Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-02-24

ever uninviting such a repast might
appear TO us, they are here esteemed a
great delicacy. They are so plentiful
in this valley that it may be literally
said that it is difficult to take one step
without treading on them"
So the shelled creatures saved the
host of Israelites on the march to the
promised land, and the attack of inf
deity at this point is defeated by the
facts, as intidelity is always defeated
by facts, since il is founded on ignor.
ance. In writing and printing our in
terrogation point has at the bottom a
mark like period and over it flour
ish like the swing % teamster's
whip, and we put this interrogation
point at the end of question; but in
the Spanish language the interroga-
ton point is twice used for each ques-
ton. At the beginning of the question
the Interrogation point is presented
upside down and at the close of the
question right side up. When infidelity
puts question about the Scriptures,
as 1T always indicates ignorance, the
question ought to be printed with tvs
interrogation points, one at the begin
ming and one at the close, but both
upside down.
Thank God for the wealth of mol
lusks all up and down the earth,
whether feeding the Israelites on their
way to the land flowing with milk and
honey, or, as we are better acquainted
with the mollusks, when flung to the
beach of lake or sea. There are three
great families of them. If / should
ask you to name three of the great
royal families of the earth, rhaps
you would respond, the House of
Stuart, the House of Hapsburg, the
House of Bourbon, but the three
royal families of mollusks are the
Univalve, or shell in one part, the BIZ
valve, or shell of two parts, and
the Multivalve, or shell in many
parts, and see God in their every
hinge, in their every tooth, in their
every cartilage, in their every liga-
ment, in their every spiral ridge, and
in their every color, prism on prism,
and their adaptation of thin shell
for still ponds and thick coatings for
boisterous seas. They all dash upon
me the thought of the providential
care of God What is the use of all
tins architecture of the shell, and why
is it pictured from the outside lip
clear down into its labyrinths of con-
struction? Why the infinity of skill
and radiance il a shell? What is the
use of the color and exquisite curve of
a thing so insignificant as shell-fsh?
Why, when the conchologist, by dredge
or rake, fetches the crustaceous speci-
mems to the shore, does he find at his
feet whole Alhambras and Colos-
seums and Parthenons and Crystal
Palaces of beauty in min
iature, and these bring to light
only an infnitesmal part of the
opulence in the great subaqueous
world. Linnaus counted twenty-five
hundred species of shells, but con-
chology had then only begun it's
achievements. While exploring the
bed of the Atlantic Ocean in prepare
ton for laying the cable, shelled ami
mails were brought up from depths of
nineteen hundred fathomS When
lifting the telegraph wire from the
Mediterranean and Red Seas, shelled
creatures were brought up from
depths of two thousand fathoms. The
English Admiralty, exploring in be-
half of science, found mollusks at a
depth of twenty-four hundred and
thirty-tive fathoms, or fourteen thou
sand two hundred and ten feet deep.
What a realm awful for vastnessl
AS the shell is only the house and
the wardrobe of insignificant animals
of the deep. why all that wonder and
beauty of construction? Gods care
for them is the only reason. And if
God provide SO munifcently for them,
will he not see that you have ward
robe and shelter? Wardrobe and
shelter for a periwinkle; shall there
ha xuarHrAhn oy,I chalso,-
man? Would God give coat of mail
for the defence of a Nautilus and
leave you no defence against the storm?
Does he build stone house for a
creature that lasts a season and leave
without home soul that takes hold
on centuries and aeons? Hugh Miller
found THE Footprints of the Creator
in the Old Red Sandstone" and hear
the harmonies of God in the tinkle of
the sea shells when the tides come in.
The same Christ who drew a lesson of
providential care from the fact that
God clothes the grass of the field in
structs me to draw the same lesson
from the shells.
In almost every mans life, however
well born and prosperous for years,
and in almost every woman's life, there
comes very dark time, at least, once.
A conjunction of circumstances will
threaten bankruptcy and homelessness
and starvation. 1t may be that these
words will meet the ear or will meet
the eye of those who are in such state
of foreboding. Come, then, and see
how God gives an ivory palace to a
water animal that you could cover
with ten-cent piece, and clothes in
armor against all attack, coral no
bigger than snowflake. / do not
think that God will take better care
of a bivalve than of one of his own
children. i rake to your feet with the
Gospel rake the most thorough evil
dences of Gods care for his creatures,
pile around you great mounds of
shells, that they may teach you a most
comforting theology. Oh, we of little
faith, walk among these arbors of
coraline, and look at these bouquets of
shell fit to be handed queen on her
coronation day, and see these fallen
rainbows of color, and examine these
lilies in stone, these primroses in stone,
these heliotropes in stone, these cow
slips in stone, these geraniums in
stone, these japonicas in stone. Oh,
We, who have your telescopes ready,
looking out on clear nights, trying to.
see what is TRANSMITTING in Mars