Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1896-10-29
TIMELY SERMON.
Talmage's Beautiful on'Suggested
by Thoughts of the Dying Year.
Fading, ms the Autumn Leaves We Sink
to the Dust Of the Grayr-Work at
Decay Constantly Going %, SO
Gradual That n Can Hard
~ he Discrrnri.

nr. Talmagc's sermon sunday had for
subject The ragcantry Of the Woods, Sc
/ and his text was Isaiah Xiv, u: I've
| all do fade ~ a leaf"
1t is 80 hard for us to understand re-
| ligiuus truth that tod constantly rcil-
/ crates. A. the SchoolmaSter takes II
] black aboard and puts upon it figures
| and diagrams, So that the scholar may
/ No; 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 diagrams on the
natural world. Champolhon, the fa-
nous Frcuchman, went down into
| Egypt Ia study the hicrogiyphics ON
monuments and temples. After much
! labor he deciphcrcd them, and
announced to the learned world
| the result of his Investigations. The
wisdom. goodness and power of tod
are written In hcirnglyphics all over
| the earth and all over the heaven.
God grant that We may have under
standing enough To dccIphcr them.
| There are Scriptural passages, like my
text, which need To he studied in the
!
liahakkuk SAYS, Thou makcst my
feet like hind feet II passage which
means nothing save To the man that
knows that the feet of the red deer, or
hind. are peculiarly constructed, 80
that they can walk among slippery
rocks without falling. knowing that
fact. we understand that, when Ilabak-
kuk says, Thou makcst my feet like
hind feet" he sets forth that the
Christian can walk amid the most dam
gcrous and slippery places without
falling. In Lamentations we read that
The daughter of my people is cruel,
like the oStriches of the wilderhcss; a
passage that has no meaning save to
the man who knows that the ostrich
leaves its rrg in the sand To he Matched
out by the sun, and that the young
ostrich goes forth unattended by any
maternal kindness. knowing this, the
passage is Signiticant-''The daughter
of my people is cruel, like the ostrich
of the wilderness
Those know but little of the mean
ing of the natural world, who have
looked at il through the eyes of others,
and from book or canvas taken the i'm
precision. There are some faces So
mobile that photographers can not
take them; and the face of nature 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 sum-
mcr cvening-tide at the edge of a wood
liSf tn In, of ln
poor-will.
There is to-day more glory in one
branch of sumach than painter could
put on n whole forest of naples. God
hath struck into the autumnal leaf Il
glance that none see but those who
cone face To face-the mountain look
ing upon the man, and the man look
ing upon the mountain.
For several autumns | made n tour
to the far west, and one autumn, about
this time, saw that which shall never
forget. | have seen the autumnal
sketches of Crapsey and other skillful
pencils, but that week | saw pageant
two thousand miles long. Let artists
stand back when God stretches nis
canvas. A grander spectacle 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, these was
an indiscribable mingling of gold,
and orange and crimson, and saffron,
now SOLDERING into drab and maroon.
now flaming into solferino and scarlet.
Here and there the trees looked as if
just their tips had blossomcd 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 fallen upon
the leaves In more seQuestered spots,
where the frosts had been hindercd in
their work, we saw the first k.ndling
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 it,
wounded at every pore, it stood bathed
in carnage Along the banks of Lake
Huron there were hills over which
there seemed pouring cataraets of fire,
tosscl 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 conflagra-
ton. If 1T one end of the woods a
commanding tree would set up its
crimson banner the whole forest pre-
pared to follow. If Gods urn of colors
were not infinite, one swamp that
saw along the Maumee would have
exhausted it forever. 1t seemed as if
the sea of divine glory had dashed its
surf to the tip top of the Alleghenies,
and then it had come dripping down to
lowest leaf and deepest cavern.
Most persons preaching from this
text find only in it vein of sadness
find that have two strings to this Cos
pei harp-a' string of sadness, and n
string of joy infinite.
I'VE all do fade as leaf"
First. Like the foliage, we fade
gradually. The leaves which, week
be ore 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 n week? No. Deeper
and deeper the flush, till all the veins
of its life now seem opened and bleed
ing away. After while, leaf after
leaf, they fall. Now those on the
outer branches, then those most hid
den, until the last spark OF the CLEAN
ing forge shall have been quenched.
80 gradually we pass away. From
day to day we hardly see the change.
But the frosts have touched us. The
work of decay is going on. Now
slight cold. Now season of over
fatigue. Now fever. Now a stitch
in the side. Now a neuralgia thrus..
Now a rheumatic twinge Now fall.
Little by little. Pain by pain. Less
steady of limb. Sight not 81 clear. Ear
not So alert. After while we take
staff. Then, after much resistance, we