Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1900-02-15
TALMAGE'S SERMON,
LESSONS OF THE RIVER" SUB
JEcT THEREOF.
Isaiah -, Is, 20 That Thou Hadst
Hardened TO Ny Commandmentsi
Thea Had Thy Peace Been Like .
Rlvor.~

ISAIAH ASi 1Ss % That Thou Hadst
Hardened 70 Ny Commandmentsi
Thea Had Thy Peace Been Like .
River"
I'm the anatomy OF countries the
arteries are its rivers. through which
throb the life and the strength of ma
tons. Along their banks cities have
planted themselves, and the whistle of
the factory answering to the whistle
OF the boat, and the steady blow of the
paddlewheel tell US that we are in q
busy part Of busy world. Religion
has made out Of them her affairs and
devotees have bowed and worshiped at
their shrines. By the side Of the Ganges
the cots OF the dying are placed. AS
soon as the breath leaves a body, the
mouth, the nostrils and the ears are
nlled with dirt. and the stenchful
corpse floats down the stream. To the
crocodile the Hindoo mother tossed her
babe as an offering. and Charlemagne.
to convert his kingdom to Christianity,
drove hundreds of thousands of unwill-
Ing subjects like cattle into the stream,
where the priests baptized them by the
Wholesale. Pilgrims returning from
the Holy Land bring back water from
the Jordan. Not because the Jordan
Is any better than the ALBANIA and the
Pharpar, but because we would have
water from the same river into which
Christ waded and into which he sank.
Over the rocks leap the springs, and
the creeks dash on toward the seas,
and freshets come, until the water
sheds can hold no more. The whole
land Is drunk. AS the finest gems are
quarried from the darkest mines, the
richest grains have waded knee-deep in
the mud. The trees sink their roots
and stretch out their leafy hands to-
ward God in prayer, and everywhere
the cry is. Drink, drink, drink give
me- Down the Rhine the tourist drifts
In dreamy wonder at scenes where en-
ohantment has been at work. Yonder
q bold cliff. here a quiet pastoral.
There history tells us a bloody bat
tie was fought, and the dead and the
wounded were pitched in until the wa
tiers were crimsoned. Here is the place
where Caesar crossed. while upon that
blum fortress has crouched for CEN
turtles. Along those embellishments the
knights of old trod in armor clad.
Every nook was trysting place. In
amazement you wonder how the ivy
dared to climb such dizzy heights, and
smile because the rocks have hidden
themselves behind a curtain Of green.
That is the Rhine
Our grand old Hudson comes rolling
down to the sea, fiecked with white
sails under the plateaus Of West Point,
from which Benedict Arnold fed, on
past the rugged Palisades which frown
upon the opposite banks, where wealth
and aristocracy have run to cover
Rocked upon the bosom of the waters,
your eyes, like those of a sick child,
are growing heavy. The distant hills
whispering back their soft echoes and
the gentle splash from the oar blades
are the lullabies singing us to sleep
The music grows fainter and fainter
All is not stilled. o that thou hadst
hardened unto my commandments!
then had thy peace been like a river, a
gentle river Thus Isaiah pictures
God weeping over the sins Of his chill
dren and pleading with them to come
back to his forgiving heart.
What the River Teaches.
Lesson the first. The river teaches
us the peace of obedience. OF all mas
tiers. the most memorable is nature.
She never laughs with us because we
want to laugh, or weeps with us be-
cause we want to cry. Many a wedding
day has been wet with shower and
frozen with SHOWS, and many a funeral
procession wends its way through a
garden. Even the birds may carol in
the tree branches overhead when we
lower the dear body into the ground,
as though every heartache, sorrow.
hopelessness and sob could be driven
away by their happy songs. The farm
ers study the laws of the seasons. We
plant at a certain time. reap when we
ought to reap, care for the cattle as
they ought to be cared for, and the
more we obey the atmospheric COM
mands the greater the crops, the fuller
the hencoops and the fatter the calves.
The sailors keep one eye upon the
north star, another upon the compass,
while the hand is fiinging the sounding
lead. They watch the chart as care
fully as the weather cock with his bill
touches the lips OF the storm to feel
the first breath Of the wind.
Must Obey Natural Laws
THE planets remain in the places for
which they are intended. The longer
we hear the Thou shalt of astronomy
the longer we live. Otherwise, as fly
ing meteors, we tumble through space
or dash ourselves in vain against some
world destroyer. The sheep have to
eat grass, the fish must live in water,
the ground moles naturally burrow I'M
der the mountains. the flowers to es-
cape the weeds find their companion
ship in garden. The owls and the
self before they can see to start out
for food. The polar bear would soon
die under the intense heat of the trop-
ics. and an elephant would freeze to
death sleeping upon an artic iceberg.
That horse has the greatest liberty who
does not pull against the curb. or. as
the Bible more beautifully expresses
It, tries to kick against the pricks.'
For every river God makes a channel.
II the water starts on the west side
of the Rocky mountains 1t flows to the
Pacific coast; II on the east side of
the Alleghanies Il flows to the Atlantic.