Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1891-02-14
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Diyine's Sun
day Sermon.
Subject, "The Lessons Of winter"

Subject; "The Lessons of Winter"
TEXT; 'tHast tj,or entered into the treas
3res Of the snolcg'-Job xxxyiii., %.
Grossly maligned is the season of winter
f.e spring and summer and autumn have
had many admirers but winter hoary
headed and white bearded winter, hath had
more enemies than friends. Yet without
winter the human race would be inane and
effortless. You might speak OF the winter as
the slotcer OF tempests. | take it as the
father OF whole family OF physical, mental
and spiritual energies ne most people that
1 know are strong in proportion to the num-
Der Of suow banks the had to climb over or
push through in childhood, while their
fathers drove the sled loaded with logs
through the cruneling drifts high as the
fences.
AT this sesson of the year, when we are
so familiar vauh the snow, those frozen van
porS those falling blossoms of the sky, those
white ANGELS OF the atmosphere, those poems
or the -0rp, those Iliads and Odysseys of
the WINERY tempest. / turn over the leaves
OF ~ Blo'e and-th0ugh most of it was
wlittan III a cline where suosy seldom or
never fell find many Ok these beautiful
con ,elations Though the writers NAV sell
dcln or never have felt the cold touch Of the
snowflake on their cheek, they had in sight
two mountains, the tops OF which were sug-
sestiYe. Other kings sometimes take of
their crowns, but Lebanon and Mount Her.
mon all the year round and through the
ages never lift the coronets Of crystal from
their foreheads
The first time we find deep fall Of snow
IN the Bible Is where Samuel describes a
fight between Benaiah and a lion in pit.
ana though the snow may have crimsoned
under the wounds Of both man and bruta
the shaggy monster rolled over dead and
the giant was victor But the snow is not
fully recognized in the Bible until God in
terrogates job, the scientist, concerning its
wonders saying, Hast thou entered into
the treasures Of the snowp'
| rather think that job may have exam.
med the snowflake with microscopes: for.
although it is supposed that tine microscope
was invented long after Jobs time. there
had been wonders of glass long before the
microscope and telescope OF later day were
thought of. So long ago as when the Col
lseum was in its full splendor, Nero sat ia
the emperor's box of that great theatre
which held hundred thousand people. and
looked at the combatants through a gem in
his finger ring which brought everything
close up to his eye.
Four hundred years before Christ, in the
stores at Athens, were sold powerful glasses
called burning spheres, and Layard, the
explorer, found a magnifying glass amid the
RUNS Of Nineveh and in the palace of MIN
ANN- " ifNhAtEA AiltbuSu HldZllif ihg lnsLfI-
ment or with unaided eve | cannot say. but
l am sure that job somehow went through
the galleries of the snowflake and counted its
pillars aud found wonders raptures, mys-
terles, theo' ogieS, majesties, infinities walk
ing up and down IFS corridors. as a result of
tine question which the Lord had asked him,
Hast thou entered into the treasures Of the
snowSN
Oh, it is a wonierous nleteori Memboldt
Si1.flpG II In tt.a A gt!lqe
above the level OF the sea. De Saussure re-
Neled among these meteors in the Alps, and
Dr. Scoresby counted ninety-siX varieties of
snowflake amid the aretcs They are in
shape Of stars, in shape of coronets. in shape
Of cylinders; are giobular, are hexagonal,
are pyramidal, are caStellated. After fresh
fall OF snow, in one walk YOU crush under
your feet, Taieries Windsor castles. st.
Pauis st. Peters, st. Marks, cathedrais.
