The Tupelo journal., 1904-08-19

as tney lit their bright races up
ward to receive the sunshine and the
rain, have been in their own sweet way
bringing to man Gods message and help
ing to interpret His written word. What
a picture our text brings before us. Jesus
seated on the green-carpeted slopes of
the hillside, the group of faithful dis
ciples whom He has but just formally
chosen to follow Him in His ministry,
standing behind Him, while before Him
and on either side the eager,% attentive,
expectant multitudes press to hear Him.
And Jesus, looking out upon that multi
tude, sees the anxious. careworn and
hungry-looking faces behind which the
starving, unsatisfied souls were keeping
their vigil. He feels the thfob of that
restless life; TIe knows the anxious
thought and trouble which follow re-
leltlessly at the heels of those people
like an evil Nemesis: He understands
the work and struggle which go on
day after day-the anxiety for the neces-
sites of life and the fretting for the
pleasures and Injuries. And that Jew
ish multitude gathered about the Saviour
in the GaIilean hills was no different
from the multitudes of to-day. There
are the same anxious and careworn
faces; there are the same hungry, unsat-
isfied looks breaking forth from the
starving soul; there are the same worry,
the same discomfort, the same feverish
pursuit for the %perishable things of this
life-for food and raiment, for pleasures.
and for worldly place.and power. Jesus
as He looks out over the world to-day
from His throne in glory sees human
nature the same. He can point us back
to that scene which u text brings be-
fore us. and ask us to see there the faith
full portrayal in miniature of the condi-
ton Of human heart and life to-day.
p UT Jesus saw more than hat fever
u ish and anxious multitude. He
saw more than hat human sea Of
faces, over which the furrowing marks
Of care and trouble and unwholesome
pleasures and indulgences had traced
their indelible lines. Yea, if He had
not, | verify believe His heart would
have broken. In that human need
and soul-hunger before Him there was
naught to cheer His heart or bring
gladness to the Divine eyes. But that
was not all He saw. The grass and
the lilies of the field were there. He
saw them, and they spoke their sweet
message of Gods faithful care as the
Creator and of their glad and humble
faith and trust as the dependent crea-
ture. Butthe multitudes did not see. Ruth
lessly and thoughtlessly they crushed
the grass and the scarlet-robed lilies
under their restless feet. They were
pressing forward for they hardly knew
what. Earthly care and material
wants made their hearts hard and
their souls insensible to the whispered
message of the fair, glad flowers at
their feet. And, oh, how that is true
to-day! How this materialistic age is
crowding out all sense and thought OF
God, and yet how the lilies OF the
field, how the birds of the air, how all
Astounding nature would bring their
messages to the heart of man and have
him learn of God through them, and
find in them the clear Interpretation
of His Word!
THE fields bring their perennial mes
sage. 1t is old and yet ever new.
Jesus says to you and me as we turn our
anxious, troubled, unsatisfied hearts to-
wards Him: Consider the lilies of the
field" Why? Not alone to drink in
their beauty and to fill the passing mo-
ment with fragrance and brightness.
Not Just simply to admire them and rap
~turously gush over their graceful out
lines and their exquisite c~olorings. Not
to examine them with the scientific eye
and regard them as so many more speci-
mems for the collection. Not to regard
them as the beautiful model to be paint
ed into the landscape and lend their
beautiful color to brighten and glorify
the picture. Not any of these. Jesus
was not talking to the gushing and
sentimental and esthetic, not to the
botanist, not to the artist. Jesus loved
nature for more than her superficial
self. He saw deeper than the exqui-
site colorings and the picturesque and
beautiful combinations. He heard the
spiritual message which nature whis-
pered. He saw underneath the beauty
and the fragrance the lessons which
could reveal God and Gods Word. And
so He said: Consider the lilies of the
field" Have you considered them?
Oh. yes, you say. How I love to wan
der through the fields, how l delight
to search through the woods for the
MOSES and the ferns and the tender
violets which brighten the cool, shaded
hooks. How l rejoice in the song of
the bird, in the ripple of the stream,
in the murmur of the trees as the hurry
ing breeze skips from leaf to leaf and
sets them all to whispering of his visit
and his hasty flight, in the buzz and
hum of the insect world! Oh, l love ma
ture, l love to be with her, I love'to COM
mune with her. She brings rest and
peace and quiet to my heart. All,
yes, so she does. How eagerly and
faithfully nature ministers to man. ir-
respective of his moral or religious con-
dition. But Jesus does not plead with
us to Consider the lilies of the field
for the superficial and material gratif-
cation of man. He wants us to con-
slider them for the deeper spiritual les
sons which they may teach us.
aC ONSIDER the lilies Of the field
Il because they speak of Gods
faithful care, because they reveal a
sweet faith, a humble trust, a willing