The commonwealth., 1898-01-07
GOD AMONG THE ROCKS" +"
interesting Discourse On the Geol-
ogy of the Bible.


The following discourse by Rev. 7,
Dewitt Talmage treats of au interest
ing topic" The Geology of the Bible
1t is based on the text.
And when they came to Nachoas thr eshing
floor. Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of
God, and took hold o; 1t; for the oxen shookiL
And the anger of the Lord was ldndled against
Czzah, and God smote him there for his error
and there he diei by the ark OF Cod sam
uel, vi, 6-i.
A band OF music is coming down the
road, eornets blown, timbrels struck,
harps thrumined, and cymbals clapped
all led on by David, who was himself
musician. They are ahead of a wagon
on which is the sacred box called the
Ark" The yoke of oxen drawing TIL c
wagon imperiled ii. Some critics say
that the oxen kicked, being struck
with the drivers goad, but my knowl-
edge of oxen leads me to say that II on
hot day they see shadow OF tree
or wall, they are apt TO suddenly shy
off TO get the GOODNESS of the shadow.
| 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 lieepit upright. But he had
no right to do SO. A special command
had been given by the Lord that no
one, save the priest, under any circum'
stances. should touch that box. Nervous
and excited, and irreyerent, uzzah dis
obeved when he took hold OF the ark,
and he died as 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, winch
is the sacred ark of our time, will be
upset, and they have been n long while
afraid that science, and especially ge-
ology, would overthrow it, While we
are not forbidden to touch the Holy
Book, and, on the contrary, are urged
to fondle and study it, anyone who is
afraid of the overthrow OF the book Is
greatly offending the Lord with his
unbelief. The oxen have not yet been
yoked which can upset that ark of the
worlds salvation. Written by the
Lord Almighty, He is going to protect
IL until its mission is fulfilled and
there shall be no more need OF Bible,
because all its prophecies WILL nave
been fulfilled and the human race Will
have exchanged worlds.
A trumpet and IA violin or very differ
ent instrument, but they may be
played in perfect accord So the Bible
account of the creation of the world
| and the geological account are differ
ent. One story written on parchment
| and the other on the rocks, and yet IN
| perfect and eternal accord. The word
day, repeated in the first chapter OF
Genesis, has thrown into paroXysms OF
| criticism many eXegetes. The Hebrew
word '.yom" Of the Bible means some
times what we call day, and some.
times it means ages; it may mean
| twenty-four or u hundred milllon
wears. The order of creation as writ
| ten ipthe Book of Genesis is the order o.
creation discovered by geologists' crow
bar. Some many Uzzahs have beer
nerviousy rushing about for fear the
strong oxen of scientific discovery
would upset the Bible that wen
somewhat apprehensively to look int
the matter, when l found tha
the Bible and geology agree in saying
| that first were built the rocks; ther
the plants greened the earth; ther
marine creatures were created, from
minnow to whale; then the wings ano
throats of aerial choirs were colorec
and turned, and then quadrupeds be
gan to bleat, and below, and neigh
What is all this fuss that has beer
filing the church and the world, con
cerning u fight between Moses anc
Agassiz? There is no fight at all But
is not the geological impression thai
the world was millions of years build
ing antagonistic to the theory OF one
weeks creation in Genesis? No. A
great house Is 70 be built. A man