The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-26
PAGEANTRY OF THE WOODS.
GLORIEs OF THE FALL EXHIBIT OF
NATURE ON LEAF AND bow.


the Universe-A String of Sadness
and a String of JOY 10 the Gospel
Hnrp Touched by the Preacher.
Humanity's Departure Like the
Fading Away of the Leaves only
to Rise in Greater Glory.
Washington. oct. 25.-The season Of the
year adds much appositeness to Dr. Tai
IMAGES sermon, which we send cat to-day
His subject is: THE Pageantry OF the
Woods" and his text: Isaiah GAS: I'VE
all do fade as a leaf"
1t is so hard for us to understand rehg-
ious truth that God constantly reiterates'
AS the schoolmaster takes blackboard,
and puts upon it figures and diagrams, so
that the scholar may not only get his les
son through the ear, but also through the
eve. so God takes all the truths of his
Bible. and draws them out in diagram on
the natural world. Champolion, the fac
nous Frenchman, went down into Egypt
to study the hieroglyphics on monuments
and temples. After much labor he deciph-
cred them, and announced to the learned
world the result Of his Investigations. The
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 pas
sages. like my text, which need to be
studied in the very presence of the natu-
raj 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 peculiarly constructed so that
they can walk among slippery rocks with
out falling Knowing that fact, we I'M
derstand that, when Habakkuk says,
Thou makest my feet like hind's rect,
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 Wilder
ness a passage that has no meaning
save to the man who knows that the
ostrich leaves its egg in the sand 10 De
Matched out by the sun, and that the
voung ostrich goes forth unattended by
any maternal kindness. Knowing, TINS
the massage is signifcant-"The daughter
of my people is cruel, like the ostriches or
the Wilderness
Those know but little of the meaning Of
the natural world, who have looked at II
through the eyes of Others and from book
or canvas taken their impression. Ihefe
are some faces so mobile that photograph
ers cannot take them; and the face of Ma
ture has such a 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-tide at the edge of a wood, and
listened to the cry of the whippoorwill.
s~
branch of sumach than a painter could
put on a whole forest of naples. God
hath struck into the autumnal leaf
glance that none see but those who come
face to face-the mountain looking upon
the man, and the man looking upon the
mountain.
For several autumns l have tour to
the far west, and one autumn, about this
time, saw that which l shall never for
get. / have seen the autumnal sketches
os Cropsey and other skillful pencils, but
that week l saw pageant 1000 miles
long. Let artists stand back when God
stretches his canvas! A grander spec
tacle was never kindled before mortal
eyes. Along by the rivers, and up and
down the sides of the great hills, and by
the banks of the lakes, there was an in
describable mingling of gold, and orange,
and crimson, and saffron, now SOLDERING
into drab and maroon, now flaming into
trees looked as if just their
tips 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 if
the sunset had burst and dropped upon
the leaves. In more sequestered spots,
where the frostS had been hindered in
their work. we saw the first kindling 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 its 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 were hills
over which there seemed pouring cata-
racts of fire, tossed up and down. ana ev-
cry whittier by the rocks. Through some
of the ravines we saw occasionally a
foaming stream, as though it were rush.
ing to put out the contiagration. II at
one end of the woods a commanding tree
would set up its crimson banner, the
whole forest prepare to follow. If Coo 5
urn of colors were not infinite, one swamp
that ] saw along the Maumee would have
exhausted it forever. 1t seemed as II the
sea of divine glory had dashed its surf
to the tip top of the Aneghanies, and
then it had come dripping down to lowest
leaf and deepest cavern.
Most persons preaching from this text
find only in it a vein of sadness. l md
that l have two strings to this gospel
harp-a string of sadness and a string OF
JOY infinite.
I'VE all do fade as a leaf"
First, like the foliage, we fade gradu-
ally. 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 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 a day, or in a week? No. Deeper
and deeper the flush till all the veins OF
its life now seem opened and bleeding
away. After a while, leaf after leaf, they
fall Now those on the outer branches
then those most hidden, until the last
spark Of the cleaning forge shall have
been quenched.
SO gradually we pass away. From day
TO day we hardly see the change. But the
frosts have touched us. The work of de-
cay is going on. Now a slight cold Now
a season of over-fatigue. Now a fever
Now a stitch in the side. Now a neural
gic thrust. Now a rheumatic twinge. Now
a fall. Little by little. Pain by pain
Less steady Of limb. Sight not so clear
Ear not 50 alert. After while we tax,