Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-08-28
THE TRUE VIEW OF GOD.

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placed together are the hemispheres
which make a perfect globe. A
thoughtful man who has been plagued
with skeptical insinuations, goes out at
night to study the wonders of the
heavens. He fixes his eye on the even
ing star. which he can hide with his
hand, but it is a world of 1000 miles
in diameter! Yonder Alcyone shines
with the concentrated light of a
thousand suns; and that milky way"
that seems but star dust in the sky, is a
mass of consultations and revolving
worlds! He discerns n little twinkler
in the constellation of the Swan"
which astronomy tells him is so far
away that. although its light travels to
us at the rate of 27O, 600 miles a min
ute, that light requires eight years to
reach us. If the hand that made it
should suddenly extinguish it, we
would still see the star there for eight
! years after it had ceased to exist! The
man is staggered by such overwhelm-
ing facts, and is ready to exclaim:
"What is man in this remote corner. of
this s%tupendous universe that God
should ever bestow a thought upon
him?"
On his way home after this study of
the amazing pomp of the starry worlds,
he salts at the cottage of a poor man to
inquire after his sick child. He knocks
at the door, and the father as he opens
it says in a low tone: Little Johnnie
is gone home; but the good Book says:
i shall go to him, though he shall
never come back to me-" In. one
corner of the lowly room, under a white
covering, lies the dead boy. The poor
mother lifts the linen from the pale,
placid face and says: "Ah, our laddie
died so sweetly, sir, he made me read
to him the pretty verses about Heaven
They shall hunger no more; neither
shall the sun strike on them, or any
heat He repeated over what he had
learned in the Sunday-school:
Jesus loves me, He who died
Heavens gate to open wide.
He has washed away my sin,
And lets His little child come in.'
We are comforted about our dear boy;
for you know the good Book says: The
Lord gave and the Lord hath taken
away and we know where the Lord has
taken our Johnnie"
Our friend goes out of that cottage
with a new view of God. When he gets
home he opens that good Book" that
the humble cottager quoted so often,
and his eye lights on this wonderful
passage. 1t is in the one hundred and
forty-seventh Psalm: ''He healeth the
broken in heart, and bindeth up, their
wounds. He telleth the number of the
stars; He calleth them all by their
n0nonS ~ fTra ~, e, 1o,yr Jo~,~ L. Dbl.
with a II of Amusement and awe.
Here is q view of the Almighty which
he had before. On the one hand
he sees the transcendent power and
glory of a Being who spreads abroad
the heavens, and guides the planets in
their courses, and calleth the stars by
their m On the other hand he
discovers a loving All-Father who con-
descends to hear the prayer of two
poor cottagers; who watches over. the
pillow of their dying child, and who
binds up tenderly their wounded hearts!
This is the God who sent the. s.eood
Book to them.
Such a Beng fulfils completely, the
deal of an infinitely perfect ruler of
the universe. IfiGod were only an ON,
nipotent being who could make. and
| guide planets, He would not fulfil the
ideal. Or if Ha. were only capable of
exercising n oversight over a poor
family, and comforting them in, their
trouole, them. too, there would be- q,
limitation in Ills attributes. But hem
Is Infinite power and wisdom that is
equal to the. Hottest things. and, vat
condescends 10 the lowliest and tha.
least. Hera: is a God who guides,
Alcyone and; Arcturus, and vet. num-
bers the hairs of His chldrens.s, heads
ana o'nds>up' their brokah hearts! No
otner religion in the world presents
such a God. Our friends skeptcism
begins 10 vanish under the blaze of this
new ight,that the .'good Boak'' Aas
poure6in upon him.
ne gQeson a step further and. beeins
10 search the New Testament. which
claims. THAI God has once been, .naani-
TEST IN the t1esh." How did the. Divine
belng.lo@ and spesx and act when He
became lncarnatea. It is q sublime
mystery" indeed, that such a THING
csnla' happen as that the. Son of God
should wear a human FORM aud become
axe. unto ourselves. But the GOOD
book declares that it did happen. And
what manner eli person was this Cod.
MAJ who dwell for thirty years or more
IN a vesture of humanity Is He sncb
a Being as ahat Sublime Psalm do.
scr,bes, and snch as that poor COTTAGES
and his wife believed IMP
Yes; exactly the same. Christ :Jesos
rises at ance to the loftiest And
descends 20 the lowliest, A. oma
TIME He commands the winds ana
Inc waves, and they obey Him: at
His o.nnipotent voice a temnest h,shas
INTO q cain! At another lime H.
takes up little children in H;s a,a a
and gives them the sweet l@nad;n
ton OF His love. One dav He m,i
tplies five barley loavas M 10 mul
enough to feed five th.,na.a Lv oreN1