The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-03-08

While exploring the bed Of tho Atlantic
Ocean in preparation for LAYING the cable
shelled animals were brought up from
depths Of 1000 fathoms. When lifting the
telegraph wire from the Mediterranean and
Rel Seas, shelled creatures were brought
up from depths Of 1000 fathoms. The Eng.
hsh admiralty, exploring in behalf OF
science, found mollusks at depth OF 2435
fathoms, or 1920 feet deep. What realm
awful foS vaHnessl
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 II God provide so munifl.
Gently for them, will He not see that you
have wardrobe and shelter? Wardrobe aud
shelter for periwinklei Shall there not be
wsrdrobe and shelter for man7 Would
God give coat Of mail for the defense of a
nautilus and leave you no defense against
the storm? Does he build stone house for
q creature that lasts season and leave with
out hoEe soul that takes hold on centuries
and cons?
Hugh Miller found "the Footprints Of the
Creator In the old red sandstone" and
hear the harmonies Of God in the tinkle OF
same Christ who drew lesson Of provideu-
tial care from the fact that God clothes with
grass the field instructs ms to draw the sams
lesson from the shells.
In almost every mans life, however we'll
born and prosperous for years, and In al
most every woman's life, there comes very
dark time, at least once. A conjunction Of
circumstances will threaten bankruptcy and
homeleesmess and starvation 1t may be that
these words will meet the ear or will meet
me eye OF those who are In such q state OF
forsboding. Come, then, aud see how God
gives an ivory palace to q water animal that
you could cover with ten-csnt piece and
clothes In armor against all attack q coral
that God will take better csre of a biyalve
than OF one Of bis own children.
rake to your feat with the gospel raks
the most thorough evidences Of Gods care
for His creatures. 1pils around you great
mounds OF shells that they may teach you
most comforting theology. Oh, 70 of little
lSlth, walk among these arbors Of coraIins
and look at these bouquets of shell, at to be
handed queen on her coronation day, and
see these fallen rainbows OF color, and e1.
anime these lilies In stone, these primroses
IN stone, these beliotropes In stone, these
cowsiPs In stone, these geraniums In stone,
these japonicas In stone.
y 70 who have your telescopes ready look
ing out on clear nights trying to see what
10 tranpirdng In Mars, Jupiter and Mercury,
know that within few hour5 walk or ride
OF where you now are there are whole
worlds that you might explore, but Of which
you are unconscious and among the most
beautiful and suggestive of these worlds Is
the genealogical world. Take this lesson Of
. providential care. How does that old
hymn 60! .r. I.
We may, Ike ships, by tempests be tossed
On perilous deep;, out cannot be lost.
Though sstan eprsges the wind and the tide,
Inc promise assures % the Lord will provide.
But while you get this pointed lesson OF
providential care from the shelled creatures
Of the desp, notice In their construction
that God helps them to help themselves. This
house Of stone In which they live is not
dropped on them and is not built around
them. The material for 10 exudes from their
own bodies and Is adorned with g colored
fluid from the pores Of their own neck. Il
Is most interesting thing to zee these crus-
tacean animals fashion their own homes out
Of carbonate Of lime and membrane.
And all Of this is q mighty lesson to those
who are waiting for others to build their
fortunes when tney ought to 20 to work
and, Ike the mollusks build their own
fortunes out OF their own brain, ont Of their
own sweat ont of their own industries.
Not a mollusk on all the beaches Of all the
seas would have q house Of shell II IL had
not itself built one. Do rot wait for others
to shelter you or prosper you. All the
1ustaceous creatures Of the earth from
every fake OF their covering and from every
ridge Of their tiny castles on Atlantic and
Pacific and Mediterranean coasts say,
Help yourself, while God helps You to help
yourself"
Those people who are waiting for their
father or rich old uncle to die AMI leave them
a fortune are as silly as mollusk would be
to wait for some other lnoilusk to drop on
It q shell equipment. Il would kill the mol.
lusk as In most cases It destroys man. Not
one person out Of q hundred ever was strong
enough to stand large estate by inherit
ance dropped on him In q chunk. Have
great expectations from only two persons
God and yourself. Let the onycha OF my
text become your preceptor.
But the more l examine the shells the
more I am impressed that Col Is q God OF
emotion. Many scoff at emotion. and seem
to think that God Is God Of cold geometry
and iron laws and eternal apathy and en-
rhroned stoicism. MOI Mol fhe shells with
overpowering emphasis deny it. While law
and order reign in the universe, you have
but to see the lavishuess OF color on the
crustacee, ali shades Of crimson from faint.
est blush to blood of battlefield, all shades
of green. all shades Of all colors from deepest
black to whitest light just called out on the
ahelis with no more order than q mother
premeditates or calculates how many kisses
and hugs she shall give her babe waxing up
In the morning sunlight. ...... ...,'', - -.
Yes INV God is an emotional God, and He
saws 1--WE must have colors and let the sun
n eek klav,o Tho oorc1l nf that ahoIt
and we must have music, and here Is carol
for the robin, and psalm for man, and q
doxology for the seraphtm, and q resurrec-
tion call for the archangel." Aye, He
showed Himself Goi Of sublime solotior
when He flung Himself on this world in the
personality of Christ to save it, without re-
gard to the tears it would take, or the blood
It would exhaust or the agonies 1t would
crush out.
When see the Louvres and the Luxem-
boures and the Vaticans Of Divine painting
stxewn along the SUO0 miles Of coast, and
hear In q forest on a summer morning mus.
icaI academies and Handel societies OF full
orchestras, say God is q God OF emotion,
and if He observes mathematics II Is maine
uatics Get to music. and His figures are writ
ten not in white chalk on biacsooards, oue
written by finger OF sunlight on walls OF
jasmine and trumpet creeper.
In my study of the conchology Of the Bible
this onycha OF the text also impresses me
with the fact that religion Is perfumed.
What else could God have meant wnen he
said to Moses, "Take unto thee sweet spices;
stacts and onycha? Moses took that smell
of the onycha, put 1t over the fire, aud as "
crumbled into ashes it exhaled an odor tnst
hung in every curtain and filled the ancient
tabernacle, and its sweet smoke eseapea
from the sacred precincts and saturated the
outside air.
Perfumei That Is what religion Is. But
instead of that some make It q malodor.
They serve God in a rough and acsrb way.