The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-12-24
IN PERFECT ACCORD.
Oh. TALMAeE ON AN INTERESTING
SUBJECT.

Confirms the Researches of Scientists
Story of the Deluge and Sinking of the
Mountains.
copyright, 1897, by American Press Asso-
ciation.1
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19.-The throngs
coming to DR.. Talmage's preaching
services at the First Presbyterian
church are all the time increasing and
far beyond the capacity of his church to
hold. In this sermon he discusses a sub
ject interesting to all-viz, 1.-THE Geolo-
Ky of the Bible; or. God Among the
Rocks" The text is II Samuel vi,
8, 2: "And when they came to Nachon S
threshing floor Uzzah put forth his hand
to the ark of God and took hold of it,
for the oxen shook it. And the anger of
the Lord was kindled against Uzzah,
and God smote him there for his error,
and there he died by the ark of God
A band of music is coming down the
road, comets blown, timbrels struck,
harps thrummed and cymbals clapped,
all led on by David, who was himself
musician. They are ahead of a wagon
on which is the sacred box called the
ark. The yoke of oxen drawing the
wagon imperiled it. Some critics say
that the oxen kicked. being struck with
the driver goad, but my knowledge of
oxen leads me say that if on hot day
they see a shadow of a tree or wall they
are apt to suddenly shy off to get the
GOODNESS of the shadow. l think these
oxen so suddenly turned that the sacred
box seemed about to upset and be
thrown to the ground. Uzzah rushed
forward and laid hold of the ark to keep
it upright, but he had no right to do so.
A special command had been given by
the Lord that no one save the priest IN
der any circumstances should touch that
box. Nervous and excited and irrever-
ent, Uzzah disobeyed when he took hold
of the ark, and he died as consequence.
In all ages, and never more so than
in our own day, there are good people
all the time afraid that the Holy Bible,
which is the sacred ark of our time, |
will be upset, and they have been
long while afraid that science, and es-
pecially geology, would overthrow IL,
While we are not forbidden to touch the
holy book, and, on the contrary, are
urged to fondle and study it, any one
who is afraid Of the overthrow of the
book is greatly offending the Lord with
his unbelief The oxen have not yet
n16en yoked which can upset that ark of
the worlds salvation. Written by the
Lord Almighty he is going to protect
it until its mission is fulfilled and
there shall DC no more need of a Bible,
because all it's prophecies will have
been fulfilled and the human race will
have exchanged worlds.
Perfect Accord.
A trumpet ana violin are very diff
fereht instruments, but they may be
played In perfect accord. So the Bible
account of the creation of the world
and the geological account are different
one story written on parchment and
the other ON the rocks and yet in per-
feet and eternal accord. The word
''day," repeated in the first chapter of
Genesis, has thrown into paroxysms Of
criticism many exegetes. The Hebrew
word lyon" of the Bible means some-
times what we call a day and some
times it means ages. 1t may mean "a
hours or 100,000,000 years. The Or
dor of creation as written in the book
of Genesis is the order of creation dis
covered by biologists crowbar. So
many Uzzahs have been nervously rush
ing about for fear the strong oxen of
scientific discovery would upset the BIZ
BILE that went somewhat apprehensive-
ly to look into the matter, when |
found that the Bible and geology agree
in saying that first were built the rocks,
then the plants greened the earth, then
marine creatures were created, from
minnow to whale, then the wings and
Threats of aerial choirs were colored
and tuned, and the quadrupeds began
to bleat and below and neigh. What is
all this fuss that has been filling the
church and the world concerning a
fight between Moses and Agassiz? There
is no fight at all. But is not the geolog-
zeal impression that the world was mil
lions of years building antagonistio to
the theory of one weeks creation in
Genesis? No
A great house is to be built. A man
takes years to draw to the spot the foun-
dation stone and the heavy timbers. The
house is about done, but it is not fin
ished for comfortable residence. Sud
denly the owner calls i'll upholsterers,
plumbers, gas filters, paper hangers, and
in one week it is ready for occupancy.
Now, it requires no stretch of magma
ton to realize that God could have tax
en- millions of years for the bringing
of the rocks and the timbers of this
world together, yet only one week more
to make it inhabitable and to furnish it
for human residence. Remember also
that all up and down the Bible the
language of the times was used-com-
mon parlance-and it was not always to
be taken literally. Just as we say every
day that the world is round when it is
not round 1t is Observation-Disclosures at
the poles and protuberant at the euua-
tor. Professor Smell, with his chain of
triangles, and Professor Varin, with the
shortened pendulum of his clock, found
it was not round, but we do not become
critical of any one who says the world
is round. Let US deal as fairly with
H. 4.