HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1897-12-23, Page 7TESTI310NY ori ROCKS
REV. DR. TALMAGE ON THE GEOLOGY
OF THE BIBLE.,
J1. Sermon of Interest to AM showing
That Geology Confirms the Troth of
the Word or God -The nook of Agee.
eCopyright, 1897, by American Press Assad.
ation.]
' Washington, Doe, 19. -The throngs
coming to Dr. Talmage's preaching ser-
vices at the FIrst Presbyterian church are
all the time increasing and tar beyond
the =wily of his church to hold. In
this sermon he diselISSOS a subject inter-
esting to till -viz, "The Geology a the
Bible; or, God Anicing the Rooks." The
text is xs. Samuel vi, (3, 7: ".Ad whoa
they wane to Nachon's threshing fie&
17zzah put forth his hand to the ark of
God and took hold of it; for the oxen
shook it. .And the anger of the Lord was
kindled agninst ITzzah, and God smote
him there for his error, andthero he died
by the ark of God."
A band of Insist° is corning down the
road, cornets blown, timbre's struck,
harps thrummed and cymbals clapped,
all led on ly David, who was himself a
musician. They aro ahead of a wagon on
which is the sacred box called the ark.
The yoke a oxen drawing the wagon
bnperiled it. Some critics say that the
oxen Welted; being straele with the
driver's goad, but my knowledge of oxen
leads mo to say that if on a hot day they
see a shadow of a tree or wall, they are
apt to suddenly shy oft to got the cool
-
nese of tho shadow. I think these oxon. So
suddenly fumed that the sacred box
seemed about to 'upset and be thrown to
the ground. Uzzeh rushed forward and
laia hold of tho ark to keep it upright,
But he had no eight to de Se, speolal
eon -mend had. been given by the Lord
that no an save the priest under any
circurnstaaices should touch that box.
Nervous and excited and irreverent Uz-
zah disobeyed when he took hold of the
ark, and he died a‘a eansequence. In all
ages, and never more so than in our day,
there are good people all the time afraid
that the Holy Bible, whieli is the sacred
ark of our time, will bo upset, and. they
have been a long while afraid that sci-
ence, and especially geology, would over- .
throtv it.
While we are uot forbidden to touch
the holy book and, on the contrary, aro
urged to fondle and study it, any one
who is afraid of the overthrow of the
book is greatly offending the Lord with
his unbelief. The oxen have not yet been
yoked whieh aln upsee that ark of the
world's advation. Written by the Lord
Almighty, he is going to protect it until
its mission is fulfilled and there shall be
no more need of a Bible because all its
prophecies willehave been fulfilledancithe
human race will have exchanged worlds.
trnmpet end a violin are very different
instruments but they may bo • played in
perfect aceOrd. So the Bible acemmt of
the creation of tho world and. the geologi-
cal account are different -ono story writ-
ten on parchment and the other on tho
rocks and yet in e;erfece and eternal no -
cord. The word "day," repeated in the
first chapter of Genesis, has thrown into
paroxysms of criticism many exegetes.
The Hebrew word. "yen)," of the Bible
means sometimes what we call a day,
and sometimes it means ages. It xnay
mean 24 hours or 100,000,000 years. The
order of creation as written in the book
of Genesis is the order of creation dis-
covered by geologists' crowbar. So tnany
Uzzahs have been nervously rushing
about for fear the strong oxen of scientific
discovery would upset the Bible that I
went somewhat apprehensively into the
matter, when 1 found. that the Bible and
geology agree in saying that first wore
built the rooks, then the plants greened
the earth, then anarine creatures were
created from minnow to whale, then the
wings and throats of aerial choirs were
colored and tuned, and the quadrupeds
began to bleat and bellow and neigh.
What is all this fuss that has been filling
the church and the world concerning a
fight between Moses and Agassiz? There
Is no fight at all. But is not the geologi-
cal impression that the world was mil-
lions of years building antagonistieto the
theory of one week's creation in Genesis?
No. .A. great house is to be built. A man
takes years to draw to the spotthe found-
ation stone and the heavy timbers. The
house is about done, but it isnotanished
for comfortable residence. Suddenly the
owner calls in uplacilsterers, plumbers, gas
fitters paper hangers, and in one week it
is ready for °cogency.
Now, it requires no stretch of imagina-
tion to realize that God could have taken
millions of years for the bringing of the
rocks and the timbers of this world to-
gether, yet ouly one week more to make
it inhabitable and to furnish it forhuman
residence. Remember also thatall up and
down the Bible the language of the times
was used -common parlance -and it was
not always to be takeu literally. Just as
we say every day that the world is round
when it is not round. It is spheroidal -
flattened at the poles and protuberant at
the .equator. Professor Snell, with his
chain of triangles, and Professor Verbs,
With the shortened pendulum of his clook,
found it was not round. But we do not
become critical of any one who says the
world is round. Lot us deal as fairly With
Moses or job as wo do with each other.
