The Red Cloud chief., 1891-07-17

Mount Washington or Mount Blanc,
and we feel that we are only insecta,
and then we say TO ourselves: Though
the world is SO large, the sun ID I. 800.
600 times larger" 90" we say, sit il
of no use, il God wheels that great ma
chinery through immensely. He win not
take the trouble TO look down
on me-" Infdel conclusion Saturn.
Mercury and Jupiter are no more
rounded and weighed and swung by the
hand Of God than are the globulcs on .
lilac bush the morning after . shower.
God is no more in m~sgnitudes than he
is in minuti@- II He has scales 10 weigh
the mountains. He has balances delicate
enough TO weigh the i~nfnitesimal. You
can no more see him through the tele-
scope than you can e Him through
the microscope; no when you
look up than when you look down.
Are not the hairs of your he ad all
numbered? And il Himalaya has .
God. hath not the rain . father"
When the Christian army vas be-
sieged at Beziers and a drunken drum
mer came in at midnight and rang the
alarm bell. not knowing what he WAS
doing, but waking mp the host in time
TO fight their enemies that moment r.
irving, was it an accident? When, in
one Of the Irish wars, Q starving
mother. flying with her starving child,
sank down and tainted on the
rocks in the night ana her hand
fell on a warm bottle Of milk. did
that just happen so? God is either IN
the affairs Of men or our religion h
worth nothing - all, and you had bet
ter take il away from us, and instead
Of this Bible, which teaches the doc
trine. give us a secular book, and let us,
as the famous Mr.. Fox. the member of
parliament, in his last hour, cry ont:
Read me the eighth book Of Virgil"
o! my friends, let us rouse up TO an ap-
probation Of the fact that all the affairs
Of our life are under a Kings command
and under a Fathers watch Alexan-
der's war horse, Bucephalus. would al
low n ybody TO mount him when he
was embarrassed; but as SCOT az they
put on that war horse, Bucephalus, the
caddle and the trappings Of the con-
queror, he would allow no one but
Alexander to touch him. And il soul
less horse could have SO much pride in
his owner, shall not we immortals exult
in the fact that we are owned by a
King? Hath the rain a father"
Again, my subject teaches me that
Gods dealings with us are inexplicable.
That was the original force of my text
The rain was a great mystery to the
how the water should get into the
cloud. and getting there. how it should
be suspended, or falling, why IL should
come down in drops. Modern science
comes along and says there are two
portions Of air Of different tempera-
ture. and they are charged with moist
ure. and the one portion Of air de-
creases in temperature SO the water
may longer be held in vapor and 1t falls.
And they tell us that some of the
clouds that look to be only rs large as
| a mans hand, and TO be almost quiet in
the heavens, are great mountains OF
| mist, 1900 feet from pas to top, and
hat they rush miles q minute. But
| after all the brilliant experiments of
DIR. James Hutton and Ssussure and
| other scientists, there is an indefinite
mystery about the rain. There is an
oceaa OF the unfathomable in every
rain drop. and God says to-day, rs He
said in the time OF job: 'If you can not
understand one drop of rain, do not be
surprised if My dealings with you are
inexplicable."
Why does that aged a decrepit,
beggared. vicious, sick OF the world,
and the world sick of him. live on,
while here is a nan in middle life, con-
secrated to God. hard working. useful
in every respect, who dies? Why does
that old gossip. gadding along the
street about everybody's business but
her own, have such good health, while
the Christian mother, with a foe of
little ones about her whom she is pre-
pairing for usefulness and for Heaven
the mother who you think could not be
spared an hour from that household
why does she lie down and die with a
cancer? Why does that man, selfish to
the core. go on adding fortune to for
tune, consuming everything on himself,
continuing TO prosper, while that
man. who has been giving ten per cent
of all his income to God and the church,
goes into bankruptcy? Before we make
stark fools of ourselves let us stop
pressing this everlasting why" Let
us worship where we can not under
| stand. Let a man take hat one ques-
ton "why?" and follow il far enough
and push il and he will land in wretch
| edness and perdition. We want in our
theology fewer interrogation marks
and more exclamation points. Heaven
is the place for explanation. Earth is
the place for trust II you can not I'M
| dcrstand SO minute a thing as . rain
drop how can you expect TO understand
Gods dealings? Hath the rain a
| father"
Again. my text makes me think that
the rain Of tears is of divine origin
Great clouds of trouble sometimes
hover ovcr US They are black, and
they are gorged. and they are thunder
Gus. They are more portentous than
Salvador or Claude ever painted-clouds
| of poverty, or persecution. or bereave-
ment They hover over us and they
get darker and blacker. and after
awhile a tear starts, and We think by
an extra pressure of the eyelid TO stop
it Others follow and after awhile
| there is a shower of fearful emotion
| Yea. there is a rain of tears Hath
that rain q father"
20" you say. n teal is nothing but .
drop of limpid fluid secreted by the
l~achrymal glands only a sign Of weak
eyes" Great mistake. 1t is one Of the
Lords richest benedictions TO the
world There are people in Blackwelrs
Island insane asylum, and n Utica, and
1t all the ssylums of this land who
were demented from the fact that they
could not cry at the right time There
have been times in your life when
you would have given the world, II you
had possessed it. for one tear. You
could shrek, you could blaspheme. but
You could not cry. Have you never
seen q man holding the hand of q dead
wife, who had been all the world 20
hime The femples liyid with excite