The morning times., 1897-03-08
BIBLE STORIES EXPLAINED
DIR. Talmage Considers "Things
Hard to BE Understood"

him were only a small part of the throng
which sought admission. 1t was estimated
that fully 10000 people were turned away
from the church doors before l L o'clock.
DR.. Talmage's subject was, Tough
Things in the Bible the text being taken
from the second letter OF st. Peter-''In
which are some things hard To be under
stood" The preacher spoke in part as
follows: 6
The Bible is the mightiest, the loveliest,
the strangest the best of books written by
Moses, the lawyer: Joshua, the soldier;
Samuel, the judge; Ezra, the builder; job,
the poet; David, the shepherd; Daniel, the
prime minister; Amos, che herdsnan;
Matthew, the custom-house officer, Luke,
the doctor; Paul, the scholar; John, the
exile, ana yet complete harmony. The
Bible is the most common sense book In all
the world. Bat there are many things in
it which require explanation.
''The Bible says the world was created
in six days, while geology says it was
hundreds of thousands OF Yeas in process
OF building In the beginning God Gre
ated Heaven and earth. In the begin
ning'-theTe you can lon IN ten million
yearsif Oh want to. There isno particular
date given-no contest between science and
revelation. Though the world may have
been i'll process Of creation Tor MILL Jns OF
years, suddenly and quickly, and in one
week, it may have been fitted up tol
mans residence. Just as a great mansion
may have been many years III building, and
yet III one week it may be cuTtalned and
chandeliered and cushioned an d uphol-
stored for the residence of a BRIDE and
groom.
The Bible represents that light was
created on Monday. and the sun was not
created until Thursday. Just think Of IL!
A book decla airing that light was created
three days before the sun shone! Why,
don't you know that heat and electricity
| emit light independent OF the sun? Be
| sides that, the rocks i'll crystalliZation
| emit light. There is light from a thou
| sand surfaces, the alkalis, for instance.
| The metallic bases emit light. There was
| time III the history OF the world when
| there We're thousands OF miles of liquid
| granite flaming with light Reides that,
| it has been found that there are burned out
| volcanoes in other worlds which, when
| they were in explosion and activity, must
| have cast fortn an insufferalle light,
| throwing a glare all over our earth. Be
| sides that, there are the aurora Dore3lls
and the aurora australts.
I'm the story of the deluge and Noah S
ark, they say that from the account there
| it must have rained 500 feet of water
each day in order that il might he fiji
| teen cubits above the hills. They say
| they do not believe the story. Neither DO
| J. There is no such story i'll the Bible.
will tell YOU what the Bible story is.
! This i 5 the story OF an eyewitness, Noah,
| his story incorporated afterwaTd by Moses
in the account. Noah described the scene
| tust as it appeared to him. He sa the
| flood and fathomed its depth. AS far as
| eye could reach everything was covered
| up, from horizon TO horizon, or, as 1t says,
| under the whole heaven. He did Eot
refer to the Sierra Nevades, or TO Mount
| Washington, for America had not been
| discovered. or, if it had been discovered,
he could not have seen so far off. He
is giving the testimony OF an eyewitness.
God speaks after the manner Of men when
he says everything went under, and Nonh
speaks after the manner OF men when he
| says everything did 20 under.
We are not dependent upon the Bible
! for the story OF the flood, entirely. An
lands, and all ages, and all literatures
seem to have broken and indistinct
tradition OF q calamity which Moses,
here incorporating Noah's account, so
grandly 50 beautifully, SO accurately, &c
soleInnly. records.
Another hard thing 10 he understood
is the storY that the sun and moon stood
still 10 allow Joshua TO complete his vic
tory Infidel scientists declare that an
impos>ibiIity But if man have brain
and strength enough to make a clock, can
he not start it and stop IL, ana start ii
again and stop il again? If machinist
! have strength. and brain enough to make
n Corn-thTesneT, can lie not start ii anG
stop il, and start IL again and stop il
again? Ii God have strength and wisdom
to make the clock of the universe, the
great machinery OF the worlds, has BE
not strength enough and wisdom enough
to start il and stop it, and start I agair
and stop it again? Isthe universe nlightier
than its God? Now, 1 say, if God can
start a world, and swing a world, auC
destroy n world, He can stop one or two
of them without q great deal of eXertion
or He could, 10y unusual refraction Of the
suns rays, continue the illumination.
But Infidel scientists say it would have
been beittling for other worlds TO stop on
account of such battle. Why, sirs, what
Yorktown was for Revolutionary times
and what Gettysburg was in our civil con
test and what Sedan was in the Franco
German war, and what Waterloo was il
the Napoeonic destiny-that was this bat
tie of Joshua against the five allied armies
of Gibeon. 1t was that battle that changed
the entire course Of history. 1t was bat
tie to Joshua as important as though d
battle now should occur in which England
and the United states, and France and Ger
| many and Turkey and Russia should figh
for victory or annihilation. However nuci
| any world, solar, lunar, or stellar, might
| be fastened in it's errand of light, it wOnC
be excusable If it fingered in the heaven:
| for a little while, and put down its sheai
| of beams and gaZed on such an Arma geI
! don.
''Then there is the Bible statement
tnat a whale swallowed Jonah and elected
him upon the dry ground in three days.
| II YOU will go to the museum at Nan
tucket Mass, you will find the skeleton
| of a whale large enough to swallow man
I said to the janitOr While 1 was stand.
ing in the museum, Why, it does not seem
from the looks of this skeleton that thai
story in the Book of Jonah is so very i'm
probable, does it?' oh, no. he replied
1T does net. There is a cavity in the
mouth Of the common whale large enough
for man to live in it. There have beer
sharks found again and again with ar
entire human body in them. Besides that
the Bible says nothing about whale II
says: The Lord prepared a great fish.
and there are scientists who tell us tina
| 10,