Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-02-18

touch it, and the whirlwind that rose
above the billow was higher yet, but he
had 10 come down before, with his lip, he
could kiss it into quiet Bethlehem a
! stopping down. Nazareth a STOPPING
! down. Death between two burglars a
| STOPPING down. Yes, it was in conso-
! nance with humiIiations that had gone
! before and with self abnegations that
| came after, when on that memorable
/ day in Herod 5 temple he stopped down
/ and
WROTE on THE GROUND. :
Whether the words he was writing
were in Greek, or Latin, or Hebrew, l
! cannot say, for he knew ali those Ian
/ guages. But he is still STOPPING down
/ and with his finger writing on the
/ ground; in the winter in letters of crys-
| tails, 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 5
/ caligraphy all over it. This world was
not flung out into space thousands of
years ago and then left to look out for it
! self. 1t is still under the divine care.
! Christ never fora half second takes His
| hand off of it or it would soon be a ship
wrecked world, a defunct world, an OBJ
solete world, an abandoned world "a dead
world HI4et there be light was said
at the beginning. And Christ stands IN
der the wintFy skies and says, Let there
be snowflakes to enrich the earth; and
under the clouds of spring and says,
Come We blossoms and make redolent the
orchards; and in September, 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 anything 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 world! All
verdure and foliage would be allegoric,
and again we would hear him say rs of
old, g Consider the lilies Of the field, how
they grow;' and we would not hear the
whistle of a quail or the cawing of
raven or the roundelay OF brown
thresher, without saying: "Behold the
fowls of the air; they gather not into
barns, yet your Heavenly Father feedeth
Them; and Dominic hen Of the barn
yard could not cluck for her brood, yet
we would hear Christ saying as Of old:
How often would l have gathered thy
children together, even as q hen gathered
her chickens under her WINGS and
tuFOuBn Inc T6uOl6Hb HGuETS We HOulu
hear Christ saying: 81 am the rose of
Sharon; we could not dip the seasoning
from the salt cellar without thinking of
the divine suggestion: eye are the salt
of the earth, but if the salt have lest 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, "The
day spring from on high hath visited
us; - or caught in a 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 I shall be whittier than
snow. IN picture gallery Of Europe,
there is on the ceiling an exquisite fresco,
but people having TO look straight up,
it wearied and dlzzied 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 mirror and they see the
frescO- at their feet. And so much Of all
the heaven Ol 0Ou ) tfutu Is TSuecICu III
this world as in a mirror, and the things
that are above are copied by things all
around us. What right have we TO throw
away one of God IS Bibles, aye, the first
Bible he ever gave the race? We talk
about the Old Testament and the New
Testament, but the oldest Testament
contains the lessons OF the natural world
Some people like the New Testament so
well they discard the Old Testament.
Sl-all we like the New Testament and the
Old Testament so well as to depreciate
the oldest; namely, that which was writ
ten before Moses was put atiOat on the
boat of leaves which was chaiked with
asphaltum; or reject the Genesis and the
Revelation that were written centuries
before Adam lost a rib and gained
wife? No. no; when Diety stoops down
and writes on the ground, let us read it.
I would have no less appreciation of the
Bible on paper that comes out of the pa
per mill, but 1 would urge appreciation
Of the Bible in the grass, the Bible in the
sand hill, the Bible in the geranium the
Bible in the asphodel, the Bible in the
dust. Some one asked an ancient king
whether he had seen the eclipse of the
sun ''No, - said he, 81 have so much
to do on earth, have no time to look at
awake in the study OF God, we would not
have time 10 &c much further than
THE FIRST GLASS BLADE.
have no fear that natural religion will |
ever contradict what we call revealed re-
hgion 1 have no sympathy with the
followers of Aristotle, who, after the tel |
escOpe was invented, would not look |
through, it lest it contradict some of the !
theories of their great master. l shall be !
glad TO put against one lid of the Bible |
the microscope, and against the other lid |
of the Bible the telescope.
But when Christ stopped down and |
wrote on the ground, what did he write?
The Pharisees did not stop to examine. |
The towards, whipped of their own con-
sciences, fed pell nell. Nothing will |
fay man like an aroused conscience.
DR.. Stevens, in his Z" HistorF.of Method |
ism, says that when Rev. Benjamin
Abbott of olden times was preaching, he |
exclaimed; ''For aught l know there |
may be a murderer in this house, and |
a man rose in the asSemblage and started !
for the door and bawled aloud, confess |
ing to a murder he had committed fifteen /
wears before And no wonder these /