The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1897-12-23


" threshing foor Uz-
xah put forth his hand to the ark OF
God and took hold Of 1t; for the oxen
shook II. And the anger Of the Lord
wis kindled against Uzzah, and God
ssnote him there for his error. and
there he died by the ark of God"
band OF music Is coming down the
rcd, cornets blown. umbrels struck.
hArps thrummsd and cymbals clapped.
all led on by David. who was himself
a musician. They are ahead OF a
wagon on which IL the sacred box
called TIE ark. The yoke OF oxen
drawing the wagon imperiled it. Some
critics say ttat the oxen kicked, being
struck with the drivers goad, but my
knowledge Of oxen leads me to say
that II on hot day they see shadow
of a tree or wall, they are apt to sud-
denly shy off to get the GOODNESS of
the shadow. l think these oxen so
suddenly turned that the sacred box
seemed about to upset and be thrown
to the ground. Uzzah rushed forward
and laid hold Of the ark to keep 1t up
right But he had no right to do 50.
A special command had been given by
the Lord that no one save the priest
under any circumstances should touch
that box. Nervous and excited and ir-
reverent, Uzzah disobeyed when he
hn1I . ha arly hn lipA n a
consequence. In all ages, and never
more so than In our own 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 have been a long while afraid
that science, and especially geology,
would overthrow 1t.
While we are not forbidden to touch
the holy book and. on the contrary, are
urged to fondle and study it. any one
who is afraid Of the overthrow OF the
book is greatly offending the Lord
with his unbelief. The oxen have not
ySt been yOked which can upset that
ak Of the worlds salvation. Written
by the Lord Almighty. he is going to
protect 1t until its mission Is fulfilled
and there shall be NO more need Of a
Hble because all It's prophecies will
have been fulfilled and the human
race will have exchanged worlds. A
trumpet and a violin are very different
instruments, but they may be played
in perfect accord. So the Bible &C.
count OF the creation Of the world and
the geological account are different
one story written On parchment and
the other on the rocks and yet In per-
feet and eternal accord. The word
day" repeated in tho first chapter OF
Genesis, has thrown into paroxysms Of
criticism many exegstes. The He
brew word "yom" Of the Bible means
sometimes what we call day, and
sometimes 1t means ages. It may
mean "a hours or 188.0O0.0O0 years.
The order Of creation as written In
the book Of Genesis is the order Of Gre
alton discovered by biologists crow
bar. So many Uzzahs have been nerv-
ously rushing about for fear the strong
oxeR Of scientific discovery would up
set the Bible that went somewhat ap-
Wehensively to look into the matter,
when l found that the Bible and geol-
ogy agree in saying that first were
built the rocks. then the plants
greened the earth. then marine crea-
lures were created from minnow to
whale, then the wings and throats OF
aerial choirs were colOred and tuned,
and the quadrupeds began to bleat and
below and neigh. What is all this
fuss that has been filling the church
and the world concerning a fight be-
tween Moses and Agassiz? There is
NO fight at all. But is not the geolog-
ical impression that the world was
millions Of years building antagonis-
tic to the theory OF one weeks crea-
ton in Genesis? No. A great house
Is to be built. A man takes years to
draw to the spot the foundation stone
and the heavy timbers. The house is
about done, but 1t is not finished for
comfortable residence. Suddenly the
owner cabs in upholsterers, plumbers,
gas filters. paper hangers. and In one
week it is ready for occupancy.
But for years good people feared
geology, and without any imploration
on their part apprehended that the
rocks and mountains would fall on
them until Hugh Miller, the elder Of
St. Johns Presbyterian church In
Edinburgh and parishioner Of DR..
Guthrie, came forth and told the world
that there was no contradiction be-
tween the mountains and the church,
and o. NJ. Mitchell, a brilliant lecturer
before he became brigadier general,
lying at Beaufort. 8. c.. during our
civil war, took the platform and spread
his map OF the strata OF rock in the
presence OF great audiences. and Pro-
fessor Alexander Winchell OF Michigan
university and Professor Taylor Lew
is OF Union college showed that the
without form and void" Of the first
chapter Of Genesis was the very chaos
out of which the world was formulated,
49, honl, - HrA ~acLipu ,nuat hor thu