Everlastingly night.
But for years good people feared geo-
logy, and without ,aally imploration on
their part apprehencled that the rocks and
mountains would fall on them, until
Hugh Miller, the elder of• St. John's
Presbyterian church in Edinbm•gh and
parishioner of Dr. Guthrie, came forth
and told the -world that there -was no con-
tradiction between the raomatalas and
the church, and 0. M. Mitchell, a brilli-
ant lecturer before he became brigadier -
general, dying at Beaufort, S. C., Owing
our civil war, took the platform and
spread his map of the strata of rock in the
presence of groat audiences, and Professor
Alexander Winchell of Michigan univer-
sity and Professor Taylor Lowis of Union
college showed that, the "without form
and void" of tho first chapter of Genesis
was the very chaos out of which the
world was formulated, the hands of God
packing together the laud and tossing up
the mountains into great heights and
flinging down, the seas into their great
depths. Before God gets through with
this world there will hardly be a book of
the Bible that will not find confirmation
either in archaeology or geology, Ex-
humed Babylon, Nineveh, Jerusalem,
Tyre and Egyptian hieroglyphics are cry-
ing out in the ears of the world: "The
Bible is right! All right! Everlastingly
right!" Geology is saying the erne thing,
not only confirming the truth about the
original creation, but confirming so Inane*
passages of the Scriptures that Icon only
slightly refer to them.
But you do not really believe that story
of the deluge and, the sinking of the
mountains uncler the wave? Tell us some-
thing we can believe. "Believe that,"
says geology, "for how do you accouut
• for those seashells and softwoods and skel-
°totes of sea animals found on the top of
some of the highest mountains? If the
waters did not sometbnes rise about the
mountains, how did those seashells and
seaweeds and skeletons of sea animals
get there? Did you, pat them there?"
But, now, you do not really believe
that story about the storm of fire and
brio -atom, overwhelming Sodom and
Gomorrah, aud enwrapping Lot's wife in
such sane° inerustations that she halted,
a seek of salt? For the-confirination of
that story the geologist goes to that re-
gion, and after trying in vain to take a
swim in the lake, so thiek with salt he
cannot swim it-tho lake beneath which
Sodom and, Gomorrah lie buried, one drop
• of the water so full of sulphur and. brim-
stone that it stings your tongue, and for
hours you cannot get rid of the nauseat-
ing drop -the scientist then digging down
and finding sulphur on top of sulphur,
brimstone on top of brimstone, while all
round there are jots and (wags and, peaks
of salt, and if one of them did not be-
come the sarcophagus. of Lot's wife, they
show you how a human being might in
that tompose have beeu halted and packed
into a white monument that would defy
the ages,
But, now, yen do not really believe
that New Testameat story about the
earthquake at the time Ohrlst Was crUoi-
Awl, do you? Geology *digs down into
Mount Calwaw and finds the rooks rup-
tured and aslant, showing the work of
an especial earthquake forthatmomentin,
and. an earthquake which did not touch
the surrounding reigon, Go and. look for
myself, and see there a dip and cleav-
age of rooks as nowhere else on the
Planet, goelogy thus amouneing an
especial earthquake for the greethet
tragedy of all the centuries -the assassiu-
ation of the Son of God.
Confirmed by Geology.
But you do not really believe that
story of the burning of our world at the
last day? Geology digs down and duds
that the world is already ou fire and that
tho Owner of this globe is incandescent.,
molten, volcanic, 4 burning octal, burn-
ing ont toward the surface, and the In-
ternal Ares have so far reseehed the out-
side rim that I do not see how the world.
is to keep from complete conflagration
uutll the prophet:les concerning it are
fulfilled, 'XI3e lava poured forth from the
mouths of Vesuvius, Mount Beim and,
Cotopaxi and Kilauea is only the regur-
gitaeion from an awful inflammation
thousands of miles deep. There are mines
In Pennsylvania and in several parts of
the world that havo boon on flre for many
years. These coal 1111210S burning down
and the internal fires of the earth burn-
ing up, after awhile these two fires, the
de -wending and the ascending will
moat, and then will occur the univereal
coullagratiou of which the Bible speaks
when it says, "The elements shall melt
with fervent heat, the earth also, and the
works that aro therein shall bo burned
Instead of disbelieving the Bible story
about the final conflagration, since flume
looked a little into geology, finding that
its explorations are all in the lino of con-
firmation of that prophet**, I wonder how
this old eraft of a world eau keep sailing
on much longer. It is like a ship on fire
at sea, the fact that the hatches are kept
down the only reason thee it does not be-
come one complete blazo-masts on /ha,
ratline on fire, everything from autwater
to taffrail on firo. After geology has told
us how near tho internal Ares have al-
ready burned their way toward the sur-
face, it ought not to be a surprise to us
at any time to hear the ringing of the
fire bells of a universal conflagration.
