North Carolina Newspapers

i THF. IvOANOKE NEWS, THURSDAY. JUNT, !, ISf A UuEAT WEEK'S V,' OR. TALMACE PREACHES A ON THE CREATION He Curn Not Whether a Week of lny or Week of Age Wan UeiiirMl il Itelleves In the Mostiie Account of tho Karth's Beginning. l!lion;;!,v, May .'.l.Tlv striking sermon Dr. Tahuugc delivered this morning to an amlii'iiot' which tilled tin; now Tabernacle in every 'part, dealt with a topic of interest to all who have watched t lie discussions now agitating tho churches. Wherever the question of the inspiration of the liible is raised the trustworthiness of the Mosaic nar rative of the creation is always the point chiclly assailed. The fact that so prominent and eloquent a preacher as Dr. Talmago places himself clearly n:i record on the side of ortlvdovy will v'.hiI tie-shave a marked influence on pnl. lie opinion. 1 lis tet was ; : h i-; i, 31, ".'.II I llie evening and the morning were the sixth day." From Monday morning to Saturday night give us n week's work. If we; liave tilled that week with successes . wo are happy. Hut I am going to tell you whattiod did in one week. Cos mogony, geology, astronomy, ornith- 1 oKtjry. ichthyology, botany, anatomy are such vast subjects that no human life is long enough to explore or com- i prehend any one of them, lint I have thought I might in an unusual way tell you a little of what (iod did in one week, and that the first week. And whether you make it a week of days or a week of ages I care not, for I shall reach the same practical result of rev eronoe and worship. T1IK l'THST HAY'S WOKK. The first Monday morning found 1 swinging in space the piled up lumber of rocks and metal and soil ami water from which the earth was to be huilded. (iod made up his mind to create a hu man family, ami they must liuvea house to live in. Hut where? Not a roof, not 1 a wall, not a door, not a room was fit for human occupancy. There is not a pile of black basalt in Yellowstone park ' oriin extinct volcano in Honolulu so inappropriate for human residence as was this globe at that early period. Moreover, there was no human archi tect to draw a plan, no quarryman to ; blast the foundation stones, no carpen ter to hew out a beam, and no inxson i to trowel a wall. Poor prospect 1 Hut j the time wxs coming when a being i called man was to lie constructed, and lie was to have a bride; and where ; . he could find a homestead to which he J could take her must have been a won- dennent to angelic intelligences. There i had been earthquakes enough, and vol canoes enough, and glaciers enough. ; but earthquakes and volcanoes and glaciers destroy instead of build. A worse looking world than this never swim;.'. It was heaped up deformities, scarifications and monstrosities. The IVible says it was without form. That is, it was not round, it was not square, it was not octagonal, it wa.s not a rhomboid. (iod never did take any one in his counsels, but if he had asked some angel about the attempt to turn this planet into a place for human resi dence the angel would have said. "Xo, no; try some other world ; the crevices of this earth are too deep; its crags are too appalling; its darkness is too thick." But Monday morning came. I think it was a spring morning, and about half past four o'clock. The first thing needed was light. U was not needed for God to work by. for he I can work as well in the darkness. Hut j light may be necessary, for angelic in- j telligences are to see in its full glory ; the process of world building. Hut where are the candles, where are the candelabra, where is the chandelier? Ifo rising sun will roll in the morning, for if the sun is already created its light will not yet reach the earth in three days. Xo moon nor stare can brighten this darkness. The moon and stars are not bom yet, or, if created, their light will not reach the earth for some time yet. Hut there is need of immediate light. Where Uiall it come from? Desiring to ac count for things in a natural way. you say, and reasonably say, that heat and electricity throw out light independent of the sun, and that the metallic bases throw out light independent of the sun, and that alkalies throw out light inde pendent of the sun. Oil, yes: all that is true, but 1 do not think that is the way light was created. The record makes nn think that, standing over thi earth that spring morning, (iod looked upon the dark Iiess that palled the heights of this world, and the ch.i-uis of ir. and the aw fid readies of it. an I uttered, whether in the Hebrew of earth or some language celestial I know not, that word which stands for t ie subtle, bright, glowing and all pervading lluid; that word which thrills and garlands and lifts everything it louche;; that word the full meaning of which all