Connecticut western news., 1897-01-21
HILLS THAT HINDER.
< ok. .rSlMkoe's SERMON ON THE
 OBSTACLES CHRISTIANS MEET.
s'storming the Heights- the Subject of His Sunday Enort-Mountains That May Be Made Level Plains by Gods Grace-The Cuthsans Are Not All Dead Yet.


 Sunday Erort-Mountains That May Be Made Level Plains by Gods Gr.ce-The
 Cuthseans Are Not All Dead Yet.
 WASHINGTON, Jan. I7.-In the presi- dents church and before an audience in which were prominent senators and members of the house of representatives and people of all nationalities this dis course of sublime encouragement was delivered. Dr. Talmaee's subject was "Storming the Heights" and his text Zechariah iv, q: "Who art thou, O great mountain2 Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become plain"
 Zerubbabeli Who owned that difficult name, in which three times tho letter ''b" occurs. disposing most people to stammer in the pronunciation? Zerub- babel was the splendid man called to rebuild the destroyed temple at Jerusa- lem. Stone for the building had been laying of the cornerstone, and all went we'll. when the Cuth9ans offered to help in the work. They were bad lot of people, and Zerubbabel declined their help. and then the trouble began. The CuthRans prejudiced the secretary of the treasury against Zerubbabel, so that the wages of the carpenters and masons could not be paid. and the heavy cedar timbers which had been dragged from Mount Lebanon to the Mediterranean and f1oated in rafts from Beirut to Joppa and were to be drawn by OK team from Joppa to Jerusalem had halted, and as . result of the work of those jealous Cuth@ans for l6 years the build- ing of the temple was stopped. But after l6 years Zerubbabel, the mighty soul, got a new call from God to go ahead with the temple building, and the angel of the Lord in substance said: They have piled up obstacles in the way of Zerubbabel until they have be- come as . mountain. height above height. crag above crag. but it shall all be thundered down and made fiat and smooth as the floor of house Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shall become plain.
 Heaping Obstacles In the Way.
 We'll, the Cuth@ans are not all dead yet. They are busy in every neighbor- hood and every city and every nation of every age, heaping obstacles in the way of the cause of God. They have piled up hindrances above hindrances until they have become hill, and the hill has become mountain. and the noun tain has become an Alp, and there it stands, right in the way of all move ments for the worlds salvation. Some people are SO discouraged about the height and breadth of this mountain in front of them that they have done noth- ing for 16 years, and many of those who are at work trying to do something to- ward removing the mountain toll in such @ way that can see they have not much faith that the mountain of hin- drances will ever be removed. They feel they must do their duty. but they feel all the time-I can hear it in their prayers and exhortations-that they are striking their pickaxes and shovels into the side of the Rocky mountains. If the good Lord will help me while preach, Twill give you the names of some of the high mountains which are really in the way and then show you that those mountains are to be prostrated, torn down, ground up le-eled. put out of sight forever. "Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become plain.
 First, there is the mountain of preju- dice, as long as range of the Pyrenees. Prejudice against the Bible as dull book, an inconsistent book, a cruel book, an unclean book and in every way an unfit book. The most of them have never read it. They think the strata of the rocks contradict the account in Gen. esis The poor souls do not know that the Mosaic account agrees exactly with the geological account. No violin or flute ever was in better accord. By crowbar and pickaxe and shovel and blasting powder the geologist goes down in the earth and says, 'tThe first thing created in the furnishing of the earth was the plants" Moses says, "Aye. I told you that in the book of Genesis, The earth brought forth grass and herb, yielding seed after his kind and the tree yielding fruit. ;"
 The geologist goes on digging in the earth and says, "The next thing in the furnishing of the earth was the making of the creatures of the sea-" Moses says, Aye, I told you that was next in the book of Genesis, God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the nov ing creatures that have life, and God created great whales. The geologist goes On digging and says, "The next thing in the furnishing of the earth was the creation of the cattle, and the reptiles, and the beasts of the field"
 Conhrning the Scriptures.
 Aye" says Moses, 'I told you that was next in the first chapter of Genesis, And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, after his kind. The geolo- gist goes on digging in the earth and says, "rhe next creature was the hu- man family" ''Aye," says Moses, "I told you that was next in the book of Genesis, So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female, created he them. Those prejudiced against the Bible do not know that the explorations in Egypt and Palestine and Syria are confirming the Scriptures-the same facts written on monuments and on the walls of exbumed cities as written in She Bible. The city of Pithom has been unburied. and its bricks are found to have been made without straw, exactly corresponding with the Bible story of the persecuted Hebrews On terra cotta cylindeS recently brought up from tbopsaEds of years of burial, the cap lure of Babylon by Cyrus is told. On a Babylonian gem recently found are the figures of . tree. man, woman and . serpent, and the hands of the man and woman are stretched up toward the tree az if to pluck the fruit. Thus the Bible story of the fall is confirmed.
 In a museum at Constantinople you rec piece of the wall that once in the ancient temple of Jerusalem separated the court of the Gentiles and the court