Oh, X tun so glad that geology bus boon
born! Astronomy is eland because it tells
us about other worlds. But 1 must say
that I am more beterested in our world
than in any other world, and geology tell
us all about what it was, its cradle and.
what will be its grave. .And this glorious
geology is proving itself more and more
the friend of theology. Thank God for
the testimony of the rocks, the Ten Com-
mandments announced among the split
rocks of Sinai, the greatest sermon of
Christ preteehed on the basaltic rocks of
the mount of beatitudes,the Saviour dying
on the rocks of Golgotha and buried amid
the limestone rooks of Joseph's sepulcher,
the last day to be ushered in with a rend-
ing of rocks and our blessed Lord sug-
gestively entitled the "Rook of .Ages."
this day proclaim the banns of a mar-
riage between geology and theology, the
rugged bridegroom and the fairest of
brides. Lot them join their hands, and
"whom God hath joined together let not
man put asunder."
Never Yet upset.
.If anything in the history or con-
dition of tho earth seems for the
time contradictory of anything in
geology, you must remember that geology
Is all the time correcting itself and more
and more coming to harmonization with
the great book. In the last century the
French Scientifie • woo:lotion printed a
list of 80 theories of geology' which had
been adopted and afterward rejected.
Lyon, the scientist, announced 50 theories
of geology that had boon believed in and
afterward thrown overboard. Meanwhile
the story of the -Bible has not changed at
all, and if geology has cast out bween
100 and 200 theories which it once con-
sidered established we ean afford to wait
uutil the last theory of geology antagon-
izing divine revelation shalt have been
given up.
Now, in this discourse upon the geo-
logy of tho Bible, or God. among the
rocks, I charge all agitated and affright-
ed Uzzahs to calm their pulses about the
upsetting of the Scriptures. Let me see!
For several hundred years the oxen have
been jerking the ark this way and that
and pulling it over rough places and try-
ing to stick it in the mud of derision and
kicking with all the power of their hoofs
against the sharp goads and trying th
pull it into the cool shade away' fronithe
heats of retribution ieam a God "who
will by no means clear the guilty." Yet
have you not noticed that the book has
never been upset? The only changes
entitle in it were by its learned friends in
the revision of the Scriptures. The book
of Genesis has been thundered against by
the mightiest batteries, yet you menet
to -day find in all the earth a copy of the
Bible which has not the 50 chapters of
the first copy of the book of Genesis ever
printed, starting with the words "In the
baginning God' ' Iced closing with Joseph's
coffin. Fierce attack on the book of Exo-
dus has been made because they said it
was cruel th drown Pharaoh and the
story of Mount Sinai was improbable.
But the book of Exodus remains intact,
mud not one of us, considering the cruel-
ties which he would have continued
among the brick kilns of Egypt, would
have thrown Pharaoh a plank if we had
•
soon hian drowning. And Mount Sinai is
to -day a pile of tossedandturnbled,basalt,
recalling the cataclysm of that mountain
When the law was given. .And, as to those
Ton Commandments, all Roman law,. all
•German law, ail English law, all Ameri-
can law, worth anything are squarely
founded on them. So mighty assault for
centuries has been made on tho book of
Joslma, It was said thab the story of the
detained sun and. anoon is an insult to
modem ettronoany, but that book of
Joshua may be found to -day in the chapel
of every university in America, in de-
fiance of any telescope projected from the
roof of that university. The book of
.Toshutt has beea the target of ridicule for
• the small wit of ages, but thereit stands,
with Its four cbapters inviolate, while
geology puts up in its museums remains
of sea monsters capable of doing more
than the one which swallowed the recreant
phopliet, There stand tho 1,089 chapters
of the Bible notwithstandiaug all tho
attacks of ages, and there they will stand
until they sluavel up in the final fires,
which gooloigsts say are already kindled
and glove hotter than the furnaces of an
ocean steamer as it puts out from New
York Narrows for Hamburg or South-
ampton.
