The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1882-07-07


under that is an inaoayd tree, which
is renewed again and again.
Tomorrow you pass a corn field.
Last March the ground was bare and
brown, no growth upon it. Now
the thousand green stalks and leaves
move in the wind in fulness of life.
A few short months hence, 4 few
yellow streaks will publish the be-
ginning of death. Then the dry
rattle, then the sickle. In November
the years pageant will have passed
by and the ground will be as bare
and brown as when the last snow
melted from it. Yet in the granary
is stored up the life of the harvest,
the character o. substance of the
crop, the seed corn Of summers to
come. The outward part returns to
the earth as it was-earth to earth,
dust to dust, ashes to ashes-the in
ward part is renewed, multiplied, and
lives on.
We, beloved, are constantly recog-
nizing this contrast between the
periShable and the permanent,
cheap outside and a vital substance
within, in familiar language. We
speak of the husk and the grain,
the kernel, the shell and the heart,
the body and the life. These terms
become expressive symbols of
corresponding distinction in our own
double constitution-the dying flesh
and the deathless soul. Now it is
by lines of thought like this, carried
out in any direction, that even nature,
which is of God, illustrates for US
imperfectly, the solemn doctrine of
the Apostle St. Paul. When hear
men refer to the springtime, the
blossoms and butterfly as if these
were the only natural emblems of
the everlasting life, l wonder they
do not rather see in the whole pro-
ceeding of Gods universe, and in
the daily works of their own hands
too, an evidence of their immortal
destiny, and of the continual presence
of an unseen power underneath the
outward appearance. We stand all
the time before this two-fold mystery
of life-one part is the form, forever
changing. dissolving, dropping off,
sliding away-but, as direct con-
sequence of this succession of ap-
pearances, there is another part-call
it power, or principle, or law, or life,
or character as you will-which re-
news itself and does not die. I have
been speaking of the natural of what
we call nature. Now 1 would direct
your attention to Gods word, to
what we call super natural-that is
to say, to things above nature.
In what new cleaness and brightness
this truth is written there Here we
have the full and perfect key to all
these signs and ciphers in natnre,
which otherwise would be but an unin-
telligible riddle. Here we pass, at
one bound, beyond all faint intima-
tions, out into the broad sunshine,
where life and Immortality are
brought completely to light. When
St. Paul speaks of the inward man
and its renewal, he does not mean
any unconscious powers in matter,
or any mere natural forces of charac-
ter, he does not mean any intellectual
or social or business life or skill,
he does not mean any result of a
progressive education or develope-
ment of abilities such as man can
provide for himself, or one man
can furnish another. His eyes are
fixed on more marvellous transfor-
nation and higher glory. St. Paul
writes for you. Something about
you is transient. In this mortal part
he includes the accidents ofproperty,
the visible gains of labor and calcu-
lation, the surroundings of estates
and furniture and dress--and, more
than these-all intellectual accom-
plishments, social refnements and
advantages of rank and position
which are not consecrated by faith
and made part of the spiritual man.
"Whether there be tongues, they