Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1891-11-14
Sunday Raat#s,
LESSONS OF LIFE FROM FALLIEG
LEAVES.
Isaih LxIv: GIVE all do fade a, leaf

by Rev. j. ID. Murray, at the Presby-
terian Church in McMinnville, on
Sunday Nov. LIST:
God speaks to us in many ways. If
our ears be attent, there isno place and
no time in which we may not hear
His voice. The daily evolutions of
Providence come burdened with
their messages of mercy and judg-
ment, of hope and encouragement.
Among the innunerable voices of
God, which it is our duty and interest
to hear, not the least eloquent is that
of Nature. Revelation does indeed
teach truths respecting which nature
is silent; yet, she does not disdain to
point to it as illustrative of her high
er messages. Hence the eXuberance
of Biblical similitudes drawn from
the domain of the visible universe.
The processes of the world above, be-
meath and around us link together
things earthly and heavenly. The
sun is a type Of the Sun of Righteous
ness, who floods the church with
light. The stars that bedeck the
nightly sky are portraits Of the God
~, whose business it is "to shine as
lights in the world" The Psalmist
sees the morning light as the gar
ment of God and the clouds as His
chariot. The Great Teacher bids us
"consider the lilies" the flowers and
birds as deClarative of Gods greater
care for his people. His greatest SER
wants have learned and taught some
of their best lessons from the phe-
nomena of nature. David sees the
birds build their nests in the fir trees
and the goats skip along the hill
sides, he hears the lions roar, and
thinks of innumerable fish which
swim the deep and learns to say, "all
these wait on God" Martin Luther,
in all his stern struggles with tyran-
ny and falsehcod never lost his love
of nature. Looking at the birds and
flowers he would say land these also
are Gods Bibles" Seeing The fowls
go peacefully to roost he was heard
to say, ave might well take off our
hats to them, and say, dear sir doc
tors, we have not learned your trust.
fulness." The sight Of the cattle
moving off to their pasture elected
from him the remark, "there 60 oul
preachers, urging on us to have faith
in God. Mungo Park, lying faint and
exhausted on the burning sands Of
the African desert, observinga liz
tie tuft of emerald moss by his side
rightly reasoned that He who cared
for that tuft of moss surely cared fol
him.
Today, the aspect of nature around
s,blending its voice with that of the
text, bids us mark some lessons of life
which it is at all times well that we
should keep in mind and lay well tC
heart. 1t is the dying year. The
chill of death is at the heart of things
The fresh and buoyant life of Spring
is gone, the bloom and beauty Of
summer are passed, and the brown
and bare face Of field and forest re-
minds us that winter is at hand
Standing as we are by the bedside Of
the dying year, let us give good heed
to the lessons of the faded and fall
ing leaves.
The ceaseless roll of the seasons
may remind us Of our chequered hui
man life. There is the spring time
Of youth, when feeling is fresh, and
the burrows of the mind are open tC
receive all seeds, good and bad. There
is the season of summer when char
acter is opened and comes to maturi
ty. Soon autumn follows, when the
fruitage of life appears, either corn OIL
thistle.down. And then comes the
dreary winter, when the wheels O.
activity stop.
There is an element in our nature
which causes us to sympathize more
with the decaying and the departing
than with that which is in its rise
and maturity. The sunset rather
than the sunrise, the ruined castle
with its "ivied arch and pillar lone
speaking haughtily of glories gone,'
rather than the magnificent mansion
of recent erection; the dropping, ivy
crowned monarch of the forest rath
6r than the sapling, or still increasing
tree. We rejoice in the freshness o
spring and the glory of summer. Blu
that joy is largely physical, or, in The
senses. The soul rejoices rather il
the brown lines of autumn and il
natures beautiful decay.