Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-05-03

ould Cnrist teach the precisac0 Win
which He looks after you, He says He counts
the hairs Of your head. Well, chat Is long
and tedious COUNT if tbs haad have the aver
age endowment 1t has been found that il
the hairs of the heal be black there are about
10000, or if they be faxsn there are about
l40, 90. But God knows the exact number:
The hairs of your head are all numbered y
Would Christ impress US with the divine
watchfulness and care, He speaks of the spar
rows that were a nuisanss in those times.
They were eau sht by the th1Isanls in the
net. They were thin and scrawny and had
comparatively no meat on their bones. They
seemed almost valuelesS whether living or
dead Now, argues Christ, il my Father
takes care OF them, viii He not take care Of
your Christ would have the Christian, de-
spondent over his slownass of religious deyes
opament, go to his corn field for lesson. He
watches first the green shoot pressing up
through the clods, gradually strengthening
into a stalls, and last of all the husk swelling
out with the pressure of the corn: First the
blade, then the ear, after that the full corn
in the ear
Would David set forth the freslns S All
beauty of genuine Christian character. be
sees an eagle starting from its nest just after
the noting ssison, its old feitlars shed,
and its wings and breast deczei with new
down and plumss its bo iy as fiuely fe4tl-
tiC1 us JlldJ VI dSf NO1I1 OIeS D51ltl-
ming TO try the sped of their wings Thus
reiuvenated AMI replu nei is tls C lrist.al's
faith and hopa by every season OF com nunion
with God Thy youth is renewed like the
eagls's.' Would Solom9a represent the al
noyancs of a contentious wo mans tolyle
he points to a leakage in tt 2 top Of his house
or tent, where, throughout the stormy day
the water comes through, falling upon ths
door drip drip drip AMI he says; "a
f1al drir 10 or11a
contentious woman are alike"
Would Christ set forth the character of
thoss who make great profession of piety,
but have no frnit, He compares them to bar
rem fig trees, waieh have very large and
snowy leaves and nothing bu5 leaves. Would
JOB Illustrate dsceitful friendships, he speaks
of brooks in those elimes, that wind about in
different directions, and dry up when you
want to drink out of them: MY brethren
have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the
stream of brooks they pass away David
when he would impress us with the despond-
ency into which he had sunk, compares it to
quagmlre of those regions, through which
he had doubtless sometimes tried to walk, but
sunk in up to his neck, and he cried; u sink
IN deep mlre where there is no standing"
Would Habakkuk set forth the cap tclty
which God gives the good man to walk safely
amid the widest perils he points to the wild
animal called the hind walking over slippery
rocks and leaping from wild crag to wild
crag, by the peculiar make of its hoofs aole
calmly to sustain itself in the most danger
Gus places: The Lord Go1 is my strength,
and He viii make my feet ike hin Isl feet"
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 We're 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 lit the aurora borealis, which Jobdescribe1
so long ago as the bright light in the clouds
and the splendor that comath out OF the
north" As you read On, there is darkness
hurting in the heavens, and the showers
break loose till the birds fly for hiding place
and the mountain torrents in rcd fury foam
over the rocky shelving, and with the
same poet, you exclaim: Who can number
the clouds in wisdom, or who can stay the
bottles of heayen%' As you read on, you
feel yourself coming in frosty chimes, and,
IN fancy, wading through the snow,
you say with thai same inspired writer,
"aast thou entered into the treasures of the
SNOWY 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 Psalmists writings
| hear the voices of the sea. Deep calleth
uuto Deep and the roar G. forests: The
Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh,a and
the loud peal of the black tempest: THE
God of glory thundereth" aud the rustic OF
the long silk on the well flied husks: "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 ce-
dars; The righteous shall flourish like a
palm tree. he shall grow like a cedar in LIB
anon 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 the figure of a
rock? How could the glad6ening effect of
the Gospel have been set forth, had hot
Zacharias thought of the dawn Of the morn
ing, exclaiming. THE day spring from on
high hath visited US to give hgnt to them
that sit i'll darkness" How could the souls
intense longing for Christ have been pre-
sented 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 everythm,
breathes of the Resurrection. Bright bios
som and springing grass speak to us of tle
coming up of those whom we have loved,
when in the white robes of their joy and cor
Jnation they shall appear
And when in the autumn of the year ma
ture breaches thousands Of funeral sermons
from the text, 'We all do fade as a Leaf
and scatters her elegies in our path, we can
not help but think Of sickness and the tomo.
Even winter, being dead, yet spsaketh."
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 tried TO tell her dying child what
heaven was, she compared it to light. "BIt
that hurts my eyes" said 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
pe therew she said. IF it is like mothers
arms, take me therep' The appropriate
smile had been found at last
Another contribution which the natural
world is making to the kingdom of Christ is
the defense and aid which the elements are
compile to give to the Christian personal
ly There is no law in nature but is sworn
for the CHRISTIANS defense. In Job this
thought is presented as a bargain made be-
tween the inanimate creation and the right
eous man: Thou shalt be in league with
the stones of the field" What a grand
thought that the lightnings and the tenn
pests and the hail, and the frosts, which are
the enemies of unrlghtecusness, are all mar
shaled as the Christians bodyguari. They
fl Mt for him. They strike with an arm of
fire or clutch with their fingers of ice Ever
lasting peace is declared between the fiercest
elements of nature and the good man. They
may in their fury seem to be lndiscrimlnate,
shifting down the righteous with the wicked,
vet they cannot damage the Chris
tian's soul, although they may shivel
his body. The wintry blast that howls
about your dwelling, you may call
your brother, and the south wind com
Ing up ona June day by way of flower gar
den, you may call your sister. Though 50
mighty in circumference and diameter, the
sun and the moon have a special charge con-
corning you. "The sun shall not unite thes
by day, nor the moon by night Elements
and forces hidden in the earth are now har-
messed 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 aud the
heavens are the busy loom at work for you;
and shooting light, and siIyery stream, and
sharp lightning are only woven threads in
the great loom, with Gods foot on the shut
tie. The same spirit that converted your soul
has also converted the elements iron enmity
toward you into inviolable friendship, and
furthest star and deepest cavern. regions of
everlasting cold as well as clirnas of eternal
summer, all have mission of good. director
indirect for your spirit
Now infer from this that the study of
natural objects will increase our religious
knowledge. If David and Job and John and
Paul could not afford to let go without obser.
walton one passing cloud, or rift of snow, OF
spring blossom, you cannot afford to let them
go without study. Men and women of God