Milford chronicle., 1893-02-24

ing Win mix ana money, or, as we are be
: ter acquainted with the mollusks, whe
flung TO the beach Of lake or sea. There al
three great families Of them. If shOul
ask you to name three OF the great roy,
. families Of the earth, perhaps you woul
respond, the house Of Stuart, the house
Hapsburg, the house Of Bourbon, but th
three royal families of mollusks are th
univalve, or she'll In one part; the bivalv,
or shell Of two parts, and the multiYalv,
or shell in many parts, and see God i
their every hinge, in their every tooth, /
their every cartilage, in their every hgs
ment, in their every spiral ridge and i
their every color, prism on prism, and thei
adaptation of thin shell for still ponds an,
thick coatings for boisterous seas. The,
all dash upon me the thought of the provi
Dental care of God.
! What is the use Of all this architecture o
the shell, and why is it pictured from tn
outside lip clear down into its labyrinths o
| construction? Why the infnity Of skill
and radiance in a shell' What is the us
of the color and exquisite curve of a thinl
! so Insignificant as a shellfshi Why, wher
( the conchOlogist, by dredge or rake, fetches
/ the crustaceOus specimens to the shore, doei
/ he find at his feet whole alhambras and
cOliseums and parthenons and crystal pal
aces of beauty in miniature, and these bring
to light only an infinitesimal part Of the
opulence In the great subaqueous world.
Linnaus counted $500 species Of shells, but
conchology had then only begun its achieve
ments.
While exploring the bed of the Atlantic
ocean in preparation for laying the cable,
shelled animals were brought up from
depths Of I 500 fathoms. When lifting the
telegraph wire from the Mediterranean and
Red seas, shelled creatures were brought
up from depths Of 2,OO0 fathoms. The Eng
glish admiralty, exploring in behalf Of
science, found mollusks at depth OF 2,4s5
fathoms, 1870 feet deep. What a realm
awful for vastnessi
As the shell is only the house and the
wardrobe Of insignificant animals Of the
deep, why all that wonder and beauty ot
construction Gods care of them is the
only reason. And IL God provide so munifi-
Gently for them, will he not see that yoT
have wardrobe and shelter9 Wardrobe and
shelter for a periwinklel Shall there not be
wardrobe and shelter for man? Would
God give a coat Of mail for the defense Of a
nautilus and leave you no defense against
the stormg Does he build a stone house for
a creature that lasts a season and leave
without home a soul that takes hold on CEN
turies and cons?
Hugh Miller found 'the footprints of the
Creator in the old red sandstone" and !
hear the harmonies Of God in the tinkle of
the seashells when the tides come in. The
same Christ who drew lesson of providen-
Iial care from the fact that God clothes with |
grass the field instructs me to draw the
same lesson from the shells.
rT3TuTrT ATTO.r cFrDr-r r, rrror,rr
In almost every mans life, however well |
porn and prosperous for years, and in al |
most every woman's life, there comes a |
'ery dark time-at least once A coniunc- |
ion of circumstances will threaten bank |
uptcy and homelessness and starvation.
{ may be that these words will meet the
ar or will meet the eye of those who are
n such a state of foreboding. Come, then,
nd see how God gives an ivory palace to n
7ater animal that you could cover with a
O-cent piece and clothes in armor against
II attack a coral no bigger than SLOW.
axe. do not think that God will take
etter care of bivalve than Of one Of his
wn children.
rake to your feet with the gospel rake
he most thorough evidences of Gods care
'r his creatures. | pile around you great
bounds Of shells that they may teach you /
most comforting theology. Oh, ye Of /
tile faith, walk among these srbOrs of s
)raline, and look at these bouquets of I
lell fit to be handed a queen on her coro-
alton day, and see these fallen rainbows (
color, and examine these lilies in stone,
lese primroses in stone, these heliotropes '
stone, these cowslips in stone, these ge-
NUNS in stone, these japonicas in stone. '
Oh, ye who have your telescopes ready, L
Oking out on clear nights trying to see / d
hat is transpiring in Mars, Jupiter and t
ercury, know that within a few hours I
ak or ride of where you now are there S
e whole worlds that you might explore, t
It Of which you are unconscious and s
nong the most beautiful and suggestive Il
these worlds is the Genealogical world. Il
Ike this lesson Of a providential care. Ii
DIV does that old hymn go? tl
e may, like ships, by tempest be tossed Il
perilOus deeps, but cannot be lost
ough satan enrages the wind and the tide,
o promise assures us, tho Lord will provide. n,
GODS HELP TO SELF HELP. a
But while you get this pointed lesson of ,,
Ovidential care from the shelled crea- 4,
res Of the deep, notice in their construc- is
n that God helps them to help them n,
YES. This house Of stone in which they -
e is not dropped on them and is not | rs
ilt around them. The material for it ~
ldes from their own bodies and is adorned u
tn a colored fluid from the pores Of their =,
n neck. It is a most interesting thing
see these crustacean animals fashion q,
,ir own homes out of carbonate of lime ~
membrane. f.
md all of this is mighty lesson to tn
'se who are waiting for others to build se,
ir fortunes, when they ought to go to To ~,
rk and, like the mollusks build their -,
q fortunes out Of their own brain, out of 90
ir own sweat, out of their own indus to
8. Not mollusk on all the beaches Of a.,
the seas would have a house of shell if n,
ad not itself built one. Do not wait for ~,
ers to shelter you or prosper you. All io,
crustaceOus creatures of the earth, from N,
ry fake of their covering and from every
90 Of their tiny castles on Atlantic and ~ a.
iiic and Mediterranean coasts, say, H'
clip yourself, while God helps you to help -
rself." 20
hose people who are waiting for their
Ter or rich old uncle to die and leave al
n a fortune are as silly as a mollusk -,
Id be to wait for some other mollusk to ~, ~
D on it shell equipment. Itwould kill ~
mOllusk, as in most cases it destroys a uos
/. Not one person out of hundred ever ~ NJ
strong enough to stand u large estate w
Inheritance dropped OH him in a chunk. ny. ~
e great expectations from only twoper- w. W.
God and yourself Let the onycha of pr
text become your preceptor W
1t the more / examine the shells the
Q am impressed that God is God of =
tion. Many scoff at emotion and seem If
link that God is a Gcd Of cold geometry Svo
iron laws and eternal apathy and en- int
ned stoicism. MOI MOI The shells, ws
Overpowering emphasis, deny it. al,
le law and order reign in the universe, Lin
have but to see the lavishness Of color {
ne crustacea, ell shades Of crimson from tbe
est blush 20 blood of battlefield, all CON
es of blue, all shades of green, all ~,
es Of all cOlors from deepest black to nj,
est light, just called out on the shells IN,
no more order than mother pre- nea
tates or calculates how many kisses af /
hugs she shall give her babe waking r;cl
the morning sunlight. bea
s, my God is an emotional God, and n
ys, I'VE must have colors and let the tb.
paint all Of them on the scroll Of that NJ,
, and we must have music, aud. here is b1r
oi for the robin, and psalm for man, n =
| dO-Oloagv for the enr,e Dhfu1 and "a y-aq ?