tho chemists . of the ages have buried themselves in exploring; that word which suggests a force that Hies one hundred and ninety thousand miles in a second, and by un dulations seven hundred and twenty eeven trillions in a second, that one word God utters Light 1 And instantly the darkness began to ohiuimer, and tho thick folds of black- sicss to lift, and there were scintillations j and coruscations and Hashes and a bil lowing up of resplendence, and in great sheets it spread out northward, south ward, eastward, westward, nnd a radi ance filled the atmosphere until it could hold no more of the brilliance. Light now to work by while supernatural in telligences look on. Light, the lirst chapter of the first day of tho week. Light, the joy of all the centuries. Light, the greatest blessing that ever touched the human eye. The robo of the Almighty is wove,i out of it, for he covers himself with light as with a gar ment. Oh, blessed light 1 1 am so glad this was the first thing created that week, every wee!; with Good thing to start ! is li-ht That will make our work easier. That will keep our disposition more radiant. That will hinder even our losses from becom ing to,.,) somber. Give us more light, natural light, intellectual light, spirit ual li.'lit, everlasting light. For lack of it the body stumbles, and the soul stumbles Oil. thou Father of Lights, give us livht ! The great Gorman philosopher in his last moment said. "I want more light." A minister of Christ recentlv dying cried out in euiltation, "1 move into the light'" Mr. Toplady, the immortal h'T.iMo'ogNt, ill his .'piring moments exclaim.'.!. "Light' Light!" Heaven il-ei! is only m .re li;!it. I'pon all superstition, upon all ignorance, upon all sorrow let in the light. Hut now the light of the lirst Monday is reced ing. The blaze is going out. The col ors are dimming. Only part of the earth's surface is tisible. It is (i o'clock, 7 o'clock. S o'clock; obscuration and dark-ioss. It is Monday night. "And tile evening and the morning were the first day." TllK IWUTIMi OK Tllli WATKltS. Now it is Tuesday morning. A del icate and tremendous undertaking is set apart for this day. There was a great superabundance of water. God by the wave of his hand this morning gathers part of it in suspended reser voirs, and part of it he orders down into the rivers and lakes and soils. How to hang whole Atlantic oceans in the clouds without their spilling over, except In right quantities and at right times, was an undertaking that no one but Omnip otence would have dared. Hut God does it as easily as you would lift a glass of water. There he hoists two clouds each thirty miles wide and live miles high and balances them. Here he lifts the cirrous clouds and spreads them out in great white banks as though it had been sno;ing in heaven. And the cirrous stratus clouds in long parallel lines so straight you know an inlmite geometer has drawn them. Clouds which are the armory from ! which thunderstorms get their bayo- nets of fire. Clouds which are oceans : on the wing. Xo wonder, long after this lirst Tuesday of creation week, Hli ' hu confounded Job with the question, j "Dost thou know the balancings of the ' clouds?" i Half of this Tuesday work done, the other half is the work of compelling ; the waters to lie down in their destined places. So God picks up the solid ground and packs it up into live eleva tions, which are the- continents. With his linger hi' makes deep depressions in them, and these are the lakes, while at the piling up of the Alloghanies and Sierra Nevada and Pyrenees and Alps and Himalayas the rest of the waters start by the law of gravitation to the lower places, and in their run down hill become the rivers, and then nil around the earth these rivers come into convention and become oceans beneath, as the clouds are oceans above. How soon the rivers got to their places when God said, "Hudson and James and Amazon down to tho Atlantic, Oregon .and Sacramento down to the Pacific." Three-quarters of the eartli being water ! and only one-quarter being land, noth ing but Almightincss could have caged ! th;? three fourths so that they could not ; have devoured the one fourth. Thank God for water and plenty of it. What ! a hint that God would have the human race very clean I Throe-fourths of the world water. Pour it through tho homes and make them pure. Pour it through the prisons and make their occupants moral. Four it through the streets and make them healthy. There are several thousand people asleep in Greenwood who but f,:r the lilthv streets of Hrooklyu and New York would have been today well and in churches. Moreover, there never was a filthy street that remained a moral street. How important an agency of reform water is, was