The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1896-10-30


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. Champolllon, the IA
nous Frenchman, went down into
Egypt to study the hieroglyphics on
monuments and temples. After much
labur he deciphered them, and an
nounced to the learned world the re-
sult of 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;' a passage which means nothing
save to the man that knows that tn,
feet of the red deer, or hind, are 70
culiarly constructed, so that they can
walk among slippery rocks without
falling. Knowing that fact, we under
stand that, when Habakkuk says,
Thou makest my feet like kinds 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"
passage that has no meaning save to
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 eignificant--"Thed 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 a birds
voice unless he has sat at summer
evening-tlde 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 a Whole forest of naples. God
hath struck into the autumnal leaf a
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 l have made a
tour to the far west, and one autumn,
about this time, saw that which / 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 al eyes Along
| nv the rivers, and up and down the
sides of the great hills, and by the
hanks of the lakes, there was an indie
| scribable mingling of gold. and orange,
and crimson, and saffron. now sober
ing into drab and maroon, now flaming
| into solferino and scarlet. Here and
there the trees looked as IL jlst their
| tins had blossomed into fire. In the
morning light the forests seemed as If
they had been TRANSPORTED, and in the
| evening hour they looked as IL 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 Ia a lowly
sprlg: 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 its mind
to change, and there one looked as IT,
wounded at every pore. ii stood bathed
in carnage. Along the banks of Lake
Huron there were hills over which
there seemed pouring cataracts of fire
tossed up and down, and every whittier
by the rocks. Through some of the
ravines we saw occasionally a foaming
stream. as though it were rushing to
put out the confagration. II at one
end of the woods a commanding tree
would set up its crimson banner, the
whole forest prepared to follow. II
Gods urn of colors were not infinite
one swamp that / saw along the Maui
NEE would have exhausted ii forever
It seemed as il the sea of divine glory
had dashed its surf to the tip top of the
Alleghanies, and then it had come
dripping down to the lowest leaf AMI
deepest cavern.
Most persons preaching from this
text find only in II a vein of sadness
] find that / have two strings to this
gospel harp-a string of sadness, and a
sting of Joy infinite.
1--WE all do fade as a leaf"
First. Like the foliage. we fade
gradually. The leaves which, weel
before last, felt the frost, have. day by
day, been changing in tint, and will
for many days yet cling to the bough
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