The Portland daily press., 1892-12-17

The field says, what, more trouble"
It begins to rain. After awhile the
wind changes to the northeast, and it be-
gins to Snow, Says the field: is it not
enough that have been torn and tram
pied upon and drowned? Must [ now be
showed unders" After awhile spring
comes out Of the. gates of the south, and
warmth and gladness come with it. A
green scarf bandages the cash Of the
wheat field, and the July morning drops
crown OF gold on the head of the grain.
"Oh," says the field. NOW know the
use of the pillow, of the harrow, of the
heavy foot, of the shower and of the
snowstorm. 1t is we'll enough to be trod-
den and trampled and drowned and
showed under if in the end can yield
such a glorious harvest" ''He that go
eth forth and weepeth, bearing precious
seed. shall doubtless come again with re-
joicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Z
THROUGH GREAT CIRCULATION.
When I see God especially busy in
troubling and trying Christian, know
that out of that Christians character
there is to come some especial good. A
quarryman goes down into the. excava-
ton, and with strong handed machinery
bores into the rock. The rock says,
ssWhat do you do that for?' He. puts
powder in; he lights fuse. There is a
laundering crash. The rock says, why,
the whole mountain is going to pieces.
The crowbar is plunged; the rock is
dragged out. After awhile it is taken
into the artists studio. 1t says, S'Well,
now have got to a good, warm, COM
Portable place at last"
But the sculptor takes che chisel and
mallet, and he digs for the eyes, and he
cuts for the mouth, and he bores for the
ear, and he rubs it with sandpaper, I'M
til the rock says, ssWhen will this tor
ture be ended?' A sheet is thrown over
it. 1t stands in darkness. After awhile
it is taken out. The covering is re-
moved. 1t stands in the sunlight, in the
presence of ten thousand applauding
people, as they greet the statue of the
poet, OF the prince, or the conqueror.
s'Ah," says the stone, ''now | under
stand it. | am great deal better off
AOW StdASlllsS3 do a SUdUttC Va ~ SOiAAttO VI
than I would have been down in the
quarry" So God finds man down in
the quarry of ignorance and sin. How
to get him up? He must be bored and
blasted and chiseled and secured and
stand sometimes in the darkness.
But after awhile the mantle of afflic-
ton will fall off, and his soul will be
greeted by the one hundred and forty
four thousand and the thousands of
thousands as more than conqueror.
Oh, my friends, God, our Mother, is just
as kind in our affections as in our pros
perities. God never touches us but for
our good. II field clean and cultured
is better off than a barren field, and if
stone that has become q statue is better
off than the marble in the quarry, then
that soul that God chastens may be his
favorite.
Oh, the rocking of the soul is not the
rocking of an earthquake, but the rock
ing of Gods cradle. s'As one whom his
mother comforteth, so will I comfort
you" / have been told that the pearl in
an oyster is merely the result of wound
or sickness inflicted upon it, and do
not know but that the brightest gems of
heaven will be found to have been the
wounds of earth kindled into the jeweled
brightness CT eternal glory.
/ remark that God has mothers Ca
pacity for attending to little hurts. The
father is shocked at the broken bone of
the child or at the sickness that sets the
cradle on fire with fever, but it takes
the mother to sympathize with all the
little ailments and little bruises of the
child. IF the child have splinter in its
hand it wants the mother to take it out
and not the father. The father says,
"Oh, that is nothing" but the mother
knows it is something, and that little
hurt sometimes is very great. So with
God, our Mother; all our annoyances are
enough to look at and sympa-
thize with.
Nothing with God is something. There
are no ciphers in Gods arithmetic. And
if we were only good enough Of sight
we could see as much through micro
scope as through a telescope. Those
things that may be palpable and infini-
tesimal to us may be pronounced and in
finite to God. A mathematical point is
defined as having no parts, no magni-
tude. It is so small you cannot imagine
it, and yet mathematical point may be
a starting point for great eternity.
Gods surveyors carry very long chain.
A scale must be very delicate that can
weigh grain, but Gods scale is SO deli
cate that he can weigh with it that which
is so small that grain is million times
heavier.
When John Kitto, a poor boy on a
back street of Plymouth, cut his foot
with piece of glass, God bound itup so
successfully that, he became the great
Christian geographer and a commenta-
tor known among all nations. So every.
wound of the soul, however Insignificant,
God is willing to bind up. As at the
first cry of the child the mother rushes
to kiss the wound, SO God, our Mother,
takes the smallest wound of the heart
and presses it to the lips of divine sym
pathy LAS one whom his mother COM
forteth, so will | comfort you
DIVINE AND MoTHERLY PATIENCE.