Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-03-11


counted as the small dust Of the bal
ancel Behold he taketh up the isles
as a very little thing! 1t is he that
sitteth upon the circle of the earth,
and the inhabitants thereof are as
grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the
heavens as a curtain and spreadeth
them out as tent to dwell in. 10
whom then shall we liken him? Litt
up your eyes on high and behold
Who hath created all these things
that bringeth out their host by num-
ber; that calleth them all by their
names by the greatness OF his might
Because he is strong In power not one
faileth! Hast thou not heard that the
everlasting God, the Lord. is the
creator of the ends Of the earth ~
The Psalmist was humbled and
almost overwhelmed as he considered
the matchless display Of Divine wis
dom and power in the material uni
verse. In expressing his reverent
amazement he exclaimed: "When |
consider the heavens, the work of thy
hand, and the moon and stars, which
thou hast ordained, what is man
that thou art mindful Of him, or the
son of man that thou visitest him ?"
"If," saws a modern writer, who
with passionate admiration had in
vestigated the works Of God, "if in
studying the operations and laws OF
nature, we are walking side by side
with its great author and sustainer.
then we behold this department OF
truth as he beholds it; we recognize
the order OF nature and the relations
OF cause and effect as he recognizes
them, we actually think his thoughts
and perceive his purpose, and the
whole tendency of this must be to
bring our minds into grateful har-
mony with his. As the Infinite Spirit
does not exhibit himself to us person
ally, he doubtless intended to make
known to us his natural attributes
through his works, and for this pur-
pose he preadapted our minds to ac-
quire a knowledge OF them, and so far
as We do acquire, we are evidently
growing in his natural image, and be-
coming better and better prepared for
the reception of that truth, which be-
longs not to the intellect alone, but
also to the heart"
And thus in all ages souls OF the
finest grain, and the keenest spiritual
insight have been swayed, and awed /,
and filled, and uplited, by sympathe-
tic contact with the power that is con-
tinually pouring thro' all material
forms. My hearer, have you ever be-
held scenery so grand and imposing
that the very air seemed as pure as
the breath of heaven-scenery that
stirred your whole being so deeply
that you could scarcely suppress your
tears, when you wished to hear no
whisper but from the angel of the de-
vine presence that seemed to be how
ering near, and you felt as though
you were in Gods great holy Of
holes?
When to us, as to the Psalmist, God S
words declare his glory as really as
mortal speech ever did, when the
seasons each with its peculiar lessons
and blessings, bring God nearer to
our thoughts and feelings, when the
manifold beauty and the amazing or
der and regularity, the infinite variety
and the awe inspiring majesty OF ma
ture reveal to us the all-controling
intelligence, then we appreciate more
fully the words of the poet, uttered
not in the pantheistic sense in which
God is only the impersonal spirit of
nature, but in the higher sense in
which all nature is controlled and
animated by the immediate presence
and power Of the personal God.
All are but parts OF one stupendous whole,
Whose body nature is and God the soul
That changed in all and yet in all the same,
Great in the earth as in the eternal fame;
Warns in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,
CLOVIS in the stars and blossoms in the trees:
Lives thro' all life, extends thro' al extent,
Spreads undivided, operates unspent;
Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal
part,
As full, as perfect in vile man that mourns,
AS in the seraph that adores and burns.
The season is at hand when all ami
mated nature will rejoice in newness
OF life. Is it possible for a thoughtful
person to go forth into the fields,
or our orchards and vineyards and
gardens, or roam among the
hills and behold the countless
forms and shades OF beauty-the
innumerable evidences of joyous life,
the velvet carpet of the earth, the
flowers that nestle and nod by every
path, the curtains richer than damask
that wave through gorge and wood
land, the graceful festooning of lawn
and forest, and listen to the wild,
sweet warbling from bush and tree,
be famed by bfeezes freighted with
the richest perfumes-can one 90 forth
while all the senses are luxuriating in
the blessings and glories of Spring
and not hear the divine voice that
murmurs or feel the life-giving power
that pulsates through it all
How can one seriously consider the
lessons of the season already opening
without feeling that he is in the i'm
mediate presence of him who made
and governs all-without adopting as
the language OF his own soul the half
inspired poem of Horace Smith:
Not the domes where crumbling arch and
column
Attest the fullness of mortal hand,
Ii,
Which God has planned.
To that cathedral, bourdless as our won der,
Whose quenchless lamps the sun and moon
supply;
Its choir the winds and waves-its organ
thunder;
Its dome the sky.
There as in solitude and shade wander
ThrO the green aisles, or st etched upon the
sod,
Awed by the silence, joyfully ponder.
The ways of God.
Your voiceless lips, o flowers, are living
preachers;
Each cup pulpit, and each leaf a book;
Supplying to my fancy numerous teachers
From loncliest nook.
Floral apostles that in dewy splendor.
Weep without woe and blush without q
crime;
Your numerous lessons l delight to ponder
And make them mine.
see great orchards with their burdens
bending,
The beard d grain to zephyrs gently nod;
From waving forests, birds their music
lending,