Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-05-03

nothing can stand before you Ritten-
house. the astronomers. ut the start was
SO poor that be figured out eelipses on
pillow handle.
Furthermore. 80 10 the ant and con-
slider that II Cod donors an insect by
making IL our instructor in important
lessons we ought not TO abuse the low
er orders of creation. II has been
found by scientists that insects trans
fixed In the case OF museum have
been alive aud In torture for years.
How much the insect and the fowl and
the brute may be rightly called to suf-
fer for the advancement of human
knowledge and the betterment OF the
condition OF the human race I do not
now stop to discuss, but be who use.
iessly harms any OF Gods living crea.
ton insults the Creator. Alas. for the
horrors OF yiviscctionl I have no con-
hdence In the morality of man or
woman who would harm a horse or q
dog or cat or n pigeon. Such men
and women. under affront. IL they dar.
cd. would take the life of a human be-
ing. You cannot make me believe that
God looks down indifferentIy upon tue
CALLED neck of the OK. or the cruelty
curbed bit of the horse. or the unshel.
tered cattle in the snowstorm. or the
cockpit, or the bear batting
Go to the ant. thou miscreant, and
see how God honors IL. In the great
college OF the universe 1t has been ap-
pointed your professor All over the
land and all over the world there are
oyerdriven borses that ought to be IN
barnessed. Gagged birds that ought to be
put on their wings In the free air OF
heaven. droves of cattle agonized of
thirst on the freight trains where they
0ught TO be waicred. and crustacca be-
Ing broiled alive that ought to be lifted
out Of the fire. Christ chose IL apos
ties for the human race In the first cen.
fury. and you know their names, but in
the nineteenth century be chose bis
thirteenth apostle, who wrought for the
relief of the brute creation, ard his
name was Henry Bergh In my text
the ant Is not impaled. is not dead, but
alive, and in the warm fields providing
her meat In the summer and gathering
her food In the harvest.
Learn From the Ant.
Furthermore. go TO the ant and learn
the lesson OF God appointed order. The
being who taught the insect how to
build was geometer as well as archi-
tect. The paths inside that little home
radiate from the door with as complete
arrangement as ever the boulevards of
a city radiated from a triumphal arch
or Powered circle.
IL there is a divine regulation IN
colony or republic OF insects, Is there
not divine regulation In the lives OF
immortal mon aud women? IL God
cares for the least OF his creatures and
shows them how to provide their meat
ID the summer and gather their food
In the harvest, will he not be interest.
ed In matters of human livelihood and
In the guidance of human affairs? II
preach the doctrine of a particular
providence. Are not two sparrows
soiu Tor a farthing2 Are We not OF
more value than many sparrowsY'
Let there be order in our individual
lives. order In the family. order In the
church. order in the state. In all the
world there is no room for anarchy.
After what Linn@us and Pierre Hu.
Der have told us concerning these liy.
ing mites OF the natural world. are we
not ready to believe that the God who
turns the wheel Of the solar system
and the vaster wheel of the universe
regulates the beehive and the ant hill
and that all the affairs OF our mortal
lives are under divine management?
When some one asked n hermit on the
top OF mountain In Italy IL he did
not feel 1t dangerous to live so many
miles from human habltation. he re.
piled, "No;-Providence is my very next
door neighbor."
ProvidentIaI Rescues.
When during the plague In London.
at the risk OF his life and under the
protest OF his friends. Rev. Thomas
Vincent spent his time preaching the
gospel TO the sufferers and 6S.59G peo- |
pie persisted, seven fatalities in the |
house where he lived, did it just hap
pen so that he came through unhurt? /
In Fulton street prayer meeting, New |
YORK, young man rose and said: II |
have been an infidel ii years. I had |
the prayers OF plous mother, but | |
spurned them. have not seen her for |
10 years. suppose she has given me
up as lost. l don't know where TO find |
her. but ! would like 10 tell her what
the Lord has done for me In answer TO
her earnest prayers" Did II Just hap-
pen SO that his mother was present and
cried out, "0h. my son, my SOM" You
know OF the glorious Christian work I'm
Japan. but do you know how il beganF
a New Testament was dropped from
an English ship in the harbor of To.
kyo. The little book came into the
hands OF prominent Japanese, who
read IL and was brought to God and
began to commend Chris;
to the people. Did ali that merely han.
pen so? Tell that to those who do not
believe there is a God, but do not tell
IL 10 at least n hundred OF us who have
had In our own lives providential res
cues as easily proved as that we have
ever lived at all.
God Infinitely Wise.
nut we live In times when there are
SO many clashings. There seems nj.
most universal unrest. Large fortunes
swallow up small fortunes. Civilized
NATIONS trying TO gobble up barbaric
hatons. Upheaval OF creeds, and pco.
pie who once believed everything now
believing nothing. The old book that
Moses began and ST. John ended bonn.
oaroeo from scientific observatories
ino college classrooms Amid all this
and uncertainty that which
many good people need is not stim-
nus. but a sedative. and in my text |
ana it-divine observation and guild
ihce or m!nutest affairs. And nothing
$ 10 God large or small, planet or ant
all, the God who easily made the
worlds employing his infinity in the
"ondrous construction of spiders
DOT.
BEFORE we Ieavn this cnhiooA - -.