Alhambras and Sydenham palaces innumer-
able. | know il depends much ON our own
condition what impression these flying
meteOrs of the snow make
! shall not forget two rough aud unpre-
tending wood cuts which l saw in my boy
hood side by side; one picture OF prosper
Gus farmhouse. with all signs of comfort
and a lad warmly clothed looking out of the
door upon tine first furry of snow, and his
mind no doubt filled with the sound of jim
Cling sleigh bells and the frolc with playfel-
lows in the deep banks, and he clapping his
hands and shouting, 1T snowsi it snowsm
Inc other sketch was of boy, haggard and
hollow eyed with hunger, looking from the
broken door OF wretched home and seeing
III the falling flakes prophecy of more cold
and less bread and greater privation, wiring
ing his hands aud with tears rolling down
his wan cheeks crying, ''Oh, my God it
SHOWS, it snowsm Out of the abundance
that characterizes most Of our homes may
there be speedy relief to all whom this win
ter finds III want and exposure
And now | propose, for your spiritual and
everlasting profit, if you will accept my guild
ance, to take you through some of these won
ders of crystali2ation. And notice first God
in the lltties You may take alpenstock and
cross the Mer de Glaze, the sea of ice and
ascend Mont Blanc, which rises into the
clouds like pillar of the great white Throne,
or with arctic explorer ascend the mountains
around the north pole, and sec glaciers a
thousand feet high grinding against glaciers
three thousand feet high Bnl 1 will take
you on q less pretentious Journey and show
you God il the snowflake. There is room
enough between its pillars for the great Je-
hovah TO stand In that one frozen drop on
the til OF your finger you may find the throne
room Of the Almighty. ! take up the snow
in my hand and see the coursers of celestial
dominion paving these crystal pavements.
The telescope Is grand but l must confess
that | am quite as much interested in the
microscope. The one reveals the universe
above rs: the other Just as great universe
beneath us. But the telescope overwhelms
me while the microscope comforts me. What
you want and l want especially is God in
Titles. II we were straphc or archangelic
in our natures we would want to study God
in the great; but such small, weak, short
lived beings as you and | are want to find
God in the Titles.
When [ see the Maker Of the universe Civ
ing Himself to the architecture of u snow
fake, and making its shafts, its domes, its
curves, its walls, it's irradiations so perfect l
conclude He will look after our insignificant
affairs. And If we are of more value than
a sparrow, most certainly we are OF more
value than IA inanimate snowflake. So the
Bible would chiefly impress US with God in
the litties. Il does not say Consider the
clouds but It says, Consider the lilies Ii
does not say. behold the tempestsm but
''Behold the fowls"' and it applauds cup OF
cold water and the widows two mites. and
says the hairs Of your head are all numbered.
Do not fear, therefore, that you are going to
be lost in the crowd. DO not think that be-
cause you estimate yourself as only one
snowflake among three days January snow
storm that you will be forgotten. The birth
and death OF drop of chilled vapor is as
certainly regarded by the Lor as the crea-
ton and demolition of planet. Nothing is
big 10 God and nothing is small
What makes the honey industries of South
Carolina such source of livelihood and
wealth: 1t is because God teaches the lady.
bug to make an opening in the rind of the
apricot for the bee, who cannot otherwise
get ct the juices OF the fruit. SO God sends
the lndybus ahead to prepare tie way for
the honey bee. He teaches the ant TO bite
each grain OF corn that she puts in the
ground for winter fool in order that it NAV
not take root and so ruin the little granary
lie teaches the raven in dry weather to throw
pebbles into a hollow tree, that the water far
down and out of reach may come up within
the reach Of the birds beak. What COM
fort that He is u Cod in Titles! The emperor
Of all the Russias in olden time was looking
at a map that spread before him his vast
domnIons and lac could not find Great Brit
ain on the map. and he called in his secretary
and said; Where is Great Britain, that
hear 50 much about" 1T is under your
thumb, said the secretary: and the en-
paror raised his hand from the map and saw
the country he was looking for
AMI 1t Is high time that we find this
mighty realm Of God close by and under our
own little finger To drop vou out of Ills
memory would be to resign Ills omniscienca
Iorefuse You His protection would be To a h.
uiGate MS omnlpotencc When YOU tell me
that lie is tine God of Jupiter. and the God of
Mercury, and the God OF Saturn, yoa tel me
somethlng so vast that | cannot comprehend
IT. But If you tell me He is the God Of tine
snowflake, YOU tell me something | can h I'D
ana measure and realize. Thus the smallest
snowflake contains a Jewel case Of comfort
here Is an opal, an AMETHYST. a diamond.
Here is one of the treasures OF snow. Take
II Tor your present and everlasting comfort.
Behold, also, in the snow the treasure OF
accumulated power. During snow storm
let an apothecary, accustomed TO weigh most
delicate quantities, hold his weighing scales
out OF the window aua let one fake fail on
the surface of the scales, and it will not even