Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-01-13
GODS PROVIDENCE.
IT Is MARvELOUsLY DISPLAYED IN
THE CREATION.
What 1t Does and What 1t Does Not
Do-Yesterday's Sermon at st.
PauI's Church.

What 1t Does and What 1t Does Not
Do-Yesterday's Sermon at St.
PauPs Church.
At the morning services at st. Paul's
Church yesterday Rev. J. f. Won Herrlich,
the rector, delivered an interesting sermon
on the above subject. He spoke on the
text: Fear not, for l am with thee; will
strengthen thee; l will help thee; yea, 1
will uphold thee with the right hand of my
righteousness. Isaiah Kill, 10.
There are few words so liable to be mis-
understood as the word Providence Web
ster defines the Providence of God as 1.-The
foresight and care which God exercises
over and for His creatures" The word it.
self comes from pro, before, and videre, to
ahead and providing the means for. 1t
does not mean the doing of thing for US,
but providing the means for its accomplish
ment. Let US for moment look at the
marvellous provision of God in the arrange
ment and DEVELOPMENT in material nature.
There is no doubt that, as far as brute
life is concerned, this earth had been de-
populated several times before man 3D.
peared upon it. There are evidences OF
upheavals and depressions on the earth s
crust-of periods of formation and building.
The flora and fauna of those different
epochs show progression in the forms and
functions of life from the lower to
the higher, from the simple to the
complex, and including man from the
physical to the spiritual and intellectual.
The advance is always onward and up
ward. In Genesis We see Gods creative
processes eliminating in man, the master
piece of creative effort.
And now the doubling scientist, with the
| scholarly Owen, is compelled TO believe
that, from the past history of our globe, we
learn that mature has advanced with slow
but grand and stately steps, guided by
the archetypal light amid the wreck
| of worlds, from the first embodi.
ment of the vertebrate idea under Its
cd ichtyhic vestment until it became ar
rayed in the glorious garb of the human
| FORM" We cannot get away from the con.
viction that through the measureless cycles
of which these rocks remind us that one
increasing purpose runs" and that purpose
was the moulding, shaping, enriching and
beautifying OF this planet that it might bG
fit dwelling place for man, who was tC
+; wear upon his brow the sign and seal o.
| the Divine image.
Upon these stony pages we read a won
! drous story. We are carried back to tha
morning of time when around this molten
globe was formed cooling crust
1 IL IL
! and dense, which condensing, fell il
mighty floods Ages passed, when til,
| hardening crust was broken and in
ternal fires belched forth their masses O
molten matter, which with broken rocks by
| the action of water, was worn to dust anc
| deposited upon that inner shell-the frs
| course of masonry upon the earths outel
crust.
Time allows only glance at the won
| derous records of the Devonian period
| when mighty monsters revealed in thu
| deep, and we pass on 10 the graphic picture
of world clad in glorious verdure from
pole to pole But Natures story comes t.
US like an awful, troubled dream. Interna
| fires soon again lifted and fractured the
| granite rocks, upheaving here, depressing
there; submerging beneath the waters the
| glorious forests and drifting vegetation
| AS time swept on other forests grew and
| were buried under as many succe: siyt
wastes of waters. Oh, why this awful havoc
al d waste-this iucomprehensible and de-
structive work? Why, it was Gods method
of providing for man. The vegetation o.
that prehistoric age has been preserved snc
| by the subtle chemistry of nature those
| submerged forests have been transformed
! into our benefcent and cheering coal
Another period of repose is followed by
one of CONFUSION and formation These
outcropping Lodges tell US that the crus
cracked again, and through thousand ifs
sures molten streams rushed forth, ther
into the assures and under the uplif;eC
rocks, and hardened there! 1t was {
| stormy time, but blessed in its work. The
! earth was now enriched with more iron
and veins of tin and lead and copper anC
silver and gold were stored away Anc
now the diamond and the sapphire were
| crystallized and buried and locked up for US
the glories of a prehistoric sky Their
came the changes which brought about the
| fora and fauna of the grand old Pliocent
age But we must hasten to the CLOSING
pages of great natures mighty book, wher,
We find them grcoved and scored as with ar
| iron pen to tell creations tale. They tel
| the story of long and desolate winters
| winter without heat and with no genia
invigorating breath of spring. When thu
earth was wrapped up in an impenetrablt
| sheet of ice and animal and vegetable lifs
were frozen out. The beauteous earth haC
| given place to Arctic desolation and heaps
of drifting ice Why again this mighty
| change? We shall see the meaning of i
all. Iron had been stored away in tht
lower rock formations. Coal. by the subtle
| chemistry of nature, was being manufac
e
| forests of another period. Later the pre-
cious metals, in molten state, bad beer
| injected into the broken and fissured rocks
| Jewels rich and rare were laid away fol
| the kings and queens, and the maidens fail
| of these later days. The saline seas had
| evaporated and the conserving salt wa.
| stored away.
But the soil of the earth was not We
| adapted to supply the wants of man. The
| earth's crust was still hard, sharp, Jagged
unbroken mass. But at the breaking up o
| this long winter God calls upon the icebers
and glacier 10 do this work and through
long ages, like mighty plows impelled By
currents and grayitation, they furrowed on
| hills and valleys, securing, crushing, mix
! ing, kneading, clothing the earth at las
| with a composite soil. And with the sab
si6ence of the waters the earth became fol-
/ lin WIZ Was W udNG ONtT IL (
veritable garden of the Lord. Hurfiedly
we have glanced at the pages of this stony
record. We have seen, however, thai
through these cycles of time in which the
creative work was carried on, man wa
| ever present in the Divine mind, and al
| his needs and wants were anticipated. Fol
| his coming the fiery star dust clrcled into 6
seething ball; for him volcanoes poured
forth their contents upon the heavine
| bosom of the virgin globe; for him lorna
| does swept and floods destroyed; for hin
primeval forests fourished and were de-
| stroyed, storing up the rich carbon and the
bright sunlight of other days; for hin
came the long, desolate winter, obscurins
| the heavens, freezing out life, and for hi;
sake came the grinding glacier and tn!
drifting iceberg, crushing and grinding ant
mixing in suitable proportions the hare
crust and the jsgged rocks and clothing tn,
earth in a cereal-growing soil. And thi
provision anticipates not merely the com
ing of an individual or of household o.
of a nation, but the race of mankind, from
the very beginning down to the very end.
And the fact of Divine provision hold
coed in the progress of life and civilization
and to the profound student and deep
thinker it is clear and apparent. And so
too, in matters of individual experience
we need but refer to the ethnic preparation
for the coming of our Lord and the sprea(
of His gospel, to the revival Of learning il