illustrated by the fact that when the ancient world got out rageously wicked it was plunged into the Deluge and kept under for mouths tiil its iniquity w:is soaked out of it. Hut I rejoice that on the lirst Tuesday of the worl I s existence the water was taught to know its place, and the Mediterranean lay down at the feet of Europe, and the Gulf of Mexico lay down at the feet of Xortii America, and Geneva lay down at the feet of the Alps, and Soroon lake fell 1 s!"op in the lap of the Adh'omlacks. "And tlio evening and the morning were tho second day." GltKK.N THING'S HKOIN' TO (illOW. Now it is Wednesday morning of the world's lirst week. Gardening :'.nd hor ticulture wi!l be bora today. How queer the hills look, anil so unattract ive they seem hardly worth having been made. But now all the surfaces are changing color. Something beauti ful is creeping all over them. It has the color of emerald. Aye, it is herb age. Hail to the green gras; God's favorite color and God's favorite plant, as I judge from the fact that he makes i a larger number of them than of any thing else. But look yonder 1 Some thing starts out of the ground and goes higher up, higher and higher, and spreads out broad leaves. It is a palm tree. Yonder is another growth, and its leaves hang far down, and it is n willow tree. And yonder Is a growth with mighty sweep of branches. And here they come the pear, and the ap ple, and the peach, and the pomegran ate, and groves and orchards and for ests, their shadows and their fruit gird ling the earth. We are pushing agriculture and fruit culture to great excellence in the Nine teenth century, but we have nothing now to equal what 1 see on this lirst vveunes.iay oi tne worms 1 take a taste of one of the existence, ipples this Wednesday morning, and I tell you it mingles in its juices all the flavors of Spitsbergen and Newtown pippin and Uhode Island greening and Dan vers winter sweet and Roxbury russet and Hubbardston nonesuch, but added to nil and overpowering all other llavors is the paradisaical juice that all the or chards of the Nineteenth century fail to reach. 1 take a taste of the pear, and it has all the luxury of the ttiree thousand varieties of the Nineteenth cwitury; all the Seekel and the Bartlett of tho pomol acidin il gardens of later lines an nttaivd with it. And the grapes! Why. this one cluster ii.usin it the richness of whole vineyards of Catawba and Concords and Isabellas. Fruits of all colors, of all odors, of all llavors. Xo hand of man yet made to pluck it or tongue to taste it. The banquet for the human race is being spread before the arrival of the lirst guest. In the fruit of that garden was the seed for the orchards and gardens of the hemispheres. Notice that the lirst tiling that God made for food was fruit, and plenty of it. Slaughter houses are of later invention. Far am 1 from being a vegetarian, but an al most exclusive meat diet is depraving. Savages coiillue themselves almost ex clusively to animal food, and that is one reason that they are savages. Give your children more apples and less mutton. The world will have to give dominance to the fruit diet of Par adise before it gets back to the morals of Paradise. May ( iod's blessing come down on the orchards ami vineyards of America, and keep back the frosts and the eiireulio. Hut we must not forget that it is Wednesday evening in Eden, and upon that perfect fruit of those perfect trees let the curtain drop. "And the evening and the morning were the third day." TllK SI N AM) MOON AI'l'KAU. Now it is Thursday morning of tho world's lirst week. Nothing will be created today. The hours will be passed ill scattering fogs and mists and vapors. The atmosphere must bo swept clean. Other worlds are to hove in sight. 1 Ins little ship of the earth has seemed to have all the ocean of im mensity to itself. But might ier craft are to be hailed today on the high seas of space. First the moon's white sail appears and does very weir until the sun hursts upon the scene. The light that on the previous three mornings was struck from an especial word now gathers in the sun. moon and stars. One for the day, the others for tho night. It seemed as if they had all within twenty-four hours been created. Ah, this is a great time in the world's lirst week. The moon, the nearest neighbor to our eartli, appears, her photograph to be taken in tho Nine teenth century, when the telescope shall bring her within one hundred and twenty miles of New York. And the sun now appears, afterward to bo found eight hundred and eighty eight thousand miles in diameter, and, put in astronomical scales, to be found to weigh nearly four hundred thousand times heavier than our eartli , a mighty furnace, its heat kept up by meteors pouring