Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-02-05

snug or put into harbor, for the hurri-
canes are getting their wings out" As
The Pleiades were the sweet eyangels Of
the spring, Orion was the warning
prophet of the winter.
Oh, now l get the best view Of God l
ever hadl There are two sermons l new
er want to preach-the one that presents
God so kind, so indulgent, so lenient, so
imbecile that men may do what they
will against him and fracture his every
law and pat the pry Of their imperti-
nence and rebellion under his throne
and while they are splitting in his face
and stabbing at his heart he takes them
up in his arms and kisses their infuriat-
ed brow and check, saying, "Of such is
the kingdom Of heaven" The other
kind Of sermon l never want TO preach
is the one that represents God as all fire
and torture and thundercloud and with
redhot pitchfOrk tossing the human
race into paroxysms of infinite agony.
The sermon that ] am now preaching be-
lieyes in a God Of loving, kindly warn-
ing, the God Of spring and winter, the
God Of the Pleiades and Orion
You must remember that the winteris
Just as important as the spring. Let one
winter pass without frost to kill vegeta-
ton and ice to bind the rivers and snowto
Cnricl orr fields, and then you will have
- enlarge your hospitals and your ccm-
C,iics. A green Christmas makes a
TT ga, yard" was the old proyerb.
Etcra to Turify the air Thermometer
at d rcoe below zero 10 tone up the
l~s-ou. December and January just as
imror.lnt as May and June. I tell you,
NcLCcl the storms Of life a. much as
,-e 90 he Sunshine. There are more men
! ir,d = prosperity than by adversely.
l. vc I'D chr own way in life, before
vevonld have been imporsonations
e. go. ae,ross and worldliness and dis.
wstng sin and puffed up until we
would have been like Julius Caesar who
was made by sycophants to believe that
he was divine, and the freckles on his
face were said to be as the stars Of the
| armament.
The God Of Orion.
One Of the swiftest transatlantic voy-
ages made one summer by the EUUria
was because she had a stormy wind
abaft chasing her from New York ro
Liverpool. But TO those going in the op-
posite direction the storm was buffet
ing and hindrance. 1t is bad thing
TO have storm ahead, pushing MS back,
but if we be Gods children and aiming
toward heaven the storms Of life will
| only chase us the sooner into the har-
Dor. am so glad TO believe that the
monsoons, typhoons and mistrals ana
siroccos Of the land and sea are not un-
chained maniacs let loose upon the
earth. but are under divine supervision.
I am so glad that the God Of the seven
stars is also the God Of Orion Ii was
ont Of Dantes suffering came the sub
lime "Diyina Commedia and out of
| John Milton's blindness came PARA
| disc Lost. " and out Of miserable lnildel
| attack came the " Bridgewator Treatise
III favor Of Christianity and out Of
| David's exile came the songs of conso-
lation, and out Of the sufforings Of Christ
came the possibility Of the worlds re-
demption, and out Of your bereavement,
your persecution, your poyertles your
misfortunes, may yet come an eternal
heaven.
Oh. what a mercy it is that in the
text and all up and down the Bible God
| induces US TO lCok out toward other
worldsl Bible astronomy in Genesis, IN
Joshua. in Job, in the Psalms, IN the
prophets, major and minor in st.
Johns Apocalypse practically saying;
Worlds. worlds, worlds! Get ready
for them" We have a nice little world
here that we stick to, as though losing
that we lose all We are afraid OF falling
off this little raft of a world. We are
afraid that some me,oorlc iconocast
will some night smash it, and we want
everything torevolve around II and are
disappointed W hen we ind that IL re-
wolves around the sun instead Of the sun
revolving around it. What a fuss we
make about this little bit of a world, its
existence only short time between two
spasns. the paroxysm by which 1t was
hurled from chaos into order and the
paroxysm Of its demolition.
And | am glad that 50 many texts call
as TO look off to other worlds, many Of
them larger and grander and more re-
gplendent. Look there, " says job, at
! Nazareth and Arcturus and his sons.
Look there, says St. John, lat the
moon under Christ's feet' Look
there" -" says Joshua, lat the sun stand.
ing still above Gibcon" Look there ~
saws Moses, lat the sparkling frma-
tmentr" Look there, says Amos the
lherdsman, lat the seven stars and
Orionr Do not let us be so sad about
those who shove off from this world un-
der Christly pilotage. Do not let US be
so agitated about our own going OH thls
: little barge or sloop or canalboat OF a
! world TO get on some Great Eastern II
the heavens. Do not let US persist IN
wanting to stay in this barn, this she'd
this clubhouse Of world, when all the
kings palaces, already occupied by many
of our best friends, are swinging vide
open their gates to let Us IN.
= When | read, "ln my Father mouse
are many mansions, " do not know but
. that each world is a room and as many
rooms as there are worlds, stellar stairs
stellar galleries, stellar Railways stel
lar windows. stellar domes. How on
q departed friends must pity us, shut up Il
: these cramped apartments, tired II W.
walk 10 miles, when they some morn
A ing. by one stroke Of wing, can max
circuit of the whole stellar system an'
. be back in time for matinsl Perhap
A wonder twinkling constellation Is tn
o residence Of the martyrs; that group o
!. ~ luminaries may be the celestial hom
:. Of the APOSTLES. Perhaps that steep q
light is the dwelling place Of angel
i cherubic, seraphic, archangelic-a man
:, sion with as many rooms as worlds an
- - all their windows illuminated for fes
as tivity.
worth of the Soul.
II Oh, how this widens and lifts an
-. 49,, ox-rootafionf HOV lltfl