Los Angeles herald., 1908-11-01

die of starvation But cry does
not bother US in the dining room; it is
only in the church that it is an OBJ
stacle.
was eating a piece of watermelon
some months ago, and was struck with
its beauty. 1 took some of the seeds
and dried them and weighed them, and
found that it woul,4 require some 5000
seeds - weigh a pound. And then
applied mathematics to that forty
pound melon. One of these seeds, put
into the ground, when warmed by the
sun and moistened by the rain, goes to
work; it gathers from somewhere 200,-
900 times its own weight, and, forcing
this raw material through a tiny stem,
constructs watermelon. 1t covers the
outside with a coating of green; in
side the green it puts layer of white,
and within the white a core T red, and
all through the red 1t scatters seeds,
each one capable Of continuing the
work of reproduction. Where did that
little seed get it's tremendous power
Where did it find it's coloring matter
How did it collect It's flavorinS extract?
How did 1t build a watermelon? I'm
til you can explain watermelon, do
not be too sure that you can set limits
to the power of the Almighty or say
just what he would do or how he would
do 1t. I cannot plain the watermelon,
b t eat 1t and enjoy it.
All Life Tells of Infinite Power
Everything that grows tells a life
story of infinite power. Why should
I Ieny that divine hand fed a multi
t1de when I see hundreds of millions
fed every year by a hand which con-
vertS the seeds scattered over the field
into an abundant harvest? We know
that food can be multiplied in a few
months time; shall we deny the power
of the Creator to eliminate the ele-
ment Of time, when we have gone so
far in eliminating the element of
space?
But there is something even more
wonderful still-the mysterious change
that takes place in the human heart
when the man begins to hate the things
he loved and to love the things he
hated-the marvellous Transformation
that takes place in the man who, be-
fore the change, would have sacri-
feed the world for his own advance
ment, but who, after the change, would
give his life for a principle and es-
TEEN it a privilege to make sacrifice
for his convictions. What greater mir
acle than this, that converts selfish.
self-centered human being into a CEN
ter from which good influences flow out
in every direction! And yet this mir
acle has been wrought in the heart of
each one of us-or may be wrought
and we have seen it wrought in the
hearts of those about us. No; living
in the midst of mystery and miracles,
I shall not allow either to deprive me
Of the benefits of the Christian re-
ligion.
Some of those who question the mir
acle also question the theory of atone
menti they assert that it does not ac-
cord with their ideas of Justice for one
to die for others. Let each one bear
his own sins and the punishments due
for them, they say. The doctrine of
vicarious suffering is not new one;
it is as old as the race. That one
should suffer for others is one of the
most familiar principles, and we see the
principle illustrated every day of our
lives. Take the family, for instance;
from the day the mothers first child
is born, for twenty-five or thirty years
they are scarcely out of her waking
thoughts. She sacrifices for them, she
surrenders herself to them. Is it be-
cause she expects them to pay her
back Fortunate for the parent and
fortunate for the child If the latter has
an opportunity to repay in part the debt
it owes, But no child can compensate
a parent for parents care. In the
course Of nature the debt is paid, not