The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-12-28

eSIdDlISI1tu We CdH dlIoIu u "dIN 0iItI
the last theory Of geology ~antagoniz-ng
divine revelation shall have been given
UP.
Now, in this discourse upon the
geology Of the Bible, or God among the
rocks. / charge all a~ggitated and af-
| fringnted UZzahs to calm their pulses
| about the upSetting of the Scriptures.
| Let me seei For several hundre years
| the oxen have been jerking the ark this
way and that and pulling 1t over rough
| places and trying TO stick it in the mud
| of derison and kicking with all the pow
er Of their hoofs against the sharp
| goadS and trying to pull il into the
| cool shade away from the heats OF ret
| ribution from a God "who will by no
| means clear the guilty" Yet have you
not noticed hat the book has never
been upset? The only changes made in
| it were by it's learned friends in the re-
| vision of the Scriptures. The book Of
| Genesis has been Numbered against by
| the mightiest batteries, yet you cannot
today find in all the earth q copy of
the Bible which has not the so chapters
of the first copy of the book Of Genesis
| ever printed, starting with the words
In the beginning God" and closing
| with JOseph's coffin. Fierce attack on
| the book of Exodus has beeen made
| because they said it was cruel tOdrOwn
| Pharaoh and the story of Mount Sinai
was Improbable. But the book Of Elk
| Cdus remains entact, and not one of
us, considering the crueltieS which he
| would have continued among the brick
! kilns OF Egypt, would have thrown
| Pharaoh a plank if we had seen him
| drowning. And Mount Sinai is today a
| pile of tossed and tunbled basalt, re-
calling the cataclysm of that noun
| tain when the law was given. And, as
! to those Ten commandments, all Roman
| law, all German law, all English law,
| all American law worth anything are
| Squarely founded on them. So mighty
| assault for centuries has been made on
| the book of Joshua. Tt was said that
the story of the detained sun and moon
| is an insult to modern astronomy, but
| that book of Joshua may be found to-
| day in the chapel of every university
in America, in defiance of any tele-
| scope projected from the roof of that
| university, The book of Jonah has
| been the target of ridicule for the small
| wit CT ages, ibut there it stands, with
| it's four chapters inviolate, while geol-
| Ogy puts UP in its museums remain Of
| sea monsters capable of doing more
| than the one which swallowed the re-
| creant prophet. There stand the 1,0S9
| chapter of the Bible Notwithstanding
all the attacks of ages. n there they
will stand until they shrivel up in the
final fires, which biologists say are al
ready kindled and grow hotter than the
furnaces of an ocean steamer as it puts
out from New York NarrCws for Ham
burg or Southampton.
I should not wonder if from the crypt
of ancient cities the inspired manu
scripts Of Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John, in their own c~hirography, wOald
/ tho taIDon q MD fno onicfln which pol11
dictated to his ~amanuensis as well as
the one in the apostles own hand
writing. At the SINE ratio of archaO-
logical n geological confirmation of
the scriptures the time will come when
the truth of the Bible will no more be
doubted than the common almanac,
which tells you the days and the
months of the year, and the unbeliev-
ers will be accounted harmless lunatics.
Forward the telescope and the spectro-
scope and the chemical batteries and
critically xamine the OStracOidS Of the
ocean depths and the bones Of the
great mammals or the gravely hilltops!
And the mightier, and the grander, and
the deeper, and the higher the explo-
ratiOnS the better for our cause. AS
sure as the thunderbolts Of the AL
mighty are stronger than the steel pens
of agnOstics, the ark of God will ride on
unhurt and UzZah need not fear any
disasters upsetting. The apocalyptic
angel flying through the midst of heav-
en-, ~proclaiming to all nations and
kindred and people and the
unsearchable riches OF Jesus Christ are
mightier than the shying off of a yoke
of oxen.
THE GOD OF THE ROCKS.
The geology Of the Bible shows that
l orr ro1iOinn iS not q no r,hxr oorr,lo.,
d~ilettanish religion. 1t was projected
and has been protected by the God Of
the rocks. Religion a balm? Oh, yes.
Religion a soothing power? Oh. yes.
Religion a beautiful sentiment? Oh,
yes. But we must have a God OF the
rocks, a mighty God to defend, an ON
nlpotent God to achieve, a force able to
overcome all other faces in the uni
verse Rose OF Sharon and Lily Of the
Valley is he, combination of all gentle
ness and tenderness and sweetness?
oh, yes. But if the mighty forces now
arrayed for the destruction Of the ma
lions are to be met and conquered, We
must have a God of the rocks. The
Lion OF Judah's tribe" as well as the
Lamb who was slain" One hundred
and thirty times does the Bible speak
or the rock as defense. as
as refuge, as Overpowering strength.
David the psalmist. lived among the
rocks. and they reminded him OF the
Almighty, and he calculates, THE
Lord liveth; blessed be my rock."
Lead me to the rock that is higher
than l." And then. as If his prayer
had been answered, he feels the
strength come unto his SOU, and -e
cries out. The Lord is my rock" He
shall set me up upon a rock"
Would h Bible present a sublime
picture OF motherly desperation in de-
Tense OF her children. it shows US Riz-
pah ON the rocks for three months with
disheveled hair and wild screams fight
ing back vultures and jackals from the
cOrpseS OF her sons. Would the Bible
set forth the OF the heart and
the power OF gospel to overcome it, it
tells us OF the hammer that breaketh
n rocks in pieces" Would our Lord
/ EenreSenf thu HaaroE,iifr of A;- n.-a