The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1893-11-08
Fading Leaves.
BY REV. NEWMAN HALL, D. D.

All Nature is a parable. Ply ST.
cal are not identical with spiritual
laws, but there are many analogies.
God teaches by his works as we'll as
by his Word. If "the heavens de-
clare the glory of God" the leaves
of autumn remind us of the frailty
of man.
A leaf is an emblem of our life.
The tiny bud of infancy unfolds
into the growing beauty of child
hood and youth. After the spring.
sunshine, the summer drought af-
ter the songs of birds the roaring
of tempests; after the shiny smooth
ness of the bright green foliage, the
tanner tints of maturity and scars
of many battle with the winds.
Some leaves fall before their prime,
and, brushed by blasts, nipped by
frosts, insect-eaten, lightning
scorched, or withered by the blaz
ing sun, decay prematurely.
Fading leaves often suggest sad
thoughts. We are reminded of
losses in the past; we fear others
in the future; we think of the in.
evitable winter fast coming on. 1--WE
all do fade as a leaf" Yet lessons
of grateful, hopeful cheerfulness
are taught by fading leaves. If we
really do fade" just as leaves fade,
may we not rejoice? Leaves fade
l0heB their lUork Is done They per-
form important functions as lungs
of the tree, vitalising the sap, and
depositing new material, so that
every single leaf helps to build up
the mightiest oak So the soul,
breathing the air of heaven and re-
ceiving the sunshine of God, not
only unfolds itself, but helps to
build up the great tree of humanity
and the church. Each leaf helps
to make the wilderness rejoice. A
weary woman with her child rests at
noon under the broad shade of the
spreading beech, which every single
leaf helps to produce. If we fade
as the leaf, having made life less
burdensome to others, having
cheered some fellow-travelIe in the
dusty highway of life, having done
our little part in the growth of the
Kingdom of God, we need not la
ment, for the leaf will have fulfilled
it's purpose before its fall.
How bright such a fall may be !
This is the chief lesson of fading
leaves. What painter can ade-
quately depict the transformation
scene that is spread before us year
by year How, when the foliage had
seemed the dullest, it gradually,
silently, surely bursts forth into in
descrlbable loveliness How varied
the tints. What rich browns. and
bright yellows, and blazing Grim
sons, with endless ombination of
orange and gray and mauve and
purple, intermingled with the varied
shades of lingering green from eme-
raid to olivel When the sun breaks
forth, how the picture suddenly
blazes into splendor, and the trees
are radiant with Joy and triumph !
Even so the dying flame of the
Christians life bursts forth with
renewed beauty at the close.
This autumn glory of the leaf re =
suits from the action of frost and
wind and rain, as we'll as of sun
shine. Trials produce tints. Sor-
rows, mot joyous but grievoua,
afterCard produce the peaceable
fruits of righteousness" and the
"beauties of holiness" If when
our leaf is about to fall we are more
humble, compassionate, holy,
Christ-like, we may rejoice if thus
we "fade as a leaf" Though the
leaf lives again in next springs TO-
liage which it helps to nourish, it's
individuality ceases. But every
separate leaf in the garden of God
will live again in glory, "sown nat
ural body, raised spiritual body"
There, no frost will nip the tender
bud, no tempests strip the branches,
no single leaf will fade, but all will
always glow in the radiance of the
Sun of Righteousness. Transformed
into the same image, from glory to
glory we shall be like Him, seeing
Him as He is.
Brief winter, fadeless spring.
Blissful belief
This be our joy, that we
Fade as a leafl
OF all our ends in life
This, then, be chief.
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