"Then, when the archangel's voice
Calls the sleeping saints to rise,
Rising myriads shall proclaim
Blessings on the Saviour's name.
"'This is our redeeming God!'
Ransomed hosts shall shout aloud
Praise, eternal praise, be given,
To the Lord of earth and heaven."
THE STONE BOOK.
"The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath He given to the children of men."—PSALM cxv. 16.
"Speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee."—JOB xii. 8.
"Be still, and know that I am God."—PSALM xlvi. 10.
We have been reading a little about the story of the heavens. Now I want to take you from the starry heights to the dens and caves of the earth, and to speak to you a little about—not astronomy, but geology, as the science or study of the earth is called. This is a very interesting study, but one in which we may easily make serious mistakes; for we have not here the firm ground under our feet which the Word of God gives us, and we must always beware of saying, "This thing is so, therefore that other thing must be so"; or, "This thing is not, therefore that other cannot be."
When we first began our talks, we read that "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth"—all that which is meant when we speak of the "Universe." This is just what we need to know; and how gracious of God the Creator to speak to us about His own works, and set at rest all the guesses and reasonings of our minds as to how and when this earth first came into existence!
Then we noticed that there is a pause, how long a pause we know not. The silence of God, as it were, falls upon the scene; we hear nothing more about the heavens, and nothing of the earth between the time of its creation and its state as described in the next verse—a desolate, watery waste, upon which darkness brooded.
It is a great thing to know how to listen when God speaks to us, and to be silent when He is silent. "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God"; this is what He has been pleased to tell us, and we cannot go beyond it.