The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1904-08-13

LII =0ui Enenle, a0G
.s~@s~r'zs-1sssskeIS we are going tt
call it. The Vaca
ton Psalm The
'------------- vacation is Tho
time for rest and
s a3isulIatlon. The time when we love
- get Off into the heart OF Nature and
Z 4assen 10 the harmony of ser manifold
yoaeess 20 drink in the thousand and
Oae beauties Of the vaulted heavens
anu the yerdant earth. to feel the gen
VI influences stealing in upon our
souls as fair Nature comes and cheer
ia1ty and faithfully ministers to our
heeds and smiles with indulgent grace
upon our Whims and exactions. How
parent she is as we take ali she has
~ give us and never so much as voice
thank YOU with life or lips. AS
We enjoy Gods Nature, our hearts
ought to turn in grateful thought to
Natures God. The words Of our
mouth should speak some message
PACK to Nature and to God, our hearts
should ind their meditation in chan
hels that lead Godward and that will
prove acceptable to Him Nature is
net OF herself a sufficient teacher and
1eFealer of God. She bears her faith
Tul testimony to the reality and the
personality of God, but in the fullest
sense Of the word she is not reyealer
OF Him. She gives lavish evidence that
there is a God. The heavens declare
HIS glory and the armament showeth
His handiWork The voice Of Nature
everywhere whispers Of a great and
all-powerful and all-wise Creator and
ruler The message has gone out into
all the earth, so that we find the con
se1onsness of a Supreme Being to
prevail among the most benighted peo-
pies. But this evidence and testimony
OF Nature are not sufficient revelation
of God. If they were, why should not
the untutored savage, who has Nature
as teacher, even as those OF more
enlightened conditions, know as much
OF God as the latter?
HE Psalm before US places Nature
u in her right relations to God and
of its opening verses, with their Do-
etc figure of the splendid sun riding
through the heavens in strength and
majesty and beauty, even as the care-
fully-groomed bridegroom cometh
forth to seek his bride and reioieeth
as he goes with strong, stately, grace
full tread 10 her abode, give us a.
rare picture Of Nature at her best, and
speak to us of Gods glory, of His
handiWork, of His wisdom and power.
But it does not stop there It goes
on from the visible evidence of God
to the revelation of God. The trouble
with SO many people is that they neyer
get beyond the sixth verse of this
Psalm. They see God in His created
universe but they refuse to hear Him
out OF His written Word. They love
to walk abroad at night and trace the
stars in their course, but they refuse
to walk with the Psalmist as he
traces the evidences of God in His
Word. But it is not sufficient that
you should rejoice in Nature and Ma
lures God; your soul must receive His
revelation. and revelation brings OBJ
legation. The three divisions of this
Psalm cover the ground of the souls
need. The evidence of God in Nature,
verses TO 6; the revelation OF
God in His Word, verses to IL,
and the obligation Of man to God,
verses u to A. This, then, is the
ideal Vacation Psalm 1t lures off
into the heart of Nature and speaks
of God there Itsholds up the Word
Of God as perfect and sure, as right
and pure, as clean and holy and true,
and then speaks of its converting pow |
er, Of its gift Of wisdom, of its fill
ing the heart with rejoicing and the
eye with new and glorious light, /
Of its perpetuity, of its value above /
gold and its sweetness above honey, |
OF its faithfulness in guarding from |
harm and danger, and of the great &C.
dience yielded thereto. The Vacation
Psalm Let us not be content with /
the experience Of its opening verses,
but may we get into deeper touch with |
God Take the whole Psalm into the
woods and get its full message.
THE thought of law and order runs
I through the whole Psalm. The |
aW governing nature and the law gov
srning man. Nature obedient to the
Divine will, and graceful and beautiful
harmony prevailing between the Cod
read and His created worlds. Man
given the Divine law and revelation
which to obey would produce a har-
nony that would fill earth with peace
md JOY and prosperity of milIennial
and Heaven with the music
# the glad angelic hosts, but man Vio-
ating that law, and despising that rev
siation. AS we walk abroad at night
md lift appreciative gaze to the star
tudded heavens, we are conscious OF
law which Keeps them faithfully in
heir place and steadily upon their
curse. Day after day we see the glori-
,us king Of the day enter the eastern
ate Of the morning and ride in SPLEEN
or through the heavens and then re-
ire majestical1y behind the .Tamparts
1 the western horizon, while from its
attIements there stream forth the gold
no crimson signals of the approaching
light. and realize that that splendid
In is oDedientlys travelling the pathway
{ a Divine law. Spring follows nnfail-
nglF unon the Tetreating footsteps of
s ~ E.-r. = Z .AfNEI "