Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1900-02-15
the rivers, they shall not overflow

thee
yet, SO inexorable are Gods laws.
Naaman the warrior. to be cured OF his
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
ascene capital. Am going to make q
spectacle of myself! Am not hire
ling. can pay for cure. My serv-
ants are carrying the presents Of 10
talents Of silver and 5000 pieces OF
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
Pharphar rivers Of Damascus better
than all the waters Of Israel? May I
not wash in them Yet. when Naa-
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 strange theory that each
bridge which spans river has a
key note. 1t matters not whether 1t
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. IL 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-
BILE the massive beams into the water.
So manifest is this law an army on
the march passing a river always
breaks step for fear Of starting the
Some commentators go so far as to
claim that when the archangel blows
the blast of the resurrection he will
not make 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 1t, and
the bridge of moral character will
totter and sway and tremble and
crash into utter and everlasting de-
molition. May the divine finger guide
us through the meadowlands and the
green pastures that grow by the still
waters of obedience. as a river. n
gentle river
Teaches Practical Usefuines..
Lesson the second. The river
teaches the place of practical useful
ness. We all look at objects from a
wants the river in which to fish; the
manufacturer wants the river to turn
his wheel; the yachtsman that he
might launch his craft and have 1t
as swan float along, spreading her
white wings. dipping now and then to
cool her blistering sides. The farmer
utilities the river that he may turn
the waters into canals and make the
desert blossom as the rose. The whole
country Of Egypt is dependent upon
the River Nile. Every year it over
flows the banks. In the thick mud the
sower filings his seeds. II the river
does not rise high enough to sub
merge the land there is a drought up
and down the breadth and length OF
the kingdom. To this custom refers
the strange passage of scripture when
it says: Cast thy bread upon the
waters and thou shalt find 1t after
many days So important is the River
Nile the Egyptians used to worship 1t
as god.
Uses OF the Rivers.
Everyone wants the river for
something, from the artist studying
the white caps to the pilot awake at
his wheel, looking at sleeping cities
or signalling passing boats filled with
human cargoes. whose lights make
them look like great floating palaces,
while in the evening hour the lowing
herds stoop to quench their thirst or
watch the waters back up and over
flow the meadows. Rivers were made
for some practical use-so are we:
God sent his messenger, the rain,
And said unto the mountain brook.
Rise up and from thy caverns look;
And leap with naked, snow-white feet
From the cool hills into the heat
OF the broad. arid plain.
Now, remember the Bible was
written in the vivid. intense, and pic
turesque language of the East. and you
must interpret 1t accordingly. The
Bible declares the promised land was
a land flowing with milk and honey.
Does that literally mean Palestine is
a place where thousands of Attorney
cows come down to the river banks
and stand there chewing their cuds
while the Jewish maidens milk them
and toss pailful after pailful of the
foaming dairy treasure into the cur
rents? Then these rivers of milk flow
down, bending and winding as they
go, churning themselves into islands
of butter, upon which islands of butter
the bees build their hives and buzz and
buzz as they store the winters food.
Our Guardian Angels
Turn to the thirteenth chapter OF
Matthew. If we have faith as a grain
of mustard seed ye shall say unto this
mountain, Remove hence to yonder
place, and 1t shall remove. and moth
ing shall be impossible for YOU And
in the ninety-first psalm David wrote:
He shall give his angels charge over
thee to keep thee In all thy ways.