Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1901-05-03

others when you can no more be bread
winner for your household-that Is rlght,
that is beautiful, that is Christian, that is
divinely approved. That shows that you
have taken Solomon's ant hill for an OBJ
Ject lesson. Going out of this world WITH
out leaving dollar for those who remain
behind, if you have done your best, you
Eave right to put your head in calm con
fdence on the pillow which Jeremiah
shook up in the forty-ninth chapter OF his
prophecy. Leave thy fatherles5 children
1 VIM preserve them alive, and lei tny
widows trust in Me-" -
But if, having the means, through mort
cages or houses or life insurance fol, pro-
viding for helpless widowhood and or.
phanage, You make no provision for post
norton need, how dare you go up and
take palace in heaven and let your VIE
and children go to the poorhouse or into
struggle for bread that makes life horror
and sometimes ends in suicide!
But my subject reaches higher than tenn
poralities--foresight for the soul, provision
Tor eternal experiences, preparation for the
far beyond. Ant hills, speak out and teach
us a larger and mightier lesson OF prepar:.
ing food for the more important part OF
us! 10 you realize that man may be O
millionaire or multi-millionaire for time
and bankrupt for eternity, prince for
few years and pauper forever, The
ant would not be satisfied with gathering
enough food for half winter or quarter
of winter But how many of us seem
content, though not having prepared for
the ten-millionth part OF what will be our
existence!
Furthermore, 60 to the ant and. con-
slider that it does not decline work because
it is insignificant. The fragment OF seed 1t
hauls into its habitation may be SO small
that the unaided eye cannot see it, but the
insectile work goes on-the carpenter ant
at work above ground, the mason silt az
work under ground. Some of these Great
ures mix the ls:as IS of the FIR and the cat:
ki,s II the pine for the roof or wall of
their tiny abode, and otherg go out as
hunters looking for food, while others in
domestic duties stay at home. Twenty
specks of the food they are moving toward
their granary, put upon balance, would
hardly make the scales culver. All Of the
in our refusing a mission because it is i'll
significant. Anything that God in His
providence puts before us to do is impor-
tant.
The needle has its Office as certainly as
the telescope and the spade as q parlia-
mentarian scroll. You know what became
of the man in the parable of the talents,
who buried the one talent instead of put
ting it to practical and accumulative use.
His apology was of no avail.
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 suf-
ferers and 6S,506 people persisted, seven
fatalities in the house where he lived, did
it Just happen 80 that he came through UNI
hurt? In Fulton street prayer meeting,
New York, young man rose and said i
have been an infdel fourteen years. had
the prayers of pious mother, but L
spurned them. | have not seen her for
fifteen years. | suppose she has given me
up as lost. / don't know where to find
her, but / would like to tell her what the
Lord has done for me in answer to her
earnest prayers" Did it just happen So
that his mother was present and cried out,
oh, my son, my SOM" You know OF the
glorious Christian work in japan, but do
you know how it began? A New Testa-
ment was dropped from an English ship
in the harbor of Tokyo. The little book
came into the hands of a prominent Jap
anese, who read it and was brought to
OOu, anu lIlintuiotcIy DCSdi w SoihiiiSi,u
Christ to the people. Did all that merely
happen so? Tell that to those who do not
believe Ahere is O God, but DO not tell it
to at least hundred OF US who have had
in our own lives providential. rcscues as
easily proved as that we have ever lived
at all.
But we live i'll times where there are so
many clashings. There seems almost uni
versal unrest Large fortunes swallow up
small fortunes. Civilized nations trying to
gobble up barbaric nations. Upheaval OF
creeds, and people who once believed
everything now believing nothing. The
old book that Moses began and st. John
ended bombarded from scientific observa.
tories and college class-rooms. Amid all
this disturbance and uncertainty that
which many good people need Is not a
stimulus, but sedative, and in my text l
find it--divine observation and guidance
of minutest affairs. And nothing is to
God large OF small, planet or ant hill, the
God who easily made the worlds employ
ing His infnity in the wondrous construc-
ton OF spiders foot.
Before we leave this subject let us thank
God for those who were willing to endure
the fatigues and self sacrifices necessary
to make revelation of the natural world,
30 tlC 0SliPthiNS' - .i'N 80
croscope could speak, what story it could
tell of hardship and poverty and suffering
and perseverance on the part of those who
employed it for important discovery. 1t
would tell of the blinded eyes of Nj.
Strauss, of the Hubers and of scores Of
those who, after inspecting the minute OBJ
jects of Gods creation, staggered out from
their cabinets with vision destroyed. This
hour in many professors study the work
of putting eyesight on the altar of science
is going on. And what greater loss can
one suffer than the loss of eyesight unless
it be loss of reason? While the telescope
is reaching further up and the microscope
is reaching further down, both are ex-
claiming: "There is God, and lie is In
finitely wise and infinitely good! Worship
Him and worship Him forever"
And now / bethink myself of the fact
that we are close to season OF the year,
which will allow us to be more out OF
doors and to confront the lessons OF the
natural world, and there are voices that
seem to say, GO to the ant; 60 to the
bird; 90 to the flowers; go TO. the fields;
that drop from the gallery of the tree tops.
Notice in the path where you walk the les
sons of industry and divine guidance.
Make natural religion a commentary on
revealed religion. Put the glow OF sun
rise and sunset into your spiritual expe'
riences. Let every star speak OF the morn
ing star of the Redeemer and every arc.
matte bloom make you think of Him who
is the Rose of Sharon and the Lilly of the
Valley, and every overhanging cliff remind
you Of the rock Of ages, and every morning
suggest the "day spring from on high,
which giveth light to those who are in
darkness" and even the little hillock built
by the roadside or in the fields remind you
OF the wisdom of initiating in temporal
and spiritual things the insectile forA
thought, (which, having no guide. over
seer or ruler, provideth her meat in the
summer and gathereth her food in the har-
vest"