Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-04-28

tnlnR IN Jlo natural WOrlQ. Ol LutsC "OANSA
| full Likes" of our Lordi Like grain OF mus
tard seed. Like treasure hid in fieid. Llk
a merchant seeking goodly pearls Like unp
net that was cast into the sea. Like unto
householder.
LESSONS IN FAITH.
Would Christ teach the precision with whicl
He looks after you, He says He counts th'
hairs of your head. Well. that is a long ant
tedious count if the head have the average en-
dowment. 1t has been found that if the hair
of the head be black there are about l2O,0OO o.
If they be faxen there are about l4O,OOO bu
God knows the exact number: "Ihe halrs o.
your head are all numbered" Would Chris
impress us with the divine watchfulness ant
care, He speaks of the sparrows that were {
nuisance in those times. They were caught By
the thousands in the net They were thin ano
scrawny. and had comparatively no meal
on their bones. They seemed almos,
valueless, whether living or dead; Now
argues Christ, if my Father taxes care
of them will He not take care OF you'
Christ would have the Christian despond,
ent over his slowness of religious development,
first the green shoot pressing up through the
clods, gradually strengthening into stalk, and
last of all the husk swelling out with the pres.
sure of the corn: First the blade, then the
ear, after that the full corn in the ear"
Job makes all natural objects pay tribute to
the royalty of his book. As you go through
some chapters of Job you feel as If it were a
bright spring morning, and, as you see the
glittering drops from the grass under your
feet, you say with that patriarch, Who hath
begotten the drops of the dew?" And now. as
you read on, You seem In the silent midnight TO
behold the waving of great light upon your
path, and you look up to find it the aurora
boreais. which Job described so long ago as
1.-THE bright light in the clouds and the splendor
that cometh out of the north" As you read
on, there is darkness hurtling in the heavens,
aud he shOxrors hrPak 10OSa fil1 the birds fl
for hiding place and the mountain torrents in
red fury foam over the rocky shelving; and
with the same poet you exclaim: Nv ho can
number the clouds in wisdom, or who can
stay the bottles of heaven7" As you read
on, you feel yourself coming in frosty climes,
and, in fancy, wading through the snow.
you say, with that same inspired writer, Hast
thou entered into the treasures of the snow?"
And-#hile the sharp sleet drives in your face,
and the hail stings your cheek, you quote him
again: Hast thou seen the treasures of the
hail?' In the Psalmist's writings L hear the
voices of the sea; Deep calleth unto deep;
and the roar of forests: The Lord shaketh the
wilderness of Kadesh" /" and the loud peal of
the black tempest: THE God of glory thun-
well-flled husks: "The valleys are covered
with corn;r and the cry of wild beasts: The
Young lions roar after their prey;" the hum of
palm trees and cedars: "The righteous shall
cedar in Lebanon the sough of wings and the
swirl of fins: Dominion over the fowl Of the
air and the fish of the sea-
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 presented were it not for the figure
of rock? How could the gladdening effect of
the gospel have been set forth had not Zacha-
rias thought of the dawn of the morning, ex-
1.-The day-spring from on high hath
visited us to give light to them that sit in dark
ness" How could the souls intense 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 springtime 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
mons from the text I'VE 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 speaketh." The
world will not be argued into the right. 1t will
be tenderly illustrated into the right. Tell
them what religion is like. When the mother
tries to tell her dying child what heaven was
she compared 1t to light but that hurts my
eyes" says the dying girl. Then the mother
compared heaven to music. But any sound
hurts me; am SO weak" +" said the dying child.
Then she was told that heaven was like
Mothers arms. "Oh, take me therer' she said.
If it is like mothers arms, take me therer'
The appropriate simile had been found at last.
What a grand thought that the light
1ings, and the tempests, and the hail, and the
frosts. which are the enemies of unrighteous-
ness, are all marshalled as
THE CHRISTIAN 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
iercest elements of nature and the good man.
They may in their fury seem to be indiscrimin-
ate, shifting down the righteous with the
wicked, yet they cannot damage the Christians
soul, although they may shrivel his body The
Bintry blast that howls about your dwell
ng, you may call your brother, and the
south wind coming up on June
lay by way of a fower-garden, you may
;an your sister. Though SO mighty in circum-
terence and diameter, the sun and the moon
rave special charge concerning you. 1.-The
un shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon
~ night" Elements and forces hidden in the
,arth are now harnessed and at work in pro-
lucing for you food and clothing. Some grain
ield that you never saw presented you this day
VltD your mOrnlngImeal. L he great earth aid
he heavens are the busy loom at work for you;
md shooting light, and silvery stream, and
harp lightning are only woven threads in the
.reat loom, with Gods foot on the shuttle
The same Spirit that converted your soul has
lso converted the elements from enmity toward
on into inviolable friendship. and furthest star
nd deepest cavern, regions of everlasting cold
s well as climes of eternal summer. all have a
mission of good, direct or indirect for your
pIrit.
Now infer from this that the study of nat
Iral objects will increase our religious knowl-
dge. If David and Job and John and Paul
ould not afford to let go without observation
me passing cloud, or rift of snow, or spring
blossom, you cannot afford to let them go
Without study. Men and women of God most
minent in all ages for faith and zeal, INDUCED
n such obseryatious-Paysona and Baxter and
and Hannah More That man is not
worthy the name of Christian who saunters
istless among these magnificent disclosures
# divine power around, beneath and above u.s.
tupid and uninstructed They are not worthy
o live IN a desert. for that has its fountains
nd palm trees: nor in regions
f everlasting ice for even there the
tars kindle their lights. and auroras flash, and
uge icebergs shiver in the morning light. and
ivd's power sits upon them as upon a great
Tfite throne. Yet there are Christians in the
,hurch who look upon all such tendencies of
mind and heart as soft sentimentalities and
ecause they believe this printed Revelation of
rod are content to be infidels in regard to all |
hat has been written in this great book of the
inverse, written in letters of stars, in para
raphs of consultations, and illustrated with |
unset and thunder-cloud and spring morning.
FROM NATURES OPEN BOOK.
1 infer, also, the transcendent importance of
hrist's religion. Nothing far down. and
othing is SO high up, and nothing SO far out.
ut God makes it pay tax to the Christian /
eligion. If snow and tempest and dragon are
expected to praise God suppose you He ex-
ects no homage from your soul? When God |
as written His truth upon everything around |
ou, suppose you He did not mean you to open |
our eyes and read it?
Finally, 1 learn from this subject what an |
onorable position the Christian occupies |
hen nothing is so great and glori 'us in nature |
ut it is made to edify, defend and instruct |