The Robesonian., 1897-01-20
STORN|NG THE HEIGHTS.
DIR. TALMAGE's SUNDAY THEME,
Way of Zerubbabel Until They
Have Been as Mountain.

zerubbabel Who owned that difficult
name IN which three times the letter "b' oc-
ours, disposinS most people to stamner in
the pronunciation? Zerubhabel was the
splendid man called to rebuild the DESTROYED
temple OF Jerusalem. Stone for the building
had been quarred, and the trowel had rung at
the laying OF the cornerstone and all went
! wen, when the CuthRanS offered to help in
the work. They were a bad lot of people,
ana Aerubbabel declined their help, and then
Inc trouble began. The Cuthaans preu
| diced the secretary of the treasury against
lerubPabel. SO that the wages ofthe carpen-
tiers and masons could not be paid, and the
heavy cedar timbers which had been dragged
| from Mount Lebanon to the Mediterran can
and noated in RATS from Beirut to Joppa and
were to be drawn by OK team from Jorpa to
Jerusalem had halted, and az a result of the
work OF those jealous Cutheans for sixteen
| J ars the building of the temple was stopped.
| but after sixteen years ZerubbabeI, the
mighty soul, got new cali from God to go
ahead with the temple building, and the
angel OF the Lord in substance said: "They
nave piled up obstacles in the way of Zerub-
Sapea ga Set until they have become as mountain,
| ne ght above height, crag above crag, but it
Shall all be thundered down and made fiat
| ana smooth as the floor of q house. Who
| art thou, o great mountain? Before Zerub-
babel thou shalt become plain"
~ wen, the Cuth8ans are not all dead ret.
AhOJ "lo puSY III every nelghbOrhOOd and
| every city and every Nation of every age
heaping obstacles in the way OF the cause OF
| 6od. They have piled up hindrances above
| hlndrances until they have become hill.
anu the hill has become mountain, and the
mountain has become an Alp. and there it
stands, right in the way Of all movements
| Tor the worlds salvation. Some peopIe are
| SO discouraged about the height and breadth
or this mountain in front of them that thew
nave done nothing for sixteen years, and
nany OF those who are at work irving to do
someIh hlnS toward removing the mountain
ton IN such a way that can see they have
not much faith that the mountain OF him
ORANGES will ever be removed, They feel
they must do their duty, but they feel all the
time-l can hear it in their prayers and ex-
horatlons-that they are striking their
p!ckaXes and shoyels into the sides Of the
rocky Mountains. II the good Lord will
help me while preach I will 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, leveled. put out of sight
forever. ''Who art thou, o great mountain?
Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a
plain"
First, there is the mountain of prejudice,
as lone as range Of the Pyrenees. Preiu.
dice against the Bible as a dull book. an IN
consistent book, cruel book. an unclean
oooH, ana IN every way an unfit book. The
most ofthem have never read it, Thev think
the strata ofthe rocks contradict the account
In Genes g. The poor souls do not know
tnat me Mosaic account agrees exactly with
! .ne SeoloSlcai account. No violin or flute
ever was IN better accord. By eroWbar and
pickax and shovel and blasting powder the
geoioglst goes down IN the earth and saws.
Inc nrst thing created in the furnishing of
the earth was the plauts." Moses saws:
"Aye;l told you that in the book of Gene.
SIS ,ihe earth brought forth grass and herb,
yielding seed after his kind and the tree
vel ling fruit" The geo!ogist goes on
digging In the earth and says: "The next
tang III the furnishing of the earth was the
making OF the creatures of the sea- Moses
says: AYE. told you that was next in the
oook OF Genesis. God said. Let the waters
ofihg forth abundantly the moving creatures
whales'" eO''
.,i; Inc geolosist goes on digging and saws,
'Ihe next thing i'll the furnishing OF the earth
was the creation OF the cattle, and the rem
tiles and the beasts Of the field" cave"
says Moses told you that was next In the
nrst chapter OF Genesis, 'Ant God said, Let
the earth bring forth the living creature
after his kind, cattle and creeping things
ind ana beasts OF the earth after his kind"
Inc geologist goes on digging in the earth
sua says, "Ihe next creature was the human
family" Aye says Moses. ~ told Won
tnat was next in the hook OF Genesis $50
uou created man ID dis own image, in tho
image or '+5i created He him; male and fe-
male, created He them.'" Those preindiced
against the Bible do not know that the explor-
ations IN Egypt and Palestine AMI Syris are
confirming the Scriptures--the same facts
wrttten on monuments and on the walls of
eXnurned cit ,es as written in the Billie. The
eeity OF fHhom has been unburied, and its
prlcKs are found to have been made without
straw, exactly corresponding with the Bible
story OF the prosecuted Hebrews. On terra
GOTTA cylinder, recently brought I'D from
thousands of years of burial, the capture of
baoYlon by Cyrus is told. On Babylonian
gem recently found are the figures OF tree.
