The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-02-17

great cOmu1OIlOG. Ilet move INTO, dLl II
operate upon the soul 50 quietly !
There may be thunderings of proEi- |
dences and rushing mighty windss OF
preparation but the actual coming OF |
the Spirit and Transforming ruth into |
the heart is silent. Silent are the Nigh !
ty operations of snow ano rain as they |
enter the earth desolve the slick and
the various mineral elements of theI
soil. touch the roots of fruit trees and
corn fields, and feed the giant oaks
What goes on after the rain and snow
have DISAPPEARED beneath the surface
of the ground is absolutely silent, but
no laundering trains, no whirr of ma
chinery, no turmoil of men above
ground can do half SO much as is being
lone in the silence beneath. Gods truth
once lodged in the heart operates ST.
Iently, until it stands forth years af-
forwards in a Martin Luther, a John
Wesley or a Charles Spurgeon, whose
words and pens bless the world as t2ey
broke the bread of life.
SOMETIMES IN STORM.
the rain and snow come
down softly and quietly, but OCCASION
ally they come in binding roaring
storms. Truth, through words OF reve-
lation, potential personalities, songs,
sermons, poems, books But now ana
then truth is loaded into muskets, can
mons, shells and advances n i'm
presses itself in war and revolution.
Civic truth often moves this way al
certain stages of a nations develop
| ment. Social truth has its cloud bursts
at times-its snow av~alanches.
SNOW KILLS GERMS.
The shivering and disconnected
| population are complaining of the pres
| ence of the snow and unprecedented
cold as if it were a wretched evil. Look
deeper. What is the mission of the
snow? The farmer and gardener look
with dismay upon a continued freeze
that is not preceded by snow. The
| snow is n~on-conductor of cold, and.
when sufficiently deep 1T protects like a
| flanket. Thus the roots of young
shoots are protected. Insects and
| germ life grown numerous and danger
| Gus to plant life and human health are
| utterly destroyed by the snow. Thus
we are taught the truth that adversely
with all it's train of chilling influences
is often a real blessing. Many a storm
that nae a most threatening aspect has
proved a blessing, by destroying error
and false views of life. Because the
streets and fields are shrOuded with
the white snow now may prevent, in
Gods own way, u hands from having
to perform the unhappy task of wrap
ping our beloved dead in the white
winding sheet next summer.
THE WHITE SNOW IN THE MIRE.
In a few days these white sheets n
mounds now pure as a brides veil will
be trampled under foot of man n
beast and mixed with the black mud of
the street. To remain there? No. 1t
will arise. In a few days some of it
will come up out of the mud and paint
pictures on the frosted pane for the
gleeful admiration Of the children.
Some of it a few months later will
hang as dew drop on the red lips of
the rose. Some of it will be painted
into the glorious hues of a rainbow as
it turns the frown of a black cloud into
the smile of Gods promise. Did you
never notice the long taper fingers of
the sun reaching down on a warm af-
ernoon to gether up the water from
the sea, river, pond and mud hole of
the road? That black dirty mud hole
of snow and rain water after the fin
gers Of the sun nave touched will be
regenerated, purified for mans use
again. So the mud mixed and beast
trampled snow is to us a symbol of the
way Christ the Sun of righteousness
reaches down in his love, touches, up
lifts and purifies our earth and sin
soiled souls.
FROM SNOW CAPPED PEAKS.
Where for centuries the snew flakes
nave rested together the summers sun
gives each little flake a new birth into
a drop of water, trickling rills begin
and flow on, charging as they go, by
added drops from other melted flakes,
until bold streams and rushing rivers
flow to make glad some distant desert
plane. Thus from the melting SHOWS
of Pixies Peak, the splendid system Of
irrigation is constructed by which each
little snow flake from the mountain top
is carried by larger and smaller canals
to the Colorado and Kansas desert, and,
there transformed into a grain of wheat
or corn. Thus what a few years ago
was a waste and desert is now a gar
den Of the gods for goodness and
f1irtility. So each snow drop up there
represents a child'S missionary penny
put into a mite collection, with other
penny flakes, melted by the Sun Of
Righteousness, until all added together
they flow a bold stream of blessing, to
flow through the channels of some
missionary board to water. with the
water of life, some far off desert of a
heather land.
THE WHITE WINDING SHEET.
Of snow now wrapping the earth does
not mean eternal death. The resurrec-
ton trumpet will ever in a few weeks
be blown through every spring breeze.
The seemingly dead roots of tree and
grain and flower will hear, feel and
come forth to life more a~bundantlv.
So the resurrection of spring from the
cold grave of winter is a token from
God that the garments Of the grave
are soon to be replaced by the more
glorious garments of Christ's glorious
body.
SeePot EcvfAonco fn tho nroxfus TrRol~