Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1894-02-01
THE BARE ARM OF GOD.
THE EASE WITH WHICH GOD DOES
GREAT THINGS.
gers Only-The Production Of Light
He Has Never Half Tried-An ElO-
quent sermon.

took for his subject, The Bare Arm OF
God" the text being Isaiah lii, 10
THE Lord hath made bare his holy
ann"
1t almost takes our breath away Il
read some of the Bible imagery
There is such holiness Of metaphor il
my text that | have been for some time
getting my courage up to preach from
10. Isaiah, the evangelistic prophet,
Is sounding the Jubliate of our planet
redeemed, and cries out, The LORD
made bare his holy arm" What over,
whelming suggestivcness in that figure
Of speech, 1.-The bare arm of Godr' The
people Of Palestine to this day wear
much hi1dering apparel, and when they
want to run a special race, or lift Il
special burden, or fight a special battle,
they put off the outside apparel. as in
u land, when n man proposes a spec
ial exertion, he puts off his coat and
rolls up his sleeves. Walk through our
foundries, our machine shops, our
mines, Il factories, and you will find
that most of the toilers have their coats
off and their sleeves rolled up.
Isaiah saw that there must be a ire
mendous amoun of work done before
this world becomes what it ought to be,
and he foresees it all accomplished,
and accomplished by the Almighty:
not as we ordinarily think Of him, but
by the Almighty with the sleeve of his
robe rolled back to his shoulder: The
Lord hath made bare his holy arm"
Nothing more impresses me in the BIZ
bic than the ease with which God does
most things. There is such a reserve of
power. He has more thunderbolts than
he has ever flung; more light than he
has ever distributed: more blue than
that with which he has oyerarched the
sky; more green than that with which
he has emeralded the grass; more GRIM
son than that with which he has burn
ished he sunsets. / say it with rever-
ence; from all l can see, God has never
half tried.
You know as we'll as I do that many
or the most elaborate and expensive in
dustrieS of II world have been employ
ed In creating artificial light. Half the
time the world is dark. The moon and
the stars have their glorious uses, but
as instruments Of illumination they are
failures. They will not allow Won to
read a book or stop the rIffianism of
your great cities. Had not the darkness
been pcrsistently fought back by artif-
cial means, the most of the worlds en-
terpriSeS would have halted half the
time, while the crime of our great mu-
inequalities would for half the time run
rampant and unrebuked. Hence, all
the inventions for creating artificial
light. from the flint struck against steel
In centuries past. to the dynamo OF our
electrical manufactures. What nm
numbers Of people ut work the
year ROUND in making chandeliers, and
lamps, N fixtures. and wires. and bat
teries where light shall be made. or
which light shall run. or where
IlSnt snail poise! How many bare arms
OF human toil-and some of those arms
are very tired in the creation of light
II It's apparatus; and after all the
work, the greater part of the continents
h~elnlspheres at night have no light
at all. except perhaps the firchies flash
ing their small lanterns across the
swamp. ....
but see how easy God made the
nght, lie did not make bare his arms.
he did not even put forth his ROBBED
arm; he did not lift so much as n fin
ger. The flint out of which he struck
the MONDAY sun was the word, Light"
Let there be light Adam did not see
the sun until the fourth day, for. though
the sun was created on the first day. II
o It's rays from the first to the fourth
day 10 work through the dense mass of
nuldS 10y which the earth was
Did you ever hear of ANYTHING so
easy as mat! So unique? Out of n word
came the blazing sun. the father of
n warmth, and light? Out of
u wof building a fireplace for all the
nauons or the earth to warm tbcmsel-
yes by! Yea, seven other worlds. five
OF nem lnconceivably larger than our
own. II seventy-nine asteroids. or
worlds on n smaller scale, The Warmth
ana light of this great brotherhood
great sisterhood, great family of worlds
larger or smaller worlds
All from mat one magnificent Fireplace
llade out OF the n word-"Light"
The Il $4,000 miles in diameter. do
not kno how much grandcr n solar
system God could have created If he
had nut forth his robed arm. TO say
nothing Of an arm made bare, But this
Know. that our MONDAY sun was q
spark struck from the anvil of one
word. and that word-"Light."
But. says some one. do Won nnt
THINK that in making the machinery
or the universe. Of which our solar
system is comparatively Il small wheel
working into mightier wheels, ii must
cost God some cxcrtion? The nm.
heaval of an arm, either robed or an
arm made bareT' No: we are distinctly
otherwise. The machinery of n
universe God made simply with his fin.
gers. David. inspired in a night song.
SAYS so: When | consider thy heav-
ems, the work of thy fingers"
n Scottish clergyman told me a few
weeks ago Of dyspcptic Thomas Car
lyle walking out with n friend n
night, and as the friend looked
up an said, What n splendid sky
Mr.. Carlyle replied. as he glanced up-
ward, Sad sight. sad sight, Not so
thought David rs he read the great
scripture Of the night heavens. 1t was
n sweep OF embroidery. of vast tapes
try. God manipulated. That Is the NJ
fusion Of the "salmist 10 the woven
Of tapestry. aS they were
known long before Dayid's time. Far
back In the ages what enchantmcnt of
and celor. the F9orentine ypIvptS
OF silk and gold and Persian carpcts
woven of goats hair! If you had been
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