The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1891-02-14
LESSONS OF THE SNOW.
A Miawinter Discourse By Rev. T.
Dewitt Talmage.

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season h is Grossly MaIigned-Great
Comfort In Small Things-EarthIy Woes
eitsn BtessIngs-The Only PurI-
ncation.
In q late sermon at Brooklyn Rev. T..
DeWitt Talmaqe took his text from Job
xxxvit. 20: ''Hast thou entered into
the treasures of the snow?" He said:
GROSSLY m%aligned is the season of
winter. The 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 hui
man race would be inane and effortless.
You might speak of the winter as the
mother at tempests; | take it as the
father of a whole family of physical.
mental and spiritual energies. At this
season of the year when we are SO IA
miliar with the snow, these frozen va
pors, the falling blossoms of the sky.
those white angels of the atmosphere,
l turn over the leaves of my Bible and
though most Of 1t was written in a
cline where o seldom or never fell
II find many of these beautiful congo
lations. Though the writers may sell
dom or never have felt the cold touch
OF the snowflake on their cheek, thew
had In sight two mountains, the tops of
which were suggestive.
The hrst time we find n deep fall of
snow IN the Bible is where Samuel de-
scribes a fight between Benaiah and a
lion ina pit, and though the snow may
have erirnsoned under the wounds of
both man and brute, the shaggy mon
ster rolled over dead and the giant was
victor. But tho snow is not fully recog-
nized in the Bible until God interro-
gates Job, the scientist, concerning its
wonders, saying: Hast thou entered
into the treasures of the snow?"
/ rather think that Job may have ex-
amined the snowflake with e micro
scope; sor. although it is supposed that
the microscope was invented long after
Jobs time, there had been wonders Of
glass long before the microscope and
telescope Of later days were thought of.
Whether through magnifying instru-
ment Oh with nnaided eye, l can not
say, but ! nm sure that Job somehow
went through the galleries of the snow
Make and counted its pillars and found
wonders, raptnres, mysteries, theolo-
gies, rnajesties, in1nities walking up
and down its corridors, as a result Of
the question which the Lord had asked
him: 'aast thou entered into the treas
uyes of the snow?''
After a fresh fall of snow, in one
walk you crush under your feet Tuiller-
fCl Ntnlanf IN StlaG &c Do,,Ia CO
Petsrss ST. Marks Cathedral, Alham-
bras and Sydsnham palaces innumera-
BILE. know 10 depends much on our
WI condition what impression these
flying E~aeteors Of the snow make.
And low ! propose for your spiritual
and everlasting profit, II you will &C
Dept my guidance, to take you through
some Of these wonders of crystalliza-
ton. And notice first God in the littles.
/ taks up the snow in my hand and
zee the oourscrs of celestial dominion
paving these crystal pavements- The
telescope 10 grand, but l must confess
that l sm quite as much interested in
the microscope. The one reveals the
nniverss above as; the other Just as
great a universe beneath us. What you
want AID I want especially Is a God in
Titles. IL we were seraphic or arch
angelic In our natures we would want
10 study God In the great; but such
small, weak, short lived beings as you
and / nTe, want TO find God in the Titles.
When I see the Maker of the universe
giving Himself$to the architecture of a
snowflake and making its shafts, its
domes, tts curves, its walls, its irradia-
tions SO persectSI codclude He will look
after our insignificant affairs. And if
we are Of morc5yalue than a sparrow,
most certainly we are of more value
than al ipanimate snowflake. So the
Bible would chiefly impress us with
God IN the Titles. 1t does not say,
Consider the elouds," but it says, Son
slider the Ellies,' 1t does not say, Be
hold the ~tsinpests," but, Behold the
fowls, and 1t applauds a cup of cold
wp.er. and the widows two mites, and
says tte hairs of your mead are num-
bered. Do not fear, therefore, that you
are goisg to be lost in the crowd. Do
not think that because you estimate
yourself as only n snowflake among
a three days January snowstorm that
you viii be forgotten. The birth and
-drnp of chilled vnpor is as certainly re-
garded by the Lord as the creation and
demolition Of 6 planet. Nothing is big
10 God nnd notning is small.
What u somfort hat he is n God in
Titles. The Emperor of all the Russias
In olden time WINS looking at a map
that spread before him his vast domin-
ions, ard lie eonld not find Great Britain
on the raap, and he called in his secre-
- - ,-t.l. l.xVI,1-o q, Er.n4 D,;t..-
that / hear so mach about?' at is un.
der yorr thunit,.' said the secretary,
and the Emperor. raised his hand from
the map and saw the country he was
looking for. And II is high time that
we find this mig,sty realm OF God close
by and sinasr car own little finger. To
drop yon out OF His memory would be
to rea!ea Fills oinniscience. To refuse
yo.a HIS prcsaosiem would be to abdicate
his om.nipoferce. When you tell me
Hs Il the God of Jupiter, and the God
Of Mercury, and the God of Saturn, you
tell ms sometniDg so vast that I can
not comprehend II. But II you tell me
He 10 the God Of the snowflake you tell
me something I can hold and measure
and ~reeiiza. Thus the smallest snow
cake contains d Jewel case Of comfort.
Here II ca opal, IN amethyst, a dia-
mond. Hare 10 one of the treasures OF
Aha SNOW. Take IL for your present and
everlasting comfort.
Behold, alao, La the snow the treasure
II accumulated power. During a snow
Storm let m apdthecary, accustomed &c
weigh raost delicate quantities, hold hiA
weighing seales out of the window and
Let one aa . fell on the surface Of the
scales 4 2itsyin not even make II
frsmbla sEs4hFN You want to express
extreme kaisi5ty Of weight you say
sIdRhE feAsher;r but a snowflake
q much 1ieater. 1t is juit twenty-fouI
times lighter than wat,r. And yet the
accumulation OF these flakes broke
down, o few days ago, in sight Of my
house, Elk telegraph poles, made help
less police and fire departments, and
halted rail trains with two laundering
locomotives. We have already learned
90 much of the power of electricity that
we have become careful how we touch
the electric wire and in many cases a
touch has bsen death. But, a few days
ago., the snow put It's hand on most OF
these wires and tore them down as
though they were cobwebs.
The d put It's finger on the lip OF
our cities that were talking with each
other aud they went into silence, utter
ing not 9 word The snow is mightier
than tho lightning. In March, 1888, the
ncw stopped America. It said to