The free press., 1893-12-21

by crossing our own room, and 1ree o
charge4 This praising OF Raphaels hundfed'
| Of years gone, when the greater haphael, tf
frost will soon be busy, at the entrances tt
your own home!
Next I speak Of the frost as a physician
Standing at the gates of New York harbo
autumn before last, the frost drove bacH
the cholera, saying. "Thus far shalt thou
come and no farther" From Memphis ant
New Orleans and Jacksonville he smoto th'
fever plague till it reeed back and departed
The frost is a physician that doctors cities
Nations and continents. He medicines the
world. Quinine for malaria, antt-febrlle 1ol
typhoids, suDhonal for sleepleSsness, anti
spasmodic for disturbed nerves, but in al
therapeutics there is no remedy ike the
small pellets prepared by the cold, and nc
physician so skilful or SO mighty as the frost
Scotland has had great physicians, but hel
greatest doctors have been the Abernethies
and Abercrombies that have como down
over the highlands horSe1 on the north wind
England has had her great physicians. but
her greatest doctors have been the Andrew
Clarkes and the MackenZies who appeared
the first night the fields OF England were
rimmed with white. America has had Its
great physicians, but her greatest doctors
have been the willard Parkers and Valentine
Motifs who landed from bleak skies while
our fingers were benumbed and our ears
tinged with the cold. Oh, 1t is high time
that you add another line to your liturgy
1t is high time that you make an addendum
to your prayers 1t is high time that you
enlarge the catalogue of your blessings.
Thank God for frost. 1t is the best OF all
germicides. 1t is the only hope in bacteriol-
ogy 1t is the medicament of continents. 1t
is the salvation of our temperate zone. 1t is
the best tonic that God ever gave the human
race. 1t is the only strong stimulant which
has no reaction. The best commentary on
Il -, 10 Ii
morning with my brother John, who spent
the most of his life as missionary in China,
and in that part of it where there are no
frosts. He said there was a tinging glad
ness in his nerves indescribable, and an almost
intoxication of delight from the fact that it
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 1t on
doxology.
But I must 90 farther and speak of the
frost as a jeweler. AS the snow is frozen
rain, so the frost is frozen dew. God trans
forms it from "a 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 itY" 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 5
genealogical line. A minute before God had
asked about the parentage OF q ra1ndrop in
words that years ago gave me suggestive
text for a sermon. "Hath the rain fatherY
But now the Lord Almighty is catechising
Job about the frost. He practically says :;
'sDo you know is lather2 Do you know its
mother? In what cradle OF the leaves dld
the wind rock it? The hoary frost of heaven,
who hath gendered itY"
He is a stupid Christian who thinks 50
much of the printed and bound Bible that
he negects the Old Testament of the fields,
nor reads the wisdom and kindness and
beauty of God written in blossoms on the
orchard in sparkles on the lake, in stars ON
the sky, in frost on the meadows. The
greatest ieweler CT all the earth is the frost.
There is nothing more wonderful in all
arystallography. 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 or three hours? What of that? We go
into London tower and look at the crown
Jewels of England but we are in a 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 i'll parks
anu HtlN9 gOu may oldIAt tCiCCN b@ii'1t0'S'J
and for hours and no one to 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
a necklace of amber given TO Penelope, but
the frost necklaces a continent. The careanet
of precious stones given to Harmonic had
pinions of orange jasper and white moon
stone and Indian agate, but it was a misfor-
tune to any one who owned or inherited it,
and its history generation after generation,
was ii 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 rs many
brlliants as the withered glass blades, is
easily afforded by divine opulence and is
never lost, but after its use i'll the coronation
of the fields is taken back to heaven. o 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, implead you study the jewels
strewn all round your wintry home and rea-
lize that "by the breath of God frost is
given"
But go 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,a pulverized material, white and
looking like frost, but ii was mama, and o
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 somC
things but we have already seen that it gives
health and life to others This gospel is thu
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 Sospe
descends from heaven. BY the breath o
God frost is given. By the breath of Godtht
gospel is given. As the frost purfles SO the
grace OF God purilles. AS the frost bestars
the earth, so grace bejewels the soul. AS tn,
frost prepares for food many things thai
otherwise would be inedible, so the frost o