The national leader., 1889-03-02

He had to come down before with His
| lip he could kiss it into quiet. Bethle-
hem STOPPING down. Nazareth
STOPPING down. Death between two
burglars STOPPING down. Yes, it was
in consonance with humiliations that
had gone before, and with self abnega-
tions that came after, when on that
memorable day in Herod's 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 all 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'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. 1t IS still
under the divine care. Christ never
for half second takes His hand off of
1T, or it would soon be shipwrecked
world, a defunct world, an obsolete
world, an abandoned world, a dead
world. "Let there be light" was said
at the beginning. And Christ stands
under the wintry skies and says. Let
there be snowhakes to enrich the earth;
and under the clouds Of spring and
says, Come ye blossoms and make re-
dolent the orchards; and in September,
dips the branches in the vat of beautiful
colors, and swings them into the hazy
air. No whim Of mine is this. "Wlth-
out Him was not anything made that
was made" Christ writing on the
ground.
III 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 as of old, Consider the
lilies of the field, how they grows"
and we would not hear the whistle of a
quail or the cAwing Of raven or the
roundelay of a brown-thresher, with
out saying, ''Behold the fowls OF the
air, they gather not into barns, yet
your heavenly Father feedeth them;"
and a Dominic hen OF the barnyard
could not cluck for her brood, yet we
would hear Christ saying as of old,
''How often would have gathered thy
children together, even as a hen gathered
her chickens under her WINGS" and
through the redolent hedges we would
hear Christ saying, Il am the rose OF
Sharon;" we could not dip the season.
ing from the salt-cellar without think
ing of the divine suggestion, "Ye are
the salt of the earth, but if the salt
have lost it's 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 1 shall be whittier than snow." In
a plcture-gallery of Europe there is on
the ceiling an exquisite freScO, but peo-
pie having to look straight up, it weari-
ed and diZzied them, and bent their
necks almost beyond endurance; SO
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 of Gods
truth is reflected in this world as in
mirror, and the things that are above
are copied by things around us.
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 TeSta-
ment, but the oldest Testament con-
tans the lessons of the natural world.
Some people like the New Testament
so well they discard the Old Testa-
ment. Shall we like the New TIE ,ta-
ment and the Old Testament so well as
to depreciate the oldest; namely, that
which was written before Moses was
put afoat on the boat of leaves which
was calked with asphaltum; or reject
the Genesis and the Revelation that
were written centuries before Adam
lost rib and gained wife? No, no;
when Deity stoops down and writes on
the ground, let Us read it. I would
have no less appreciation of the Bible
Oh paper that comes out of the paper
mill, but l would urge appreciation Of
THE BIBLE IN THE GRASS.
the Bible in the sand hill, the Bible in
the geranium, the Bible in the aspho-
del, 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. I have no time to look at
heaven" And if our faculties were all
awake in the study of God, we would
not have time to go much further than
the first grass blade. 1 have no fear
that natural religion will ever contra
dict what we call revealed religion. l
have no sympathy with the followers of
Aristotle, who, after the telescope was
invented, would not look through it,
lest it contradict some of the theories
of their great master. l shall be glad
e. of bo