The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1900-02-16


the miller's wheel will threaten to dash
us into foam. Sometimes we shall have
to go out of our way TO pass grave
yard.
God Is Our Refuge.
Martin Luther's favorite chapter
was Psalm XVII. God is our refuge and
strength, very present help in trou-
BILE. Though the waters thereof roar
and be troubled, though the mountains
shake with the swelling thereof And
in the forty-third chapter of Isaiah We
read, When those passeth through the
waters l will be with thee, and through
the rivers, they shall not overflow
thee
yet, so inexorable are Gods laws
Naaman the warrior, to be cured OF MS
leprosy, had to wash in the troubled
Jordan, the swiftly flowing, filthy wa
ters of the despised Jordan. Absurd
answered the Napoleon OF the Dam
asceno capital. Am l goins to make
spectacle Of myself? l am not a hire
ling. l can pay for cure. My seFy-
ants are carrying the presents OF 10
talents of silver and 5000 pieces or
gold and 10 changes of raiment. And
| have a letter Of introduction from my
royal master to the king of Jerusalem.
Besides that. what right have you to
ask me to battle in the waters OF the
Jordan? The two most beau
tiful rivers in the world flow past
my palace door. Are not ALBANIA and
nF hotter
than all the waters Of Israel? May l
not wash in them? Yet, when MAJ
man had submerged his will to Gods
will and had dipped seven times in the
river Jordan. his flesh came again like
unto the flesh of little child, and he
was clean.
Bridges.
There is a strange theory that each
/ bridge which spans a river has
! key note. 1t matters not whether 1t
4 be the Brooklyn bridge over the East
river or the Suspension bridge over
! the Ohio river, or the iron bridge over
the River Tay, or the London bridges
spanning the Thames, or the Partisan
bridges arching the Seine. Whether
they are made of iron, wood, stone, or
steel. If n musician can once strike
the key note of those bridges, certain
waves Of sound are started which Will
shake and oscillate and destroy the
strongest bridge ever made and tum-
bic the massive beams into the water.
So manifest is this law an army on
the march passing river always
breaks step for fear of starting the
wood and iron in that fatal swing.
Some commentators go so far as 10
claim that when the archangel blows
the blast Of the resurrection he Will
not make a loud sound. which will
scatter earth to the four quarters OF
infinitude. That may be only theory
but in our lives there are certain
things we can do and certain things
we cannot DO.
Once strike the key note Of i'm
perfection and keep playing it, and
the bridge OF moral character vii
totter and sway and tremble and
crash into utter and everlasting de-
moition. May the divine finger guide
us through the meadowlands and The
green pastures that grow by the still
waters Of obedience, as a river, ;
gentle river
Teaches Practical Use:u;nes"
Lesson the second. The rive
teaches the pace Of practical useful
: ness. We all lcok at objects from ;
different standpoint The sportsman
: wants the river in which to fish; tn
manufacturer wants the river to turn
his wheel; the yachtsman that h
might launch his craft and have i
as a swan float along, spreading he
white wings, dipping now and then I
. cool her biistering sides. The farme
utilities the river that he may turf
the waters into canals and make tn
? desert blossom as the rose. The Who'll
: country Of Egypt is dependent upo
: the River Nile. Every year it over
" flows the banks. In the thick mud tn
: sower filings his seeds. If the rive
: does not rise high enough to SUI
= merge the land there is a drought u
= and down the breadth and length {
Il the kingdom. To this custom refer
the strange passage of scripture whe
{ it says: Cast thy bread upon til
{ waters and thou shalt find it ate
. many days So important is the Rive
e Nile the Egyptians used to worship
: as a god.
Uses OF the Rivers.
> Everyone wants the river f
y something, from the artist studyir
= tho white caps to the pilot awake
. his wheel, looking at sleeping citi'
u or signalling passing boats filed wit
:, human cargoes, whose lights NAL
them look like great floating palace
while in the evening hour the lowir
herds stoop to quench their thirst
Dr. watch the waters back up and owe
er flow the meadows. Rivers were MAJ
ly for some practical use-so are we:
God sent his messenger, the rain,
&c And said unto the mountain brook,
&c Rise up and from thy caverns look;