The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-12-28
TESTIMONY OF ROCKS.
REV. DIR. TAIN AGE ON THE GE o
OGY OF THE BIBLE.
A Sermon of Interest to all, Showing That
Geology Confirms the Truth OF the Word
Of GOd-The Rock of Ages

of God-The Rock of Ages
Copyright, by American Press Associa-
citation.
The throngs coming to DR.. Talmage's
preaching services at the first Presby-
terian church are all the time increas-
ing and far beyond the capacity of his
church to Ole In this sermon he dis
cusses a subject interesting to all-viz,
1.-THE Geology of the Bible; or, God
Among the Rocks" The text Is IL
Samuel vi, 6, 7: "And when they came
to Nachon's t%hreshing 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 n cymbals clapped,
all led on by David, who was himself
q musician. They are ahead OF a
wagon on which is the sacred box call
ed the ark. The yoke of oxen drawing
the wagon imperiled it. Some critics
gay that the oxen kicked, being struck
with the driTer's goad, but my know
ledge OF oxen leads me to say that II
on a hot day they see a ShadoW or a
tree or wall, they are apt to suddenly
shy off to get the GOODNESS or the shad-
ow. / think these oxen so suddenly
turned that the sacred box seemed
about to upset and be thrown to the
ground. UZZah rushed forward ana
laid hold of the ark to keep 1t upright.
But he had no right to do so. "A spec
ial command had been given by the
Lord that no one save the priest I'M
der any circumstances should touch
thai box. Nervous and excited and ir-
reverent, Uzzah d~isobeysd when he
took hold Of the ark, and he died as a
consequence. In all ages, and never
more 50 han in our w 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 nave
been a long while afraid that science,
and especially geology, would over
throw it.
While we are not forbidden to touch
the Holy Book and, on the contrary,
are urged to fondl and study it, any
one who is afraid of the overthrow OF
the book lis greatly offending the Lord
with his unbelief. The oxen have not
yet been yoked which can upset hat
ark of the worlds salvation. Written
by the Lord Almighty, he is going to
protect it until it's. mission is fulfilled
and there shall be no more need of a
Bible because all it's prophecies will
have been fulfilled and the m race
will have exchanged worlds. A trum-
pet and a violin are very different in
sstruments, but they may be played in
perfect accord. So the Bible account
of the creation of the world and the
geological account are d~ifferent-one
story written On parchment and the
other on the rocks and yet in perfect
and eternal accord The world day.
repeated in the first chapter Of Cen
esis. has thrown into parOxysms OF
criticism many eXegetes. The Hebrew
word "yom" of the Bible means some
times what we call a day, and some
times it means ages. 1T may mean
"a hours or 100, 600, 900 years. The order
OF creation as written in the book of
Genesis is the order of creation discov-
ereI by biologists Owfbar. SO many
Uzzahs have been nervOusly rushing
about for fear the strong oxen of scien-
tific discovery wOuld upset the Bible
tina 1 went somewhat apprehensively
to took INTO the matter, when l found
that the Bible and geology agree in say
Ing UldC ITSL were DulNI TIE IOCkS, lIltl
the plants greened the earth, then ma
rine creatures We're created from min
now Ito whale, then the wings and
throats of aerial choirs were colored
and tuned, and the q~uadrupeds 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
geological impression that the world
was millions of years building antagO-
nistic to the theory of one weeks crea-
tfon in Genesis? No. "A great house is
to be built. A man takes years todraw
to the spot the foundation stone and
the heavy timbers. The house is
about done, but ut is not finished for
comfortable residence. Suddenly the
owners call in upholsters, plumbers,
gas filters, paper hangers, and in one
week lit is ready for occupancy.
Now, it requires no stretch of imagi-
nation to realize that God could have
taken millions Of years for the bring
ing of the rocks and the timberS Of this
world together, yet only one week
more to make it inhabitable and to fur
nish it for human residence. Remem-
ber also that all up and DOWN the Bible
the language of the times was used
common parlance-and it was not al
ways to be taken literally. Just as we
say every day that the world is round
when it is not round. 1t is spheroidal-
fattened at the poles and protuberant
at the equator. 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 h world is round. Let us
I0oI 49, IL
do with each other.
EVERLASTING RIGHT.
But for years good people feared geol
ogy, and without any d~mploration on
their part unprecedented hat the rocks
and mountains would fall on them I'M
Ill Hugh Miller, the elder of ST. Johns
Presbyterian church in Edinburg and
parishoner OF DR.. Guthrie, came forth
and told the world that there was no