Democratic messenger., 1892-12-17
SNOW HILL. MARYLAND SATURDAY MORNING, DECEMBER H. 1892
AT THE TABERNACLE.
THE DIVINE AND THE MATERNAL
TRIBUTES COMPARED.

]
TRIBUTES COMPARED.
DIR. TaImage Relieves We should Think
of God as Our Mother - Well as Our
Father
BROOKLYN. Dec. ll-Rev DR.. Tai
mage today, i'll selecting subject for
his sermon. chose an aspect of the di-
vine character which is seldom consid-
cred. To an unusually large audience
he diScourSed on God as The Mother
of All. the text being taken from Isaiah
Xvi. l3. AS one whom his mother com
forteth So will comfort YOU"
The Bible is warm letter of affection
from parent to child. and vet there
are many who see chiefly the severer
passages. As there may be fifty or sixty
nights of gentle dew in one summer
that will not cause as much remark as
one hailstorm of half an hour, SO there
are those who are more struck 10y those
passages of the Bible that announce the
Indignation Of God than by those that
announce his affection. There may come
to a household twenty or fifty letters of
affection during the year, and they will
not make rs much excitement in that
home as one sheriif's writ, and So there
are people who are more attentive To
those passages which announce the judg-
menis of God than To those which an
nounce his mercy and his favor.
God is lion. John says i'll the book
of Revelation. God is breaker. Micah
announces in his prophecy. God is a
rock. God is Il king. But hear also
that God is love. y father and his
child are walking out in the fields ON Il
summers day. aud there comes up 4
thunderstorm. and there is flash of
4 lightning that startles the child, and the
/ father SAYS. My dear, that is Cod
eye" There comes peal of thunder,
and the father says. My dear. that is
Gods voice" But the clouds go off the
sky. and the storm is gone. and light
floods the heavens and floods the land
scapc, and the father forgets TO say.
That Is Gods smile.
GOD \ LOVING TEACHER.
1 The text of this morning bends with
great genilencSs and love over all who
are PROSTATE i'll sin and trouble. Ii
lights up with compassion. 1t melts
with tenderness. 1t hreathes upon us
the hush of an eternal lullaby for ii an
nounces that God is our mother. "As
one whom his mother comfortcth. 50
will comfort you"
/ remark. in the first place. that God
has a mothers simplicity of instruction.
\ father doe, not know how To teach a
child the y Il c. Men are not skillful
in the primary department, but Il mother
! has so much patience that she will tell n
child for the hundredth time the diff
ference between + and q and between
| and J. Sometimes il is hy blocks;
sometimes by the worsted work; some
times by the slate; sometimes by the
! book. She thus teaches the child and
| has no awkwardness of condescension in
SO doing. So God, our Mother, stoops
down to our infantile minds.
4 Though we are told thing thousand
times and we do not understand il. our
heavenly Mother goes on. line upon line.
precept upon precept. here Il little and
there u little. God has been teaching
some of us thirty years and some of us
sixty years one word of one syllable, and
we do not know it yet-faith, faith.
When we come 10 that word we STUN
BILE. we halt. we lose our place, we pro-
nounce it wrong.
Still Gods patience is not exhausted.
God. our Mother. puts us i'll the school
of prosperity, and the letters are in sun
shine. and we cannot spell them. God
/ puts us in the school of adversity, and
the letters are black. and we cannot spell
them. If God We're merely king no
would punish Us; if he were simply Il
father he would whip us: but God is a
mother, and 80 we are borne with and
helped all the way through.
y mother teaches her child chiefly by
pictures If She wants So set forth To
ner child the hidcou>ness of "A quarrel
some spirit. instead Of giving "A lecture
upon that subject she turns over Il leaf
and shows the child two BOYS in wran-
gle, and says. Does not that look hor-
rible:" If She wants To teach her child
the awfulness of war she turns over the
picture book and shows the war charger,
the headless trunks of butchered men.
the wild, bloodshot eye of battle rolling
under lids of flame. and she says. That
IS war;" The child understands it.
| In great many books the best parts
are the pictures. The style may he in
sipid. the type poor. but a picture al
ways attracts Il child's attention. Now
God. our Mother. teaches us almost
everything 10y pictures. Is the divine
goodness to he set forth: How does God.
our Mother, teach Us: BY an autumnal
picture. The barns are full. The wheat
stacks are rounded. The cattle are
chewing the cui lazily in the sun. The
orchards are dropping the ripe pippins
INTO the lap of the farmer. The natural
world that has been busy all summer
seems now to be resting in great abun-
dance
We look at the picture and say. Thou
crownest the year with thy goodness. and
thy paths drop fatncss.' Our family
comes around the breakfast table 1t
has been Il very cold night. but the chill
,lren are all bright because they slept
under thick coverlets. and they are now
in the warm blast of the open register,
and their nppetiies make luxuries out of
the plainest fare. and we look AT the pie
ture and say, Bless the Lord, o my
soul"'
GoD TEACHES BY PICTURES.
God wishes To set forth the fact that
in the Judgment the good will bc divided
from the wicked. How is it done: BY
picture; 10y parahle-a fishing scene.
\ group of hardy men. long bearded,
searel for standing to the waist in
water; sleeves rolled up. Long oar
sun gilt boat battered aS though il had
been playmate Of the storm. a full
net humping about with the fish.
which have just discovered their captiv-
ity. the worthless mossbunkers and the
useful iioun,!ers all in the same net.