I should not weeder if from the crypt
of ancient cities the inspired manuscripts
of Matthew, Mark, Luke and. John, in
their own chirography, would bo taken,
and tho epistles which. Paul dictated to
his amtumensis as well as the one in the
apostle's OW11 handwriting. At the same
ratio of arelmoolo,gical and geological
confirmation of the Soriptmas the time
will come when the truth of the Bible
will no more be doubted than the coin -
neon alrnauao, which tells you the days
and the months of the yeti; and the un-
believers will be accounted harmless
lanaties, Forward the telescope and. the
spectroscope and the chomiral batteries
and. critically examine the astraciolOs of
the ocean depths and. the bones of the
great mammals on the gravelly hilltops!
And the mightier, and the grander, and
the deeper, and. the higher the explore -
Mous the better for our cause. As SWO as
the thunderbolts of the Almighty are
stronger than the steel pons of the agnos-
tics, the ark of Clod will ride on inehurt
and. Uzzah aced riot fear any disasters
upsetting. The apocalyptio augel flying
through tho mist of heaven, proclaiming
to all llatiOUS and kludred and people
and tongues the unseerchable riches of
Jesus Oluist are mightier than the Shy-
ing ell of a yoke of oxen.
The God of the nooks.
The geology of the Bible shows that
our religion is not a namby pamby,
nerveless, dilettantish religion. It was
projected and has been proteeted by the
God of the rooks. Religion a balm? Oh,
"yes. Religion a soothing power? Oh, yes.
Religion a beautiful sentiment? Oh, yes,
But we must have a God of the rooks, a
mighty God to defend, an omnipotent
God to achieve, a force able to overcome
all other forces in the universe. Bose of
Shama and Lily of the Valley is ho,
combination of all gentleness and tender-
ness and sweetness? Oh, yes. But if the
mighty forces now emetic(' for the destruc-
tiou of the netione, aro to be met and
conquered, we must have a God of the
rooks. The "Lion of Judah's tribe," as
W01.1 as th0 "Lamb who was slain." Ono
hundred anti thirty times does the Bible
speak of the ' rock as defense, as arma-
inept, as refuge, as overpowering strength.
David, the psalmist, lived among the
rocks, and they reminded him of the
Almighty, and Ito ejaculates, "The Lord
'teeth; blessed be my rock." "Lead. 3110
to the rock that is higher than 1." And
Ilion, as if his prayer had boon answered,
he feels the strength come into his soul,
and be twice out, "The Lord is my rook."
"He shall SOS Ma up upon a rook."
Would the Bible prosout a sublime pic-
ture of motherly desperation in defense
of her children, ib shows us Rizpa,h on
the rock for throe mouths with disheveled
hair and wild screams fighting back 'vul-
tures and. jackals from the corpses of her
sons. Weald. the Bible set forth the hard-
ness of the heart and the power of gospel
to overcome 11, it tells us of the "ham.'
mer that breaketh the rooks in pieces."
'Would our Lord represent the durability
of his church against all assault he says,
"Upon this rock will I 'build my church
and, tho gates of hell shall not prevail
against it." Would he close his sermon
on the mount with a peroration that
would, resound through centuries, stand-
ing on a rook so high that it overlooks
Lake Galilee to tho right and ou a clear
day overlooks the Mediterranean to the
left, I hear him stamp his foot on the
rock beneath him as he cries to the suxg-
lug multitudes at the base of that rock,
"Whosoever heal:eat those sayings of
mine and doeth them I will liken him
unto a wise man; which built his house
upon a rock, and the rain descondal
and the floods came, and. the winds bliw
and boat upon that house, audit fell not.
or it was founded epee arack." .Ah, my
Wends, we want a swarthy, a stalwart,
a brawny religion. We have it tweet many
people whd cau sit and ti
geulrock the
cradle of their infantile hopes, and can
faintly smile whoa good is accomplished,
aucl walk softly through a sickroom, and
live iaoffensive lives, and manage to
tread. on no one's prejudices, and. thole
religion is at the best when the wind is
from the northwest and the thermometer
at 70 degrees F., and they have their
spheres, and may God prosper them. But
we want in this great battle for God
against the allied forces of perdition
501)10 John Knoxes, S01110 Martin Luthcas
---M011 of nerve and faith and prowess,
like the Huguenots, and the Pilgrim Fa-
thers, and the Dutch at Leyden keeping
bach the enemy until the tides of the sea
cameo in. Lord, God. of the rocks,. help us
in this awful struggle, in which heaven
or hell is bound to beat!
