Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-12-14

ears U1ngleQ with the cOid. On, IL Is
high time that you add another line
to your liturgy. IT is high time that
you make an adde7dum to your pray
ers. 1t is high time that You enlarge
the catalogue of your blessings. Thank
God for frost. It is the best of all ger
micides 1t is the only hope in bacte-
riology. 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 that has no reaction.
The best commentary on it had while
walking near here one cool morning
with my brother John. who spent the
most of his life as a missionary in
China, and in that part OF it where
there are no frosts. He said there was
tingling gladness in his nerves indie
scrib BILE. and almost intoxicat ton
of delight from the fact that it was the
first time for years he had felt the SEN
sation 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 it on a doxology.
But l must go further and speak of
| the Frost as a jeweler. As the snow
is frozen rain, so the frost is frozen
| dew. God transforms it from a liquid
into crystal. 1t is the dew glOrified.
In the thirty-eighth chapter of that
| inspired drama, the Book of Job, God
says to the inspired dranlatists, with
ecstatic interrogation: 1.-THE hoary
| frost of Heaven, who hath gendered
it?" God there asks Job if he knows
| the parentage of the frost. He in
quires about about its pedigree. He
suggests that Job study up the frost's
genealogical line. A minute before
God had asked about the parentage of
a IA in-drop in words that years ago
gave a suggestive text for sermon:
! 'Hath the rain 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?
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 breakfasted
on something that looked like frozen
dew. The mamma fell on the dew, and
the dew evaporated and left pulver-
lied material white, and looking like
frost, but it was mamma, 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,
L
ready seen that it gives health and life
to others. This Gospel is the SAVIOR of
lie unto life or of death unto death. AS
the frost is mighty, the Gospel is
mighty. AS the frost descends from
Heaven, the Gospel descends from
Heaven. By the breath of God frost
is given. BY the breath of God the
Gospel is given. AS the frost purifies,
so the grace of God purifies. AS the
frost bestars the earth, so grace be-
| jewels 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 the walnut and chestnut
and hickory open, and the luXuries of
the woods come into our laps or upon
our tables; so the frost of trial takes
many a hard and pricl1ly shell and
| brushes it until that which stung the
soul now feeds it. There are passages
of Scripture that once were enigmas,
puzzles, riddles, and impossible for you
to under stand, but the frosts of trouble
after awhile exposed the full meaning
to your soul. You said: 81 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 comprised 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 lamentation in
his writings you think he overdoes it.,
but after awhile the frost comes upon
you in the shape of persecution, and
you are stuck with this censure and
stuck with that defamation, and stuck
with some falsehood and lies: its
swarms are buzzing, buzzing abont
your ears and at last you understand
what David meant when he said:
They comprised me about like bees:
yea, they comprised me about like
bees" and you go down under nerv-
Gus prostration, and feel that
you are as far down as David when
he cried: ''Out of the depths of hell -
what opened all those chapters that
hitherto had no appropriateness?
Frosts! For a long while the Bible
seemed lop-sided and disproportion-
ate amount of it given up to the con-
solatory. Why, page after page and
chapter after chapter and book after
book in the Bible taken up with allevi-
ations, with pacifica tions, with con-
dolences The Book seems like an
apothecary store, with one-half of the
shelves occupied with balsams. Why
such superiority of balsams? But after
awhile the membaneous Group carries
off your child, or your health gives
way under the grippe, or your prop
erty is swept off by bad investment,
or perhaps all three troubles come
at ncc-bankruptcy, sickness and
bereavement. Now the consolatory
parts of the Bible do not seem to be
disproportionate. You want some
thing off almost all the shelves of that
sacred dispensary. What has uncovered
and exposed to you the usefulness of
SO much of the Bible that was before
hidden? The frosts have been full