Democratic messenger., 1892-09-24

for God i'll an apple blossom, and tune
bees voice until il is fit for the eternal
orchestra, and can say to tirefiy, Let
there be light" and from holding an
ocean in the hollow OF his hand, goes
forth To find heights and depths and
length and breadth of omnipotency in a
dewdrop, and dismounts from the char
lot of midnight hurricane to cross over
on the suspension bridge Of n spiders
web.
You may take Your telescope and
sweep il across the heavens in order 10
behold the glory of God, but | shall
take the leaf holding the spider and the
spiders web. and | shall bring the mi
croscope To my eye, and while | gaze
and look and study and am confounded
| will kncel down in the grass and cry.
''Great and marvellous are thy works.
Lord God Almighty"
Again. my text teaches me that insig-
niticance Is no excuse for inaction. This
spider that Solomon saw on the wall
might have said: Il cant weave a web
worthy Of this great palace: what can
do amid all this gold embroidery? am
not able to make anything fit for so
Grand place. and so will not work my
spinning jenny" Not SO said the spider
The spider taketh hold with her
hands" Oh. what a lesson that is for
you and me! You say if you had some
great sermon 10 preach if you only had
n great audience to talk TO. if you had
great army to marshal. if you only had
some tremendous thing in the world for
you to do-then you would show us.
Yes. you would show MS!
WhJt if the Levite in the ancient tenn
pie had refused To snuff the candle be-
cause he could not he high priest?
What if the humming bird should refuse
TO sing its song into the ear of the honey
suckle because it cannot, like the eagle,
dash its wing into the sun? What If the
raindrop should refuse to descend be-
cause it is Ut Niagara? What if the
spider Of the text should refuse 10 move
its shuttle because it cannot weave a
Solomon's robe: Away with such follyi
II you are lazy with the one talent. you
would be lazy with the ten talents. II
Milo cannot lift the calf he never will
have strength to lift the OK In the
Lords army there is order for promo
ton, but You cannot be general until
you have been captain. lieutenant
and colonel. II is step by step, it is
inch by inch. il is stroke by stroke that
our Christian character is builded.
Therefore be content to do what God
commands you to do.
God is not ashamed TO do small things.
He is not ashamed to be found chisoling
a grain of sand. or helping honeybee
to construct its cell with mathematical
accuracy. or tingeing shell in the surf,
or shaping the bill of a chaffinch. What
God does, he does well. What You do. do
well. be il great work or Il small work.
If ten talents. employ all the ten. If
five talents. employ all the five. IL one
talent, employ the one. Ii only the
thouSandih part of talent. employ that.
BE thou faithful unto death, and will
give thee the crown of life" tell you
if you are not faithful to God in small
sphere you would be indolent and in
significant in large sphere.
THE REPUISivE IN HIGH PLACES.
Again, my text teaches me that re-
pulsiveness and loathsomeness will
sometimes climb up into very elevated
places You would have tried TO have
killed the spider that Solomon saw.
You would have said: This is no place
for il. If that spider is determined to
weave web, let it do so down in the
cellar of this palace or in some dark
dungeon. All, the spider of the text
conld not be discouraged. II clambered
on and climbed up, higher and higher
and higher, until after awhile it reached
the kings vision. and he said, The
spider taketh hold with her hands. and
is in kings palaces And so il often is
now that things that are loathsome and
repuisive get mp into very elevated
places
The church of Christ, for instance, Is
Il palace. The King of heaven and earth
lives III il. According TO the Bible. her
beams are of cedar, and her rafters of
fir. and her windows of agate. and
the fountains of salvation dash rain Of
light. il is "A glorious palace-the church
of God is. and yet sometimes unseemly
and loathsome things creep up into it
evil speaking and rancor and slander
and backbiiing and abuse. crawling up
on the walls of the church, spinning a web
from arch To arch, and from the top of
one communion tankard 10 the top of
another communion tankard Glorious
palace in which there ought only to be
light and love and pardon and grace;
yet a spider in the palace.
Home ought to be castle. IL ought
TO be the residence of everything royal.
Kindness, love. peace. patience and for
bearance ought to be the princes resid-
tng there. and yet sometimes dissipation
crawls up into that home. and the jeal-
Gus eye comes up. and the scene of peace
and plenty becomes the scene of domes-
tic jarSon and dissonance. You say,
What is the matter with the homer |
will tell You what is the matter with it.
a spider in the palace.
\ well developed Christian character
is grand thing to look at. You see
some man with great intellectual and
spiritual proportions You say, "How
useful that man must be!' But you find
amid all his splendor of faculties there
is some prejudice. some whim. some evil
habit that great many people do not
notice, but that you have happened Ia
notice. and it is gradually spelling that
mans character-it is gradually going
to injurc his entire influence. Others
may not see it, but you are anxious in
regard to his welfare and now you dis
cover it, a dead fly in the ointment y
spider in the palace.
Toll. FOR THE HIGHER.
Again. my text teaches /ne that per
severance will mount in,o the kings |
palace. II must have seemed a long
distance for that spider toclimb i'll Solo.
mons splendid residence. but it started !
at the very foot Of the wall and went up
over the panels of Lebanon cedar. higher
and higher. until il stood higher than the |
highest throne in all the nations the |