How much the rocks have had to do
with the cause of God in all ages! In the
-wilderness God's Israel IMO fed with
honey out of tho rock, How the rock of
Horeb paid Moses bach in goshiug, rip-
pling, sparklbag water for the two. stout
.etrokos with which he struck it! And
there stands tho :sock with naine-I guess
the longest word in the 13ible-sela-ham-
mahlekoth, and. it was worthy of a re-
sounding, sesquipedalian nomenclature,
for at that rock Saul was compelled to
qiut his pmeuit of David and go home
and look after the Philistines; who were
making it ficsuk movement. There were.
the rocks of 13ozez and Seneh, betweee
which Jonathan climbed.up and sent fly -
lag in retreat the garrison of the neteir-
cumelsed. And yonder see David and his
Emnenhlidelen. in the rock of Adullam and
ged
envie° Deliberation, ,
Bet while I go ou with my study of the
geologyof the Bible, or God among the
iocks 1 get a more intelligent and help-
ful idea of divine deliberation. These
rocks, the growth of thousands of years,
and, geology says, of millions of years,
ought to show the prolongation of God's
111
plans and cure our impatience 'because
things are not done in short order. Men
vritheat seeing it become oritical of the
Almighty and:think, Why does he net do
this alai do thab and de it right away?
We feel sometimes as it we could mit
wait. Well, X guess we will have to wait.
God is never in a hurry except about two
things. His plans, sweeping through
eternity, are beyond our comprehension.
They have such wide cirole, sucli vastness
of revolution, etioh infinitude that wo
cannot compass them. Indeed he would
not be much of a God whom we could
thoroughly emdersband, That would not
be much of a father who hadleo thoughts
or plans larger then his babe of one year
weld compaes, If God takes Millions of
years to retake one rock, do not lot us be-
come critical if he takes 20 years or a
conttwy or several centuries to do that
which we would like to have done Immo-
diately. Do not repeat the folly of those
who conclude there is no God or that he
is not in sympathy with the right and the
good because he does not do certain
things in the time we set apart for their
performance. Do not Iet us hold up our
lirilo wateh, witti lIa -day hour hand and
minute hand, and by it th comet the
Rock of the -universe, its pend.ulton thk-
ing 500 years to swing this way and 600
years to swing that way. Do not let us
sob up our little spinaingwvbeel beside
the loam in which God wderes sum:lees
and Sunsets and auroras, Wo have the
best of authority for saying that "one
day with the Lord is as a thousand years
and it thousand years as ono date" Do
not expect that Uzzah's MGM, even if
they do not shy off, hut go straight
ahead, can keep up with the fire shod
lightnings.
But at was not a slip of the tongue
when 1 Reid that God is never In a hurry
except in two things. Those two thimrs
are when he goes to save a repentant
sinner and comfort n praying mourner.
The one divine hurry was sot forth in the
parable of the prodigal son when it says,
'the father ran." Ho was old, and I
suppose had as 1110011 as he could do to
• walk, bub the sight of his bad boy com-
ing home linibered the stiff knees and
lengthened the shortencelpace of the old
Mall la an. athletic stride. "The father
mon!" Put it into your oratorios. Sound
it with full orchestra. Repeat it through
all leavene, "The father ran!" 0 soul
farthest off, come bleat, and God, your
Father, will come out to meetyou et full
runl The other time when God is in a
hurry is when a troubled soul cane for
comfort. Then the Bible represents the
divine gait, and swing and velocity by
the rebideor, saying, "Be thou like a roo
or a young hart on the motmtains of
lather." That parenthesis Iput in think-
ing that there may be some repentant
shiner wbo wants to find 'Arden or some
mourning soul who needs comfort, and,
morition the two things about
which God is in a great hurry.
Truth of ale <maim otent.
But concerning all tho vast things of
God's eovernment of the universe be pa-
tient NN,Ith tho carrying out of plans be-
yond our measurement. Naturalists thll
us that there are insects that aro born
and die with in an hour and that there aro
several generations of them in one day,
anti if ono of thoso July insects of an
holm should say: "How slow everything
give! I was told in tho chrysalis state by
a wondrous instinct that I would find In
this world seasons of the year-sprbig,
stumner, autumn and winter. But where
are the atrium"' forests upholstered in
fire, and where are the glorious spring -
times, with orchards waving their censors
of perfnme before the altars of the morn-
ing? I do not believe there are any au-
aunns or springtimes." If, then, a golden
eagle, maim years old, in a cage nearby,
heard the hum of that complaining in-
sect, it might well answer, "0 summer
insect of au hour, though your life is so
shore you cannot see the magnificent turn
of the seasons, I can testify as to their
teality, for I have scan them roll. When
I was young, and before I was teepee,
sonod in this cage, I brushed their gor-
geous leafage and their fraeraut blossoms
with any own wing. You live an hour.
