The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1922-09-08

istr before whose eyes heavenly
visiNn shone, constructs a cathedral
window of rare beauty out of the dis
carded fragments left by other work.
men,. Invisible forces of the atmo-
|, sphere take up the moisture from
Shiny ponds and sluggish streams and
salty seas, and send it down again in
pure and purifying dew and rain. Yet
all of these are but imperfect symbols
of what God undertakes to do when
He saves the lost, and constructs out
of discarded and broken material
kings and priests unto God,
"A field of cactus is one of the most
forbidding sights on our arid south
western plains. Fruitless and thorny,
it cumbers the parched ground. One
days.a man said, "If could but infuse
the cactus with the active and fertile
principle of fruit-bearing plant,
would make the desert a garden" He
tried to do it unnumbered times and
failed. At last he tried and did not
fail. Today, at Santa Rosa, Luther
Burbank will show you variety of
cactus without thorns, but not without
fruit. It is one of the miracles of the
modern world. What that man has
done for the cactus is a symbol of what
Jesus is doing for the human race as
he saves it. He came to live in our
desert. The sharp stones bruised His
feet, and the hot sun smote Him: but
He kept on until He had engrafted up
on humanity the life of God and
caused thorny and fruitless lives to
bring forth the fruits of love, joy,
peace and self-control. That is some
thing of what Christ does as our Saw
ior.
And He came to seek in order that
He might save. The truth of Christ
seeking men is the burden of Francis
Thonnpson's greatest poem, "The
Hound of Heaven" The poem is the
product of an experience. He had
been lost and was found. 1t is the
cry Of a penitent and reclaimed soul.
The Hound of Heaven" is an epic of
the love that will not let us go!
Thompson confesses that he had
sought to evade the tremendous low
err, but found no escape until at last
he gave up the attempt and was cap
tured by the great pursuer. So the
man chased by the Hound of Heaven
says, describing the spirit which
haunted him and dogged his steps.
But with unhurrying chase,
And unpurturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat-and Voice beat
More instant than the Feet:
'All things betray thee, who betrayest
Me-"
Some one is out after the soul of
mani For the Son of Man is come
to seekl 1t is love, not hate, which
pursues us-mercy and not judgment,
Christ and not the Devil! We cannot
escape this Divine spirit which is out
seeking us. Down whatever road we
flee, he is there to face us. "'Whither
shall flee from thy spirit? If | as
cend up into heaven, thou art there,
if | make my bed in hell, behold, thou
art there, if l take the wings of the
morning and dwell in the uttermost
parts of the earth, thou art there"
CASTOR Frommel, a Swiss theolo-
gian, gives this account of his exper-
ience with the Christ whom he tried
to avoid:
Il was following out my life, pur-
suing my own desires, when Christ
advanced to meet me, placed Himself
before me, and barred my way. He
stopped me; He made a silence in my
heart; and then He held with me a
solmn interview in which He spoke as
He alone can speak. For long ] dis
puted the case in a revolt of mingled
anguish and bitterness; for could not
consent to renounce everything which
till then had seemed to me precious
and desirable; and yet felt it to be
question of life and death, and that
to disobey would have been to pro-
nounce sentence on myself. At last
| gave up the struggle and accepted
Gods will for my life. l found peace"
He had been overtaken by Christ.
0 Light that followest all my way,
l yield my Pickering torch to Thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in Thy sunshine's blaze it's day
May brighter, fairer be.
o Cross that liftest Up my head,
] dare not ask to fly from Thee;
| lay in dust life's glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms
7 fn IL. II