The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1893-01-19

harmony Of revelation and science.
and to have demo nstrated that the
God who made the world made the
Bible. 3s55s 7sa
Moses, the greatest lawyer Of all
time andEa great man for facts, had
enough sentiment and poetry and
musical taste to welcome the illumi-z
mated wings and the voices divinely
drilled into the first chapter Of Genes
is. How should Noah, the old ship
carpenter, 900 years of age, find out
when the world was cit again for hui
man residence after the universal
freshet? A bird will tell and nothing
else can. No man can come down
from the mountain to invite Noah
and his family out to terra frma, for
the mountains were submerged. AS
q bird first heralded the human race
into the world, now a bird will help
the human race back to the world
that had shipped a sea that whelmed
everything. Noah stands on Sunday
morning at the window Of the ark, in
his hand a cooling dove, SO gentle, so
innocent, so affectionate, and he said:
CHOW, my little dove, fly away over
these waters, explore, and come back
and tell US whether it is safe to land I"
After a long flight it returned, hungry
and weary and wet, and by it's looks
and manners said to Noah and his
family: The world is not fit for YOU
to disembark." Noah waited a week,
and next Sunday morning he let the
dove fly again for q second explora-
ton, and Sunday evening it came
back with a leaf that had the sign Of
just having been plucked from living
fruit tree, and the bird reported the
world would do :tolerably we'll for q
bird to live in, but not yet sufficiently
recovered for human residence Noah
waited another week, and next Sunday
morning he sent out the dove on the
third exploration, but it returned not,
for it found the world SO attractive
now it did not want to be Gagged again,
and then the emigrants from the ante
diluvian world landed. It was a bird
that told them when to take possess
ION OF the resuscitated planet. So
the human race were saved by
birds wing; for attempting to land
too soon, they would have persisted.
But here is q man to-day as poor
as Job, after he was robbed by Satan
OF everything but his boils; yet sud-
denly, tomorrow he is a rich man.
There, is no accounting for his sudden
attiuence. He has not yet failed Of
ten enough to become wealthy. No
one pretends to account for his
princely wardrobe, or the chased sill
yer, or the full-curbed steeds that
rear and neigh like Bucephalus in the
grasp Of his coachman. Did he make
a fortune on purchase and sale?. No.
Every body asks where did that par
fridge hatch? The devil suddenly
threw him up and the devil will sud
denly let him come down. That hid
den scheme God saw from the first
conception of the plot. That par
fridge, swift disaster will shoot. it
down, and the higher it flies the hard
er it falls. The prophet saw, as you
and have often seen, the awful mis-
take of partridges.
But yonder in this Bible sky flies q
bird that is speckled. The prophet
describing the church cries out: "NIine
heritage is unto me as a speckled bird,
the birds round about are against
her. So it was then; So it is now,
Holiness picked at. Conservation
picked at. Beneyolence picked at.
Usefulness picked at. A speckled bird
is peculiar bird, and that arouses
the antipathy of all the beaks OF the
forest. The Church of God is g. pecu
liar institution, and that is enough to
evoke attack of the world. for it is a
speckled bird to be picked at. The in
conslstencies of Christians are BAN
quet on which multitudes get fat.
They ascribe everything you do to
wrong motives. Put dollar in the
poor box, and they will say that he
dropped it there only that he might
hear it ring. Invite them to Christ
and they will call you a frantic. Let
there be contention among Chris
t1ans, and they will say "Hur-
rah! the Church is in de-
cadence" Christ intended that his
Church should always remain q
speckled bird. Let birds of another
feather pick at her, but they cannot
rob her OF q single plume. Like the
albatross, she can sleep on the bosom
OF a tempest. She has gone through
the fires of Nebucha ndnezzar' furnace
and not got burned, through the
waters of the Red Sea and not been
drowned, through the shipwreck on
the breakers Of Melita and not been
foundered. Let all earth and hell
try to hunt down this speckled bird.
but far above human scorn and infer
nal assault it shall sing over every
mountain top and fly over every ma
ton, and her triumphant song shall
be. s.The Church of God! The pillar
and ground of truth. The gates OF
hell shall not prevail against her. #
But what q senseless passage of
Scripture that is. until you know the
fact, which says: "The sparrow hath
found a house and the swallow rest
for herself. where she may lay her
young, even thine affairs, O, Lord Of
hosts, my King and my God. What
has the swallow to do with the affairs
OF the temple at Jerusalem? All! you
know that swallows are all the world
over very tame, and in summer time
they used to fly into the windows and
doors of the temple at Jerusalem, and
build nest on the altar where the
priests were Offering sacrifices. These
swallows brought leaves and sticks
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