The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1890-05-03

spired writers seized upon the adj
vantages 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 to
the sycamore, whose roots spread out
n strike down and clinch themselves
amid great depth of earth, and he said
that faith was strong enough to tear
that up by the roots.
At Hawarden, Eng, Mr.. Gladstone,
while showing me his trees, during a
prolonged walk through his magnificent
park, pointed out a sycamore and, with
a wave Of his hand, said: "In your visit
to the Holy Land, did you see any syca-
more more impressive han that?" |
confessed that | mad not. Its branches
were not more remarkable than its roots.
1t was to such a tree a. that Jesus
pointed when He would illustrate the
power OF faith: "Ye might say INTO
this sycamore tree, Be hou plucked up
by the roots and be thou cast into the
sea- and 1t would obey you"
Christ would have the Christian, de-
spondent over his slowness OF religious
| uoNclOpilChJ RO ~ lie COElillclu lOE u
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 pressure of he corn: First
the blade, then the ear, after that the
full corn In the ear"
Would David set forth the freshness
and beauty of genuine Christian charac-
ter, he sees an eagle starting from it's
nest just after the moulting season, it's
old feathers shed, and Its wings and
breast decked with new down and
plumes, Its body as finely feathered as
that of her young ones just beginning
to try the speed OF their wings. Thus
~rejuvenated and replumed is the Chris
tian's faith and hope by every season Of
communion with God. Thy youth is
renewed like the eagles" Would Sol
ONION represent the annoyance of q con-
tentious woman's tongue, he points to q
leakage in the top of his house or tent,
where, throughout the stormy day, the
water comes through, falling upon the
ioor-drip! drip! drip! and he says: "a
continual dripping in a very rainy day
and a contentious woman are alike"
Would Christ set forth the char
acter of those who make great
professions Of piety, but have no fruit,
He compares them to barren fig trees,
which have very large and snowy leaves,
and nothing but leaves. Would Job
illustrate deceitful friendships, he speaks
of brooks in these chimes, that wind
about in different directions, and dry up
when you want to drink out of them:
my brethren have deal deceitfully as
q brook, and as the stream of brooks
they pass away" David when he would
impress US with the dependency into
which he had sunk, compares it to a
quagmire of those regions, through
which he had doubtless sometimes tried
to walk, but sunk in up to his neck, and
he cried: 81 sink in deep mire where
thereis no standing" Would Habakkuk
set forth the capacity 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 it's hoofs able calmly to sustain
itself in the most dangerous places:
THE Lord God Is my strength, and He
will make my feet like the kinds 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 1t were a bright spring morn
ing, 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 a great light
upon your path, and you look up to find
it the aurora b~orealis, which Job de-
scribed so long ago as ''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. and
the showers break loose till the birds
fly for hiding place and the mountain
torrents In red 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 heaven?" AS you read on you
feel yourself coming in frosty chimes,
and, in fancy, wading through the snow,
| You say, with that same inspired writer:
Hast thou entered into the treasures of
the snow?" And while the sharp sleet
drives in your face, and the bail stings
your cheek, you quote Him again: Hast
| thou seen the treasures of the hail?' In
the Psalmist's writings l heard the voice
Of the sea deep calleth unto deep;''
and the roar of the forests: 'The Lord
| shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh;" and
the loud peal Of the black tempest: THE
God Of glory thundereth;" and the rustic
OF the long silk on the we'll flied husks:
Tho valleys are covered with CORN"
and the cry. OF the wild beast: ''The
young lions roar after their prey" the
hum of the palm-trees and cedars; THE
righteous shall flourish like 3 palm tree;
he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon;"
the sough Of wings and the swirl OF fnsI
Dominion over the fowls of the air and
the fishes OF the sea-"
The truths Of the Gospel might have
been presented In technical terms and
by the means OF dry definitions, but I'M
der these the world would not have
listened or felt. How could the safety
Of trusting upon Christ been presented
we're 1t not for the figure Of Q rocky
How could the gladdening effect OF the
Gospel have been set forth had not
Zacharias thought of the dawn Of morn
ing, exclaiming: 1.-The day spring from
on high visited US to give light to them
(; that sit in the darkness" How could
the souls intense longing for Christ
have been presented so well as by the
emblem Of natural hunger n natural
thirst? AS the lake gathers into Its
bosom the shadows Of bills around and
the CLEAN of stars aboys, 90, in these
great depths of divine truth, all objects
In nature are grandly reflected. We
walk forth in the spring time and
every thing breathes OF the resur-
rectiOn. Bright blossom and spring
ing 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 from
the text 1--WE all do fade as u leaf" and
scatters her elegies in ouF path, we can
not help but think of sickness and the
tomb. Even winter, ''being dead, yet
speaketh."
Another contribution which the natuP-
al world is making to the kingdom OF
Christ, is the defense and aid which the
elements are compelled to give to the
Christian personally. There is no law
of nature but Is sworn for the Christians
defense. In Job this thought is pre-
scented as a bargain made between the
inanimate creation and the righteous
man: ''Thou shalt be in league with