The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1907-02-01

first intelligent user Of ii. He focused
his eyes upon the heavens and began
TO follow the movements Of the heav-
enly bodies. He went on in his inyes-
tlgations until at last he found out
that the earth moved around the sun.
Absurd. Absurd" cried the Church
of Rome. "The earth does not move
about the sun; the sun moves around
the earth. Does not the Bible tell us
that Joshua halted the sun above Gid
con and the moon in the valley OF
AialOn? Away with the hereto. Away
awayw Then the so called literallst
priests placed the heavy hand OF the
law upon Calico and would have tor
tured him to death had he not signed
this humillatlng recantation: with
sincere heart and unfeigned faith
allure. curse and detest the said er-
rors and heresies wiz. that the earth
moves. etc). swear that will never
in the future say or assert anything
verbally or I'm writing which may give
rise TO a similar suspicion against me-
7. Calico. have abjured as above Win
my own hand
Now. was there ever such unmitigat-
ed nonsense as that act Of the church
IL was the setting up Of a claim that
q book written to teach morality ana
religion should be an authority on sci
ence also. Ii was as II one should IN
sist on taking an incidental reference
of n physician on a question Of music
as an authority superior to the dictum
of a musician The Bible writer's, III
tent on teaching men how to i've I'D
this world so as to be happy in the
next learned I'm the things Of God, Du'
uulearned i'm the crude science or theH
times. accepted the ideas current al
the period and passed on to their ap'
nointed tonic. But Calico was declar-
cd n hereto on such testimony ana
saved his life only by recantation. Le'
us be careful lestwe demand OF the bloIe
more than It was ever intended to teach'
The same bigoted stupidity OF the
mediaeval church we can bnd III the
church Of the eighteenth and nine
teenth centuries. The scientists went
on in their investigations, ana they
nroved that this old planet was not
created 5000 or 5000 years ago. II
has been developing during thousands
upon thousands and hundreds Oh lnou
sands Of years The Bible, by the way
doas not fix a date for the creation
II merely says. "In the beginning
Crhe dates on the margin are those VI
Archbisbop Ussher, who lived in th'
q sixteenth century A. d. The geoio
cists went on in their investigations
and found eras and epOchs and ages
: nerhaps a million years apart. NO
, only did science prove the immens'
age Of the earth. but that the develop
! ment was a slow process OF ages. Inc!
Z brought these facts TO the church ah'
q soid Come and see and study Ih
J., church threw up Its hands in horror
= "What will become Of our blDles
T. ror nrove those statements trueF the.
r exclaimed. Does not the BlDie w
e clare that God made the earth and ID
I heavens I'm six days? No more an
l. no less" But" said the scientific th'
r ologians. perhaps the day OF Goa
n creation meant an era, not day O
d twenty-fo hours" Absurd! crie
;. the church. Absurd! A day means
q dov OF twenty-four hours and nothln
y, - Go tho church fought the II
= vestleatlons of science. They tousl
: them ON and fought them on. I'D
n tbeologians said to the church men
-, hers "If YOU believe this heresy yo
y, arc not q Christian" The result wa
tho church continued to read the nr'
: chapter of Genesis as literal histoi
- until # made itself absolutely rlulc'
{. lous. They overlooked the essenu
Il fact that the day" Of the creation
" not n day Of twenty-four hours. vi
dov ,s with the Lord as thousai
wears and a thousand years as Vi
= day" QI Peter Iii, -.
- Now. there is the same disposition
" dav as there was in the medlaeV
j church and In the church OF the MN
- teenth century. Some church mempe
iu today are trying to stir up intern
strife by reading the letter OF the 81 Is,
instead Of the spirit Of the Bibie. lh
u' are trying to take certain Bible pa
10 soges and twist them out Of all SCI
gS blance of their true meaning. lhey
Ia tbis with the assumed air OF gre
'id splrltual erudition and gospel sancu'
ms When they quote these passages III
ng lool, ot us in n very condescendi
eL wov. rs much as TO say: Have you
nd FORGOTTEN such and such a passae
us DO YOU not wish you knew as mu
us about the Bible as dof'
er- We should read the spirit Of the
he HE More than that. we should ne'
try IN solve the unsOlvable myster
mt of Cod and his work, which can ne'
no solved this side Of the grave. No
,or II Is wise man who is willing 10 r
ornize the fact that there are cert
re. limitations to his mental and spirlu
ute f,cnlties II is a wise man VINO
ne willing 10 confess that there are c
rain things he does not know ana u
J II or will be able 10 know this slde
heaven. When you and | come 10 u
glorious condition Of mind ana Sc
hey ne shall open our minds and hearts
the full enjoyment Of the gospel
, emo And my brother, l never want you
ften sit at the feet Of any religious teac
unless he is first willing to confess
einE in his gospel investigations there
certain mysteries so high that ne
udy never scale them. so deep that ne
OF never fathom them. so wide 'la'
not can never cross them.
are We come TO our pastors and ifle
helt and ask Just the same kind OF 100
'nH questions that the disciples a.
.oru christ Of old We come to Chrls',
,nH' ma, instance. and ask: Jesus, mere
isu s man who has been married wv.