into it as fuel, a world devour ing other worlds with its jaws of flame. And the stars come out, those street lamps of heaven, those keys of pearl, upon which ( fod's fingers play the music of the spheres. How bright they look in this oriental evening! Constella tions! Galaxies! What a twenty-four hours of this lirst week solar, lunar, stellar appearances. All this Thursday and the adjoining nights employed in pulling aside the curtain of vapor from these Hushed or pale faced worlds. Enough! "And tho evening and tho inoruiiig were the fourth day." KI.YI.NIi AND SWIMM1N0 CKK ATl'URS. Now it is Friday morning in the lirst week of the world's existence. Water, but not a tin swimming it; air, but not a wing Hying it. It is a silent world. Can it be that it was made only for vegetables f But hark! There is a swirl and a splashing in all the four rivers of Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel and Euphrates. They are all aswim with life, some darting like arrows through split crystal, and others quiet in dark pools like shadows. Everything from spotted trout to behemoth; nil colored, all shaped, the ancestors of finny tribes that shall by their wonder of construc tion confound the Agassizes, the ( 'uviera and the L'mnirtises and tho ichthyolo gists of the more than six thousand years following this Friday the fii-xt week And while I stand on the banks of these paradisaical rivers watching these film; tribes I hear a whirr in tho air. and I look up and behold w ings wings of larks, robins, doves, eagles, flamingoes, albatrosses, brown thresh ers, i S utures of ail color bluo as if dipped .a tho skies, fiery as if they had flown out of the sunsets, golden as if they had taken their morning bath in buttercups. And while I am studying the colors they begin to carol and chirp mid coo and twitter and run up and down tho scales of a music that they must have hoard at heaven's gate. Yes. I find them in Paradiso on this the first Friday afternoon of the world's existence. And I sit down on tho bank of the Euphrates, and the murmur of the river, together with tho chant of birds in the sky, puts me into a state of somnolence. "And the evenin rand the morning were the fifth day.'' ( TI1K LAST DAY'S WOKK. Now it is Saturday morning of tho world's first week, ai,d with this day i the week closes. But oh, what a cli- j lnaotorio day! The air has its popula- j tion and the water its population. Yet the land has not one inhabitant. But i here they come, by "( lie voice of (iod created! Horses grander than those: which in after time Job will describe as having neck clothed with thunder. Cattleenough to cover a thousand hills. Sheep shepherded by him who made for them the green pastures. Catile superior to the Alderneys and Ayrshiivs and Devonshire's of after times. Leo;)-; ards so lieaiitiful we are glad they can- , not change their spots. Lions without 1 their liereenoss, and all the quadruped j world so gentle, so sleek, so perfect. Look out how you treat this animal j creation, whether they walk the earth , or swim the waters or fly the air. Do' you not notice that God gave them; precedence of the human race? They! were created Friday and Saturday ! morning, as man wa- created Saturday afternoon. They have a right to be tiere. He who galls a horse, or exposes a cow to the storm, or boats a dog, or mauls a cat, or gambles at tho pigeon shooting, or tortures an insect will have to answer for it in the judgment day. ' You may console yourself that these creatures are not immortal and they cannot appear against you, but the (iod who made these creatures anil who saw the wrong you did them will be there. Better look out, you stock raisers and railroad companies who bring the cat tle on trains without, food or water for three or four days in hot weather, a long groan of agony from Omaha to New York. Better look out, you farm er riding behind that limping horse with a nail that the blacksmith drove into the quick. Better look out, you boys stoning bullfrogs and turning tur tles upside down and robbing birds' nests. But something is wanting in Paradise, and the week is almost done. Who is there to pluck the flowers of this F.denic lawn? Who is there to command these worlds of quadruped and lish and bird.' For whom has (iod put bad; the curtain from the face of sun and moon and star? The world wants an emperor and empress. It is Saturday afternoon. No one but the Lord Almighty can originate a human i being. In the world wdiere there are i in the latter part of the Nineteenth elitlirv iiei'P fmipteeii linn, !p. .1 tttilll,,,, t people, a human being is not a curios ity. But how about the first human eye that was ever kindled, tho first human ear that was ever opened, the lirst human lung that