Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1896-03-21
TO WARM THE WORLD
CHRISTIAN SYMPATHY IS THE eLo-
RIous FURNACE.

Rev. DR.. Talmage Finds . Lesson In the
Weather Christ tho Great warmer--A
Word TO Frosty Christians Good Deeds
KindIe the Fire-Come In Out of the Cold.
WASHINGTON, March I5.-The freez-
ing blasts which have swept over the
country at the time we expected spring
weather make this sermon especially
appropriate. DR.. Talmage's text was
Psalm cxlvii, IL, "Who can stand before
his cold?'
The almanac says that winter is end
ed and spring has come. but the winds.
and the frosts, and the thermometer, 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 chapter he speaks of the snow like
wool, the frost like ashes, the hail
stones like marbles, and describes the
congealment of lowest temperature. We
have all studied the power of the heat.
How few of as have studied the power
Of the frost who can stand before his
cold?'' This challenge Of the text has
many times been accepted.
Oct. 10, 1912, Napoleon's great army
began its retreat from Moscow. One
hundred and fifty thousand men, 80, 00(
horses, 600 pieces of cannon. 10000
stragglers. 1t was bright weather wher
they started from Moscow, but soon
something wrathier than the Cossacks
swooped upon their TANKS An army OF
arctic blasts, with icicles for bayonets
and hailstones for shot, and commanded
by voice of tempest, marched after them,
the flying artillery of the heavens in
pursuit. The troops at nightfall would
gather into circles and huddle them.
selves together 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 stuffs of the east,
, brought as booty from the Russian capt.
tai. An invisible power seized 100, O0C
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 Mos
COW. The freezing horror which has ap-
palled history was proof to all ages that
it is a vain thing for any earthly power
to accept the challenge of my. text,
"Who could stand before his cold?"
Frigid Horrors.
In the middle of December, l777, al
Valley Forge, H. 900 troops were, with
] frosted ears and frosted hands and frost
ed feet. without shoes. without blank
cts, lying ON the white pillow of the
snow bank As during our civil war ths
cry was, ION to Richmondl' when the
troops were not ready to march, SO in
the Revolutionary war there was de-
mand for wintry campaign until Wash
ington lost his equilibrium and wrote
emphatically, 81 assure those gentlemen
| it is easy enough seated by good fire
side and in comfortable homes to draw
out campaigns for the American army
but l tell them it is not so easy to lie Oh
bleak hillside, without blankets ant
without shoes. Oh, the frigid horrors
that gathered around the American army
in the winter of 1777l Valley Forge
was one Of the tragedies of the century
Benumbed, senseless, dead who car
stand before his cold?" "Not we," say
the frozen lips of Sir John Franklin ant
his men, dying in arctic exploration
"Not we," answer Schwatka and hi
crew, falling back from the fortresses o.
ice which they had tried in vain to cap
ture. mot we," say the abandoned anC
crushed decks of the Intrepid, the Re
sistance and the Jeanette. mot we,
say the procession of American Martyr
returned home for American sepulture
De Long and his men. The highest pill
lars of the earth are pillars of ice
Mont Blanc, Jungfrau, the Matterhorn
The largest galleries of the world art
galleries of ice. Some of the might,
rivers much of the year are in captivit,
of ice. The greatest sculptors of the age
are the gaciers, with arm and hand ant
chisel and hammer of ice. The cold 4
imperial and has a crown of glitterinj
crystal and is seated ON throne of ice
with footstool of ice and scepter of ice
Who can tell the sufferings of the winte
of 1888, when all the birds of German,
persisted? or the winter of, 1868 in Eng
land, when the stages rolled on tn
Thames and temporary houses of mer
chandise were built ON the ice? or the
winter of 1921 in America, when New
York harbor was frozen over and tn
heaviest teams crossed ON the ice {.
Staten Island? Then come down to on
own winters when there have been 81
many wrapping themselves in furs O
gathering themselves around fires o
thrashing their arms about them to re
vive circulation-the millions of tn
temperate and the arctic zones who ar
compelled to confess, "none of us cal
stand before his cold
A Lesson In Common Sense.
One-half of the industries of our da.
are employed in battling inclemency o
the weather. The furs of the north, tn
cotton of the south, the fax of our owl
fields, the wool of our own fiocks, tn,
coal from our own mines, the woo6
from our own forests, all employed il
battling these inclemencies, and still ev
cry winter, with blue lips and chatterini
teeth, answers, "None of as can stan,
before this cold" Now, this being sucl
cold world, God sends out influence
to warm it. l am glad that the God o
the frost is the God of the heat h tina
the God of the snow is the God of tn
white blossoms; that the God of Janu
airy is the God of June. The question a
to how shall we warm this world up
question of immediate and all encom
passing practicality. In this zone an,
weather there are SO many fireles
hearths, so many broken window panes
so many defective roofs that sift tn
snow. Coal and wood and flannels an
thick coat are better for warming n
such place than tracts and Bibles an
creeds. Kindle that fire where it ha
gone out Wrap something around thos
shivering limbs. Shoe those bare feet
Hat that bare head. Coat that bare back
NM Am sAAk