Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1901-11-02

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| G&EaE8E8Ragg &EaE8EEz=8Ragg
WASHINGTON, Oct 27.-In this dis
course Dr. Talmage demonstrates that
we are affected by forces that we sell
dom recognize and enlarges upon hui
man accountability. The text Is Job
xxxvll. 81, "Canst thou bind the sweet
influences Of PleiadesT
What Is the meaning Of that question
| which God put to job? Have we all
our lives been reading it, and are most
of us Ignorant of its beauty and power
and practical suggestiveness? A mean-
| ingless passage of Scripture many
thought 1t to be- but the telescopes
were busy age after age, and astronom-
lcal observations kept on questioning
the skies until the meaning of my text
comes out lustrously. The Plelades Is
a constellation of seven stars appear
ing to the naked eye, but scientific In
struments reveal more than 400 prop
erly belonging to the group. Alcyone
is the name Of the brightest star Of
that group called the PleIades. A Rus
sian astronomer observed that Alcyone
is the center of gravltation Of our solar
system. Hugh Macmillan says that the
sun and its planets wheel around that
center at the rate Of $4,000 miles d
day In an orbit which it will take 49,
1000 years to complete. The Pleiades
appear In the springtime and are asso-
ciated with flowers and genial warmth
and good weather. The navigation Of
the Mediterranean was from May to
November, the rising and the setting
of the Pleiades. The priests Of Belus
noticed that rising and setting 1000
years before Christ
Now, the glorious meaning Of my
text Is plain as well as radiant. To
give Job the beautiful grace Of humil-
ity God asked him. "Canst thou bind
the sweet influences of the Pleiades?"
Have you any power over the laws OF
gravitation? Can you modify or change
an influence welded. by a star more
than 100000 miles away? Can you
control the winds Of the springtlme?
Can you call out the flowers? How
little you know compared with omnis-
cience? How little you can do COM
pared with omnipotence!
Power of Interrogation.
The probability Is that Job had been
tempted TO arrogance by his vast at
tainments. He was metallurgist, a
zoologist, poet. and shows by his writ
ings he had knowledge Of hunting, of
music. of husbandry, Of medicine. OF
mining. Of astronomy and perhaps was
30 far ahead of the scholars and SCI
entists Of his time that he may have
been somewhat puffed up; hence this
interrogation of my text And there
is nothing that so soon takes down hu-
man pride as an interrogation point
rightlythrust. Christi used 1t nightly.
.H.srA ted the parapet Of his great ]
yaifgi p - With such battery. Men
Of the world understand 1t. Demos
themes began his speech to the crown
and Cicero his Grafton against Catiline
and Lord Chatham his most famous
orations with a question. The empire
Of ignorance Is so much vaster than
the empire Of knowledge that after the
most learned and elaborate dsquisition
upon any subject of sociology or theol-
ogy the plainest man may ask ques-
ton that will make the wisest speech
less. After the profoundest assault
upon Christianity the humblest disci-
pie may make an inquiry that would
silence a Voltaire.
Called upon. as we all are at times.
to defend our holy religion, instead OF
argument that can always be answered |
by argument let as try the power OF |
interrogation. We ought to be loaded |
with at least half a dozen questions |
and always ready. and when Christian
ity Is assailed, and we are told there is |
nothing In 1t and there Is no God and |
there never was q miracle and that the |
Scriptures are unreasonable and cruel |
and that there never will be judg- |
ment day take out Of your portable |
armory OF Interrogation something like |
this: "What makes the condition OF |
woman In Christian lands better than |
in heather lands? Do you think 1t
would be kind in God to turn the hui
man race into a world without any |
written revelation to explain and en-
courage and elevate and save? And II |,
a revelation was made, which do you
prefer-the Zenda-Vesta Of the Persian
or the Confucian writings OF the Chi
nese or the Koran of Mohammed or our
Bible? If Christ is not divine being.
what did be mean when he said, Be
fore Abram was, amY If the Bible
Is q bad book. what are the evil results
Of reading it? Did you see any degrad-
ing influence of the book in your father
or mother or sister who used to read
it? Do you not think that judgment
day Is necessary in order to explain
and fix up things that were never ex-
planned or fixed up? If our religion
is illogical and an imposition upon hui
man credulity. why were Herschel and
Washington and Gladstone and VIII
liam Mckinley its advocates? How did
it happen tLat our religion furnished
the theme for the greatest poem ever
written, Paradise Lost and to the
painters their greatest themes In the
Alteration of the Magl,' The Transfg'
uration.' The Last Supper The Cruel
fixion.' The Entombment,' The Last
Judgment and that all the schools OF
painting put forth their utmost genius
In presenting The Madonnar"