The Globe-republican., 1893-12-08


an addendum to your prayers. 1t is
high time that you enlarge the cata-
logue of your blessings Thank God
for frost! 1t is the best of all germi-
cides. 1t is the only hope in bacteria
logy. 1t is the medicament of CONT
nents. 1t is the salvation of our tenn
perate 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
it l had while walking near here one
cool morning with my brother John.
who spent the most of his life as mis-
sionary in China. and in that part of it
where there are no frosts. He said
there was a tingling gladness in his
nerves indescriba bic, and an almost in
toxication of delight from the fact that
it was the first time for years he had
felt the sensation of frost We COM
plain of it, we scOld it. we frown upon
it. when we ought to be stirred by it to
gratitude and hoist it on "a doxology.
But must go further and speal. of
the frost as jeweler. AS the snow is
frozen rain. so the frost is frozen dew.
God tr nsforms it from a liquid into a
crystal. tits the dew glorified. In the
thirty-eigth chapter 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 parent
age of the frost. He inquiries about its
pedigree. He suggests that Job study
up the frost's genealogical line. a
minute before God had asked about the
parentage of rain-drop in words that
years ago gave me a suggestive text
for a sermon: Hath the rain a
father?" But now the Lord Almighty
is catechising Job about the frost. He
practically says: do you know its
father? DO you know its mother? In
what cradle OF the leaves did the wind
rock it? The hoary frost of heaven,
who hath gendered it?'" He is stu
pid Christian who thinks SO much of
the printed and bound Bible that he
neglects the Old Testament of the
fields nor reads the wisdom aud kind
ness and beauty of God written in bios
SONS on the orchard. in sparkles on
the lake, in the stars of the sky, in
frost on the meadows. The greatest
jeweler of all the earth is the frost
There is nothing more wonderful in all
crystalography. Some morning in De-
cember whole continent is found be-
sprent 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 60 into LondoO tower and
look at the crown jewels of England,
but we are in procession that the
guards keep moving on. and five
minutes or less are your only OppOrtun-
ity 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 one to tell you to move
on.
O. these regalias and diadems of
beauty flung out of Heaven! Kings
and queens on celebrative days have
come riding through the streets throw
ing 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.
But go step further and speak of
the frost as an evangelist. and text
of Scripture is not of much use to me
unless can find the gospel in it. The
Israelites in the wilderness break
tasted on something that looked like
frozen dew. The mamma fell on the
dew, and the dew evaporated and left
a pulverized material. white. and look
ing 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 mamma on which we may
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 death or of
death unto death. AS the frost is
mighty. the gospel is mighty. As the
frost puritieS. SO the grace of God puri-
fies. As the frost bestars the earth. SO
grace Lejewels the soul. AS the frost
prepares for food many things that
otherwise would be inedible, so the
frost of trial ripens and prepares food
for the soul. In the tight grip of the
frost the hard shells of walnut and
chestnut and hickory open. and the lux
uries of the woods come into our laps or
upon our ia bles; so the frost of trial
takes many hard and prickly shell and
brushes it until that which stunI the
soul now feeds it. There are passages
of Scripture that once were enigmas,
puzzles. riddles, and impossible for you
to understand. but the frosts of trouble
after a while exposed the full meaning
to your soul. You said: Il do not see
why David keeps rolling over in his
psalms the story of how he was pur-
sued and prosecuted" He describes
himself as surrounded by bees. He
says: They compassed me about like
bees: yea, they comprised me about
like bees" You think what an exag-
gerating thing for him to exclaim:
Out of the depths of hell have cried
unto Thee. o Lord" And there
is so much of that style of