News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-05-01

]
| out of the north" As you read on
| there is darkness hurting in the heav-
! ems. 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 heavenF
AS you read on you feel your
self coming in frosty elimes, 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 hail stings your cheek, you quote
him again: Hast thou seen the treas
ures Of the hail2" In the Psalmists
writings | hear the voices of the sea
'tDeep calleth unto deep;" and the roar
of forests: 1.-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 hus1s:
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: THE right
eous shall flourish like palm tree; he
shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon; )"
the sough of wings and the swirl of
| fins: dominion over the fowl of the
! air and the fish of the seq
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 a
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
| dag 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
wear nature breaches thousands of
funeral sermons 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 speak
eth" The world VIII not be argued
into the right. 1t will be tenderly il
Illustrated into the right Tel 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; | am so weak" said
the dying child. Then she was told
that heaven was Ike mothers arms.
ooh, take me there!' she said IF 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
which the elements are compelled to
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 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
elements of nature and the good man.
They may in their fury seem to be in
discriminate, 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
circumference and diameter, the sun
and the moon have a special charge
concerning you. THE sun shall not
smite 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 well as chimes of eternal sum-
meP all have a 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
without study. Men and women OF
God most eminent in all ages for faith
and zeal INDUCED in such observa-
tions-Payson and Baxter and bod
bridge and Hannah More. That man
is not worthy the name of Christian
who saunters listlessly among these
magnificent disclosures of divine pow
er around, beneath and above US,
stupid and uninstructed. They are not
worthy to live in 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
Izthe church who look upon all such
tendencies of mind and heart as soft
sentimentalities, ard because they be-
Eeve 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 transceudent i'm
portance of Christ's religion. Nothing