Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1897-01-18
HILLS THAT HINDER.
DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON ON THE
OBSTACLES CHRISTIANS MEET.

Made Level Plains by Gods Grace T-h
Cuthseans Are Not All Dead Yet.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 17.-In the presi
dents church and before an audience III
which were prominels5 senators and
mem bers of the house of representatives
and people Of all nationalities this dis
course Of sublime encouragement was
delivered. DR.. Talmage's subject was
''Storming the Heighss'' and his text,
Zechariah iv, 2: 'tX no art thou, o
great mountain? Before Zerubbabel
thou shalt become q plain
Zerubbabeli Who owned that difficult
name, in which three times the letter
OBJ occurs, disposing most people to
stammer in the pronunciation? Zerub-
babel was the splendid man called to
rebuild the destroyed temple at Jerusa-
lem. Stone fer the building had been
quarTied, and the trowcl had rung at the
laying Of the cornerstone, and all went
well, when the Cuthaans offered to help
in the work. They were bad lot Of
people, and Zerubbabel declined their
help. and then the trouble began. The
CuthRans prejudiced tho secretary of the
treasury against Zeru bbabel, SO that the
wages Of the carpenters and masons
could not be paid, and the heavy cedar
tim hers which had been dragged from
Mount Lebanon TO the Mediterranean
and floated in raftsa from Beirut to
Joppa and were to be slrawr by OK team
from Joppa to Jerusalem had halted,
and as result Of the work of those
jealous Cuthaans for Is years the build
ing of the temple was stopped. But
oJ,o1 bo ,c,Ar
soul; got new call from God to go
ahead with the temple building, and
the angel Of the Lord IN substance said:
''They have piled up obstacles in the
way of Zerubbabel until they have be-
come as a mountain, height above
height, crag above crag, but it shall all
be Numbered down and made fiat and
smooth as the floor of house. who
art thou, 0 great mountain? Before
Zerubbabel thou shall become a plain. -
Heaping Obstacles In the Way.
Well, the Cuthaans are not all dead
yet. They are busy in every neighbor-
hood and every city and every nation of
every age, heaping obstacles in the way
of the cause of God. They have piled
up hindrances above hindrances until
q
has become mountain, and the noun
tain has become an Alp, and there it
stands, right in che way of all move
ments for the worlds salvation. Some
people are so discouraged about the
height and breadth Of this mountain in
front of them that they have done moth
ing for 16 years, and many Of those who
are at work trying to do something to-
ward removing the mountain toll in
such way that I can see they have not
much faith that the mountain CT him
ORANGES will ever be removed. They feel
they must do their duty, but they feel
all the time-I can hear it in their
prayers and exhortations-that they are
striking their pickaXes and shovels into
the side Of the Rocky mountains If the
good Lord Will help me while l preach,
L 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 Frustrated, torn
down, ground up, leveled, put out of
sight forever. "Who art thou, 0 great
mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt
become a plain.
First, there is the mountain of preiu-
dice, as long as range of the Pyrenees.
Prejudice against the Bible as dull |
book. an Inconsistent book, cruel |
book, an unclean book and in every way |
an unfit book. The most of them have
never read it. They think the strata of
the rocks contradict the account in Gen
esis The poor souls do not know that
the Mosaic account agrees exactly with
the geological account No violin OF
<1r1&n
crowbar and pickaxe and shovel and
blasting powder the geologist goes down
IN the earth and says, ''The first thing
created in the furnishing of the earth
was the plants - Moses says, .sAye, 1
told you that in the book of Genesis,
The earth brought forth grass and herb,
seed after his kind and the
tree yielding fruit. y
The geologist goes on digging in the
earth and says, 'The next thing in the
furnishing of the earth was the making
of the creatures of the sea-. Moses
says, "Aye, told you that was next in
the book of Genesis, God said, Let the
waters bring forth abundantly the NOV
ing creatures that have life, and God
created great whales. " The geologist
goes ON digging and says, 'The next
thing in the furnishing of the earth
was the creation of the cattle, and the
reptiles, and the beasts of the field. -
Confirming the Scriptures.
s'Aye.' says Moses, 81 told you that
was next in the first chapter of Genesis,
And God said, Let the earth bring
forth the living creature after his kind,
cattle and creeping thing and beast of
the earth, after his kind. - The geolo-
gist goes on digging in the earth and
says. 1.-THE mkt creature was the hu-
man family ave saws Moses. 81