ever breathed, the lirst human heart that ever beat, the lirst human life ever constructed? That needed tho origination of a (iod. lie had no model to work by. What stupendous work for a Saturday after noon! He must originate a style of human heart through xvhich all the blood in the body must pass every three minutes. He must make that heart so strong that it can during each day lift what would be equal to one hundred and twenty tons of weight, and it must be so arranged as to beat over thirty-six million times every year. About live hundred muscles must be strung in tho rigiit place, and at least two hundred and fifty bones con structed. Into this body must be nut id least nine million nerves. Over j three thousand perspiring pores must ; be made for every inch of fleshly sur- i face. ' I The human voice must be so con structed it shall be capable of produc ing seventeen trillion live hundred and ninety-two billion ono hundred and eighty six million forty-four thousand four hundred and fifteen sounds. But all this the most insignificant part of the human being. The soul! Ah, the construction of that (iod himself would not be equal to if ho were any the less of a (iod. Its understanding, its will, its memory, its conscience, its capaci ties of enjoyment or suffering, its im mortality ! What a work for a Satur day afternoon! Aye! Before night there were to be two such human and yet immortal beings constructed. The woman as well as the man was formed Saturday afternoon. Because a deep sleep fell upon Adam, and by divine surgery a portion of his side was re moved for the nucleus of another cre ation, it has been supposed that per haps days and nights passed between tho masculine and feminine creations. But no! Adam was not three hours miniated. If a physician can by ntuosthoties put mie into a deep sleep in three minutes, (iod certainly could have put Adam into a profound sleep in a short, w hile that Sat ur lay afternoon, and made tho deep and radical excision without caus ing distress. By a manipulation of tho dust, the same hand that molded tho mountains molded tho features, and molded the limbs of the father of tho human race. But his eyes did not see, and his nerves did not fee!, and his muscles did not move, and his lungs did not breathe, anil his heart did not puLate. A perfect form ho lay along the earth, symmetrical and of godlike countenance. Magnificent piece of di vine carpentry and omnipotent sculpt uring, but no vitality. A body with out a soul. Then the sourco of all life stoopod to the inanimate nostril and lip, and, as many a skillful and earnest physician has put his lips to a patient in comatose utateand breathed into his mouth and nostril, and at tho same time compressed the lungs, until that which was artificial I go much difficulty in keeping up np respiration became natural respiration, j pearances should try a. hand at keeD- somethinks God breathed into this cold ot life, and thii sculpture of a man ,..! the heart begins to t ramp, i ,,.i,,l,.,!e and the eyes to open and the entire form to the rant i ire of a llfl thrill, and with , just come the orostrat, being leaps to his feet - aman. ' But the scene of this Sat mday is not vet done, and in the atmosphere, drowsy with tho breath of Bower, an,, tho song of bobolinks and robin red breasls,' 'the man slumbers, and by amesthetics. divinely administered, tho slumber deepens until, without wieoo,.-in-of one drop of blood a! the time or the faintest .,-ar afterward, that portion is removed from his side which is to be built up the .:i"on of Paradise, the daughter of Ike great God, the mother of the human l ece.tho benediction of all ages, woman tho wife, afterward wom an the mother. And as the two join hands and stroll down along the banks of the Luphrati's toward a bower of mignonette nnd wild rose and honey suckle, and are listening to the call of the whip-poor-will from the aromatic t iit keis, I'ne sun sinks beneath the hori zon. "And :h.'"vonmgandtlic!iioriiing were I he sii il day." Till! WOllKS OK TllK l.oUD. What do you think of that one week's work? 1 review it not for entertain ment, but because I would have you join in David's doxology. "Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord (iod Almighty;" because I want you til know what a homestead our Father built for his children at the start, though sin has despoiled it, and be cause I want vou to know how the world will look again when Christ shall have re..tored it, swinging now between two Kdens; because 1 want you ti) realize something of what a mighty (iod he is, and the utter folly of trying to war against liiin; because I want you to make peace with this chief of the universe through the Christ who mediates between offended Omnipo tence nnd