The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1893-03-23


shipwreck, and that would have been as
wonderful a deliVerance; but God does
something better than that. When the
presses feet touched the waters of j Or
dan.and they were drawn off they might
have thought there would have been q
bed of mud and slime through which the
army should pass. Draw off the water OF
the Hudson Or the Ohio and there would
be a good many days, and. perhaps, many
weeks, before the sediment would dry
up; and yet here, in an instant, imme.
sdiately, God provides path through
the depths of Jordan; it is SO dry the
passengers do not even get their feet
damp. Oh, the completeness Of every
thing that God does! Does he make a
universe 1T is a perfect clock, running
ever since it was wound up, the fixed
stars the pivots, the consultations, the
interviewing wheels, and ponderous laws,
the Weights and mighty swinging pendu-
lum; the stars in the great dome of night,
striking the midnight, and the sun, with
5braZen tongue, tOlling the hour of noon.
The widest comet has chain of law it
cannot break. The thistle-down flying
before the school boys breath is con-
trolled by the same law that controls the
sun and the planets. The rose bush in
your window is governed by the same
principle that governs the tree of the
universe on which the stars are ripening
fruits. and on which God will one day
put his hand and shake down the fruit
"a perfect universe. No astronomy has
ever proposed an amendment. Gz
! If God makes a Bible, it is complete
Bible. Standing amid the dreadful and
delightful truths, you seem to be in the
midst of an orchestra where the wailings
over sins, and the rejoicings over pardon,
and the martial strains of victory make
the chorus like an anthem of eternity.
This book seems to you the ocean of
truth, on every wave of which Christ
walks sometimes in the darkness of
prophecy, again in the splendors with
which he walks on Galilee. In this book
Isaiah, Revelation to Genesis-glorious
light. turn. g midnight sorrow into the
midnoon JOY, dispensing every fog, hush
ing every tempest. Take this book; it is
the kiss of God on the soul of lost man.
Perfect Bible, complete Bible! No man
has ever proposed any improvement. =.
Again, i learn from this Jordanic
passage that between us and every Ca
naan of success and prosperity there is
a river that must be passed. ''Oh, how
would like some of those grapes on the
otter side!' said some Of the Israelites
to Joshua. We'll" says, Joshua, IF you
and get them?' There is a river. Of diff.
hculty between us and everything that is
worth having: that which costs nothing
is worth nothing. God didn't intend this
world for an easy pOrlor, through which
we are to be drawn in a rocking chair,
but we are to work our passage, climb
masts,, fight battles, scale mountains and
ford rivers. God makes everything val
liable difficult to get at. for the same
reason that he put the gold down in the
mine, and the pearl clear down in the
sea, to make us dig and dive for them.
We acknowledge this principle in worldly
things; oh, that we were only wise
enough to acknowledge it in religious
things! ~. ~. --..
You have scores of illustrations under
your own observation where men have
had the hardest lot, and been trodden
under foot, and yet after awhile had it
easy. Now their homes blossom and
bloom with pictures. and carpets that
made foreign looms laugh now embrace
their feet; the summer winds lift the
tapestry about the window gorgeous
enough for q Turkish sultan; impatient
steeds paw and neigh at the door. their
carriages moving through the sea Of n! New
York life a very wave of splendor. Who
is it? Why, it is a boy that came to
New York with a dollar in his pocket,
and all his estate slung over his shoulder
in a cotton handkerchief. All that silver
on the dancing span is petrihed sweat
calico over which God put his hand Of
perfection, turning it to Turkish satin
or Italian silk; those diamonds are the
tears which suffering froze as they fell.
Oh, there is a river of difficulty between
us and every earthly achievement. You
know that. You admit that.
You know this is so with regard to the
acquisition of knowledge. The ancients
used to say that Vulcan struck Jupiter
on the head, and the goddess of wisdom
jumped out, illustrating the truth that
wisdom comes by hard knocks. There
was river of difficulty between Shake
~, 1,N0<1S %1o LOT nn
door Of the London theater, and that
Shakespeare, the great dramatist, Will
ming the applause of all audiences by
his tragedies. There was river between
Benjamin Franklin, with loaf of bread
under his arm, walking the streets of
Franklin, the philosopher, just outside of
Boston, flying a kitein the thunderstorm.
An idler was cured Of his bad habit by
looking through his window night after
night, at man who seemed sitting at
his desk turning off one sheet of writing
after another. until almost the dawn of
the morning. The man sitting there writ
ing until morning was industrious Walter
Scott; the man who looked at him
through the window was Lockhart, his
illustrious biographer afterward. Lord
Mansfield, pursued by the press and Ly
the populace because of a certain line of
duty, went on to discharge the duty, and
ing the taking of his life, he shook his fist
in the face of the mob and said: .'Sirs,
when ones last end comes, it can not
come too soon if he falls in defense of
law and the liberty of his country And
so there is, my friends, tug, tussle,
trial, a push, an anxiety, through which
every man must go before he comes to
worldly success and worldly achievement.
You admit it. Now be wise enough to
apply it to religion Eminent Christian
character is only gained by the Jordanic
passage; no man just happened to get
good. s.
Why does that man know SO much
about the Scriptures? He was studying
the Bible while you were reading novel.
He was on fire with the sublimities of the
Bible while you were sound asleep. BY
tug, tussle, pushing and running in the
Christian life that man got so strong for /
God in a hundred Solferinos he learned
how to fight; in a hundred shipwrecks he
learned how to swim. Tears over sin,
tears over lions desolation, tears over
the impenitent, tears over the graves
made, are the Jordan which that man
had passed. Sorrow pales the cheek, and
fades the eye, and wrinkles the brow,
and withers the hands; there are mourn
ing garments in the wardrobe, and there
are deaths in every family record, all
around are the relics of the dead:
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