man, q woman AMI serpent, and the
hanos OF the man and woman are stretched
up toward the tree as to pluck the fr1Iit
mus the Bible story of the fall is Confirmed
IN a museum at Const antinople YOU see n
piece OF the wall that oncs in the ancient
temple OF Jerusalem separated the court of
the 6eDtlles and the court of the Israelitas
10 W9lcn Paul refers when he SAYS of Christ
Ed, ne IS our peace, Who hath broken down the
middle wall OF partition between u.s." On
TABLETS recently discovered have been found
tne names OF prominent men Of the Bible.
spelied little different, according to tbs
demands or ancient language "Adamu"
ior Adam, "Abramn'' for Abraham, "Ablu''
Ior ABEL; and so on. Twenty-Five feet under
e. e., SU--N nS'o DEeH lonnu u seal inscribed with
tue words, "Haggai, son of Shebaniab.n u
thousands Of years ago cut, showing that
the Prophet Haggai, who wrote a part of the
Bible, was not myth,
Inc royal engineers have found, eighty
ieet below the surface of the cround at
'erusalem, PhRnician pottery and hewn
s,ones WIN inscriptions showing that they
were furnished by Hiram, King of Tyre. lust
as the Bible says they were. The great names
ol Die history, that many suppose are
names OF imaginary beings. are found cnt
into lmperishable stones which have within
a ieW years been rolled up from their
ehtomDment OF ages, such as Sennacherih
hnu Iigiath-Plieser. On the edge of a
pronzed step and on burned brick has been
3ound the name Of Nebuchadnezzar. Henry
haWllnson and Oppett and Hicks and Pales-
tine exploration societies and Assyriologists
ana Psychologists have rolled another Bible
up from the depths of the earth, and lol if
corresponds exactly with our Bible, the rock
tinn R1oae lust like the printed Bible, inscrip-
SSoo years before Christ tpstifyine
10 the truth of what we read 1897
years AFTER Christ. The story of the tower
OF baoei has been confirmed by the fact that
recently f at Babel an oblong pile of brick 11O
!eet h'gn evidences the remains of fallen
tower. IN the inspired book of Ezra we
read OF the great and noble Asnapper, a name
mat meant nolhing especial until recently
IN pried up Egyptian sculpture we have
the story there told of him as a great hunter
as wen as a great warrior. What saw now
IL, Is news TO those preudiced against the Bible.
iney are so Tar behind the times that tbev
know not that the old book is being proved
true by the prying eye of the antioua.ian
ami the ringing hammer of the archaaolocist
ana the plunging hammer of the geologist.
no more is infideity characterized bv it's
piasphemy than py its ignorance. but. OH
Waat a high mountain of prejudice against
inc Bible, against Christianity. against
churches, against oil evangelizing enter.
prses-a mountain that casts its long black
shadows over this continent and over ali
continents! Geographers tell us that Mount
Everest Is the highest mountain in the world.
~, no! The mountain OF prejudice against
tChristianity is higher than the highest craos
snat 1 care the lightnings of heaven. Before
Ae.uooape', can 1t ever become plain?
Another mountain of hindrance is that ~
positive and outspoken immorals. There is
the mountain of inebriacy. 1t is pilei with
Kegs and demijohns and decanters and b,,os-
noeaaS, on which sit the victims of 1h.t traf-
nc whose one business is to rob earth and
heaven OF the most generous and large
hearted and splendid of the human race IF
.ueir .' business was to take only the mean and
stingy and contemplate and useless. we
y.