Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-03-24

WTeCK, "0nleT-
tul deliverance, but Goo does something
better than that. When the priests feet
touched the waters o. Jordan and they were
drawn of, they might have thought there
would have been a bed of mud and slime
through which the army should pass
Draw of the waters of the Hudson or the
Ohio, and there would be good many DAYS
and perhaps many weeks before the sedi-
ment would dry up, and yet here in an in.
slant, Immediately. God provides a path
through the depths of Jordan. It is so dry
the passengers do not even get their feet
damp. Oh, the completeness of everything
that God does! Does He make universe?
It is perfect clock. running ever since it
was wound up. toe fixed stars the pivocs' tne
consultations the Intervening wheels anu
ponderous laws the weights and mignIy
swinging pendulum, the stars IN tue RIea'
dome of night striking the midnight, ana the
sun. with brazen tongue, tolllng the nour Oh
noon.
Inc widest comet he a chain Of law that
it cannot break. The thistle down nying
before the schoolboy's breath IS controAec
by the same law that controls the sun ana
the planets. The rosebush in your window
is governed by the same principle tn6t
governs the tree Of the universe on which
the stars are ripening fruits, and on which
God will one day put His hand and shake
down the fruits-a perfect universe. No
astronomy has ever proposed an amend
ment.
If God makes a Bible, it is q complete
Bible. Standing amid the dreadful and dee
lightful truths you seem tc be IN the midst
of an orchestra where the wailings over
sins and the reioicings over pardon, and the
martial strains of victory make the chorus
like an anthem Of eternity. This book
seems to you the ocean of truth, on every
wave of which Christ walks-sometmes IN
the darkness of prophecy, again IN tne
splendors with which He walks on Galilee.
In this book apostle answers to prophet,
<aui TO Isaiah. neveIaClon TO Geness-giorl-
Gus light turning midnight sorrow into the
every tempest. Take this book; it is the kiss
of God upon the soul Of lost man. Perfect
Bible complete Bible! No man has ever
proposed any Improvement.
God provided a Saviour. lie is con-
plete Saviour-God-man-di and
humanity united in the same person. He
set up the starry pillars of the univ rse and
the towers of light He planted the cedars
and the heavenly Lebanon. He str uck out
of the rock the rivers of life, singing under
the trees, singing under the thron es. He
quarred the sardonyx and crystal and the
topaz Of the heavenly wall. He put down
the jasper for the foundation and heaped up
the amethyst for the capital and swung the
IL gates which are IL pearls. In one instant
He thought out a universe, and yet He be-
came a child crying for His mother. feeling
along the sides of the manger, learning to
walk.
Omnpotence sheathed in the muscle and
flesh of child's arm; omniscence strung in
the optic nerve of a childs eye: infinite
love beating in child's heart; a great God
appearing in the form Of a child year old,
years old, Is years old While all the
heavens were ascribing to Him glory and
honor and power on earth, men said, "Who
is this fellow?' While ali the heavenly
hosts with folded wing about their faces,
bowed down before Him crying, "Holy,
holy" on earth, they denounced Him as
blasphener and sot. Rocked in a boat on
Gennesaret, and yet He it is that uudirket
the lightning from the storm clou1 and dis
maseed Lebanon of its forests and holds the
five oceans on the tip of His finger as the
leaf holds the raindrop.
Oh, the complete Saviour, rubbing His
hand over the place where we have the pain,
yet the stars of heaven the adorning gems
of His right hand. Holding us in His arms
when we take our last view of our dead. Sit
ting down with us on the tombstone, and
while we plant roses there He planting con-
ISOLATION in our heart, every chapter stalk,
every verse stem, every word rose. A
complete Saviour, a complete Bible, q COM
plete universe, complete Jordanic passage.
Everything that God does is complete.
Again, learn from this Jordanic passage
that between us aud every Canaan of sue
cess and prosperity there is a river that
must be passed. sob. how [ would like
to have some of those grapes on the other
sideT said some OF the Israelites to Joshua.
"Wel," says Joshua, why don't you cross
over and get them? There is a river of
difficulty between us and everything that is
worth knowing. That which costs nothing
is worth nothing.
God didn't intend this world for an easy
parlor, through which we are to be drawn
in a rocking chair, but we are to work our
passage, climb mastS, fight battles, scale
mountains and ford rivers. God makes
everything valuable difficult to get at, for
the same reason that He put the gold down
in the mine and the pearl clear down in the
sea-to make us dig and dive for them. We
acknowledge this principle in worldly things;
Oh, that we we're only visa enough to &C
knowledge it in religious thingsi
You have scores of illustrations under
your own observation where men nave had
the hardest lot and been trodden under foot,
and yet after awhile had it easy. Now their
homes blossom and bloom with pictures,
and carpets that made foreign looms laugh
now embrace their feet; the sum ner winds
lift the tapestry about the window gorgeous
enough for a Turkish sultan; impatient
steeds paw and neigh at the door. their car
riages moving through the sea OF New Y DIRK
life very wave OF splendor.
Who is it? Why, it is boy who came to
New York with dollar in his pocket and
cotton handkerchief. All that silver on the
dancing span is petrified sweat drops; that
beautiful dress is the faded calico over
which God put His hand of perfection turning
it to Turkish satin or italian silk; those dia-
monds are the tears which suffering froze as
they fell. On, there is river of difficulty
between US and every earthly achievement.
You know that. You admit that.
You know this is 50 with regard to the
acquisition of knowledge. The ancients
used to say that Vulcan struck Jupiter on
the head and the goddess of wisdom jumped
A.