The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-25
GOD in THE PINE WOODS
GREAT FORESTS SPEAK MESSAGES
FROM THE INFINITE.
Sermon OF Rev. worth VI. Tippy at
Broadway VI. r.. Church-VOices
from other PuIpfts.

The Rev. Worth NJ. Tippy. pastor of the
Broadway NJ Z. Church, began a series
OF Sunday evening sermons last night on
out-of-dOOr themes. Last night he spoke
on 1.-The God Of the Great Pine Woods"
In part he said:
when the men Of Europe first came TO
America. they found the country, for the
most part, covered with vast forests. In
the North were the pine woods. in the
MIDDLE sections. the hardwood forests; in
the far West and Northwest, the gigantic
grOWths Of flr and red wood When the
Romans first entered Gaql and Germany
and England, IL was much the same, and
there was a time when the earth was
covered with dense and mighty woods.
How these forests have appealed 10 the
Imagination OF the men OF all the centuries
10 their sense of solitude and Of mystery;
10 the love Of adventurei In their bOsOms
have been hidden streams and lakes TEEN
ing with life, and In their shadOWy fast
nesses the wild beasts have found their
home, and sought their prey. Here the
cave men, the mound builders and the
time immemoriaI. and to them, with a
deep longing which may be something Of
heritage from the past, turn the hearts
or the men OF the modern world.
The world OF nature is a marvellous book
Of revelation OF the invisible God. It is
book which religious teachers have read
toe little. IL has things TO teach US about
our Father In heaven that can be learned
nowhere else. We shall awaken, ere long
with a deep sense Of the debt we owe TO
the scientific investigators of all lands,
who have been patiently deciphering this
book OF the knowledge Of the living God
i have just come with a fellow-minister
from camp life In the great pine woods. We
found there the presence that makes the
world glorious, and the thought kept
pressing upon US, until IL became a theme
or frequent conversation, what Of the be-
ng-who Is the God Of these mighty for
estS2 What have they 10 say of Him to
those who have ears to hear?
Ihls fact was apparent everywhere. They
manifest lavish display OF power and Of
Intelligence and an excessive use of ma
terial. IL Is as though the Infinite has
SUCH exhaustless resources Of energy that
He can AFFORD to waste them. This is one
OF the great facts Of nature, not the waste,
Tor IL is doubtful If there is any real waste
In the universe. but the fact of infinite
resources. That means much, my friends,
10 the future of life 1t opens the possi-
DihteS or lmitleSS hope. 1t underlieS
the faith In the souls Immortality.
Lhe forest have much TO say of the
sense or the beautiful I'm the soul OF God.
They speak Of refreshing and bewildering
variety. and Of marvellous richness Of col
oring. What is more beautiful than a prin-
tive road through the woods overarched
by second growth and by century-old trees?
What more wonderful that the deep green
OF forest masses or distant hill sides? But
the most wonderful effect OF forest beauty
Is at sunset on the lakes, when the light
gior1res the dense growth that reaches to
the waters edge, and the white stems of
the pines and hemlOcks. One loves TO
think that the sense and love of beauty
has its perfection in the heart of God.
There was with US a scientist from one
OK the great technical schools / said TO
him. What do these woods have to saw
TO your about GOd2 Il do not see how one
can study nature he said, and not be-
ieve In God He thought a moment and
said again, They suggest TO me the
thought OF resurrection. Things are being
consumed and dying all about US but
they pass only TO feed new life and to re-
appear in new FORMS
But deepest of all come 20 me the thought
OF Providence. the loving care of God, for
men. This the forests proclaim. Thou
sands Of years ago, when the world was
all tropical, gigantic woods grew for cen
turtles. They We're packed away and have
become coal fields and the resources OF ex-
haGstiess deposits of gas oil And
these modern forests. What they have
meant To the modern world-fuei and
houses and furniture and pure air and
rainfall at right seasonsi They tell US
how carefully and wisely God has thought
Of His children The God of the great
pine woods is a mighty, glorious. benehcent
being. He is the Father whom Jesus knew
and revealed TO men, one to whose loving
care we may trust ourselves. One who
knows the forests will understand the ne
ceSsity of the greatest comma ndnent:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart and with all thy soul and
with all thy mind ."