Sharp County record., 1891-03-05
LESSONS OF THE SNOW.
A Winter Discourse by Rev. It. De-
Witt Talmage,
The Immaculate Mantle Thrown Der the
Earth and the Various Lessons
to be Learned by Its
Contemplation.

and New York City, his text being;
Hast thou entered into the treasures of the
snow.-Job xxxvili. ;22.
Grossly maligned is the season of win
ter. The spring and summerand autumn
have had many admirers, but winter
hoary-headed and white bearded win
ter, hath had more enemies than friends
Yet without winter the human race
would be inane and effOrtlesS, You
might speak of the winter as the moth
er of tempests; take it as the father of
whole family of physical, mental and
spiritual energies. The most people that
know are strong in proportion to the
number of snow banks they had to
climb over Or push through in child
hood, while their fathers drove the sled
loaded with logs through the crunching
drifts high as the fences. At this season
of the year, when we are so familiar
with the snow, those frozen vapors,
those falling blossoms of the sky, those
white angels of the atmosphere, those
poems of the storm, those Iliads and
Odysseys of the wintery tempest, | turn
over the leaves of my Bible and-though
most of it was written in cline where
snow seldom or never fell find many
of these beautiful congelations. Though
the writers may seldom or never have
felt the cold touch of the snowflake on
their cheek, they had in sight two
mountains, the tops of which were sug-
gestive. Other kings sometimes take
off their crowns, but Lebanon and
Mount Hermon all the year round and
through the ages never lift the coronets
Of crystal from their foreheads. The
first time we find a deep fall of snow in
| the Bible is where Samuel describes a
fight between Benaiah and a lion in a
pit; and though the snow may have
crimsoned under the wounds of both man
and brute, the shaggy monster rolled
over dead and the giant was victor. But
the snow is not fully recognized in the
Bible until God interrogates Job, the
scientist, concerning it's wonders, say
ing: "Hast thou entered into the treas
ures of the snow?'
rather think that Job may have eX-
amined the snowflake with micro
scope; for, although it is supposed that
the microscope was invented long aft
er Jobs time, there had been wonders
of glass long before the microscope and
telescope of later day were thought of.
So long ago as when the Coliseum was
in its full splendor. Nero sat in the
Emperors be X of that great theater,
which held ole hundred thousand peo-
pie, and loo o41ed at the combatants
through a gelh in his fnger-ring, which
brought every thing close up to his
eye. -Four hundred years before Christ,
in the stores of Athens, were sold pow
erful glasses called burning spheres" "
and Layard, the explorer, found a mag
nifying glass amid the runis of Nine
veh, and in the palace of Nimrod.
Whether through magnifying instru-
ment or with unaided Eye / can not say,
but am sure that Job somehow went
through the galleries of the snowflake
and counted it's pillars and found Won
ders, raptures, mysteries, theologies,
maiesties, infnities walking up and
down its corridors, as q result of the
questions which the Lord has asked
him: Hast thou entered into the treas
ures of the snow?"
And now propose Cor your spiritual
and everlasting profit, if you will ac-
cept my guidance, to take you through
some of these wonders of crystalization.
And notice first God in the Titles. You
may take alpenstock and cross the Mer
de Glace,, the Sea of Ice, and ascend
Mont Blanc, which rises into the clouds
like pillar Of the great throne, or
with Arctic explorer ascend the mount.
rims around the north pole and see gla.
ciers thousand feet high grinding
against glaciers three thousand feet
high, But will take YOU on q less
prctentious journey and SHOW you God
in the snowflake. There is room enough
between its pillars for the great Jeho.
vah to stand In that one frozen DROP
on the tip of your finger you may find
the throne room of the Almighty
take up the snow in my hand and sec
the courscrs Of celestial dominion paw.
Ing these crystal pavements, The
telescope is grand, but | must confess
that am quite as much interested in
the microscope, The one reveals the
universe beneath us, But the telescope
overwhelms me, while the microscope
comforts me. What you want and ]
want especially is u God in Titles II
we were seraphic or archangelic in our
natures we would want to study God in
the great; but such small, weak, short
lived beings rs you and are want to
find God in the Titles,
When ! see the Maker Of the universe
giving Himself TO the architecture of q
snowflake and making It's shafts, It's
domcs, its curves, its walls, its irradia-
tions so perfect, conclude He will look
after our insignificant affairs. And If
we are of more value than sparrow,
most certainly we are Of more value
than an inOnimate snowflake, SO the
Bible would chiefly impress us with
God in the Titles, II does not say,
Consider the clouds, hutitsaysl nGon.
WIDER the lilies II does not say; "Be.
mold the tempestsl" but "Behold the
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