human rebellion; because 1 want you to know how fearfully and wonderfully you are made, your body as well as your soul an Omnipotent achievement; because I want you to realize that order reigns throughout the universe, and that God's watches tick to the second, and that his clocks strike regularly, though they strike once in a thousand years. A learned man once asked an old Christian man who had no advantages of schooling why he believed there was a God. and the good old man, who probably had never hoard an argument on the subject in all his life, made this noble reply: "Sir, 1 have been here going hard upon fifty years. Everv day since I have been in this world I see the sun rise in the east and sot in tlio west. The north star stands where it did tho lirst time 1 saw it; the seven stars and Job's coffin keep on the saiuo path in the sky and never turn out. It isn't so with man's work. He makes clocks and watches; they may run well for awhile, but they get out of fix and stand stock still. But the sun and moon and stars keep on this same way all the w hile. The heavens declare the glory of (iod." Yea, I preach this be cause I want you to walk in apprecia tion of Addison's sublime sentiment when he writes: Tin- spacious firmament on liiu'h, Witti all Ihc Utile I'thcreul sky Anil sp.-eick'il lirav'ns. a shining friunc, Tlii'ir lirrut OriKiuul liroi'liiim. Ih ri'iisnn's cur tUcy all rejoici'. Anil lit tir fiirlli a lnriuus voice, Korcver t-initini;, as they shine, -The liaixl thi'.t made us Is divine. UntKn futile llmimiMl. Joseph II. Moore, of Tort Worth, j Tex., whose cattle interests exceed those of any man in the southwest, was among the guests at tho Lick, where in conversation with a reporter ho said: "You have heard a great deal, no doubt, or did, a few years ago, at least, of tho famous 'Cattle Kings' of tho west, who were supposed to reckon their wealth by the millions. The bus iness of raising cattle was conducted on a grand scale, and at one timo tho profits were simply enormous. This naturally attracted capital in large ,'imounts, and wealthy men from all parts of the world rushed eagerly into the business of breedingand raising c tle. The result was overproduction and a serious decline in prices. "Three years ago it became evident to those who studied closely the course of events that cattle raising would soon change from large herds on tho range to small herds on the farm. Those who were shrewd enough to foresee this took prompt advantage of it, and today have before them the pleasant prospect of good prices and a ready market. As a conscipienee, however, the days of the cowboy are numbered, and ho is doomed to extinction just as certainly as wus the buffalo and the Indian. The small farm is crowding them slowly but surely to tho wall, and in a few years they will bo gone." San Francisco Call. An luterluilr. It was in the choir loft of a fashion able church on Sunday. The organist was dreaming over a voluntary. Sud denly the organ blower got tired, or something gave out, for tho thunder ous peals came to a full stop, and a high soprano voice was heard shrieking to tho contralto, "How did you like the circus!" Philadelphia Record. Auuilirr Point of View. Mr. Fudge So you wish to marry my daughter, do you? May I ask how much you aro worth ? Mr. Uroke Yes, sir; I wish to marry your daughter. May I ask how much you aro worth? Once a Week. Some of our people who experience ing down expense. the I n atli NEW ADVERTISEMENTS. Hexican iiistang ; ! t f liniment! for I' and FOR onv 11 THE For Sale BY ALL DRUGGISTS. mny 21 ly LAND SALE -VALUABLE FARIAS FORISALE IK HAI IFAX COUNTY, N. C. ONE F AliM CONTA1NC, r34 ACIil f horse criip cleared, good pastn never failing stream, apple and peach chard, good dwelling and necessary o lmnses. ruit'i: $2,000. ONE TK ACT OF horse rrnn clear 2011 ACRES, 0 rep cleared, most ot the ot in line growth of pines; good dwelling t 'lit houses. I'liK'K $1,000. NE TRACT OF 315 ACRES, 0 horse crop cleared, the balance heavy grow th of oi ighul pines. I'iMci: jHoo.oo. 0 NE TRACT OF 314 ACRES, T horse crop cleared, the balance in uruw th of oak and pine. Pitici: .$1,000. o: NE TRACT OF I) ACRES, 3 HOI crnp cleared ; good dwelling aud necessary out-houses. ritiCE $i,ooo. ONE TRACT horse crop c otit-lmuses. ACT OF 8.10 ACRES, F! rop cleared ; good dwelling I'ltlCH $2,r,oo. These farms are convenient to tlinri in a healthy locality, and a short dist I'otn Halifax and Enfield. Fnrtieg wis t Imy and w ant to KX'AMINK :-: THE SK-:-LA Will cull on MR. THOMAS OFSF.Y, ""son, x. C i r M1! T c I5UIG v ho lives near Halifax, who will taker lire in showing them to purchasers. Any or all of these lands will 1 e ON REASONABLE TERfl FOR 1890. Yiars i au 30 tt. Weldon, JC. C