The Forrest City times., 1890-05-03


 | the so-called sacred places,' and write them
 up and show the world that tho New Tcsta-
 ment is an imposition upon tho worlds cre- dulity." Months after, Doctor Jessup's friend mot the sccpiic at Bcyrout after ho ! had completed his journey through the Holy Land. "welL how Is itl" said tho
 aforesaid gentleman to the sceptic Tho
 answer was: "I have seen 1t all, and tell you the Bible Is true Yes, 1t is all truc" The man who wont to destroy cams back to defend. After what myself saw during my recent absence, conclude that anyone | who can go through the Holy Land and re- | main an unbeliever, is either bad man or an imbecile. God employed mon to write
 the Bible, but He took many of the same truths which they rocorded and with His own almighty hand He gouged | them into tho rocks, and drove them | down into dismal depths, and, as docu- ] ments are put in the cornerstone of 1 temple, so in the very foundation of the
 earth He folded up and placed the records
 of heavenly truth. Tho earth's corner
 stone was laid, like that of other sacred l edihces, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, ani of tho Holy Ghost Tho Author of revelation, standing among the
 great strata, looked upon Moses, and said, Let us record for future ages the worlds history; you write it there on papyrus; will write 1t here on the boulders"
 Again, nature offers an invaluable con
 tribution to Christianity by the illustration she makes of divine truth The inspired writers seized upon the advantages offered by the natural world. Trees and rivers
 and clouds and rocks broke forth into holy
 and enthusiastic utterances Would Christ
 set forth the strength of faith, He points 10 the sycamore, whoss roots spread out ct ~li he al lvaa | amid great depth of earth, and He sad that faith was strong enough to tear that up by the roots.
 At Hawarden, England, Mir Gladstone, while showing me his trees during pro longed walk through his magnificent park, pointed out sycamore, and with wave of | his hand said "in your visit to the Holy Land did you sec any sycamore moro i'm pressive than thati" I confessed that l
 had not Its branches were not mora re- | markable than it's roots. It was to such a trce as that Jesus pointed when He would l Illustrate the power of faith. 'Ye might ! say unto this sycamore tree, Be thou pluck cd up by the root and be thou cast into the
 sea, and il would obey you.n One reason why Christ has fascinated the world as no l other teacher, is because instead of using 1 severe argument He was always telling | how something in the spiritual world was like unto something in the natural world. | Oh these wonderful ''likesr of our Lord | Like a grain of mustard seel. Like n l treasure hid in a field. Like merchant 1 seeking goodly pearls. Like unto a net | that was cast into tho seq Like unto | householder
 l Would Christ teach the precision with | which He looks after you, He says He counts the hairs of your head. We'll, that | q n cd h., ba. A
 have the average endowment It has been | found that if the hairs of the head be
 black there arc about l2l,o or if they be | fiaxen there are about l4o,0 ,001. But God knows the exact number Tho hairs of l your head are all numbered" Would | Christ impress us with divine watchlul. l ness and care, He speaks Of tho sparrows
 that were nuisance in those tunes They
 were caught by the thousands in tho net
 They were thin and scrawny and had
 comparatively no meat on their bones l They seemed almost valueless, whst ther llv- ing or dead. Now, argues Christ, if my
 Father takes care Of him will He not take
 care Of youi Christ would have the | Christian despondent over his slowness of
 religious development go to his corn field
 for lesson. He watches first the green | shoot pressing up through the clods, | gradually strengthening into a stalk, and
 last of all the husk swelling out with the 1 pressure of the corn; First tue blade.
 then the car, after that the full corn iu tho ear,n
 | Would David set forth the freshness and l beauty of genuine Christian character he
 sees an eagle starting from it's nest just after the moulting season, it's old feathers
 shed, and its wings and breast dee.sod with
 new down and plumes, its body as finely 1 feathered as that Of her young ones just be- | ginning to try tho speed of their wings. Thus reiuvenated and replumed is the l Christians faith and hope by every season Of communion with God. "Thy youth Is renewed like tho eagle's" Would Solomon
 represent tue annoyance of contentious
 womans tongue he points to a leakage in the | top of his house or tent where, throughou,
 the stormy day, the water comes through
 falling upon the fioor--drip, dripi dripl
 and hc says "A continual dripping in a
 very rainy day and contentious
 woman are alike Would Christ
 set forth tho character of thoso
 who mako great professions of piety but have no fruit He compares them to
 barren fig trees, which have worry largo
 and showy leaves, and nothing but leaves. 1 Would Job illustrate deceitful friendships, 1 he speaks of brooks in these ciimes that wind about in different directions, and dry | up when you want to drink out Of them: My brethern have dealt deceitfuliy as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they
 pass away David when he would i'm.
 press us with tho despondency into which hs had sunk compares it
 to quagmirc of those regions, through which he had dou btless sometimes l tried to walk, but sunk in up to his neck, and he cried. T sink in deop mire where
 there Is no standing Would Habakkck
 set forth the capacity which God gives tho l good man to walk safely amid tho widest
 perils, hc points to the wild animal called
 the hind walking over slippery rocks, and 1 ieaping from wild crag to wild crae. by the | peculiar make of its hoofs able calmly to 1 sustain itself in the most dangerous places
 "The Lord God Is my strength, and he will
 make my feet like ninds feet"
 1 Job makes all natural objects pay tribute
 to the royalty Of his book. As you go through some chapters of Job you feel as 1 if 1t were a bright spring morning. and,
 as you see the glitt ring drops from the grass under your foot you Say with that
 patriarch, "Mho hath bsgotten the drops
 of the dcwi" And now, as you raad on, you seem in the silent midnight to behold tho
 waving Of great light upon your path,
 and you look up to find 1t tho aurora borea- lis, which Job described so long ago as "the
 bright light iu tho clouds and the splendor
 that cometh out Of the north.n As you
 read on, there is darkness hurtling in 1 tho heavens and the showers break 1 loose till tho birds fy for hiding, 1 place and the mountain torrents iu red fury foam over the rocky shelving, and with
 the same poet you exclaim, "Nho can
 number the clouds in wisdom. or who can
 stay the bottles of heavenl" As you read
 on, you fecl yourself coming in frosty
 climes, and, in fancy, wadlns through tho
 saow. you say. with tha; same inspired
 writer, Hast thou en.erei Into the treasures of the snowi' And while the
 sharp sleet drives in your face and the
 hail stings your cacek, you quote him
 again; Hast thou secn the treasures Of