Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1863-09-05
MISCELLANEOUS.
THE NATURAL FORCES
A Discourse by Iscv. Thomas Starr
king.

In an address recently delivered before an
agricultural society in California, Rev. Tho
mas Starr King thus described the work of
the natural forces
Suppose that, early in this year, the
whole world had bent itself in supplication
to the Invisible Ruler-every man and wo-
man. from the Arctic circle to the hot Equa-
tor, kneeing in the humility of conscious
dependence, and lifting up from every zone
the prayer, 'Forsakc us not this year, Great
Benctactor but bless us in our helplessness,
from the treasury of thy goodness = And
suppose that, after such verbal petition,
the supply had come-that in every house
had been found the water and the stores,
the bounties of vegetable and animal food
how surprising would the mercy have SEEM
ed
"But how much more surprising and in
spring is the real wonder, that such a
shower upon a barren globe could be !
With few prayers for it the great miracle
has been wrought, and in the double way of
| beauty and bounty For what is the display
of the seasons? Is not the quickening of
nature in the early months of the year as
though God smiles upon the earth at the
Equator; and then the spreading wave OF
that benignity sweeps northward, rolling
back the water line, loosing the fetters OF
the frost, milling SHOWS into tertilizing
juices, pressing the cold clouds farther and
farther back, and from the tropics to the
edges of the Polar seas gladdening the soil,
till it utters in spreading verdure the visible
green lyric of its JOY And the summer :
Is 1t not the warm effluence of his breath
that flows northward and reveals the inf
mite goodness as it floats through the south
ern groves and fills the fruit with sweetness.
thickens the sap of the sugar fields, nour-
ishes the rice plains, feeds the energies of the
temperate cline, besses the hardy orchards
and the struggling wheat and corn, and dies
amid the everlasting ice, after completing
the circuit of its mission in clothing the
northern woods with lite2 And then the
many-hued pomp of harvest comes, when
the more ruddy light and the gorgeous col
oring repeat the JOY of the Creator in the
vast witnesses of his benefcence, and the
tired fields yield to the laborers their ample
bounty, and seem to whisper Take, o chill
dren of men, and be grateful, until Tho
course of the stupcndous miracle is renew
ed
''If we could see the wheat woven by fairy
spinners, apple rounded and painted anC
packed with juice elfin tingers-or if the SIX!
NCIC u N'Sl vi piONi9ioh S''iNi iiN'i
which our needs were supplied in Response
to verbal prayers who could help cherish
ing constant undertone of wonder at the
miraculous forces that encircle us! Bu
consider how much more amazing is thu
fact Consider how, out of the same moist
ure, the various flowers are compounded !
The dew that drops in the tropics is trans
mutcd into the rich orange liquor and bana
ma pulp, and sweet substance of the fig thu
pomegranate. stores itself with fine frag
rance and SAVIOR from it the various color
and qualities of the grape are drawn iron
it; and in the temperate orchards the rail
is distilled in the dark arteries of trees, into
the rich juice of the peach and the pear, thu
apple and the plum.
"When travelling trickster poufs severa
different liquors from one bottle into cul
for the spectators, it is called magical. Ge
nature, not by deception, but actually, doe
pour for us one tasteless liquid into all TIL
varieties of TASTE which the vegetable worlt
supplies. If, by miracle, kindred will
that of Christ at Cana, a jar of water coul'
be tonight converted within your house
into wholesome wine, could it be so admirl
BILE as the ways in which the vines max
wine upon the hillside, out of vapor an
sunlight at the bidding of Godl"