I have lived 80 yeare. But in one of my
flights high up, the gate of heaven open
for a soul to go in or it seraph th come
out, I heard the choirs chanting, 'From
everlasting to everlasting thou eat God!'
And it was an antiphonal in whichall hea-
ven reeponded, 'From everlasting to ever-
lasting thou art God.' 0 man! 0 woman!
So far as your earthly existence is con-
eerned, only tho insect of an hour, be net
iinpationt with the workings of the
Omnipotent and the Eternal!"
And now, for your solace and. your
safety, I ask you to COMO under the shel-
ter, end into the deep clefts, and the
almighty defense of a rock that is higher -
than you, higher than any Gibraltar,
higher thatethe Himalayas --the Rook of
Ages -that will shelter you from the
storm; that will hide you from your
enemies; that will stand when the earth-
quakes of the last day get their pry under
the mountains and hurl them into seas
boiling with fires whieh are already
burning their way out from redhot cep-
tors toward the surfaces which are al-
ready here mad there spouting with fire
asidd the quaking of the mountains
u aloe the look and touch of him of whom
it is said in the .stialimest sentence ever
written: "Ho lookoth upon the moun-
tains, and they tremble. He toucheth the
hills, and they smoke."
Hie you one and all to the Rock of
Ages. And now as before this sermon on
the recite I gave out the significaut and
appropriate hymn "How firm a founda-
tion ye saints of the Lord," I will give
out after this. sermon on the rocks the
,significant and appropriate Ityinne-a
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,'
Let me hide myself in thee!
dm Irish Witness.
An Irish witness was teing examined
as to his knowledge of a shooting atrair,
"Did you see the shot fired?" the magis-
trate asked. "No, sorr, I only heard it,"
eves the e-vasive reply. "The evidence is
not satisfactory," replied the magistrate
sternly. "Stand down!" ethe witness
stopped down to leave the box, and
directly his back was turned he laughed.
derisively. The Magistrate,:indignant
the contempt of court, called him back
and asked him how 13e dared to laugh' in
court. "Did ye see me laugh, your Hon-
or?" queried the offender. "No, sir, but
I heard you," was the irate reply. "That
evidence is not satisfactory," said Pat
quietly, but with a twinkle in his eye,
and this time everybody laughed except
the magistrate.
Rest.
• One of the sweetest conceptions of
heaven to my mind is that of rest.
"There remaineth, 'therefore, a rest to
the people of God." Labor, anxiety and
care are the fruits of sin; but w„hen the
effects of sin shall have been entirely
removed, then will come the sweet and
endless rest ot heaven. -Rev, John Scott,
'1111E SUNDAY SCHOOL.
• LESSON XUl, FOURTH QUARTERHN
TERNATIONAL SERIES, DEG. 26.
Text of the Lesson 1 John iv, 9-16—Men1-
.. 017 verses, 9-11 — Golden Text, John
Ha 16 -commentary by the nev. D 'rd.
stearin.
The lesson committee having given the
choice of this as a Chirsteaas lesson instead
of the quarterly review, doubtless the ma-
jority will prefer this to the review, and as
the quarter has taken as over •the last
stages of Paul's sojourn in the mortal body
and given us his oft repeated testimony
that he was xeady to Ole for Christ it is not
aside from the main thought of the -review
to turn to Him who died for us all and
was born in Bethlehem that He might die
on Calvary, the just for the unjust.
9, "In this was manifested the love of
God toward us, because that God sent His
only begotten Son into the world that we
relight live through Him." In chapter 111,
10, It is written, "Hereby perceive we the
love of God, because He laid down His life
for us, and we ought to lay down our lives
for the brethren." In Rom. v, 8, it is,
"God comrnendeth His love toward us in
tbat -while we were yet sinners Christ died
for us," Al the Obristxnas time when all
are merry and send gifts to rail other as
they talk and sing of Hira wbo was born
inBethlehem, do we stop to consider what
it cost Him to leave His home in glory and
become a helpless babe in Mary's arms or
what it cost His Father, God, to give Him
up to this humiliation unheard of before
know?
10. history of all worlds as far as we
10, "Herein is love, not that we loved
God, bat that Ile loved as and sent His
• Son to be the propitiation for our Sine."
011, the depth of meaning In thee phrase,
"propitiation for our sins!" See Him in
Gethsemane sweating, as it were, great
drops of blood. • Hear Him on Calvary cry
out, "My God, my God, why bast Thou
forsaken me?" and talk nob of Livingstone
for Africa, or Lincoln foe America, or a
mother for her child as an analogy or in
any way illustratleg His sufferings for as,
It is nexe to blasphemy so to do, His suf-
ferings for our sins as far exceeded all suf-
fering earth ever save as heaven is higher
than earth and God's thoughts higber than
ours. Be who lames rio siu was made sin
for as. The Lord laid upon Him the in-
iquity of us all, It pleased the Lord to
bruise Hlin. He was wounded for our
transgressions. Who can measure the sig-
nificance of such statements?
