Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1901-11-02

Copyright. Louis klopsch 1907
q \ this discourse DIR. Talmage demon
strates that we are affected by forces
g that we seldom recognize and enlarges
upon human accountability; the text is
Job xxxviii., 81, "Canst thou bind the
sweet influences of PleiadesF
What is the meaning of that question
that God put to JObI Have we all our
lives been reading it and are most OF us
ignorant of its beauty and power ana
practical suggestiveness? A meaningless
passage of Scripture many thought 1t to
be But the telescopes were busy age
after age and astronomical observations
kept on questioning the skies unul inc
meaning of my text comes out lustrousl3.
The Pleiades is a constellation OF seven
stars appearing to the naked eye, but SCI
entifc instruments reveal more imam foV
properly belonging to the group. AlcEohe
is the name OF the brightest star OF that
group called the Pleiades. y Russian
astronomer observed that Alcyone is the
center of gravitation of our solar system
Hugh Macmillan says that the sun ana
its planets wheel around that center al
the rate of 422 900 miles day in an or
bit which it will take 19,00O,OoO years 10
complete. The Pleiades appear IN the
springtime and are associated with now
ers and genial warmth and good weather.
The navigation of the Mediterranean
WAS from Nav to Novemher--the rising
and the setting of the Pleiades. Inc
priests of Belus noticed that rising ana
setting 1000 years before Christ.
Now, the glorious meaning of my text
is plain as we'll as radiant. To give job
the beautiful grace of humility God asked
him. "Canst thou bind the sweet intiu-
ences of the Pleiades!' Have You any
power over tn. laws of gravitaton' IAN
YOU modify ur change an influence Wlela-
ed by a star more than 4OO'ooo hlleS
away? Can you control the winds OF the
springtime? Can you call out the now
ers? How little you know compared with
omniscience. How little you can do com
pared with omnipOtence!
The probability is that Job had been
tempted TO arrogance by his vast attain
ments. He was a mctallurgist, Zoolo-
oist a noet. and shows by his writings he
had knowledge of hunting, of music, OF
husbandry, of medicine, of mining, or as
tronomy, and perhaps was so far aheaa
of the scholars and scientists or MS time
that he may have been somewhat puHed
M; hence this interrogation OF my text
And there is nothing that so soon taxes
down human pride as an interrogation
mint rightly thrust. Christ used II
nightly. Paul mounted the parapet OF
his great arguments with such bat
tery. Men Of the world understand 1t.
Demosthenes began his speech on the
~ l. -. 90 l.
;line and Lord Chatham his most IA
nous orations with a question. Inc EN-
pire of ignorance is so much vaster imam
the empire Of knowledge that after me
most learned and elaborate dlsqulsluoh
upon any subject of sociology or theology
the plainest man may ask a question thar
will make the wisest speeches.. Atter
the profoundest assault upon Christianity
the hnmblest disciple may make an in
curry that would silence a Noltaire
Armed with interrogation.
Called upon, as we all are at times, 10
defend our holy religion, instead OF argu-
ment that can always be answered by ar
gument let us try the power of interroga-
ton. We ought to be loaded with at least
half a dozen questions and always ready,
and when Christianity is assailed and we
are told there is nothing in IT, aud there
is no God, and there never was a miracle
and that the Scriptures are unreasohaple
and cruel, and that there never Will he a
Judgment day, take out of your portable
armory Of Interrogation something IKE
this: What makes the condition OF Wo-
man in Christian lands better than i'll
heather lands? Do you think 1t would be
kind in God to turn the human race into
n world without any written revelation
to explain and encourage and elevate ana
save? And if q revelation was made
which do you prefer, the Ienda-Nesta or
the Persian or the COnfucian writings OF
the Chinese or the Koran Of Mohammcd
or our Bible? If Christ is not a divine
being, what did he mean when he said.
Before Abram was | ann" If the Bible
is n bad book, where are the evil results
of reading it? Did you see any degrading
influence Of the book in your father or
mother or sister, who used to read itE Do
you not think that a judgment day is nee
essary in order to explain and fix up
things that were never explained or fixed
up? If our religion is illogical and an
imposition upon human credulity, why
were tlEIStHti anu w hNH4ii = tDlA abA Nf'dN
stone and William Mckinley its adyo-
Gates? How did it happen that our reli-
gion furnished the theme for the greatest
poem ever written, Paradise Lost" and
to the painters their greatest themes in
the Alteration Of the Magi," The
TRANSPORTATION" 1.-The Last supper"
"The Crucifxion," The Entombment,"
1.-THE Last Judgment" and that all the
schools of painting put forth their utmost
genius in presenting "The Madonna
A discourse on Gods omnipotence and
mans limitations would not have had
such an effect upon Job as the interroga-
ton Of the text, "Canst thou bind the
sweet influence Of PleiadesT
Sweet Influences from Afar.
These words also recognize ar-reaching
influences. Job probably had no ade-
quate idea Of the distance Of the worlds
mentioned from our world, but he knew
them to be far off, and we, who have the
advantage Of modern sidereal investiga-
ton ought 10 be still more impressed than
was Job with the question OF the text, a 9