The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-02-18

OF all the eminently pious of all the ages
and YOU will find them tho sons and daugh-
tiers OF sorrow. The AIaronites saw that
one characteristic of the cedar tree is that
when the air is full of snow, and it begins
to descend, the tree lifts Its branches IN
way better to receive the snow and bear
up under it, and l know by much obser-
walton that the grandest cedars of Chris
tan character lift higher their branches to-
ward God when the SHOWS of trouble are
coming. Lord Nelson's coffin was made
out of the masts of the ship "L'Orient," in
which he had fought so bravely, and your
throne in heaven, suffering child of
God. will be built out of conquered
earthly disasters. What gave John
Bunyan such wondrous dream of
the celestial city? The Bedford
penitentiary What gave Richard Baxter
such power to tell OF the Saints Everlast-
ing Rest" and give his immortal Call to
the Unconverted?' Physical disease
which racked every nerve of his body.
What made George Whitsleld so mighty
in saving souls, bringing ten thousand to
God when others brought a hundred?
Persecution that carieatured and assailed
him all up and down England, and dead
vermin thrown in his face when he was
preaching What mellowed and glorifed
Wilberforce's Christian character? A
financial misfortune that led HIM to write:
Il know not why my life is spared so
long, except it be to show that a man can
be as happy without a fortune as with
one" What gave John Milton such keen
spiritual eyesight that he could see the
battle of the angels? Extinguishment OF
physical eyesight. What is the highest
observatory for studying the stars of hope
and faith and spiritual promise? The be-
LEVERS sick bed. What proclaims the
richest and most golden harvests that
waved on all the hills OF heavenly rapture?
The SHOWS, the deep SHOWS, the awful
SHOWS of earthly calamity. And thst
comforting thought is one OF the treasures
of the snow.
Another treasure Of the snow is the sug-
gestion that this mantle covering the earth
is like the soul after it is forgiven. Wash
me, " said the Psalmist, land | shall be
whittier than SNOW" Ny dear friend Cash
erie Dewitt went over to Geneva, Switzer-
land, for the recovery OF his health, but
the Lord had something better for him
than earthly recovery. Little did think
when l babe him goodbye one lovely
afternoon on the other side OF the sea- tc
return to America, that we would not
meet again until we meet in heaven. As
he lay one Sabbath morning on his dying
pillow in Switzerland, the window open,
he was looking out upon Mount Blanc.
The air was clear. That great mountain
stood in its robe of SNOW, elittering in the
/ morning light, and my friend said to his
wife: Jennie, 10 you know what that
snow on Mount Blanc makes me think Of?
1t makes me think that the righteousness
of Christ and the pardon. of God cover all
the sins and imperfections OF
~.
that mountain, for the promise is
that though our sins be as scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow" Was not that
glorious? l do not care who you are, YOU
need as much as L dothat cleansing which
made Gasherie De Witt good while he
lived and glorious when he died. Do not
take it as the tenet of an obsolete theology
that our nature is corrupt We must be
changed. We must be made over again
The ancients thought that snow water had
especial power TO wash out deep stains.
An other water might fail but melted
snow would make them clean. Well, Job
had great admiration for snow, but he de-
clares in substance that if he should wnsh
his soul in melted snow he would still be
covered with mud like man down in a
ditch. Job tx, 30.) "If ! wash myself
in snow-water, and make my hands never
so clean, yet shalt thou plunge me i'll the
ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor
me- We must be washed in the fountain
of Gods mercy before we can be whittier
than snow without holiness no man
shall see the Lord" Oh. for the cleansing
power
II there be in all this audience one man
or woman whose thoughts have always
been right, and whose actions always
right, let such one rise, or if already
standing, lift the right hand. Not one.
All we, like sheep, have gone astray. I'm
clean Unclean! And yet We may be
made whittier than snow, whittier than that
which, on cold winters morning, after
night of storm, clothes the trees from bot
tom of trunk to top OF highest branch ;
whittier than that which, this hour, makes
the Adirondacks and the Sierra Nevada
and Mt Washington heights OF pomp and
splendor'fit TO enthrone an archangel.
In the time of Graham, the essayist, in
one mountain district OF Scotland, an av-
erage of ten shepherds persisted every win
ter in the snowdrifts, and so he proposed
that, at the distance of every mile a pole
fifteen feet high and with two cross-pIeces
be erected, showing the points Of the
compass, and bell hung at the top, so
that every breeze would ring il, and SO the
lost one on the mountains would hear the
sound and take the direction given by
this pole with the cross-pieces and get
safely home. Whether that proposed
plan was adopted or mott do not know,
but l declare 10 all YOU who are III the
heavy and binding drifts of sin and sor-
row that there Is cross near by that can
direct you TO home, and peace, and God (;
and hear you not the ringing OF the gospel
bell hanging to that cross, saying: This
is the way, walk We in it?" No wonder
that the sacred poet put the Psalmist's
thought into rhythm with that ringing
chorus we have 50 often sung:
Dear Jesus, long to be perfectly whole;
want thee forever to live in my soul.
Break down every idol, cast down every Zoe,
Now wash me- and shall be whittier than snow
Whittier than snow yes, whittier than snow
Now wash me- and shall be whittier than snow
Get that prayer answered, and we will
be tit not only for earth, but for the heaven
where everything is so white because
everything is so pure. You know that the
redeemed in that land wear robes that are
white, and the conquerors in that land
ride horees that are white, and John in
vision says OF Christ Ellis head and His
hairs were white" and the throne on
which He sits is a great white throne. By
the pardoping and sanctifying grace of
God, may We ala last stand amid that
radiancel
Ten thousand times len thousand,
In glitteriog armor bright,
The armies OF the living God,