Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-11-04

| tudy nOI only get
his lesson through
the ear. but also through the eye, so
God takes all the truths Of his Bible,
and draws them out in diagram on the
natural world. Champollion, the ia
nous Frenchman, went down into
Egypt to study the hieroglyphics on
monuments and temples. After much
labor he deciphered them, and an
nounced to the learned world the re-
suit or his Investigations. The wis
dom, goodness, and power of God are
written in hieroglyphics all over the
earth and all over the heaven. God
grant that We may have understanding
enough to decipher them! There are
scriptural passages, like my text, which
need to be studied in the very pres
ence OF the natural world. Habakkuk
says, Thou makest my feet like kinds
feet passage which means nothing
save to the man that knows that the
feet OF the red deer, or hind, are pc
culiariy constructed, SO that they can
walk among slippery rocks without
railing. Knowing that fact, we under
stand that, when Habakkuk says.
Thou makest my feet like hind's feet"
he sets forth that the Christian can
walk amid the most dangerous and
| slippery places without falling. In
Lamentations We read that THE
daughter of my people is cruel, like
the ostriches of the wilderness" a
| that hnc ~
| The man who knows that the ostrich
| leaves its egg in the sand to be hatch
| ed out by the sun, and that the young
| ostrich goes forth unattended by any
maternal kindness. Knowing this, the
passage is significant-"The daughter
of my people is cruel, like the ostriches
| of the wilderness"
Those know but little of the meaning
| Of the natural world, who have looked
at it through the eyes of others, and
| from book or canvas taken their i'm
preston. There are some faces so mo-
| bile that photographers cannot take
! them; and the face of nature has such
flush, and sparkle, and life, that no
| human description can gather them.
| No one knows the pathos of birds
| voice unless he has sat at summer
evening-tide at the edge of wood, and
listened TO the cry OF the whip poor
! will.
There is today more glory in one
branch of sumach than painter could
put on whole forest Of naples. God
hath struck into the autumnal leaf
| glance that none see but those who
come face to face-the mountain look
ing upon the man, and the man look
| ing upon the mountain.
For several autumns / have made
| tour to the far west, and one autumn,
about this time, saw that which l shall
never forget. / have seen the autumn
nal sketches of Cropsey and other skill
| full pencils, but that week / saw a pa
geant two thousand miles long. Let
artists stand back when God stretches
/ his canvas! A grander spectacle was
never kindlcd before mortal eyes. Along
| by the rivers, and up and down the
| Dides OF the great hills, and by the
| banks of the lakes, there was an indie
scribable mingling OF gold. and grange,
and crimson, and saffron, now sober
| Ing into drab and maroon, now flaming
into solferino and scarlet. Here and
| here the trees looked as IL just their
| tips had blossomed into fire. In the
morning light the forests seemed as il
| they had been TRANSPORTED, and in the
| evening hour they looked as If the sun
set had burst and dropped upon the
leaves. In more sequeStered spots,
where the frosts had been hindered
In their work, We saw the first kind
ling of the flames of color in a lowly
sprig: then they rushed up from branch
to branch, until the glory of the Lord
submerged the forest. Here you would
/ find a tree just making up it's mind
| to change, and there one looked as if,
wounded at every pore, it stood bathed
| In carnage. Along the banks of Lake
| Huron there = hills over which
there seemed po.ring cataracts of fire,
tossed up and down. and every whittier
| by the rocks. Through some of the
rayines we saw occasionally foaming
stream, as lHouSn IL were ruSQlng TO
f, put out the cOnfiagration. II at one
| end of the woods commanding tree
would set UP its crimson banner, the
| whole forest prepared to follow. III
| Gods urn of coiors were not infinite.
one swamp that | saw along the Maui
NEE would have exhausted it forever.
! II seemed as IL the sea of divine glory
| had dashed its surf to the tip top of the
Ancghanies, and then it had come
dripping down to the lowest leaf ami
| deepest cavern.
Most persons preaching from this
| text find only in ii vein of sadness.
| find that | have two strings to this
| gospel harp-a string Of sadness, and
string of JOY infinite.
1--WE all do fade as leaf"
First. Like the foliage, We fade
gradually. The leaves which. week
before last, felt the frost, have, day by
day, been changing in tint. and will
for many days yet cling to the Dough.
waiting for the fist of the wind to
strike them. Suppose you that the
pictured leaf that you hold in your
hand took on its color in an hour, or In