Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1897-12-20

list of so theories Of geology which had
been adopted and afterwaTd rejected.
LyeIl, the scientist announced so theo-
ries Of geology that had been believed
i'll and afterward thrown overheard.
Meanwhile the story Of the Bible has
not changed at ALL and if geology has
cast out between 100 and 200 theories
which it once considered established we
can afford to wait until the last theory
Of geology antagonizing divine revela-
tion shall have been given up. Now, in
this discourse upon the geology of the
Bible or God among the rocks l charge
all agitated and affrighted Uzzahs to
calm their pulses about the upsetting
Of the Scriptures. Let me see. For sew
eral hundred years the oxen have been
Jerking the ark this way and that and
pulling it over rough places and trying
to stick it in the mud Of derision and
kicking with all the power of their
hoofs against the sharp goads and try
ing to pull it into the cool shade away
from the heats of retribution from q
God ''who will by no means clear the
guilty" Yet have you not noticed that
the book has never been upset? The on
ly changes made in it were by its learn
ed friends in the revision Of the Scrip
lures The book Of Genesis has been
Numbered against by the nightiest bat
teries, yet you cannot today find in all
the earth copy Of the Bible which has
not the so chapters of the first copy Of
the book of Genesis ever printed, start
ing with the words, ''In the beginning
Cod and closing with Joseph's coffin.
Fierce attack on the book of Exodus
has been made because they said it was
cruel to drown Pharaoh and the story
of Mount Sinai was improbable. But
the book Of Exodus remains intact, and
not one Of US, considering the cruelties
which he would have continued among
the brick kilns of Egypt, would have
thrown Pharaoh a plank if we had seen
him drowning. And Mount Sinai is to-
day pile of tossed and tumbled basalt,
recalling the cataclysm of that noun
tain when the law was given. And as
to those Ten Commandments, all Ro-
man law, all German law, all English
law, all American law worth anything
are squarely founded Oh them.
So mighty assault for centuries has
been made on the book of Joshua. It
was said that the story Of the detained
sun and moon is an insult to modern
astronomy, but that book of Joshua may
be found today in the chapel Of every
university in America, in defiance of
any telescope projected from the roof Of
that university. The book of Jonah has
been the target of ridicule for the small
wit of ages, but there it stands, with its
four chapters inviolate, while geology
puts up in it's museums remains of sea
monsters capable of doing more than
the one which swallowed the recreant
prophet There stand the l, 099 chapters
of the Bible, notwithstanding all the
attacks of ages, and there they will
stand until they shrivel up in the final
fires which biologists say are already
kindled and glow hotter than the fur
naces of an ocean steamer as it puts out
from New York narrows for Hamburg
or Southampton. | should not wonder If
from the crypt of ancient cities the in
spired manuscripts of Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John, in their own chirogra-
ply, would be taken, and the epistles
which Paul dictated to his amanuensis
as we'll as the one in the apostles own
handwriting. At the same ratio Of
archaeological and geological confirma-
ton of the Scriptures, the time will
come when the truth Of the Bible will
no more be doubted than the common
almanac which tells you the days and
the months of the year, and the unbe
levers will be accounted harmless lu-
natics. Forward the telescope and the
spectroscope and the chemical batteries
and critically examine the ostracoids of
the ocean depths and the bones of the
great mammals on the gravely hilltops,
and the mightier, and the grander, and
the deeper, and the higher the explora-
lions the better for our cause. AS sure
as the thunderbolts of the Almighty are
stronger than the steel pens of agnostics
the ark of God will ride on unhurt, and
Uzzah need not fear any disasters upset
ting. The apocalyptic angel flying
through the midst of heaven, proclaim
ing to all nations and kindred and peo-
pie and tongues the unsearchable riches
of Jesus Christ are mightier than the
shying off of yoke of oxen.
No DiIettante Religion.
The geology Of the Bible shows that
our religion is not namby pamby,
nerveless, dilettantish religion. It was
projected and has been protected by the
God Of the rocks. Religion a balm?
Oh, yes. Religion soothing power?
Oh, yes.s Religion beautiful senti-
ment? Oh, yes. But we must have a
God of the rocks, mighty God to de-
fend, an omnipotent God to achieve, a
force able to overcome all other forces
in the universe. Rose of Sharon and
Lily of the Valley is he, combination
of all gentleness and tenderness and
sweetness? Oh, yes. But if the mighty
forces now arrayed for the destruction
of the nations are to be met and con-
quered we must have God of the