah declared the world to
be globular, circular. saying of God, ale
sitteth upon the circle OF the earth. Sea
them glitter in the scriptural sSy-Arcturus,
Orion the Pleiades and tbs Bear with her
youag."
While running your fingers among the
leaves Of your Bible with tue astrJnom cal
thought in yOIr mini, You se9 two words
stOp-the sun and the moon. But what does
that Christian know about that miracle who
does not und rstsn1 something OF tn ose two
luminare.; Unless you watca mo lerI as
tronomy put those two w0rl is in its steel.
yards and weigh them you are as ignorant
as Hottentot about the stupsn iousness OF
that scene in the life OF JOSHUA. The sun
over three hundred thousand times as heavy
as our earth and going thousands OF miles
an hour. Think of stopping that and start
ing it again without the shipwreck of the
universe But can easily believe it. What
confouuds me is not that He could stop AMI
start again those two worlds in Joshua's
time but that He could have made the wheel
Of worlds Of which the sun AMI moon are
only cogs, and keep that wheel rolling for
thousands of years-the hywhsel OF all eter
nifty.
If an engineer eau start long train, it is
not surprising that be can stop it, Ii Col
could make and move the universe, which
is an express train drawn by an omnipotent
engine, am not surprised that To- part OF
a day He could put down the bT lkes on tw1
pieces Of the rotating machinery. lnhdelity
is hard no for ground Of co nolaint against
the Scriptures when it finds fault vita that
cessation Of stellar AMI lunar travel Here
is my watch. could not make a watch it
/ tried, but l can stop it and start it gain.
My difficulty is not that Col could stop
two worlds and start them again, but that
he could make them at all as He di make
them. What pleases me and astoun Is me
more and more is that eac one OF th9 mill
ions of worlds has God given name. Only
a comparatively small number Of them have
names given them by scientists IL astron-
omers can give a na ne to q whole coastsila-
ton or galaxy they think they do we'll, but
God has a name for each star in all immen-
sity. Inspired David declares of God, "He
telle'h the number Of the stars; He caleth
them all by their names"
They are not orDhans that have never
been clristene1. They are not waits OF the
night. They ara not unknown ships on the
high seas OF INN ansty. They belong TO a
family Of which Go is the Father. an1 as
Won call your children BENJAMIN or Mary or
Bertha or Addison or Josephine 80 Hs calls
al the infant worlds an all the aiu't worlds
by their first name, AMI they know il as
well as though they were only one child OF