The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-02-09

1
/ he was preaching What mellowed aod
! glorifed Wilberforce's christian characterl
! A financial misfortune that led hiLn 10
write: 81 know not why my life
spared so long except it be to
| show that a man can be as happy without
/ fortune as with oDe.n What gave John
Milton such keen spiritual eyesight that he
could see the battle of the angelsl ExtIn-
/ punishment of physical eyesigbt. What Is
| the highest observatory for studying the
stars Of hope and faith and spiritual prom
isel The believers sick-bed. What pro-
claims the richest and most golden harvests
| that wave on all the hills OF heavenly rapt-
urel The SHOWS. the deep SHOWS, the awful
SHOWS Of earthly calamity. And that COM
| forting 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. Nv ash
me-" said the psalmist, land | shall be
whittier than snow" My dear friend Gashie-
RE De Witt 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
babe him good-by one lovely afternoon on
the other side the sea, to return to America,
that we would not meet again till we meet
in heaven. As he lay oue 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, glittering in the morning
light, and my friend said to his wife: "Jen-
ME. do you know what that snow on Mont
Blanc makes me think of? 1t makes me
thiDk that the righteousness Of Christ and
the pardon of God cover all sins and imper-
fections of my life as that snow covers up
that mountain, for the promise is that
though our sins be as scarlet they shall be
NH 70 10 or erin
do not care who you are or whera you are,
you need as much as l do that cleansing
which made Gashierie 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 espe-
cial power to wash out deep stains. All
other water might fail, but melted snow
would make them clean. Well, Job had
great admiration for snow, but he declares
in substance that IL he should wash his soul
in melted snow he would still be covered
with mud like man down in a ditch. Job
tx, 3O.) IF / wash myself in snow water
and make my hands never so clean, yet
shalt thou plunge me in the ditch and mine
own clothes shall abhor me-" We must be
washed in the fountain of Gods mercy be-
fore we can become whittier than snow.
without holiness no man shall see the
Lord" o, for the cleansing powerl
II there be in all this audience one man or
woman whose thoughts have always been
right, and whose words always right, and
whose actions always right, let such a one
rise, or If already standing, lift the right
hand. Not onel All we, ike sheep, have
gone astray. Unclean! uncleanl And yet
we may be made whittier than snow,
whittier than that which, on
Gold r,ornipn aftar a ~
storm, clothes the tree from bottom of
| trunk to top of highest branch; whittier than
| that which, this hour, makes the Adiron-
| dacks and the Sierra Nevada and Mount
| Washington nights Of pomp and splendor
| at to enthrone an archangel.
In the time Of Graham the essayist, in
| one mountain district of Scotland an aver
age of ten shepherds persisted every winter
| in the snowdrifts. and SO he proposed that.
at the distance OF every mile, 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 it, and 30 the lost one on
the mountains would hear the sound and
| take the direction given by this pole with the
crosspieces and get safely home Whether
| that proposed plan was adopted or not do
| not know, but | declare to all you who are
| in the heavy aud binding drifts of sin and
| sorrow that there Is a cross near by that
| can direct you nome, and peace and God; ;
and hear you not the ringing of the gospel
bell hanging to that cross, saying: ''This is
the way, walk ye in it?" No wonder that
the sacred poet put the Psalmist's thought
into rhythm with that ringing chorus we
have so often sung:
Dear Jesus l long to be perfectly whole;
| l want thee forever to live In my soul.
| Break down every idol, cast out every foe
Now wash me, and l shall be whittier than
| snowl
| Whittier than snow Yes, whittier than snow
| Now wash me, and / shall be whittier than
| snowl
Get that prayer answered, and we will be
fit not only for earth, but for the heaven
where everything is so white because every
thing is SO pure. You know that the re-
deemed in that land wear robes that are
white, and the conquerors in that land ride
horses that are white, and John in vision
says of Christ, "His head and his hairs were
white" and the throne on which he sits is
great white throne. BY the pardoning and
sanctifying grace of God may we all at last
stand amid that radiancel
Ten thousand times ten thousand,
| In glittering armor bright,
| The armies of the living God
| Throng up the sleeps of light.
'Tis finished, all is finished,
| Their fight with death and sin;
| Throw open wide the golden gates,
And let the conquerors in.