11. "Beloved, if God so loved us, we
ought also to love one another." How
often we have read and beard "God so loved
and we are &ad that Ho so loved us
as to provide eternal redemption freely for
as even at such a cost. But what do we
know about loving one another and laying
down our lives for the brethren? Do we
not often known:lore about hating one an-
other, or ab least disliking ono another? X
speak of Christians so called. And as to
loving the heathen in Africa or China or
Japan or India or the islands of the Sea or
the poor Eskimos for Cbrist's sake-wbat
do we know of It?
12. "No man bath seen God at any time.
If eve love one another, God dwelleth in
us, and His love is perfected in us." It is
also written in John i, 18: "No man hath
seen God at any tixne. The only begotten
Son which is in the bosom of the Father,
.Be hath declared HIM." We cannot know
God except as we know Him in Christ.
When Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us
tbe Father," He answered, "Be that hath
seen Ale hada seen the Father." God was
In Christ. We who have received Christ
and are saved by His preolous blood are
saved in orcle3: that God may dwell In us
manifestly and be seen in our words and
Works. There is nothing that manifests
God quite so much as love -the love that
Was seen in Christ and is so fully described
in I Goa xiii. Let the children at this
Christmas time be taught that Be who
dwelt in the little babe of Bethlehem will
dwell in them and manifest His love in
them.
8.
l"Hereby know we that we dwell in
Him and He in us because Be bath given
us of His Spiirt." The first fruit of the
Spirit is love (Gal. v, 22), and love seems
to include all the rest, and love is the ful-
filling of the law. Notice that as freely as
He gave His Son Be also gives His Spirit,
and if we are not filled with His Spirit it
can only be beeriest: our hearts are not
open to Him, and if our bearts are not
open to BIM (bus because we have not be.
held as we might and (Mould His great
love to us in Chriet; the love that spared
not His own Son, but delivered Him up
for as all, and will with Him also freely
give xis all things.
14. "And we have seen and do testify
that the Father sent the Son to be the
Saviour of tho world." As the angel said
to the shepherds at His bieth, "Behold I
bring you good tidings of greet joy, which
shall be to all people" (Luke ii, 10). Tbe
Father did not send Him to be the Savionr
of a few, bet of all who will come to Him.
The time will C03110 when all Israel shall
be saved, and after that all nations, but in
this age the gospel is to be given to all the
world, that all who will may believe, and
thus His body be completed from out of
all 'nations. He is therefore calling upon
us who believe to show these things to all
the world as quickly as possible. • 'What
are sve doing about it?
15. "Whosoever sball confess that Jesus
is the Son of God, God dwelloth in lam,
and he in God." According to John x,
83, 36, the Jews understood the Son of
God to be equal with God, and Jesus so
taught and said: "Though ye believe not
Me, believe the works; that ye may know
and believe that the.Father ls in Me and I
In Him." To receive Jesus as God our
Saviour is life eternal, and makes us to be
His dwelling place. Our works should
plainly declare that Go(1 is in us, and thie
should be our constant aim and desire. If
it is really so, He will work in us that
Whic13 is well pleasing in His sight. How
wonderful that to be saeecl we only need
to be willing to come to Him, and to live
a life to His glory we need only to yield
Willingly and fully to Him, and He will
by His Spirit doll.
16,. "And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to US. Goa is love,
and be that dwelleth in love dwelleth in
God and God in bine." We certainly can-
not comprehend Eits love, and we are not
required to, but we know it from His
word, and we can believe it. Some day
we than be able to comprehend with all
saints what is the breadth and length and
depth and height of it (Eph. lit, 18), but
now we cap each one for binaself believe
that it is broad enoogh to take in even me;
that it is as long as eternity; that it is
deep as front heavet to Calvary and high
as from my lost condition up to the throne
of God. Believing this and thus our one
0058 with Him to all eternity, we will want
to make It known to all people, and thus
beaten the consummation Of peace on
earth under Him. •
A HAPPY GIRL.
MISS Amino Holly Tells of Her IllnefiS and
Subsequent Cure—A Staterne Al t
Should be Read by Every Girt in
cantata.
