Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-08-17
Calmase
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmase. d. d.


the heat. this sermon comes with its
ton. The text is Hosea vi, 4, 'Your
goodness is as a morning cloud"
A sanity old preacher said in his
latter years: "If had my life to live
over again would preach most Of my
sermons from familiar scenes of the
Bible, like Christ feeding the multi
tudes with the losves and the fishes.
l believe Bible truths can best be
driven home to the hearts of men by
ringing the changes upon the old IA
milisr texts" That is true In one sense.
But I believe also that an easy way to
illustrate our sermonic themes Is from
Bible SMILES drawn from nature. II
any man is lover OF nature and Will
read the Bible intelligently, he will
find the leaves OF the sacred book liter
ally filed with descriptions OF natural
phenomena. Furthermore. IL you study
church history, almost without excep-
ton you will find that the most popu-
lar preachers and the greatest winners
OF souls for Christ have been men like
Henry Ward Beecher and John Mason
and Thomas Chalmers, who loved the
flowers and the stars and the birds
and the snowfiakes, the same as did
David, the psalmist, and Hosea and
Amos, the prophets, and Jesus Christ.
many of whose parallels have the
aroma OF the woods and the open field.
Take, for instance, the life OF Charles
Kingsley. Do you wonder he gripped
the hearts OF his hearers and readers
as he did when you realize the nature
lover that he was? One night, after
he had recited to his guests the story
or Cornish shipwreck, he he'd his
friends out into the open yard, where
he stood under the peltlng rain and
looked up at superb thunderstorm
as he cried: What a night! Looki
Is 1t not splendid? This is n night
when young men cannot talk or think
too much poetry" 1t was said that
he knew every nook and corner of his
beloved country. in the center OF which
was hig parsonage One day when
out walking his son asked him II he
thought he would ever lose his love
for the country. Charles Kingsley
answered: Nay II my friends ever
ask you that, tell them that am now
looking at the most beautiful scene I
ever saw" Does not this sentence re-
veal the inner workings of a nature
loving heart? Did not Charles Kings
ley get many OF his mightisst gospel
lessons by catching the echoes or them
In the falling waters as they tumblsd
down the cascade near to his own
homer Indeed, have always felt that
minister was not fully developed
teaoner OF God unless he can often
ind his text simultaneously from the
book OF nature and from the book of
the Bible.
Natures Lessons.
Now. Hosea, the prophet, draws from
nature most beautiful ssrmonic SIM
lie. He seems to be standing by night
upon one of the hillsides overlooking
the city OF Jerusalem. That great cap
ital OF the east is crowded with much
wickedness and apostasy. All night
long he stands there, with the roof of
sky for his covering. He thinks of
how the Hebrew people have sinned
and how they have been punished and
then repentcd and then sinned again.
Their sins followed each other as SOL
diers In a line OF march tread in each
others footsteps. Thus the great
prophet OF the east reviews the his.
tory OF his beloved people. And as he
weeps and mourns over the sins of the
Hebrew race the stars pale and go
out Then the sunlight rims the east
ern hills and turns the early morning
clouds Into curtains Of gold. Then he
sees the dswdrops glittsring upon ev-
cry leaf. Then as the stn climbs hieh.
er and higher in the .hsavens and he
feels the day. grow hotter Hosea sees
those early mornfng clouds evaporxte
and the dswdrops disappear. Then,
like nash, springs from his lips the
smile Of the vapory repentances OF the
Hebrew race. 20 Ephraim, what shall,
1 do with thee7' o Judah. what shall
1 do unto thee? For your goodness Is
as the morning cloud, and as the early
dew 1t goeth away" Let US In Gods
name try to compare tho vapory re.
pentances Of our lives to this beautiful
figure OF the morning clouds.
First we would turn to the meteorol.
ogist and say: '.Oh. student or the
cloud land, tell us how these morning
clouds are formed. In the great fam.
lily or clouds have they any individ.
naiities' or peculiar eharacteristicsY p
The prose poet OF England, John Rus
kin, scans the hillsides of the heavens
and lauds the beauty OF all the clouds
when he writes: Mature has a thou.
sand ways OF rising above herself, but
the noblest manifestations OF her capa.
biiity OF colors are In the sunset among
the clouds. There Is no limit TO the
multitudes and no check to the In
tensity OF the hues assumed. The
whole sky, from zenith to horizon. be.
comes one molten, mantling sea of col.
or AMI fire. Every black bar turns to
massey gold, every ripple and wave
into unsuilied crimson and purple and
scarlet and colors for which there are
no words In the language and no ideas
In the mind-things which can be con.
ceived only while they are visible, the
intense hollow blue of the upper sky
melting through 1t all. showing here
deep and pure, there modulated by the
himsy, formless body OF the 'transpar-
ent vapor until 1t is lost, imperceptible
In its crimson and gold" But Hosea
the prophet. Is net abiding to al
clouds OF the heavens when he men
tons the morning clouds, as did Johr
Ruskin, scanning the whole heavens
covered with gold. He "a alIudinQ fe
one particular kind of clouds.
Families of Clouds.
The meteorologist again says: 1.-The
morning clouds are scientifically known
as the 'cumulus' clouds. Sometimes
they ara nOnIliarlu callod xha ca.