Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-04-28

writer, Hast thou entered into the
treasures of the snow?' And while
the sharp sleet drives in your face, and
the hail stings your cheek, you quote
him again: Hast thou seen the treas
ures of the hail?" In the Psalmist' s
writings hear the voices of the sea !:
deep calleth unto deep;" and the roar
of forests: THE Lord shaketh the will
derness of Kadesh;" and the loud peal
of the black tempest: THE God of
glory thundereth;" and the rustic of
the long silk on the well filled husks:
1.-The valleys are covered with corn >
and the cry of wild beasts: THE young
lions roar after their prey" the hum
of palm trees and cedars: 1.-THE right
eous shall flourish like palm tree; he
shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon;"
the sough of wings and the swirl of
fms: dominion over the fowl of the
air and the fish of the sea-"
PRESENTATION OF CHRISTIAN TRUTHS.
The truths of the gospel might have
been presented in technical terms, and
by the means of dry definitions, but
under these the world would not have
listened or felt. How could the safety
of trusting upon Christ have been pre-
sented, were it not for the figure of
rock? How could the gladdening eff
feet of the gospel have been set forth,
had not Zacharias thought of the dawn
of the morning, exclaiming: ''The
day spring from on high hath visited
US to give light to them that sit in
darkness" How could the souls in
tense longing for Christ have been
presented SO well as by the emblem of
natural hunger and natural thirst? AS
the lake gathers into its bosom the
shadow of hills around, and the CLEAN
of stars above, SO, in these great deeps
of divine truth, all objects in nature
are grandly reflected We walk forth
in the spring time, and everything
breathes Of the Resurrection. Bright
blossom and springing grass speak to
us of the coming up Of those whom we
have loved, when in the white robes
of their joy and coronation they shall
appear
And when in the autumn of the
year nature breaches thousands of
funeral sermons from the text, eve
all do fade as leaf" and scatters her
elegies in our path, we cannot help
but think of sickness and the tomb
Even winter, being dead, yet speak
eth" The world will not be argued
into the right. 1t will be tenderly IL
Illustrated into the right. Tell them
what religion is like. When the
mother tried to tell her dying child
what heaven was she compared it to
light. But that hurts my eyes,
said the dying girl. Then the mother
compared heaven to music. But any
sound hurts me; I am SO weak" said
the dying child Then she was told
+ho+ loo1,o, woe lilo ,,oofhon'c o,.11oc
"Oh, take me there!" she said. eff it
is like mothers arms, take me there"
The appropriate smile had been found
at last
Another contribution which the
natural world is making to the king
dom of Christ is the defense and aid
give to the Christian personally.
There is no law in nature but is sworn
for the Christians defense In Job
this thought is presented as a bargain
made between the inanimate creation
and the righteous man: Thou shalt
be in league with the stones of the
field" What a grand thought that
the lightnings, and the tempests, and
the hail, and the frosts, which are the
enemies of unrighteousness, are all
marshaled as the Christians body
guard They fight for him. They
strike with an arm of fire, or clutch
with their fingers of ice. Everlasting
peace is declared between the fiercest
of nature and the good man.
They may in their fury seem to be in
shifting down the right
eous with the wicked, yet they cannot
damage the Christians soul, although
they may shrivel his body. The win
try blast that bowls about your dwell
ing you may call your brother, and
the south wind coming up on June
day by way of flower garden you may
call your sister Though so mighty in
and diameter, the sun
and the moon have special charge |
concerning you. 1.-THE sun shall not
smlte thee by day, nor the moon by
night" Elements and forces hidden
in the earth are now harnessed and at |
work in producing for you food and |
clothing. Some grain field that you
never saw presented you this day with !
your morning meal. The great earth |
and the heavens are the busy loom at |
work for you; and shooting light, and |
silvery stream, and sharp lightning
are only woven threads in the great |
loom, with Gods foot on the shuttle.
The same spirit that converted your
soul has also converted the elements
from enmity toward you into invio
liable friendship, and furthest star and |
deepest cavern, regions of everlasting |
cold as we'll as chimes of eternal sum-
ner, all have mission of good, direct |
or indirect, for your spirit.
THE STUDY OF NATURAL OBJECTS.
Now | infer from this that the study |
Of natural objects will increase our re
ligious knowledge If David and Job |
and John and Paul could not afford to
let go without observation one passing |
cloud, or rift of snow, or spring bios |
som, you cannot afford to let them 90 |
study. Men and women of |
God most eminent in all ages for faith |
and zeal INDUCED in such observa-
and Baxter and bod |
bridge and Hannah More That man |
is not worthy the name of Christian |
who saunters listlessly among these |
disclosures of divine pow |
er around, beneath and above us, |
stupid and uninstructed They are not |
worthy to live in a desert, for that has |
its fountains and palm trees; nor in |
regions of everlasting ice, for even |
there the stars kindle their lights, and |
auroras flash, and huge icebergs shiver |
in the morning light, and Gods power
sits upon them as upon a great white |
throne Yet there are Christians in |
the church who look upon all such |
of mind and heart as soft |
and because they be- |
lieve this printed Revelation of God |
are content to be infidels in regard to |
all that has been written in this great |
book Of the universe, written in letters
Of stars, in paragraphs of constella-
tons, and illustrated with sunset and |
thunder cloud and spring morning.
[ infer, also, the transcendent i'm |
portance of Christ's religion. Nothing
IS so far down, and nothing is SO high |
up, and nothing so far out, but God |
makes it pay tax to the Christian re-
Iigion. If snow and tempest and |
dragon are expected to praise God, |
you he expects no homage |
from your soul2 When God has writ |
ten his truth upon everything around |
you, suppose you ne did not mean you |
to open your eyes and read it2
Finally, | learn from this subject |
i I Ii