Miss Amino Kelly, a well known
and much esteemed young lady living
at Maplewood., N.B., writes :-"I con-.
sider it my duty to let yeti know what
your wonderful medicine has d.oup for
me. In April, 1890, I began to lose
flesh and color ; may appetite failed and
on going up stairs I would be so tired
I would have to rest. I continued in
this eondition for three months, wIen
I was taken suddenly ill and not able
to go about. Our family doctor was
called in and he pronounced my illness
chlorosis (poverty of the blood). At
first his treatment appeared to do me
good, but only for it time, and I then
began to grow worse, I continued
taking Lis medicine for three months,
when I was so discouraged t. not re-
gaining my health that I declined tak-
ing it any longer, I then tried a liquid
medicine advertised to cure cases like
mine. but did not obtain the slightest
benefit. I had become terribly emaci-
ated and weak, There was a constant
terrible roaring noise in my head.; my
feet and ankles were swollen and /
was as pale as a corpse. One day
while in this condition my father
brought home a box of Dr. 'Williams'
Pink Pills and asked me to try them.
In less than a week I could sit up, and
in a. couple of weeks I could walk quite
a distance without being tired. My
appetite returned, the roaring in my
head ceased, I began to gain flesh and
color, and. before I had used a half
dozen boxes I was as healthy as I had
ever been in my life. My friends did
not expect me to recover and are now
rejoicing at the wonderful change Dr.
'Williams Pink Pills have wrought in
me. If my statement will be the
means of helping some other discour-
aged sufferer you are at perfect liberty
to publish it."
The above statement was sworn be-
fore me at Maplewood, York Coll N.B..
this 14th day of May, 1897.
TIMOTIIY W. SMITH, XP.
To ensure getting, the gennin.e ask
always for Dr. 'Williams' Pink Pills
for Pais People, and refuse all substi-
tutes and nostrums alleged to be just
as good.
Guesses at Truth.
Man's sympathy with man is ohm
more comfortingand generally more last-
ing, than is woinan's love.
How often marriage degenerates into a
condition of individual selfisaness and
indifference, regulated by an armed HSU-
trality toward the outside world!
No woman is, as a rule,more thorough-
ly disgalified fax what she oonceives to.
be her special vocation than is a profes-
sional matehmaker.
We owe nobody love, which is never as
debt. It is always a fres-will offerIng, or
the return for an equivalent -au ex-
change of like for like.
A mart who assures a woman that he
has determined never to marry invites.
her to do leer utmost to cause him to•
alter his determination.
Some women are so delighted with
their own existence, and express their
Oelight so frequently, as to make others
ahnost regret it.
Many a roan wbo has made up bis
mind to die it bachelor cannot make up
his heart to the mane end.
RHEUMATISM.
No One Need Suffer.
Mrs. L. G. Pratt, a clever nurse
Cleveland, writes that: "After Willi
troubled by very painful attaokt of rheu-
matism in the shoulder for or te
years I tried a bottle of your Trask's
Magnetic Ointment. For two yeees I bed
been unable to raise ley arm, but slier
two thorough applications my shoulder
was entirely mired, and I can not speak
highly enough in its praise." Since ttigtu
she bas used it for others in, her capaoltk
as purse.
This ointment penetrates the froma
pernieetes the inflamed tissues with He
soothing, healing Qualities, takes otat the
soreness conapleteli and leaves the mews
cies and joints in their proper healtlia
condition. Twenty-five and forty cents a
bottle. Francis 11. Kahle, 127 Bay street,
Toronto.
— • - --
•
Nature's Medicine.
Menander said that all diseases were
curable by sleep -a tweed statement, In
which, nevertheless, there may be some-
thing that is true, for good sleepers are
over, as I think, the most curable
patients, and I woold always rather
bear a sick person had slept than had
taken regularly the prescribed medicine
during sleeping hours. -Sir Benjamin
Richardson.
Ask for Minard's and take no other,
Hot Sauce With lee Cream.
A novelty is to serve a hot sauce with
an ice. At a luncheon last week with
the bisque cream was handed around a
slender pitcher of very hot, rather thlok
and strong chocolate,- not very sweet.
This was poured over and around the ice
cream, form:ling at once a crust like a
caramel that was a delicious •addition to
the lirst estate of the dish.
• No family living in a bilious country
should be without Parmelee's 'Vegetable
pine. A few doses taken now and then
will keep the Liver active, cleanse the
stomach and bowels from all bilious mat-
ter, and prevent Ague. Mr. J. L. Price,
Shoals Martin Co., Lid., writes : "I have
tried a box of Parmelee's Pills and fincl
them the ,best medicine for. Fever 'and
Ague I have ever used." •
Gilt-BOOed Poultry,
"Eggs coat $17 in Alaska."
"What melees them so high!"
"Climate.''
"Climate?"
"Yes; the hens have to wear seal -skin
cloaks."