Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1892-12-12
WORK OF THE LORD
The Divine and the Maternal
Tributes Compared.
TEACHINGS FOR The GENTLE
d. TslmAdss 5sl.svss We Should Think
Of God a. Our Motsss - Wei -
Mercy. Psneaes. Love.

Of God q Our Mothss a. Wei e.
Mercy. Psnsaes. Love.
BRooxLYs. Dee. 1i.-Rev. Or. Tai
mage today. in selecting . subject for
his sermon, cnoss "a aspect Of the di-
vins character which u seldom oonsid-
erred To an unusually large audience
he diseonrsed on God as The Mother
Of All. . tho text being faksn'fro Isaiah
ixvs. -. As one whom his mother COM
forssth. 50 viii comfort you"
Ths Bible Is warm letter of affection
frozn . parent 20 child. and yet there
are many who see chiefly the ssverer
pasiages- As there may be fifty or sixty
nights Of gentle dew In one summer
thar viii not cause as much remark as
one hailstorm u half sn hour, SO there
are thos6 who ars more struck by those
passages Of the Bible that announce the
Indignation Of God than by those that
announce his affection There may come
70 . household twenty or fifty letters Of
affection during the year. and they viii
not make a. much excitement In that
home a. one sherifrs writ, and so there
are people who are more attentive TO
those passages which announce the judg-
ments Of God than 20 those which an
nounee his mercy and his favor.
God Is lion. John says In the book
Of Revelation. God Is breaker. Micah
announces Ia bis prophecy. God is q
rock. God Is . king. But hear also
that God IL love. A father and his
child are walking out IN the fields on q
summers day. and there comes up n
thunderstorm, and there Is a fash Of
lightning that startles the child, and the
father says. my dear. that Is Gods
eye" There comes a 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
foods the heavens and floods the land
scapc. and the father forgets to say.
THAT IS Gods smile"
GOD A LoyISd TEACHER
The text OF this morning bends with
great xentleness and love over all who
are prostrate ia SIN aud trouble. IL
lights up with compassion. 1t melts
with tenderness. 1t breathes upon us
the hush Of an eternal lullaby. for il an
nounces that God is our mother. LAS
one whom his mother comforteth, so
viii comfort You"
remark. in the first place. that God
has . mothers simplicity of instruction.
A father does not know how To teach a
child the A BIC. Men are not skillful
Ia the primary department, but u mother
has 50 much patience that she will tell a
child for the hundredrh time the diff
ference between + and G. and between
1 and j. Sometimes IL is by 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
% doing. So God, our Mother, stoops
down to our infantile minds.
Though we are told thing thousand
times and we do not understand it, our
heavenly Mother goes on, line upon line.
precept upon prscept, here little and
there httie. God has been teaching
some Of as thirty years and some Of Us
dxry years one word Of one syllable, and
We do not know it yet-faith, faith.
When we come 70 that word we STUN
bic. we halt. we lose our place, we pro-
nouncs IL wrong.
Still Gods patience Is not exhausted.
God. our Mother. puts rs in the school
Of prosperity, and the letters are in sun
shine. and we cannot spell them. God
puts Us in the school Of adversely, and
the letters are black, and we cannot spell
them. II God were merely king he
would punish us: il he were simply a
father De would whip as; but God is q
mother, and so we are borne with and
helped all the way through.
A mother teaches her child chiefly by
pictures. II she wants SO set forth TO
her child the bideousness Of . quarrel
some spirit, instead Of giving q lecture
upon that subject she turns over q leaf
and shows the child two boys In a wran-
gle. and says. ''Does not that look hor-
ribley' X she wants TO teach her child
the awfulnsss of war she tarns over the
picture book and shows the war charger,
the beadiess trunks Of butchered men.
the wild. bloodshot eye Of battle rolling
under Ida Of flame, and she says. That
r. war; The child understands it.
In great many books the best parts
are the pictures. The style may be in
sipid. the type poor. but . picture al
ways attracts q child's attention Now
God. cur Mother. tesehes us almost
everything by pictures. Is the divine
goodness 70 be set forth? How does God.
cur Nosher. teach usl BY an autumnal
picture. The barns ara full. The wheat
stacks are rounded. The cattle are
chewing the cad lazily in the sun Tbe
orchards are dropping the ripe pippins
into ths lap Of The farmer. The natural
world that has been busy all summer
seems new TO be resting Ia great abun-
dance.
We look AZ the picture and ssy. Thou
erowpcst the year with thy goodness. and
thy paths drop fatness." Our family
comes around the breakfast table. /:
hss been a very cold night. but the chill
dr~n are ell bright because they slept
under thick ecverless. and they are now
in the warm blast sf the open register.
and their sppetites make Injuries ont Of
the plsinest fare. and We look At tbs pic
R>rr-s~~S = sund heath
"A - <4<-.ux -