The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1889-02-22

second heaven TO ttrSt heaven, down
swifter than meteors ever fell, down
amidst stellar splendors that himself
eclipsed, down through clouds,
through atmospheres, through appall-
ing space, down to where there was no
lower depth. From being waited on
at the banquet Of the skies TO the broil-
ing of fish for his own breakfast on
the banks of the lake. From en-
blazoned chariots Of eternity to the
saddle Of mules back. The hon.
age cherubic, seraphic, archangelic,
to the paying of sixty-two and o
half cents Of tax to Caesar. From
the deathless country to tomb built
to hide human dissolution. The up
lifted wave of Galilee was high, but
he had to come down, before, with
his feet, he could touch it, and the
whirlwind that rose above the billow
was higher yet but he had to come
down before, with his lip, he could
kiss it into quiet. Bethlehem stoop-
ing down. Nazareth STOPPING down.
Death between two burglars STOPPING
down. Yes, it was in consonance with
humiliations that had gone before and
with self abnegations that came after,
when on that memorable day in Her
DDS temple he stopped down and wrote
on the ground.
THIS WORLD Is STILL UNDER THE d.
VINE EYE.
Whether the words he was writing
were in Greek, or Latin, or Hebrew, l
cannot say for he knew all those Ian
guages. But he is still STOPPING down
and with his finger writing on the
ground; in the winter in letters of
crystals, in the spring in letters of
flowers, in summer in golden letters of
harvest, in autumn in letters of fire on
fallen leaves. How it would sweeten
up and enrich and emblazon this
world could we see Christ's caligraphy
all over it. This world was not flung
out into space thousands of years ago
and then left to look out for itself. It
is still under the divine care.
Christ never for half second
takes his hand off of it, or
it would soon be a shipwrecked
world, defunct world, an obsolete
world, an abandoned world, dead
world. ''Let there be light" was said
at the beginning. And Christ stands
under the wintry skies and says, Let
there be snowaakes to enrich the
earth; and under the clouds of spring
and says, Come We blossoms and make
redolent the orchards; and in Septem-
Der, dips the branches into the vat of
beautiful colors and swings them in
the hazy air. No whim of mine is
this. without him was not any
thing made that was made" Christ
writing on the ground. If we could
see his hand in all the passing
seasons, how it would illumine
the worldl All verdure and foliage
would be allegoric, and again we
would hear him say as of old, "Con-
slider the lilies of the field, how they
grows" and we would not hear the
whistle of quail or the cawing Of a
raven or the roundelay Of brown.
thresher, without saying, Behold
! the fowls of the air, they gather not
| into barns, vet your Heavenly Father
| feedeth them; !" and Dominic hen OF
the barnyard could not cluck for her
brood, yet we would hear Christ say
ing as of old, "How often would /
have gathered thy children together,
even as hen gathered her chickens
under her Wings" and through the
redolent hedges we would hear Christ
saying, II am the rose of Sharon"
we could not dip the seasoning from
the salt cellar without thinking of
the divine suggestion, "Ye are the
salt of the earth, but if the salt
have lost its SAVIOR, it is fit for nothing
but to be cast out and trodden under
foot of men," Let us wake up
from our stupidity and take the whole
world as a parable. Then if with gun
and pack of hounds we start off before
dawn and see the morning coming
down off the hills to meet us, we
would cry out with the evangelist,
1.-THE day spring from on high hath
visited u.s." or caught in snow storm,
while struggling home, eyebrows and
beard and apparel all covered with
the whirling flakes, we would cry out
with David, Wash me and shall
be whittier than snow" In picture
gallery of Europe, there is on the cell
ing an exquisite fresco, but people
having to look straight up, it wearied
and dizzied them, and bent their
necks almost beyond endurance, SO
a great looking glass was put
near the floor and now visitors only
need to look easily down into this mir
ror and they see the fresco at their
feet. And SO much of all the heaven
of Gods truth is reflected in this world
as in mirror, and the things that are
above are copied by things all around
U.S. What right have we to throw
away one of Gods Bibles, aye, the
first Bible he ever gave the race2 We
talk about the Old Testament and the
New Testament, but the Oldest Testa-
ment contains the lessons Of the nat
ural world. Some people like the
New Testament SO well they discard
the Old Testament. Shall we like the
New Testament and the Old Testa-
ment so well as to depreciate the old
est; namely, that which was written
before Moses was put afloat on the
boat of leaves which was calked with
asphaltum; or reject the Genesis and
the Revelation that were written CEN
turtles before Adam lost a rib and
gained wife9 No, no; when Deity
stoops down and writes on the ground,
let us read it. / would have no
less appreciation OF the Bible on paper
that comes out of the paper mill, but l