Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1899-11-17
GODS ETERNAL PLAN.
WORLD NOT GOVERNED AT HAPHAz-
ARD, SAYS DR.. TALMAGE.
Enumerates Five Things That Have
Been Settled by Divine Wisdom.
Furnishes Proof In the Past HIS
tory of the World.


tory of the World.
copyright, Louis Klopsch, 1901
WASHINGTON, Nov. I2.-The Idea that
things In this world are at loose ends
and going at haphazard is in this dis
course combated by DR.. Talmage. The
text is Psalms cxix, 50, Forever, o
Lord, thy word ls settled In heaven"
This world has been In process OF
change ever since II was created
mountains born, mountains dying, and
they have both cradle and grave. once
this planet was all fluid, and no being
such as you or | have ever seen could
have lived on 1t minute. Our hemi-
sphere turns its face to the sun and
then turns It's back. The axis OF the
earths revolution has shifted. The
earth's center of gravity is changed.
Once flowers grew in the arctic, and
there was snow In the tropic. There
has been a redistribution OF land and
sea, the land crumblng into the sea,
the sea swallowing the land. Ice and
fire have fought for the possession OF
this planet. The chemical composition
OF It is different now from what 1t once
was. Volcanoes once terribly alive are
dead, not one throb OF fiery pulse. not
one breath OF vapor-the ocean chang
ing its amount Of saline qualities. The
internal fires OF the earth are gradually
eating their way to the surfaces-up-
heaval and subsidencs Of vast realms
of continent.
Moravians In Greenland have remov-
ed their boat poles because the advanc-
ing sea submerged them. Linnaeus
records that In 81 years a great stone
was 100 feet nearer the water than
when he wrote. Forests have been
buried by the sea, and land that was
cultured by farmers hoe can be touch
ed only by sailors anchor. Loeb Nevis
of Scotland and Dingle bay OF Ireland
and the nords OF Norway, where
pleasure boats now foat were once
valleys and glens. Many OF the Islands
of the sea are the tops OF sunken
mountains. Six thousand miles OF the
Pacific ocean are sinking. The diane
ter OF the earth, according to scien-
tifc announcement, Is lS9 miles less
than IL was. The entire coniguratlon
Of the earth is altered. Hills are de-
nuded Of their forests. The frosts
and the waters and the air lombard
the earth till 1t surreuders to the as
sault. The so called Everlasting hills
do not last. Many railroad companies
cease to build iron bridges because
the iron has a life Of It's own, not
vegetable life or an animal life. but a
metallic life, and when that life dies
the bridge goes down. Oxidation OF
minerals is only another term for de-
scriblng their death. Moses and sea-
weeds help destroy the rocks they
decorate.
Enrth's Changes.
The changes Of the inanlmate earth
only symbOlize the moral changes. 80
ciety ever becomes different for better
or worse. Boundary lines between ma
tions are settled until the next war un-
settles them. Uncertainty strikes
through laws and customs and leglsla-
ton. The characteristic OF this world
is that nothing In It Is settled. AT a
time when we hoped that the arbltra-
ton planned last summer at The
Hague. Holland, would forever sheathe
the sword and spike the gun ana dis
mantle the fortress the world has on
hand two wars which are digging
graves for the flower Of English and
American soldiery. From the presence
Of such geological and social and ma
tional and international unrest we turn
with thanksgiving and exultation to
nv text and find that there are things
forever settled, but In higher latitudes
than we have ever trod. Forever, o
Lord. tby word Is settled In heaven
High ND In the palace OF the sun at
least Ave things are settled-that ma
tions which go continuously and per
sIstently wrong perish; that happiness
is the result OF spiritual condition ana
not Of earthly environment; that this
world ls a schoolhouse for splendid OF
disoraceful graduation; that with OF
without us the world Is to be made
over into a scene Of arborescence and
nurity: that all who are adJoined 10
the unparalleled One OF Bethlshem
and Nazareth and Golgotha Will be the
subjects Of n supernal felicity without
any taking OF. -,
Do you doubt my first proposition
that nations which go wrong perish.
We have In this American nation all
the elements Of permanence ana De
| struction. We need not borrow from
others any trowels for upbuilding Oh
torches for demolition. Elements oil
ruin-nihilisn. infdelity, agnosticism
Sabbath desecratIon, inebriety, sensu
atty. extravaganza, fraud; they are al
here. Elements OF safety-God wor
shining men and women by the scores
of millions, honesty, beneyolence
truthfulness, self sacrifice, Industry
sobriety and more religion than hai
characterized any nation that has evei
existed; they are all here. The only
question IL as to which OF the forces
will gain dominancy-the one class Us
cendant. and this United States gov
ernment, think. will continue as Ions
as the world exists; the other class az
cendant, and the United States goei
into such smsll pieces that other gov
ernments would hardly think then
worth picking up.
Cemetery of Nations
Have you ever noticed the size OF TN
cemetery of dead nations. the vas
Greenwood and Psre le Chaise. wher'
mighty Kingdoms were buriedi opei
the gate and walk through this GENE
tery and read the epltaphs. Here lie
Carthage, born 100 years before Rome
great commercial metropolis on the pa
or TunIs. a part OF an empire that CAV
the alphabet to the Greeks and thei
great language TO the Hebrews; he
arms the terror OF nations. command
ing at one time 5000 miles OF coast
her Hamilcar leading forth 30 myriads
or SOC, 900 troops: her Hannibal carry
ing out In manhood the oath he na'
taken In boyhood to preserve eterna