Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1891-02-12

That must be the residence Of a Paul or q
Milton, or some one whose name resounds
throughout all the planet from which we
have just assembled" "No, no." says our
celestial dragoman, "that is the residence
of soul whom you never heard of. When
she gave q charity her left hand knew not
what her right hand did. There she comes
now, out of her palace grounds, In her
chariot behind those two white horses, for
a ride on the banks of the river that fl ows
from under tho throne of God. Let me
see. Did you not have in your world below
an old classic which says something about
| These are they who came out of great
tribulation, and they shall reign forever
and evern"
AS we pass up the street / find a good
many on foot end / say to the dragoman,
''Who are these?" And when their name
is pronounced l recognize that some of
them were on earth great poets and great
orators ond great merchants and great
| warriors, and when / express my sur
prise about their going afoot, the drago-
! man says, SIN this country people are
rewarded not according to the number of
their earthly talents, but according to the
use they made of what they had And
| then 1 thought to myself. "Why, that
! theory would make a snowflake that falls
cheerfully and in the right place, and does
all the work assigned it, as honorable as .
whole Mont Blanc of snowflakes." "Yes
| yes" says the celestial dragoman, "Maay
of these pearls that you find on the fore
heads of the righteous, and many of the
gems in the jewel case of prince and
princess, are only the petrifed snowfakes
of earthly tempest, for God does not for
get the promise made in regard to them:
They shall be mine, said the Lord of hosts,
| in the day when make up my JEWELS"
Accumulated power! All the prayers and
charities and kndnesses and talents of all
the good concentered and compacted will
be the worlds evangeization. This
| thought of the aggregation of the many
smalls into that one mighty is another
treasure of the snow.
Another treasure of the snow Is the sug-
I geston OF the usefulness of sorrow. Abb
sence of snow last winter made all nations
sick. Within a few weeks it put tens Of
thousands into the grave. Called by a triv-
ial name, the Russian grip" it was an in
ternational plague. The snow is one Of
| the grandest and best of the worlds doctors.
Yes; it is necessary for the lands pro-
ductiveness. Great SHOWS in winter are
generally followed by great harvests next
summer. Scientific analysis has shown
that snow contains a larger percentage OF
ammonia than rain, and hence its greater
power of enrichment. Thank God for the
SHOWS, and may those OF February be plen-
tiful-high and dee p and wide and enrich
ing. But who with any analogical faculty
can notice that out of such chill as the
snow comes the wheat, without realizing
that chilling sorrows produce hGrveStS of
grace. The strongest Christians. without
any exception, are those who were by be-
reavemenrs, or sickness, or poverty, or per-
secuttOp, or all of them together, showed
under, and again showed under. These
snOw-stOrms Of trouble! They kill the
malarias of the soul. They drive US out of
worldly dependence to God. Call the roll of
all the eminently pious of all the ages and
you will find them the sons and daughters
of sorrow. What protlaims tho richest
and most golden harvests that wave on all
hills of heavenly rapture? The SHOWS the
deep SHOWS, the awful SHOWS of earth by
calamity. And the comforting thought is
one of the treasures of the snow.
Another treasure of the snow is the sug-
gcstion that this mantle covering the earth
is like the soul after it is forgiven. Wash
me and l shall be whittier than snow" said
the Psalmist. | do not care who you are
or where you arc, you need as much as l
do that cleansing. Do not take it as the
tenet of an obsolete theology that our ma
ture is corrupt. We must be changed. We
must be made over again. We must be
washed in the ~Nuntain of Gods mercy be-
fore we can be whittier than snow. with
out holiness, no man shall see the Lord"
Oh, for the cleansing power!
If there be in all this audience one man
been right, and whose words always 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. Unclean, Unclean!
And yet we may be made whittier than
snow; whittier than that which, on a cold
winters morning, after night of storm,
clothes the tree from bottom Of trunk to
top of highest branch whittier than that
which, this hour. makes the AdriondaclSs
and the Sierra Nevada and Mount Wash
ington heights of pomp and splcndor fit to
enthrone an archangel.
| declare to all you who are in the heavy
and binding drifts of sin and sorrow 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 10 that cross saying; This is the
way, walk ye in it?' No wonder that tho
sacred poet put the Psalmtst's thought in.o
rhythm with that ringing chorus we have
so often sung:
Dear Jesus, long to be perfectly whole;
| want thee forever to live In my soul
Break downevery lido, cast down every foe!
Now wash me, and | shall be whittier than
snow,
Whittier than snow! yes. winter than snowI
Now wash me, and l shall be whittier than
snow,