The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-03-25
THE WINTER BLASTS.
REV. DR.. TaLMAGE SHOWS SOW TO
WARM TIE WORLD.

c,,-c,, of God. The Worlds Fireplace.
WASHINGTON. March 15.-The freez-
ing blasts which have swept over the
country at the time we expected Sprlog
weather make this sermon especially
appropriate. Dr. Talmage's text was
Psalm cxlvii. II, Who can stand be-
fore his cold2"
The almanac says that winter IS
ended and spring has come, but the
winds, and the frostS. and the ther-
mometers, IN some places down to
zero, deny it.. The psalmist lived in
more genial climate than this, and
yet he must sometimes have been cut
by the sharp weather. In this chap
ter he speaks of the saow like wool.
the frost like ashes, the hailstones
like marbles and describes the con
gealment of lowest temperature. we
have all studied the power Of the heat.
How few of US have studied the power
of the frost? "Who can stand before
his cold2's This challenge OF tthe text
has many times been accepted.
Oct. 19, 1872, Napoleon's great army
began its retreat from Moscow. One
hundred and fifty thousand men, 5o,-
600 horses, 600 pieceso cannon, ~, OOO
stragglers. 1t was bright weather
when they started from Moscow, but
soon something wrathier than the
Cossacks swooped upon their TANKS.
An army of arctic blasts with iciclss
for bayonets ard ha;:11sstt0nes for shot,
-ssnd Commanded by voice of tempest,
marched after them, the flying artll-
lery of the heavens in pursuit. The
troops at nightfall would gather into
circles and huddle themselves togeth-
er for warmth, but when the day
broke they rose not, for they were
dead. and the ravens came for their
morning meal of corpses. The way
was strewn with the rich stutfs OF the
east, brought as booty from the Rus
sian capital. An invisible power
seized 1000 men and hurled them
dead into the snowdrifts and on the
hard surfaces of the chill rivers and
into the maws OF the dogs that had
followed them from Moscow. The
freezing horror which has appalled,
history was proof to all ages that it is
vain thing for any earthly power to
accept the challenge of my text, Nv no
could stand before his cold?" In the
niddles of December, 1777. at Valley
Forge, 1900 troops were, with frost,
ed ears and frosted hands and frosted
feet, without shoes, without blankets,
lying on the white pillow Of the snow
bank.
AS during our civil war the cry was
"On to Richmond" when the troops
were not ready to march, so IN the
Revolutionary war there was demand
for wintry campaign until Washing
ton lost his equilibrium and wrote
emphatically, Il assure those gentle
men it is easy enough seated by good
freside and in comfortable homes 10
draw out campaigns for the American
army, butt tell them it's not so easy
to lie on bleak hillside, without
blankets and without shoes. On, the
frigid horrors that gathered around
the American army in the winter of
TIT. Valley forge was one Of the
tragedies of the century. Benumbed,
senseless, deadl ''Who can stand be-
fore his cold2" Not we," say the
frozen lips of Sir John franklin and
his men, dying in arctic exploration.
HNot We" answer Schwatka and his
crew, falling back from the fortresses
of ice which they had tried in vain to
capture. ''Not we. say the abandon
ed and crushed decks of the Intrepid,
the Resistance and the Jeannettee.
ssNot we, say the procession Of Amer
ican martyrs returned home for Amer
ican sepu1ture, DeLong and his men.
The highest pillars of the earth are
pillars of ice-Mont Blanc, JuDgfrau,
the Matterhorn. The largest galleries
of the world are galleries of ice. Some
of the mighty rivers much of the year
are in captivity of ice. The greatest
sculptors of the ages are the glaciers.
with arm and hand and chlsel and
hammer of les. The cold is imperial
and has crown of glittering crystal
and is seated on throne of ice, with
foot stool of ice and scepter Of Ice.
Who can tell the suferings of the
winter of 1883, when all the birds OF
Germany perished, orthe winter of
1858 in England, when the stages roll
ed on the Thames and temporary
houses of merchandise were built on
the ice, or the winter of 1921, in Amer
lea, when New York harbor was froz-
en- over and the heaviest teams crossed
on the ice to Staten Island2 Then
come down to our own winters, when
there have been so many wrapping
themselves in furs, or gathering them
selves around fires, or thrashing their
arms about them to revive circulation
the millions of the temperate and
the arctic zones who are compelled to
confess, None of us can stand before
his cold"
One-haf of the industries of our day
are EMPLOYED IN battling inclemency
of the weather. The furs of the north,
the cotton of the south, the flax of our
own fields, the wool of our own hocks,
the coal from our own mines, the
wood from our own forests, all en-
ployed in battling these inclemencles,
and still every winter, with blue Ups
and chattering teeth, answers, None
Of us can stand before his cold" Now,
this being such s. cold world, God
sends out influences to warm it. am
glad that the God of the frost is the
God cf the heat; that the God Of the
snow is the God of the white blossoms;
that the God of January is the God Of
June. The question as to'how shall
we warm this world up is question
of immediate and all encompassing
practically. In this zone and wealth
er there are so many freless hearths,
so many broken window panes, so
many defective roofs that sift the
snow. Coal and wood and fannels
and thick coat are better for warming
up such place than tracts and Bibles
and creeds. Kindle that fire where it
has gone out; wrap something around
~ 1,,,o +hoco no ,.a