The free press., 1893-12-28

| charged This praising OF Raphael5 hundrees
| OF wears gone, when the greater Raphael, u
| frost. will soon be busy ~ the ekfiranees 70
your own home!
| Next / speak OF the frost as a physiciah.
| Standing at the gates OF New York harbor
autumn before last the frost dove back
! the cholera, saying. "Ihus far shalt thou
| come and no farther" From Memphis and
New Orleans and Jacksonville he smoto the
| fever plague till Il reeled back and departel
The frost is q physician that doctors cits,s'
Nations and continents. He medicines the
world. Ouinine for malaria, anti-fehrile for
typhoids sulphonal for sleeplcssnce., anti
| spasmodic for disturbed nerves, but In All
| therapeutics there is no remedy like tue
small pellets prepared by the cold, and no
| physician so skilful or SO mighty rs the ir0st.
| Scotland has had great physicians. but her
| greatest doctors have been the Abernethies
| and Abercrombies that have come down
over the highlands horsed on tho north wind.
! England has had her great physicians. hut
her greatest doctors have been the Andrew
Clarkes and the Mackenzles who appeared
the first night the fields OF England were
rimmed with white. America has had It's
great physicians. but her greatest doctors
have been the willard Parkers and valentine
Motts who landed from bleak skies while
our fingers were benumbed and our ears
tinHed with the cold. Oh, 1t is high time
that you add another line to your liturgy
LIZ Is nlgn tltDb lUtt you Iltthb an hh'A'AN"'N
to your prayers. 1t is high timo that you
enlarge the catalogue Of your blessings.
Thank God for frost. II is the best OF all
germicides. II is the only hope in bacteriol-
ogy II is the medicament OF continents. II
Is the salvation of our temperate zone. II -
the best tonic that God ever gave the human
race. 1t is the only strong stimulant which
has no reaction. The best commentary on
it | had while walking near here one cool
morning with my brother John. who spent
the most of his life a. a missionary in China
and in that part of it where there are no
frosts. He said there was tingiing glad
ness in his nerves indescribable, and an almost
intoxication OF delight from the fact that II
was the first time for years he had felt the
sensation OF frost. We complain OF it, we
scold it, we frown upon it, when We ought
to be stirred by it to gratitude and hoist it on
q doxology.
But I must go farther and speak of the
frost as jeweler. AS the snow ls frozen
rain, SO the frost is frozen dew. God trans
forms it from liquid into crystal. 1t is
the dew glorified. In the thirty-eighth chap
ter of that inspired drama, the book of Job,
God says to the inspired dramatist with
ecstatic interrogation. The hoary frost OF
heaven, who hath gendered it?" God there
asks Job if he knows the parentage OF
the frost He inquiries about its pedigree.
He suggests that Job study up the frost :
genealogical line. minute before God hai
asked about the parentage OF raindrop IN
words that years ago gave me suggestive
text for n sermon, "Hath the rain n father!'
But now the Lord Almighty is catechising
job about the frost. lie Practlcaiiy say
s'Do you know its father? Do you know It's
mother? In what cradle of the leaves did
the wind rock it? The hoary frost Of heaven,
who hath gendered itY"
He is stupid Christian who thinks so
much of the printed and bound Bible that
he neglects the Old Testament of the fields,
nor reads the wisdom and kindness and
beauty Of God written in blossoms on the
orchard, in spariles on the lake, in stars on
the sky in frost on the meadows. The
greatest jeweler of all the earth is the frost
There is nothing more wonderful in all
crystallography Some morning in Decem-
Der a whole continent is found besprent with
diamonds, the result of one nights work by
this jeweler
Do you make the depreciatory remark that
the frost is impermanent and will last only
two three hours? What of that? We 90
into London tower and look at the crown
Jewels of England, but we are ina procession
that the guards keep moving on, and five
minutes or less are your only opportunity OF
looking at those crown jewels. but at the
crown Jewels bestarred of the frost in parks
and fields you may stand to look deliberately
and for hours, and no eto tell you to move
on.
Oh these regalias and diademS OF beauty
flung out of heaven Kings and queens on
celebrative days have come riding through
the streets throwing handfuls OF silver and
gold among the people, but the queen of the
winter morning is the only queen rich enough
to throw pearls, and the king OF frost the
only king rich enough to throw opals and
sapphires and diamonds. Homer describes
n necklace of amber given 10 Penelope, but
the frost necklaces continent The carcanet
OF precious stones given to Harmonic had
pinions OF orange jasper and white moon
stone and Indian agate, but it was misfor-
tune to any one who owned or inherited 1t,
and its history, generation after generation,
was a history of disaster, but the regalia OF
frost is the good fortune of every morning
that owns il.
The imperial household of Louis XVI
could not afford the diamond necklace which
had been ordered for Queen Marie Antoinette,
and it was stolen and taken apart and lost,
but the necklace that the frost puts on the
wintry morning. though made of as many
briliants as the withered glass blades, is
easily afforded by divine opulence and is
never lost, but after its use in the coronation
of the fields is taken back to heaven. men
and women, accustomed to go into ecstasy
when in foreign travel you come upon the
historical gems of Nations, Whether the jewel
be called the Mountain of Glory, or the Sea
of Light, or the Crown of the Moon, or the
Eve of Allah, or the Star OF Sarawak, or the
Koh-i-noor, 1 implead you study the jewels
strewn all round your wintry home and rea-
lie that 'by the breath of God frost is
given.
But l go a step farther and speak of the
frost as an evangelist, and a text of Scripture
is not of much use to me unless l can find
the gospel in it, The Israelites in the will
derness breakfasted on something that
looked like frozen dew, and the dew evapor
ated and left pulverized material white and
looking like frost, but it was mama, and OF
that they ate. So now this morning, mixed
with the frozen dew of my text, there is
mama on which we can breakfast our souls.
You say the frost kills. Yes, it kills some
things, but we have already seen that it gives
health and life to others. This gospel is the
SAVIOR of life unto life or of death unto death.
As the frost is mighty, the gospel is mighty.
As the frost descends from heaven. the gospel
descends from heaven BY the breath OF
God frost is given. BY the breath OF Godthe
gospel is given. AS the frost puriles, so the
grace of God puriles. AS the frost bestars
the earth, so grace bejewels the soul. AS the
lrost prepares for food many things that
otherwise would be inedble, so the frost OF
trials pens and prepares food for the soul. In